Tying her sword in place, she positioned Ashur to face the window. “Stay.” She waved at Stephen, “Come up beside me. No screaming like a little girl, got it?” Stephen was starting to understand what was about to happen.
“Is this going to be like John’s story of attacking the large yacht?” Bethany Anne nodded. “Well then, yippee-ki-yay.”
Bethany Anne finished with him, grinning as they disappeared, “Motherfucker.”
She had almost gotten the distance right. She had undershot the castle by about three hundred feet. She was high enough in the air to see the roof where the guard was walking, taking a drag on a cigarette. She translocated them again, after falling fifty feet. Hopefully, no one noticed them appearing and disappearing in the middle of the sky.
She let go of both Stephen and Ashur as soon as they came out of the second translocation. They dropped the last five feet. She landed on the balls of her feet, and took off towards the guard. He hadn’t finished the last pull on his cigarette when his head was lopped cleanly off, his body crumpling to the ground. Bethany Anne had to move quickly to dodge the arterial spray. “Gah!”
She walked back over to Stephen and Ashur, both on alert. She whispered, “This thing is dangerously sharp. I just wanted to cut his throat, it took his head.”
Stephen smiled. “Guess he was evil then, huh?” She nodded agreement.
They went in search of a way down. From the conversation with Anton, they assumed Michael would be in some dungeon. Nathan didn’t have any information about the castle layout so they were on their own.
Stephen looked at her. “Stay together or split up?” She considered their options.
Her only priority was breaking Michael out of this mess. If they disrupted David’s people it was extra points and should they kill David she would do the happy dance.
“I’ll look for Michael by going down as fast as possible. I want you two to stick with me. Should we get trapped, your responsibilities are to take the fight somewhere else and allow me to continue. Keep the fight going then meet me back on the roof.”
“How will I know when to meet you?”
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll think of something. I’ll yell it a few times down the halls if I need to, just you two pay attention, ok?”
Both nodded at her. That dog was just freaky intelligent, she thought.
They went down the stairs quickly. They only passed one person, a maid, on the way. Bethany Anne popped her on the head, successfully not killing her. They laid her on a bed as if she was taking a nap.
It was getting late in the day. No one had seen them yet, but they hadn’t found a way down to the dungeon, either. Bethany Anne stopped and asked, “You have any suggestions?”
Ashur chose that moment to take the lead, sniffing along the floorboards. They sped up to catch him and then they quickly went from room to room. They found two security types. These they killed quickly, each one breaking a neck. They stashed them in a small room that looked and smelled dusty. Ashur went at it for ten minutes before he pawed at a wall in a hallway. Stephen grabbed both torch holders and tried to move them. He shrugged his shoulders mouthing, ‘It works in the movies.’
Ashur was sniffing the wall, his head easily able to reach up hand high. Finally, he stopped and pawed at a brick. Bethany Anne felt around and finally just pushed hard and was rewarded with a click. Stephen pushed and a section of the stone wall opened, the three of them entered and carefully closed the stone door. “Fuck my life,” Bethany Anne whispered, “I didn’t think to bring a flashlight.”
There was another click and lights came on, revealing a circular stone staircase. Stephen took his hand away from the light switch. “We vampires are able to get with the times, you know?” He smiled at Bethany Anne who rolled her eyes. The three of them took off down the steps, trying to listen ahead.
They passed a room containing very old fashioned torture equipment, but nothing that looked like it could be used to hold somebody that would be non-corporeal. Nothing smelled like it had been used recently.
Another level, this one with cells and old fashioned metal restraints. The deepest level was a single large room with a copper device that reminded Bethany Anne of a diving bell in the center.
“This has got to be it. You two make sure I don’t have company.” Stephen and Ashur went back to the stairs.
She walked around the device.
TOM, do you have any suggestions?
According to the phone call, the idea is if he becomes corporeal, it kills him. I would imagine it has a huge amount of pressure, or a huge amount of vacuum. One would crush him, the other would explode him. If we could equalize the pressure, he could form his body again and we can grab him and go.
Bethany Anne looked around and found the controls. She studied them for a minute.
Ok, any ideas?
Do I look like I run strange devices?
Do you really want me to answer that question?
The pod-doc is not strange.
Ok, maybe I was asking too much. So, if I try to open the door on something with pressure, the door blows off and god only knows what happens. Too much vacuum and there isn’t a chance in hell I can pull the door open, not even with my strength.
Well, we could call to him and try to grab him Etherically.
Come again?
Tom was silent. This couldn’t be good, she didn’t like their other chances and right now she wanted out of this castle in the worst way. The whole place just reeked of evil from ages past.
We could try to enter the Etheric right here and call to him, move to where you ‘feel’ him. Grab him and then move back out, you slip back into normal space and we have him out of there.
And if I fail to judge the distance correctly?
Uh… boom?
Hold on to that thought.
“Michael, can you hear me?” Stephen and Ashur both turned their heads to look at her. She waved her hands and they turned their heads back up the stairs.
She hissed a whisper, “Gott Verdammt Michael, answer me, you fucking pain in the ass!”
Bethany Anne? It was weak, but she heard his mind connection.
“Yes! It’s me, Michael. I’m outside this fucking contraption. I’ve got to get you out. Is there anything you can do to help me?”
No. I am barely holding on here as it is. My energy is low. Have you killed David?
“No, haven’t met him yet. I’ll get around to killing him soon. Well, I hope anyway.”
She got no response from Michael. It wasn’t like she was wanting his approval for killing David anyway.
You need to escape. David has killed Stephen, he will kill you. Leave to fight another day.
“Bullshit. Stephen is with me.”
Truly?
“Yes, truly. I am not a lying bastard who says one thing and then disappears for a year. Oh wait, that’s you. Don’t think I’m happy with you at the moment but we can talk once I have you out of this fucking thing. Shit!” Bethany Anne was getting impatient. Not a rare occurrence for her.
“Fuck this. Michael, get ready, we have some blood out here. When you sense me not moving you any more, then you’re safe to come back into your body. Drink the bag because if you try to give me a hickey you won’t need to worry about David, I’ll kill you myself.”
She could hear chuckling in her mind. At least Michael’s sense of humor wasn’t gone.
“Bethany Anne?” Stephen called out, concern in his voice.
She grabbed some blood out of the bag and set it down beside the bag. “Whatever you do, Michael cannot drink from me, understand?” He nodded. She pulled off her sword and set it aside.
“Michael, time to meet your maker.” Let him chew on that comment for a minute.
She stepped into the Etheric, trying not to move any distance. It was a weird feeling, she lost the ability to see anything. Everything was by feel and sensing in this dimension for her right now. She could feel a sentient near her, undulating in and ou
t of existence. He felt maybe ten feet away? Got you, she thought as she tried to mentally walk in that direction, moving towards the sentience. There was nothing easy for her to grab. When she took others and transported them, she always grabbed them physically.
Dammit! She wasn’t going to get this close and fail. She moved a little to the side, to feel him from a different angle and then took another ‘step.’ Michael felt like he was some sort of vapor, not wholly here. She needed some sort of vacuum.
TOM, can we pull a person into the Etheric and then push them out again?
Well, I guess there isn’t anything that would preclude that idea. So far, we have moved people into the Etheric and pulled them out. I’m not sure if that is factually correct or just how we understood it ourselves.
No fucking time like the present to learn something new.
TOM stayed quiet. It wasn’t like he would change her mind and she seemed to have an innate understanding of how the Etheric worked. He never explained how many decades it could take a Kurtherian to master how much she knew right now.
Bethany Anne inched towards the vapor, thinking how far she had moved inside the Etheric. She reached out, mentally grabbing the nebulous feeling and willing it to come into the Etheric with her. It didn’t take long before the vapor became more solid in her mind. She decided to act as if she was transporting herself from a normal location and took a step back into the room. She had pushed Michael ahead of her, not wanting to find out what might happen if they were touching when she was back in the room. A very solid Michael fell towards the floor. She reached out enough to grab his shirt, it ripped. She was successful slowing him down a little before he hit the stone floor.
Ouch, that had to hurt.
He was unconscious. She grabbed a bag and was busy ripping it open when Stephen whispered. “Bethany Anne, we have company!” He pointed up.
She downed the bag herself and waved Stephen and Asher toward her. “Grab Michael.” Stephen picked up his Patriarch. Ashur came quickly. She tossed the canvas bag over her shoulder, grabbed a handful of Ashur and then Stephen’s hand and transported them back to their rooms in the hotel.
Twenty seconds later, David came down the stairs, sniffing in puzzlement. “Why does it smell like dog in here?” He went over to the device and checked the settings. Nothing had been touched. He walked around it trying to figure out what was wrong. “Master!” David moved quickly back up the stairs. He screamed in rage when he learned of his dead guards and rushed back down the stairs.
He walked over to the device and slammed his fist against it. “How!” He turned around and looking down, spotted a drop of blood on the floor. He looked back at the device, looking for any proof that Michael was still inside. The device was working correctly, but he couldn’t see anything.
David started yelling in a dialect lost to the ages.
The four of them appeared back in the hotel room. Ashur immediately started sniffing the perimeters. Stephen laid an anemic looking Michael on the bed. Bethany Anne quickly pulled blood bags out and tossed them to Stephen who ripped them open and worked to get some down Michael’s throat.
It took them fifteen minutes to get enough into Michael that he was able to start drinking the blood himself. His voice was calm, but his eyes were blazing with anger. “Where is David?”
Bethany Anne snorted. “Really? Your first words are asking where that useless excuse is? Not, ‘thank you Bethany Anne, thank you Stephen for saving my apparently inconsiderate ass?’” She felt like slapping the man.
He managed a feeble grin. “My apologies, I guess I should have said ‘I appreciate the rescue Bethany Anne and Stephen, where is David so I may kill him?’”
Mollified, Bethany Anne replied, “Well, at least you have one priority correct. He’s back at his castle. I imagine he is figuring out you aren’t there and having an epic conniption fit. I hope he’s worried just where you are right now, looking around every corner in fear. But, looking at you, you couldn’t wrestle a squirrel, much less another vampire.”
Michael looked down at his body, realizing the truth in her words. “Yes, this is true. But I will be better soon enough and then I will take care of him.”
“Really? In a couple of hours, you’re going to be ready to go? What a bullshit answer. You’ll be lucky to be at quarter-strength. You were almost dead, I could feel it. If you’re better in two days, I’ll consider it amazing.”
Michael decided to accept the truth of her statements, although his anger craved killing David immediately. “How did we get out?”
Stephen handed Michael another bag. “Bethany Anne teleported us.” Bethany Anne gave him an ugly look. He shrugged, “What do you want me to do? He hasn’t learned everything so won’t have a clue if I tell him the real explanation.”
Bethany Anne said, “Fine! Do we need to get out of the area?”
Michael looked around and through the window. “Where are we?”
“We’re about two to three miles from his castle, in a hotel.”
Michael pursed his lips. “He might be able to feel me if he comes close, so I wouldn’t say it’s the safest place. Do we have a vehicle?”
Bethany Anne pondered that question. She reached into the bag again to pull out a pouch, but this time she drank the blood herself. She tried to gauge her level.
TOM, how am I doing on energy?
Amazingly enough, you have probably only used twenty percent since we left this room.
So, I’m pulling energy through Ashur, right? Is this painful to him?
Does he look like he’s bothered? I’m guessing he would let you know if it bothered him.
I wonder just how much energy I could pull. When we were in the Etheric, it seemed to be all around us, like swimming in the ocean.
A more apt metaphor would be breathing in air. You were there, in the dimension, you were in the Etheric, so yes, you definitely felt it. It was beautiful.
TOM, is that where your people are?
Tom was silent for a moment. Some, yes. Those who had the ability, but far too many can’t make the change.
Stephen watched Bethany Anne for a moment, she seemed to be considering something. Michael leaned towards Stephen while watching Bethany Anne. “What is she doing?”
Stephen looked down at his father, the man who had left him to go to America centuries before. Stephen almost felt compassion for his cluelessness. “I imagine she is deciding how to move us somewhere.”
“How? Are we doing this transporting thing again? How far can she go, more than three miles?” Stephen nodded. “Ten?” Stephen nodded again. “Twenty?” Stephen decided to stop answering Michael’s questions.
Bethany Anne focused again, looking at the two men. “Ok, Stephen. How safe are Ivan and Claudia?”
“They’re fine. They can move again tonight, but they are safe where they are right now, why?”
“Because I want to make sure they’ll be ok alone for a few days. Can I use your phone?” Stephen went to the gun bag and reached inside for a smaller cushioned bag. Unzipping it, he pulled out his phone and turned it on, handing it to Bethany Anne. She waited for it to boot up. Michael stared at Stephen, realizing through his haze that Stephen looked better than he remembered him, and he was comfortable with technology. This wasn’t the man he remembered, or the man of the stories he had heard when he had been awake. What had happened while he was in that infernal device?
“Stephen, what is the date?” Stephen told him. “Really? David is going to pay for that.” His voice trailed off as Bethany Anne put the phone to her ear.
“Nathan? Are you at the house? Can you go up to my bedroom and check to make sure no one is in my closet? Wait, don’t you fucking look in my closet either. Just knock… Shit. Ok. Look, make sure the floor in my closet is clear, but if you say one fucking thing about my shoe count I will personally pull your dick up around your neck and strangle you with it, understand?”
Bethany Anne rolled her eyes as she heard Nathan t
ry to hold in his snickering. “Fur face, if I hear one mention, and that includes from Ecaterina too, your ass is grass, capiche? Who else is there? Frank? Where are dad and Patricia? Ok, camped out next door for now? That’s interesting. Watching movies? Netflix. God, I hope it isn’t Netflix and chill.” She thought about who she was bringing with her and started smiling. If she could pull this off Nathan would wet his pants. “Tell you what, Stephen and I need to drop in, but I have a huge German Shepherd with me, yeah Ashur. Really? Those guys just got on the boat, no telling what they think is large. Yes, we know where Michael is and we have a plan to get him back to the United States.” Michael’s eyebrows rose at that. He was clueless why she wanted her closet emptied out. “It’s dark here right now, so David is up. Mmhmmm. Right, Michael in the morning, stop, stop! No, no more arguing, that would be a bad idea.” She didn’t want Nathan to speak about Michael where he could overhear. She smiled evilly, her plan coming together. “Call Frank up there would you? I’m going to want him there in a minute and I’m sure he will want to meet… Stephen.” She winked at Stephen who was getting a good idea of where they would be shortly.
Ashur entered the room. Stephen started pulling all of the bags together, taking the empty one from Bethany Anne and the plastic around Michael. He tossed them all in the gun bag. Michael looked at him strangely so Stephen answered the unasked question, “We don’t need to leave behind anything that will make the maids curious.”
Bethany Anne continued her conversation, “Yes? Frank is there. Good, make sure the lights are on, but you guys get out of my closet. Good, see you in a second.” She pointed to a spot on the floor. Ashur walked over to it and sat. “You good enough to walk old man?” She smiled and Michael decided to just go with the flow. He didn’t have the strength to fight with her, she was a force of nature.
He slowly rolled over, getting his legs off of the bed and got ready to get up. She pointed to Stephen. “You.” She pointed to a spot on the floor, “Here. Grab me, ok?”
Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Set One: Books 1-7, Death Becomes Her, Queen Bitch, Love Lost, Bite This, Never Forsaken, Under My Heel, Kneel or Die (Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Sets) Page 98