Chapter 90
Bo continued to explain the rest of the plan, ending with, “We won’t enter until after the ball begins.”
Once again, Jamie was confused. “Ball?” he asked, but before Bo or anyone else could answer, the house behind them seemed to come to life. Illuminated with what appeared to be a mixture of electric lights, gaslights, and firelight, the building cast a glow across the lawn. Music began to stream from inside as well, and through the parted curtains in each window, they could see what appeared to be people partnering up and performing a macabre sort of waltz. Even from here it was quite evident that the dancers were not human, not all of them anyway. There could be some actual people inside; most of them were clearly undead.
Jamie did a quick headcount and realized instantly they were far outnumbered. The dancing didn’t seem to be limited to the bottom floor. All three stories were filled with revelers. And he assumed there must be some sort of a phantom orchestra as well. “How many….”
“Lots,” Bo interrupted. “Don’t matter. We can take ‘em.”
Thinking the man must be a bit crazy, Jamie looked at the other faces. They all appeared fairly confident, except for Margie, whom he knew to be too practical to think they could each take out ten or twelve vampires. But she only shrugged in his general direction.
Feeling a hand on his arm, Jamie turned to face Kit. “There are a lot more of them than I thought,” she whispered.
“You don’t say?”
She cleared her throat. “This is… suicidal, isn’t it?”
“No,” Jamie said, trying to be reassuring. The others were beginning to grow antsy,
Ready to enter the mansion. “It’ll be all right.” There really was no turning back now, not when the rest of the team was ready to go. He knew Kit didn’t want to look like a coward, and while Jamie was relieved there was little chance of him or his sister losing their lives this night, it was still his job to protect these Hunters, Kit included. It really seemed ridiculous, what they were about to do, but he was in no position to argue with a regional Guardian Leader. “I’ll keep you safe, Kit.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay,” she said quietly, her hand patting her hip, where he assumed she had her gun. “I just hope none of the vampires are carrying.”
His eyes widened. “Do they?”
Kit nodded. “Sometimes. This is the south, Jamie.”
“Right.” He had no idea one country could have such vastly different areas.
Bo gave the directions for the first part of the team to head out, and they slowly began to snake their way up the hillside, hiding behind trees and shrubbery as they approached. Jamie seriously doubted they’d have the element of surprise since the Vampires were likely able to sense their presence already. This team would leap to the third story balconies and infiltrate there, working their way down as another team began on the second story. Bo, Margie, and a couple of others would burst through the front door while Jamie and Kit were to gain entry via the rear through the cellar doors, which were allegedly placed into the ground near the back porch. Bo signaled for the pair of them to get into position and then headed out himself.
Since they had the furthest ground to cover and wouldn’t be approaching the front of the house, Jamie steered Kit far around the side of the structure, on the other side of a row of trees that would hide them from anyone looking out the windows. The problem with him being given such an obscure assignment was that he wouldn’t be easily accessible should one of the other hunters be injured. It wasn’t like they could communicate via telepathy like the Vampires.
Jamie wasn’t even sure why they were going into the basement. Bo seemed to be of the opinion the vampire who had turned Col. Gage occupied that space and that he was some sort of nefarious creature of the night who slept in a coffin like the infamous Dracula rumored to be terrorizing parts of Europe, but Jamie thought most of that was simply folklore.
The attack began on the front of the house just as Jamie and Kit rounded the corner and entered the back yard. They were still quite a distance from the cellar, and Jamie feared if this monster truly did occupy the space, the cacophony going on upstairs would soon wake him.
Screams began to fill the night sky, the sounds of furniture falling over, though somehow the music continued to play. “We need to hurry,” Jamie said. “They’re going to need us upstairs.”
Kit agreed and took off toward the back of the house. Jamie was surprised at how quick she was, though he could keep up. He wasn’t wearing a gown, however. As they approached the back of the building, they saw the cellar doors protruding from the ground on a concrete frame, just as Bo had foretold. “You ready?” Kit asked.
“Ready,” Jamie confirmed, sprinting ahead of her so that he could be the first one to enter.
Just as he reached the doors, a window on the second floor right above their heads shattered, spraying them with glass, and a piece of furniture came flying out. Jamie looked up in time to see a Vampire, dressed in coattails, attempting to fling himself out of the building. He was caught from behind by a pair of male hands, though Jamie didn’t see which of his teammates had prevented the escape, and a few moments later, another shriek filled the air above them.
“Seems like they’re doing okay,” Kit muttered.
Jamie didn’t take time to respond. Instead, he grabbed ahold of the doors and ripped them both from their frames, the bolt holding them together still in place. He tossed them to the side, bracing himself for a frontal assault, but nothing came.
The stairwell that lay before them was steep and darker than the night sky behind them. Though their eyes could cut through the blackness to some degree, it was difficult to see what may lie before them. The stairs were infiltrated by cobwebs, and Jamie stopped several times to wipe the sticky, cotton fibers away.
Once they reached the bottom, they found a dirt floor pocked with holes of various sizes that could’ve been tripping hazards to beings with less surefootedness. Jamie could see three timber posts ahead of him which he assumed helped support the part of the house that rested atop this space, though the narrow basement certainly didn’t occupy the entire space beneath the mansion.
There were shelves lined with what appeared to be old bottles, tools, and other castoff, miscellaneous items, on either side of them, and before them there were a few larger pieces of equipment, but certainly not the coffin that Bo had spoken of.
Shaking his head, Jamie formulated a declaration that they should head back upstairs, because there was clearly nothing down here. Just as he turned, about to give Kit his recommendation, a dark shadow bounded from behind one of the timber pillars, knocking Kit off of her feet and sending her careening into the shelf anchored to the wall on her left.
She was caught off guard and let out a slight scream, but even in the dim light, Jamie could see her struggling to regain her composure and fight off her opponent. He, too, needed a second to realize what had happened before hurling himself into the fray.
