Gauntlet Rite of Ascension (35 page)

The Den slowly became more crowded as people started arriving in anticipation of the full moon and the Rite.

              I saw Eavan briefly as she and her father went about the task of getting all her contentious family situated and organizing the festival. Eavan came to my room four days before the Rite to personally invite Abaddon and myself to her clan’s celebration. Oengus and Abaddon had kept searching for any evidence of a hidden passage but kept coming up with nothing.

              She came into my room after knocking, handing me an envelope with the invitation in it.

              “As emissary of the O’Sullivan clan I formally invite ye to our festival of the Rite.” She said with the air of practiced ceremony.

              “I would be honored.” I said, taking the envelope.

              I noticed she looked distracted; she had a cloud of distress that followed her, subduing her normal liveliness.

              “What’s wrong? Don’t tell me nothing, because I know better.” I asked her as she started to leave.

              I reached out and took her hand as she turned back to me. She squeezed back and we stood there like that.

              “I’m beginning to think we may never find out what Vicktor is doing. Abaddon and my dad have been looking every night and haven’t found anything.” She said.

              “You don’t strike me as the type to sit around and wait for answers. Got any ideas?” I asked.

              “Yeah, we go down there ourselves. See what we can find.” She looked at me with undisguised hope.

              I started to tell her that it was a bad idea, that if Abaddon and Oengus couldn’t find anything we sure as hell wouldn’t, then it hit me. They were looking for any sign of people being smuggled instead of the real threat. I remembered the story Abaddon told me about how my dad found the trail of the vampire’s victim even though there was no visible trail. Maybe the reason they couldn’t find anything was because they were looking for the wrong thing. I might actually be able to succeed where they had failed.

              “Okay, I’m in.”

              Eavan smiled fiercely and crushed me in a hug, her soft breasts pressed into my chest and I hugged her back, enjoying how her body fit mine like two puzzle pieces snapping into place.

              She pulled back and I saw the same heat rise in her.

              “I have to finish handing out invitations.” She told me as if to explain why she couldn’t see if the heat could be kindled into a raging inferno.

              “Of course, meet me at the bridge under the Den at midnight.” I said as she regretfully drew away.

              “I’ll be there.”

              The door clicked shut and I went about gathering a few things for tonight’s adventure.

Chapter 31

              I met her under the Den at midnight. Abaddon was fully engaged in his pursuits to notice my absence.

              She wore a black outfit that consisted mostly of form fitting spandex, explaining that it would rip easily if she had to shift forms. Her hair was held back by a ponytail and she presented quite as striking figure as she stood there watching me admire how well her outfit snugged her curves.

              I carried my backpack filled with a few items I thought might come in handy. I had a disposable camera, some garlic paste and a couple of flares. Like Eavan, I was worried about having to shift forms and knew anything I carried in my clothes would be hard to keep track of once they were torn to shreds.

              Her countenance turned serious and I shelved all my wandering thoughts. We found the door that led into the lower levels and were surprised to find it unlocked.

              We went in and found a sparse hallway bereft of any of the conveniences of the upper Den. It was a maintenance area and all around us were concrete walls and metal walkways. The structural support for the Den’s foundation burrowed into the earth and we looked for the passageways that led us deeper. After a few staircases and two dead ends I stopped. Eavan began to ask me what I was doing when I raised my hand, keeping her silent. I undressed and placed my clothes in a neat pile, then I willed my body to shift and the pain of changing forms rushed through me as my senses increased. Eavan took the backpack and I steadied my breathing, drawing on the Beast to help me find the state of focused/unfocused that would allow me to sense any vampiric trails.

              There was a moment of vertigo as I slipped into the Zen-like state. I turned in a circle and found a small almost invisible residue in the psychic ether that felt diseased and corrupted. I went over to a non-descript wall and searched around it, using all my senses I tried to find something that would show me what I was looking for.

              I almost gave up as the wall presented nothing other than a plain smooth surface. I ran my hand over the spot that I felt had the strongest concentration of death and pushed gently. To my utter surprised the entire wall slid back about six inches. No wonder they couldn’t find a door, the wall
was
the door.

              I brought myself out of my trance and felt a slight disorientation as my consciousness settled back into place. Eavan gave me an approving nod and we slipped into the dark crevice that almost seemed to invite us in with concealed disdain. As I went in I took the garlic paste and smeared a little on the door, making sure it could be found even if it wasn’t me who was looking for it.

              Eavan and I made our way down a narrow tunnel that barely allowed us to walk side by side. It was carved from the soft earth and had obviously been made recently.

              We walked for what seemed like thirty minutes when we started to hear sounds ahead of us. The strong scent of other Ascended assaulted us, making me think there was a small army under here waiting.

              The tunnel turned and one side of it opened up to a large chamber that was about thirty feet tall and a hundred feet in diameter. It housed control panels on one wall and a door cut through the concrete that had the words DAM AUTHORITY printed on it.

              Eavan and I crouched down and leaned over looking into the area.

              Below us were large cages, filled with people. Almost fifty men, women and teenagers were cramped into the small enclosures. Some stood holding the bars while others sat with their heads down in muted defeat.

              “Let me out of here! The full moon’s coming! I won’t be responsible for what happens!” One disheveled man screamed as he tried to pry the bars loose.

              “Shut up! Or I’ll beat you again!” Jameson’s cousin answered as he sat at a chair in front of a table, playing solitaire.

              “I’m not kidding, I’m dangerous!” He pleaded.

              Jameson’s cousin got up and went over to the bars, he leaned in to where he was inches from him and said, “Or what? You’ll turn into a beast?” His eyes flashed deep yellow and his face twisted as it started to shift forms.

The man in the cage fell back and tripped over someone. The other prisoner started cursing and pushed the guy off of him.

              “Oh my god! You’re like me?” He shrieked.

              “I’m not like you; you’re a dog, a Descended mongrel only worthy of my blade. But, she’ll know what to do with you. Your Beast may keep you alive for months, but eventually you will be drained and then, only then will you have peace. If the rest of you who can control the Beast know what’s good for you, you’ll keep this one from bothering me again.” He told the prisoners.

              Some of them shuddered; perhaps they knew what he was talking about.

              “You’re mad!” The prisoner said.

              “Not mad enough to get in the way of her and her hunger.” Jameson’s cousin said as he walked back to the desk.

              “Now just keep quite, only a few days left and she will come to take you from me, so stop being a pain in my ass.” He finished, going back to his cards.

              I pulled back with Eavan; she looked at me with dawning horror as she realized what was happening. I nodded to her to retreat and we started back down the tunnel, going until we couldn’t hear any noises. We went even further just to make sure we wouldn’t be overheard.

              “My god, they have a bunch of Descended down there!” She said in disbelief.

              “Did you hear what he said about the others who have control? He has both Ascended and Descended in there.” I added.

              “Why don’t they break out?” Eavan asked.

              “I don’t know, maybe Vicktor has found a way to weaken them. It doesn’t really matter; we have to tell Abaddon and Oengus.” I said, hurrying over to my clothes, I shifted back and got dressed.

              “Right.” She agreed.

              We left through the hidden opening. I pushed the wall back into place and we made our way up and out of the foundational levels. Entering the night brought the realization of what the implications of what we saw were. My heart filled with anguish knowing the vampire lord and Vicktor were working together to provide her and her undead children with the life sustenance the Beast provided.

              Eavan and I said nothing as we got back to my room, the weight of the situation hung heavy on our shoulders.

              Abaddon was surprised as we both came in with the clear distress of what we had seen plastered across our faces.

              “What is it?” He asked, standing up.

              “We know what Victor’s up to.” I said.

              We told him about what we had done and witnessed. I thought he was going to kick my ass when he learned we had disobeyed him, but I think the revelation and our success stayed his hand.

              He didn’t say anything for a little while after I told him. He was deep in thought.

              “I guess Max had it right after all.” He said finally. “I knew Vicktor was a bastard, but I never thought he was capable of turning over his own people to feed the vampire’s hunger.”

              “But why? There has to be some reason for it.” Eavan asked.

              “All the strange disappearances of those that openly oppose Vicktor were done with no evidence of the perpetrator. Now we know why, they were vampire’s doing his dirty work.” I said.

              “All Vicktor had to do was pay them in blood, literally.” Abaddon added.

              “But a vampire’s hunger is insatiable; doesn’t he know that eventually, after they have run out of all their captives, they will come after him?” Eavan started pacing, her mind spinning with the implications of what was happening.

              “Maybe he has less say in it than we think; remember his trace was on the manacles as well, he had been locked up. Maybe the vampire got to him somehow and now he’s doing her bidding, not the other way around.” Abaddon speculated.

              “None of that really matters does it? The fact is that Vicktor and his foot soldiers have been colluding with the vampires to round up those with the power of the Beast to use as a gourmet buffet. He’s without a doubt working against the best interest of the Pack. We now have an angle that I can go after him with.” I said.

              “What about all the people we saw? We can’t just leave them to be devoured.” Eavan argued.

              “Of course we won’t allow that. You said the guard mentioned the vampires were coming the same night as the Rite. That gives us a timeline with which to operate. We will just have to modify our plan to include helping them.” Abaddon said.

              “I need you to set up the laptop. I want to record a message to send to Max. Eavan you need to go let Oengus know what is happening.” He added.

              “Aye, but he will be pissed to know I too disobeyed his orders.” She quipped.

              “Tell him to worry about punishing you after the Rite.” Abaddon offered.

              “Why?” She asked.

              “Because there is a good chance you won’t have to worry about being punished then.” He said.

              She looked at him, puzzled.

              “We’ll probably be dead.” Abaddon answered her unspoken question.

              I got the laptop set up and Abaddon recorded his message to Max, briefing him on what has been happening and how it affected the plan. When he finished I took the zip drive out of the laptop and went to the arena and uploaded it into the transmitter that was still on the antennae array.

              After all the excitement, I had a hard time falling asleep. I kept hearing the prisoner pleading for his life, knowing that for some, even if we saved them from the vampires, there would be no saving them from the silver fangs of the Pack.

              I spent the next day with Abaddon. He kept me by his side the whole time, worried about letting me out of his sight. We went around the Den, greeting the members of the Pack Abaddon felt were important. I didn’t say much, just sat or stood with him, keeping quiet. I answered direct questions, but let Abaddon do most of the talking.