The Pilgrims of the Damned: A Vampire Thriller, page 37
“Your blood will wake our king,” the First Priest said. “It has so much power in it, Ulfrik won’t be able to resist. He’s almost woken right now. I can feel him on the edge of consciousness. He just needs a little more power to wake.”
“No!” Amelia shouted, and turned and headbutted Stuart, who, considering how much magical power he had, was still a frail, deathly ill human. She tore the staff from Stuart’s hand, the light of the talisman dimming to nothing in the process. She smashed the staff on the head of the First Priest, spilling his blood over the sarcophagus, too.
“You fucking bitch!” Stuart shouted, his face pouring with blood, magic sparking from his fingers.
“Hole!” Miles shouted, his voice now coarse and pained.
One of the desolates picked up Miles and threw him across the room at the hole in the floor. He hit the wall next to the hole and fell down into it, only to be caught by Lauren as he reached the bottom.
“Amelia!” Lauren shouted, dropping Miles to the ground. “Jump!”
Amelia didn’t need to be told twice and was soon falling through the hole, where she too was caught by Lauren.
“We need to leave now,” Lauren said.
Miles nodded as he got to his feet, wobbled, and fell face first to the cold, wet ground.
Chapter Thirty-Two
What’s wrong with him?” Amelia asked as Lauren carried a semiconscious Miles through a maze of tunnels that led down through more of the tomb of Ulfrik.
“Don’t know,” Lauren said. “Need to get some distance between us and the people who would like us dead, though.”
Miles listened to the whole conversation, although he wasn’t really paying attention. He hurt. His entire body felt as if someone had cut it open, put hot coals inside him, and sewn him back together. He wondered which nursery rhyme that was a part of. Probably something inappropriate for children. His brain tried to remind him of where he was, and his current situation, but the pain would occasionally lance through his body, with no further reminding needed.
After an unknown amount of time, but what Miles considered to be at least a year, he stopped being jiggled around like a bag of oranges and was still. Mercifully still. Oh, stillness is underrated. He felt cool liquid on his face. Coolness. Oh, coolness is even more underrated. The liquid touched his lips, and he let out a soft moan.
“Is he dying?” Amelia asked.
“I don’t know,” Lauren said, a might tersely in Miles’s opinion.
Miles opened his eyes as it felt as though someone was stabbing him with a hot poker in the ribs. “What the actual fuckery!” he screamed, not really caring who he was screaming at. The pain subsided, and he went back to the blissfulness of being still. He only then realised he was naked from the waist up.
“He’s bleeding a lot,” Lauren said. “The wound is closing, but I think that bastard used a black stone dagger.”
“A what?”
“He has a dagger on him,” Lauren said. “It’s made of black stone. I think it’s actually made from part of the sarcophagus. The black stone absorbs energy, so you stab a vampire with it and…”
“I really fucking hate that prick,” Miles said, feeling a little lucid. “Body is healing, but I’m fucked without blood.”
“You’re okay?” Amelia asked as she crouched beside him.
Miles opened his eyes. He was atop a desk, with hundreds of scrolls all around him. “Where are we?”
“Not a clue,” Lauren said. “You need blood.”
“You got some?” Miles asked as he tried to ignore the continuous agony that was playing the xylophone on his ribcage.
“None you want,” Lauren said grimly.
“Yeah, I’d rather not go down that route,” Miles told her, remembering what had happened to the last person who had drunk desolate blood. Eventually, the pain in his side subsided a little. “I really want to hurt that Priest.”
There was a crash from somewhere inside the tomb, the echo of the noise bouncing all around them. “Nothing good is coming our way,” Amelia said. “I’ll give you my blood.”
“That’s not a great idea,” Lauren said.
“It’s a terrible idea,” Miles said, closing his eyes. “Badly wounded vampires do not take blood from people they want to see alive.”
“It’ll kill me?” Amelia asked.
Miles shook his head. “Not on purpose. I might not be able to stop, and you definitely won’t be able to stop me. But also, you’ll see my memories, and I’ll see yours. Neither of us has any control over it.”
“We can’t stay here long,” Lauren said. “If I move you, you’re going to pour blood everywhere. We’ve been running an age without stopping. I think we’ve got distance between us, but sooner or later, they’re going to send people down to track us.”
“How big is this tomb?”
“It’s huge,” Lauren told him. “They’ve been excavating it for years and managed to crack into where Ulfrik’s attackers dragged his sarcophagus, but the Priest and his followers uncovered a lot more in the meantime. This was meant to be where Ulfrik’s servants would be buried, but Ulfrik himself was never meant to be here. His attackers buried him in what is essentially the poor bit.”
“Oh, he’s got to be mad about that,” Amelia said.
“There’s another exit near Lakewood, about two kilometers north of here,” Lauren continued. “About two kilometers back is the way we came. There are stairs that lead up from this level to the one above; they wind around until you get back to the sarcophagus. They found it and just dug straight up, blew out the roof.”
“Lakehouse safe?” Miles asked.
“The desolate found it when they were excavating, but the First Priest wanted it closed up. There are desolate guarding it. I can get us there and out.”
“You headbutted Stuart,” Miles said to Amelia, feeling a little lightheaded.
“Deserved it,” Amelia said with a forced smile.
“Never been more attracted to someone in my life,” Miles told her.
Lauren stifled a laugh. “I’m not sure this is the time to be horny.”
“Point, right, Lauren, give me sixty seconds,” Miles said. “After which if I haven’t stopped drinking, you need to make me.”
“And how do I do that?” Lauren asked.
“Punch me very hard in the face,” Miles said. “Should do the trick.”
“So what you’re saying is, today has a silver lining?” Lauren said with a grin.
“This is only going to take sixty seconds?” Amelia asked with a smirk as she sat down beside Miles, who lifted himself up onto his elbows.
“Out here, aye,” Miles said and tapped his head. “In here, it might feel somewhat different.”
“I was being coy,” Amelia said.
“Ah,” Miles replied. “I am not healthy enough for coy.”
“Get on with it,” Lauren said, leaving the room to stand guard outside.
“You ready?” Miles asked.
“Be gentle,” Amelia joked, moving her hair out of the way of her neck.
Miles said nothing as he pulled Amelia toward him, smelling her perfume, hearing the beat of her heart. He felt the need course through his body as he turned into his vampire side, and sank his fangs into her neck.
Images of Amelia’s adult life flashed through Miles’s mind. He saw glimpses of her at work, with friends, times when she was happy, when she cried. He saw her with Heather, her reporter friend, saw the day she’d been told about Heather’s murder. Felt the determination at finding where Heather’s killers had fled to, and why. Felt the need to get Heather’s story out there. The rage at having lost a friend to monsters like Liam and Stuart. Every emotion crashed against Miles’s will as he tried to keep his need for blood in check, as he tried to make sure he only took what he needed.
“Let it go,” the imaginary Amelia said, as she bent down and whispered in Miles’s ear. “Just let go.”
“No,” Miles said, feeling a raw power flood his body until pain erupted from the side of his head. He was thrown back, the image of Amelia fading to one under the tomb. He looked around in a panic, trying to figure out what had happened.
“It’s okay,” Lauren said, from beside Miles.
Miles looked down at his chest, where nails had been racked across his torso, leaving red marks in their wake. “Amelia,” he said, his voice low, gravelly.
“She’s okay,” Lauren said.
Miles sat up and saw Amelia lying on the ground, up against the wall, her breathing shallow. Long spindly roots had torn out of the ground beneath them and wrapped around Miles and Amelia, keeping them together until the bite had been stopped. She stared at Miles with an unrelenting hunger.
“That’s some powerful shit,” Lauren said. “Both your vampire stuff and her magic.”
Miles nodded and rolled off the table as Amelia’s expression softened, her lips parting and a low exhale leaving her body. “That was a lot,” she whispered as the roots moved back under the cracks in the floor once more.
Miles checked her neck. The wound had already closed. “Fucking hell,” he said. “That was a little intense.”
“There are people heading this way,” Lauren said.
“You both need to get out of here,” Miles told her. “Amelia needs something to eat, and rest. Go up to Lakehouse, get out and to Bangor.”
“What are you going to do?” Lauren asked.
“Ulfrik is dangerous,” Miles said. “Of that I don’t need convincing.”
“If they manage to wake him, he’ll need to be forced back to sleep,” Lauren said. “I had Ulfrik in my head for weeks. Talking to me about coming to Augusta, about helping him become free. He didn’t go down willingly the first time; he was betrayed by some of his own. A mob. They couldn’t kill him, but they hurt him, forced him into the sarcophagus he’d built, dragged him here. They put up the pillars to trap him down here.”
Miles nodded. “The Viking desolate told me all about it. Ulfrik was not a good father figure. He’s going to be really mad when he gets up.”
“Yes, he is,” Lauren said. “He’s angry at everything.”
“How do you force a Dusk to go back to bed?” Miles asked.
“With great difficulty,” Lauren said. “The First Priest is dangerous, more so than the witch. He’s been lying to the First Lord of House Idolator for decades, while he searched for Ulfrik. He’s a true believer, Miles.”
“Believers are always dangerous,” Miles said.
“He’s also one of the Dark,” Lauren said. “He doesn’t seem it, but he’s not a pushover.”
“Are Stuart and Liam working for or against the Priest?”
“Both, I think,” Lauren said. “Liam works for the Magistrate, but he’s convinced them he needs to pretend to work for the First Priest. He really does want a cure for Stuart, that’s why he’s here. Liam is losing control, though; you can hear him growling to himself.”
“He’s letting the wolf take over,” Miles said.
“You killed his people,” Lauren said. “I think the werewolf in him wants to hunt, and the human in him wants revenge. You won’t be getting Thomas out of here without dealing with Liam first.”
“I’ll meet you at Bangor,” Miles said. “We need to get Amelia to safety and rescue Thomas. You okay with that?”
“I’m fine,” Amelia said, trying to stand up, before deciding better and sitting down. “I may be a little drowsy. First time having the blood of a witch?”
Miles nodded. “You have an incredible power, but you still need rest.”
“I’ll get her out,” Lauren said. “You sure you can deal with all of these assholes by yourself?”
“I’m not by myself,” Miles said. “Church is up there. I won’t be long. I’m not leaving Church anywhere near these bastards, and if I go with you, she won’t know where I am and she’ll wait. Not going to do that.”
“Be careful, Miles,” Lauren said. “I’d hate to meet up after all this time only for you to go and die on me. And I have some retribution I’d like to dish out on those people who decided to wake up a monster. Stuart in particular. He’s a nasty little worm of a man. Thinks that the magic he wields makes him someone to respect, but he’s only really interested in making people afraid.”
“He wants a cure for his cancer,” Miles said. “But there isn’t one.”
“He won’t accept that,” Lauren said.
The room shook, with various items on the shelves falling off, smashing on the ground. Lauren waited for it to stop shaking before gingerly picking up Amelia. “Any idea what that was?” she asked Miles as he opened the door.
“Nothing good,” he said, looking up the passageway outside the room. “I think it’s safe. Which way is your exit?”
Lauren nodded to the left.
“Any chance you can control the desolate here to attack everyone?” Miles asked.
Lauren shook her head. “Not while that talisman is up there. The talisman controlled me, I controlled the desolate, but as it’s a part of Ulfrik’s power, the desolate are submissive whenever it’s around them. I’m able to control some desolates I didn’t create, but not the larger ones. I can make a whole bunch of desolates docile near me, but any under the control of that talisman are going to be free to do whatever they want when no longer in proximity to it.”
“Damn it, well, I’ll go make sure that Thomas is safe and meet you back at Bangor,” Miles said. “Keep both of yourselves in one piece.”
“I’ll do my best,” Lauren said. “It’s good to see you, Miles.”
“Don’t die,” Amelia said. “I mean it.”
“Good to see you too, Lauren,” Miles said with a slight nod, before turning to Amelia with a smile. “I don’t plan on it.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Miles made his way back toward the hole he’d fallen down, with only a loose plan in his head. He needed to get to Church, make sure she was okay, get to Thomas, get him out, and if there was time, kill everyone trying to raise a monster. That last part was probably not going to happen, considering he was outnumbered, but if he could cause them some problems on the way, he’d be happy. Worst-case scenario, get to Bangor, come up with a plan, and bring their entire army of people back to Ellsworth.
Getting to Church was first and foremost, though. Everything else was a secondary objective.
Miles stopped jogging through the dark corridors when he heard someone shout, “You can’t hide forever!”
The voice had belonged to Travis, the friend of Jenny’s who, along with Jeremy, had betrayed the people of Bangor and thrown their lot in with the First Priest. He’d known they would be trouble since the incident with the desolate.
“I want to see them flayed,” a man said. Jeremy. He sounded angry.
“We will find him,” Travis said.
“Yes, and then we will show them the wrath of our true god,” Jeremy said, sounding more than a little bit happy with that idea.
“Searching through this tomb will be worth it when that Arbiter learns his place,” Travis said.
Miles stepped into the darkness of the shadows of one badly lit corridor and crouched low, behind several large wooden barrels. Two vampires, both young, both supremely stupid and/or arrogant enough to think that they could take him out.
His ribs still felt tender to the touch, but he was pretty sure he was capable of taking out these idiots without further damaging himself.
“You think Jenny is okay above guarding Thomas?” Jeremy asked, as the warm glow of torchlight illuminated the end of the corridor.
“She’s fine,” Travis said. “She’ll be the first to meet our new god. The First Priest ordained it. She’s quite special, you know. She wanted to be in the room with the sarcophagus, but the First Priest said it was too dangerous until our king awakens. I wish this old Arbiter would just die, though; it’s taking the sheen off what is meant to be an auspicious day.”
“We’re still doing our god’s work,” Jeremy said. “Those who do not bow before him, who dare to show anything but the respect he’s due, deserve what comes to them.”
“Amen,” Travis said.
Miles remained motionless and silent as they passed by at the end of the passageway. Travis, holding the torch, continued on without even glancing toward where Miles hid. Jeremy walked just behind him.
With them both gone, Miles followed to the end of the passageway and watched them walk away. He picked up a rock from the ground and threw it at the barrels he’d been hiding behind. He moved quickly back up along the way the two vampires had arrived from, using his telekinesis to extinguish a lantern on a nearby wall.
Miles watched as Jeremy entered the passageway, and remained where he was until he left the passageway a moment later.
“Some old barrels,” Jeremy shouted off into the distance. “Probably a rat.”
The moment Jeremy turned his back, Miles sprang forward, turning into his vampire self and covering the distance between him and his target in seconds. He stepped up close to Jeremy, who must have felt the presence behind him and turned, only to have Miles drive his talons into the younger man’s throat, ripping it out.
Jeremy’s eyes went wide as blood poured down his chest, but it was only for a moment before Miles punched his other hand through the side of Jeremy’s neck, ripping his head off and tossing it to the side, letting the rest of the body collapse to the ground.
He removed a heat dagger from Jeremy’s belt and stepped over the man’s head as he set off in pursuit of Travis. He caught up to him in moments, as Travis was looking around a crossroads of passages.
“Jeremy,” Travis said, bellowing before turning back to spot Miles as he walked toward them. Travis’s eyes went wide from surprise. “Shit.”
Miles threw the heated dagger into Travis’s shirt-covered chest, causing the vampire to gasp in pain and step back, as Miles continued on without skipping a beat. He reached Travis, removed the dagger, plunged it back into his skull, and ignited the heat, leaving the vampire to scream in the darkness as the inside of his skull was turned to ash.
