Magnar headed inside and I followed him into a wide room lit by an orange glow which came from a furnace on the far side of the space.
The hot air was dry and made my tongue swell. The smoke filled my nostrils and a sickly stench accompanied it. I had to fight the desire to cover my face. I really didn’t want to know what they were burning in here but I got the feeling I was about to find out.
I began to cross the open space and head towards the furnace. Magnar caught my arm suddenly, yanking me to a halt. I stumbled, glancing up at him in confusion and he pointed to the ground before my feet. I squinted in the dim light and could just make out a hatch on the ground.
Magnar released me and dropped down to pull the hatch wide. Soot spiralled out of the area below as the air was disturbed and I blinked down at the dark space in confusion.
I fumbled in my pocket and pulled the flashlight out, glancing at Magnar for confirmation before flicking it on. He nodded and the small beam of light illuminated a shaft beneath us.
I frowned as I leant closer, peering down at a drop of around ten meters to the basement below. All I could see was piles of ash and soot. I swept the beam from my flashlight to and fro and gasped as the light fell on a skull.
I almost dropped the flashlight as I stumbled back. Magnar let out a low curse before swinging the wooden door closed over the hatch.
“They’re burning people,” I whispered in horror, my gaze shooting to the furnace which continued to blaze beneath the giant chimney. “Do you think they’re alive when-”
“It is very unlikely. They would want to remove all the blood first,” Magnar growled.
A fluttering of relief passed through my chest. Death was bad enough but the idea of being burned alive filled me with a special kind of horror and disgust.
“We should move on,” Magnar said in a low voice. “There isn’t anyone alive in here.”
I nodded my agreement, feeling more than happy to turn my back on that room and its disgusting stench. I flicked the flashlight off and jammed it into my pocket before following him back out.
Magnar hesitated for a moment, running his thumb across the runes on Tempest’s hilt before choosing to follow the corridor to the right. My connection to Fury made me feel sure that this was where most of the vampires were assembled and I let out a long breath as we made our way towards them.
Magnar stopped at the first door we came to and eased it open. I peered over his shoulder as cold air washed out of the room and kissed the exposed skin on my face. A shiver ran down my spine as I recognised it as a giant refrigerator. Magnar shifted aside and I spotted trolleys holding row upon row filled with bottles of gleaming red liquid.
“They take human blood as if they were milking cattle,” Magnar growled angrily as he stepped inside.
“We had to donate two pints of blood every few months in the Realm,” I explained as I eyed the bottles with disgust.
A sound like the growl of a feral beast escaped Magnar’s lips and I barely managed to jump aside as he sent one of the huge racks crashing to the ground. The sound of the metal trolley hitting the floor alongside a hundred bottles smashing was more than enough to tell every vampire in the building that we were here.
I leapt out of the way, leaning against the cold wall as he lunged towards the next trolley.
The other three racks quickly followed suit and the ground was littered with smashed glass. A tide of spilled blood washed over the toes of my boots before flowing out of the refrigerator into the corridor.
“The vampires,” I breathed in alarm, barely able to believe what he’d just done. “They’ll know exactly where we are-”
“Let them come,” he growled, pulling Venom from his back to join Tempest in his other hand. “Stay behind me.”
I scrambled away from him, pressing my back to the rear wall as the sound of the vampires approaching reached my ears. The fact that they weren’t silent was enough to tell me just how many of them were coming our way.
Fury burned red-hot in my palm but rather than hurting me, the heat seemed to find its way into my veins, pricking at my senses and dialling them up. My vision seemed sharper and more focused, every sound was clearer in my ears. Even the metallic scent of the blood pooling by our feet smelled stronger in my nostrils, the taste of it racing along my tongue.
Instead of cowering against the wall, I stood ready to defend myself, Fury in hand. If it came to a fight, I would face it.
Magnar rolled his shoulders, casually rotating the two huge blades as he awaited the vampires’ arrival. I could tell he held no fear, only rage at what they’d done to us. Rage at what the last thousand years had brought upon the mortals. And he was about to collect payment for that debt.
The first of the vampires made it to the door and he cut through them before I could even count how many he killed. Dust swirled behind his blades as he swung at them again.
The clash of metal on metal rang out as the next row of vampires realised they were under attack and drew their own weapons.
He held them back at the doorway, using the narrow space to stop them from overwhelming him. He swung his swords and mercilessly hacked his way through them.
More of them surged forward and Magnar was forced to step back, allowing them to spill into the room. He roared a challenge at them as they tried to make it past the fury of his mighty blades but none could get close.
I watched in utter awe, my heart pounding a frantic rhythm as time and again, he parried blows and delivered death.
Magnar swung to the left and a vampire leapt around him, aiming straight for me. His eyes glittered with malice and my pulse hammered in my ears as he swung his sword.
Somehow, I managed to get Fury between us to take the blow. I cringed back as the strength of his attack resonated right down to my bones and he swung at me again.
My feet moved quickly and I danced aside, half feeling like I knew what I was doing as Fury poured information into me like I was an empty vessel. Whatever the blade was doing, it was working so I didn’t question it as I ducked beneath a third swipe of his blade.
Strike now!
I did as it asked and the golden blade sliced across the backs of the vampire’s legs, spilling blood that was too bright a red to be human.
The vampire hissed as he fell backwards, his legs unable to hold him upright anymore. I scrambled away from him, ducking to my right as I came close to the raging tornado which was Magnar.
Before I could decide what to do about the vampire I’d brought to the ground, Magnar’s sword carved him in two, finding his heart and leaving a heap of clothes and ash where he’d been.
In the moment he’d given to help me, a female vampire had leapt onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck. He tried to throw her off but she held on tight, snarling as she attempted to find his flesh with her teeth.
As he swung around again, her back was presented to me and I took the opportunity to return the favour he’d offered me. Fury found a space between her ribs and made it to her heart with a sigh of pleasure.
Magnar didn’t spare me a glance as he was released from the vampire’s grip by her death. He moved away to take on his final two enemies.
He cut down the first and the last one turned and fled. I pushed away from the wall, expecting us to go after her but Magnar held up a hand to stop me.
“Let her tell her masters what she found here. We will be elsewhere by the time they get back.” He headed out of the room, taking the other corridor and heading away from the fleeing vampire.
I didn’t question him as I hurried to follow, trailing bloody footprints along the corridor as we went. It wouldn’t be difficult for the Elite to locate us and I just hoped Magnar would be ready for them when they arrived. It was one thing for him to fight a group of lesser vampires but I’d seen how much more of a challenge the last Elite had been for him to defeat. I wasn’t sure what would happen if he had to go up against more than one of them.
We moved quickly and Fury didn’t seem
to think any more vampires were close to us yet so I allowed myself a moment to catch my breath.
The corridor we were in held no doors and we continued along it at speed, searching for a way on. I glanced down, happy to find that I was no longer trailing blood in my wake.
Finally, we made it to a door and Magnar pushed it wide. I jogged in behind him, squinting as we were plunged into darkness. The light from the corridor illuminated a switch on the wall and I flicked it on just as Magnar slammed the door behind us.
Light flooded the huge space as bulb after bulb came on above us and Magnar flinched in surprise. A smile pulled at my lips as I glanced at him. The warrior who didn’t bat an eyelash at enraging a group of vampires flinched at the flick of a light switch.
The door we had passed through was made of heavy metal and held large bolts which I quickly slid across to secure it.
“Will that keep the Elite out?” I asked. I knew they were strong but I was doubtful that they could punch through solid iron.
“It looks like it might,” Magnar agreed, placing Venom back into its sheath.
I returned my attention to the cavernous room we’d found ourselves in. It was filled with two long rows of coffin-sized boxes.
“I didn’t think vampires really slept in coffins,” I said as I took a step towards the closest row.
“They don’t,” Magnar replied darkly. “This is something else.”
I bit my lip as I approached the first box. There was a glass lid over the top of it and two tubes ran into it from the ceiling. One was filled with clear liquid. The other was filled with blood.
I peered over the edge of the box and came face to face with someone I knew. Thomas lay completely naked and perfectly still beneath the glass. His chest rose and fell steadily, though he showed no other signs of life. The last time I’d seen him, he’d punched me in the face for following him out of the Realm. I guessed this meant the vampires had figured out that he’d been leaving too.
The clear tube delivered a drip directly into a vein in his left arm while the red tube took blood from a vein on his right.
“It’s like intensive farming... on people,” I said in disgust. “They’re keeping them alive so that they can drain them.” This was what we’d always known went on here and in a way it was a relief to see him sleeping the way he was. He didn’t know what was happening. It wasn’t like he’d been strung up or was even conscious, he was just... asleep. It was practically humane. If you ignored the fact that he was there against his will and having his bodily fluids stolen to be used as food for monsters.
I looked around for some way to release him from the coffin but there was nothing. The whole thing was sealed shut. I shoved at the glass lid then pounded on it with Fury’s hilt but nothing happened. It was shut tight.
Magnar moved beside me and threw his shoulder against it, his muscles straining as he tried to force it open to no avail.
“How are we supposed to get them out?” I asked desperately.
“We should locate your family. We can figure out how to release these people once we know where they are. I’ll check one row while you check the other. I saw your father when he was taken but didn’t get a clear look at your sister. Her hair was dark wasn’t it?” he asked.
“Yeah, her hair’s as dark as mine is light but we’re twins so we still look a lot alike. Probably enough for you to recognise her. Mom used to call us her sun and moon.” Magnar’s brows pulled together as I said that but I didn’t have time to answer any more questions. My family were close, I just knew it. They had to be.
“Just call me over if you see anyone you’re unsure of!” I hurried across the room and started moving along the other row of coffins.
There were many faces I didn’t recognise but some that I did. Most were people who had been taken from the Realm for breaking rules. And a few were elderly people who had just disappeared in the night.
“Callie?” Magnar called. I ran back to look into the coffin he’d found with my heart in my throat. A girl around my age lay in there, her hair was as dark as Montana’s but the similarities ended there. I shook my head as disappointment ran through me and I returned to my search.
As we approached the far end of the room, my heart plummeted. There was no sign of them. If my family weren’t here then I didn’t know what we would do. I had no idea where else they might have been taken. No idea what the vampires might have done to them.
Tears pricked my eyes but I quickly forced them away. We would rip this place apart before I’d give up on them. If they weren’t in this room then I just had to presume they were in another.
I reached the end of the row and my soul fractured a little as I didn’t find them. I turned to Magnar and he shook his head sadly, confirming he hadn’t located them either.
I moved past him and began to check his row for myself. He didn’t know them. He couldn’t be sure like I could be. I had to check again.
As I closed in on Thomas’s coffin, a huge crash sounded from the door we’d bolted and my heart hammered in terror.
“We hear a human has dressed themselves up like a slayer of old!” a voice called from the other side and I began to back away as my slayer’s mark tingled in warning. “Why not come and see if you can face a real opponent or two!”
The door rattled again and Magnar caught my arm, pulling me behind him. We kept backing away until we made it to the far end of the room again and I turned around to try and find a way out.
A small door was tucked into one corner and I jogged towards it, trusting Fury’s assessment before pulling it wide.
We found ourselves in a control room filled with CCTV screens. I recognised it from the Realm. They’d had one just like it in the Emporium and I’d seen the little cameras that recorded us in all of the communal spaces. Even the bathhouse. My skin crawled as I thought about the invasion to our privacy. They wouldn’t even allow us that much dignity.
Magnar froze as he looked at the screens, his eyes flicking from one to the next as he tried to process what he was seeing.
“Think of it as looking at lots of different places at once,” I said quickly. “It just shows us what’s happening elsewhere.”
He stared at them in fascination and slowly raised a hand to point at one of the screens. “Isn’t that your father?” he asked.
I spun around to stare at the man he’d pointed out and the bottom fell out of my stomach.
“Dad,” I breathed, a tear spilling down my cheek.
He was in a small room, his arms were suspended by chains at his wrists. They’d removed his shirt and he shivered in just a pair of torn jeans. Blood trickled across his skin from wounds on his neck and wrists.
I flinched as someone else moved into the view of the camera and I realised he wasn’t alone.
General Wolfe stalked towards him, his finger raised as he pointed it directly into my dad’s face. It looked like he was asking him a question but there was no audio to go with the footage.
Dad shook his head firmly though I could see something horribly like fear in his gaze as he did so.
The General shouted angrily, striking a blow to my father’s face which sent him staggering back. He only remained upright because of the chains holding him so. Before he could recover, the General leapt forward and bit his neck.
My own scream met the one I could see falling from my father’s lips as I rushed towards the screen, wishing I could get to him.
“We have to find him! We have to help him!” I sobbed as Magnar caught me in his arms.
“We will. He must be here. We’ll find that room.” He pulled me against his chest for a brief moment then released me, holding me at arm’s length. “Is your sister on one of these boxes?” He pointed at the screens and I got the distinct impression he didn’t like them.
I forced myself to look at the CCTV again, searching frantically for any sign of Montana but she wasn’t there. I shook my head, unable to say it out loud. Where else could she be? It didn�
�t make sense.
My thoughts snagged on that skull I’d seen in the basement beneath the furnace. Maybe she hadn’t been unconscious when they took her away. What if the General had kicked her too hard? What if she’d never woken up?
“What if she’s... I mean what if they...” I couldn’t say it out loud. If she was dead I’d die too. I just knew it. There couldn’t be a world where one of us existed without the other.
“What does your heart tell you?” Magnar demanded, forcing me to stand still and placing his palm above my racing heart.
I took a steadying breath, banishing the panic as I looked into his eyes. “She’s alive,” I said firmly.
Magnar nodded. “Then we will find her.”
I watched as Fabian headed through a door at the end of the room about to go after him, but I was pounced on by Valentina.
Her full lips curved up into a bright smile. “Good evening, Montana.”
“Valentina,” I acknowledged her with a small nod, glancing over her shoulder as I tried to get by.
“Have you made your choice for the ceremony tomorrow?” she asked, fluttering her long lashes.
“Er...not yet.” I tried to get by again but she took hold of my arm to keep me there. Tension rippled through me. What did she want?
She gave me a concerned frown then lowered her tone. “I’m sorry you have to go through this.”
I gazed up at her, her heels giving her an extra few inches on me. “Why do you care?”
She shifted closer, glancing cautiously around the room. “I don’t want to see you getting hurt, Montana.”
“I can handle myself,” I said firmly.
I glanced longingly at the door Fabian had exited through. I needed to hurry up.
Nightmare hummed frantically on my thigh. Follow, Moon Child.
I gave her a brief smile. “If you’ll excuse me…”
I tried to step past her but she took hold of the back of my neck, pulling me close so her mouth was by my ear. “When Erik finds out what you are, he’ll kill you. I’m trying to protect you. You’re the last of our kind.”
My heart thundered in my ears. I tugged away from her and her eyes flashed like there was a storm brewing in them.
Age of Vampires- The Complete Series Page 40