“I fell into a chute and ended up in some kind of engine room. I ran into a chimera, then he showed up. Bluebeard had been holding him in a small cell.” To be honest, their scenario seemed more plausible, but I wasn’t taking anything for granted. “Andre wasn’t very far from there, but there was no door other than the stairs that led all the way back up here.”
“There’s got to be something Isaac knows that the other doesn’t,” Saba observed.
“True enough, but I’d be happier if you both stood over there,” Lance said, gesturing with his gun for emphasis. I watched for some subtle difference in body language, but both men yielded to the request without hesitation. Even their clothing was identical, right down to the tears in the fabric.
I wracked my brain for something that Isaac would know that Bluebeard wouldn’t. “What’s my middle name?” I asked.
“Sophia,” both answered in unison.
“That’s public knowledge, Lucy,” Lance pointed out. I tried to think of something about my mother, but I drew a blank. It upset me to think that Bluebeard probably knew more about her than I ever had a chance to.
The others began throwing questions at them. Most of the time they both knew the answer, but a few times neither of them did because they were specific questions about events that happened years ago. Ingrid even tried throwing in a few questions that Bluebeard would know, hoping to trick him into revealing himself, but it didn’t work.
“We’re just going to have to bring them both back to headquarters,” Lance suggested. I considered this as well, but it was too risky. Without the use of his arms and legs, the mile walk back through the booby-trapped territory would put the real Isaac in danger. Not only that, I didn’t trust that the fake wouldn’t be crafty enough to get away from us. Besides, I still had to find Andre and I wasn’t letting anyone out of my sight before then.
“Or kill them both,” Johnny said with an apologetic glance that I returned with a glare.
“No, give me a second to think.”
There had to be something, some tidbit of information that I passed on to Isaac that there was no way Bluebeard could have known. I began to pace, but it didn’t help. “Argh!” I slammed my fist into the metal wall in frustration. It wasn’t the smartest move and all I managed to do was bloody my knuckles. As I absently wiped the blood on my pant leg, something occurred to me that I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of before.
“I’ve got it!” I said and pulled my two knives from the pack at my waist. “Hold out your right hand, palm up,” I instructed both men. Both complied, but now I had to employ a little deception of my own. “Ingrid, Saba, can I get you both to assist me?” I handed each a knife and positioned them so they were each facing one of the men, while I stood in the middle. Johnny and Lance positioned themselves so that each had his gun trained on them, just in case anything went horribly wrong.
“Okay, just so everyone is clear, when I give the word, Ingrid and Saba will each make a small cut on the palm of your hand. Not a deep cut, just enough to draw blood.” I glanced at everyone to gauge their reactions. Ingrid and Saba both gave me a questioning look, but neither Isaac so much as flinched at the suggestion. “To give everyone an idea as to what I’m doing, I need to explain a little background about my own healing abilities.” What followed was complete and utter bull. I was a bad liar, but I took a deep breath, channeled every movie villain I had seen stop the action to reveal their big evil plan to the hero, and barreled on with the distraction part of my plan. “According to Abe, I heal faster than normal mods because of the combination of human and vampire DNA. Only one of you has human DNA. Because of this, I’m sure one of you will heal faster than the other will. If anyone has anything to confess, do so now, because soon one of you will be dead.”
Neither man said anything, not that I was expecting an actual confession. “Ready?” I glanced at Saba and Ingrid who both nodded. “When I say go. Get ready…go!”
Each woman raked their knives across the palms and I watched as two thin lines of blood appeared. After a few seconds, I leaned toward the Isaac that I had found and discreetly inhaled under the guise of inspecting the mark.
The scent was confusing. Usually I could identify someone by the scent of their blood instantly, but on this one life or death moment, my nose failed me. He could have been my father. There was a definite familiarity in the scent, but my uncertainty lie in the fact that I failed to remember that both men were family. Both Isaac and Bluebeard’s blood would be familiar, yet non-distinct to me. I should have realized this because Cynda’s blood was relatively neutral as well, but her cat DNA allowed me to easily parse the subtle differences. This just wasn’t screaming an identity at me.
As casually as I could I turned and inspected the other wound. The difference was almost instantaneously recognized. Not only was I certain that this was my father, but I had actually smelled his blood before! Back when I first learned of my fangs, Abe had me smell different vials of blood to see what my reaction would be. One of them was the blood of a modified vampire. I didn't know it at the time, but it was clear to me now. That blood had been Isaac's. There was no longer any doubt as to which man was my father and which was the monster. However now I had another issue, namely, how to end this once and for all.
“This one’s healed!” Ingrid called out from in front of the one that I now knew was Bluebeard.
“So is this one,” Saba replied with a grimace, “and I think I made a deeper cut.”
“Shit, I hadn’t thought of that,” I said with a frustrated sigh. “All right, I’m just going to have to try again, but I’ll do it this time.” I pulled out my phone. “I’ll use a stopwatch and make the same cut on each. Everyone stay here except…” I eyeballed the two vampires and settled on the one who was my father. I went through the motions of making the cut, but rather than pay any actual attention to the stopwatch, I leaned in and took another sniff for my own peace of mind.
“Thank you,” I said with a smile and a quick wink that was acknowledged with the briefest of smiles. I turned toward the others and made a show of resetting the stopwatch. “Okay, I’m ready,” I said and repeated the act with the one that I now knew was an imposter. This time, however, when the wound had healed completely, I made a show of looking up at Bluebeard and smiling as I blinked back imaginary tears.
“Oh, daddy!” I sobbed and threw myself into the open arms he held out to me. “I knew I was right.”
“Of course, you did,” he cooed. “You’re safe now.”
“Not quite,” I said softly. As I spoke, I slid out a CPA. “We still need to kill the imposter.” With one fluid move, I unlocked the safety and plunged the weapon into Bluebeard’s back.
“Duck!” I yelled to the others and dove to the ground, covering my head. When nothing happened, I glanced up to make sure I hadn’t somehow missed. For one brief and terrifying moment, I thought I had made a terrible mistake, but when I saw the tear stained face of my father smiling at me, I knew it was him. No monster could fake the emotions he projected.
He helped me up and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug. “Thank god you’re safe! But how did you know?”
“I knew the smell of your blood,” I replied a little tearfully. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize something was up earlier. I’m so sorry it took us so long to find you. I should have realized there was something off about his behavior when he showed up at headquarters, pretending to be you.”
“Don’t beat yourself up,” Lance told me. “It’s not like the rest of us noticed anything was amiss either. I don’t know how you managed to get that message to us, but it’s a good thing you did or we’d have two dead bodies on our hands.”
“What message?” Ingrid asked.
“When I was resetting the stopwatch,” I said while making air quotes, “I was actually sending a message to Lance and Johnny telling them not to do anything, no matter what my reaction was.”
“That was a damned fine bit of distracti
on,” Johnny added, “but you scared the hell out of us when you yelled to duck. I had no idea what you were going to do.”
“Sorry,” I said sheepishly to the others. “I thought he would explode.”
“I doubt he would have had himself implanted,” Isaac said. “Though I suppose anything is possible.”
“Well we still have to find Andre. I think I know the- What was that?” A deep rumbling from somewhere below us shook the hallway.
“I’m not sure, but I don’t like the-” Ingrid started to say, but suddenly there was another, stronger tremor, not unlike an earthquake.
“Oh my god.” I glanced over at Bluebeard’s lifeless body. “What if he did have an implant, but instead of blowing his body up, it was set to trigger the destruction of his compound if he died?”
“Jesus, I think she’s right!” Lance yelled as yet another explosion rocketed up at us. “We have to get out of here. Ingrid, tell the others to move out now!”
As everyone ran for the entrance, I veered off toward the left hall.
“Lucy where are you going?” Isaac called after me.
“Andre’s still in here somewhere! I’m not leaving without him!”
“Fine, I’m going with you.”
“What? No!” I told him fiercely. “There’s no use in any more of us risking our lives.”
“Lucy you’ll never make it out in time,” Lance said sternly, but with little conviction. I knew everyone was thinking the same thing; that it was hopeless. But I wasn’t about to give up on Andre just yet.
“Look, I understand the risks, but if there is the slightest chance Andre survives this, then I am taking it!”
“Lucy,” Isaac started, but I cut him off.
“No, dad,” I sniffed, suddenly choked with emotion. “I love you, and it’s wonderful that you want to help, but we just got you out of here and it’s going to be dangerous enough for one person. Go with the others. I promise, I’ll be safe, I’ll find Andre, and we’ll get out of this mess come hell or high water! Please, just go.”
“I’ll be waiting,” he said fiercely. “Go, find Andre, and keep your promise.”
“Thank you, dad.” I kissed him lightly on the cheek and took off, determined to keep my promise to both him and Andre.
Chapter 32
Without looking back, I ran down the left hallway until I came to the apparent dead end. I ran my hand along the smooth edge of the wall until I found a seam large enough to fit my fingernails into. The wall swung aside and revealed a spiral staircase just as I had hoped. Fighting vertigo, I took the stairs two at a time. About half way down, there was another huge explosion and the staircase shook violently. I couldn’t see anything through the billowing cloud of smoke below, but I kept going.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I knew I was in trouble. Ahead of me was a long corridor, which would not have been an issue under normal circumstances, but this corridor was lined with windowed doors. I knew where I was, and why Andre's signal seemed so close, yet unreachable from the other side. Why these doors, that led out to the water under the swamp, existed was a mystery, but the crippling fear they instilled in me was something I had to get over and quickly. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and sprinted the length, until my outstretched hands blindly met the door at the other end.
I was in a room that was nearly identical to the engine room on the other side of the pits, where I thought I found my father. But here the pipes overhead were twisted, torn open, and spewing steam. Turbines wobbled unsteadily and there was already nearly a foot of water on the floor. I checked my phone and saw that Andre was again only a few feet from me. I turned to the left and found a single door set into the wall. My heart leapt, and with shaking hands, I picked the lock and threw open the door, just as an explosion buckled the wall behind me. But I didn’t have time to worry about that. The momentary relief I felt in finding Andre was quickly replaced with absolute horror.
He had been stripped of his uniform and hung from chains in the wall. Though he bore no bruises or open wounds, his chest was stained red with dried blood, indicating that he had been tortured or that Bluebeard intended for him to bleed to death, unaware of his abilities.
“Lucy?” He blinked, as if he couldn’t believe I was really there.
“Andre,” I said thickly. “I’ll have you out of there in a second.” I reached for the cuffs around his wrists. “Dammit!” I cursed. I couldn’t reach high enough. There was nothing in the room for me to stand on. “I’ll be right back.” The engine room was a mess, but completely devoid of anything I could use to reach the manacles. In a panic, I ran back to Andre and began unlocking the braces at his feet.
“Lucy, what’s going on out there?”
“Bluebeard’s dead. For real this time,” I said as I worked at the locks. “But he rigged it so that this whole place would destroy itself upon his death. That’s why we’ve got a bit of a problem here.” I finally picked all the locks at his feet and stood up. “I can’t reach your hands. I have to find something to stand on.” I knew we didn’t have much time. The water was already swirling around our knees.
“Lucy, if this place is destroying itself, then go, save yourself.”
“You never gave up on me and I sure as hell will not give up on you, Andre! I’m not going anywhere without you, never again,” I said fiercely and closed the space between us, sealing my promise with a brief, yet fiery kiss. “I have an idea.”
I ran back into the boiler room and found what I was looking for. One of the turbines had been thrown free and lay in a heap of crumpled metal. It wasn’t the most stable design, but it would work. I ran back to Andre, set it on the ground, and used his shoulder to lift myself onto the makeshift stool.
I got one of his arms free before another explosion threw me from my perch and knocked my pick from my hand. “Dammit!” I cursed. In a blind panic, I felt around under the water, but found nothing. As I stood, I realized the water was already over my waist and rising rapidly.
“I can lift you,” Andre suggested, waving his free hand.
“I lost my pick!” I gasped, trying not to panic further. “Hang on; there might be something else in the pack.” I unbuckled the survival pack from around my waist and held it at chest level, just out of the water. I tossed aside useless first aid items in frustration. There was nothing I could fashion into a crude pick, not even a paperclip.
But there were a few small explosives.
It was dangerous, but we didn’t have many options. I held my pack aloft with one hand and put the other around Andre’s neck. “Team work,” I said with a wink. With the water adding buoyancy, I levitated easily and stuffed one of the devices into the links on the chain.
“This might hurt,” I warned. Thankfully, the pack was waterproof. “Let me down and duck,” I commanded as soon as the fuse was lit. I wrapped my arms protectively around Andre’s head and hid my own against his shoulder. A moment later, there was a deafening explosion, followed by a yelp from Andre as we tumbled into the murky water.
My hand planted awkwardly onto something sharp in the water. I had found my pick, of course. Still, it was pretty useful and there was no guarantee we weren’t going to need it again.
“You know you’re crazy right?” Andre shouted, wrapping his arms around me and kissing me breathless. “I hope you realize how much I love you for that.”
“We’re not out of this yet,” I warned, taking his hand and pulling him toward the hallway. “We have a crap load of stairs to- oh shit!” Several of the windows had broken and the hallway was filling fast with water that pushed us back. Even if we could make it across, it was useless. The stairs at the other end of the corridor had collapsed.
“Is there another way out?” Andre asked with forced calm.
“No,” I replied without trying to hide my increasing panic. “Unless…” I looked down at the pick I was still clutching and at the door closest to us. “How long can you hold your breath?”
“
What are you talking about?”
“These doors lead out to the swamp for no apparent reason,” I said while trying to pick the lock and gaining a deeper respect for Houdini. Seriously, trying to pick a lock blind and under water was not easy. “It won’t be easy, but once we get to the surface, we can probably wait until the explosions stop.”
“There are probably hundreds of things that can kill us out there,” he reasoned.
“Yeah, but our choices at the moment are certain death or slim chance for survival. Which do you want to take?” I felt the tumbler give. “It’s done. Are you ready?” With a curt nod, Andre took a deep breath and wrapped his arms around my waist. I took a breath and unlatched the door. The force of the water in the swamp pushed the door from my grasp, but luckily, there was already enough water in the corridor that we weren’t swept away. I grabbed the doorframe and pulled us down and away from the current.
Luckily, the sides of the bunker were covered with a tangle of tree roots that I used to pull us up. I climbed as fast as I could, but soon my lungs were burning and there was no end to the murkiness above. Without oxygen, my arms and legs began to feel the strain, and I started to slow down. At last, my head broke the slimy surface. Seconds later, Andre was gasping for breath next to me.
“I can’t believe that worked,” I panted.
“Me neither,” Andre said and slid one arm up through the tangle of roots that we were dangling from. “I don’t know if we can squeeze through here though.”
“I’ve got a knife in my b-” Something sharp wrapped around my ankle and I was yanked violently back below the water’s surface. I kicked my legs, but whatever it was had a strong grip and the claws tightened. I grabbed the knife I was carrying and slashed blindly at my captor. The grip loosened and I kicked away, pulling myself back up, but just as quickly, I was grabbed around the waist and pulled back until I came face to face with my captor.
Well, face to snout was more like it. I now knew exactly what Lance had been talking about when he mentioned the Gatormen. Razor sharp teeth, nearly two inches in length, jutted from the elongated jaw that snapped at me. Without hesitation, I drove my knife into his exposed abdomen, realizing this would only buy me seconds. As I kicked upward I reached for one of my CPAs, not entirely sure of their effectiveness under water. I made it back to the surface just in time to take a fresh lungful of air before I was grabbed again, but this time I was ready. I jabbed the weapon into the meaty part of his arm.
The Eyes of the Sun: The Complete Trilogy Page 60