The Wrath of Pan (The Inglewood Chronicles Book 2) (19 page)

After Gregory had got back, we decided to take the rest of the day to rest and get our plan together.  I also needed to get used to the idea of carrying a sword.  It was a bit shorter than an actual sword, but also longer than the tanto I’d gotten so used to carrying.  It also was a bit heavier.

Gregory saw me struggle with it and came over to help.  “If you have not carried a sword before, it takes some getting used to.”

“I don’t want to be a hazard if we get sucked into a fight.”

He put his hand up and ran back into the shop.  I didn’t know what he was up to, well until he came back.  “Hide these and do not say a thing to Roderick.  If he knows I took these, we will both be skinned alive.”

He handed me a pair of old looking brass knuckle type things with three short spikes sticking out.  “What the hell are these?”

“These are Tiger Claws, from the Far East.  They slip over your knuckles, making your strikes much more effective.  Unfortunately, this pair is not made from silver, so they will not be deadly.”

I slipped them into my coat pocket.  “They’re better than nothing though.  Thanks man, I appreciate how you always got my back.”

“I also thought we could take a few minutes and go over some basics in handling a sword.  If you can use this weapon with a bit of accuracy, as you know decapitation kills vampires.”

“I don’t think we got that kinda time.”

He picked up the sword and handed it to me.  “Get into an attack stance for me.”  So I did.  He started laughing.  “I am sorry Vic, but I cannot believe Elizabeth never corrected you.”

“To be honest Gregory, most problems I deal with can be handled by bullets or threats.  The art of sword fighting never took hold in America.”  Hell the few times I had to use my grandpa’s tanto, it was mainly hacking and slashing.

“Pan is a very skilled knife fighter and Jonathan was trained by some of the best swordsmen history knows.  I am not here to show you how to defeat them.  I will do my best, however, to teach you enough to stay alive.”

That gave me all the confidence in the world.  “I guess show me what you can.”

For the next few hours, Gregory showed me different stances and techniques.  A lot of the movements I couldn’t do very fast or all that well, but he assured me I was learning and it might save me.  I liked that he had faith in me, but if my life came down to trying to do one of these moves that he was showing me, I was in trouble.

Roderick (see I can be respectful) came in to the room to see what was going on.  “Is Gregory teaching you a few moves?”

“He sure is trying.  I just don’t think I was cut out to do this kinda stuff.”

He picked up his rapier and stood in front of me.  “With your body, you may be more apt at a fencing technique.  It relies more on speed over brute force.”

He demonstrated a few moves.  Damn he was fast, the rapier almost disappearing while he swung it.  What also wasn’t lost on me was how easy the moves looked.  Well easier than the stuff Gregory had been showing me.

“Damn, if I’d known you were so deadly, I wouldn’t have been such a jackass towards you.”  We both knew that was a lie. 

“Here, try this.”  He slowed the motion down and did it twice so I could really see.  I followed and performed the move, quite to my own surprise.

“Hell, I did it!”

“Good, keep practicing that.  I will return in a moment.”

I did as I asked, under the watchful eye of Gregory.  The sword I was using was a bit heavier, so I couldn’t go that fast, but it felt better than anything else I’d been shown.

“Not too bad Victor.”  Roderick entered the office, with something wrapped in black cloth in his hand.  “I cannot believe I am giving this to you, but it will do you better than that cumbersome sword in your hand.”

He unwrapped the cloth and sat down a very old looking, slightly curved sword on his desk.  “What’s that?”

“This is an old Mongol sword used by a very prominent vampire a long time ago.  You will find that it is lighter and easier to swing than that in your hand.”

I sat the current sword down and picked up the new one.  “Whoa, this is really nice.”

“It has survived a great many years; I do hope that I will not regret giving it to you.”

“I don’t either.  Something tells me my paychecks would never cover the cost.”

He walked over to the window.  “The sun is beginning to set.  We do not have much more time before it will be time to leave.”  The three of us sat down around the desk.  Roderick pulled out another map, this one of the surrounding area. 

I looked over the lay of the land.  “I say we park at least five kilometers away.”

“There is a secluded wooded area about seven kilometers from Jonathan’s house.”  He circled it with a pen.  “It is a bit further than you were thinking, but the road leading up to it is rarely traveled and he would not think to look there.”

Following the area, “If you guys laid low about here,” I pointed to about the half way mark, “I could go take a look and be back pretty quickly.”

“The area you want to pay closest attention to is an old storage shed.  It looked like it is going to fall over, but that is the point we need so we can enter the house.”

I hadn’t really seen much of the surroundings of the house, so this was new to me.  “Where is it at?”

“It lies in the back corner of the yard.  It is rather hidden by some overgrowth from a lack of care.”

“Victor,” Gregory sounded perplexed, “are not all the Lost Boys dead?” I confirmed that.  “In that case, should we not experience any resistance?”  That was more directed at Roderick.

“In London there are plenty who hold a grudge against me and if the price was right, they would provide plenty of ammunition.”

“Werewolves, vampires, worse?”  Before I wouldn’t even thought there was worse, but my experiences recently told me differently.

“Mostly werewolves I would imagine.  I do not have the reputation of one who loves your kind.”

Great, another unneeded obstacle.  “I hope after this is over, that reputation can change.”

His look was blank, no signs of annoyance or even remorse.  “Life is different here than it is in America.  Old prejudices are closer to the surface and a great deal of us are too stubborn to confront them.”

“I think what Roderick is trying to say Vic is that there are many to blame.  It is too late to try and heal the gap, but what we can do is save our friends and live to see tomorrow.”

Leave it up to the guy who still gets carded for alcohol to be the smartest of us all.  “Gregory is right.  Let’s go save our friends and kick some ass doing it.”

We gathered up our stuff and made our way to the car.  As Roderick started the engine, I got butterflies in my stomach.  After all the shit I’d been through, you’d think I’d be used to this.  I wasn’t and I just hoped I got to see Liz’s face again.

I’d found a nice tree pretty close to the property to use to get a good view point from.  There was a slight breeze towards me, which made using my sniffer a lot easier.  Sound also carries better, and I picked up a few voices, Scottish by the sounds of ‘em, talking.  I grabbed my binoculars to see what we were up against.

By my count, there were eight werewolves (Black wolves from the looks of it) roaming around the back, dressed in leather like they were some sort of gang. 

They seemed a bit disorganized, which was both good and bad.  If they were more pack like, they’d have a disciplined patrol going on.  Because these guys did whatever they wanted, it’d be hard to pick the opportune moment to make a run for the shed.

The silver lining was that these guys wouldn’t be very organized if a fight broke out.  I didn’t see any guns, just knives and of course their natural werewolf gifts.  Still, if fortune was not on our side, a fight against eight wolves would be bad.  With one last look, I jumped down from my tree and made my way back to Roderick and Gregory.

I didn’t want to run back and waste all my energy, I hadn’t had a proper meal in awhile, but I walked as fast as I could.  It took about twenty minutes for me to tackle all three kilometers.  The two vampires were where I’d left them.

Roderick popped up when he saw me.  “What is the status?”

“Eight Blacks, probably Scottish, roaming the yard, no guns but a lot of knives.  They looked a bit on the older side, almost like a gang of some sort.”

Roderick punched a fist into open palm.  “It seems our friend Jonathan hired the Macleods.  They are vicious and should not be taken lightly.  It would be best if we could avoid a confrontation.”

“I’ll try my best to make sure we get to that shed unseen.  The last thing we need is to tip off Pan and John that we’re here.”

Gregory opened the large bag that was beside him.  He grabbed the weapons and started handing them out.  “Do you have everything you need Vic?”

The sword was strapped to my back and I patted my pocket where the Tiger Claws were that he gave me.  “Yeah, until I find Roscoe, I’ll be well protected.”

For the first time I noticed Gregory’s weapons.  They were two odd looking things that looked like mutated saw blades.  “What’re those?”

“These are Chakram.  They are particularly nasty, especially in the right hands.”

Not mine in other words.  “I’ll take your word for it.  If we’re all set, let’s go.”

The two vampires fell in line behind me.  This time we took the journey to the house at a light jog.  Not even ten minutes later, we were back, just outside the property line.

Keeping my voice low, “When I say go, we go.  I don’t get the impression these boys are expecting anyone, so it’ll make it slightly easier.”

I hunched back down and took in the movement of the wolves.  A few closer to the house seemed to be setting up a card game.  A few of the others looked over and started to make their way up to see if they could get in.  It was game time.

“Go, now quickly!”

I took off, with the others behind me.  It wasn’t a great distance, but it felt like it took forever to get to the shed.  I opened the door and Roderick and Gregory slid in.  One of the wolves was turning his head this way, but I rolled in and shut the door.  On the ground, I put my finger to my lips.

“Oye Reggie!  Ya see anything?”

“I dun think so.  Probably just an animal.”

“Go grab the rest, game’s about ta start.”

“Step one is complete.  You ready to take the lead Roderick?”

He slowly got up and went over to the back of the shed.  He lifted up a hidden door from the floor.  “At the bottom of the ladder is our way in.  Let us make haste.”

He disappeared down the opening, followed by Gregory, and then me.  At the bottom of the ladder was a small, dark tunnel.  “This looks like the catacombs below the city.”

“Fortunately there are no traps or guardians waiting for us this time.  We will follow the route that will take us to the kitchens.  Something tells me we will find them empty.”

Sounded good to me.  The path was dark, but fairly straightforward.  Moving quickly, we came to the first intersection.  “We go to the right.  The left is the one I used last time to infiltrate the house and get the witch.”

“She’s royally pissed at you by the way.”

“Forgive me for being cautious.  She had been in Divas’s service for so long I feared she was another agent of Pan.”

Have I ever mentioned how paranoid vampires are?  Everything is a damned conspiracy with them.  We kept moving, following the path until we got to a staircase leading up.  I guess we’d come to the end of our path.

“At the top of this staircase is a door that leads into the pantry.  As I said, the kitchen should be clear, but we take it slowly and carefully.  Go as if you are prepared for battle.”

Roderick went up the stairs.  Gregory gave me one last look before unhooking his Chakram and following.  I sighed and took out the sword that was worth more than my car, house, apartment, and ten years of my paychecks. 

When all three of us we up against the door, “Victor, do you hear or smell anything?”

All was quiet and nothing struck me as out of the ordinary.  Plus, the scent of the wolves wasn’t close.  “Nope, but remember, vampires don’t carry a scent.”

Roderick turned back and slowly opened the door.  With weapon raised high, he left the pantry.  “All clear.”

Gregory and I followed out and thankfully we were all alone.  Gregory put his Chakram back on his back, “Where do you think they are keeping everyone?”

“Pan told us that John fancied Rissa, so I guess she might be held up in his room.”  Gregory got an angry look on his face, but remained silent.  “As for Liz, he might’ve put in the dungeon.  She doesn’t have much use other than the fact she’s his sister.”

“The witch,” Roderick jumped in, “is my biggest concern.  It is her that can help them free Cain.”

“Why don’t we split up?  Gregory, you go get Rissa.”  He nodded.  “Roderick, you know the house the best, you find Rosette, and I’ll head to the dungeon and get Liz.  I know it’s dangerous, but I don’t know what other choices we got.”

Roderick didn’t agree.  “Splitting up will give them the advantage.”

“I agree with Vic, we cover more ground and this is a rescue mission first.”

He was outnumbered, “Fine, we go with that plan.  I say we have a half hour to find our targets and meet back here.  If someone is not here, we can assume they were captured, or worse.”

I swallowed, hard.  It seemed like a good plan in my mind but now that I was losing the protection of my two vampire friends, the daunting nature of the task took hold.  “Alright guys, a half hour, no more.  Good luck to both of you.”

Gregory hugged me, “You too Vic.  You have become like a brother to me.  I know it goes against your nature, but do not do anything stupid.”

“You too man, though I can’t guarantee anything.”  That made him laugh.

“We leave in two minute intervals.  Victor, you go first, and then Gregory, with me being the last.  If you encounter any danger, you must use lethal force.”

That I figured.  I grabbed my sword and walked over to the door.  “See you guys soon.”