Masked

by RB Stutz

  After walking for about five minutes, I heard distant voices. They were different than the muffled sounds I heard from above. The voices seemed to be coming from up ahead of me, echoing back through the tunnel. Turning off the light, I moved to the right, staying close to the old building facades. Slowly I moved forward, trying not to make a sound. Of course, right away I tripped over something. There was a loud crash of loose brick hitting loose brick and I stopped for a few minutes to see if anyone heard my blundering. It didn’t seem they had. The sound of the conversation I couldn’t discern continued, so I proceeded forward again.

  The voices grew more loud and clear as I continued forward. After just a couple minutes, I could see faint light and it didn’t seem to be coming from above. Now that I could hear the voices more clearly, it sounded like there were two people talking, a man and a woman.

  “I don’t understand why he still insists on bringing in others. The more we have to hunt to keep our growing numbers sustained, the more chance there is someone will slip. There’s a greater chance we will be found,” said the female voice.

  “I don’t know why you worry so much, Lila. No one is going to find us. Peter knows what he is doing. He is growing our numbers so one day we will be able to take our rightful place in the world. You know this.”

  It was quiet for a few seconds and then the rough edged male voice continued.

  “But let’s just say we are found. What are they going to do to us? No one can hurt us. If anyone finds us, we will feed and then move on through the tunnels. There are other places to go.”

  “How do we know we can trust the new ones? I don’t know them. When it was just you, Angel and me, I knew I could trust you both. I know I still can, but how do I know that about the others? I don’t,” said Lila.

  “Don’t you trust Peter’s judgment? Do you really think he would risk our family? All he wants is to strengthen our family, our species. Please, go speak with him. Let him put your concerns to rest,” the male voice begged of her.

  It was quiet again for probably half a minute.

  “What do you know about the newest girl, Lauren? How can she already have that kind of power without feeding? She’s stronger than me. Is Peter going to replace me? Has he told you?” Lila asked frantically.

  “I don’t know any more than that. I’m not going to question Peter’s judgment. If he is comfortable with her, then so am I. He’s given us so much and has helped us to realize the power we have. He’s given us a family and a purpose. Please, just go talk with him. Let him ease your mind.”

  “Ok, I will. Thanks for talking with me, Darius.”

  “Sure. You worry too much Lila. A goddess shouldn’t worry as much as you do.”

  Two figures stepped into the tunnel. All I could see was their black silhouette in the dim light which came from the flashlights they were holding. I was upright and tight against the indent of an old doorway trying not to move. The dark silhouettes didn’t look back at all and walked forward further into the tunnel.

  So it seemed I was dealing with more than just the blonde girl. Was this some sort of sick cult? Were they feeding on people? What does that even mean? When they spoke of growing their family, they described someone who could move objects. Was this a whole cult of people with abilities? I could only hope not. I wasn’t sure how well I would do against one person with abilities, let alone several. That didn’t turn out very well in Idaho. What were they? For that matter, what the hell was I?

  I waited for a few seconds before moving again. After only a few moments, I made it to the place where they’d been talking. There was another hole in the old building exterior. I stepped through and turned on my light. The immediate area around me lit up to reveal dust and debris. I spent some time looking around the space, but soon realized there was nothing there.

  As I turned to head back into the tunnel, I heard movement further into the dark space. Quickly, I turned off the light and froze, listening for more sound. I still heard the busy streets up above coming from the tunnel and water dripping somewhere in the darkness, but that was it. A sudden faintness came over me and I lost my balance for just a second. I was able to catch myself before I dropped to the ground and the feeling was gone as quickly as it came. After waiting for several minutes, I went back into the tunnel.

  I proceeded further through the darkness and as I did, I tried to work through scenarios of what I might find. The best course of action for whatever I found was to stay hidden and read as many as I could in order to get a feel for what I was up against. Hopefully, it would be possible to pull off.

  I wondered how long the tunnel was as it felt like I’d been moving through the darkness for quite some time.

  “Help me!” I heard a small high voice say from just ahead of me. “Please, help me.”

  I stopped and stood still, listening.

  “Please help me,” I heard again.

  The voice sounded different from both the blonde girl and Lila. She sounded like a child. Still, I was hesitant of what to do. After what had happened the previous night, I wasn’t sure if I could trust what I saw and heard. Was it another trap?

  There was a burst of defeated sobbing.

  “Please, please help me,” the distressed voice cried.

  Ok, I had to at least see where it is coming from. I moved ahead about twenty yards and didn’t hear anything more. I stopped to listen. I should have been close to where the voice was coming from.

  There was a slight movement to my left. It was quiet and then again the same slight movement. I turned on my light and moved it to where I’d heard the sound and found a young girl sitting on the ground.

  “Are you one of them?” the girl asked in her frightened voice.

  She wasn’t any older than seven or eight and was a cute little girl with light blonde hair and a pale dirty face. She had on a dirty dark colored night gown, but the color was hard to determine in the small amount of light coming from my flashlight.

  “No, I’m here to help you,” I whispered as I moved closer.

  I crouched down next to her and asked “What’s your name?”

  She hesitated for a second. “Angela.”

  “Hi, Angela, my name is Michael. How did you get down here?”

  “Those scary people brought me down here,” she said in her small voice.

  “How did you get away from them?”

  Her lower lip started to tremble and she let out a couple more frightened little cries.

  “I ran away,” she said, crying again.

  “I know you’re scared and want to get out of here, but can you tell me if they’re holding anyone else? Is there anyone else who couldn’t run away?”

  She nodded.

  “How many do they have?”

  “There are two other little girls, Mary and Sara,” she said.

  There was a twinge of pain in my heart at hearing the second name.

  There were other children? So, I not only had to get the two I had come for, but three children as well?

  “Come on Michael, confidence. You have this. You can do it,” I thought giving myself an internal pep talk.

  “Angela, I’m going to get your friends. Is there somewhere you can hide until I come back?”

  She was quiet for a moment as she seemed to be thinking.

  She pointed further ahead in the tunnel. “Yes, up there.”

  “Are the bad people up there too?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Ok, show me your hiding place. You can stay there while I get your friends, and then we’ll all get out of here together.”

  I hoped I could keep my promise.

  Angela rose and hugged my leg just slightly and without another word led me further into the tunnel.

  CHAPTER 21

  Angela led me ahead only another twenty yards.

  To our right was another old brick exterior. Piles of the crumbled brick and debris lay on the ground below the wall. She pointed to the old structure and I move
d in for a closer look. There was a small opening, too small for me to get through, but it looked just big enough for Angela to be able to squeeze through.

  “Here, let me help you in,” I said as I took her small soft hand and helped her up onto the crumbled brick pile and to the opening.

  I kept hold of her hand as she climbed into the opening and squeezed through the tight space.

  Before she was in all the way, I heard a noise from behind us and whirled towards it in reaction. I didn’t see anything, but I listened carefully as I scanned the dark space for movement.

  I felt a sudden sharp pain in the hand Angela was still holding.

  As I snapped my gaze back, I saw the blonde from the club holding my hand, only half of her body on my side of the wall. Her hand was covered in a black glove, tipped with shiny silver spikes which were partially embedded in my hand. The confusion delayed my reaction as she smiled and pulled me towards the wall.

  The force of the pull threw me off of my feet and I sailed forward, not into the wall, but through it. I passed through like there was nothing there, no pressure, nothing but air. When I slammed to the ground, the blackness of the tunnels suddenly turned into a blinding light.

  I struggled to my feet and tried to focus my eyes, stepping back to take in my surroundings.

  The blonde girl was standing, smiling at me, about ten feet to my right. The smile was both playful and menacing at the same time. She was wearing the same leather outfit as before. I didn’t see Angela anywhere.

  Once my eyes had a chance to adjust to the sudden light, I could see it wasn’t as bright as I had initially thought. The dimly lit room we were in was vast with a high ceiling. The state of the space was much better than the basement underneath the Cross, with dark heavy curtains of black and shades of red and gold adorning most of the walls. In the center of the room was a large chair set up high off of the floor carved from a dark wood. It had the look of some type of gothic royal court.

  The air carried a strong floral scent, an overwhelming attack of lavender. I’d never really cared much for lavender. I didn’t see anyone else in the room but the blonde girl still staring at me, smiling the same smile.

  “You’re awfully quiet Michael,” she said, finally breaking the silence.

  I stepped away a few additional feet. “Yeah, well, I’m usually a man of few words.”

  “Where’s the little girl?”

  She just laughed a mocking shrill laugh. You’re a little dense aren’t you? A little slow?” She paced with my movements, never getting any closer, but not letting me get any farther.

  “Maybe, but I think I’m also a little more sane than you. I’m not the raving lunatic you obviously are,” was my clever retort. Well, at least I found it to be clever.

  “Where are the little girls, officer Raymond, and the man you took last night?” I demanded with a raised voice.

  “Oh, you must mean Wally. Dear sweet Wally. Well, now that I think about it, I have tasted sweeter,” she said as she licked my blood from the tips of her glove and then added “he’s dead,” in a matter of fact manner.

  A wave of revulsion and anger raged through me. In one seamless movement, I had one of my guns un-holstered and in my right hand, pointed at her.

  “Ok, where are the others,” I demanded with my finger on the trigger.

  She just laughed again and said “now who said you could bring that with you? That’s not playing fair.”

  I was about to again demand an answer when I felt the weapon squirming in my hand, except it didn’t feel like the cold hard metal of the weapon.

  I looked down, saw I was no longer holding my gun, but one of the large spiders. Its hairy body squirmed and writhed under my grip with its dark black eyes staring maliciously at me.

  “Ahh,” I yelled out and threw the nasty little thing down.

  “What the hell? What’s with the freaking spiders?”

  She laughed again and looked at the ground. “You are so easy.”

  I followed her stare and saw my gun laying a few feet in front of me, right where I had tossed the spider. I guess she was right. I was slow, because it was just then I finally figured out what was going on.

  Somehow, she was making me see things that weren’t there. She was able to get into my mind and alter my perceptions. It was probably similar to the way I could hear thoughts or how Sara could make objects move. It explained what had happened at the Cross. Also, there was no little girl, it had been her. She was like me. That was her ability.

  “I think he has figured you out, Angel,” said a booming male voice from somewhere in the room.

  I didn’t see anyone else at first, but then, from behind one of the curtains, came a tall man dressed in a black business suit. He had a pale handsome face with dark long hair that hung neatly to each side, and a neatly trimmed beard. Underneath the suit he was wearing a dark grey shirt and a solid black neck tie. The black shoes looked perfectly polished.

  If the whole situation was weird before, it had just gotten a whole lot weirder. Now who was that guy?

  “I’d like to welcome you, Michael, to our home. Angel told me about you when she returned last night. I knew you would stop by. We’ve been expecting you.”

  “Who are you? What is this place?” I was more than a little concerned by the idea they had been expecting me.

  “You can call me Peter and this is our home.”

  “Okay, I was hoping for a little more than that.”

  “Of course,” replied Peter with a dry laugh. “This place, a place discarded and forgotten by time, along with others like it are the only places for us to call home, for now. Soon that will no longer be true.”

  There was a pause, I guessed for dramatic effect, before he continued.

  “We’re different from the people who live and breathe above us. Like this place; our kind has also been forgotten by time, remembered only in part in story and legend. What we are and what we can do is so much greater. We are titans, gods amongst those who live above us. There are a lot of names for us, but you are probably most familiar with vampire.”

  I hadn’t expected that at the end of his James Earl Jones-esque monologue.

  “You think you’re vampires,” I said mockingly, not able to suppress a laugh, “Just because you’re clearly insane and have a blood fetish doesn’t mean you’re vampires.”

  In an instant, Peter was upon me. I hadn’t anticipated the speed at which he moved. Before I could react, he grabbed the front of my shirt and threw me across the room. I landed at the bottom of the large wooden chair, but quickly recovered back to my feet. He moved fast, a lot faster than I could have.

  Still standing where he had thrown me he said “as you can see, there is more to it than that.”

  “You mean enhanced strength, speed, etc, etc. Yeah, I have seen it before. Oh yeah and probably enhanced healing. Not impressed. In fact…” I trailed off and moved towards him to attack.

  After covering only half of the distance I stopped. I hadn’t intended on stopping, but I did. I wanted to knock the goth theater major from hell on his butt, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t make myself move from where I stood.

  The sensation was strange. It wasn’t that I couldn’t move at all because I could move and shift where I stood. It was more that I couldn’t make myself go any further. I wanted to, but I just couldn’t. Suddenly, I was terrified.

  Peter started towards me. His walk was slow and steady, very casual.

  “Yes, I do mean all of those things, but there is more and I know you have seen it all before, because you are one of us,” Peter explained.

  “You think I’m a vampire? Seriously?” What else could I even have said to that? I was still terrified by the fact I had no control of my body, but the absurdity of his statement made me laugh.

  “You may not have known what you were, none of us did, but you will soon see you are one of us.”

  “Vut? Are you going to put me under your thrall?” I said in my best a
ttempt at a Transylvanian accent.

  He didn’t acknowledge my attempt at humor. He may not have really been one of the walking undead, but his personality made that questionable.

  “Our kind was put here by some higher power, for a divine purpose and destiny. You will join us on our path. This is now where you belong. You, like others before you, will add to our numbers and someday we will rise up and show the ordinary humans the meaning of their existence is to serve and sustain us.”

  I wondered how long he’d practiced his speech. Did people really buy the crap he was selling? Did he really believe it?

  I shook my head. “Sorry, can’t do that. I never had a taste for blood plus, I am not a freaking vampire, and neither are you.”

  Still, I couldn’t make myself move. The sensation was almost unexplainable. I was paralyzed to move at my own will.

  “Why don’t you have a seat Michael,” Peter said.

  I was just about to refuse. I felt vocalization of my defiance was necessary. Instead I did what he asked. I sat without a word. What was wrong with me?

  Peter looked at me and smiled like I was an ignorant child. “I guess you’re wondering why you can’t come at me like I can see you so want to.”

  “The thought did cross my mind.”

  I couldn’t convince myself to get back up. It was almost like my mind and body were separate.

  Peter slowly walked around me, his arms behind his back.

  “Those of our kind each possess certain gifts or talents, and the gift I possess enables me to make you see the truth. You may not believe in yourself or what you are now, but that will change. You will see who you are. You will hunger for the taste of human nourishment and when you finally do taste, you will see your full potential. Their blood gives us our strength, it gives us what we need to realize the full scope of our talents.”

  “Sorry pal, I’m okay in the whole self-confidence arena. I believe plenty in myself and I know enough about who I am. I’ve gotten by just fine without what you call human nourishment. A cheeseburger and fries work fine for me.”

  “Silence,” Peter boomed. Again, I was reminded of the deep voice of Lord Vader.