I screamed and back peddled on hand and heels toward the hall that we had come in from, now knowing why Bernard was scared to death to go down. It was hideous, whatever it was. It resembled Fala in some ways, with its massive snout full of teeth, only it had no hair and it smelt of pure death. Its arms were dripping gore from bone and tissue that looked as if would pop at any moment. It stomped on backward feet and twisted legs, opening its mouth while it shook its head, slinging Bernard’s blood and gore everywhere.
“Kill it!” Tammy yelled as it towered over her, its mangled genitals swinging grossly between its legs. She held her arm up, not to ward off its bite, but to block the horror that was dripping from its rotting, dead flesh. “Get it away from me!”
Derek made a move to swing his blade at it, but it knocked him into the wall like he was nothing but a speck of dust. I couldn’t understand how it could be so strong if it was barely held together with decayed bits.
“Jacob, his leg,” Monroe called out, readying his own weapon toward the thing. “Wolf beast, his snout!” Fala ignored Monroe and continued to give Derek aid.
“Fala, we need you!” Jacob yelled.
“Get it off of me!” Tammy screamed.
“Fala!” I screamed.
Fala threw back his wolf head and let out a sound that put chills over my entire body and made me very grateful he was on our side. He turned as he stood, stormed over and latched his forearm around the thing’s huge snout and clamped it shut.
“Cates, take the back of the neck until you remove the head. Jacob, on the count of three. One…”
“No! Wait! Not over me,” Tammy cried out.
“Two, three!”
Jacob, Monroe, and Cates swung their blades in unison and the beast fell where it had been standing. Garvin grabbed one of Tammy’s feet and Sydney the other, pulling her free right before the thing hit the ground. Cates stepped over its severed legs and finished what he had started by removing its head. “There is always a first time for everything, yes, Master Jacob?”
“Yes, Master Cates. That is indeed one for our journals.”
“What the hell was that thing?” I asked, sliding back into the room from the hall.
“Now you join the fun,” Jacob raised one brow.
“I was…just watching our backs from the other way. Yeah, it scared the crap out of me and I was getting out of the way, so there. Tammy, you okay?”
“And she changes the subject,” Derek laughed.
“Hey, whose side are you on anyway?” I bumped him as I walked by.
“I do not think it wise to go down,” Fala said in his gruff voice. “Even the cats have disappeared.”
“That’s right, where did Lane and Luther go?”
“They are not a violent being and more than likely went home,” Monroe said.
“If that’s true, then why did you and your buddy kill their friends?” Derek asked, pushing the thing's arm away from him with his foot, while holding his own arm where he had made contact with the wall.
“Reed had no stopping point. Two slices with his blade and it was too late, the other two barely got away before I could stop him.”
“You know, why is everyone, all of the sudden, supposed to just trust you anyway? You may be his long lost brother and all, but maybe that’s the card these elder people are playing. Have any of you even thought about that?” Derek looked around the room. “How did he know how to kill this walking dead wolf?”
“You remove the head on all walking dead,” Monroe replied coldly. “Why would I ask your mistress to mark me as she has you if I were setting a trap for the elders?”
“Let’s get one thing straight right here, right now. Renee didn’t just mark me buddy,” Derek poked Monroe in the chest. “She is my maker and I will kill any who even remotely think about harming her. Do I make myself clear, asshole?”
“Then you are looking in the wrong direction. Do I make myself clear, anus?”
“If I don’t get this shit off of me, I’m going to kill everyone. So, shut the hell up and get out of my damn way!” Tammy pushed past Monroe and Derek, continuing down through the stone hall with Cates right behind her.
Cates returned a few seconds later. “She’ll need something to cover her…” he made a move over his chest with his hands. “She’ll need to borrow a shirt.” He looked around at all the boys. “Her chest is so…never mind.” He disappeared back through the opening.
“If even one of you laugh, I will pop you,” I whispered holding up my finger and fighting back a smile. ***
Alex was coughing and yelling out for anyone to come help free him before he choked to death. The smoke was filtering in through the same air vents that were meant to keep breathable air in the lower levels. Martin was working diligently, trying to move the stones that had collapsed in the narrow passageway that would lead them to safety in the tunnels.
“Martin, I’m scared.”
“No need, the ceiling will hold. Just keep moving the smaller stones, we will be through soon.”
“What about Alex? He could help us.”
“It is best to leave him be. He could also try and take our lives and go back to his own, little one. I cannot have your safety in more jeopardy than it already is.”
“Are we going to die down here, Martin? I mean, if we can’t get through this tunnel? Is there only one way out?”
Martin didn’t reply he just dropped the stone he was moving and took Tanda into his embrace.
Chapter Thirty
It was very apparent that the twin sisters had gotten away, and with my ring to boot. We knew that Bernard had said that Inara had plans on hitting the open water if things didn’t go as she had planned and that sure didn’t happen. They didn’t go according to mine either but all of London was on the run. Lord Cheree was a pile of ash and Angelica’s fine castle estate wouldn’t stand when we were finished. I, for one, wasn’t going down into the dark with God only knows what, so we closed the trap wall and headed back to the ballroom.
As for Angelica’s whereabouts, it was just a guess but it was likely that she wouldn’t be boarding a boat with her sister. Monroe said he saw several coming and going from a little village south of London, fairly deep in the woods. He had followed them one night when he and his companion first made it into London, thinking they were us. It would be up to the whole group to make the decision on whether or not we would go after her. The open water was a different subject all together and not knowing which way a traveler goes, it is next to impossible to track them.
“Tear the curtains down and lay them at the base of each fireplace. It will not take long to catch and burn this place to the ground. If Angelica did go up and not make her escape, she will wish she had,” Cates said, and then belted out a laugh.