Only when I’m outside of the cave do I get a true sense of how many of them there are. From inside I only had a limited view, as if out of a peephole. Here, I can see that they are on all sides, crowding every visible space of the ground. Many more of them hang off the walls, almost like bats, and when I look up I see that they continue up along the walls as far as I can see.
“Damn,” I murmur. I knew I’d be up for one hell of a fight against them, but I never realized there were so many. I don’t doubt I could do it, if I had access to the Elements—all it would take was a barrier of air around me they could not penetrate, and then weave after weave of offensive spells… but it would take me an extraordinary amount of time and effort to destroy all of them to the last one.
“This is only a quarter of my army,” Rebecca says. There’s no gloating in her voice. “We’ve made our home under the earth for centuries.”
“How did you get so many?” I wonder. Walking through their midst is one of the most uncanny things I have ever experienced. I am acutely aware of how helpless I would be if Rebecca gave the command for them to scream.
“Unlike vampires, the Tentoria can replicate,” Rebecca says.
It boggles the mind how all of this was going on right under Morgan’s nose for so long.
“They all answer to you?” I ask.
“Of course,” Rebecca says. “It is I who granted them life. But if I die…” she gives me a sideways glance, “that control dissipates. And they will run around causing whatever mayhem they want.”
“They’re like zombies,” I say softly.
Rebecca laughs. “Not quite. Each of them has a tiny bit of independence in them. It comes from the fraction of a soul they are given.”
“A soul?” I ask.
“Part of mine,” Rebecca murmurs. “When I gained the strength to rise for the first time, as the crippled, wretched thing Morgan left me as, I knew I would not be able to survive long on my own. So, I cleaved the tiny remaining part of my soul in two and embedded the other half into the very first Tentoria. He was another vampire who was thrown by Morgan into the pits, and just on the verge of death. But I saved him, by giving him not blood, but that part of my soul, and then I bred with him, and our child was the very first Tentoria born. My mate then bred with our daughter, and their children bred with each other, so on and so forth, until we get to the numbers you see before you now.”
A nauseating feeling rises in my throat. The screechers are not only her kin, but born of continuous father-daughter incest?
“They were more beautiful at the start,” Rebecca reminisces. “Now, that second half of the soul I gave away is spread so thin, amongst all of them, that they are barely alive and frail. But the screams have never weakened—and, of course, the screams are what give them power over all of you.”
I shiver. I had expected some sort of ghoulish story about their creation… but this one tops anything my imagination could have conjured.
“So they are all alive—just—because of that tiny soul fragment that is now spread out amongst them all?”
“You got it,” Rebecca smiles. “I’ve come to realize that souls are infinitely malleable. Whatever substance they are made of can be stretched out forever. It is only the concentration of that substance in us higher level beings that differentiates us from them.”
“How did you cleave your own soul in two?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “Morgan was the one who took my soul apart, but not all of it. The tiny, infinitesimal part that was left was what I was able to split.”
“I understand that,” I say. “But I’m asking how.”
She gives me a look. “You expect me to reveal such secrets to you? All I will say is that Morgan was fascinated with the idea for a long time. When she still trusted me, she frequently consulted me on all things magic. I did not have the most ability. But I had an inquisitive mind, and, at that time, knew more about magic than any other witch in existence.”
“That’s quite a boast.”
“It’s not a boast. It’s the truth. How else do you think I was able to put together the exact mineral, herb, moss combination that is able to repel the Elemental Forces? Such a thing is not even known of in the outer world.”
Despite everything that’s happened, I feel a growing kinship with the woman. I cannot help but respect her perseverance in the face of such adversity.
“The vampire you made into the first Tentoria,” I say. “Where is he now?”
She waves a hand absently at the masses surrounding us. “Somewhere out there. Or he may be dead, at your hand. It is impossible even for me to distinguish between them.”
We reach the end of the cavern. There is a narrow burrow in the ceiling, leading, I presume, all the way up to The Haven.
“Up we go.” She jumps up to latch onto the rock and starts to climb. I glance back at all the pale white screechers behind me, suppress my discomfort, and leap up to follow her.
Chapter Twenty
Dagan
The Crypts.
I leap out of the way as the statue demon shoots a spire of black venom at me.
The liquid hits the floor and the wall. It instantly dissolves the rock, leaving a hissing mist in its wake.
The demon roars, a horrible, scratchy, enraged sound, and shifts its massive legs to reposition itself and aim once more at me.
It’s slow-moving—but deadly. I can feel its might as surely as I feel the Ancient One’s power. This is not a creature to be taken lightly.
I roll to my feet. My claws come out. My fangs closely follow, but I have no intention of using them.
Who knows how poisonous a demon’s blood might be?
The grotesque thing opens its jaws again to spit another trail of venom at me. I wait until the last moment, then, when it commits to the attack, I deftly sidestep the stream and hurl myself at the creature.
I’m on it in the blink of an eye. I lunge one hand at its throat, claws barred, ready to break through its skin…
But then, out of nowhere, one of its massive arms comes swinging from the side and strikes me full-on.
I’m flung to the floor like a rag-doll.
Rage boils inside. I jump to my feet and face the demon again. Its small, beady eyes land on me.
In them, for just a second, I see a glimmer of intelligence—much more than the dragon-esque demon that ruined my back ever showed.
It opens its jaws again, ready to spit more venom. This time I don’t wait. I shoot forward right away, aiming my claws for its eyes.
And, once again, I’m struck out of midair by that lumbering arm. I hit the wall and slide down. The rock shatters from impact.
At the very last moment, I see the stream of deadly venom shooting at me. Desperately, I roll to the side and manage to avoid it—just.
The scent it leaves from the ruined rock is nauseating.
The demon throws its head back and roars. I realize that it’s playing with me. The pretend slowness was just that: pretend. If it struck me twice, it is obviously as quick as I am.
I scramble to my feet, breathing hard. I scan the room for anything I can use to my advantage. The floor is barren, there are no weapons anywhere.
“Beth!” I call out. “This might be a good time to call on the Currents.”
“I… can’t!” comes her reply. She’s still hidden behind the corner. “I can’t get a hold of them, Dagan! Every time I think I do, they slip out of my grip!”
“What the hell?” I grunt, and juke left as the demon lunges for me. I jump out of its path and land a good distance away. It turns on me and sends out one more stream of venom.
I curse and avoid it—barely. It seems I won’t be able to take the creature head-on. I’ll have to outsmart the demon.
“Keep trying!” I yell to Beth. “I’ll buy you some time!”
And with that, I take off into the twisting corridors around the cells.
The demon takes the bait, barreling after me. It moves fast, but as it chases me, I realize it’s not particularly agile. When I make a sharp turn around a corner, the demon crashes into the wall before pushing off and running after me again.
We race through the labyrinth of Beatrice’s private area. The whole way through I’m looking for the slightest advantage.