The Wrath of Pan (The Inglewood Chronicles Book 2) (20 page)

**Gregory**

I’d left a few moments after Vic had.  The hallway was clear and I turned left out of the kitchens towards the second floor staircase.  It was not long before I ran into my first difficult situation; two werewolves were hanging out by the stairs.  I popped into a closet caddy-corner to my destination and waited to see what happened.

“How long do ya think this vampire brat will pay us?”

“He said he needed protection until tomorrow night, up until departure.  Who cares, the money’s good.”

It seemed we were just in time.  I now needed to get rid of these wolves.  I cracked open the door, just enough to see where they were located.  I grabbed a small silver knife out of my jacket and aimed it up.  I did not need a kill, I needed a distraction.  With one quick flick of the wrist, I sent the dagger down the hall and it clanged loudly off the heat register.

“What was that?”

“I dunno.  We’d best check it out.”

The two wolves scurried, leaving the staircase.  Quickly I got to my feet and went up.  With ease, I made it to the second floor landing.  I saw another wolf, and rolled out of the way, into an open bedroom.  I quickly closed the door three-quarters of the way, just enough to see.

“Gregory, is that you?”  The low voice startled me and I grabbed my weapon.

I turned around, with the Chakram held high.  Elizabeth was sitting on the bed, chained up.  “Oh no!”

“I am sorry I am not your doe-eyed waif!”

She was starting to get mad and loud.  “Shhh, keep quiet.  Victor has gone to the dungeons looking for you.  If you are here, than he could be headed into danger.”

“The two of you are trying to pull a rescue?”

“No, three of us.”  She looked at me weird.  “Roderick survived Vic’s gunshot wounds and is with us.  He is searching for Rosette as we speak.”

As best she could, she pointed to the far wall.  “The key to my restraints is over there.  Hurry, the silver nitrate is starting to wear off and Pan will be here soon to administer more.”

I grabbed it and quickly undid the locks.  Helping her to her feet, “Do you know where everyone else is?”

“Rosette is in the dungeons, as they are not planning to leave for Turkey until tomorrow.  Rissa is on the third floor, where we held her wrongly during the murder investigation.  She is to be sacrificed to Cain.”

I felt the blood drain out of my body.  “I must rescue her.”

“I know, that is why I will go to the dungeons and help Vic.  If along the way I can find Roderick, I will get him too.”

“Thank you for understanding Elizabeth.”

She opened the closest in the room and grabbed all of her stuff, including the two silver tantos I knew were Vic’s.  “Be very careful Gregory, Pan is roaming around up here.”

“I will.”

“And know that Drusilla would be very happy that you have chosen to move on.”

**Roderick**

I hoped that Jonathan would be with the witch when I found her.  He was owed a great deal of punishment for what he had done to me and those closest.  I knew full well that I shared some of the burden of pain caused and after this was over, I would own up to that.

I turned down the hallway that led to the study and library.  Two wolves spotted me, but with quickness and precision, I ended their existence before they could even whimper.  I left the bodies lie, as a warning to those stupid enough to confront me.

Both the study and the library were empty.  Could the witch be in the dungeons too?

“Aren’t you a freaking cat?”

Waiting for me back in the hallway was the one whose release started all the events.  With as much venom as I could muster, “Pan.”

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.”

I advanced towards him slowly.  “You have committed many crimes and for that I sentence you to death.”

“Oh so now you get to be judge and executioner?  How high and mighty of you Rod.”  He added the last part with a sneer, as a way to mock me.

“This is one encounter you will not survive.”

He grinned at me.  “I’m not planning on fighting you.  Just came by to say hi.”

With that, he ran into the room that was beside us.  I took chase, but was too late.  Pan jumped through the window and to the ground below.  With one last wave, he disappeared into the night.

My bloodlust came to the surface and a wolf ran around the corner to see what the ruckus was.  It was the last thing he ever did, as I cut him down with ease.  It was time to purge this house of the traitorous blood roaming free.

**Vic**

It’d taken forever to get down to the dungeons.  Wolves were everywhere and the slow go to avoid detection wore my patience thin.  I looked at my watch, twenty minutes had gone by.  At least with Liz back in tow, we’d be able to cut down on the time to get back.

The door to the dungeon was open.  I drew the sword Roderick gave me and slowly entered.  All the cells were empty, except one, which had Rosette in it and not Liz.

“Rosette, are you okay?”

She looked up and saw me enter.  “Get outta here ye fool!  It’s a bloody trap!”

Too late, the dungeon door shut, John waiting on the other side.  “I did not expect you, especially after being warned that my former boss was here.”

“That makes me sad, I don’t like disappointing people.”

“If only Baron Forte did his job.  You and my sister would be dead and this whole process would have been much easier.”

I spit on the ground by his fancy shoes.  “You’re sick, wanting to kill your own blood.  What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Elizabeth would never have understood my vision.  Naturally, it is hard for me to kill her myself, but if she had died in battle with an old one, she would have died a hero.”

“Shut up.”  I pointed the sword at his face.

His eyes bugged at of his head when he saw it.  “It cannot be!  Where did you get that weapon?”

“It’s currently on loan from a reputable antique store.  The sword is the least of your concerns you dick.”

“How dare you handle the weapon of Lord Drakel himself!  That blade should be mine!”

With rage in his eyes, he jumped at me, knocking the sword away.  Did I mention I’m terrible with blades?  I tried to fight him off, but he was way too strong.

“You will die with honor wolf.  Thank you for bringing what is rightfully mine back to me.”

Struggling to keep him away, “Eat shit.”

He started laughing, with mixed in with Rosette’s screams, produced some really bad noise.  I knew I was in trouble, but I’d hoped whatever juice I found before kicked in.

The door swung open and Liz came in like an angry Amazon war goddess.  She grabbed her brother and threw him up against the cell.  “How dare you touch him?!”

He looked annoyed at her presence.  “Ahh my sister with her soft spot for the lesser beings, a pity you do not understand what I am trying to do.”

She threw a knife at him.  He dodged it, but the intent was clear.  “We were never family!  You are just an abomination that my mother created.”

“Are you going to slaughter me like you did your own parents?”

“If I must.  Your days as the Hammer of Jehovah are over.”

He looked at both of us before he opened the cell door.  Grabbing Rosette, “You both lose.  Your time will come soon enough.”

He slammed the door shut, locking it from the inside.  Rosette tried her best to fight him off, but he was too strong.  Opening a secret passage in the back of the cell, he escaped.  It happened so fast, both of us were stuck in position.

“Liz, where does that passage go to?”

“To the garage, he must be trying to flee the country tonight.”

I took her hand, “Not if we can help it.  Let’s grab the others and go.”

Gregory had found Rissa, only having to kill a few wolves to free her.  Roderick, in a mad fury, slayed the rest of the wolves, both inside and out.  With the house cleared out and the hostages rescued, we’d grabbed a few cars to take chase.

Liz was driving ours.  Roderick was stuck in the backseat and seemed to fear his life.  “Elizabeth, I implore you to drive as if we should survive.”

“Who is driving Roderick?  No one likes to hear chirping from the back.”

I’d gotten quite used to her maniac style and just held on for dear life, as usual.  “Where do you think he’s headed?”

“He has no chance to get a flight out of Heathrow, but there is a small, private airfield between London and Reading along the River Thames.”  Roderick tried his best to sit up, closer to us.  “Do you remember where it is Elizabeth?”

She nodded and made a sharp turn on to another road.  “Of course, Nigel purchased the airfield for you, years ago.”

“He certainly liked to remind me that this was his find.  It is a shame how his fate turned out.”

It was a sobering reminder to what lengths John was going to go to see his mad plans succeed.  If we didn’t stop him and save Rosette, I didn’t even want to think about the ramifications.

In the rearview mirror, I saw Gregory and Rissa were still following.  God bless Gregory for being able to keep up with the crazy lady.

It took some time but we eventually got to the airfield.  Sure enough, it looked more like an executive airport, with the hangars and runways being accessible to pretty much everyone.  The place also looked very much abandoned, with no personnel running anything.

“As you can see, there are three main hangars.  One keeps the helicopter, while the other two hold jets.”

“Whoa, you guys get your own helicopter and jets?”

Roderick smiled at us, “Do you not have such luxuries in America?”

Liz was ready to snap, but I stopped the inevitable argument.  “So why does this place look like a ghost town?”

“Both Jonathan and I are trained pilots.  We never really had use for anyone to assist in the takeoff or landing process.  It is not like this field is used for anything but vampire business.”

Liz parked the car by the first hangar.  “I do not see the car they took.  Did we come to the wrong place?”

I started to walk around a little, seeing if there were any clues.  So far, nothing stuck out.  “Maybe we beat ‘em here.”

Gregory and Rissa joined the little group.  “Are we the first ones here?”

“It would seem so.  My brother is nowhere to be seen.”

I let the vampires talk, I needed to concentrate and find something that’d help.  The closer I walked over to the second hangar, something started to strike me as odd.  It was a grinding sound, not too far away.  “Hey Roderick, come here.”

He jogged over, “What is it?”

“Listen, do you hear that noise?”

He stopped talking and listened.  “Is that the helicopter hangar opening?”

“I don’t know, where’s it at?”

He pointed to the hangar in the middle.  “Go tell the others.  I’m on it!”

I took off running, the noise getting louder and screeching to a stop.  That noise was replaced by the sound of a helicopter starting up.  I didn’t know much about ‘em, but I knew it took a few minutes to get the propellers up to speed.

I pulled the door open and saw the helicopter there on the pad getting ready for takeoff.  Pan was in the pilot seat, with John beside him.  That meant Rosette was in the back.  I sprinted over, much to the shock of the two sitting inside.  When I reached the helicopter, I pulled the door open and saw Rosette tied into a seat.

John shouted at Pan, “Get us airborne, quickly!”  He fumbled with the buckles to get himself out.

I hopped in and undid Rosette’s a lot faster.  As the helicopter began to rise from the ground, John still wasn’t completely free from his restraints.  I picked Rosette up and went to leave.  A hand grabbed me, stopping me in my place.

“Not so fast wolf!  She is mine!”

We were only a few feet off the ground, but rising.  “Sorry Rosette.”  I pushed her out and she fell hard to the ground.  As the helicopter lifted off into the sky, I saw Liz and Gregory standing over her.  I had to close the door to keep from getting sucked out.

I was now stuck in a confined space with two angry vampires.  John looked like he was ready to kill me on the spot.  “You are a problem that needs to be dealt with appropriately.”

“You talk an awfully big game.  I’m sure your mouth is how you got the Baron to go along with your idiot ideas, huh?”

He let go of me and made his way into the passenger area.  “Forte was always a follower.  He appreciated that I wanted to bring back my parents’ ideals.”

“Well as a mastermind, I can’t say I’m all that impressed with the title of Hammer of Jehovah?  Going as far as to call yourself an angel?  Pathetic.”

His eyes started to turn red, his vampiric state taking over.  “It is a title you must earn!  I earned the right to take the mantle!”

I had no idea what he was talking about.  “It’s over now.  Even that shiny stone I know you got on you is worthless to your cause without her to open the path.”

“It is a shame, but there are always other witches out there to be found, willing to do my work.  She just happened to be already trained for the task.”

“Let me guess, the O’Byrne witch clan already knew the spells needed?”

“Yes, but it matters not.  Cain will walk this Earth and there is little anyone can do to stop it.”  He took another step towards me, “But it does not matter to you.  Your life is about to come to an end.”

As my daddy would say, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.  I reached into my pocket, sliding on the Tiger Claws.  I wasn’t about to die without even trying.  “Maybe it is, but there ain’t no way I’m going to cower to an asshole like you.”

He lunged, fast, at me.  In the small space, there wasn’t much I could do to avoid it, so I let him grab me.  With his head in reach, I unloaded two quick punches to his face.  Both snapped him back, hard.  The claws did their job.

I might’ve hurt him, but he still had a hold of me.  With the hand not attached to me, he brought an open palm right on my nose.  The force behind it broke it in an instant.  The pain and impact caused me to see double and my only defense was to start swinging wildly.  Nothing connected.

He grabbed the back of my head and brought it down on his knee.  Two more punches sent me to the floor.  As I lay there, I tried my damndest to get back up, but I kept falling over.

“Pathetic, though I am impressed you were able to make me bleed.”  I heard the sound of sword being taken out of its sheathe.  “I must thank you for the gift of returning my father’s blade.  Had I known that idiot Roderick had it all these years...?”

Struggling, I did make it back to my feet.  “I’ve taken worse beatings in my life.”

I couldn’t really tell if he was smirking or not.  “I am not surprised.”

In one quick motion, he thrust the sword into me.  The pain didn’t even register, just shock over a foreign object entering my body.  The blade slid out just as easily as it entered.

“Good bye Victor.  I will let my sister know you died in an honorable way.”

He opened the door to the helicopter and kicked me out.  The rush of the wind took over as I fell back to the Earth.  My final victory was John not knowing I took the Gem of Babylon from him during out fight.  With a small smile on my face, I closed my eyes.

**Liz**

We were back in the cars, trying to trace the path the helicopter may have taken.  We needed to get Victor back.  “Rosette, this is important, did they mention anywhere in particular they were headed?”

The witch in the backseat had not said much since being thrown from the helicopter.  “They said something about heading west.  They were following the Thames to their destination, I think.”

That was the direction we were going.  Maybe we would be able to see them in the sky.  Strange enough, my phone rang.  The caller ID said it was my brother Jonathan.   I answered but said nothing.  In an arrogant, laughing voice, he told me the one thing that I had feared as soon as it the helicopter took off.

I pulled the car over on the road, crying uncontrollably.  His laughter still was going on the other end causing me to crush the phone.

“Liz, what’s the matter?”

I could not talk.  Each time I tried to tell her what happened, my voice choked up and the words escaped me.

“It’ll be okay, ye know?”  The witch got out and opened the front door.  My body wasn’t even protesting and she brought me into a hug.  “It’ll be alright.  Ye just need to tell me what’s wrong.”

I controlled myself just long enough to spit out the words.  “Vic is dead.”