Maximus had organized his people into military squads, and the leader of each one seemed outfitted with some kind of device enabling Dash's gizmo to give them orders. In fact, the level of organization was almost frightening. True, most of the vampires were just untrained kids, but it reminded me a lot of the dog soldiers in Africa. How long until Maximus brainwashed even more people into killing for no other reason than he simply wanted them to? Vampires already held a considerable advantage over noms with their supernatural strength and agility. If he decided to use his army against a civilian population, they'd be hard to stop.
The size of the vampire force had shrunk by almost two-thirds, thanks to my redirection, when I saw a sizeable group break off from the main force and head away. I zoomed in and saw a familiar face—Amanda. She looked pissed. According to my aerial view of the compound, she was headed for Dash's hideout. Toward the only way into this place.
And it was too late for us to escape.
Chapter 24
I looked around Dash's super-secret lab and saw no other way out. There was, no doubt, a hidden passage lurking around here somewhere, but I didn't have time to find it. Scrambling over the wreckage of crates and equipment left after Dash's fight with Bella, I approached the hole the leyworm had made. The edges of the stone cracked and broke off, brittle to my touch where the creature had slammed through it.
"What are you doing?" Bella asked.
"We've got about five minutes before thirty vamps storm this place."
Her brow furrowed. "But how—"
"Amanda. I think she figured out Dash wasn't in control anymore."
"Oh dear."
"Yeah, you could say that." I peered into the dark gap. My night vision popped on, granting me a better glimpse of the path the leyworm had left. About ten feet into the solid rock behind the stone wall, the creature had taken a sharp left before diving straight down to parts unknown, leaving a neat round hole and a terrifying drop my night vision lacked the range to fully see. Across from the hole was a wall of crumbling rock, probably where the leyworm had made the turn.
Bella knelt beside me and sent a globe of light wandering down the tunnel. It turned into a pinprick before finding the bottom. "I don't think this is a viable route."
Measuring the space with my eyes, I estimated I could brace my hands and feet against the sides of the hole and walk myself down, but the going would be painfully slow, and one misstep would mean depositing my broken body into the bowels of the earth. Bella was just too short to even attempt my idea.
"Bella, Can you blend us in to the surroundings?"
"Like camouflage? Of course. But I must warn you, I'm exhausted. Dash took nearly everything I had."
"How long could you maintain the spell?"
"Perhaps half an hour. Beyond that, I'll probably pass out." She sighed. "I do have a levitation spell that might work to gently lower us down the shaft. How much do you weigh?"
I shrugged. "I have no idea. Two hundred pounds maybe?" I'd lost all of my chunky bits during my transformation from nerd to incubus, but had put on height and muscle, so my net weight had increased. But I hadn't exactly weighed myself lately to see the exact results.
"Goodness." She looked up, muttering calculations.
I pulled out my phone and gave Elyssa a rundown on the situation.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me sooner?" Elyssa said, and barked out commands to her comrades.
"What do you think you're doing?" I heard Fausta say in the background.
Elyssa gave the other Templar a terse reply and ended the call. I ran back to the overhead display and scrolled to my companions just as Fausta threw up her hands like an angry Italian, and motioned for Elyssa to lead the way. My phone chirped with an incoming call from an unknown number. I'd added Maximus's number to my contact list, so I knew it wasn't him.
I answered, and an unfamiliar voice said, "This is Sergeant Itchi. Fausta gave me your number. She wants you to guide us to the remaining OPFORs in the compound."
Since there wasn't much more I could do before Amanda and her goons burst inside, I rattled out a list of directions, took a couple of pictures with my phone, and sent them to Itchi. At any other time, I would have also tossed in a few jokes about his name as well, but decided to devote the time to staying alive until help arrived. I looked at the display and watched the main force of Templars enter via the side entrance they'd secured and head toward their pinned-down comrades. I noticed the squad entering via the other secret tunnel also moving in and felt a wash of relief.
"Justin, my spell won't work." Bella's eyes looked empty of hope. "You're too heavy for me to lower that far. I don't know what to do."
I heard scuffling noises echo from outside the door to the lab and panic took hold. If only we could hold out for a few minutes, it might give Elyssa and the others time to reach us. I spotted the huge pile of crates near the door and zipped over to them. Despite the strength granted through my demon spawn genes, the crates hardly budged. I resorted to pushing them one at a time with more success until the door was blocked.
Someone pounded on the metal door. "Slade! I know you're in there, you son of a bitch! Let me in!" It was Amanda.
"I'm sorry, my mom told me not to open the door for strangers."
She screamed a flurry of curse words at me, pounding on the door. "Give it here, you idiot," she shouted at someone. I heard her maniacal laugh. "Let's see how you like this, Slade."
The echo of quickly retreating feet alerted me something very bad was about to happen. I grabbed Bella and jerked her away from the door. An explosion rocked the room. The door blasted through the crates. Whistled through the air about a foot from my head. Clanged off a support beam.
Amanda hooted with laughter and appeared at the doorway. "Here, catch!" She threw a square package my way. It landed on the floor and skidded next to my feet.
"Oh, fudge." I gripped Bella's hand and dove for the tunnel left by the leyworm.
A hot blast ripped through the air, slapping me like a red-headed stepchild. I lost my grip on Bella and skidded down the tunnel, ricocheting around the corner. My frantic hands grabbed at the rock. I shouted as the rough surface tore into my skin. I hit the crushed rock at the back edge of the hole and bounced off the rim in a shower of gravel. There was nothing below me but empty air.
I fell into the dark. Somehow, my hand caught on a shard of rock protruding from the side of the shaft. Agony sliced into my hand. Blood dripped into my face as it dribbled down the rock from this latest injury. I heard a crack. Pebbles skittered from beneath my handhold, falling into the pit. With my free hand, I reached for the lip of the hole. Too far. I swung out my feet, trying to brace against the sides. The tiny ledge crumbled, leaving only enough room for my fingertips to hang on.
No. It can't end. Not like this!
Using all my concentration, I summoned my focus and willed myself to rise toward the ledge. Something tingled in the back of my mind, working its way forward until it seemed to press against the inside of my skull. A presence brushed against my feet.
Up. Push me up.
A slight pressure grew against the soles of my shoes. It was working! I willed it to push harder and harder. The weight of the world seemed to drop onto my shoulders. My focus vanished at the shock. The strain on my shoulders vanished.
The ledge gave way. Gravity grabbed my ankles and jerked. My stomach lurched and I stifled the scream threatening to rip from my throat. Eyes squeezed shut, I waited for the end.
"Justin, I can't hold this for long," came Bella's strained voice. "My fight with Dash tired me more than I thought."
I opened an eyelid and looked up. Sweat beaded on her forehead and her hands trembled. Instead of falling, I hovered. Bella held her staff tight as she raised her hands toward the ceiling. My feet didn't feel like there was anything solid beneath them. I tried jumping, but my legs kicked against thin air.
"Please…don't do that," Bella said in harsh whisper. "Wait for the ledge."
I looked up and stretched out a hand. The lip of the hole remained at least an inch away.
Amanda's voice echoed down the tunnel. "Bring me the bodies."
The sound of feet tramping through the room reached my ears. Bella clenched her teeth. Sweat beaded on her forehead. A low moan scraped through her throat.
The ledge grew inexorably closer, each second feeling like an hour.
"What the hell?" someone said from very close by. "There's a hole here, but part of the wall collapsed on it."
"Well clear it and check it," Amanda said. "Now!"
My fingers grasped the lip. In one big heave, I pulled myself to solid ground. Bella moaned in relief. Her staff clattered to the floor. The dhampyr toppled straight toward the hole. I dove to the ground and barely caught her arm before she slid over the edge.
Voices grew louder from down the tunnel. We were screwed. I dug with desperation into my magical education, grasping at straws. On the other side of the hole, I noticed the crushed rock was partially gone, leaving a divot and a pile of rocks. There was just enough room for us to crouch on the other side of the jumbled stone and, with any luck, hide. If I could camouflage us, it might just work.
"I heard a noise in the tunnel," someone shouted.
With Bella held tight under one arm, I jumped the gap and ducked under the unbroken shelf of stone just above the ledge. I scraped the remaining stones into a higher pile. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. I put Bella down, and ducked beside her, praying the pile of rocks would hide us, willing with all my might for it to happen.
A familiar tingle touched my mind, as it had when I'd tried to push myself out of the hole. I knew I was capable of magic, but how in the hell could I stop an onslaught of vampires? Unlike Shelton, I couldn't form a magical barrier. I couldn't zap vampires with a magical light beam like Adam. Unless I could figure out how to summon a fireball like I'd done while Maximus's prisoner, Bella and I didn't have much of a chance.