The Holy Death

Chapter 23

"Eww!" Kitty wailed. "Living? Like what?"

"Not sure exactly. Anyway, we should be prepared for whatever it is."

Having filled their laundry list, and having waited for late night, Dawn and Scott departed for the House in his Mustang as Jeremiah followed on his Indian. Their caravan wound through the streets of east Portland, up into St. Johns, then across the river up into the hills and finally onto Skyline boulevard. Scott drove past the House, hoping no one would notice the twin roars of the Mustang and the Indian, then continued south on Skyline Boulevard to Skyline Memorial Gardens. The gates were closed at this late hour, of course, so they parked in front of them, got out, and wandered through the cemetery, Jeremiah and Scott sharing most of the burden of the electrical weapons, the plasma torch, and the bagged blood. All three wore swords and Dawn slung a crossbow over her shoulder. A brief walk among the tombstones led them to a large statue of Jesus holding a staff and carrying a lamb.

"It's here," Dawn said, "This is the entrance to the secret tunnel."

"Under a statue of Jesus?" Scott asked. "Oh well, nobody can say that vampires don't have an ironic sense of humor."

"In the flower bed," Jeremiah said as he pointed, "Behind the spigot is a metal grate. Open that, and there is a key pad inside."

Scott brushed aside a rose bush to reach his objective. The grate opened easily enough and under that was a hinged metal cover. He flipped the cover open to discover the keypad.

"Okay, does anybody know the sequence?"

Jeremiah and Dawn looked blankly at each other. "I forgot," Jeremiah said. "Dawn, did you remember it?"

"Um, no," Dawn said, "I was hoping you'd remember."

Scott rolled his eyes. "Oh great. Well, hopefully Phaedra knows it."

Scott pulled out his phone and dialed Phaedra's personal cellphone number. "Hi, Scott," She answered, "So, are we ready for this?"

"Apparently not. We need the combination to the keypad."

"Oh, okay. It's 1, 2, 3, 4 and pound."

"Wait. What? Really? One, two, three, four?"

"And pound."

"And I thought Elizabeth was concerned about security. Okay, let's try it."

Scott pressed the buttons, and the statue started moving. It slowly moved to the north, masonry and marble grinding as it did so. The hole where the statue previously stood revealed an in-set metal hatch, much like the hatch on a submarine. Jeremiah grabbed the wheel and twisted, unlocking and opening the ancient hatch. A ladder led deep down below the cemetery. Scott thanked Phaedra, who assured him she'd turn the alarms off and place the cameras on a loop. Scott then hung up.

"I'll go first," Jeremiah said as he stepped onto the first metal wrung.

"You go right ahead," Scott said. "Dawn?"

"Yeah?"

"Ladies first!"

"Oh yeah, now you're a gentleman."

"When am I not?"

Dawn headed down the steps after Jeremiah. "Wimp!"

"I am not a wimp!"