by Dale Mayer
Tessa examined the walls on both sides of the hallway. They hadn't seen anyone since meeting up with her father. It was as if the place was completely empty. And she knew it wasn't. Creepy stuff.
She walked up one side and then crossed over to walk down the other. And saw a faint, like seriously faint whisper of Seth's energy.
Excitement rippled through her. "Dad, I think Seth went this way." She looked further down the hallway. But Seth's energy didn't carry on.
However his energy had blended to the wall. Everything was energy. If she took that thought process one step further, the wall itself was energy and should show the space where the wall ended. And where Seth had entered.
Only she hadn't been able to see anything like that. Because she hadn't been looking for it.
Resolutely, she turned back, shifted her angle of viewing, and studied the wall. Her father and the others stood in the middle and watched her.
But no pressure.
She put them out of her mind and focused on what was in front of her. She could see the different energy of the floor material and the walls. They married together comfortably, but there was a slight change where they joined. So in theory, there should be something similar where the hinges were – and quite possibly where the latch was. If there was such a thing. As she'd found out, this mine was full of tricks. It was trying to figure out what a break in the material would look like when she saw layers.
In one place, it was eye level. She stopped and stared, puzzled.
"What do you see?"
"Layers of energy." That was another switch. Because of her injury. Instead of hurting her, her vision had improved. In so many ways.
Cool.
"Layers? What does that mean?"
The men arranged themselves to stand beside her to stare at the spot she pointed out.
She laughed even as she heard the whispers behind her.
"How can she see anything? It looks the same."
"No, it doesn't. There is something on top of the base layer. "Ohh..." And she got it. Placing her hand on the spot, she searched for one at knee level and grinned. "Here." Keeping her left hand on the same spot, she stretched out her right hand as far as it would go then slowly slid her right hand toward her left hand. She'd only gone about a foot when her nails caught on something. She stepped sideways and realized the 'something' was actually a break in the wall. She reached out with her left leg and kicked.
Silently, a portion of the wall opened up in front of her.
"Hot damn, you found it," Chad crowed. He reached out and slapped her back.
She grinned. Damn, that felt good.
"Yeah," her father said, "But what did she find?" He nodded to the space in front of them. "Look."
"What the hell?" Motre's words washed over Tessa from behind.
She was speechless. "Are they alive?"
"How could they be?" Lenther asked. "They must have been here for years."
"But...vamps don't die." She hesitated. "At least not easily."
Serus brushed past all of them and stepped into the weird corridor. "Why don't we find out?"
He reached the first vamp slumped on the floor and checked to see if he was alive or dead. He frowned. "Hell, this one could still be alive."
"Oh no." Tessa gasped. "That's horrible. They'd prefer death to this."
"Wouldn't we all?" Chad said quietly.
"We have to make sure this door stays open. If those guys died in there – or almost died – it's because they couldn't get out."
Tessa left Motre and his men to figure out how to keep the door open as she joined her father. She studied the dead looking vamp. "Are you sure he's alive?"
"Vamps can shut down into a state of hibernation. He's alive." Serus leaned forward to look at the female at his side. "And if he is, then chances are she is as well."
"How do you think they got in here?"
"Hard to say." He straightened. "But you can count on one thing, they couldn't get out."
"How horrible. What if they had families?" she cried out. "Waiting for them to come home."
"That's a sad truth in this case. These are Darren's parents. Remember we found him hanging in the main part of the blood farm when we first entered?"
She gasped. "That's right. So his parents disappeared – somehow getting locked up in this hallway – and Darren is left alone and becomes one of their victims." She sat back on her heels and stared at the two vamps. "Do you think they were part of the blood farm or trying to escape?"
"My gut says trying to escape."
She agreed. They'd never have left their son alone. "How can we help them?"
"They need more help than we can give them." Her father went to lift the male up onto his shoulder. "He doesn't weigh much. We'll be able to carry them out of here."
"Providing we actually get out," muttered Chad from behind her.
"Seth went this way and he's not here so it must lead somewhere," Tessa said. "Goran and Cody are close, too." She tilted her head, "I think I can hear Cody."
Serus's eyes defocused as if he was calling to Goran. Then he smiled. "Yeah, there they are."
She laughed. "Would have been fun if we'd rescued them from this hallway of horrors."
Hey, I heard that. Cody's voice burst through her thoughts, making her start with surprise.
Where are you? she asked excitedly. You should see what we found.
And you should see what we found. Damn we must be close if we can speak like this.
I know. I wonder if you are at the end of this horrible hallway. Looks like a dark stone corridor. But we found two vampires that look like they've been caught in here since forever. And they are still alive. Dad says they are Darren's parents.
That makes sense. We found Seth – injured at this end of a small squarish tunnel carved from solid stone. His voice grew stronger the more he spoke.
Damn. She bounced to her feet and searched the darkness. I can hear you so clearly. We are at the same tunnel because Seth’s energy came this way.
Be careful. Cody said, excitement raising his voice. He tripped some kind of trap and he's been staked in the leg.
Motre is fixing the door to stay open so it doesn't close and lock us in. Like what happened to these hibernating vamps.
Hibernating?
They have been here so long, they look and feel dead, but Dad says they are alive. That our bodies can shut down and go into a hibernation state. They look really weird too.
Can you wake them up? Ask them what happened? Although if you do, someone will have to tell them about their son.
She winced. Yeah, that would be tough. We don't even know if he's still alive. He was in the main warehouse.
Cody's groan rolled through her mind. That's not good.
They won't be talking to anyone for a while. She watched her father pick up the two vamps and continue down the tunnel ahead of her. We're on our way.
*.*.*
David stopped beside Jared. Damned if there wasn't a double set of doors leading to one side. They weren't well used, but neither were they sealed shut from disrepair. He studied them and wondered if they'd open. And if they did, what else they would find in this house of horrors.
What a place. He'd be happy to be out of it.
He looked down the dark tunnel, wondering how much else was there to find. And why couldn't the damn army find it all instead of them?
Right on cue, the damn mountain grumbled and rolled gently under his feet. He closed his eyes and shuddered.
Rhia gave the doors a hard wrench. "A quick look only. We need to get out."
The doors squealed as they shifted cantankerously.
"If this has been used in the last thirty years, I'd be surprised."
"Give me a hand." Rhia shifted to one side. David and Jared walked over to the far side and the three pulled. Hard. Finally, it gave a small groan and then popped open.
"What
is it?"
Rhia shook her head. "I have no idea."
Jared coughed and cleared his throat. "I think I do."
They stood at the edge of a long wall of cabinets. There were handles evenly spaced over the wall. "I think it's like a morgue. A mausoleum of sorts."
David stared from the wall to Jared and back to the wall. "Why the hell would you think there are dead bodies in there?"
"I doubt there are bodies here," Rhia murmured. "It could be a memorial wall to the men and women who died building the mine. The mine is old. There would have been accidents."
"Still creepy."
"Okay, so can we go now?" Jared asked. "This just ups the weirdo meter. And I'm so done."
With one last look, Rhia turned to lead the way back to the halfway station.
"Uhm, don't you think we should close the doors? Out of respect for the dead...or something?" Jared said.
David watched Jared give a casual shrug like it didn't matter, but as he watched Jared glance toward the crypt, he realized that it did matter. David returned to the furthest door and motioned to the other door. "A little help?"
Rhia stared at him in confusion. "We're trying to leave it the way we found it when the mountain is likely to fall and obliterate everything anyway?"
"It's a respect for the dead thing." He motioned toward Jared.
She blinked and comprehension hit. Muttering under her breath, she started to push the door close and stopped.
"Now what?" David asked.
She reached forward and pulled a hanging disc from one of the knobs. Made of wood, old and dusty, it had been impossible to see. "Marie Moltere. At peace in Moltere's Mountain."
"What?" David crowded around to take a look.
"Is this a memorial to Moltere's family?"
She stepped back to eye the wall and found another hanging piece. She reached up and cleaned it off. Then read. "Monk Moltere."
"So it is his family?"
"Wow."
"Interesting." Rhia didn't know what to think. "It's not necessarily an odd thing. We are a long lived species, with so few of us dying." She reached to brush the dirt off a plaque at the top. "Moltere's Mountain."
"So not a mine after all – the mountain was their home." Slowly, Rhia finished closing the door, now a hint of reverence in her motions. "That explains why it's so old."
They closed it with a hefty slap. Then turned to walk back to the platform. David fell into step behind her. And stopped.
"Did you hear something?"
He turned to look behind him.
And saw the two soldiers almost on top of them.
*.*.*
Serus? Cody is telling me about Claude and Mara. It's so hard to believe. They've been missing for years.
I know. They are in bad shape. If they survive, they may not be the same.
That bad?
Yeah. We're on the way to you. How bad is Seth?
He'll live – if we can get him some help. I think the stake was poisoned. Goran's voice rose. We need to get off this damn mountain.
We're coming as fast as we can.
We'll stay at this end to keep the door open. These damn things are tricky.
Motre propped our end open.
Unless someone comes along and unprops it.
Thanks for that. Serus winced and shifted the load over his shoulders. He'd worked harder this last week than he had in years.
Make that decades. You're getting soft, old man.
Ha. Like you're one to talk. You're older than I am.
Silence. Serus grinned. Goran never did like to be reminded of his age. Aren’t you, old man?
He frowned. Why wasn't he answering? He strained to sense his friend's presence. There was a buzz as if to say he was there, but...
Serus. Go back. Go back, Goran yelled.
Serus froze. Shit. What's wrong?
No answer. And then the mountain started rumbling.
Instead of heeding his friend's warning, Serus raced toward him.
*.*.*
Jared watched the two remaining soldiers struggle to stay on their feet. From the beaten and exhausted look on their faces, they'd either barely made it out of harsh battle intact or they were fighting some major disease.
Considering Tessa's observation before they'd left, it could be either.
The problem was there were no vampires with the group.
"Where are Tessa and the others?" Jared cried out.
Rhia spun around to look at him. He quickly explained who the men were.
"We went ahead and somehow got separated from them," said the closest one. "We followed the tracks and found one room off to the side, but we were attacked. We're the only two that survived. We were weak. Something’s wrong with us. We fought hard and lost most of our group. We made it back to th tracks and just kept going." He wiped his forehead. "Figured this tunnel would never end." He looked around. "Even now I don't know where we are."
"You've come full circle," David replied. "And I’m glad you did. At least now we know that we don't have to go all the way down the same tracks.”
"But where is my family?" Rhia cried. "I knew I should have gone after them."
"And done what? We needed your help and as long as they are all together, you know how resourceful they are. I'm sure they are fine," David said.
Jared wasn't so sure, but figured they'd have a better chance of getting out better than if anyone went back in to look for them. "Let's return to the platform and get out."
Rhia looked torn, but David tugged on her arm. "Let's go. We have to trust in them."
She closed her eyes briefly and swayed as if it was all too much. Jared realized how much she stood to lose if this turned out bad. Husband, son, daughter, and best friend.
Then as if underlying her fear, the mountain started to rumble...and rumble...
"Shit. Let's go." David ran past Jared with his mother bringing up the rear. Jared turned to make sure the two newcomers were following and found the thought of being buried alive had kickstarted them. In fact, as Jared turned back to see Rhia and David getting further ahead of him, the army men raced past him.
Jared was in last place. Again.
So much for his track and field medals from school.
The platform loomed ahead. With a last surge of adrenaline, he jumped up onto the platform and through the doorway to the other side. The others were waiting. At the sight of him, they turned and ran to the entrance.
Just as a huge blast tore though the mountain.
Tessa had only taken her gaze off her father for a second. She swore she had. But he'd raced so fast she'd lost him in the tunnel ahead. With the mountain crashing around her, she couldn't hear her own screams. She checked back once to make sure the others were following. They were in fact on her heels and pushing her forward. Crap.
The mountain had finally given in.
The stone walls went on forever. She couldn't imagine the work involved to build such a place. She'd have expected it to be yards long and not the miles it felt like. Her heart pumped and her lungs screamed as she ran down the narrow passage. Motre wanted to pass her but it wasn't wide enough. Calling on her vampire genes, she begged for more energy to get out of this hellhole in time.
Cody, can you hear me? she cried. There was no answer. Cody!
Without warning, the tunnel ended and she'd barrelled into a tiny circular room – a tower-like room – with a mess of rocks. But where were the two men?
"Tessa, over here. Goran and Cody have come up here." Motre passed her to race up the stairs behind her father.
The floor under her feet rippled, tossing her sideways. She struggled to her feet, found her arm grabbed, and was shoved forward into the stairwell.
She stumbled, regained her balance, and bolted upward. When her feet hit the floor at the top, she spun around to see where they were. In a room. A tiny room.
With a large openin
g on the side.
Only there was nothing out there but black sky. They'd climbed so high within the mine that there was no place left to go but over the cliff.
And none of her group could fly.
*.*.*
Rhia raced into the darkness of the night. The two soldiers jumped into separate vehicles and started up the engines. Dirt swirled and rocks kicked up as they turned the trucks around. The rest of the group hopped into the canvas-topped back of the second truck. Jared ran for the cab and piled in as the truck jumped forward.
"Drive, drive, drive!" he yelled, his head out the window, watching clouds of dirt and dust billow from the mine entrance.
"I am." The driver punched the gas and the truck flew around the corner. Rocks pounded on the hood as the mountain careened on the edge of self-destruction.
The truck swerved. "Shit. Hang on. This is going to be rough," his driver screamed.
Up ahead, Jared watched the first truck rip around the corner, raising a plume of dust. They were pulling ahead of his truck. Damn. He wished he could drive. Hell, he wished he could fly.
"Faster," he yelled. "Look at the others. They are way ahead of us."
"Not in a moment they won't be." The road opened up to a long straight stretch and they jumped forward.
Jared twisted out the window to watch the devastation going on behind him. They might just make it.
The roar was building to the point that he couldn't hear anything but the pounding of his own heart. The mountain looked ready to explode.
Taking everything and everyone out with it.
Including Cody, the ancients and...Tessa.
*.*.*
Cody soared, so grateful his wing had healed enough for his wild jump off the tower. He circled and swooped, loving that sense of being whole.
Except it was short lived. He wasn't whole and if he lost his friends...and Tessa... he'd never be whole again.
"Dad, did you warn Serus?" He looked over at his father, carrying Seth effortlessly over his shoulder.
"I tried to, but knowing him..."