Fan Fiction ❯ The Vampire Hunter II: Bloodlines ❯ Chapter 15

Chapter XV

Gabrielle stood just inside the end of the tunnel and looked out over a huge chamber. The passage had opened onto the vast room midway up the wall, and Gabrielle was now looking for a way down to the floor, which was over six meters below. Torches lined the walls to her left and right, and Gabrielle's extraordinary vision enabled her to see what appeared to be some kind of shiny black material coating the ground.

There were no stairs or ladders, so Gabrielle prepared to jump to the ground. But as she shifted, her foot kicked a few pebbles over the edge, and she heard the distinct sound of the stones plopping into liquid. She looked down and watched, as ripples fanned out over the black surface in gradually increasing arcs. That was when she realized the smooth black ground was actually water.

The entire chamber was flooded from wall to wall, and there didn't appear to be any way around the liquid obstruction. Gabrielle stared down the length of the room, but she couldn't make out the far wall; torchlight reflected off the surface of the water for as far as Gabrielle could see.

Gabrielle suddenly realized she was looking at Cynthia's interpretation of the mythical sea called Wernes, which spanned the second hour in the Book of Amduat. According to that text, her father had crossed the water on his solar barque, which was a type of boat. Gabrielle looked around, but there were no boats, hidden or otherwise. Still, she knew she had to cross the water somehow.

Gabrielle heard the grinding of stone on stone and looked up. The tunnel's ceiling was slowly lowering to block the passage once more. Gabrielle glanced back down the tunnel and then out at the water again. The way the sounds were bouncing off the walls, Gabrielle was sure there was land at the other end, even if she couldn't see it. She shrugged her shoulders and let her cloak slide to the floor. There was no more time to decide.

Before the heavy stone could make her stoop too much, Gabrielle leapt off the edge of the opening and dove into the cold water. A few drops entered her mouth, and she quickly spat them out. The water was stagnant, and Gabrielle guessed that Cynthia had probably had the water pumped in at some point, and it had been sitting there ever since.

Gabrielle easily settled into a fast stroke and felt for possible movement in the water, though she doubted anything was living in it besides mold and bacteria. However, given her recent experience with the crocodiles suddenly being unleashed, Gabrielle wasn't taking any bets on the matter.

Gabrielle watched the torches go by, as she swam through the disgusting water. Keeping it out of her mouth wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but after a while, she got used to spitting in time with her strokes, and the whole thing became routine.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Gabrielle saw a brownish blur at the far end of the chamber and realized it was light from the torches reflecting off a stone wall. She increased her speed and kicked a little harder in an effort to get out of the water as soon as possible.

By the time Gabrielle was pulling herself onto the stone beach, the clock above the door read eight minutes until the end of the hour. She tried to squeeze out her wet clothing to aid in the drying process, but it didn't seem to help very much.

At six minutes before the hour, Gabrielle heard the stones begin to grind, but the door didn't move. Then she glanced to her right and saw three vampires quickly enter from a side door that had been camouflaged to look like the rest of the chamber's walls.

Gabrielle sighed. She could sense the vamps were Eighth Order, and she wondered why Cynthia had sent them to die. They had to know they didn't stand a chance against the First Born.

"If you go back where you came from, I'll let you live," Gabrielle offered.

None of them seemed to pay any attention to what she'd said, and they all attacked at once. Gabrielle light-walked out of the way and used her extended claws to swipe at the nearest vampire, tearing a large gash in his chest and sending him falling into one of his friends. Before they could even hit the ground, Gabrielle grabbed the third and bit into his neck. The blood was thick and warm and immediately infused her with the energy she'd been lacking since she'd had to heal herself the hour before.

Unfortunately, she had to let the vampire go before she was finished in order to deal with the other two who had regrouped and were coming at her again. Their skills in hand-to-hand combat were very good, and they worked hard to keep Gabrielle on the defensive, but there was no way they could match her speed. She simply moved around them as if they were standing still.

As Gabrielle dodged a kick to her chest from one and avoided a punch to her face from the other, she stabbed the first one in the stomach with a clawed hand and then quickly pulled the second one to her, sinking her fangs into him. With one vamp curled up on the ground from lack of blood, and the other trying to hold in his stomach, Gabrielle was able to feed at her leisure.

As soon as she was done, Gabrielle went back to the first vampire to finish draining him. Then she moved on to the last one. He tried to struggle at first, even though he was weak from the stomach wound, but it didn't take much for Gabrielle to overpower him. She was soon sucking all the blood from his body.

When Gabrielle finally looked up, she saw that the tunnel had opened, and the clock said she only had four minutes to get through it. If the vampires' job had been to slow her down, they'd succeeded.

However, Gabrielle still grabbed a torch from the nearest wall and set the bodies alight. She'd never allowed any of her prey to live, and she wasn't about to start now. Plus, there was a good chance they'd be doomed to an eternity in this place, since she doubted Cynthia would reward them with freedom for failing to kill Gabrielle.

Gabrielle tossed the torch into the water and sprinted into the tunnel.