“I wondered if you would kill yourself. Alas.” Darius stepped forward and palmed the handle. A quick turn and thrust, and the door swung open on well-maintained hinges.
“Look.” I held up my hand and stopped. Turning to face him, I refused the urge to take a step backward due to our proximity. “I am part human, and as such, I get tired. When I get tired, I make mistakes. If you are planning to constantly test me, this isn’t going to work. I’m not asking for a partnership by any means, but I do need a heads-up if you know a death trap is lurking. Savvy?”
He analyzed me for a moment. “I will take up my duty as soon as you make it to the surface.”
“Something you might’ve hinted at before we set off.” I slouched and continued up the way. He no longer deserved my good posture.
“You have admitted a few times that you are only part human. Yet you have not volunteered your specific type of magic. What are you hiding?”
“Whatever it is, it’s none of your business. Which way?” I waggled my finger between right and left at the next intersection. The walls in this area weren’t lined with stone, showing instead the raw substance from which they were carved, which may have been dirt, but was just as likely to be magical mud of some kind. “Do the elders and important folk not travel up this way?”
“How else would we get out? Go right.”
“Another way, presumably. Why didn’t you do up the walls?”
“When leaving, we usually travel at much faster speeds, so there would be little point in decorating the areas inhabited by new vampires.”
“Welcome to vampirism. Sorry about the lodgings.” I trudged up the steeper incline, feeling the burn in my thighs. “This is the worst.”
“You are out of shape and lacking muscle tone.”
“Don’t hold back for my sake. Let the truth bombs roll.” Magic fizzled around me, running along the walls and stretching across the floor. I slowed, closing my eyes to cut out one of my senses. That made it easier to use the magical sense. “I imagine you know what this magic is?”
“Yes. You’ve sensed it late. I am losing hope in your abilities.”
His attitude was really starting to get on my nerves.
Without another thought, I ripped out my sword, pushed magic through it, and sliced along the wall. The dirt—or magical mud—parted like canvas, revealing wriggling worms within. The magic coating the wall snapped like a cord before blinking out. The fizzle from a moment before dulled until it was a memory.
“How do you like me now?” I said with a little swagger.
A strange sound reverberated up the halls. I tilted my head, not able to place the weird sort of thrushing. Blood pumped through my veins. My fight reflex thundered, making me grip the handle of my sword tighter and mentally notice the weight of the gun on my side. Yet another sense, probably passed down from my father’s side, told me of danger rushing my way.
“I tripped an alarm,” I muttered as Darius stepped gracefully to the side. “With friends like you…”
A blur of movement came at me, a middle-level or greater vamp, judging by the speed. I launched forward, closing the distance, sword already slashing. It ripped open the chest cavity. The creature—because it was in monster form—screamed in a bloodcurdling way and flung itself to the side.
Another blur came right up behind it, claws out but in human form. Jaw extended, showing the teeth, able to rip through flesh like its claws could. I tugged out my gun and shot the creature in the face. Its head whipped back and its body followed, showing me the bottoms of its feet.
As I continued to run past it, I stabbed down into its stomach. It squealed and clutched at the offending spot.
Another vampire, slower, ran along the wall. In creature form but slightly jerkier than the others, it had its hands out like a ghoul. I started to chuckle—I couldn’t help it. The thing looked like a prancing monster.
I stowed my gun, bent low, and swiped. My blade tore through a protective spell and then the creature’s leg.
“Oh shit!” I grimaced. “I didn’t mean to sever the thing; I just meant to give you a deep cut. Sorry about that.”
Scratching sounded behind me. I whirled and slashed, reopening the quickly closing gash in the first vamp. My strike barely missed its heart. It clutched at its middle and staggered backward, its creature face a mask of shock, its lips forming an O around its ghastly fangs.
“Enough!” Darius shouted.
Movement slowed then stopped further down the hallway. I could barely see shapes lurking there. The three wounded vampires around me picked themselves up. One hopped, staring down at its severed limb.
“Seriously, I’m really sorry about that,” I muttered. “I hope you can put it back on…”
“She left you three alive on purpose,” Darius said in disgust. He sauntered away from the wall and continued upward. “Come up with a better defensive strategy. This one was truly lacking.”
“Good job, Reagan,” I mumbled, knowing he could hear. “By the way, thanks for not killing my minions. Oh, no problem, Darius. I do what I can.”
He ignored me.
As we left the carnage behind, Darius took over leading. Clearly I’d passed the last test, though I had a feeling the attack hadn’t been planned. I could’ve gotten around that spell without disabling it. I wondered if he knew that.