Vivienne

“No fucking way.”  Faye stumbled on a raised root and caught herself just before she fell.

Reaching out to help Faye by grabbing her arm, Sylvie laughed. “I am seldom shocked by the little puzzles that come to light when I see something or get a feeling.”  She paused for another breath, “Since the facility was not part of the immediate emergency situation, the place was all but empty.”  She patted one of her cargo pockets where a blood bag was stashed, “I helped myself to their supply, and used the backpack I found in the warehouse to bring back enough for everyone.”

“I need to be around to see you do something like that again, so cool.”  Casey laughed.  

A few minutes after the conversation ended, the trio reached the mine entrance and found the metal door to the entrance secured.  Squatting down and turning her ear to the cave’s depths , Faye held her finger to her lips and listened intently.

“The creek is draining in there somewhere, I can hear it.”  Faye whispered and looked at her companions. “It also smells like dried blood in there, almost like rust.”

Tapping on the unused rail beneath their feet, Casey snickered. “Rust?  This doesn’t look to be in the best of shape, Faye.”  Casey studied the entrance and the bars on the gate. “This is it.  I remember it from the TV and the thing Denise showed us.”

“So we go in.”  Faye half snarled. “Part of me wants to do to her what I did to Drake.”  Reaching out with one hand, Faye gripped the gate and yanked it from its hinges.

When the sound of breaking metal clashed with the screeching of the hinges partly turning, Sylvie put her hands over her ears to drown out the reverberation in the forest. “I think she knows we are here now.  What happened to stealth?  We could have surprised her.”

Blinking and tilting her head, Casey was reminded of the presentation that Denise had given her. “You know, I swear that gate shouldn’t have been there.  The vampire chasing her tore it off the hinges just like you did just now Faye.”  Casey shook off the strange feeling. “It was the breaking of the metal that made me think of it.  Strange.”

Tossing the heavy door to the side, Faye shook her head and replied to Sylvie. “I doubt it, she’s been a step ahead of us the entire time.  It was sheer luck that I fooled her long enough for us to get free.”  Shrugging her shoulders, Faye looked at Casey. “Maybe she replaced it.  I don’t think it matters really.”

“Going in is probably a bad idea.” Casey spoke up and nibbled nervously on her lip. “Faye, she froze me without a word and flew me to a loveseat before I knew what was going on.”  Casey walked to the side of the entrance and leaned against the dirt mound that the mine was carved into. “I don’t know if you recall, but this is the cave where she captured a vampire and used its blood to reveal things on the stones.”

“So, the source of her magic?” Sylvie inquired. “I wasn’t there for all this ; you have mentioned a television a couple times now.”  Pursing her lips and thinking for a couple of seconds, Sylvie took off her rucksack and set it beside Casey. “I take it that is how she laid out everything that happened?”

Snickering lightly as she walked into the dark hill, Faye snorted, “Yeah, her monologue.” A concerned look came over Faye and she looked at Sylvie, her green eyes blazing. “Why are you leaving the blood out here?”

Emptying her cargo pockets of her reserves, Sylvie answered quickly. “In case we need it later, and so she can’t use it.  Casey just said that she used blood to reveal things in the rock.”

“Good plan.”  Casey pushed herself from the hillside and peeked in the entrance. “Something tells me this is another trap.”

Just like the images cast from the TV, the cave glittered with the shine of copper through the walls and bore the marks where heavy picks had once pulled the semi-precious metal from the earth.  Slowly and steadily the little rail system sloped downward and deeper into the earth, exposing the ancient root systems adding moisture to the air making it more dense as the small group made their way through the winding path.  Heavy beams of squarely cut pine appeared at regular intervals, seemingly holding up the weight of the earth and reinforcing the walls so it wouldn’t collapse on itself.

Walking past an overturned mine cart, Faye peeked into the small bucket and saw it was half full of copper. “I never thought I would actually be in a dungeon.”

Curious about the comment Faye just uttered, Sylvie tapped her friend on the shoulder. “Dungeon?  Sorry, I don’t get the reference.”  She looked around the shaft, her eyes settling into quarter moons as she did so. “Looks like a deeply dug mine to me.  Oddly, not mined clean of metal.”

“Don’t dungeons have chains and cuffs to hold people?” Casey added while clutching at her chest lightly. “Man it's hard to breathe down here.  Denise failed to mention that in her little presentation.”  Looking behind her for the entrance, Casey felt a little dread settle on her. “I wonder where Vivienne is.”

Spinning around after Sylvie touched her, Faye stopped her pace downward. “A game, Sylvie.  A series of games really, including video games.”  Faye closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment. “I used to be sort of a room bound geek that enjoyed imagining places like this.”  Going silent, Faye focused and thought about Vivienne for a couple seconds. “Mmmm, I like this.  Casey, she’s fine.  If what I feel is right, she’s looking for something.”

Stepping back and wrapping her arm around Casey’s waist, Sylvie smiled. “Here, lean against me and you worry about breathing.  I can hold your weight without any problem.”  She chuckled a bit. “I suppose being a vampire in this situation is a bonus.”

Faye reached a small junction where the tunnel split into four directions. “Here I am without my twenty-sided.”  She looked back at Casey and Sylvie. “I was following the sound of water, but it’s coming from all directions now.”

Light headed from the lessening of oxygen to breathe, Casey felt herself swaying as Sylvie held her. “I…I can’t seem to remember much about the inside of this place, I think Denise glossed over all of it to brag about the cave or something.”  Casey yawned and laid her head on Sylvie’s shoulder before closing her eyes. “I just re..remember her falling through a hole in the floor, into a big blue cave.”

“Yeah.”  Faye turned in time to see Casey’s eyes shut, “Hey!”  She shook the ward and made her lift her head. “No sleeping on the job.  Stay awake.”  Faye glared at Sylvie, “Make sure she keeps her eyes open while we figure out where to go.”

“Jus..just make me like..”  Casey yawned again and smiled at Sylvie. “..like you two.”

Both vampires shook their heads simultaneously, with Sylvie speaking first. “That wouldn’t solve anything, Casey.  You’d be out for a few hours and then wake up almost unable to think of anything except feeding.  Besides, I don’t think that is a decision to be made just because you are lightheaded.”

“That is up to you and Vivienne.”  Faye added and placed her hand on the rusted metal cart rail. “Naturally we are without the hunter and tracker…However…”  Feeling the water passing beneath them, Faye looked up and smiled. “I have a hunch that what we are looking for is hidden just below us.”  Standing up and going to the far left branch, Faye touched the other walls and rocky floors in the other directions before making up her mind. “This keeps with the idea that the creek is to our left.”  She motioned for Sylvie to follow, “It won’t be much longer, assuming we can find the entrance.”

Sylvie shook Casey and made her open her eyes once more. “Faye we have to back out, she’s not going to last much longer down here.”  Glancing up, Sylvie spotted a small birdcage with little bones scattered below. “Oh, right.  They used canaries to determine toxicity for the air.”  She wrinkled her nose, “It is telling that the cage is here at this junction.”  Kissing the top of Casey’s curly auburn hair, Sylvie urged once more, “Let me get you topside, You wait on Vivienne and I will escort Faye.”

Lifting her head and pushing herself so she could stand, Casey shook her head. “No..I..”  She took a wheezing breath, “I will be alright, We aren’t splitting up again.”  Relying on the ongoing commands that Vivienne placed in her mind, Casey focused on the depth of shaft the group decided to take. “This somehow feels familiar.”  She pointed to the curve in the tunnel, “There might be another overturned cart?”  Spotting a long handled rusted pickaxe, Casey opted to use the long wooden pole to lean on and walk. “I need to support myself to stay awake, Sylvie.  Thank you though.”

Reaching out to take both of their hands, Faye led the small group another few hundred feet down and around the bend and spotted the cart Casey mentioned. “You were right.”  Looking back, Faye smiled at Casey.  “So the entrance should be around h…”  Taking one final step, Faye’s foot lost solid ground and when she tumbled through the illusionary floor, she dragged her companions with her.  “Heeeeerrreee!!!”

-Splash!-

All three women landed in a vast pool of blue, sending water all over the corners of the large blue sparking cave.  

Cresting the surface of the cold water, Casey coughed and spit the water from her chest easily and swam for the edge.  Pulling herself out of the water first, Casey reached down and helped the twin vampires out and then sat on the smooth floor. “That was invigorating.”

“Welcome.”  Denise laughed from the otherside of the cavern. “I was wondering what was keeping you.”