by E. C. Fisher
“That hurt. What the hell, Mordekai, could you provide more light?” Alex rubbed at the top of his head.
It’s not my fault the cavern’s circular. I told you that earlier. Mordekai brightened up the space more.
The entire cavern lit up and the area where Alex hit his head showed a rounded break. The hole was directly in the center of the cavern. Alex realized he had to jump at an angle to reach it. The thought didn’t sit well with him as that meant if he missed, he would find himself, quite literally, in shitty water.
“You’re going to give me one of those light showers when I reach the top, Mordekai.”
I’d do it even without you asking me.
The ledge provided three feet of space. Alex pressed himself against the wall as he mentally prepared. He took a few deep breaths but regretted doing so as he inhaled the vulgar stench.
“I wish I still had that oxygen tank,” Alex grumbled.
He took a few steps and pushed off the edge of the ledge with enough force to crumble it underfoot. He soared high and accurately toward the hole with an outstretched arm. He bent his fingers and pressed them together to make them appear like a hook. When the hole drew near, he punched his fingers into the rock wall and grabbed hold. He brought his other hand up and punched another handhold; he continued this method until he reached the top. Mordekai floated above him to light his path up the shaft.
Mordekai, can I ask you a question?
Sure, boy, what is it?
You actually do have the magic to make me float, don’t you?
Yes.
And you made me climb up this shaft with my bare hands?
I only have strength enough to use it on myself.
Liar! I know you’re stronger than that.
True. Thank you for recognizing that fact, but honestly, I felt this could be used as a teachable moment for you.
A teachable moment, my ass. What grudge do you have with me?
None. I merely did it for laughs. Don’t worry, I have plenty of pictures to share.
You better delete those right now, Mordekai. Mordekai floated out of reach from him as he continued to climb. After a few minutes, Alex reached the opening and pulled himself through. Mordekai’s light had vanished; the area was pitch-black except for the faint glow of light from the stairs through the iron bars to his right.
“Mordekai, where did you go?” Alex whispered.
Alex, you’re not alone in here.
“What do you mean—” Movement from his left cut him mid-sentence. He glanced over but it moved out of sight. Alex concentrated on Quick Eye to pierce through the darkness. The shadowy figure started to form the shape of a man.
“I can see you, step out from the darkness, I won’t hurt you. I’m here to rescue someone who was stolen from me, and to rid the world of Dr. Frankenstein.”
“What has Dr. Frankenstein done to someone so young and inexperienced?” A coarse but quiet voice spoke.
“To me personally, he turned my parents into undead slaves whom I believed were dead my entire life. He’s taken someone I love to further his ambitions. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of an organization called Hunters. I’m a member—the only survivor. Dr. Frankenstein needs to be stopped. What has he done to you?”
The man stepped out from the darkness; his clothes were frayed top to bottom, stained with decades of old waste. His body was battered and bruised from head to toe and frail; he was mostly all bone. He was taller than Alex but looked like he weighed barely one hundred pounds soaking wet. His hair was long and dangled around his shoulders, it appeared as if he tried to cut his hair with a piece of broken glass. His unshaven face was covered in dark brown hair, but his blue eyes pierced through the tangled mess. When Alex looked in them, he felt hope and strength, with a touch of loneliness. He understood; he had the same look on his face when he stared in the mirror.
“My name is Jekyll. I’ve been a captive and a living experiment of Dr. Frankenstein’s for the last four hundred years. I’m a werewolf, the only one of my kind,” Jekyll said, with his hand outstretched.
He glanced at his hand, dirty long fingernails, then back up at his face. His eyes stared at him with no ill-intent. Alex couldn’t tell if he was trying to mess with him or not. But he decided to not doubt Jekyll and grasped his hand. He gave him a firm shake.
“I have no memories, I awoke one day and found myself lying in the middle of the woods. I found an abandoned house and stayed there, but it wasn’t until that first full moon that I realized what I was. I turned into a monster, plaguing the nearby town and wildlife. I tried many times to end my own life, but my body was unable to perform the act. It wasn’t until many cities and years later that I ran into Dr. Frankenstein. He told me he knew who I was and that he was going to find a cure for my disease.”
“For years I believed him, prayed, and hoped for salvation from this curse. It wasn’t until much later I learned the truth; he used my blood to cultivate a serum to make monsters like myself. I rebelled against him, refused to eat or drink, praying to die, but death never came for me. This is the reason for my state now, my body continues to function normally as if nothing happened,” Jekyll explained.
He cupped his hands to his face as he dropped to his knees and cried. Jekyll hadn’t had any visitors in over a century. The horrible, lonely memories were daunting, but his prayers were finally answered.
“Would you like a chance to save yourself and get rid of Dr. Frankenstein in the process?” Alex asked. He lowered himself to his level and rested a hand on his shoulder.
“I’ve been dreaming of a chance to do just that. I need to rid the world of the serum he created. I’ll gladly help you.” Jekyll wiped away his tears as he stood up. Alex rose with him.
“I’m a little curious to whom you have been talking besides me?” Jekyll asked as he surveyed the room.
“That’s right. You can’t hear him. This glowing orb here is actually a trapped spirit, and his name’s Mordekai.” Mordekai hovered near Alex’s head and illuminated so Jekyll could see him. “Mordekai, you’re going to have to blink once for yes and twice for no if Jekyll asks you anything,” Alex instructed.
Mordekai flashed once.
“One more question, do you realize how bad you smell?” Jekyll asked.
“You’re no summer breeze yourself. Mordekai, would you kindly give us a light shower?”
Mordekai blinked once before a ray of light shined down on both of them. The smell vanished and was replaced with a nice Irish Spring scent. The dirt and grime on their clothes disappeared.
“That’s awesome. I haven’t smelled this good—well, never,” Jekyll said as he sniffed himself.
I think it would be best if you changed your attire, Alex. Alex realized he was still wearing the scuba gear.
“Good idea.” Alex took off the backpack and removed his dry clothes and changed. “Jekyll, did you want a new pair of clothes?” Alex asked after he finished changing.
“Thanks for the thought, but I will just end up ruining them.”
“Suit yourself.” Alex strapped on the mag carries around his thighs.
“I never got your name?”
“My name’s Alexander but you can call me Alex.” Alex unsheathed the Hunter’s Blade and stood before the iron bars. He crisscrossed the bars with his blade in a flash. He sheathed the sword as the bars fell and reverberated against the rock-hard ground. Alex proceeded up the stairs with Jekyll and Mordekai close behind.
After a couple of minutes, they reached a large wooden door. Alex checked the door to find it unlocked. He opened it slowly as he peered through the crack to scan for any sentries. He found the coast to be clear and opened the door for them to enter the hallway.
“Which way now?” Jekyll asked. The path led either left or right.
“We’re going to split up.” Alex removed the backpack and held it toward Jekyll. “Take this with you and go with Mordekai. He’ll lead you to where you need to go.”
“
Mordekai, which way will get me to where Dr. Frankenstein is?”
Head to your left, follow the hallway until it splits off then go right, when you reach the staircase head to the top. You should find what you’re looking for.
“Okay, I’ll go left.”
“Then that means we go right,” Jekyll stated.
Mordekai blinked once.
“What’s inside the backpack, Alex?” Jekyll asked.
“Explosives.”
“You plan to blow this place up while still inside?” Jekyll asked.
“Only as a last resort. We can’t let Dr. Frankenstein get away. Enough talking, we know what has to be done; let’s get it done” Alex took off down the left corridor.
“Alex!” Jekyll yelled out.
“Yeah.” Alex halted and turned to hear what he had to say.
“If this doesn’t go as planned, I just wanted to say, thank you.” Jekyll bowed.
“Don’t mention it. We need to stay positive. I’ve been pretty lucky lately. Let’s hope it keeps up.”
You probably just jinxed it, boy, Mordekai interjected. Alex turned around and ignored Mordekai leaving them as he ran down the corridor.
Chapter Thirteen
At the end of the corridor, Alex found a wooden door. He leaned his ear against it, listening for any movement. After a few moments, he was satisfied with the silence and proceeded to open the door. The hinges creaked but it opened smoothly. Alex waited to see if the noise had alerted anyone or anything.
He let out a sigh of relief when nothing showed up. He found a set of spiral stairs and started to climb; the space was lit with torches every ten steps. The top of the staircase led to another corridor with a wooden door at the end.
Alex eased the door open; he hesitated as he listened. He didn’t hear or sense any presence, so he stepped inside. He had entered a massive antechamber. The center of the ceiling was a glass dome, four stone pillars, spaced fifty feet apart on each side, held it up. Wooden scaffolding ran along the pillars. Alex didn’t focus on the details as he saw Vali. She was suspended with rope over a large pit near the back of the antechamber.
As Alex stepped toward her, a man appeared behind her wearing a white lab coat. His face was stitched up with dissimilar fragments of flesh. He had two different eye colors; one blue and one brown. He slowly strolled around the edge of the pit, making his way toward him. His sandy gray hair was medium length and fell over his earlobes. He wore a brown vest with a checkered bowtie and a white shirt under the coat. His clothes were neatly pressed and starched. He cared about his style of clothing, regardless of his outer appearance.
“Welcome, Alexander! I’ve been waiting for you with a slight bit of anticipation. I hope the welcoming gift I left you was to your liking.” An English voice boomed out from across the antechamber. He kept his hands behind his back as he continued to walk the edge of the pit.
“Welcoming gift? What’re you referring to?” Alex furrowed his brow.
“It must have been so heartwarming for you to meet them—the reunion with your parents.” His face appeared happy—there was no remorse in his tone.
“So, you’re Dr. Frankenstein. Nice place you got here.” Alex gestured around. “But enough with the pleasantries, I came like you wanted. Release Vali, and I’ll give you what you want.”
“Correct. I’m Dr. Victor Frankenstein, and as for the second part, no, I won’t release her because I still need more from you than that.” Victor reached the center edge of the pit.
“What else do you need from me?” Alex knew the answer to his question, but he was trying to buy as much time as he could for Jekyll and Mordekai to complete their task.
“The only way to break the Accord held over Mordekai is for you to die, Alexander.”
“Why do you need Mordekai so badly?”
“You truly wish to know, don’t you? Very well, seeing as how it won’t change anything with your death if you know the truth, I shall tell you.” Victor had a devilish grin on his face, “At the time that I was born, the world had never seen a genius like me. The research I was conducting, dismissed by the intellectual community, was to further the advancement of the human life span. I felt that by making mankind immortal, dreams could be achieved instead of lost or never tried. Hence my research, my creation, you know of it, yes?”
“Frankenstein’s monster,” Alex answered.
“Yes, a great achievement and failure—all at the same time. I brought back life and provided a body for it to escape from time. I worked tirelessly for the next ten years to perfect my experiment—all the while constructing this palace and building an army of undead.” As Victor finished, two doors from either side of the pit opened and a bunch of undead flooded out. “A limitless supply of bodies provided me with foot soldiers to battle against anyone who dares stand against me.” He gestured to the horde of undead.
“I can handle them by myself. Your army isn’t unbeatable, Dr. Frankenstein.”
“I’ll admit these toys aren’t much in terms of power, but what they lack in strength, they make up for in numbers. Now, where was I—oh, yes, now I remember, the world deserved my intellect to remain ever-present—after a long ten years, I was finally able to move my consciousness to an immortal body which allowed me to continue my work. However, there was a failure I didn’t account for—decay. The flesh rots away over time and requires a level of maintenance that takes me away from my research.”
“I had to find something better, so I searched the world over and one day I finally found it. Vladimir Dracula, a pure-blooded vampire. He doesn’t age, and he possessed the strongest powers amongst his kin. If I obtained his body, I would have nothing further to fear. But he was elusive until I found Jekyll, a werewolf, his ability—his curse, was the means I needed to fight against the vampires.”
“Giving him false hope of a cure, I was able to use his blood to create a serum, which I gave to humans to use them as tools in tracking and fighting against Vladimir and his kin.” As he explained a dozen humans walked out from the two doors.
“I’ll admit the serum isn’t complete, there are failures, even the undead have their challenges. This pit,” he gestured behind him. “I use it to dump the wasteful, but I digress a bit, back to my story, soon I ran into a little bit of an obstacle—the Hunters. My many failed attempts to capture Vladimir led to a couple of run-ins with them.”
“They were an interesting group of people, humans with the ability to stand-up against vampires and my creations—my scientific mind couldn’t let it go. It was soon after Vladimir went to the Hunters for sanctuary that I found out about their secret.”
“Now enters Mordekai into my story. I found out the truth from the few Hunters I captured. Mordekai is a spiritual being trapped inside the orb who gained the ability to gather information beyond our understanding. I knew that with his knowledge I could further my research and possibly more. I changed my target to Mordekai, but it wasn’t until later I learned of the Accord he had with the Hunters. The only way to cancel it was to destroy them all. After finding his location, I attacked them, which is how I obtained your parents, Take and Eleanor. They were the best the Hunters had to offer, and they were now in my control. And I used them to take out the rest of the Hunters.”
“You used my parents to destroy the Hunters,” Alex he bit his lip and clenched his fists—his knuckles turning white as he was ready to leap at Victor’s throat.
“When you have the best, it’d be a shame not to use them.” Victor smirked, “However, I wasn’t able to find Mordekai. Your parents were strong-willed and loyal to a fault. I couldn’t figure out why. For years they still held out, even after the destruction they had caused to the family they loved.”
“Then I finally figured it out. You, Alexander, you were what they were protecting. Once I learned there was still someone who could control Mordekai I set out to find you. I sent my minions out to different locations around the world to search for you, and it wasn’t until recent
ly that I found you. Malcolm overreacted and attacked you before I had a chance to work out a plan to extract you. I needed you alive to help me find where Mordekai was located. Who would’ve ever guessed that Vladimir and his daughter would help you lead me straight to him? All the better I was able to get ahold of something he cherishes so much.” He outstretched his head to touch Vali’s cheek.
“Don’t you dare touch her! If you lay a hand on her, I’ll kill you,” Alex blurted. Victor’s hand halted before he reached her.
“And how do you plan to accomplish any of this? If you haven’t noticed you’re quite outnumbered here, Alexander.” Victor waved his arms in front of him. The undead advanced toward Alex—their number filled the antechamber. Alex unholstered his guns and readied himself.
“I’m willing to do anything to save Vali, even if it helps your plans—I’ll die rescuing her but know that you will never get your hands on Mordekai.”
“We’ll see about that. Kill him.” Victor gave the signal to attack with a snap of his fingers. The dozens of humans injected the serum and started to transform as Malcolm had. Alex fired his guns as he charged toward the undead. He took out fifteen of them before the humans completed their transformations into werewolves.
The werewolves leaped into the air and pounced on Alex, but with Quick Eye he was able to dodge their attempts. The protection ward Mordekai cast on his coat activated when he was hit by a couple of their claws. Alex injured a few with the blade on his guns. The silver burned them as they bounded away. He holstered the gun in his right hand and grasped the handle to the Hunter’s Blade to unsheathe it.
He didn’t hesitate for a moment before he charged back into the fray. He hacked and slashed away at the undead while he dodged the werewolves’. The protection ward sparked yellow across his coat.
The protection ward is yellow already. I’m taking too much damage. I need to evade their attacks quicker.
Alex jumped to the center of the antechamber where the undead amassed in hopes to slow the werewolves down. They won’t attack their allies, will they? Alex stayed in the densest portion of the horde as he continuously decapitated them.