The Last Vampire Box Set

by R. A. Steffan

  “Calaveras County, California,” Nigellus answered. “Specifically, at the lesser-used of the two entrances of the so-called Moaning Cavern.”

  As if to punctuate his words, a low noise emanated from the depths before me. It was distant and unearthly, like the pained cry of something not quite human.

  The entrance to Hell is in California?” I couldn’t help asking. “Somewhere, a right-wing conspiracy theorist is punching the air in glee.”

  Nigellus gave a small shrug. “What can I say? The Russians in charge of the Kola Superdeep Borehole wouldn’t return our calls.”

  I shot him a sideways look to make sure he was joking, then went back to looking around our new surroundings. We were standing on a small platform enclosed by safety fence. A solid-looking gate blocked access to the gap in the stone leading into unseen depths below. Rigging was set above us, hung with ropes and pulleys.

  I stared at the rigging. Then I stared at the hole.

  “Please tell me the word rappelling isn’t about to pass your lips.”

  “Indeed not,” Nigellus said. “This is merely the entrance least likely to have park employees milling around two hours before the area opens to tourists. There’s a second, larger entrance nearby with a staircase leading down to the bottom of the first chamber, but I’ll save you the climb down. The area we need is off the second chamber in the cavern, but I thought you might find it disconcerting to reappear without warning in complete subterranean blackness.”

  My mouth went dry. “Uh… yeah. You thought right.”

  “Now, though, if you’re prepared, we should go before the park employees arrive to prepare for the day. Not to worry—I do have a light with me.”

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. In for a penny…

  “Okay, let’s do this.” An image of Rans’ face—of his expression just before I’d lost my nerve and broken eye contact with him—flashed across my memory. I shoved it aside ruthlessly.

  Nigellus watched me for a long moment before nodding and taking my arm again. The craggy, brownish-gray stone and rusty metal rigging melted away, only to be replaced by… nothing. Vertigo assailed me in the pitch darkness, but the firm hand curled around my bicep keeping me from swaying. The unearthly noises that had teased my hearing earlier sounded closer now.

  An instant later, a white LED light flicked on, illuminating the surroundings with an eerie glow. A flashlight app, I realized. Stone walls loomed, their surfaces dripping with intricate limestone formations. The air was humid and surprisingly warm.

  “There is a pit directly behind you,” Nigellus warned, swinging the light to illuminate a dark gap in the irregular stone floor. “Though it’s not very deep. Beyond it lies a rocky incline leading to the main chamber, which contains the staircase to the main entrance. The smaller entrance where we first appeared leads down through a thirty-foot vertical chimney into the dome of that same chamber.” He moved the light in the other direction. “Ahead of us lies a larger seventy-five-foot drop leading to a third chamber, but that area is blocked off at the moment.”

  Panning the light around, he allowed me to get my bearings as much as possible in such strange and unfamiliar surroundings.

  “If this is the gate, don’t you get the occasional unsuspecting tourist stumbling into Hell?” I asked.

  “It has been known,” Nigellus replied. “Though not on any sort of a regular basis. The actual weak spot between the two realms appears as solid stone, until you touch it.”

  The light moved to a section of wall above me and to my left. The pile of jumbled stones leading up to it looked climbable, but for the average person, there would be no motivation to do so—it was just a plain stretch of rock.

  “So, we just go up there and walk through?” I asked, pushing aside my misgivings. “No magic needed, like with the entrance to Dhuinne?”

  “Not on this side, no,” Nigellus said. “If you’re ready, I’ll light your way and follow right after you. The other side is also inside a cave, but a much shallower one. It will not be completely dark.”

  “Will there be guards?” I asked.

  “But of course.” Nigellus sounded amused. “They will not harm you, however.”

  “Okay,” I said, trying to sound like I wasn’t having all kinds of second thoughts about this. Dad is on the other side of that wall. He needs you. Don’t turn into a selfish coward now, Zorah.

  Without giving myself any more time to think about it, I climbed up the uneven pile of stone, awkwardly dragging my bag of belongings behind me. Lifting a tentative hand, I touched the section of wall where Nigellus pointed the light.

  There was nothing there. My hand disappeared into the rocky surface as though it were a mirage, my skin tingling slightly as it passed through. Before I could second-guess it, I held my breath and stepped forward. The world went black, then gray. I steadied my balance and looked around, finding myself elsewhere.

  The air smelled different. I worked my jaw against a sudden buildup of pressure in my ears, and they popped.

  Holy shit.

  I was standing in Hell.

  Light appeared behind me, and a hand eased me a step to the side. I’d come to a sudden halt while still blocking the portal, I realized. Nigellus brushed past me without comment. Ahead, I could make out the cave entrance. It wasn’t large, but it was only a dozen or so yards away.

  “It’s Nigellus,” my companion called, the sound echoing through the cavern. “I have a guest with me. We’ll be out in a few moments.”

  “Understood,” came a male voice in return. “Greetings, Nigellus.”

  “Before we go, I need to see if I can get back through the gate,” I said quickly.

  “Yes, you do,” Nigellus agreed, turning his light onto the section of cave wall. “There’s no particular trick to it. Just try to push through.”

  I bit my lip and reached a hand out. When my fingertips met the wall, it was like pressing them into putty rather than stone. I pushed harder, and my hand disappeared into the wall, but every inch of progress required exponentially more effort on my part. Once my wrist disappeared, I couldn’t press any deeper, and it felt as though I’d become trapped in the stone. Panicking, I yanked my arm backward as hard as I could and stumbled a couple of steps when my hand popped free.

  “Shit!” I gasped, cradling my wrist even though I wasn’t actually hurt. My heart pounded as adrenaline zinged through my bloodstream.

  Nigellus frowned, the expression looking properly demonic in the odd lighting from his phone.

  “How interesting,” he said. “It appears your demon blood is almost strong enough to allow passage, but not quite. I must say, I’ve never seen that happen before.”

  I was still fighting down panic, but I forced myself to think logically.

  “I can’t be stuck here permanently, Nigellus,” I said, hoping my voice sounded less freaked out than I felt. “I didn’t want to talk about it in front of Rans since it’s obviously a sensitive subject for him, but I need to discuss options with you. Specifically, a demon-bond so I can get out of here if I need to.”

  He nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, I daresay trying to breach that conversational topic with Ransley would not have gone well. You must understand that for him, it’s cultural. Vampires and demons may have been allies for millennia, but vampires have always resisted bonding with demons in the strongest possible terms.”

  “Why?” I couldn’t help asking. “I mean, I understand about the human views on selling your soul to the devil, but I assume that was influenced at least partly by Fae propaganda.”

  Nigellus huffed in dark amusement. “You would be correct. For the vampires, it was mostly a matter of pride. Demons are the more powerful of the two species—so I gather the idea of the vampires binding themselves to us made their association feel less like an alliance to them, and more like servitude. Ridiculous, of course, since the transfer of power along the bond can move in both directions.”

  I was gradually calmin
g down, mostly thanks to the matter-of-fact nature of the discussion. I still wasn’t sure how wise it was to give Nigellus my complete trust, but I couldn’t deny that from our first meeting, I’d felt a strange sort of kinship with him.

  “That may be,” I said, “but the demon is the only one with the power of life and death in the relationship.”

  Nigellus eyed me speculatively. “Such a bond is an exercise in trust, to be sure. As you have cause to know already.”

  He was talking about the life-bond with Rans, of course. From what I’d been told, it was the same thing as a demon-bond, magically speaking. Without one of the parties being immortal, however, it ended up being a death sentence for both in the end.

  “The life-bond was less an exercise in trust, and more an exercise in Rans being a stubborn asshole with a death wish,” I grumbled. “I still don’t understand why on earth he did it.”

  Nigellus leaned against a protruding rock and regarded me curiously. “He did it because he’s in love with you. That seems fairly obvious even to someone as jaded as a demon.” He tilted his head. “Though to be fair, he is also a stubborn asshole with a death wish.”

  My mouth opened, but no words came out. Nigellus could have slammed me face-first into the rock he was leaning against, and it would have hurt less than his casual declaration that Rans loved me.

  “I… no,” I managed. “That’s not—”

  “Hmph. Mortals,” he murmured, so low I could barely hear.

  I tried again. “You don’t understand. It’s not like that. He’s a good man. A really good man. But Rans is seven hundred years old. And I’m a twenty-six-year-old human waitress with attachment issues and a track record of getting dumped by every man I date. He helped me out, yes, but he also wasted no time in teaching me how to feed from other people’s animus, rather than his. And then he sent me here. Alone.”

  Nigellus gave me a polite smile. “No doubt you’re right. But perhaps we should return to the subject at hand. It’s true I could bind you if need be. I don’t believe it will be necessary, however. You clearly have almost enough power to return through the barrier, even now. I suspect that once you’ve spent a bit of time in our realm, you will be able to accomplish the task on your own.”

  My brow furrowed. “So… you think I’ll absorb more demon-essence just from being here in Hell?”

  “I’m reasonably confident, yes. Feed here, rest here, and it seems likely that more of your demon heritage will come to the fore. That solution would be preferable from your standpoint, since for one thing, I would still need to be physically present to transport you through the barrier using a soul-bond.”

  It was true that being able to breach the barrier by myself would give me more freedom to come and go. And I supposed it made sense that I would absorb the atmosphere of the place over time—just as humans like my father absorbed the essence of Fae magic while living in Dhuinne.

  My father. He was the reason I was here, and I was standing around blathering to Nigellus about soul-bonds, and about a relationship with a vampire that was never going to happen.

  “Okay,” I said. “Look, it’s not like I’ll be leaving anytime soon, anyway. I came here for my father, first and foremost. I’m willing to hang around for a while and see if I can get my inner demon to come out and play a bit more. But I need to know that you’re willing to take me on in a soul-bond if it ever comes to that.”

  “I have no objection, should it truly become necessary.” Nigellus gestured me toward the cave entrance and the waiting guards beyond. “I cannot stay for very long, but I’ll get you settled and introduce you to someone who can reach me with a message if need be.”

  The logistics of contacting someone across realms made me glance again at the phone Nigellus was using to light my way along the uneven stone floor. I gestured to it.

  “No cell phone service in Hell, then?” I asked. “Shocking. Next you’ll be telling me that the only internet connections are dial-up. Honestly, though, I’m more interested in the fact that the flashlight app still works. Dhuinne fried my phone the moment I tried to power it up.”

  Nigellus let out a quiet breath of amusement. “No—while the denizens of Hell aren’t big on the sort of technology that so fascinates humans, there’s nothing inherently hostile to technology here. Any device brought from Earth will work, mechanically and electronically speaking. Though as you’ve correctly guessed, no carrier waves or cell phone towers exist here—and you will run into a serious challenge once the battery dies.”

  We emerged from the cave into a strange and wonderful landscape. I blinked as the light hit my eyes. An impression of orange and ochre with lots of rocks and not much in the way of vegetation registered in my awareness. I would have stared at it longer if it weren’t for the two hulking figures flanking the entrance, one on each side.

  They were demons.

  Which sounded like a stupid thing to be thinking, given that I was in Hell. But they were demon demons, with the horns and the red, leathery skin and the giant freaking bat wings. I gaped at them like a half-wit.

  Holy. Fuck.

  SEVENTEEN

  I MADE SOME KIND of ridiculous and embarrassing noise—the kind a mouse makes right before a cat pounces on it, or that a rabbit makes, right before the hawk’s talons close around it. In a sudden panic, I whirled around, expecting to find that Nigellus had transformed into childhood nightmare-fodder as well.

  He hadn’t.

  The guards looked at me quizzically, not making any threatening moves, and I made a concerted effort to get my shit together. They were demons. Okay. If Fae used glamour to pass as human on Earth, why the heck should they be any different?

  “Sorry,” I squeaked, and cleared my throat before continuing in a more normal tone. “Wings and horns. Should’ve seen that coming. Totally didn’t. No offense intended.”

  I wondered if Nigellus had failed to mention this little tidbit because he thought it would be funny to see me lose my shit, or because he assumed I wasn’t dim enough to expect demons in Hell to look human.

  “Guards, this is Zorah,” Nigellus said, as though my faux pas had never happened. “She is my guest. She is also demonkin, and therefore free to come and go as she pleases.”

  One of the guards nodded. “Oh, so you’re that one, eh? There’s been a lot of chatter about you the last few days. Well, you know what they say—welcome to Hell.”

  I made myself hold his gaze. “Thanks. And sorry again about freaking out on you. Wings and horns are awesome. Seriously.”

  The guards looked more amused than anything—fortunately for me, since I was pretty sure either one of them could squash me like a bug. I also had a feeling that Nigellus was smirking at me on the inside, even if he was too practiced at the whole suave and sophisticated routine to show it openly.

  “Do I get a look at your wings while we’re here?” I asked him, genuinely curious. With the shock wearing off, I could appreciate the demons’ appearance for what it was. Wings and horns really were kind of awesome.

  Nigellus quirked an eyebrow at me. “Perhaps another time. The transformation is hard on one’s tailoring.”

  “I just bet.” With a deep breath, I turned back to the desolate landscape beyond the cave. “Okay, now that we’re here, where can I find my father?”

  “He will be residing in the human settlement,” Nigellus said, pointing toward a collection of distant structures tucked in a valley some distance away. “Normally, I would transport us there directly. But the walk to get there is not unpleasant, and it will give you a chance to look around your other home.”

  I nodded, not sure how I felt about thinking of this place as home. Regardless, it was a good suggestion, especially since I’d need to know the way back to this cave so I could test my ability to get through the gate on my own.

  “Fair day to you then, Nigellus. Zorah,” said the more talkative of the two guards.

  I waggled my fingers in an awkward wave. “Thanks. Um, see you
around, I guess.”

  Nigellus acknowledged the pair with a nod, and we started down the trail leading from the cave toward the settlement. Hell looked similar to pictures I’d seen of desert areas in the southwest, if Arizona or New Mexico had skies done in shades of red and orange. It really was a desolate place… assuming all of it looked like this part. Of course, that was a big assumption to make about an entire world, based only on what was within eyesight.

  “You know,” I said, giving Nigellus a grateful look when he took my bag and slung it over his shoulder, “if you could somehow bring half of Dhuinne’s out of control plant life here, both places would be in better shape.”

  “Hmm,” Nigellus said in a noncommittal tone, “You noticed the plants while you were in the Fae realm, then?”

  I scoffed. “They were a bit hard to miss, yeah. It’s like nature is actively trying to take over the whole world and drag it back into the jungle.”

  “So I have heard,” Nigellus offered. “It does make one wonder what happened to alter the balance.”

  I shot him a glance. “You mean it wasn’t always like that?”

  “Indeed not.”

  I pondered that for a moment, but I had no way of knowing what might be going on behind the scenes in Dhuinne to piss off the local plant life.

  “What about Hell?” I asked instead. “Was it always so desolate?”

  “Always, yes.” Nigellus looked around, as though soaking in his surroundings. “Demonkind requires little in the way of either amenities or sustenance. That being said, it is true that these past few centuries, we have had a larger than normal number of mortals residing in Hell. That does tend to put a greater strain on the existing resources.”

  Gravel crunched beneath my shoes. “How many humans are here, anyway?”

  Nigellus lifted a shoulder. “I’m unsure of the exact number. I daresay they outnumber the demons at this point. Fae are a long-lived race, with a correspondingly low birth rate. But even so, they’ve been sending the Tithe for a couple of centuries now.”