Elisia smiled back at her warmly. “The crossbow may be more powerful, but you prefer your traditional bow.” Jamie looked at her in surprise. “You are reading my mind!”
Elisia giggled, “Not your mind, Jamie, just your fingers.” Elisia took Jamie’s right hand in her left hand and compared their right hands together. Both were callused along the insides of their fingertips. Elisia then said, “You don’t like finger-guards either!”
Jamie laughed, “No, I don’t. They mess up my aim!” Father had been listening to their delightful conversation. He broke in now with instructions for Jamie. “Jamie, Mary and I are going to stay in our bedrooms here tonight. When you take the Tandins to our world, please tell William and Angela that they will need to handle any Council decisions while we are gone.”
Jamie nodded, “111 tell them, Father.” Then she and the other community members left with Elisia to go into the tunnels.
Before she went out the door, Elisia turned and looked
at Devin with a smile. He smiled back with a look of rapt devotion and watched her as she left the room. Devin strode quickly to Vincent and grabbed his arm. He exclaimed, “Oh, Vincent, that tiny sister of yours is so enchanting and beautiful and sweet!” Vincent chuckled at him, and Devin continued, “Vincent, we had never set eyes on each other before, but she looked right into me and through me, and she was able to sum up my life in one very accurate sentence! I am so in love with that little woman!”
Vincent smiled at his happiness. “Elisia is remarkable, Devin. She is also a little miracle-worker if she has cured you of your wanderlust.”
Devin shook his head. “The only place I ever want to be now is wherever Elisia is!”
When Joe and Diana arose from the sofa, Diana took Little Jacob to Vincent and placed him in his smiling father’s arms. Then the couple left the room hand-in-hand. Diana had expected Joe to stop and wait for the elevator to come back up, so he could leave through the tunnels to go back to his apartment and pack. Instead, Joe took Diana on down the hall a little farther to Peter’s office. It was empty, and he took her inside and shut the door.
When Joe turned around to face her, he had a serious expression on his face as he took both of her hands in his. Diana raised her eyebrows, but she waited for him to
speak. He said, “Diana, I don’t know how you are going to feel about what I want to say to you.”
Diana smiled up at him. “You can tell me anything, Joe.”
Joe smiled lovingly down at her. “OK, then, here goes. Goodness knows I’m no virgin.”
Diana broke in quickly. “Neither am I, Joe.”
Then Joe went on. “It is taking every ounce of willpower I have to keep my hands off you! The desire that rises in me every time I lay eyes on you makes me want to drag you off to the nearest bed, tear your clothes off, and make wild passionate love to you. But—”
Diana finished for him, “You want something more!” Joe looked relieved, “Yes! I have been watching these people, Diana, especially Vincent with Catherine, and Father and Mary. I want what they’ve got, and I want it with you. I could see that Cathy had something more with someone long before I ever knew about Vincent and the tunnels. It was something that was very special to watch.
I can see that it is worth waiting for.”
Diana smiled softly up at Joe. “I can’t tell you how long I have waited to find a man who is on the same page with me! I feel as you do, Joe. Ever since I rescued Vincent, I have longed for what he has with Catherine. After meeting Vincent, I broke up with my boyfriend, because I realized that I would never have that with him. When we broke up, he told me that I had only given him small glimpses of myself, that I had never really let him in.
I’ve never let anyone in, until now, with you, Joe. I have never really felt comfortable letting anyone in before. I never thought any man would ever truly be able to understand me. I am confident that you can.”
Joe took Diana in his arms and whispered, “I sure do want to try!” He covered her mouth with his, and they both sighed in ecstasy as they expressed their passion for one another with that kiss. When they finally parted, he kept his arm around her as he opened the door, and they stepped into the hallway. “I have already put in for a long overdue vacation, so I can now leave without anyone wondering where I am. Everyone still thinks that you are missing, so we can just enjoy being ‘missing’ together.” Diana giggled as they went to the elevator, and Joe then left to go pack at his apartment.
When the group met in the tunnels late the next morning, they were all wearing backpacks with sleeping bags attached, and they were all carrying lanterns, except elderly Narcissa who was nearly blind anyway, and they had packed additional flashlights. William had provided meals that were ready to eat and light for everyone to carry. Since there were ample water sources along the way for drinking and bathing, they didn’t pack heavy beverages, just cups to drink from. Catherine was tucked in on a rolling hospital gurney, which Vincent had personally taken charge of. He put Narcissa’s backpack on the bottom shelf of the gurney. Brooke was pushing
Little Jacob in a stroller that could convert to a rolling bassinet for him when he needed to sleep. Years earlier, Mouse had fitted Peter’s hospital gurneys with oversized pneumatic wheels to facilitate rolling them with ill patients from Father’s world over uneven tunnel floors more comfortably. Recently, he had done the same with Little Jacob’s stroller.
Devin’s heart began pounding with excitement when Elisia approached him, looked up into his eyes, and held out her hand. The thrill that went through him, as he took her slender hand in his, was evident in the expression on his face, and everyone smiled. They were all in high spirits as they followed Tanimus and Elisia, with her devoted Devin in-hand, on their journey to the Tandin world.
In traveling through the tunnels that Father’s people were familiar with under Manhattan, they climbed carefully down the Serpentine Stairwell over The Abyss, through the Chamber of the Winds, past the Crystal Cavern, and around the Burial Catacombs. Then they had to take turns being ferried across an underground river. When they came to that obstacle, they folded up Catherine’s gurney, and Vincent carried her onto the raft.
When they began traveling through the steam tunnels and caves at the outer edge of Manhattan, they entered a large cavern between the tunnels. As they approached the
center of the cave, they were suddenly beset by eleven of Paracelsus’ leftover followers who rushed in from several of the tunnel openings. These were large simple-minded men over whom Paracelsus had ruled with an iron fist. They were disorganized and without purpose since Paracelsus’ death, but they were ruthlessly violent, and they wanted the women. The terrifying roars of Tanimus, Vincent, and Elisia didn’t deter these men as they rushed the group.
The men struck so unexpectedly that there wasn’t time to get the women into the center to protect them. One of them grabbed terrified screaming Brooke by the arm and tried to drag her away. Charles was closest to her, and he tackled the man to the ground. Brooke bit the thug’s hand, and he released her. Then Charles was in mortal combat with him as they rolled on the ground with fists flying. The man was nearly Charles’ size, but Charles finally got the upper hand and snapped his neck.
Meanwhile, Joe, Diana, and Jerry had pulled their guns out and shot three more of the ruffians. Joe’s victim fell dead with a bullet to the center of his forehead.
Diana’s and Jerry’s victims fled the cave with serious wounds. At the same time, Jamie shot one man through the heart with her crossbow, but then she was snatched off her feet by another towering man who knocked her weapon out of her hand and started to run off with her as she screamed in panic. Jamie kicked and beat on the brutal determined man, but it had no effect on him. Isaac
rescued Jamie when he picked up a good-size rock and threw it at the man, hitting him on the back of his head. The assailant dropped Jamie and crashed to the floor of the cave. Jamie ran back to her crossbow, loaded it with one of her scattered
arrows, and shot the man who had nearly made it to one of the cave openings with Rebecca, who was screaming, kicking, and biting him, also to no avail. He fell with Jamie’s arrow through his neck, and Rebecca ran crying back to the group.
The moment the men attacked, Tony grabbed Little Jacob out of his stroller. He raced to Catherine’s gurney, laid the baby beside his mother, and threw his body across them to try to protect them. Rolley, Mouse, Pascal, Father, and Peter formed a circle around Mary, Susan, Narcissa, and Laura to protect them while the chaotic battle took place.
As Devin ran to put himself between Catherine’s gurney and the two men trying to get to Catherine, Pascal called out to him, “Devin, take this!” Devin turned around and caught Pascal’s pipe baton as he threw it to him. Devin stood ready to protect Catherine, Little Jacob, and Tony, brandishing the baton, while Vincent was snarling and raking his claws across the two men. They were maniacally determined to get past him and grab Catherine, and they ignored the serious wounds Vincent was inflicting on them. Suddenly the biggest one leaped on Vincent, and then they were locked together in a fight to the death. The other man took that opportunity to run
past Vincent.
Devin saw him coming, and the rush of adrenalin gave him superhuman strength. When the thug rushed Devin with his arm raised, Devin crashed the baton against the man’s arm, breaking it with an audible crunch. Then he hit the man across his head with the baton, but he still didn’t go down and stumbled forward with his limp broken arm hanging at his side.
Meanwhile, Vincent’s panic over losing the man he knew was headed for Catherine, Little Jacob, and Tony caused the anger of his Demon to explode. With a furious roar, Vincent sank his fangs into his combatant’s neck, and he dropped to the floor of the cave mortally wounded. Tanimus and Elisia had stunned two more of the men with their weapons. As Vincent whirled around snarling and ready to attack, Tanimus quickly turned and stunned the man still swaying in front of Devin.
In less than fifteen minutes it was all over, and the entire group was in a state of shock. Charles was holding Brooke, who was shaking and crying. Isaac was holding Rebecca who was also hysterically sobbing. Jamie was furiously pacing around the group watching the cave openings attentively. They now had five dead bodies and four unconscious villains to deal with.
Vincent surveyed the group, doing an head count to be sure everyone was accounted for. He asked, “Is everyone all right?” They all nodded at him, and he said, “We need to leave this area as quickly as possible.”
Pascal spoke up as Devin was handing his pipe baton back to him. “What are we going to do about these unconscious men and the bodies?”
Tanimus answered him. “It is more important to get Catherine to the Tandin world for treatment than it is to take care of these villains. For the moment I suggest that we leave the bodies for the unconscious men to deal with when they wake up. I have already sent a telepathic message to our sentries posted further ahead to come and secure the area and bury the dead, if necessary.”
As they quickly left the tunnel world under Manhattan and traveled into the tunnels under the southern end of The Bronx, they began to descend lower into the earth.
The group was two days into their journey when they encountered more trouble.
Narcissa spoke ominously, “The evil one is here!” Vincent could feel it too, and he said, “Something is very wrong here.”
Jamie cried out at the back of the group. “Vincent,
Joe is hurt, and Diana is gone!”
Everyone ran back to where Jamie was kneeling beside an unconscious Joe. She had her hand pressed against a gushing head wound trying to stop the bleeding. There was a bloody rock about the size of a soft ball near him on the tunnel floor.
Peter and Father shed their backpacks and retrieved their medical bags. Then, Peter and Father, along with
Susan and Mary, knelt on the tunnel floor with Jamie to begin treating Joe’s wound, while Vincent once again did an head count to be sure everyone else was accounted for. The only one missing was Diana.
Elisia looked worried as she spoke. “Diana must be unconscious. I can feel her, but I am getting no communication back from her.”
Father spoke up. “There is a faint smell of chloroform here. Whoever took her must have had at least two people to knock Joe out and chloroform Diana simultaneously so it wouldn’t alert us.”
Tanimus then spoke. “Narcissa is right. We are not alone. Adrian is here with a small army of men, but so are thirty of our people. The other Tandins are telling me that Adrian has about fifty heavily armed men who have the appearance of vicious mercenaries. We are going to have to eliminate this threat, once and for all, before we can go any further.”
Joe was still unconscious as Father began stitching the now clean wound. When Father finished stitching, Susan helped Mary dress the wound. Peter then gave Joe a shot of antibiotic.
Jerry had also knelt down beside Joe as a thought occurred to him. His fear was confirmed when he checked Joe’s shoulder holster. “Joe’s gun has been taken, and they now have Diana’s as well.”
Vincent was having a terrible struggle keeping his avenging Demon under control as he worried about what was happening to Diana. He hadn’t felt this helpless since he had lost Catherine and Little Jacob to Gabriel. He paced continually around his beloved family and friends as Peter and Father worked on Joe.
Elisia approached Vincent and put her hand on her brother’s arm as she felt his Demon rising. “Vincent, don’t worry. We will be able to get Diana back, and I hope that it will be without any more bloodshed. We have a weapon against Adrian, which Dr. Vlas gave us before he left us, and we have been prepared for this final confrontation with Adrian for a very long time.”
Father looked up at Vincent from where he was kneeling beside Joe. “Vincent, you are not alone now in defending us against dangerous predators. A weapon is not all you are to us anyway. You no longer have to feel that it is your fate to shoulder that responsibility alone. You don’t have to be our avenging Demon.”
Vincent looked down at Father. “Thank you, Father, but I told an enemy once before, and I will say it again; all men are demons when their homes and families are threatened.”
Tanimus addressed the group. “Our people have secured a large cave up ahead where we can more easily protect everyone while we try to figure out how to deal with Adrian and his army. We need to move everyone there.”
Joe was still unconscious, so Vincent and Devin lifted him to his feet. Then, Charles gently put Joe over his shoulder, and the group moved on down the tunnel to the more defensible refuge the Tandins had secured. They entered a massive cavern with numerous stalactites and stalagmites. It had many ledges and outcroppings around the perimeter along with smaller caves. To the left of them, there was a very large Tandin man in his late forties, with a red mane of hair, standing at the mouth of one of those caves which was larger than the others.
Tanimus took the group over to him. “Hello, Gideon!” He shook the Tandin’s hand and then spoke to the group. “Gideon is one of our sentries, and he is going to stay with all of you while we see if we can locate Diana.”
Vincent spoke to the group, and they quietly followed his instructions as he picked Catherine up off her gurney. “Take your backpacks off, and find spots for each of your things in the cave. I don’t know how long we will have to be here, but if it becomes necessary to flee, I don’t want you slowed down by what you are carrying now. Try to get some rest, so that you are alert if the situation becomes worse.”
Vincent could have just rolled Catherine into the cave on her gurney, but he felt the need to place her in the hands of someone specific rather than just leaving her in the care of the group as a whole. He walked to Isaac with Catherine, and he put her into his arms. “Catherine is my life, Isaac, and I need for you to keep her safe and out of harm’s way while Uncle Tanimus and I deal with this threat. She trusted you with my life once, and now I trust
you with he
rs.”
Isaac nodded, “I promise you no one will lay a finger on her, Vincent.” Then Isaac looked at Tony. “Tony, please grab the gurney for Catherine.” The boy nodded as he rolled the gurney with Narcissa’s things on the bottom into the cave.
Rebecca was holding Little Jacob as Vincent continued and looked at each one as he addressed the remaining bodyguards. “Devin; Charles; Jerry; please make sure you have everyone else in sight at all times until this is over.” They all had very serious expressions as they nodded at him. Rebecca took Little Jacob to Vincent for a kiss before taking him into the cave with her.
Gideon could see that Vincent was reluctant to leave his beloved wife, family, and friends to go hunt for Adrian and Diana. He put his hand on Vincent’s shoulder as he said, “I promise you that I will look after them, Vincent. They will be safe here. I have checked every inch of this cave. We may be pinned down by Adrian’s army, but your family will be safe. We have sent for fifty more of our troops from our world. They are running and will be here in just a little over a day. There is even a fresh spring bubbling up at the back of this cave which makes it ideal if we have to be stuck here for awhile. West of our location we found a smaller cave with an hot spring in it which we can use when this is all over to bathe in. In fact, if it wasn’t for Adrian, this would be a relaxing vacation spot to camp in.”
Vincent smiled and nodded at him. “Thank you, Gideon.”
Mouse walked up to Vincent holding out an huge Kevlar vest and said, “Packed this for you. Knew you’d need it!”
Vincent chuckled and replied, “Thank you, Mouse!
That was very smart of you.” Vincent took off his outer shirt and handed it to Mouse as he put the vest on. Then he took his shirt back from Mouse and put it on over the Kevlar vest.
Jamie planted herself firmly in front of Vincent and said, “Vincent, I’m climbing up to that ledge to the right of the cave, so I can see any of Adrian’s men who might try to get to it.”
Vincent started to object. “No, Jamie, it is too dangerous.”
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