A Shade of Vampire 23: A Flight of Souls (10 page)

I
wasn’t
sure where to go now. I’d hoped that down there in the lower levels, I might come up with some kind of plan—a hope that had only strengthened on spotting Lucas. But now, I was hardly any closer to my goal. All I knew was that the exit was above me. Far, far above me. And beginning to head back in that direction was a good start. Maybe I ought to return to my pond, where I belonged, and where I would not have to fear being tracked down by a ghoul. Then again, the ghouls might anticipate my return and be waiting for me there, ready to punish me for having attempted to escape.
Maybe not such a great idea.

But whatever the case, I still had miles and miles to travel before I was even faced with the proposition. As I sank cautiously into the closest wall of the pond-filled chamber, my mind returned to my uncle. I wondered whether, even if—or once—I managed to find a way to escape, Lucas would be willing to attempt it after what he’d been through. But if he stayed… I wondered how much longer he would last. He was already so deep down. How many more years, months, or maybe even weeks would it be before he was thrust down further into The Necropolis?
Never to return.

Still, if he did reject my offer of help, it was his own decision. I couldn’t force him to come with me, although I might like to…

But I was getting too far ahead of myself. First I had to find a way to get myself out of this hole.

I stayed as close to the walls as I could, realizing that I was doing exactly the same thing I’d been hoping I wouldn’t have to do—traveling blindly through walls and ceilings, not knowing what was on the other side. But I had no other choice now but to keep moving. I had to make my way back up to the higher levels. At least now I was not in such a mad hurry. I was able to travel more slowly and cautiously, because I was not being chased by ghouls… at least not yet.

With each level I climbed, after sinking through the ceiling, I poked just half of my head through the floor of the level above, allowing me to scope out the room before emerging fully. It was a slow, arduous process, but along the way, I was at least able to take in more of the ghouls’ abode. I’d been running so fast before, everything had been a blur, and I’d barely been able to see my surroundings. It appeared to be one giant network of cavernous chambers, most of them scattered with their beloved decorative pools—at least those I passed through. I wondered where the residential quarters were; I didn’t spot any. As I climbed layer after layer, the pools grew more bright, more vibrant, more alive… until I was certain that I was only a few floors away from my own level. My belief was confirmed as I spotted a familiar tunnel—just beyond that was my cave.

I arrived at the entrance and began hurrying through until I reached about halfway, when I stopped dead in my tracks. Voices drifted through the tunnel from behind me. The voices did not belong to ghouls, however. These voices were those of a man and a woman. And I could understand them. Hurriedly, I sank into the wall of the tunnel and strained to listen.

“We’re not going to meet the demand,” the female voice hissed.

“We will, Lidera. We will.” The male voice was strangely familiar.

Lidera’s voice dropped to a hushed whisper. “Stop lying to yourself, and stop lying to me! You know we are far too short of the count to ever make the deadline. Why don’t you just admit it?”

Two fae came into view around a corner of the tunnel. Now I knew why the male voice sounded familiar. The man was the same copper-haired fae who had dragged me here, and the female… I’d never seen her before, but judging by her vivid hair color, they were related.

Anger boiled up within me to see the man again. Still, I tried to focus my mind on their conversation.

“Admit what?” my kidnapper snapped.

“That you’re leading us all into a pit!” Lidera shot back.

The man threw his hands into the air in exasperation and anger. “We have this conversation every time you come here with me! My answer now is no different than last time. We will meet it, I promise you.”

“An empty promise!” Lidera spat.

At this, the man halted. He whirled on her, his eyes flashing. “And what would you have me do? Pray tell, sister. What would you do, in my place? Don’t pretend that you weren’t just as eager to accept their assistance to begin with. Don’t play the innocent one here.”

“I’d rather break the bonds and forgo the punishment than face the consequences of this failure,” she breathed, her chest heaving with agitation. “And I would suggest that you, Sherus, and everybody else, do the same.” There was a span of silence as the siblings glowered at each other. Then Lidera broke it. “I must abandon this doomed mission.”

Sherus’ eyes bulged. “What?”

“I—I said I want no more part in this scheme.”

Sherus moved forward, his large hand snaking around her neck. He gripped her throat hard as his eyes bored into hers. “You seem to be forgetting that we made a pact. All of us. You cannot simply back out now.”

“I already told you, I don’t care anymore!” she whispered, even as her eyes glistened with fear. Then she reached up slowly and touched her brother’s cheek. “I don’t want to be around to see you fail, brother,” she said in a softer tone this time, an almost endearing tone. “Though I wish—how I wish—you will succeed.”

“Coward!” Sherus hissed, letting go of her neck and shoving her hand away from him. “I cannot
believe
you!”

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, taking a step back. Then, without another word, she jerked forward and raced away down the tunnel out of sight, leaving Sherus standing alone, agape.

Indignation burned in his irises, but as he stood there, I could’ve sworn that I also spotted a flicker of doubt. Then he shook his head angrily and ran his hands over his face. After remaining rooted to the spot for a few moments longer, he continued on his way after her. Once the sounds of his footsteps became faint echoes, I dared drift out of the wall again.

My mind was racing as I attempted to make sense of the conversation. What did the woman—Lidera—mean by count? Count of ghosts, I could only assume. Apparently they were behind—something that was hard to believe from the sheer mass of ghosts I’d spotted so far in this place. I wondered how many ghosts the ghouls had demanded altogether in exchange for their help all those decades ago.

As Sherus’ footsteps faded completely, I realized that I would be a fool not to follow after him. He was heading for the direction of the exit.
The exit
. If I could just somehow tag along behind him… I began hurrying forward, even as I tried to remain in the shadows of the craggy walls. Sherus seemed to be in no particular hurry—or more likely he was just deep in thought—as I caught sight of him along the corridor. He exited the tunnel and entered another chamber—which, if my memory served me correctly, was the chamber that held my own pool. I didn’t have time to check. I fixed my eyes on him in tunnel vision as I trailed as closely behind him as I dared. He crossed to the other side of the cavern and then wound his way through another tunnel. Soon, we approached the main door. Gripping the handle, he twisted it sharply and pushed it open. He stepped through, immediately closing it behind him. It didn’t matter. I did not need his help getting through this particular door anyway. Afraid that he might start traveling faster and I could lose his trail, I quickly passed through the solid wood.

But in my hurry to follow the fae, I didn’t stop to consider that he might not be the only one there on the other side. As I emerged, it was to the sight of four ghouls—three male, and one apparently a female—standing around the fae. Their gazes shot toward me at once. A malevolent smile split the face of the female and she immediately lurched forward. There wasn’t enough distance between the two of us for me to escape this time. The ghoul wrapped her skeletal hands around my neck, and the next thing I knew, she was dragging me back through the main door, back into the dim tunnels of their ghastly realm… leaving the fae to depart.

E
ven though I
knew what a useless endeavor it was, I couldn’t help but struggle to break free. But I might as well have just gone with her willingly—the end result would’ve been the same. If anything, my struggling only seemed to amuse her, and she dug her hands deeper into my throat. I still couldn’t get over the strangeness of feeling a ghoul’s touch. I still didn’t understand how, like the fae, they were able to touch ghosts.

She dragged me right past my cavern and, to my horror, began descending deeper and deeper through the levels, sinking through the floors with such speed that I had no hope of counting how many we were passing. She dragged me with her through thick stone floors and ceilings until finally we arrived in another vast chamber. It was lightless and completely bare, except for rows of coffins—not white like the fae’s, but black—lining the walls.

Horror rushed through me. I already knew what was going to happen next. The ghoul reached one of the coffins, flipped open the lid, and proceeded to wrestle me inside. Before I could even attempt to zoom back out, she had slammed the lid shut over me. There was a click and a dull thud—the sound of metal wedging into wood. Scrambling up on all fours, I tried with all the willpower I possessed to try to pass through the walls of the coffin, but I already knew before even attempting it that I would be unsuccessful. This was a box just like the fae’s. A box just like Julie’s.

Gnarled hands shot down through the lid and clamped around my head. Sharp fingernails dug into me, holding me so firmly it felt like I’d been strapped into a helmet.

A pain seared my head. Pain unlike any I’d ever experienced. Pain that I hadn’t even thought possible for a ghost to experience. And then I lost my vision. At least, my exterior vision. A blur of colors washed over my mind’s eye, which slowly gave way to a vision so crisp and detailed, I struggled to believe it wasn’t real. Consciousness of my whereabouts ebbed away, and soon even the feeling of the ghoul’s hands digging into my head faded. The vision before my eyes became my complete reality, a vision which began to mutate into a string of visions, morphing into a nightmare I wouldn’t have wished upon my worst enemy.

I
thought
the visions would never end. I thought the pain would never stop. There was no escape, none at all. How could there be when it was real? The world in which I’d grown up—in which there had been peace, happiness, family, love—vanished from my memory, and was replaced with a gaping black hole.

Then, after my heart and mind had been slashed to a pulp by slew upon slew of torturous scenes, the visions began to blur and bleed into one another. I became slowly aware of the pain in my head again… and then of firm walls surrounding me. Even still, I couldn’t open my eyes, and my mind remained trapped in the darkness. I couldn’t shake the belief that everything I’d witnessed had happened. I’d seen it.
I’d been there.
The experiences were actually palpable—a hundred times more palpable than the dream I’d believed to be my real life…

My mother, father and sister, stripped to their underwear and strapped to wooden stakes, as hordes of horned goblins danced around them, cackling a hair-raising chant. A fire roared beneath them even as my father—a man I’d only ever seen as strong and heroic—diminished to a hapless victim, screaming for mercy. His and my family’s anguished cries pierced the night as the flames touched their feet. Flames that rose with terrifying speed, higher and higher until the fire had swallowed them alive.

Then… River. Sitting in a damp, moldy dungeon, wearing a tattered old nightgown that bulged with her protruding stomach. She was pregnant. Jeramiah materialized from the shadows and arrived next to her, laying a hand on her shoulder before stooping low to press a lingering kiss against her cheek. He grasped her hand, upon which lay a silver ring—a ring that matched the one upon his own hand. As he kissed her again, this time claiming her lips, her eyes fixed on mine, gazing up at me hopelessly. “You should’ve come back, Ben,” she breathed as my cousin drew away. “You should have come back…”

No! I can’t take this!

I can’t bear it anymore!
I screamed in my head.

Forcing my eyes open with willpower I’d believed I no longer even possessed, I realized I was crouched over on all fours, my head buried beneath my chest. Hands no longer clutched me. When I slowly raised my head upward, it was to see that the lid of the coffin was open, and staring down through it was the grinning female ghoul. Her smile broadened, revealing layers of pointed teeth.

I wanted to bolt away, away from this box, away from this creature, but I found no strength in me to move. I hadn’t even known that a ghost could lose strength. Weren’t they already dead, after all?

The ghoul reached down and gripped my arms, pulling me up toward her. As much as I loathed her touch, I felt so weak in that moment, I wasn’t sure how else I would’ve gotten out of that box. It was a struggle just to raise my hand. My mind still replaying the nightmare over and over again, I could barely concentrate on where she was leading me. But it was out of this chamber of coffins, and then upward. This came as a surprise to me; I’d half expected to be dragged downward as a punishment. Assuming her subtle, translucent form while still maintaining a strong hold on me, she sped up, and by the time she’d stopped, we were hovering at the edge of my pond.

Her grip on my shoulders loosened, her hands sliding down to my wrists. Her mouth parted and a thin—and shockingly long—tongue darted out, touching my cheek and licking it in a long upward motion, before slithering back between her flaking lips. Even in my daze, I couldn’t help but be grossed out.
Ugh
. She grinned more mirthfully than ever and then, with one strong thrust, pushed me back into the pool. Sinking underwater, I drifted down, down, to the bottom of the pool, unable to find the strength to even move myself upward.

“Joseph,” Nolan called to me. “What happened to you?”

His blurry outline arrived at my side along with Chantel, and then the form of Marcilla approached, hovering near my feet. I lay on my back, stretched out, staring up at the still surface. I couldn’t bring myself to talk. Not yet.

I just shook my head. But they both should’ve guessed what had happened to me.

“He needs some space,” Marcilla murmured. “Given time, I think he will recover. This was only his first escape attempt—their mind torture would’ve been a shock, but this boy is strong.”

Nolan and Chantel remained next to me a few moments longer before backing away with Marcilla.

“This boy is strong.
” Marcilla’s statement echoed around in my head.

I needed to be strong. I needed to be. For my family. For River.

But lying here in the gloom of The Underworld, I’d never felt weaker in my life.