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22.
Ross
pulled the Porsche into a corps of trees, and shut the engine
off.
“We’ll
hoof it from here, any closer and we risk one of the trolls spotting
us.”
Seth
stepped round to the back of the car and got the duffel out. He
produced a pile of weapons. Blades mostly, but there were a few
handguns and two sawed off shotguns in the pile.
“Have
you ever used a gun Drew?”
“I’ve
had a little practice, when Brynn went through her woman alone panic
stage, but not much, I concentrated more on my martial arts training.
Honestly I’d be happier with a good blade.”
He
nodded and handed her a couple of sheaths with blades in
them.
They all
added to their personal arsenals then started moving through the
trees. From shadow to shadow, becoming shadows themselves, the black
fatigues they all wore made it easier to blend with the
gloom.
The sun had set, and
the darkness thickened giving them more cover. It didn’t
take them long to get to the entrance of Sandamar’s underground
hideout.
They
stopped in the pool of darkness cast by the last tree before the
clearing that housed the entrance. Ross held his hand up,
two fingers pointed at his eyes, then gestured out with a flat hand
indicating the surrounding area. He was telling them he
was going to scout around. He moved off
silently.
Seth
pulled Drew closer, and bent over to whisper in her
ear.
“Stay close
to me at all times. Mark or no mark I don’t want you
wondering off along. You copy?”
She
nodded. That had been the plan all along. She
knew she was inexperienced in combat. She was not going to
get herself killed just when things were starting to come together
for her.
A low
growled trickled over her skin. It was Ross calling the
all clear.
Seth motioned for
them to move. They stayed low, running in a crouch to
create a less of a profile. They met Ross at the door of
the hideout. Seth laid his ear to the door and listened
for a moment, then nodded and eased the door open. There
was no one in sight.
He
looked at Drew and pointed at his eyes. They had changed
becoming his leopards eyes. She understood and called to
her cat, she hadn’t even got to the request when she felt her
vision sharpen and suddenly the dark tunnel leading underground
looked like it was lit by the midday sun.
Ross
took point, Seth moved next motioning for Drew to follow and Marcus
took rear guard. They flowed through the tunnel like
whispers. Moving fast with stealth.
Ross
held up his hand signaling the others to stop. There were
voices in the room to the left.
“I
don’t know why we had to be left here. Sandamar’s gone
off somewhere with the dragon girl and we get stuck with a hand-full
of trolls to guard this dump.”
“Quit
your whining Messter, you’re giving me a migraine.”
Seth
recognized Xander’s voice. He released a quick
growl.
“What was
that?” Messter hissed nervously.
“What?”
Xander sounded impatient with the other man.
“I
thought I heard a growl.”
“Oh
god you are such a moron, you’re hearing things. Go out
the back and check the throne room. Make sure the trolls
haven’t destroyed the place.”
They
heard a second door open and close. Xander stepped out
into the hallway.
His eyes
found Drew immediately.
“Well
hello, little leopard.”
Seth
stepped between Drew and Xander. “Don’t go there
Xander, unless you want to die today.”
Xander
laughed a deep sinful sound. “You have ruined my fun
Seth. I would have liked to spend a little time with her.”
“Her, name is Drew.” Drew
spat out. “We don’t have time for
this.”
“Drew’s
got a point, we’ve got a job to do.” Marcus hissed
from behind her.
“In that
case, what can I do to help?”
“We’ve
come to find a salamander.”
Xander
frowned. “Why?”
“We
were told that there is one here that will help us find where
Sandamar has taken Namara.”
“Hmm,”
Xander considered for a moment. “In the lowest levels
there are some places you might find a salamander. I know
there is one room that has a magical fire in it. It’s
usually where Sandamar spends his daylight hours. I think
that would be the best place to look first.”
“How
many trolls and vamps?” Seth asked.
“There
are six trolls here at the moment. Only two vampires
including myself. Darius and the dragon depleted
Sandamar’s forces with their little fight. If you move
with stealth you should be able to get past them without too much of
a fight.” He paused for a moment “You will understand
if I don’t stay here. It would be hard to explain why I
didn’t get hurt – should you encounter some
combat.”
“Yeah,
get your ass out of here before any fighting starts. Gabe
would strangle us if your cover gets blown.”
“Good,
I’ll go find that moron and tell him I have an errand to run. Good
luck.”
“Thanks
Xander, see you round.” Seth nodded for Ross to start
moving again.
They
moved through the corridors going down the whole time. Stopping
occasionally for a sound, but managing to avoid
detection.
Finally
they reached the lowest parts of the caverns. They were in
a long corridor, there were three closed doors on each side of the
hallway. Ross looked back at Seth asking which to try
first. Seth pointed at Ross then at the closest door on
the left hand side. He pointed at himself then Drew and
then at the closest door on the right. Then showed Marcus
he should take the second door on the left. They
acknowledged the order and moved out, Ross stopping at the first door
to listen as Seth, Drew and Marcus moved past him.
Ross
opened the door disappearing into the room. Seth eased the
door of the second room open and entered gesturing for Drew to stay
close.
Once she
was in he shut the door behind her. They looked
around.
“Its
clear.” Seth straightened from looking under the bed.
“Were you looking for the
boogie-man?” Drew grinned at him.
He
pulled a face at her. “You can never be to careful, I’ve heard
the boogie mans a bad-ass”
Drew
had to stifle a laugh.
The
room was a bedroom of sorts, with a rotting four-poster in one corner
and a cold fireplace in the opposite wall. There was a
curtain hanging on the wall near the fireplace.
“This
place is a dump.” Drew remarked wandering over the
fireplace.
“Yeah
Sandamar isn’t much into luxury, but then when you live with trolls
nothing survives.”
Seth
spotted an old fashioned chest in the corner near the bed and went
over to investigate.
Drew
was standing with her back to the curtain that hung on the wall when
something grabbed her from behind. She tensed in fright as
huge arms wrapped around her, pulling her up against something
hard. The stench was incredible, Drew knew it had to be a
troll. She couldn’t see the creatures arms because the
curtain was over them. She didn’t even think to reach
for her blades she loaded claws and slashed at the creature. It
howled in pain and dropped her. Suddenly Seth was there
and attacking. He ripped the curtain down.
“You!”
he spat recognizing the troll he’d nearly disemboweled when it had
attacked Namara. Seth gestured for Drew to step back. She
complied not wanting to get between them. Retracting her
claws for the moment she watched not wanting to get in the way and
get Seth hurt.
The
troll took advantage of Seth’s momentary distraction and launched
itself at the wereleopard.
Drew
had to move quickly out the way, they were rolling around the
floor. Before she realized it she was in front of where
the curtain had hung, she was looking down a hidden passage way. She
had a second of intuition she jumped out the way. Something
had come flying out of the passageway. Drew spun and felt
hands on her shoulders, she looked up to see a vampire with its jaws
wide. He was going to rip her throat out if she didn’t
react and fast. Drew felt the claws burst from her
fingers, she took a page out of Seth’s book and drove her clawed
hand up through the vampire’s chest as in came down to strike. She
could feel when her claws pierced his heart. There was a
split second of utter motionless then the vampire burst into a
billion specks of dust around her clawed fingers.
Seth
stood over the corpse of the troll just staring at her. It
took him two strides to get to her. He grabbed the front
of her shirt and pulled her up against him. He bent his
head and gave her a short hard kiss. Tearing his mouth
from hers he snarled.
“Next
time something grabs you from behind at least scream so I know you’ve
been grabbed.”
He
kissed her again.
“You damn
near scared me half to death.”
A
third kiss, this one a little longer.
“And
then dusting that vamp as if you were on vacation on a beach. Damn
woman, you’re killing me.”
Drew
looked down to where he still had a hand clenched around the material
of her shirt.
“Are you going
to let go? Or did you want to kiss me again?” The corner
of her mouth turned up in a teasing half smile.
He
groaned but let go of her and moved away, he didn’t trust himself
to touch her right now. He was either going to kill her
for scaring him or drag her onto the bed and make good on his promise
to see her naked.
He
called Marcus and Ross instead. It didn’t take long for
the other lycos to get there.
“Oww,
seems we missed the fun.” Marcus commented looking at he
dead troll and the pile of vampire dust on the floor.
“I
think what we are looking for might be down that passage.” Seth
pointed out the passage previously hidden by the curtain.
“Oh
fun, more dank dark passages.” Ross grumbled but moved towards the
opening.
He took
point again moving into the winding corridor. About fifty
feet down the passage opened up into a domed chamber. There
were three hearths with burning fires around the curved walls of the
circular room. In the center on a stone alter sat a
coffin, it was open and unoccupied.
“A
coffin? Sandamar really is old school. I haven’t heard
of a vampire sleeping in a coffin for over two hundred
years.” Marcus commented.
“Yeah
lets just find the salamander and get the hell out of here. This
place gives me the hives.” Ross moved over to the first
fireplace, staring into the flames trying to find the
salamander.
“The
salamander will look like flame, so watch the flames carefully for
any continuous shape.” Marcus told Drew as he moved to
the third fireplace.
Drew
searched the second fireplace.
“Is
this what we are looking for?” She watched the flame
flicker, it seemed to be in the shape of a lizard.
“Yeah
that’s it.” Seth was looking over her
shoulder.
“Okay,
so how do we get it?”
“I
can coax it out.” Marcus put on a black leather
glove.
Drew moved
out his way as he knelt in front of the fireplace and put his gloved
hand near the flames. He began to chant in a language
she’d never heard before.
“What
language is that?” Drew whispered.
“The
language of magic.” Ross answered.
“What
is Marcus saying.”
“He’s
requesting that the salamander share its flame with him. It’s
very formal and complicated. But basically he’s forming
an alliance with the salamander.”
It
didn’t take long and the salamander was stepping out of the
flames. It hissed and crackled like the flames but the
sounds formed words.
“The
salamander had accepted the alliance and says she will willingly
share her flame with us.” Ross translated for
Drew. “She says her name is Amber.”
“Can
she help us find Namara.” Seth asked
Marcus.
“I’ll
ask her.” He began to chant again. The
salamander answered him almost immediately.
“She
says we have chosen our alliance well, she is one of the few that
could follow the trail of the green dragon.” He
translated for Seth.
“Can’t
you speak the language of magic?” Drew asked Seth.
He
shook his head. “Nah, languages aren’t my thing. I’m
lucky I can speak English and be understood.” He grinned.
“You said it not me.”
Ross laughed.
Drew
rolled her eyes at Ross. “You can’t let an opportunity
slip by can you.”
“Not
when he makes it so easy - and when did you start defending the
oaf.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her.
Seth
laughed because Drew had just been caught out.
“Shall
we get a move on?”
“Yeah,
lets go.”
They
made it out of the hideout without any further encounters. They
were hoping the dead troll wouldn’t be discovered before they were
in the Porsche and gone. Their luck held and they were
soon on their way back to the compound.
The
salamander was happy to sit on Marcus’s gloved hand and watch the
speeding scenery. He’d asked her not to burn him so she
kept her flame low.
Down
with the sickness by Disturbed started playing, so Seth leaned
forward to take his cell phone out the glove compartment and flipped
it open.
“Hello.”
He answered the call. “Yeah. I’ll have Ross drop me off. See
you in a few.” He hung up the phone.
“Ross
I need you to drop me off at wolf central.”
“Sure,
what’s up?”
“Not too
sure, Cole just said he needs me to stop by, he said there is
something I should see. Drew do you want to come with and
see where the wolves hang out?”
“Yeah.”
She was dying for a shower, but curiosity seemed to be a new failing
of hers she wanted to see where the wolves lived. The main
reason for her wanting to go with was the fact that Veronica was a
wolf and Drew wasn’t going to let Seth go anywhere near that woman
alone. Drew felt that Seth was hers to protect and
defend. She wasn’t sure when she’d started feeling
that way about him. But there was no denying it. So
she would tag along and make sure the evil she-wolf didn’t get up
to any mischief.
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