The house appeared empty as they all moved into the shadowed foyer. The distant tick of a clock sounded like the tolling of their deaths in the abnormally quiet house, even their footsteps were muffled on the thick carpet. Though nothing in the house seemed overly foreboding, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something sinister going on within these walls. That they held secrets she didn't want to know.
Hannah's gaze skimmed over the walls as they stepped into the room where Calvin kept all of his mail clad statues. She eyed the unmoving soldiers warily, half expecting them to come to life and attack them with their assorted weapons of spears, lances, and swords. All the soldiers wore helmets, but even still she couldn't shake the feeling that there were eyes behind the helmets that followed them across the room.
"It doesn't seem like anyone is here," Timber said.
"We're still going to search the whole place. I have a feeling there's more going on here than what meets the eye," Braith replied. "Xavier, William, Daniel and Timber go upstairs. We'll continue to search down here."
Hannah watched the others split off toward the set of stairs that branched from the main foyer to the second floor. Aria pulled the bow from her back and removed an arrow from her quiver. The click of the arrow against the wooden bow was the only sound other than the ticking clock inside the house. Braith and Jack led the way out of the room with all of the soldiers and into another narrow hall.
Hannah's eyes were picking up more detail than she was used to, and it took her a moment to realize that it was due to Jack's blood flowing through her veins. Distinct particles of dust danced through the air even though little illumination infiltrated this windowless area of the home. Tapestries lined the hall and judging by the smell of dust and mildew wafting off of them, they were far older than their colorful and intact thread would indicate. It took all she had not to run her fingers over the beautiful cloths, but she was terrified that she would ruin one of them if she did.
The hall ended in a set of massive metal doors that were barred with a piece of wood that could have doubled as a small oak tree. Hannah didn't understand why anyone would need such thick doors in their house and though she sniffed at the seams and cracks, she couldn't detect any strange scents coming from the other side. Braith and Jack each grabbed an end of the heavy wooden crossbar and heaved it off as if it weighed no more than a twig. Hannah wished for a weapon as Aria lifted her bow and aimed it at the door. But then, there had never been a reason for her to learn how to use a weapon and she definitely wouldn't have liked to use one that could kill her.
Braith grabbed hold of Aria's shoulder and nudged her toward the door. "You and Hannah are going to open it," he told her.
Though disappointment filtered over her features, Aria didn't argue as she threw her bow over her shoulder and grabbed hold of one of the handles. Hannah stepped to the other side. Her gaze found Jack's as he gave her a brief nod. The door was heavier than she had expected it to be, but even still she was able to pull it open with more ease than she would have exhibited yesterday.
Although she had fully been expecting something monstrous to burst out of the room beyond, nothing stirred within. She poked her head around the door. Though some light filtered into the room, she wasn't entirely sure what she was looking at. With the doors open, a strange odor emanated from within that caused her nose to wrinkle and her eyes to water.
"That can't be good," Jack said as he stepped forward.
Hannah almost grabbed hold of his arm to stop him from entering the room. Even though nothing had immediately happened when they opened the doors, she knew that death lay within as she finally placed the scent that was wafting out. She'd only been around one decomposing body in her life, a woman that had passed away in her sleep. The woman hadn't been found for a couple of days. Hannah had been in the street with Lucas when they had taken the woman's body by.
The last thing she wanted to do was locate the source of that smell but still she stepped into the enormous room behind Jack. She had been expecting to find bodies sprawled throughout, but the blood colored marble floor was pristine and empty. Stained-glass windows lined three of the four walls. Unlike many of the beautiful stained-glass windows she had seen before, these windows didn't depict wild animals, soaring doves or an image of Christ. These were pictures of bloody massacres with people being drawn and quartered, beheaded, hung, and many other horrific depictions of torture. Despite the chill in the room her skin was coated with a thin layer of sweat that was making her dress stick to her.
Aria had stopped looking at the windows, her head had tilted back and the color had vanished from her face. Hannah knew she shouldn't look up but she felt compelled to as she turned to the rafters overhead. Hooks, carved and lethal, dangled from the ceiling. At first she thought it was the light coming through the mostly red stained glass windows that caused the hooks to look a rusted red in color, but it finally sank in that it wasn't light at all, it was in fact blood.
Nausea swelled through her stomach, she took a step back as horror shot through her. Jack grabbed hold of her shoulder and pulled her against his side as he attempted to steady her. "I think we're about to find the proof we've been looking for," Braith said. "We have to locate the source of that smell, but first let's find the others."
"Wait," Jack said as they turned to leave the room. Hannah was brought up short against his chest as he focused on something on the floor. "Stay here," he told her before giving her a brief kiss on the head and walking away.
Braith fell into step beside him as they took a few steps into the middle of the room. They stopped before some sort of indentation in the floorboards; Jack knelt down and began to prod around the edges of it, his hands went about four feet in each direction. He pushed down on something that Hannah couldn't see, even with her enhanced vision. A piece of the floor began to rise upward. Hannah took a curious step forward before the smell of what was under the floor hit her.
Her hand flew to her nose as a stench the likes of which she'd never encountered assaulted her senses. Aria made a strangled sound; her eyes were red as she strode forward with her shoulders squared and her jaw clenched. Hannah was still trying to assimilate the smell with every scent she had ever known but the correlation eluded her as she walked toward where the others now stood. There was death down there, she was certain of that much, but there was more than that emanating from the room below.
"What's down there?" she asked as she kept her hand over her nose in an effort to block the scent.
"A dungeon," Jack answered in a constricted voice.
That was the rest of what she smelled, she realized. Human body odor and waste mingled with the overwhelming scent of fear. It clogged her nostrils with its potent scent and even though she tried to block it with her hand, it still permeated through to her.
Braith's gaze was focused on Aria as she stared into the gloomy hole beneath the ground. She took hold of his hand when he reached for her. "Perhaps you should stay up here," he suggested.
Aria shook her head. "No, I can do this."
Hannah continued to stare into the fetid smelling room beneath the floor. The square floorboard that had been covering the hole crashed against the floor behind them when Jack tossed it back. His steely eyes met hers as he focused upon her. "You should probably stay here."
He was probably right, she was almost completely positive she did not want to see what was down there, but she didn't want him down there on his own either. She feared going below, but she feared even more that something would happen to him and she wouldn't be there to possibly stop it. Aria and Braith would be with him but that didn't matter, not to her.
"I'll be fine," she told him.
His nostrils flared as his attention turned back to the bleak recesses below them. Before she could even blink, he leapt into the pit. "Jack," she breathed as she lurched forward.
Braith held her back. "He's fine."
Taking hold of her hand, he pointed to the steps Jack had bypa
ssed. He held onto her hand as he helped her onto the steps. The stench of the dungeon only grew stronger as she descended deeper into its shadowy depths. She was halfway down when Jack grabbed hold of the railings of the stairs on either side of her. She froze as his chest brushed against her back; his mouth was against her ear when he spoke. "Hannah go back, you shouldn't see this."
"Jack…"
"There are some things that can never be unseen, never be forgotten. There are things men can do…"
His words were broken off as Braith dropped into the darkness behind him. Hannah turned in his arms before he could force her to return up the stairs. She wished immediately that she had listened to him as she was confronted with the atrocity that lay within the room before her.
- CHAPTER 21 -
Hannah grabbed hold of Jack's shoulders as Aria landed soundlessly behind Braith. Braith pulled Aria against his side as they moved further into the room. "Jack," Hannah whispered. "Why?"
"There is no answer for the evil that resides within some of us. Go back up," he commanded gruffly.
"It's too late for that, I've already seen."
"That doesn't mean you have to be exposed to it any further."
She wasn't entirely certain her legs would support her all the way up the ladder if she did decide to go back up the stairs. Illumination burst over them from above, she glanced up to find William, Daniel, and Timber peering down at them. Xavier appeared beside them, he shook his head before taking the torch from William. "You should probably stay here," he told them before dropping into the space behind Jack.
The torch only revealed more of the madness and though she yearned to turn away, it was too late and she refused to hide from what lay within this room. She may be the only one that knew who any of these people and vampires were, or had been.
"I have to go with you, Jack. There may be families and friends out there looking for their loved ones. I have to see."
Her voice sounded like she'd just swallowed a red hot poker, but she somehow found the strength to move forward. He relented and took a small step away from her. The stairs squeaked behind her as William began his descent into what she was beginning to consider the bowels of Hell. It seemed as if Calvin had taken all of those pictures of torture depicted in the windows up above and decided to act out each one of them down here.
And he had reveled in it, she realized as she forced herself forward on legs that wobbled. She didn't want to humiliate herself in front of the others but her stomach felt like a hive of hornets was bouncing around just looking for an escape. She pressed her hand against her mouth as she stepped around a decomposing torso and pushed deeper into the room that was easily the size of the master torture chamber above.
"This guy's almost as sadistic as your father was," William muttered behind them.
Jack and Braith's faces were both strained as they glanced back at him but neither said a word. Hannah's hand pressed against her trembling lips, his father had been worse than this? She didn't see how that could be possible when Jack was such a decent man. How did someone even survive growing up around a monster like that? Jack had spoken about his bad relationship with his father, she'd known that it had been awful for him, but to have his father associated with something this bad, or worse, was something she couldn't imagine.
Jack kept his hand on her elbow, his chest pressed against her arm, but even the feel of him couldn't soften the horror of everything she was seeing. She forced herself to look at the faces and opaque eyes of the dead surrounding her as she searched for someone she might be able to return to their loved ones.
"How many are here?" she managed to choke out.
"There's too many assorted body parts to get a good grasp on exactly how many there might be," Braith said. "We'll have to remove the bodies and parts to get a better idea."
Hannah shuddered at the thought but before she could become swamped in the horrific image removing all these bodies conjured up, her eyes fell upon a pair of faces she recognized instantly. Tears burned her eyes; she took an involuntary step toward the body of old man Turner and his wife, Lola. She almost fell as she took another stumbling step toward them but Jack grabbed hold of her before she face planted. She hadn't seen Turner in a few days, he'd been scarce around the tavern since his confrontation with Calvin, but he'd been fine the last time she'd seen him.
She should have heard that he and Lola were missing but as she continued to stare at their mangled bodies a new realization began to form. Their bodies were nowhere near as badly decomposed as the ones surrounding them. In fact, the blood from the bites on their necks appeared no more than a day or two old.
"He did that to them because of me," she whispered in dawning horror. "He knew we would find this place."
"Hannah…" Jack started.
"He did this to punish me."
His hands clasped her face as he tilted her head up to look into her eyes. "This is not your fault."
She wanted to believe him but tears continued to form in her eyes. She tried to look back at the bodies of her friends, but he kept hold of her face. "Don't look again Hannah."
"I could have ended up married to him."
His eyes became a volatile shade of red. "That was never going to happen," he snarled. "You'll never have to see or deal with that man again."
"They deserve better than this."
"They'll get it," he promised her. "We will make him pay for this."
"You can bet on that," Braith promised. "We're going in search of him as soon as we're ready. Calvin has just become the most wanted vampire in this country. For now, I think we've seen more than we needed to. We will identify each body and notify their loved ones when the bodies have been removed."
Aria was pale when Braith turned her around, she didn't fight him when he propelled her toward the stairs. Hannah thought Jack was going to lift her up and throw her up the stairs before they could even reach them. Instead, he picked her up with his right arm and hugged her against his side as he rapidly ascended the steps.
***
"What is that smell?" Lucas demanded as soon as they stepped into the kitchen area of the tavern. His hand flew to his nose as he took a step away from them. They'd chosen to enter through the kitchen for this very reason. If they'd gone through the front door the odor clinging to their bodies would have chased most of the patrons out, and none of them were in the mood to be seen right now.
All Jack really wanted was a bath or a dip in the lake to rid himself of the stench clinging to him but he knew that wasn't to be. "Nothing good," he told Lucas.
"Calvin has a good day head start on us," Braith said as he rubbed at his chin. "I need to know how many men he had and if any of them are still in this town."
"I asked around to see if anyone had seen Calvin, or any of his men, and it seems that they have all disappeared as well," Lucas answered. "His men may have mostly been Undesirables but they were all able to travel. He must have heard that you had arrived in town."
"How many men does he have?" Braith inquired.
"At least thirty," Hannah answered. "But it's rumored he has more men in other towns too."
"We need to stop him before he can get to those men."
"We can catch up to him," Jack's gaze slid to William and though he knew his next words weren't going to be well received, he spoke them anyway. "If we travel without humans."
William's jaw clenched as he folded his arms firmly over his chest. Timber's knuckles cracked as his gorilla sized hands folded into fists and Daniel took a swift step forward. "I think we've proven many times that we are useful in battle," Daniel stated.
"That you have," Braith agreed. "But we need to move fast, and even on horseback you won't be able to keep up."
William had been about to protest more but his mouth closed at those words and he exchanged a look with his brother and Timber. "We have to go tonight," Jack said.
"Wait!" Aria interrupted sharply. "We can't just leave my brothers here unprotected.
"
"Speak for yourself!" William retorted.
Aria shot him a fulminating look but her fury turned on Braith as he spoke his next words, "You're not going either."
"We're not going to argue about this right now Braith," she said.
"No, we're not," he agreed. "You are staying here with Xavier and the soldiers; you will not be running through the woods chasing this monster. I almost lost you once because I didn't refuse you and I won't take that chance again." Though some of the anger eased from her features, the stubborn set of her jaw remained. "You're staying here to help protect your brothers."
"Dead or not, I can still kick her ass," William asserted.
"I'd like to see you try," Aria said before turning to Braith again. "I'll stay, but I don't like it."
"I don't like it either," Braith told her as he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her forward to press a kiss against her forehead.
Hannah turned away from the tender scene as Jack placed his hand on her elbow. He pulled her into the small pantry beside the kitchen and closed the door. His fingers slid over her cheek before he bent and pressed a tender kiss to her lips. She wanted to protest his leaving but she remained silent. She knew that he had to go and there was no way she could travel with him, though she doubted he would have agreed to let her go even if she could.
"I'll be back as soon as we find him," Jack vowed.
Hannah swallowed as she fought back her tears. Her hands encircled his forearms as she clung to him. She'd just found him and he was leaving already. He'd come back, she reminded herself. He hadn't said he loved her, but they were linked and they had created a bond between them that was irrevocable.
"Jack," she croaked out as a tear slid down her cheek.
"Don't cry Hannah," he whispered as his thumb brushed the tear away. "I promise I'll be back for you as soon as I'm able to return."