He found an open window low enough to shimmy through, then jumped inside to the cold stone floor. He stopped to assess his location. The castle’s interior looked like a museum. Huge cathedral-like ceilings rose high into the air. The walls were adorned with beautiful framed paintings, hand-carved life-sized statues and elaborate displays of medieval weaponry.
He stood both invisible and statue-still. Only his steady breathing could give up his location.
So far, so good.
The castle’s main entrance stretched to his left and contained two staircases. Keeping his breathing quiet, he walked into the foyer, and after determining the coast was clear, he tiptoed up the first stairway and crept into Constantino’s gloomy lair.
The huge master suite was furnished with old European-style antique furniture and lit by flickering candlelight. Coffered ceilings rose above an elegant black coffin…its cover open…setting in the center of the windowless room. A shiver ran up Valentine’s spine. He looked toward the far end of the chamber. A dark hallway seemed to stare back at him, daring him to enter Constantino’s private office. He made his way across the room and stole into the shadows of the deserted hall.
Get the code book and get out…
In Constantino’s office, he closed the door, walked over and lit a candle on the oversized desk with his lighter and began rifling through drawers. The first drawer had three quills and a bottle of black ink. The next drawer had two books. Salem’s Lot by Stephen King and Dracula, by Bram Stoker. The next four or five drawers contained only office supplies. Then he opened the last drawer and saw a small, well-worn leather-bound book.
Bingo!
Valentine’s adrenaline surged. He flipped through the book as fast as he could, his excitement mounting as he realized it was, indeed, the counterpart to the other logbook they’d retrieved from the Stelino compound earlier. Looking up, he spotted a portrait of Anna hanging on the wall, her unforgettably big brown eyes staring back at him.
He felt a twinge in his chest. The first time he had ever laid his eyes upon Anna, he’d just begun working undercover on the Stelino case. She’d arrived at a celebratory dinner event hosted by the family...and she’d looked so beautiful with her porcelain skin and long, shining black hair. She had haunting eyes, long, well-toned legs, and graceful curves wrapped in a tight, red dress, highlighted by a glimmering diamond necklace.
He’d been surprised to find she was Vincenzo’s daughter. His only daughter. She looked so sad and forlorn he couldn’t keep himself from glancing her way. Her brothers, however, greeted her with snide remarks as if she were a misbehaving child or some sort of well-trained show animal. With each condescending comment Valentine felt worse and worse for her.
As the evening wore on, her brothers began discussing business and drinking heavily. Valentine had sat next to Anna, and they’d started some polite small talk. She was well spoken and articulate, and even though she rarely looked up, he could tell she was holding back the urge to smile. He’d felt an immediate connection with her, and it was more than apparent she felt the same.
Of all the women in the world to fall for…Vincenzo’s daughter!
The same man he had just shot and killed.
In fact, if all went well he would put her three brothers in the ground as well. Any thoughts about a life with Anna were as hopeless as Romeo and Juliet. Valentine had tried to forget about her over the last few years. He’d attempted to dismiss his feelings on many occasions but just couldn’t do it. Every time she would show up at different events looking even more beautiful than he remembered, his heart would feel heavy, as if it were swelling and bleeding in his chest. Their conversations were effortless, their time together precious…and within a few weeks, Valentine realized he was falling deeply in love with her… and felt a strong, undeniable bond growing between the two of them.
Undeniable… Even now.
Valentine had begun losing sleep thinking about her…felt he needed to help her in some way…but how? Maybe if the investigation succeeded in taking down the Stelino family he could liberate her from the torment and repression she suffered through on a daily basis. Maybe she would soon be able to forgive him.
He knew what he had to do.
Find Anna.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The cellar was cold, dark and musty. Rachel tried not to breathe in the thick, moldy air as she and Stanic made their way down the first flight of stairs. It seemed to get darker with every step. And the second flight of stairs only led them deeper into the unknown.
Rachel could feel her senses beginning to sharpen. Her heightened abilities of sensory perception were now overwhelming her. Somehow she could sense their surroundings without using her eyes. Almost like an internal radar system that put the important details of the environment into her mind’s eye. Rachel was filled with amazement as she “saw” their surroundings through the sheer blackness.
When they finally reached the bottom of the stairwell she sensed a long corridor leading underneath the castle’s floor. She led the way, hurrying down the damp corridor with their shoes clicking against the wet stone floor. The sound of each step began to echo down the hall and back, filling the darkness with a rich mosaic of tapping sounds. Then the corridor opened into a tall archway ending at a large iron door. In the center of the door…an iron ring similar to the one on the exterior cellar door. Stanic grabbed the ring and turned hard toward his left, disengaging the ancient bolt. Then he pulled back on the rusty handle and the door swung open with a long dusty creak. Rachel peeked through. The door led to a small arched foyer and right beyond opened into a large chamber with high vaulted ceilings. They stepped forward, peering into the expansive room, their eyes wide like lost and frightened children.
***
Valentine stuffed the codebook into the inside pocket of his jacket. It blinked, and then glowed blue before finally disappearing. He knew his ability to sustain his power of invisibility was wavering, but he didn’t care. He had to find Anna. He had watched the beautiful young girl being verbally and physically abused over the past years while working undercover. She was treated as less than human and forbidden to leave her brothers’ presence. Her life resembled that of a prisoner with an agonizing life sentence. Her entire existence consisted of serving her brother’s needs. He had to see her…needed to see her.
***
At the far side of the chamber Rachel saw a spiral staircase wrapping its way up to the castle’s first floor. A light glowed from the top of the stairway, radiating a soft illumination across the room. They inched forward toward the staircase. Rachel gripped Stanic’s arm as they began a slow and careful ascent around each long twist of iron stairs toward the light.
They were almost at the top of the stairs when Rachel heard something unsettling from behind. The large, rusty iron door, guarding the chamber they entered through had begun to move with a drawn outscreeeeeeeeeeech, slamming shut with a deep, booming k-klooong, the dreadful echo resonating along the walls followed by the sound of the ancient bolt re-engaging.
She felt Stanic’s body tense beside her as they listened to the footsteps moving away from the door, back down the corridor. They hurried to the top of the stairs only to find the trap door above them was bolted from inside the castle. It was a trap…they were sealed in.
***
Valentine had only been to the castle on a few rare occasions, but he always took note of Anna’s actions. She always arrived and retired to the east wing of the estate and from the stairway on the left of their enormous foyer. He crept back through the master suite and down the first set of stairs, then stopped at the bottom, careful to be as quiet as possible. He could see Constantino striding across the castle’s main corridor, coming toward him.
Valentine flattened his back against the cas
tle wall, held his breath…and waited.
Constantino seemed to sense his presence, suddenly turning and walking into the foyer, right in front of where Valentine stood, still invisible…
***
Stanic and Rachel stood stone still on the spiral staircase leading from the cellar up into the castle. The room was circular in shape and about twenty-five feet wide. As Stanic’s eyes adjusted to the low light, his visual acuity increased…along with his anxiety. He studied the elaborate artwork along the wall adjacent to the spiral staircase with a morbid fascination. An enormous fresco rose from floor to ceiling. It showed startling scenes depicting demons attacking, then impaling men and women, draining their blood into large black cauldrons. The grisly images stretched the length of the walls on their right, rising across the rounded ceiling in a frightening display of evil deeds.
***
Valentine moved across the castle’s main entry foyer away from where Constantino stood scanning the room for intruders. Constantino suddenly turned and strode to the castle’s front windows and gazed into the courtyard. Valentine knew this was his chance and dashed up the other staircase where he saw a long hallway ending at a set of large double doors adorned with oversized golden fixtures.
Anna’s quarters.
He made his way down the hallway, but was overcome by an abrupt dizziness. The room started spinning around him and he felt an overwhelming exhaustion. His body was struggling for oxygen. Losing the battle with intense fatigue, he dropped to one knee. He tried to stand but couldn’t. He gasped for air, collapsing to the ground, realizing too late he had pushed his new power too far. His breathing came in shallow gasps, beads of sweat dripped from his forehead onto the floor. Pure adrenaline coursed through his veins.
He looked back, fearing Constantino’s ever-present gaze, then stood up and somehow continued toward Anna’s room. He reached out to take hold of the golden doorknob, but couldn’t seem to reach it. His body flashed with veins of electrified blue light, then became visible again. All his energy spent, he fell to the floor.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Rachel closed her eyes. She sensed Constantino was close by and began to pick up his thoughts, like listening to a short-wave transistor radio through intermittent static. She could “hear” Constantino thinking.
“He thinks we are weak,” she said, unable to keep the sarcasm from her tone. “He somehow knew we would come in this way…he knows his brothers are dead…and he has a torture chamber ready,” Rachel said, her tone turning cold. “He’s thinking of doing terrible, terrible things to us.”
***
Valentine woke up on the castle floor at the base of two large double doors…still dizzy but at least his vision was clearing. He struggled to lift himself to a standing position and then took a moment to regain some composure. He pulled his handkerchief from his pocket, dabbed his forehead while pulling in a slow, deep breath. Then he turned the bolt that locked the door from the outside with a muted shhhh-shinkk, eased open the door, then stepped inside.
It was Anna…wrists and ankles locked in shackles. The iron bracelets that held her were attached to long chains bolted to the wall next to the bed.
“Hello, Valentine,” she said, an undeniable longing filling her saucer-like brown eyes. “I thought you would never come.”
Valentine rushed to her side. “’Ello, love. I see we’re in a bit of a pickle, are we?”
A tear ran down Anna’s cheek. She lifted her bleeding and swollen wrists, shrugging as if already defeated. Her white silky nightgown was torn and bloodstained. Valentine pulled out his lock-picking kit and went to work on the shackles, flinching when he noticed two puncture mark scars on her neck. Each of the ancient locks popped open and Anna fell into his arms.
“Where is Constantino?” Anna whispered, eyes darting toward the doorway, voice quivering with fear as if she were visualizing the horrible things yet to come.
“He’s just downstairs, love,” Valentine whispered. “And we’re taking you straight up and out of here.”
“We?”
“Yes. I have two friends just on their way up through the basement to help.”
***
Rachel continued to explore the chamber in which she and Stanic were trapped. She looked across the room and saw a small archway leading to a closed door. “What’s back there?” She pointed at the dim light emanating from under the door.
That’s when Rachel heard a muted sobbing. She walked closer to the door, recognizing the same type of ancient-looking bolt that had been on the outside of the chamber. Stanic must have recognized it too, stepping forward and disengaging it. The door opened.
Rachel’s skin turned cold as she peered inside.
A torture chamber.
And a girl locked in an iron cell, huddling under a shredded scrap of a blanket.
At the sound of the door opening, the girl began crying in an incoherent, ramble, “no…oh, no…please not again…please…I can’t…I won’t…”
Rachel recognized the girl.
Sarah Little. Her patient. The virgin blood.
“Sarah, you are going to be okay,” Rachel whispered as she moved toward the cage.
Sarah paused when she heard her name and looked up, rubbing her eyes as if she was seeing some kind of mirage, as if her very eyes were deceiving her.
“Dr. Moore? Wh-what are you…how d-did you…?”
Rachel reached through the bars, lightly touching Sarah’s arm. “Everything’s going to be okay and we are going to get you out of here,” she said. “I’ll explain everything to you later.”
Rachel turned to Stanic, and seeing the perplexed look on his face, said, “John, this is one of my patients, Sarah Little. Sarah, this is my boyfriend, John Stanic.”
Stanic nodded his understanding and walked over to the thick iron bars separating them. “We will get you out of here, Sarah, I promise.”
***
Stanic went to the staircase and examined the trapdoor. He could feel his powers gaining in strength since they had completed the ancient ritual, so he raised his right hand with palm up as if offering something toward the door at the top. He felt his eyes burning, imagining them glowing with the same red illumination he’d seen in the others’ eyes at the motel. His body tensed and his eyes closed, emotions welling up in his mind. He could hear heavy chains and a deadbolt on the door above start to rattle. Stanic’s amazement grew as he realized just how much power he now possessed. A power stronger than he could ever have imagined.
He felt like a god.
He turned his wrist to the right feeling an odd pressure fighting back against his hand. He heard the chains slide taut to the right side of the door as if held there, suspended in place. He could feel a direct link, almost like some kind of magnetism pushing down on his wrist as he turned his hand back to the left and the chain slid left as well.
Stanic’s arm trembled as he balled his fingers into a tight fist, shaking as the energy flowed from his body through the heavy wooden door above him and back…as if they were one. He thrust his arm straight up toward the ceiling to a full extension, opening his hand and stretching his fingers out wide.
Iron and wood exploded from above, sending shrapnel in all directions as the deafening sound echoed through the chamber. Stanic dashed up the spiral stairs, charging right through a plume of smoke and dust in the air. Reaching the top, he looked over the wreckage.
Deserted.
Two burning torches leaned away from the castle’s wall from long wooden posts. The room flickered between firelight and shadow as the billowing air attempted to extinguish the flames. Long, angular, inky shadows danced and leapt up against the walls as the flames fought back against the unpredictable draft. Sta
nic crept over the threshold at the top of the stair, scanning the empty room. He turned back to help Rachel climb out over the debris, reaching out his hand to her, then he saw her face had turned ashen white with horror.
“Look out!” she screamed,
CHAPTER NINETEEN
A huge stone came crashing down from above, striking Stanic’s left temple. He collapsed to the floor, blood pooling beneath his head. Constantino moved with cat-like quickness, leaping on top of Rachel. He threw her onto the ground and before she could do anything to escape he had tied her hands behind her back.
“You are going to pay for your treachery with your lives,” Constantino growled, double-checking the tightness of his knots. “But first you will tell me how you managed to destroy my basement door.”
***
Lightning flashed and Rachel watched as the walls were again painted with violent and angry shadows. Thunder shook the ground as Constantino finished tethering her hands behind her back, then he grabbed her by the hair, dragging her to the spiral staircase. Rachel kicked and screamed, struggling against him the best she could, but she knew it was futile.
Constantino smiled as he pushed her forward through the destroyed trapdoor.
She screamed again, tumbling headfirst down the iron staircase. She landed with a hard thud, smashing into the rail where the stairs turned around the first curve of the spiral. Her head made loud contact with one of the thick iron support posts, slicing open her forehead.
Sitting crumpled on her knees, only semi-conscious, Rachel could hear Constantino approaching her again, saw the lack of emotion in his face as he stared down at her from above. He kicked her with the hard tip of his pointed boot, the force of the blow propelling her down to the next turn of stairs. The violent motion also caused Rachel’s pistol to fly out from the inside pocket of her recon suit. She watched it fall away, agonizing at the sound of her last hope hitting the floor and sliding into the shadows.
Constantino followed her down the last flight of stairs. “It’s time for you to learn your manners, eh!”
He again grabbed Rachel by the hair, pulling her across the chamber’s floor like a bag of grain, toward the torture chamber at the far end of the room. He produced an ancient looking key from his jacket pocket and opened the cell’s iron door. Then he threw Rachel inside with Sarah Little, slammed the door shut and locked it.
Vampire Mafia: Santa Cruz Page 11