The Dark Messenger (40 page)

‘Are you coming down here, Regina?’ Kaine
messaged. Then, without waiting for her reply, he sent another
message: ‘I found another room. This must be where they had the
cables feeding from for the cable car.’

‘Hurry up, darling,’ she said, thinking he
must have forgotten how dire their situation was, and that any
minute they could be fighting for their lives if they didn’t find a
way to escape.

Kaine hadn’t forgotten though; it was
foremost in his mind. But this room! Everything down here looked
amazing: an old generator, old winches, load’s of cabling and
really nicely designed cast-iron pulley wheels. However, it all had
to wait for another day, and he was well aware of it. He had only
noticed them while he was looking around for a possible way to
escape, and he knew they only had minutes left to find one.

Ahead of him was one last room to check, down
a small set of steps behind a door that was covered in rust from
the years that it had been there under their hillside. He wasn’t
hopeful, but still he knew he had to look.

Pushing the door with a normal amount of
strength, he realized that it was jammed. He looked down at the
hinges and could see they were never going to work again in the
state they were in. They were rusted solidly together, and the
handle as he pushed down on it seemed to have become disconnected
inside somehow. Flicking the switch in his brain, his body suddenly
surged with power as he prepared to use his massive strength.
Grabbing the handle in his left hand, he punched the door
unbelievably hard with his right hand. Still the door refused to
budge.

Furious, as he realized that it still hadn’t
been enough power, he decided to give it everything he had.
Stepping back a few paces, his rage exploded as his eyes then
glazed over and his body was filled with immense power. He launched
himself at the door a second time, putting his shoulder into it
first. As he connected with it this time, it gave way like the door
in the hospital had. The door and frame flew forwards at ridiculous
speed, exploding outwards so hard that it flew across and hit the
wall on the opposite side, before it crashed down to lay on the
floor in front of him.

Kaine looked quickly inside the room,
doubting there would be anything that could help in there. To his
surprise, there was, indeed, something that gave him a spark of
hope. On the opposite wall above the now-mangled door was a small
hole. It looked like it must have been used in the past as a vent
because of the size of it. He knew that, because of his size, he
couldn’t fit through himself, but he wondered if the women and dogs
might be able to squeeze through. Stepping down into the room, he
walked over to it.

It was actually only about twelve inches
square, if that, and looking down as far as he could see in to it,
the dark passage seemed to get narrower in the distance.

A disturbance in the air caused him to smile,
but he wasn’t sure if it was just the air cooled in the tunnel from
the damp ground all around it, or if it was actually air coming
through at him from the outside. Then he wondered if it was just
his mind playing tricks on him, but he swore blind he could feel a
faint draft coming from inside.

But should I allow Regina
and the women to crawl inside there, without knowing if they would
be safe?
he asked himself.

‘Hello, Kaine.’ Becky’s voice suddenly cut in
on his thoughts; she had just arrived and was looking in through
the doorway at him. The boys were right behind her, sniffing at
every crack and crevice.

Turning around, he smiled at her. ‘Do you
think you three women could fit in that hole?’ he asked, pointing
at it.

Becky looked up in horror. It was so tiny;
she didn’t like thinking about getting in there at all.

Seeing her facial expression, Kaine said,
‘Maybe it leads somewhere out into the trees below our house or
something. You should be safe there. I just hope it’s not blocked,
but there’s no time and no other choices really. You could try
running with me, but I'm sure you would get caught since you don't
have any wings yet.’

Becky was about to answer
in the negative, but then suddenly her mind was distracted by what
she had just heard him say about wings. More specifically,
her
wings.

‘So I will grow wings, you think?’ she asked,
her eyes bright with excitement.

‘Yes of course. You are a vampire.’ He waved
his hand in front of her face. ‘But forget that for now. Hello—the
question I just asked? The hole?’ he stressed, pointing back at
it.

Becky looked up at it and said, ‘I don’t
know, but I think so. It will be tight but what about you
though?’

‘I won’t be coming with you as I can’t fit in
there—just look at the size of me. No, I will take the boys out the
top exit and straight down to the beach, then come back for you
ladies afterwards.’

‘There you are!’ Regina said as she suddenly
appeared, looking down into the room at them. Solomon and Bruce
both went crazy seeing her, and charged towards her to say
hello.

‘Hi darling. There’s a possible exit in here,
but it’s for you three. I can’t fit in,’ Kaine said.

‘Well then I won’t be going either. I’m not
leaving you in here with them; there’s too many.’ She walked over
and stood toe-to-toe with him, all seriousness. ‘Kaine, will you
for once realize when there’s too many for you to fight, please? I
don't want to be a widow,’ she said looking at him
meaningfully.

‘Ok I wont fight them, I promise. Anyway my
new plan is to leave through the top exit and then afterwards I
will fly down to the beach and make my way around through the dense
bushes to find you. You have to go this way, darling. I can’t
defend you out there against them all and not be killed myself. I
have to go alone, and you and Becky need to protect Jenny anyway,’
he said, hoping that she would understand.

No one could argue because they knew they
didn’t have long left. This plan sounded perfect, but Regina
wondered if he didn't have something else on his mind to do and
wasn’t telling her; somehow blocking her out as she then scanned
his mind for clues.

‘Jenny you go in the middle because you won’t
have any light,’ Becky said, giving her a quick cuddle before she
climbed up inside the hole.

‘Give your torch to Kaine,’ Regina said, ‘but
be quick because Kaine has to go upstairs again.’

Jenny hung back, her face somewhat ghostly in
the torch light. ‘I...I don't like this. I am so scared. What if we
get trapped in there and die?’ Her voice was getting shrill. ‘I
can't go in there, really, please don't make me! I am
claustrophobic!’ She truly looked different, very different from
the normal Jenny they had grown to love. She was absolutely
terrified!

‘What do we do?’ Regina messaged to her
husband, feeling that this was no time to speak aloud.

‘I will take her with me, I can carry her on
my back and the boys can go in there with you,’ he messaged.

‘Okay,’ she said, realizing that this hardly
seemed to alter the plan in the slightest. She only hoped with all
her heart that there was a way out at the other end of this hole.
From where she was standing, it looked very much like there wasn’t.
The thought of being stuck in there for days without food and water
was not very appealing, to say the least. She feared for her babies
too; they wouldn’t be able to stand, go to toilet, or anything.

‘The poor things,’
she thought as she looked down at them with a
concerned look upon her face. She knew that there was a great
chance it would be hell in there; she truly feared the worst but
knew there was no other way, and she had accepted that. Her flying
abilities were nowhere near as good as Kaine’s, and if they all
left with him from the top exit and were somehow seen, they would
be killed for sure.

Anyway, that wouldn’t be fair to Becky, who
had now already climbed up inside the tunnel. She also felt there
was no time to wait for her to crawl back out either. There was
nothing for it; she had to get in there and start following. She
really had no choice.

Regina leant forwards and kissed Kaine. She
looked up into his eyes and said to him, ‘We will meet again, my
lover.’

He smiled down at her and said, ‘For
sure.’

Then she turned and stepping up from the edge
of the broken door, she pulled herself inside the vent.

‘What’s happening?’ Jenny asked.

‘It’s okay, my love. You will come with me,
and the boys will go with their mother,’ he said softly as he
stepped forwards to give her a quick hug.

He leant down and hoisted Solomon up into the
vent and then did the same with Bruce. They didn’t know their
orders and waited for their master’s word, which they knew would
come soon. Leaning in as far as he could, he wrapped his arms
around them, not knowing if he would ever see them again.

‘You two be good. Help your mum and Becky out
to safety. I love you both very much. Now—go! Find your
mother.’

As they scampered away down the tunnel on
their bellies, he had the strangest, most forlorn feeling inside. A
tear then appeared upon his cheek and began to roll steadily
downwards. As it did, he noticed it, and surreptitiously wiped it
away.

(Back in the cells under the Tower of
London.)

Hoidrious was outside their cell and issuing
his demands with two of his goons, whilst Longinus got the real
picture painted for him, regarding his relationship with his
cellmate.

Raffious had proved indubitably with a kick,
that he didn’t give a toss about the fact that Longinus had cared
for him over the past week, because given the chance of escape, he
was still gonna bugger off without him.

When Longinus had started thinking about
escaping, he was glad that he hadn’t been foolish enough to include
Raffious in it at all. Ok with some slight changes it could have
included him, but now he knew the truth about the slimy toads
intentions, he was definitely out of it and reduced to nothing but
the lure….

Raffious who was stretching his legs, was
furious that the old crone Hoidrious, had made him both endure
being paralysed and also having to suffer the deep embarrassment of
pissing down himself all week.

Thinking that Hoidrious wouldn’t dare hurt
him as he had Rex a prisoner, he decided to chance his luck a bit
further by giving him a piece of his mind.

‘You dirty old prick, yes ever so funny you
di…….’ He blasted but ended his sentence abruptly as he caught
sight of the vampire leaders veins beginning to pulsate.

Suddenly wishing there was someway he could
retract his last statement, he swallowed deeply as he realized the
full gravity of the words he had just used in front of this evil
fucker, and now, by them, in his mind, and by his own stupidity, he
expected pain, a lot of pain.

‘You can have that one.’
Hoidrious said with a sinister grin, before he then said to
Raffious, ‘Now come here
gorgeous
, because I have a necklace
for you to wear.’

Raffious was deeply relieved he had missed
out on pain, and then sighed to the effect.

One of the goons standing next to Hoidrious
had slipped his beefy hand inside his jacket and pulled out a
rustic brown wire hoop with mini spikes everywhere. To look at, it
didn’t look too dissimilar to that of a piece of barbed wire, which
farmers use to keep livestock in with.

Daring not to enrage
Hoidrious any further, and grinning at the
gorgeous
comment, Raffious walked
cautiously towards the bars.

One of the goons then passed the wire
necklace through to him and regardless that he knew what a necklace
was, the masked idiot told him to put it on over his head. Raffious
replied with a blank expression, suggesting the goon partly lacked
intelligence. Then being extremely careful not to reopen his really
sore, and deeply slashed cheek from outside the coven when Longinus
had stuck the tip of his sword in him, he finally slid the barbed
necklace down into position around his neck.

‘Good.’ Hoidrious said as he held up a
glowing amulet, about the size of an egg. The amulet like a remote
control sent a spell of some kind to the necklace, to engage
it.

THHWACK, the necklace suddenly completely
shrunk in size, and stopped with the tips of the barbs embedding
themselves just a millimeter beneath Raffious’ skin. A moment later
it corrected itself by pulling out slightly, then blood from the
tiny fifty or so pinprick holes, began to slowly drip down his
neck.

‘What is that.’ Longinus said as the old boy
foolishly, half considered raising a debate on how the necklace had
just hurt him. Then wholesomely, he recanted as he thought about
their promise of amputation, which had the effect to keep his
puckered lips even more puckered.

‘Not really your fucking concern, spy.’ One
of the goons blasted at him, ‘How dare you ask what the necklace is
for.’

‘Wo, just askin.’ He said
as he stepped backwards with his palms up towards the beastly dude
and then resumed his seating position on the bench.
Fuckin ignorant prick,
he thought.