“There’s gotta be more,” Tommy said. “Where’s this pit the guy told you about?” He
watched the three vampires spread out, tracing their fingers over the stone surface of the crypt. Tommy knew better than to break their concentration. If there was anything beyond this room, they would sense it.
But even if they do, how will they reach it if there’s no other way out of here?
Tommy was about to find out.
“I feel something here,” Marcus said, pressing against the wall in front of him. Andrew
moved to his side and placed his hands alongside the Master Vampire’s.
“Yes. A vibration—water perhaps.”
“Water, way down here?” Tommy asked, striding over to join them.
“Artesian wells perhaps,” Marcus said, studying the wall. “Or a water supply piped in
for the bunker. We must be very close to it by now.” He stepped back a few feet. “Roger, Andrew, concentrate on this spot in front of me. I think what we need is just about here.”
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 64
The vampires stood stock still, their combined gazes focused on the place Marcus had
indicated. Tommy gasped and stared with amazement as the wall began to crack and
crumble, a large piece of the plastered rock crashing onto the crypt floor.
“Jesus…” Tommy gaped at the open space in front of him. “You guys…” Words failed
him, for what could he say about having one more incredible feat of their supernatural
strength revealed to him? “I’m so glad you’re friends of mine,” he quipped instead.
Now the sound of rushing water was louder and seemingly very close. Marcus stepped
through the opening, the others following close behind. They found themselves in some kind of cavern, a gigantic dome-roofed space that soared over their heads to a dizzying height.
“Jeez, what is this place?” Tommy looked around at the fantastic rock formations that
towered over them, at the water his flashlight revealed, pouring down the rock face, pooling in a huge subterranean lake that stretched as far as his eyes could make out.
“See, on the far side of the lake,” Marcus said, pointing. “That large overhang of rock.
There is an opening underneath it.”
“But—” Tommy stopped himself from asking how they could get across the expanse of
water. How else? He groaned softly as Andrew lifted him into his arms. “Here we go…”
Well, at least this time they didn’t have to be hundreds of feet in the air. No, this was more like when Andrew and he would go swimming and they would skim over the waves in each other’s arms. This was actually kinda nice.
But what, he wondered, lay in wait for them on the other side?
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 65
The far side of the lake made way into what looked like the beginning of a labyrinth.
There were far too many openings in the massive rock that loomed over them for Tommy to
be sure that even Marcus would choose the right one. But the vampire didn’t hesitate, and Tommy noticed that although Marcus had originally dismissed the idea of the Talisman’s existence, now he seemed to be filled with a certain eagerness as he strode towards the
opening, left of centre.
“Why this one?” he whispered to Andrew.
“Marcus knows the way,” Andrew replied with what sounded like complete certainty.
“But he said the Talisman didn’t exist.”
Andrew smiled. “Even a vampire can change his mind.”
They walked in darkness and silence for several minutes, Tommy praying that the
batteries in his flashlight wouldn’t give out. He knew his vampire friends could see in the dark and Andrew would guide him over any obstacle ahead, but he hated the idea of maybe not being able to see his surroundings—or something that might jump out at them from the shadows.
However, so far so good…
Marcus and Roger stopped so suddenly that Tommy barrelled into Roger’s backside
despite Andrew’s hand gripping his arm.
“Ow!” Tommy rubbed his crotch. “Christ, you really do have buns of steel!”
“We’re here,” Marcus said.
Tommy inched forwards as far as Andrew’s grip would let him. “Holy crap,” he
muttered, gaping at the chasm that yawned at his feet. Even when he shone his flashlight downwards he couldn’t even guess how deep it was.
Gotta be hundreds of feet deep at least… And we’re going down there?
“You may stay here, if you’d rather,” Andrew said quietly at his side.
Tommy jumped slightly, aware that right now his thoughts were an open book to
Andrew. “No way,” he muttered. “With the choices I’m given right now—go down there
with you into that creepy place or stay here alone, in this creepy place—guess what I’m
gonna choose?”
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 66
Roger chuckled. “There was a time when I’d have been saying the same thing. All
right—” He waited until all four of them were poised on the edge of the abyss. “Let’s go!”
Tommy gasped out loud as he and Andrew stepped off the rim together, Andrew’s
arms securely locked around Tommy’s waist. This time their speed was controlled, not
having the need to evade any observant eyes through night vision binoculars. Nevertheless, the rush of air around him took Tommy’s breath away and the rock walls he saw in the beam of his flashlight sped by them at an alarming rate.
Just when he was beginning to think the pit was the bottomless one of legends he’d
read about when he was a kid, his feet touched solid ground. He let out a long sigh of relief, and for a moment he was content to stay in Andrew’s arms, resting his head on his lover’s shoulder.
Man, but when this is over, I am going to write a book. Like anyone would ever believe this could
happen. And it’s not over yet…
“This way.” Marcus’ voice came from a long way off. It seemed he was impatient to
move on. “There is an open shaft over here. It looks like it’s the only way out of the pit.”
“Oh great,” Tommy groaned as Andrew released him. “Couldn’t be stairs, could it? No,
it had to be another freakin’ hole in the ground.”
They found Marcus and Roger standing by some rotting timbers over a gaping hole.
Marcus bent and picked up a length of rusty chain. “I would hazard a guess that this might be the remains of an ancient lift that collapsed in on itself many years ago.”
“You mean there were people here using this thing?” Tommy shone his flashlight on
the broken remains. “But how did they get here? You guys broke through that wall up there.
There was no entrance. Even the guys that built the bunker haven’t been in here.”
“This, I suspect, is the original entrance,” Marcus said. “Everything else we have
travelled through came after this.”
Beside him, Tommy felt Andrew’s body stiffen as if he had been alerted to—something.
“You hear that?” Andrew murmured.
“Yes,” Marcus replied. “Someone approaches.”
“What?” Tommy yelped. “Someone, down here?”
“Not in corporeal form,” Andrew said.
Oh, for cryin’ out loud…
“What d’you mea—?”
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 67
“Dakar!” Andrew shouted. “We sense you nearby. Reveal yourself and tell us why you
are here.”
A low chuckle resonated off the rock walls that surrounded them, but Dakar did not
appear. “He’s here somewhere.” Andrew gestured at the open shaft. “Shall we?”
Marcus nodded and he and Roger stepped into the darkness.
“Let’s go.” Tommy nudged Andrew towards the edge. Suddenly, dropping down into
a deep, dark hole didn’t seem nearly as intimidating as the alternative. “I definitely don’t want to be up here with a dead demon!”
Andrew held Tommy tightly against himself as they dropped even farther beneath the
earth. Gods, but now he wished he’d taken stronger steps to prevent Tommy from having to go through all of this. Tommy was brave, but he could sense the uncertainty, the fear of the unknown that niggled at his lover’s mind each time they were faced with yet another obstacle, another plunge into the darkness. Truth be told, it was unsettling for all of them. He could also sense Roger’s unease, and Dakar’s presence brought a more sinister and dangerous element to their search.
The demon had decided to track them, and there could be only one reason for this.
Dakar thought Andrew would give him the Talisman to restore his earthly life. That was not going to happen, and a confrontation with the demon would most likely be inevitable.
Andrew wasn’t sure what kind of powers Dakar would still possess in his ’spirit’ form, but he was sure some part of his devious nature would remain. Dakar had proven himself treacherous in the past—it would be foolish to think that his physical death had changed any of that.
Feet once again on solid ground, Andrew released Tommy from his embrace. “All
right?” he asked.
“Right as rain,” Tommy replied with a shaky chuckle. “But I can’t help hoping we don’t
have to go any deeper.”
“Hey, Tommy,” Roger called out, “shine your flashlight on the walls over here. This
looks interesting.”
The space they had descended into was very different from the previous ruined crypts.
Instead, the walls were lined with shelves on which rested urns of all different sizes and shapes. Some tall and elegantly fashioned of what appeared to be gold and silver, others
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BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 68
small and made of plain clay. The orderliness gave the impression that nothing had been
touched, nothing changed in many, many years—the thick layer of dust that coated the
shelves and the urns adding evidence to that.
In the centre of the room stood what appeared to be a large stone sarcophagus, the top
of which was heavily engraved in a language Andrew had no knowledge of.
“What d’you suppose this place is?” Tommy asked quietly.
“Some place even older than anything we have previously seen,” Marcus said, eyeing
the elegantly shaped vessels. “I would hazard a guess that these contain the ashes of some of the wealthier inhabitants, perhaps the ruling hierarchy—the smaller ones that of their servants—those who were chosen to die with their lords. It was a common practice in ancient times. And beneath this engraved stone is, I believe, what Andrew is searching for.”
Andrew stared at the stone, surprised by Marcus’ assumption. “The Scrolls of
Ashelak—what makes you think that?”
“The language is Ancient Hittite. I am not completely familiar with the language, but I
can see the words ‘Prince Ashelak’ engraved in the first line.”
“Hey, let’s move it out of the way then,” Roger said eagerly. “We’ve come this far, why
stall now?”
“No one is stalling, Roger.” Marcus lifted a warning hand as Roger stepped forwards.
“But remember, the men who built these tombs were masters of booby-traps. We might be
impervious to flying shards of rock or a trapdoor in the floor, but Tommy is not. It would be wise if he stood well back when we move the stone.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Tommy said without argument. “Flying shards of rock don’t
exactly turn me on.” He moved back to the far wall and watched as the three vampires
moved the stone without actually touching it, using only the combined power of their minds.
Nothing exploded, the floor did not collapse, the only sound was the disgusted exclamation from Roger.
“It’s empty. The son of a bitchin’ thing is empty. There’s nothing in there but sand.”
“What?” Tommy ran to stand by Andrew who could not hide his expression of
disappointment.
“That’s it, then,” he said with despondence. “Someone must have removed it.”
“If it ever existed.” Tommy squeezed Andrew’s hand. “Maybe it was just a ruse all
along. Some practical joker from ancient times.”
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 69
Marcus knelt by the empty sarcophagus and ran a hand over the sand. “Look. Bits of
bone, and this finer, greyer sand—ash. The remains of Prince Ashelak perhaps?” Marcus
stood and pointed at the rows of urns. “The writing on the stone is indecipherable to us, but perhaps contains a clue as to where the scroll is secreted. If so, the one marked with his name may just contain that scroll.”
Andrew scanned the rows of urns with his vampire vision. “Not the one with his name
engraved on it. The one next to it—the plain clay pot.” He strode over and lifted it from its place on the shelf. “I’m almost afraid to open it. What if it turns to dust after being in here so long?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Tommy said, in what was almost a whisper.
“And be quick about it!” The strident voice that filled the chamber and the rush of wind that accompanied it pulled the urn from Andrew’s hands and sent it crashing to the floor where it broke into jagged pieces. A small roll of papyrus lay at Andrew’s feet.
“Read it and see what is revealed!” the voice rasped again.
“Dakar,” Andrew growled as he picked up the scroll. “You will not benefit from
whatever is revealed, Dakar. I told you I would not share this with you.”
“After I guided you and your vampire compatriots every step of the way? You owe me
this Andrew, and I will hold you to our bargain.”
“I made no bargain with you, Dakar, and I will not. You didn’t guide us, you followed