The Wrath of Pan (The Inglewood Chronicles Book 2) (18 page)

I woke up, chained to a wall, next to a cask filled with wine, no blood.  As my head began to clear, I recognized my surroundings as Rod’s place in Hillside.

“Rise and shine Vic.”

“Gregory, is that you?”

“Unfortunately.  Pan and Jonathan jumped us when they got back before we could realize what was going on.  They poisoned us with silver nitrate.”  No wonder I felt so bad.  “Is it true you killed Roderick?”

“Maybe, I don’t know.”  Looking back, it wasn’t one of my finer moments.  Everything had been so confusing and it seemed like he was working with Pan.  Turns out we were all pretty damn dumb.  “I can’t believe John was the one the entire time.”

“I had no clue either.  I mean he always seemed a bit off, but that is how I always remembered him.”

It all made sense though.  He was the one who saved Pan as a kid, he was the one with all the proof against Rod, everything.  It looked like he went as far as to sacrifice his own friend to keep the ruse up.

“Damnit, why didn’t I listen to Jack?”

“Not to be in the dark here, but who is Jack?”

I laughed, “You probably won’t believe it, but he was an angel who helped me while we were down there.”

The door to the cellar opened.  Two sets of footsteps came in.  “Look at this Kano, your cousin is awake!  What a day for a family reunion.”

Great, Pan and Kano were here.  “To what do we owe this great pleasure?”

He acted offended, “I thought you’d be happy to see us!  Kano, aren’t you upset at the way your cousin is acting?”

But there was no Kano left.  The feral state had full taken over, only the wolf was left.  He snarled at me, fangs bore.

“So, here’s what’s going to happen to you two,” he started back out the cellar, “you’re going to die.  While that happens, Jonathan and I are going to go free Cain.  Any questions before I leave?”

“Is John the Hammer of Jehovah?”

Pain laughed at me.  “You know, he hates that you call him John.  He told me he was going to be sorry he missed your execution.”  He cocked his head to the side, as if thinking, “To answer your question, maybe he is.  I don’t really know or care who might be leading this little adventure.”

It was Gregory’s turn.  “Where are Elizabeth, Rosette, and Rissa?”

“Funny you should ask; the ladies are being spared for the moment.  Obviously, we still need the witch.”

I tried to make a move towards him, but the chains made it futile.  “You bastard, you better not have hurt any of ‘em.”

He looked at me quite amused.  “Don’t worry, Jonathan would never hurt his sister. As for the other girl, I think my boy Johnny has a thing for her.”  Pan walked to the door and then turned around.  “Kano, attack!”

He slammed the door, leaving us with an enraged werewolf.  I was chained to the cask and couldn’t move.  This wasn’t the way I planned to go out.

“Gregory, if you have any ideas on what to do…”

Kano dropped to all fours.  He was barely recognizable and he embraced the final stage.  Fur rippled, covering his body, and his clothes ripped off as his body size increased.  He gave off a howl and started to approach his target, me.

He snapped twice at me.  He knew I was stuck and could take his time playing with his next meal.  The second time around, he caught my arm with his jaw, tearing a decent chuck out.  I refused to scream, not giving him the satisfaction of knowing I was hurt.

Annoyed, Kano took his front paw and swatted my face, leaving more claw marks on my cheek.  “Is that the best you can do Omega?”

The wolf howled again, this time more in anger.  I don’t know if he was capable of remembering anything, but it was because of me he was here.  I bested him in combat in front of the clan, causing him to become the Omega and ostracized from everyone.  It was what he deserved.

His yellow eye told me he still remembered.  He tried to talk, but it only came out in snarls and growls.  “The next time you hit me, you best end my life.  If I get free, I’ll put you down for good.”

It was an empty threat, I was stuck and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to change that.  I wasn’t going out without trying though, so I began to pull as hard as I could.  My binds were anchored deep into the wall and it wasn’t giving.  Seeing my effort, Kano brought his paw back, ready to deal the killing blow.

Our eyes locked, the intense hatred of his yellow eyes burned me to the core.  Just like the night in front of my family, I felt a surge come forth.  As his claws came down, I gave one last push to free myself.

“URRRRGHHH!!!”

My last effort was worth it as the chains broke free from the wall and snapped forward, hitting Kano in the face.  The feral wolf yelped as it fell to the ground, injured.  I pounced on the opportunity and tied the chains around his neck.  Kano began to buck, trying his best to throw me off.

It soon became a war of attrition.  I tried my best to keep those chains around his neck and strangle the life out of him.  The harder it was for him to breathe, the more wild and savage he became.  He slammed me into the wall behind us a few times, trying to get me to let go.

I refused.  Each time I went into the unforgiving brick, my back cracked.  As I pulled harder, he slammed back higher and my head took the brunt of the hit.  I closed my eyes, trying my best to keep the pain at bay.  With one final pull, the life left the wolf and he fell.

I dropped too, tired and in pain.  I fell beside my cousin and in death, he reverted back to his human form, the way he looked before he turned feral.  Although we never got along, seeing my cousin’s broken body was a tough pill to swallow.

“Victor, are you okay?”

I coughed a few times.  “It seems like you vampires are always checking up on me.”

“That is because you are always doing incredibly stupid things!  Brave, but stupid.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence Gregory.”

Shock was still etched on his face.  “I cannot believe you were able to break free.  The silver nitrate should have kept you incapacitated.”

He was right; I shouldn’t have been able to overcome the poison so easily.  “When’s the last time they shot us up?”

“Not that long ago, maybe about an hour or so.  I do not even think I could stand up right now.”

I’d felt that surge of power before.  I knew exactly what it was, Liz’s blood in me.  Just as Rosette said the first time we met, I’m an abnormality.  “Never mind how I did it, I’m free and I’m going to get you out of here too.”

It took me a minute searching the cellar, but I found a bolt cutter over in a secluded area.  I also grabbed a pretty big hammer and a few of the sharper instruments, we needed weapons.  I came back over and freed Gregory from his chains.

I handed him the bolt cutters and after a few moments of wobbling, helped him cut mine off too.  “Thank you Victor.  As much as I want to run off and attack them, I think we need to rest and let the silver nitrate leave our systems.  Well, maybe just mine.”

The juice I’d been running on wore off and I could feel the poison once again take over.  I stumbled back down to the ground.  “It’s still in me too partner.”

“Since we have a few minutes, what happened?”

I replayed the events of the catacombs over in my head.  “I saw Rod advancing on ‘em, ready to kill all three.  I made a split second decision and put three bullets in him.  Two to the chest and one between the eyes.  If that didn’t end him, Tucker going boom probably did.”

Low doses of silver act as poison, but a full silver metal jacket does serious damage.  I didn’t know if the bullets were bad enough to be lethal to someone like Rod, but if they didn’t kill him, Tucker’s blaze of glory probably did.

“You made a tough call and did what you thought was right.  If anything, Jonathan is to blame as he orchestrated everything.”

I looked over at Gregory, “I tell you what, the next time I see him, I’ll be righting a wrong.”

“I have no doubt you will.  Unless Liz gets to him first.”

I looked over at the door leading out of the cellar.  “What’re the chance that thing’s locked?”

“Nothing’s ever easy is it Vic?”

I half laughed, half coughed, “Easy would be someone kicking the door down and breaking us out.”

BOOM!  Both Gregory and I dropped to the ground as splinters from the door went flying everywhere.  From my spot on the floor, I had to do a double take.

“I take it you thought I was dead?”  Rod stepped over the remains of the door.  “Have no worries, I am still very much alive.”

The three of us were upstairs, sitting in another living room type area.  Rod had done his best to provide me with something to eat, but seeing as this was a vampire’s home, my choices were pretty limited.  I had a few piece of stale bread and expired jerky.

“Gentlemen, we have much to discuss and not much time to do it.”

I took a measure of the man.  He looked no worse for wear, as I didn’t even see wounds from the bullets or the explosion.  “What’s going on here?  How did you survive?”

“Your bullets hurt quite a bit, but I was able to move just out of the way enough for them to miss vital locations, sparing my life.  As for the explosion, I used a piece of fallen rock to protect myself.  By the time I dug myself out and escaped, Pan and Jonathan already had Elizabeth and yourself prisoner.”

“Roderick does anyone besides Victor and I know you are still alive?”

He sat down and closed his eyes for a moment.  “No, I waited until I knew everyone had left the catacombs before I emerged.  I followed them back to Jonathan’s house and then to here after they left with the two of you.”

“Liz is still there.”  I tried to stand up, but the silver nitrate was still doing its thing.  “They also have Rosette and Rissa too.”

“The witch they will need if they are truly trying to release Cain.”

“You knew about Cain?”  I was starting to get pissed.

“Only after being dragged into the catacombs.  Jonathan is a very talented actor and made it look like it was my actions that led to all of us being there.”  He apologized to Gregory, “I regret my actions to you and your lady friend.  I truly thought she was in league with Pan.  Had I realized sooner just how duped I had been, I would have confided in everyone.”

I wasn’t going to let him off the hook easy.  “How do you explain the grave of dead bodies with the key to the catacombs?  Plus you grabbed Rosette while we were tied up with Pan?  Please oh great one, explain those!”

He put his head down in shame.  “The grave was where I decided to bury those who attacked me.  I needed someplace remote to hide just how badly things were.  The key was hidden in there as a last minute precaution.”

Of course, pride was at play.  “That doesn’t explain the coincidences with Pan.  That’s the hardest pill to swallow.”

“The day Pan came to Jonathan’s house; I received a strange call from an acquaintance named Warren Tucker.”  Of course Tucker was involved.  “He told me I needed to get the witch out as quickly as possible, that Pan was going to take her.”

“Don’t tell me you told him where the key was hidden.”

He shook his head yes.  Obviously in hindsight he saw just how stupid he was, but it was too late to change that.  John was the traitor and Rod was just a moron who made our jobs a lot harder.

“Your actions were pretty damn dumb, but I’ll concede some points.  We’re outsiders and you didn’t know who to trust.”  The pity party needed to end.  “The three of us are the only hope for those girls.  We need to get it together and devise a plan to rescue them.”

Rod offered up something useful.  “I can lead us through the secret passages in the house.  We should be able to enter without notice.”

Next up was Gregory.  “I am not too proud of this, but I was a very good thief a long time ago.  I can procure us some weapons once we make it back to the city.”

“You’re going to steal weapons?”

“Trust me Victor, it is not my first choice, but we do not want to leave a trail.  We need to be invisible.”

My buddy had a point.  As for me, “Due to certain natural gifts I have, it would make the most sense for me to go there and recon the situation.  No point in going in not knowing what we’re up against.”

Rod stood up.  “My vehicle is a few kilometers down the road.  I did not wish to be spotted, so I entered the property by foot.”

I still was a bit woozy, but we could recover in the car.  “If Gregory is up to it, I say we hit the road now.”

“I am fine.  The sooner we can get on the move, the better.”

So with that, the three of us made the walk to Rod’s car.  We were under the cover of night, and the roads were pretty empty.  By the dash clock, it was about three in the morning when we entered the city limits again.

“I own a small storefront not too far from here.  With everyone assuming I am deceased, it will be the safest place to go and prepare.”

I didn’t have any objections and neither did Gregory.  Rod drove us a bit further, only stopping to pull into a pretty secluded parking spot in an alley behind a little strip of stores.  He backed the car into the spot and killed the lights.  We followed him into his store, which turned out to be an antique dealer.

“Years of hoarding finally paid off huh?”

He gave me a look of irritation.  “Most of the items in this store are priceless.  You would do well to stay in the back, as I would hate to have to bill your boss for any unfortunate instances after the rescue is complete.”

“She barely pays me enough as it is…”  But my grumbling fell on deaf ears.

“From our location here, where would the closest place be to get the proper gear?”

Rod led us to his office space upstairs.  On his desk was a ton of papers, which one was a map of the district we were in.  Pointing to a place, “Two city blocks over there is a store that specializes in edged weaponry.  It is convenient to our location here and there is a side entrance that would offer easy access.”

Gregory took the map, “I shall return.  Anything in particular either of you would like?”

Rod reached under his desk and pulled out a case.  Popping it open, “I have all I need right here.”  A long, thin sword was sitting there, shining brightly.

“Is that silver?”

“A keen eye Mr. Inglewood.  It is perfectly balanced and the point is like an ice pick.”

As for my weapon, “I generally use a gun and a short sword.  I’m not particularly good with the sword, but I guess that’s all I can handle without hurting myself.”

Gregory smiled, “Do not worry, I will find something useful for you.”  With that, he opened the back door and snuck out into the night.

Without having him as a buffer, the awkward silence between Rod and I returned.  I figured I owed the guy an apology too.  “Sorry for shooting you.  Though in my defense, you weren’t acting normal.”

“Bygones Victor, if the roles were reversed, I would have killed you.”

Didn’t that just make me all warm and fuzzy inside?  “I get why you acted the way you did to me, but why Liz?  She’s been nothing but supportive of you.”

He sat down behind his desk.  “You know why I own this antique shop?  It’s a distraction from the mess that comes with being one of the oldest vampires alive.”

“I take it the job ain’t all it’s cracked up to be?”

“You could say that.”  He began reading what looked to be purchase orders.  “Right after we reached out for assistance to Elizabeth, I noticed Nigel and Jonathan’s behavior changed.  At first I figured it would just pass, that they were nervous about something.”

I sat down across from him.  “But it never changed, only got worse I bet?”

“They became so secretive with what they were doing.  Every time another death that I knew was connected to Pan occurred, Jonathan would send Nigel out on some task that seemed to only hinder the investigation.”

“At what point did you start putting the pieces together?”

“The night the staff ambushed me.  Keep in mind to hypnotize a vampire takes an incredible amount of power and skill.  Pan does not have that yet; he is more like a wild animal.  Only Jonathan or Nigel would have the skill to do that.”

He suspected before we ever showed up.  “You allowed us to take refuge and help the man you knew was pulling the strings?  You could’ve gotten us all killed!”

“I thought you were all in on it.  It sickens me now, but I even felt Elizabeth had betrayed me.  I was paranoid with fear and figured you would all turn on me at a moment’s notice.”

Running my hand trough my hair, “When did Jonathan figure out you were on to him?”

“I cannot say for sure, but when I gave you his and Nigel’s names that night at my home, I guess he figured the secret was out.”

“You knew we’d confront him, didn’t you?”

He gave me the affirmative, “Yes.  I had no other plays to make.  If you or anyone else was already in on the conspiracy, you would make a move.  When only Jonathan showed his true colors, I knew I made a mistake in not trusting you.”

I stood up and walked over to him.  “It’s better being late to the party than never going.  Truce?”

“I do believe a truce is in order.  Thank you Victor for protecting those closest to me.”

He shook hands and I felt a pressure lifting.  “Of course my friend.  As a measure of good faith, let me do you’re a favor, if I can.”

“In that case,” he got a very serious look in his eyes, “please stop calling me Rod.  I have grown to hate the snarky way you say it.”

I smiled to myself.  I guess he realized he wasn’t a young, cool kid anymore.