The Beast Inside

by David Horrocks

  The queen was still holed up within the impenetrable walls of her estate, which Katherine’s men had put under siege in the hope of starving her out, while Katherine herself worked on a plan of attack using the blueprints that Harold Fletcher had provided. It wouldn't be long before the final assault was underway and the fate of the city would be decided.

  The key part of the plan was to use a small group to infiltrate the fortress through a hidden passage that led underneath the street and into the estate’s basement, catching anyone inside the building off guard and driving them out into the waiting firing line. This was to be the last push against the queen and the final stage of Katherine’s vendetta against someone that she had once called a friend.

  Alice stepped in something squishy. Trying to ignore the sensation of what she was standing in and the smell that came with it, she continued to push on, hopping from the relative dryness of a stone step and into another pool of murky, knee high water.

  The tunnel was so dark that even her enhanced vision had trouble seeing much more than the outline of the walls and the others walking directly in front of her. The group wasn't using any form of light source, as they didn't want to alert anyone ahead of them who might be lying in wait. It meant that wading through the waterlogged tunnel was slow going, but there was a higher chance of them making it through safely.

  Harold had been insistent that the tunnel wasn't booby trapped and that it hadn’t been for a long time, but he didn't seem like the trustworthy type and so Alice wasn't convinced by his words. Especially when he wasn't even present to back up his statement, staying behind to tend to his 'guests’ within the asylum.

  Holding a handgun in one hand with a dagger hanging at her waist, Alice was armed for combat, but hadn't been given much more than the basic training. Matty had tried to convince Katherine that Alice wasn't ready for a combat mission and that she should stay behind, but Katherine wasn't having any of it.

  “She's vital to the mission.” She had said. “You’ll be charged with keeping her safe when the fighting breaks out.”

  Alice felt a little annoyed when people spoke about her like she wasn't there. She wasn't completely helpless, as she had taken down more that a few of the men that had hunted her through the storage yard and into the streets just the other night. Granted, she was eventually overcome by their sheer number, but it wasn't a fair fight.

  “Fights are rarely fair.” Matty had told her.

  She knew that, but she could hold her own if she needed. Alice couldn't be mad at him, as he was only trying to keep her safe, but she wanted to protect him too. He had fully healed, but she could still recall the state she had seen him in the night they rescued her from the warehouse.

  Alice wasn't as good a marksman as Matty, that's for sure. He had a little more practice in that department, but bullets weren't guaranteed to take down a vampire anyway. Okay, so he was better at hand to hand combat too, but she also had skills that he didn't have. Mind control, mind reading and her unpredictable precognition to name a few. Plus she could move with supernatural speed in a pinch. Not as quickly as Katherine, but much faster than a mortal ever could. So it wasn't the most impressive selection of abilities, but it was nothing to turn your nose up at. Perhaps she could help sway the fight without even firing a shot. Now wouldn't that be something!

  Alice continued to follow the others through the pitch black darkness of the dank tunnel. Vincent was somewhere at the front, competing with Shani to take the lead. Close behind them was Katherine, who Alice could only just make out from her place in the line.

  The person directly in front of Alice was the mysterious and unbelievably disturbing witch, Morgana. The robed woman was deathly silent and hadn't said two words to her, only speaking to Katherine in a whisper. Perhaps she believed everyone else to be beneath her attention, or maybe she was just rude. Whatever. She clearly had an attitude problem and a superiority complex to boot.

  Matty was at the rear of the group, located just behind Alice. He was dressed from head to toe in full combat gear, looking as though he had never been honourably discharged from the army. His rifle was a little on the large side compared to her pathetically small pistol, but he definitely looked like he knew how to use it.

  Alice had never seen someone look and move so professionally. Matty appeared as though he was made for combat, but she knew him better than that. He abhorred violence these days and would avoid it if he could, but orders were orders and he wouldn't leave her undefended.

  There was an uncomfortable silence as everyone in the group resolved to keep quiet, with only a constant dripping and the sound of bodies pushing through deep water echoing down the long tunnel. Alice had lost all track of time in their seemingly endless trawl through the stagnant pools that had sat there undisturbed for decades.

  The water's surface was layered with dust, debris and doubtless all sorts of bacteria that Alice really didn't want to think about. Moving through it dredged up sludge and other more solid pieces of matter that were unidentifiable, but left a pungent odor in their wake. They had to be nearing the end by now, as the tunnel itself shouldn't have been more than a couple of miles in length.

  Almost bumping into the back of Morgana, Alice hadn't realised that their slow procession had halted until she had almost tangled herself in the witches damp robes. She thought to herself that robes were a poor choice for this task as their thick layers must have soaked up a considerable amount of the putrid water, making them heavy and their stench unpalatable. The witch didn't seem to care though. She was clearly used to living in dirt and squalor as she had hidden from Queen Marquette's enforcer for years.

  A whisper passed down the line by everyone except Morgana let Alice and Matty know that they had reached the end of the passage. To her surprise, it appeared that Mr Fletcher hadn't lied at all and the tunnel was actually free of traps.

  Surely the queen must have been aware of a hidden passageway that lead into the heart of her estate. The architect wouldn't have kept it a secret unless… Unless he planned to use it himself later on, in a situation such as this. Vampires really were untrusting creatures, always preparing to stab others in the back before they met a similar fate themselves.

  Harold Fletcher knew that his designs for a fortress were near impregnable, which meant that he had built this secret entrance without anyone else's knowledge, planning on using it as leverage at a later date. It was never designed to be an escape route, but a way for his allies to get into the queen's home undetected. It seemed that Mr Fletcher was a dastardly man, who used his cunning to keep himself several steps ahead of anyone else.

  **********

  A ladder lead up from the damp underbelly of the estate, ending in a hidden door behind the stonework that rumbled open to reveal the dark and uninviting basement that lay beyond. The large room was segmented into narrow hallways that ran parallel to each other, with cells separating them and shackles lining the hard stone walls.

  It was a dungeon that had been designed to keep Queen Marquette's playthings secured, leaving them imprisoned there so she could take her time to enjoy their suffering. There was no one held captive at the moment, with anyone who had been there likely being used to satiate the hunger of the starving regent.

  Ancient tools of torture stood ominously in one corner of the room, with unidentifiable stains that were left in blotches along the stonework. They were horrific devices that were designed only to cause harm such as an iron maiden, a wooden rack and a large brazen bull cast from bronze, that had lost its bright colours over the years through a great deal of use.

  Alice could sense the twisted souls of those who had died there needlessly, their spirits trapped and unable to pass on to the afterlife. It was a cruel existence, but not something that she was able to help them with, as the entire building would have to be demolished in order to release them from their eternal torment.

  As the group made their way up the winding stairs to the main floor with Vincent still leadi
ng the way, Alice noted that all of the lights in the place were off. It seemed that their infiltration hadn't gone unnoticed and that they had been expected to show up.

  “Strange.” Growled Vincent in his usual bestial voice. “No guards.”

  He was right. The halls of the estate should have been populated with the queen's royal guards, but there were none in sight.

  Katherine nodded, remaining silent as she gestured down a corridor for him to take point. Shani had seemingly vanished, likely using her powers of stealth to blend in with the shadows of which there were plenty.

  Katherine and Morgana followed Vincent, both nonchalant as they walked shoulder to shoulder. It was as if they were equals instead of rivals, at least for the time being. Matty kept close to Alice in a similar fashion, but with his weapon drawn and ready for action. She could feel the strength inside of him, coiled up and ready to strike.

  The halls of the massive homestead were indeed devoid of life, with no trace of those who had previously occupied them. Alice took the time to admire old tapestries that adorned the walls as she passed. They depicted an age long gone, with wars, art and poetry from the French Renaissance that Renita Marquette was so fond of.

  There was beauty in the images, with a great deal of effort and craftsmanship that had gone into every stitch. They were representations of a country and time where people took life at a slower and more relaxed pace. A far cry from the new world, where everyone was always in a hurry and there was never enough time to do anything.

  Candelabras had been snuffed out and lanterns were left unlit as the group proceeded to move towards the centre of the estate in a hushed manner. It wasn't as slow going as the tunnel, but the atmosphere was so tense now that every echoing footstep caused Alice to cringe. If she heard a single pin drop in the quiet of the halls, she would have likely jumped out of her skin.

  A trap could be sprung at any time and each and every one of them seemed to be expecting it. Something was terribly wrong, making Alice believe that retreat might actually be the wisest option, but no one had communicated any change in their plans as of yet.

  Vincent stopped at a door ahead, sniffing the air as he picked up the scent of something on the other side of its sturdy wood. He looked back at the rest of them, raising a hand to halt their progress as he pushed the door open as carefully and quietly as he possibly could. It didn't even creak as he opened it just a crack, but Alice’s nostrils were suddenly assaulted by the nauseating smell of blood and decay.

  Someone in the room beyond was dead, but it wasn't just one person lying there on the other side… It was an awful lot of them.

  **********

  “This is a bad omen. What in the nine hells happened here?”

  Morgana had broken her silence for the first time, talking with an eerie whisper that sent a chill through Alice's body.

  The room before them was littered with dead bodies in various states of decay. The death of a vampire was never a pretty sight, but this was something else altogether. Decapitations, dismemberment, and the impaling of heads upon spikes, the disturbing brutality of it all. Only an army of vampires or maybe even hunters could have done something like this, or perhaps it was a monster of such immense strength that they could take on the brunt of the queen's forces singlehandedly. Alice knew that after everything she had seen in her life, anything was possible.

  Too distraught by what she had seen, Alice struggled to form words, instead deciding to remain quiet as she let the others converse between themselves.

  Katherine started by confirming the obvious.

  “It seems that we missed the massacre.”

  Vincent crouched down next to one of the bodies and dabbed a finger in a pool of blood, raising it to his mouth to lick it clean.

  “They were killed recently. Maybe even within the last hour.”

  Matty had stayed at the door, keeping an eye out for anyone or anything heading their way.

  Shani hadn't been seen for a while, but she was still somewhere near as Alice could still feel her presence. The place was too messy for the assassin to be the culprit. She preferred the precision of slicing with a blade, not tearing people apart with her bare hands. It just wasn’t her style.

  Standing up straight to take another look around the room, Vincent snarled.

  “Who could have done this?”

  If they had bothered to look at the expression on Katherine's face, they would have seen her sly smile as she replied.

  “I have my suspicions.”

  It seemed that Vincent was going to come up with his own ideas of who could have committed such an act when something else occurred to him.

  “This isn't all of them. The queen has more men than this…”

  Alice finally spoke her part, sensing something else deeper within the fortress-like estate.

  “There are more nearby.”

  Calling to the others from his lookout place near the main hallway, Matty alerted them to something he had overheard.

  “Voices. We're not alone.”

  The others rushed over to the door, with Katherine sauntering behind as she stepped over a minefield of limbs. They stopped by the doors edge, readying themselves for a fight that was yet to come.

  “It's traditional for there to be a retinue of servants within the queen's chambers.” Katherine said with certain calm. “Also, we have yet to see the Furies, Sir Chevalier or the queen herself.”

  Vincent grunted an agreement before heading through the open door, muttering his next words so they could only just be heard.

  “Proceed with caution, my brother isn't so easily overcome.”

  Alice gulped, following Katherine and Morgana quickly. She gripped her handgun tightly, holding onto it as if it were a security blanket and it could protect her from harm.

  Matty was close behind, watching their flanks as he observed their surroundings with suspicion. The mission had been too easy so far and it was likely that the worst was yet to come.

  **********

  As the group neared the final doorway at the far end of the hall, they could hear the desperate pleading of a woman in distress, accompanied by the voice of another speaking in Russian. Before they could even burst through the door to surprise anyone waiting on the other side, a bellowing roar caused them to hesitate, followed by a wet snap that silenced the woman's cries indefinitely.

  Vincent and Matty moved to stand on both sides of the double doors, each of them grasping a door handle before running through a silent countdown. With a slam that almost took the doors right off their hinges, the duo charged into the room, Matty with his rifle drawn and Vincent wielding claws that had grown from his finger tips. Their charge came to a sudden halt as they were caught by surprise by what waited for them there.

  There was no army. No massive beast ready to rip them apart. Just an elegantly dressed woman, blonde hair drenched with blood as she stood victorious over the lifeless corpses of two similarly dressed women. One with fiery red hair, and the other with hair as black as night. A Grecian styled mask lay at her feet, cleft in twain.

  Katherine pushed past the the gormless looking pair who stared at the woman in front of them in disbelief.

  “Did you leave anything for us, Nadia?”

  Nadia Djorkaeff, the blonde haired Fury, curtsied as she flashed a wicked grin at her maker. The red stained dress, that was at one time a bright blue, was torn in a few places and looking a little worse for wear. Her Russian accent was as thick and clear as it always had been.

  “I couldn't let you have all the fun.” She looked down at her former sisters. “Although I admit… I got a little carried away.”

  Katherine cackled, placing a hand on her offsprings arm.

  “And the queen?”

  “Still hiding within her chambers.”

  Taking one last look at the shredded remains of the other two Furies, Katherine turned to face her followers.

  “Good, now it's our turn. There's no going back now. Let's drag
the bitch queen from her throne. Kicking and screaming if we have to.”

  The glint in her mentor’s eye left Alice with a feeling of dread, but she knew that it was far too late to turn back now. She had fallen too deep down the rabbit hole and the blood was on her hands too.

  As Vincent gave Matty a knowing glance and shrugged his shoulders like it was just another day in the office, Morgana decided to ask the question that the rest of them had been wondering.

  “You are but a child, yet you did this all by yourself?”

  Nadia wiped her hands on a clean area of her dress, turning it the same shade as the rest.

  “We all have our talents.” She said with a smirk. “They never suspected that one of their own would turn on them.“

  Wary of the slender woman who had killed so many on her own, Alice gingerly asked a follow up question.

  “But they were your friends, weren't they?”

  Throwing a serious look her way, Nadia answered in a way that was devoid of emotion.

  “I have no friends. All I have is my loyalty to the one who gave me true life.”

  Alice thought it funny that Nadia showed such devotion to someone that she herself was having her own doubts about, but she refrained from showing any feelings on the subject. Instead she simply nodded fake acceptance, turning her attention to Matty who was checking his equipment over as they got ready for the final push.

  The faces of the two dead Furies seemed to be judging her, eyes still open and leaking the last of their immortal essence. Alice tried to look away, but she could still feel them watching as their flesh began to decompose. Death was inescapable and would eventually claim everyone, even her. There was no avoiding it.

  **********