The night had fallen by the time we reached our destination. A few miles west of the city boundaries, an old building was concealed in the woods, connected to the tunnel system.
There were other entries to the tunnels, closer to the location of the anchor. But we didn't want to go anywhere nearby in plain view. We couldn't risk being spotted.
So we went through Arthur's building even though we had to travel a good distance underground in order to reach the anchor.
Arthur parked the car near on the dirt road, followed by Charles, then we all filed out. There were no lights around, and my eyes took a while to adjust after the car's lights were turned off.
"Harvey, Amanda, stay behind." Arthur ordered when we all gathered at the battered looking door of the two story building. "Everyone else, with me, we have a long way to travel. I don't want anyone using their magic down there, we don't know how far he's monitoring."
The inside was as dilapidated as the outside looked. The wooden planks groaned and squeaked under our weight. The front door opened to a large space where a living room would be. It was quite dark, so I didn't see much, but the strong smell of damp and dust suggested the place had been vacant for years.
Arthur knelt in the middle of the living room. After a few seconds of feeling around him, he held his hand parallel to the floor. A square piece of wood upended itself from the rest of the wooden planks with a sudden, harsh sound. It floated gently to the floor next to the opening it revealed. Arthur looked back at us, "Charles, take the rear."
I heard a faint sound of a sword being drawn out of its scabbard. Irene and I exchanged a look then we both took out our knives.
Arthur jumped down through the opening first, Irene followed. I peeked down, all I could see was black.
"The ground is closer than you think," Irene said from below. Here goes nothing. I dropped to a crouch on uneven ground. Irene was right, it was closer than expected.
I got out of the way for the others, bumped into Irene. Suddenly, a torchlight illuminated the tunnel. I glared at Arthur, he was holding the light so I couldn't see his expression clearly. Asshole.
"You just brought it out now!" I said. I could almost hear the smile in his voice when he answered.
"It slipped my mind."
Irene snorted next to me, I jabbed her side with my elbow.
The tunnel was wide enough for two people to walk side by side comfortably, the ceiling over seven feet high. The stone walls looked sturdy enough.
Arthur helped Kat and Poline down. Such a gentleman. Then Charles dropped down with the agility of a cat.
Arthur took the lead, followed by Kat and Poline, then Irene and I. Charles fell behind us. I just realized the two vampires sandwiched us in between them. I shook my head. Men.
We walked at a reasonable pace in silence. Charles also had a torchlight so we saw where to put our steps. Although Irene didn't need it, obviously. Shapeshifters, especially predatory ones, had good night vision.
About thirty minutes in, Irene's breathing started changing. I glanced at her.
"You okay?" I whispered. She nodded, but she didn't look okay. Sweat flattened strands of black hair to the ivory skin of her face, her eyes were no longer dark but a mix of blue and brown whirling around in her irises.
"Irene?" I whispered. She closed her eyes for a moment.
"I just need a moment."
She opened her eyes, still a tornado of blue and brown, but with a glint of determined courage. "I just don't like being... caged in."
The three immortals ahead of us were deep in a conversation of their own. Charles was a silent presence behind us, but when I glanced back, I could see his attentive gaze on Irene.
"I thought foxes live in burrows?" I asked, just to lift the mood.
"I guess they do, but..." She shot me a small smile. Right. She wasn't exactly a regular fox shapeshifter. I put one of my knives in its sheath, and held Irene's hand in mine.
She shot me a grateful look and squeezed my hand. Her breathing slowly turned back to normal. "Thanks," she whispered.
"Don't worry about it," I winked, "I'm cashing in a favor in case I need your help later on."
Her shoulders shook in silent laughter, but she didn't ease her grip.
The tunnel branched out occasionally, but Arthur never hesitated. It seemed like he knew the way by heart.
"How old are these tunnels?" I asked when there was a lull in the conversation.
"Some were built during the War," Kat replied, "some are a more recent addition."
"How much longer, Arthur?" Poline said in the unique accent of hers. Somewhere from Central Europe, I guessed.
"We're more than halfway there."
Even though we were underground, the air didn't feel stale at all. Probably thanks to the makeshift aeration vents. They were few and far in between, but they did a good job in venting the tunnels. The amount of work needed to build this entire system was substantial.
It was a long while before Arthur stopped walking right beside an opening in the wall. We followed him through it. The path sloped slightly upwards, and the tunnel was much smaller than the main one. Irene was behind me, I had to let go of her hand and her breathing was already starting to accelerate again.
"You okay there, foxy?" Charles said. I could feel Irene's temper flaring.
"None of your business, blood sucker."
"Just checking," he said, "do you want to hold my hand?"
"Touch me and you'll lose it," Irene snapped.
I smiled. Irene's breathing was less erratic. Charles distracted her. Was it on purpose? I had a good feeling it was.
Thankfully, the narrow tunnel was short. A few minutes later we stood in a spacious, dark round room. Two men, a vampire and a witch, bowed their heads to Arthur, whispering, "Sire."
Charles and Arthur turned off their lamptorches, it took me a few seconds to adapt to the new lighting. There was a small lamp on the ground, its lighting turned on the lowest setting.
Arthur nodded back. The men faced the wall, and I realized there was a thin opening stretched all along the stone wall. We all lined beside the two soldiers. I had to stand on my tiptoes to see through, and when I did, my breath got caught in my throat.
We were looking down at a circular room about a hundred feet in diameter, its bottom about fifty feet from the ceiling.
The room was dimly lit by numerous lanterns placed strategically along the circular wall. The lights dim, but enough to clearly make out the stupefying sight in the center of the room.
Seven humans, three males and four females, stood on the periphery of a perfectly drawn circle, the white line of it glowing unnaturally.
The humans were kneeling on all fours, their hands glistening an unnatural fluorescent red where they touched the ground inside the circle. I squinted my eyes, and realized the red was blood covering their hands. Blood. Like glowing rivers of red, it flowed from their hands into the small pool in the center of the circle, the scarlet streams forming complicated patterns.
The blood in the pond boiled so violently that the bubbles' popping sounded like loud christmas crackers. Under that loud noise was a constant hum, the humans reciting something. It made the scene even more creepy.
"This is the anchor?" I whispered. We were high enough that our voices wouldn't carry to human ears.
"Yes," Kat whispered next to me. I followed the glowing patterns of the blood, trying to make sense of them.
Uncle Robert was horrible at anything related to spells or sorcery, but he taught me everything he knew. And since unlike witches, I didn't need spells to work my magic on a high level, I never worried about my inadequacy to read them.
Right now, the patterns were way too complicated for me. All I could go by was what my senses were telling me. The area reeked of demonic magic, especially the center of the room where the pond was. It felt as though at any moment something would step out of that pool of blood. Something that did not belong in our world.
The humans all looked half dead, their clothes hung off their frames, sharp bones poking out here and there, their heads lowered.
"How is he keeping the humans alive?" Irene asked the question in my mind. With the loss of blood, the humans would need a lot of care to even stay conscious.
"In the last ten hours, there have been two mid level demons who've come with food and drinks for the humans," one of the soldiers standing watch said.
"We have units monitoring every single entrance to the caves, and they haven't spotted the demons. Which means the killer teleports them in."
"Are the humans doing this voluntarily?" Irene asked.
"Yes," replied Kat, "the exits aren't blocked, they could try to leave whenever they want, but they don't."
"What about mind control?" I asked, "even if they're not chained physically, there's a possibility they're not doing this out of their own volition."
"I doubt it," Kat said, "mind control for extended periods over multiple subjects takes energy the demon can't afford to lose."
"His henchmen seem strong enough." I said. Mid level demons were not to be taken lightly.
"It does not matter, either way," Poline said, dismissing seven human lives like a speck of dust. "Kat, have the patterns changed since the last time you were here?"
It was the witch soldier who replied, "no change in the pattern or in the power pull."
If the patterns changed or the amount of power being pulled from this spell increased or decreased, it would mean trouble.
"This is interesting," Poline said, "if the killer was moving around the city, there should've been minute changes in the patterns. If he was closer to the anchor, the energy pull would diminish, if he was farther or if he was using his magic, the energy pull would increase. Right now, the spell is acting as though the killer is frozen in one place, like he isn't using his magic at all."
Kat tensed next to me, "he's in hiding. It makes sense that the pattern isn't changing if he's not moving or using his ability."
"No," Poline shook her head, stepping back from the wall. We all turned to her. She added, "An anchor is never this static."
"You seem to know quite a lot about anchors, Poline." Arthur's voice sent shivers down my spine.
Poline's lips stretched in a coy smile, "we've had some incidents in France with mid level demons, nothing this bad, but close enough."
The entire room fell quiet. The hum of the humans was loud in the sudden silence. Arthur was motionless in a way a predator was motionless before pouncing on his prey. But Arthur was no predator, he was more, he was worse.
Poline's expression froze, I saw the exact moment she realized she'd said something Arthur didn't like.
"Mhm," he said, "and why did I not hear of this?"
"That's-"
Arthur held up his hand. Poline fell silent.
"This changes everything. There's a chance the killer is aware we know where his anchor is, and he already has another one somewhere else."
"He's keeping this one as a distraction." I said.
"Yes," Arthur said, he turned to the soldiers, "keep watching, report any changes."
"Sire," the two soldiers bowed their heads. Arthur exited without a second glance, his bearing impossibly calm. Again, it reminded me of the calm in the eye of the storm. He was pissed off. And Poline seemed to realize that, too, because she looked nervous, her eyes flickering this way and that before she followed Kat out.
I widened my eyes at Irene as we trailed behind the silent trio, Charles behind us.
"Mid level demons." Arthur said after what felt like an hour of walking back, "how many?"
Poline's shoulders tensed in front of me, "Three."
Arthur did not react.
Three mid level demons. That was not normal under the best of circumstances. After the gate between the realms was closed, only lesser demons could pass through, and with very low numbers. The fact that not only one, but three other mid level demons had passed through indicated a serious problem in the fabric separating the realms.
But why would the Europeans keep it a secret from Arthur? The Five were, unofficially, the ultimate authority in the world of immortals. Not just because their age gave them incomparable knowledge, but also because they had the power to make the entire race of vampires kneel at their feet.
Vampires had the largest population among immortals. Having such power at one's disposal wasn't something to be taken lightly. Which was why keeping such a secret from Arthur didn't make any sense.
I wanted to ask if the others from the Five knew about this, but couldn't. That would give away too much knowledge of the immortal world's workings. Knowledge a human like me shouldn't have.
Arthur didn't say anything else. No one did. The trip back felt much longer thanks to the thick tension.
When we reached the entrance, Harvey poked his head down.
"Anything new?" he asked.
Arthur shook his head, "we need to talk."
Harvey disappeared from the opening. In one effortless jump, Arthur grabbed the edges of the hole with his hands and pulled himself up, then helped us all out. His hand was rough and warm around mine, he lifted me with incredible ease, reminding me that he could snap my neck with one hand if he wanted to.
The cold night air outside made me shiver. Poline looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here. Arthur looked like he wanted to tear someone's head off their shoulders.
"I'm sorry, Sire," Kat said, her face tight, "it's my fault, we've wasted precious time."
"It is not," Arthur said, "you have no experience in dealing with anchors, None of the witches I know have. However, it seems that the Europeans have gained over the past few years without my knowledge."
He looked at Poline. She froze. "Poline and Kat will come with me. I'm sure Poline will be delighted to share her expertise."
Uh-oh. Someone was in trouble. Poline's nod was jerky and curt.
"Harvey, Amanda, I want you to go back to the island and contact the Europeans. Charles will brief you on the way. I want all their records. And contact my dear siblings, I want to know if they are aware of this."
The couple nodded.
"Take Elle back with you, I don't want her anywhere outside the island right now."
"I'm right here." I mumbled. Not like I had a choice.
Poline and Kat headed to one of the cars, Arthur held Harvey's gaze for a long moment before he nodded. Then they were gone.
Jammed between Irene and Charles in the backseat, I met Amanda's gaze in the rearview mirror. Charles had briefed them on the situation in as few words as possible.
"Why would the Europeans keep it a secret?"
Amanda and Harvey glanced at each other before Harvey looked back at the road. The city streets were crawling with members of the Order and human law enforcement.
Considering the fact that Arthur gave the order to gather all human females in a well guarded, spell-locked stadium, it would be really difficult for the killer to get his hands on any victims.
"I don't know," Amanda replied to my question, "what I do know is that it is very unusual. Europeans like to think too highly of themselves, but I never thought they were arrogant enough to try to take care of an excessive presence of powerful demons on their own."
"We can't judge the situation until we know if any of the Five were aware of it." Harvey added.
I glanced out the window. We were already far from the human side of the city. The Order's campus was a couple of streets away, and a few immortals walked around, some of them armed, but otherwise it was calm. So I was taken by surprise when the car braked to a jerky stop, hitting something with a loud crashing sound.
The tires' screeching made Irene wince and cover her shifter-sensitive ears.
The surprise didn't last long. I knew something was wrong the instant I spotted the red skinned demon. It was crouching on top of the car's crashed hood, smoke emanating from the dying engine.
Everyone had their weapons in hand and was out of the car in less than three seconds, Amanda and Harvey having pulled out swords from beneath the car seats.
A hoard of lesser demons crawled out of the alleys nearby and surrounded the car from all sides. Irene peeled her lips up in a snarl, "Ugh, they're like damn cockroaches."
"Charles, keep her safe." Harvey said. Suddenly my back was plastered to the car with Charles in front of me.
"Hey!"
"Stay put," he growled, "you're the only human here."
The quiet night turned into a living hell in no time at all. The immortals who'd been strolling the streets joined the fight. No, not a fight. A massacre. There was no other word to describe it. Amanda, Irene and Harvey made a half circle around Charles and I, keeping the demons away.
The demons' reddish skin was soon glistening with blood. It was clear that their aim was to get me. They were so focused on it that they didn't even turn to the danger behind them. The other immortals cut through them without resistance, swords slashed and heads rolled and blood sprayed the streets. Amanda and Harvey were deadly with their swords. Graceful fighters.
There were too many demons, however. Irene, Amanda and Harvey were taking steps back. Something was odd. With the pace we were cutting through them, their numbers should've diminished by now. When I peeked around Charles' broad back to look closely, I realized the bastards were still crawling out from the alleys around us.
"These numbers are not normal!" Amanda stepped back, avoiding the claws of a demon. She kicked him in the chest and Harvey decapitated him in one strike. Even dressed up as they were, Amanda and Harvey were ruthless fighters.
"Backup is here," Irene called. The Order vans letting out an army of agents was a welcome sight. Well, for once backup arrived on time. The agents joined in the fight, some with swords and others with their magic. Witches sent bolts of energy in a myriad of colors, trying to make an opening through the wall of demons enclosing us.
Charles suddenly whirled around facing me, his sword swinging a few feet above my head. I ducked down and looked up at the same time. Warm blood splattered my face, a demon's head fell right beside my feet, its body toppling over the car's roof.
"We have to get out of here," Charles screamed over the sound of fighting. Harvey glanced back at us, a wound in his cheek already starting to close. All around us, the dead demons were a wall of motionless bodies trampled on by their live brethren in their eagerness to get to me, like mindless, ruthless machines.
Even the car at my back no longer provided a shield, shaking under the weight of the creatures crawling all over it. We were going to be buried in a sea of lesser demons.
My knives slashed the throat of the first demon who jumped down from the car's roof before his feet touched the ground. Charles pushed me behind him as he faced the car, thinking to keep me out of their grasp that way. Except he didn't factor in the fact that our true enemy was a teleport capable demon.
My senses went into high alert in a fraction of a second. A presence so strong yet so wrong at my back raised the hairs on my body right before I felt the heat of someone behind me. I whirled around to face the new danger the same time that Charles and the others did.
The creature was almost seven feet tall, wearing a long gray cloak that covered its entire body and dragged on the floor, a large hood pulled low on its face, shadowing its features except for the long purplish horns that poked out of it. The high level demon was less than a foot away from me.
It all happened in one breath. The demon's hand made contact with my arm, my bones groaning under his death grip. Before my surroundings dissolved into nothing, I saw the others reaching for me, as if in slow motion, their expressions horrified and shocked, while a wave of red skinned demons rolled behind them, threatening to pull them under.
Then I vanished.