This was the right place, Brooke was sure of it. The images she'd extracted from Gliss blood were clear enough. She recognised the enormous central bunker and its tendrils that webbed across the quarry floor like ivy.
But something didn't seem right. As they looked down on it from the vantage point of the quarry office she couldn't see any kind of guard patrols, or feel any presences outside the walls. Something strong and indefinable throbbed in the central building but she couldn't figure out exactly what it was. Other than that, the place seemed deserted.
"Where the hell is everyone?" Arcil grunted, echoing her thoughts. "I'd expect an army to be out patrolling these walls with what they've got in there."
Brooke nodded in agreement. She slipped her duelling rods free from their sheaths, needing something to occupy her hands. She twirled them experimentally, examining the points with a critical eye. An uneasy tension had settled on the group as they waited for the two scouts to return – the thing lurking down the quarry seemed to taint the air around them. She couldn't block it out, and she could feel the twinging n the Aspects of the others. They felt it too.
Moving away from the Baelock Elder-Blood, she stood beside Capper, who currently stared at the quarry offices, statuesque.
"You can feel that, can't you?" he said quietly. "The ... thing down there."
"Yes."
"We might be too late."
"We don't know that." She touched his arm gently, pulling his gaze to her. "One thing at a time, okay? Let's get down there first."
He nodded, but didn't speak. She could feel the unease coiling through him; the guilt. Brooke wished she had something more comforting to say to him, but at the end of the day, he bore a significant portion of the blame for their current predicament. Did he deserve to have that assuaged? She wasn't really sure.
The scuffle of booted feet roused the rest of the group from their positions and she stepped away from Capper, sliding down into a fighting stance and closing a hand around one of her duelling rods, ready to draw. Bolt throwers tracked two dark shapes that came skittering back down the embankment, and Brooke could see the flash of red hair; Lucille out in front with the Baelock guard, Altus, hot on her heels.
Lucille vaulted over a long, low spur of broken masonry before coming to a halt, breathing lightly, and nodded to them. "It's clear."
"No guards?" Arcil inquired suspiciously, looking to Altus for confirmation.
"She's right," the Baelock vampire said grudgingly. "There are signs of guard positions but it seems they were abandoned in a hurry."
"Any idea why?"
"Couldn't say, but there's something stirring down in the main bunker. I've never really felt anything like it before."
"I agree." Lucille cast an uneasy glance back up the ridge. "But whatever is going on down there, it's left the way clear. We can ride the rail from the quarry office right down to the main complex with no-one to stop us."
"Alright then," Capper murmured, tossing his bag aside to reveal the glittering structure of his axe. "Then we're going in. Doesn't look like we'll get a better chance."
Arcil smiled darkly and gestured to the hill. "After you."
With Finbarr and Booke flanking him, Capper led the way upward. Close behind, Arcil and his guards formed a skirmish line, and behind them came the rest of the Glaive contingent, including Lilly, who, Brooke realised, seemed to have taken to stealth rather well. With a weak, unobtrusive Aspect that wouldn't draw attention and a feather-light step, she was actually very hard to keep track of when she tried.
Under the dark, smoky skies of Iron Hollow, the vampires of Veridian shores, hundreds of miles from home, started their climb. The slope leading up the rear side of the main quarry office was a treacherous minefield of broken stone, thin crevices and unstable shale. Brooke had to bite back her curses as her booted feet struggled for purchase against the unsteady ground.
Slipping her duelling rods free, she dug them into the ground, using them as anchors to haul herself up after Capper who was setting a ferocious pace out in front. Arcil crashed along just behind her with his guards in tow, and Finbarr loped along on her right-hand side, his long limbs finding easier purchase against the treacherous paths.
Just as Lucille and Altus had told them, no vampires waited at the top of the climb, but Brooke could clearly see the armoured look out points build into the ridge looking down that should have contained guards. The cube of the quarry office waited, silent and brooding, and all the while she could feel the powerful, boiling presence down in the structure itself.
The guards went first, slipping silently into the structure with bolt-throwers and swords at the ready, but only empty rooms greeted them. When the all-clear was given Brooke followed them in, her eyes picking out the cluttered crates, chairs and tables in the gloom. Weapon racks lined the walls, some of them half empty. Cups and half-smoked cigarettes littered the space; signs that the guards had abandoned their post in a hurry.
"I've got a bad feeling," Finbarr grumbled as they moved through the structure towards the rail cars that led down to the main bunker.
"Whatever Gliss unlocked," Capper said from the front of the group. "I'd bet anything it's what's causing that disturbance. Maybe they've bitten off more than they can chew."
"We won't know until we get down there," Arcil drawled disinterestedly. "So can we move this along?"
Brooke rolled her eyes but didn't argue, instead following Capper and the others to the bulky, cuboid-shaped rail car that would ferry them down to the main structure. Three of the four rails were empty, presumably used already by the guards who'd vacated the position not long ago.
The Veridian Shores interlopers piled awkwardly in, packed almost shoulder to shoulder in the rail car that was better-suited to hauling lumps of rock. At back of the car Finbarr unlocked the release lever and a moment later they were grinding their way down into the guts of the compound. Brooke clamped a hand down on the cold steel of the car wall and hung on as they rattled down the rails, a small island of life in a dead, hostile world.
The large flat roofed bunker loomed large out of the night as they closed in on it, and Gliss could just see lights flickering from within, spearing through thin slits that passed for windows in the concrete exterior. Before long she could see the other empty rail cars, abandoned where they'd stopped. Nothing about this felt right to her, but they'd come too far not to see it through now.
They piled out of the car, following Capper and Arcil around to the main entrance of the building. The heavy metal doors were sealed shut, but still they could see no guards. She glanced around uneasily.
"I feel something," Lilly murmured. "This place feels wrong."
The worry twisted violently in Brooke's mind. If even Lilly could feel the disturbance it must have been incredibly powerful. But right now they still needed to get through the door.
Arcil stepped forward, smiling thinly as though he'd read her mind. "Chara."
A dark-haired female guard with a long, predatory face; features sharp as icicles stepped forward. Without an order the woman knew what was expected of her, removing a container of liquid from her belt and emptying its contents down the seam of the door. The concoction hissed violently and a moment later a viscous grey liquid seeped out from the base of the seam, steaming against the cold night air.
"Altus, come here. Capper, you and your ox as well."
Capper glared at him, but motioned Finbarr forward anyway. Brooke saw what they were trying to do and a jolt of surprise shot through her as the four male vampires wedged blades into the seam and started, inch by inch, to lever the massive door open. She felt the swell and surge of their Aspects as each of them channelled all their formidable physical strength to shove the slabs of metal aside until eventually they created an aperture large enough to admit them two at a time.
Straightening up, Aspect rippling from the exertion, Capper made a quick inspection of his axe-head then looked at them. "Alright, follow me."
Inside the compound the sense of wrongness grew even stronger. Brooke couldn't put her finger on it, but somewhere, moving in the body of the complex was something very big and very powerful. She felt like a minnow sensing the presence of a great white shark.
"What the hell's going on?" Lucille hissed, raising her bolt-thrower and scanning the stark white hallways. Burning lamps hung from the ceiling, illuminating the space with an antiseptic glow. "Where is everyone?"
"Stay sharp," Capper replied, putting on a calm face as he led them forward. "We don't know what these idiots woke up with that key."
"It's a weapon vault," Arcil put in, advancing alongside him with curved swords drawn. "Maybe they triggered something."
"That doesn't explain why all the guards outside seem to have been called inside," Brooke told them. "This is more than some malfunctioning weapon. We should have seen someone by-,"
She broke off abruptly as the sound of running feet echoed around the corner of the passage ahead. Not far behind she heard the clamour of voices, and as second passed she felt several vampire Aspects break free from the strange mire and coalesce into definite presences in front of them.
"Someone's coming!" she snarled. The group halted, weapons rising in readiness. To her left she saw Lilly draw the stake from the holster around her thigh, holding it point downwards and crouching, ready to sell her life if she had to.
A moment later half a dozen vampires came hurtling around the corner, clad in ragged brown trench coats over black armour, all of them moving with frantic speed, weapons drawn. Brooke dropped into a fighting stance, one rod low and the raised above her head like a scorpion's tail, but the Glaive and Baelock guards instantly closed ranks to protect their Elder-Bloods. The newcomers' charge seemed to falter for a moment, and she saw looks of panicked confusion flash between them.
But they didn't stop.
An instant later the two groups smashed together in a clash of metal and bodies were flying all left and right. One vampire dove into a roll past one of the guards, coming to his feet with a brutal looking sickle in one hand.
Just as she'd trained to do, Brooke executed a graceful lunge forward and rammed the point of one duelling rod straight through his heart before he could make another move. The vampire froze for a moment, the sickle clattering from nerveless fingers, and then his death scream ripped out across the air. Brooke withdrew and reset her feet, watching as the vampire crumbled to dust before her.
Her first kill in anger. She shoved the thought aside and focused. Remember your training. It was just like the training arena, save for the sharpened points of her duelling rods.
Their attackers died quickly, easy prey to the experienced guards. She saw Arcil remove one's head with a heavy swipe of one sword while Finbarr impaled another through the heart with a rod driven by mechanical precision and force. Two more were dispatched by Arcil's bodyguards while Capper decapitated the last with a reverse swing of his axe as the female vampire tried to dodge past him.
In the aftermath, Arcil wiped the blade of one sword disdainfully against his sleeve, looking at the crumbled forms around them. His brows furrowed and he looked back at them.
"They weren't coming to attack us," he murmured in confusion. "We just seemed to be in their way."
Brooke nodded, a sick feeling in her stomach. "They were running from something."
"In their own compound?"
"You saw them – they weren't expecting to find us here. No-one sent them after us." She glanced left and right down the empty corridors, the feeling of utter wrongness creeping deeper and deeper into her mind. "Maybe they've dug up more than a weapon..."
Arcil gave her a weary look. "Like what?"
"I don't know! But look at them – they were trying to get out of this place. You can feel that ... whatever it is in there."
"We have to keep moving," Capper said, turning his head to meet her gaze. "But you're right. Everyone be wary. Watch the side passages. Lucille, hang back – guard the rear."
For the moment, Arcil seemed happy to let Capper dish out the orders and their column moved off again through the eerily deserted halls. They delved deeper, moving inward and downward through the sloping passages and stairwells and before long the halls started to widen out. Minutes later they entered what seemed to be some kind of leisure area – an open, sprawling space filled with tables and chairs. Like the guard posts this one had been abandoned in a hurry, with games and drinks left where they lay.
As they spread out through the space, Brooke felt another surge of Aspects break clear of the disturbance, this group much larger than the one they'd encountered in the entranceway.
"Spread out," Capper barked, sensing it at the same time she did. She broke off to the right, along with Arcil and one of the Baelock bodyguards as the Aspects approached from three different passageways. Another ragged group of local vampires clattered into view, some of them not even carrying weapons, casting terrified glances back the way they'd come.
They barely seemed to notice the vampires blocking their path. The first one died on Brooke's duelling rods, charging straight at her with reckless abandon. Others locked into combat with the Veridian Shores vampires, and some managed to worm through the mayhem and keep running, abandoning their comrades to death.
But a straggler at the passage she and Arcil were covering skidded to a halt, looking from her to Arcil. He looked utterly petrified, and all of a sudden she realised they needed to speak to one of them if they wanted to know just what was happening. The vampire in front of her didn't look like he wanted a fight, but Arcil stepped forward anyway.
"Wait, wait, wait!" the vampire shrieked, throwing his sickle aside and putting his hands up. It seemed Arcil wasn't in the mood for diplomacy, however, and he raised one sword to swing.
"Stop!" Brooke shouted, leaping forward and grabbing his arm before he could behead the vampire.
"Get off me," Arcil hissed, wrenching himself free.
"Just stop and think for a second, you imbecile." She shook her head irately and turned her attention to the vampire who was now standing with his back against the wall, watching them with wide eyes. "Let's get some answers."
He was a stocky, red-haired individual around her height, and she could feel the waves of unadulterated terror pulsing out from his Aspect. Whatever was lurking in the bowels of this facility, it had put this individual on the edge of a complete breakdown. She stepped forward, touching a duelling rod against the armour above his heart, hard enough to hold him in place. Then she bared her fangs.
"What's your name?" she snapped.
"Domnall," he blurted out. "But we'd better save introductions. I don't know who you are or where you came from, and I don't give a damn. We've got to get out of here. That thing's going to kill everyone!"
"What thing? What have you fools done?"
"It's the First."
Brooke blinked, not quite believing her ears. "Excuse me?"
"Will you just kill this babbling fool?" Arcil snarled. "He's clearly snapped."
"I'm as sane as you, big man," Domnall spat back, shooting a vicious glare at the other vampire. "And you'd better listen to me if you don't wanna get ripped to pieces."
"We know you have the key and that you opened the weapon vault," Brooke said, pulling his attention back.
"It wasn't a vault, it was a tomb!" Domnall cast a fearful glance back down the passage where they'd come. "Revan, the Elders, they woke somethin' up out of it. They said it was the First, okay? I don't know if it is the First, but whatever it is we can't kill it and it's slaughtering everyone who gets in its way. So, if you're not going to kill me, let me go so I can get the hell out of here. If you're smart you'll follow me."
"Enough." Arcil pulled Brooke aside and sighed. "Get out of my sight you gibbering fool."
Domnall didn't need to be told twice. He disappeared down another passage before they could get another word out of him. The guards exchanged bemused looks, lowering their weapons, but Capper's face was alight with recognition.
"What is it, milord?" Lilly asked quietly.
Capper shook is head. "It's just ... Gliss, and her clan, they believe – I mean really believe in the First. She was adamant that all of it was real. If he says they found the tomb-,"
"You don't seriously believe that?" Arcil snorted. "I'll stretch to the fact they might have awoken an Elder who didn't take kindly to his new surroundings, but it can't be the First. It's impossible."
"Why?"
"Because..." Arcil's confidence seemed to falter for an instant and he simply shook his head. "If the First was real, and was still alive, we would know."
"Milord, with respect, I don't believe it's relevant," the towering bodyguard, Altus, rumbled. "The question remains. Do we press on?"
"We're here to get back what was taken from us." Arcil twirled one sword to accent the point. "So yes, we're going on."
Brooke couldn't decide if Arcil was being courageous or stupid, but she never got the chance to argue with him. Another lonely Aspect burst from the gloom, a familiar presence that she'd truly not expected to feel again. Not quite believing the feeling, she stepped away from Arcil and looked down the passage.
Sure enough, standing not thirty yards away, was Gliss.
She looked much the same as she had in Veridian Shores, but her hair was dishevelled, her eyes wild, and her Aspect was infected with the same terror as Domnall's had been.
But the sudden, volcanic surge of an Aspect much closer to her made her spin around.
"Capper, no-," she started to say, but it was too late. His eyes locked onto the slender figure down the passage, and in that moment she knew that nothing and no-one would be able to stop him.
Brooke could only watch in horror as her friend changed, fangs sliding into prominence and irises vanishing, leaving two piercing ink-black dots that blazed pure hatred. Capper took the axe in both hands, and before anyone else could move he unleashed a bone-chilling screech and exploded past her towards Gliss, and revenge.