Either way, she needed to act fast. She scouted out a couple of the other flowerpots lying around and checked them for mushrooms. If mana was blowing in here through the hole Monk had made in the door, then she could do magic.
And that changed everything.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE - Cometh The Hour
Darwin jumped to the side as the refrigerator from the kitchen upstairs fell into the basement. He looked cautiously above, wondering if the ceiling would hold or whether the entire building was about to come crashing down on top of him. His attention returned to the tentacles trying to encircle him. He swatted another one aside with the sword.
He was already exhausted, his ribs still hurting from where D'Toeni had kicked them. But the arrival of West had snapped him out of his depression. Maybe if he got them all through safely, he could explain. Maybe the vampires would understand, forgive him.
"Darwin, we need the sword," Monk called out from the passageway where he and Honest Tom tore at the broken door. He was about to run over and join them when Cassidy called out again.
"Darwin! Help!"
He glanced over to see tentacles wrapped round her middle hoisting her to the ceiling. Damn her, he thought. This was all her fault. He should leave her there, go to Monk and Honest Tom, try and regain some of their lost faith in him. But from the pained look on her face as she tried to push the coils around her away, Cassidy was in real trouble.
"Fuck."
Another tip of a tentacle came dangerously close - the mass of them intertwining across the room made it impossible to tell whose it was - and he swatted it away a little more aggressively.
"She has you round her little finger," he grumbled to himself as he leapt through the gap he'd just created, vaulted another limb and brought the sword down hard on the tentacle now holding her. There was a scream, the wound spitting black blood as the limb was severed in two. Cassidy dropped to the floor and the stump hastily recoiled.
Without even checking if Cassidy was OK, he turned to make his way back toward the passageway, only to meet the bloody end of the tentacle coming back round to swat him. It lifted him off of his feet, the sword falling out of his hand as he was flung back hard against a wall.
His head rang as it connected with brick and slumped to the floor dazed and confused.
Get up, he thought to himself. Get up and get out. Pain seemed to flood into him, not just from his spine and back of his head, but from the earlier facial and rib injuries. He felt beaten, defeated and didn't know if he had the energy to carry on. Win back their trust, he thought. Show them your worth.
He hauled himself to his feet, picked up the sword and looked around him. The old lady seemed to be searching in flowerpots for something, no time to save her. Cassidy was swatting away encroaching tentacles with a frying pan that had fallen from the kitchen above. But at the other end of the basement, he saw Brian and D'Toeni battling the one that had been referred to as Mr Magellan. D'Toeni was fiercer than Darwin had ever seen him, snarling and ripping at the wall of tentacles Magellan had placed between him and the vampire. And as Darwin watched, he saw Magellan transform into a second oversized cephalopod. The ceiling groaned again as he grew above the height of the basement, and there were crashes around him as further items from upstairs crashed through. That ceiling wasn't going to last very long.
"Darwin. The Sword. Now!"
Mr North was making his way around the break in realities, starting to send tentacles down the passageway. Magellan meanwhile cocooned D'Toeni and continued to thrash Brian against the walls and ceiling.
That left him and the old lady.
He was tempted to run. Leave them all to their fates and just worry about himself. But where would he go? Would they still come after him? He sighed. He was going to die here, he knew it. Might as well face up to the fact and go down fighting.
As he ran toward Magellan, he felt tears sting his cheeks. For all his depression, he didn't want to die. No, not death he thought. Death wasn't what frightened him, it wasn’t even that nothingness that followed. He hated the idea that his life had meant nothing.
He found himself yell as he reached Magellan, Brian suspended by one tentacle, D'Toeni somewhere in the mass of ten or so limbs that entombed him. Darwin brought the sword down hard on this mass, judging where he thought D'Toeni wasn't. For an old sword it was still remarkably sharp as it sliced through the limbs with ease. The knot of limbs fell to the ground as the creature roared, rising once again from its crouching position, pushing up the ceiling. In the opposite corner, part of the floor above collapsed, a sofa and television tumbling into the cellar.
There was movement in the dead clump of tentacles as first a hand then a bloody face emerged. D'Toeni stared at Darwin as if he was waiting for some pithy remark. But Darwin had time for none and instead, focused his attention on Brian.
Magellan was thrashing. Brian slammed into both ceiling and floor with enough force to kill an ordinary man. Darwin rolled as a flailing tentacle came straight for him, but Magellan seemed oblivious to Darwin's presence until the vampire sliced through the tentacle holding Brian.
Brian fell to the floor, the dead strand of tentacle still choking him. No matter, he was a vampire and as such choking was merely painful rather than life threatening. Darwin's attention instead was Magellan who was now acutely aware of who had injured him so.
Magellan roared at him. Darwin wasn't going to be intimidated by an oversized octopus and instead, raised his sword and charged.
By his estimations, he'd sliced off around ten or eleven of Magellan's limbs, yet still it looked like two thirds of them still remained. The ones that were not used to enable the creature to stand now came at him, seemingly from all directions.
Instinctively, Darwin twirled a full three hundred and sixty degrees, sword angled to make contact with any limb that came too close. It was enough for Magellan to flinch backward toward the exploded wall. Darwin pushed his advantage. Swinging wildly with a distinct lack of finesse, lest any of those limbs try to approach him again, he pushed the creature back another couple of feet, before it stopped and roared at him again.
Darwin could make out the black slit of the mouth, even glimpsed what might have been a tooth as spittle and a smell of rotting fish hit him. He turned his head briefly for a second, but it was enough for Magellan to catch him off-guard as a tentacle side-swiped him. It wasn't enough to send him flying but enough to knock him tumbling across the rubble strewn floor.
Darwin was beyond pain now, adrenaline masking his injuries. He immediately got back up and charged at the creature. Magellan charged in return, scurrying on his remaining limbs. Darwin jumped, delivering a clumsy drop-kick to the creature's body. The creature stumbled back a few paces. Darwin landed awkwardly on the ground, his back and shoulder slamming into a piece of masonry. Get up he told himself, thinking of all those remaining limbs that would now be zeroing in on him. He saw Brian and D'Toeni run in front of him, grabbing at the thrashing tentacles and diverting Magellan's attention.
D'Toeni got whacked so hard, he hit the ceiling before falling back to the ground. By the time Darwin got to his feet, Brian had also been swatted out of the way.
Enough, thought Darwin. He'd had enough of the shit, the disrespect, the death and most of all his own self-loathing. He was Darwin, both human and vampire, and he was probably about to die.
It was his turn to roar, as much at the creature as to his own personal demons. The tentacles came at him, not trying to encircle him this time, but all from the same direction. Darwin refused to back off, refused to just stand ground. Instead, he stepped forward, no longer swinging wildly, but attacking as if he'd always been meant to wield this broken ornamental sword. He swung, ducked and twisted, his mind no longer a panic, but instead one of quick analysis and reaction. He cut through some limbs, caused others to divert and retract as he advanced. Limbs seemed to engulf him like some overgrown forest, though he made sure that none came near to touching him. He lift
ed his sword and plunged it into Magellan's inky black chest, just below the mouth slit.
The creature didn't scream as Darwin expected. It only gurgled, before thick black blood, started trickling, at first from the mouth slit, and then from the sword wound. Darwin pulled out the sword, the trickling turning into a gush, as Magellan's life poured out of him onto the floor below. He staggered, a step back, then another before toppling backward into the split between the realities, sending half of him into West's basement, and the other half into the passageway. Honest Tom and Monk both swore in surprise. He'd never liked Stevens, but to Darwin, this somehow felt like a small piece of justice.
There was no time for complacency. They still had another of those creatures to deal with, as well as a half-transformed West.
"Everyone get to the passageway," he shouted with an authority he'd not previously known, a confidence that surprised him.
It was time for them to leave.
CHAPTER FIFTY - Death Of A Gateway
Maureen found a flower pot with a number of mushrooms just as Mr North drew near. She was aware that behind her Simon was also advancing on her. Two against one little old lady might not seem like good odds but this was a little old lady who had been given back her magical powers. In her mind, that tipped the odds very much in her favour.
The creature loomed over her, but Maureen stood her ground. She'd not been intimidated by a bunch of elves, she wasn't about to be intimated by something that looked like it belonged in an aquarium.
"I would give him the notebook, Maureen," West called out from behind, his own attentions now focusing toward Cassidy, who was backing into a corner with a chair that had fallen from upstairs, outstretched like a Lion tamer. "Mr North is not as forgiving as me."
Maureen turned back to face the creature. "Take another step and I'll turn you into sushi."
She meant it as well. The possession of the mushrooms, along with the draft coming in through the gateway had empowered her. She was no longer the victim and those that had victimised her - West, his seafood friends, the vampires - were all about to find out.
North shot out a tentacle but Maureen reacted instantaneously, shooting up an ice shield that the limb crashed into. The ice cracked but her shield held. Maureen looked down and saw two of the mushrooms wither and die. She cursed herself for not being careful with her spells. She didn't have a whole lot of mushrooms, and needed to conserve her power.
She couldn't help notice Cassidy, scared and threatened by West. She didn't deserve any of this, poor girl. How she'd come to be mixed up with the vampires Maureen didn't know, but she was sure she couldn't have known what she was getting herself into. And now, West was threatening her. But to get to her, she needed to get past North.
She took a step forward. "Out of my way."
The creature gave off something Maureen was assumed was a laugh.
"So be it," she said with a scowl before casting an ice spell. Simple and cost effective. The floor turned to ice, the tentacles North was using to walk losing grip. North fought to stay upright, but he'd been caught unprepared and slipped onto his back.
"I warned you," Maureen said as the spell dissipated and she walked past.
Her attention now turned to West. His tentacle limbs had wrestled the chair from Cassidy's hands and smashed it to bits. That had been a decent strong chair, the one Maureen used whenever her back played up. Seeing this disregard for her property made her almost want to start to cry.
Instead she just filled with anger as she saw a tentacle wrap round Cassidy's neck and hoist her up. Cassidy clawed frantically at the coil around her, fighting for breath as West squeezed tighter and tighter. Another tentacle wrapped round the girl's feet.
West addressed Maureen without even turning round. "Come any closer Maureen and I will pull her apart."
"Leave her alone. What has she done to you?"
"More than you'll ever find out."
West turned to look at Maureen. "I mean it. I'll rip her in half."
Cassidy was now turning a shade of blue as she fought for breath. As if to prove a point, West pulled the coils a little tighter.
"Stop," Maureen cried. "You're killing her!"
"Give me the notebook then."
Maureen thought about it for a brief second. Even if she gave him the notebook, he'd try and kill her. Ernest had died trying to protect that information. She wasn't just going to give it away, no matter whose life was in danger.
And Simon might look at her as some helpless little old lady. Here, in this world, she was that. Old and frail; a woman whose greatest achievement was opening a door on time. Some life. But in the other world, the world that now blew through the door, she was someone; someone who didn't just have to do what she was told, didn't have to be afraid, didn't have to be pushed around by those who thought they held power. She held power.
There was a commotion behind her. Both West and her glanced back to see Magellan split in two.
"Guns," shouted West. "Why did no-one bring guns?"
"Everyone get to the passageway," came a shout.
Maureen looked back at Simon. He was looking at her slightly bemused. She looked down at her right fist and saw it was glowing with fire. Maureen looked back up.
"No, Simon. You'll not get the notebook. And you will let go of the girl or you'll suffer a similar fate to your friend back there."
Maureen glanced at Cassidy who despite her eyes starting to roll up into her head, managed a small nod.
"Maureen, Maureen. You're just full of surprises aren't you? I didn't think..."
Maureen didn't wait for him to finish. She shot the fist of fire from her hand. It exploded on him, setting light to him. It wouldn't last long enough to cause any serious damage, but all she needed was a few seconds.
West dropped Cassidy, who landed hard on her side but still had enough wits to scurry away from West toward Maureen as fast as her empty lungs would let her.
Maureen followed up the spell with an earthquake. It was a costly spell, using up all her remaining mushrooms, but it had the desired effect. Not only did it knock the smouldering West off his feet but it had its desired effect of starting to bring the rest of the ceiling down.
"Run," said Maureen, as she turned and started to make for the passageway, with all the energy the mana drifting in from Venefasia gave her. It felt like the house was coming down around her. Cassidy was still gasping for air and Maureen found herself half-dragging the girl across the room as she ran.
North was just starting to get back up after his Maureen-induced tumble. She hurled the now empty flower pot at him. It bounced off of his head.
Maureen and Cassidy fell into the passageway, as bricks and wood and furniture crashed down into the basement behind them.
"Holy crap," Monk called out from the door. "What the hell did you do?"
Maureen didn't answer, instead standing up and brushing herself off. She wished some of the vampires had been in the room when the ceiling came down.
Darwin pushed his way to the front of the crowded passage.
"Here, let me do that," he said, sticking his sword into the door and starting to leverage pieces of it off.
"Darwin," Cassidy called out from the back. "We've got a problem."
Maureen followed Cassidy's gaze back out into the basement. It was difficult to see through all the dust but there in the distance, underneath all the rubble, she saw something long and black start to move.
"We need to get that door open." Maureen added. Her disagreements with the vampires could wait until they were on the other side.
"I'm trying, I'm trying," Darwin responded.
"Try faster," Cassidy quipped.
D'Toeni and Monk joined Darwin at the door, pulling at pieces of wood with their bare hands. The work seemed painfully slow to Maureen. Instead of tearing off great slabs of wood, they came away with handfuls. If only they had Joseph, Maureen thought. He would have been able to tear that door down in seconds.
She wondered if there was a spell she could do, but then had to remind herself that she was out of mushrooms. It wasn't worth even attempting trying to find another pot with all the destruction out there now.
West was the first to rise, arms still ending in tentacles, his face cut and bleeding. He looked ashen but that could have just been the dust. Not far away, a half-covered mound of black began to stir.
The vampires were now frantically tearing at the door, but still very little was coming away with their hands. If West and North got here, it would be Maureen and Cassidy they reached first.
"Out the way," Darwin shouted to the other vampires as he pulled the sword out, lifted it up and sliced into the door with considerable force. A section of the door splintered. Not enough to create more than a gap.
"It'll be tight," he conceded, "but we should be able to get everyone through".
D'Toeni looked back at Maureen. "You taking Granny with you? Got tired of your little angel?"
Darwin looked him straight in the eye. "We're leaving no-one behind."
D'Toeni snorted and pulled Brian aside who we trying to squeeze through the gap. "Goddamn Neuen. Why couldn't they have all perished?"
It was tight and slow but D'Toeni managed to get to the other side. Brian followed and his lankier build made it easier for him. Still a squeeze though, Maureen noticed and wondered if she'd be able to get through what seemed little more than a crack in the door.
Monk was next and his build meant it took Brian pulling and Darwin pushing to get him through. For a time it looked like he might not fit, a time that saw North regain his senses and join West in making their way through the debris toward the passageway. Maureen's only consolation was that the floor was so thick with rubble that it was a real job to move across it. She also suspected that the nearby split in realities stopped them shooting tentacles across the room and down the passageway.
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