by Jen Pretty
"She led me to war many times, always keeping me close to her. We battled against monsters and men. She kept the balance, no matter which way it swung, she pushed it back to the center again."
"Watching her swing a sword from the back of her horse was the most magnificent thing I have ever seen," he said, smiling at me. His face was so open when he spoke. "I devoted my life to her, and when I died, she brought me back, immortal, so I could continue to serve her."
My eyes went wide. “She made you a vampire?”
“Yes, it was the greatest day of my life. One I will never forget.”
His words echoed through the tunnel and silence descended on us. Our feet scuffled over the cement in a steady rhythm.
Durga made him a vampire.
She pushed forward and spoke. “I would do it again in a heartbeat. My bravest warrior.” She reached out, squeezed his hand, and then retreated inside me.
I felt like I had intruded on a private moment. Their history was so long. Beyond my comprehension. I studied Ninel’s profile as we walked through the tunnel. His broad nose and hardened features certainly made him look like a gladiator.
I was still studying him when Alex spoke. “We should look through some of these smaller tunnels.”
I dragged my eyes away from Ninel and took in the rest of the space. I could see dozens of tunnels coming off the main one, in both directions. Alex was still talking about the tunnels, so I tuned back into the conversation.
“The word is that the main tunnel goes from one end of the city to the other. There are also stories about living quarters and cities down here.”
“Some of those stories are true,” I spun around to see Vincent behind us. My heart stuttered a second before I found my words.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Making sure you don't end up in a Russian prison.”
Durga shot forward at his words. Her anger was palpable.
When my eyes bled to red Vincent smiled. “Good. I wanted to say something to you, Durga,” he said. “Lark agreed to help my brother. I don’t want you taking over and trying to kill him before she does that.”
“You do not control me. Nor do you control Lark. She may worry about your feelings, but I do not. I care for the balance, and your brother has fallen. He will not stop his rampage, and I will not suffer his darkness to walk the earth.”
“That’s your choice I suppose, but you should know I have Drew.”
He let the words hang in the air. The tension grew as Durga processed the implications.
“Where is my Drew?” she asked, her voice a low growl.
“He is fine. I've just kept him safe for you so that you might consider the plea for my brother's life.”
“You attempt to blackmail me? You think I will fold to your will just because you hold one of mine?”
Durga launched herself forward and slid our knife into Vincent's stomach. He fell over backwards, landing on the cement. Durga rode him down and then brought her face close to his.
“I could kill you and then kill your brother and all the vampires you have ever made. I could destroy your whole bloodline and then every vampire who walks the earth.” Her words echoed through the place, and her heaving breaths were the only noise for several tense moments. I didn’t dare move. I prayed she wouldn’t kill Vincent here in this tunnel. He was being an idiot. This was crazy.
“Please?” he rasped.
“Your love for humanity and your family is the only reason my knife is not in your neck right now Vincent. I will not abide this. You will leave this place and go back to your twin. Stay with him while Lark and I do this thing that we must do. We will try to save your brother, but this is not the way. You are too close and cannot be reasonable.”
Vincent nodded. He still hadn’t tried to move; he let Durga talk.
“You will also never threaten one of mine again. Drew belongs to me.” She bared her teeth at him as though she was a vampire. I supposed she was kind of the baddest vampire of all, except she didn’t drink blood.
Durga twisted our knife, and Vincent groaned “Yes, Durga.”
Singh huffed, breaking the tension.
Durga rose, leaving the knife in Vincent's stomach. He grabbed hold of it, but she put her boot on the hilt. He groaned. Blood was spilling out of the wound and soaking the beige uniform.
“You will not blame Lark if she must kill your brother because he is fallen. I am not wrong, but I will give him one chance. He will have one moment before I decide, no more. This is the gift I give you because of Lark. I would not give this boon if not for her.
“Thank you, Goddess,” he whispered.
She removed my boot from the hilt of the knife and settled back inside me, leaving me in charge again.
Vincent rose. His face a mask. I wanted to see him smile but knew I wouldn’t see it anytime soon. Maybe never after today. Vincent had turned from chasing down his brother to wanting to save him so fast, I still couldn’t believe he was this determined. I searched his face for some sign of the softness I used to see when he looked at me, but it was all cold and hard. Swallowing the desire to fix this any way possible, I watched as he dropped my knife and turned, striding back down the tunnel.
“Holy fuck that guy has a death wish,” Alex whispered.
“Not news,” I replied turning away from Vincents receding back. He had pushed Durga more than once and even tried to get me to kill him once when Durga first appeared. I thought of all the times I sparred with him, and he let it get way too far. I wondered if Vincent didn't value his life. That was a thought for later. We had work to do, and I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. I needed out of these tunnels and out of this city. The level of crazy was off the charts.
I sighed and followed along behind the guys who had picked up the conversation in Russian. Too busy with my thoughts to join in any way, I followed them until I felt a tug. I stopped walking, but only Singh noticed.
“Hey guys,” I said.
They swung around and looked at me.
“There is something down here.” I pointed to the tunnel beside me. It wasn't like the pull of a vampire. It was something else.
Something dark.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The tunnel was dark; there were no lights in this section. We crept forward guided by our headlamps, but the shadows were thick. It was like the shadows in the cavern between where we found Vincent and where we came out in Metro Two. So far Metro Two didn’t seem like the hidden underground city they rumoured it to be, but something strange was in this tunnel. I felt eyes tracking my movement, skimming over me and trying to pull me apart. The hair rose on the back of my neck and goosebumps lifted on my arms. Singh slid in beside me, his whiskers brushed against my waterproof pants, making a whisper sound in the stillness. We all walked on quiet feet.
Something flashed through my headlamp beam. I tried to track it as it moved, but it was fast.
“What was that?” Alex whispered.
Singh growled so low it was inaudible, but I felt it vibrate from him. The echo of unsheathing knives and swords broke the silence.
Turning my head, I tried to get a map of the space, there was another tunnel going off to the right, and ahead the tunnel kept going farther than my light could reach.
This place was a maze. I hoped my batteries were good. Being in here in the pitch black was not on my list of 'fun things to do and see in Russia.'
Wings flapping and the rustling of feathers filled the quiet. It was low at first, distant, but then it grew like a freight train.
Vilen yelled, and I turned to see him surrounded by birds a moment before they crashed into me. Their sharp beaks stabbed at my face, and their nails tore at my hair. I smacked the small birds away. Their delicate wings flailed as they tumbled to the ground. The dark magic clung to them, and I knew the witch was controlling them.
“Run,” Alex yelled.
I didn’t think twice. I threw my hands over my head and r
an blindly down the tunnel. The birds flapped after me as I ran. The sound of the guy's feet pounding behind me told me I wasn’t running alone. I glanced back for a second to make sure everyone was with me, but before I could get a head count, I was falling.
I let out a squeak before I collapsed to the ground in a heap. Groaned, I pushed my face off the dirt, rolling over onto my back to count the injuries. There was a sharp stabbing pain in my leg. I bit my lip to keep from crying out. Reaching out, I ran my hand blindly down my leg until I came to a place it bent at ninety degrees to the left.
Hot wet blood pooled inside my waterproof pant leg, confirming I had done more than a little damage. The fact no one had fallen on top of me was an upside to the situation. I stared into the dark hoping my eyes would adjust, but without my headlamp, it was all just black. I reached around behind me, and my fingers whispered over the strap for my headlamp but knew before I even tried that I broke it. My forehead had a welt the approximate size and shape of the lamp.
“Lark, you ok?” Alex called from the top of the hole I fell in.
“Yeah,” I muttered. I didn’t bother yelling. I felt the stabbing pain in my ribs. It would need a few minutes to heal, and they would have heard my whisper, anyway.
Durga’s healing was already working. I felt the bone in my leg snap back into place. Vomit rose in my mouth, but I swallowed it back down. I had not vomited once in Russia, and I would leave the city the way it was when I came. Lark puke free.
I lay back on the cement floor to wait for my leg to finish healing. The cold seeped in, and I shivered. Half from the temperature, but some from shock too. Or maybe blood loss. My foot was swimming in blood now inside my boot.
I felt a breeze and heard a light thud before Singh's comforting purr motor started.
“Hey, buddy,” I whispered as he lay beside me. He dropped a drooled-on flashlight on my chest and then set his head on my shoulder. His heat permeated my clothes and warmed me. Closing my eyes, I tried not to think about anything but knew I needed to get moving. I was positive now that the witch responsible for the magic in these tunnels was nearby and I didn’t want to sit and wait for her to bring her magic down on me again.
I moved around, testing my leg and ribs. There was no immediate stab of pain. So, I clicked on the flashlight and pushed off the floor. I slid out from under the lion's head and sat up. Singh curled around my back and supported me until the room stopped spinning. The guys had been arguing in Russian for several minutes when I stood and got a good look at the hole I was in. The edges were ragged, like a sinkhole, but the ground was smooth like I had fallen into a sub-level. I didn't think it was an accident though. This was purposeful. Anyone who knew anything about Durga would know this wouldn't stop her. She flittered about in my stomach, angry at the delay. If the goal was to tick her off, consider the objective achieved.
“Hey, guys!” I yelled over the Russian's arguing.
“Hey, Lark. We are just discussing how to get you out of there,” Alex replied.
“Ok, cause it doesn’t look like there is any way out except up,” I said.
The walls on two sides were smooth like a man-made tunnel, but the front and back had caved in with rock and dirt. The hole was about forty feet up.
“Do you guys have a rope?” I asked after inspecting the hole I was in.
“We do, but not enough. We could send someone back to get more rope.” Alex didn’t seem sure about that idea. It was a long way back, and we would be sitting ducks in the meantime.
I looked at Singh. He stood up and walked in front of me, sidling up like he did when he rubbed his face on my stomach, but instead stopped and lay at my feet.
Durga pushed me to get on the lion. I didn't understand why that would help, but Durga insisted, so I sat on Singh, and he wasted no time. He stood and walked to the rubble wall like I weighed nothing. Then he reared back and leapt ten feet up onto a boulder. I grabbed onto his thick mane and wrapped my legs around his waist. His talons tore into the dirt and stone as he leapt straight up the wall from the narrow edge of rock to a piece of fallen cement.
If I hadn’t been hanging on for dear life, I would have almost enjoyed the feeling of being launched into space.
Maybe not.
But when Singh made the last leap and landed softly beside Alex, I found a new respect for my lion friend. He was more than a lazy house cat sometimes.
I slid off the lion's back and looked around the tunnel. The birds had disappeared. The guys had small scratches and scrapes on their faces, all healed thanks to vampire healing, but drops of dried blood lingered, marking the places the little birds had dug in.
I turned back towards the hole in the floor. There was a narrow path around the hole on one side.
The darkness was emanating from the far end of the tunnel. Or somewhere past the hole.
I took a deep breath and the first squishy step towards the small path. The blood in my boot was uncomfortable and growing colder by the minute, but I had to end this.
Alex jogged past me, to cross the path around the hole before me. He flashed me a quick smile and then pressed up against the wall and crept along to the far side. I followed his lead, inching my feet along. The flashlight somehow made it up out of the hole with Singh and me. I shone it down the tunnel when we got past the hole in the floor but still couldn’t see the end or anything for that matter. Whatever this witch was using to hide was powerful magic.
I passed Alex, not wanting to leave him in the lead if we ran into something more powerful than a vampire. I knew from the stories Vincent told me that witches and warlocks could kill vampires and had hunted them long ago before they signed the treaty.
The shadows got thicker, swallowing the light beam, the farther we walked. I felt the push to turn around again, but it was an old trick now. I recognized it for what it was. Magic. I also had magic, thanks to Durga and pressed on.
“Lark, do you think it is much farther?” Alex rasped into the eerie silence.
I was about to reply when I heard something. It was a quick whizzing noise. Strong arms shoved me out of the way, knocking me to the ground. Then there was a gurgled noise followed by a thud.
I crawled across the ground and grabbed the flashlight that flew from my hand and swung it back to find everyone on the ground, but Alex lay on his back, his chest bowing to the ceiling as blood gushed from the wound on his neck. I crawled to him and pressed my free hand to the wound. It hadn’t severed his spine, but I could see the glistening white of the bone for a second before blood covered it.
“Shit,” I said, looking around for what had done this.
Ninel and Vilen rose to their feet, and beyond them, I saw a sword laying on the ground. It was intricate like a piece of art, not a weapon any of the team was using. It had almost decapitated Alex.
Durga rose and spread heat into my hand until it was so hot, I wanted to let go of Alex. He screamed and thrashed on the ground, my scream joining his. It seemed to go on forever, but finally, the heat dissipated and I could remove my hand. Durga had healed Alex, again. He would have recovered on his own, but it seemed she had taken a shine to the strange vampire.
“He is mine,” she whispered directly to me. It was a strange and personal way for her to communicate. One she had only used once before. It felt like talking to myself, like the two of us were one person. I wasn’t sure how to feel about it, but at the moment I was happy she had saved Alex. I was tired of this witch's tricks. It was time for action.
Durga agreed.
I stood and raised my arms, hoping Durga would play along. Of course, she did, the little drama queen.
She divided my arms until I stood in the tunnel in her image and with all the rage I could muster I screamed.
“Come forth you filthy magic wielder. I will not abide your games.”
Our skin glowed a soft green, illuminating the darkness that tried to absorb us.
All around, etchings on the walls appeared. The words were in Sanskrit a
nd Durga scanned them before scoffing.
“You think your God will save you from me?” She snorted. “Come forth or suffer my wrath!”
I was sure the witch would suffer our wrath anyway, but what slunk out of the shadows made my jaw drop.
A tiny boy of no more than six stood before us. My breath caught in my throat. His hair was scraggly and dirty and his clothes tattered. He sniffled and wiped his nose. Durga rose to stare at him too. His small frame shook in the cold tunnel, and he wrapped his arms around himself. He kept his eyes trained on his shoes. They were two sizes too big, and his bare ankles showed between the tops of his shoes and the bottom of his too-small pants.
“Who are you?” I whispered, stepping forward.
Singh blocked me from going closer. It was just a small boy though. I couldn't imagine how he got down here, but he looked lost and cold. I wanted to scoop him up and take him away.
“Um, Lark?” Alex said from behind me. I didn’t turn around. The little boy's blue eyes caught mine and I couldn’t turn away. It was like he was my little boy, so beautiful and perfect and everything I had ever wanted. His dark hair was an exact match for my own, but his eyes. They were Vincent’s. As soon as the thought entered my mind, I could see other signs of Vincent. The shape of his nose and his lips. The corner of his mouth curled in a tentative smile and I was lost. My heart stopped in my chest.
I squatted down and opened my arms to him. The smile on my face was genuine. I wanted to care for this little boy and make him so happy. I wanted to watch him grow and flourish and never see him cold or dirty again.
“Durga!” Ninel shouted from behind me.
“Come here, it’s ok,” I said, ignoring the vampire behind me. Durga watched through my eyes, her love for him as strong as my own, but when the boy looked frightened, she slid away and let my eyes bleed back to their usual chocolate brown.