Chapter 3: A Chance Encounter - Part 3

He began his descent into the darkness below, his candle flickering more violently as he moved down the shoddily thrown together stairs. He was greeted with not ten bodies, but more than the light of his candle could reveal. Their faces were long since consumed by rodents or maggots, and there was little skin left on any of them, but he could tell by the robes that they had been the patients that once resided here. Most of them wore the gowns of the inhabitants, but Ellis picked out some nurses among the dead as well. It seemed that when the building closed, there were enough secrets that they needed to silence anyone and everyone who had known about it. He bit his lip as his stomach threatened to relieve itself of its contents. The only thing that kept him safe from throwing up was the fact that he hadn’t eaten since he returned to Bristol. In a sick turn of events, it issued a low grumble as he strolled through the endless rows of bodies.

As he moved further and further from the exit, he began to see the hope of the room ending—the darkness slowly peeling away into a wall of dirt. It would seem that the impromptu graveyard had been dug by hand after the building had been built. Ellis wondered how long it had taken them to do. It was easily three hundred square feet in size and almost seven feet deep. He stroked his chin as he felt the dirt wall, tracing his hands across it and feeling the deep chill that ran through the soil. His hands snagged against some underground roots, and he wondered how close he was to the edge of the building if the trees had reached this far.

His hand struck stone, and his brows furrowed as he rose the candle to see a strange sculpture among the dirt and dead. A man wearing a strange hat and holding a book of sorts, gazing with a sad expression over the corpses. Ellis leaned in closer to look closer at the face of the man, when a thunderous slam echoed from behind him and he nearly jumped out of his skin. When he whirled around, there wasn’t even a trace of light coming from the trap door. His heart began to race and he bit his lip as he fumbled again, trying to grab his matches. When the lid popped open, the lid slipped through his fingers and he dropped the canister, much to his own dismay as he cussed under his breath. He dropped to his hands and knees, groping for his matches in the dark. His hand passed over a human skull, his hands feeling the empty sockets, and surprisingly finding his reward as he plucked a match from within the skull.

He immediately lit the small wooden stick, and it exploded into life. Ellis’ eyes darted around the room instantly, looking for anyone who may have slid into the burial ground while he was blinded, and he took a deep breath as he touched the flame to the candle once more and he continued about his business. There was no living man or woman in this place, to be sure, though the sound of breathing seemed to come from all of the bodies at once and he knew that he needed to get out as fast as he could. He spit the now finished cigarette out and immediately snatched one of the fresh ones from his nose, lighting it with the candle and pulling the sweet relief into his lungs as his hands slowly stopped shaking.

It took him another fifteen minutes in that hell to discover a corpse with a guard’s uniform and a set of keys still hanging from the tattered clothes around his very slim waist. After snatching the keys he ran to the stairs and climbed them two at a time, slamming into the trapdoor at the top and sending it rocketing open as he spilled into the fresher air of the asylum and removed the cigarette that was still fastened in his nostril. He took three long breaths before he doubled over in a corner and heaved, his stomach attempting to dispense whatever it could possibly manage.

After wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve, he placed the last cigarette back into the pack and walked back into the sunlit entry to the asylum. He stood with the rays hugging around his body, warming him and making him feel a little less suffocated after being in the impromptu grave for so long.

“So there was someone in there, after all.”

Ellis jumped, spinning on a heel to face the direction of the woman’s voice, his hands launching into a defensive position as she sauntered out of the shadows. How had he not noticed her earlier? He never missed anyone like that.

“I thought it strange that they would have left the door open for any reason. I could smell the dead bodies from a mile away because of you. Perhaps you should be a little more considerate, Ellis.” She stood before him with a smirk, wearing a pair of loose pants and a skin-tight over-shirt created from a material he had never seen before. It seemed like a second skin almost, and the grey fabric only covered the woman’s stomach and breasts, leaving her arms completely open and free to move. He noticed the row of throwing knives on each of her hips and his hands trembled, bringing back memories.

“How do you know my name?” he asked, his shoulders tensing as he analyzed the woman. A smirk came to her features, and he clenched his fists so tightly his fingers began to ache.

“Easy, hot stuff. I’m a Crusader of the Lord.” The woman reached into one of the many pockets on her baggy cargo pants, and she pulled out a shimmering golden coin, and Ellis scrutinized it closely before he handed it back to her. “I was sent here to take this job off of your hands. The brass wants you for something bigger and better I suppose.”

There was a hint of something wrong in her voice. However, he knew that if she was lying he would have been able to pick up on it instantly. She was being earnest about it, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. What was she hiding from him? He sighed as he looked her over and he shook his head.

“I’m sorry, dear, but I don’t take my orders from any back-burning replacements. I think I’ll keep on this one.”

“That’s not an option.”

“Oh, you have a lot of learning to do, sweetheart. There are always options.” Carter turned on his heel and he walked toward the left wing of the asylum, where he would be able to begin his hunt for the bastard the vampires had imprisoned there.

Suddenly his ears pricked up and he tilted his head to the side as fast as he could. The whirring almost drowned out other sound completely as the knife shot past his ear and imbedded itself into the wood trim of the doorway he was walking towards.

“The next one will take your legs.”

“That’s quite the boast, considering you missed me when I was completely off guard.”

“I didn’t miss.”

Ellis let forth a sharp bark of laughter and he shook his head, not even turning around to look at her before he continued toward the door. His senses were all on high alert, and he smirked as he looked into a convex mirror in the asylum entrance so that he could see her as she wound up her attack. He watched as her arm launched forward and he grinned as he spun on his heel, the trench coat tails whipping up as he turned. The knife aiming for his knee was knocked instantly aside by the trench coat, but his arm snapped forward and he grabbed a second knife. His hand was clenched around the hilt of the knife, and the tip of it was placed directly between his eyes. She had known…she had known how he would react to the attack, and she had thrown a second knife perfectly aimed between his eyes for where he would be after his defense…it was perfect.

He bit his lip as he stood back up, looking her in the eyes. He couldn’t deny it; he was impressed. “Not bad,” he said with a grin spreading across his features. “But you’ll have to do better if you want to catch me off guard.”

The woman looked genuinely surprised, and Ellis knew that she hadn’t expected her opponent to be able to see the second attack coming. “So, it’s true then. You’ve got the eyes.”

Ellis was taken aback for a moment, but he scoffed at her and dismissed it with a wave. “I don’t need a special pair of eyes to see your attacks coming. I got to watch an expert knife thrower practicing since I was a child.”

“Your teacher in the Vatican?”

“My father.” His eyes grew dark as he took a deep breath.

He hurled the knife with all the strength that he had, though he did not aim it anywhere near the woman before him, instead it was aimed far too high and to the right of his target, and then he blasted forward, kicking off the ground and towards the woman, who was now standing in the center of the fading rays of light coming from the entrance. He planted his feet directly before he would have barreled into her and he lifted his back foot throwing his body into a vicious spin and then popping off of his last grounded foot and turning his body once more to bring the foot that had been on the ground around in a monstrous downward kick. As the kick came exploding downward the woman jumped backwards from him and Ellis landed the maneuver perfectly, hearing a cry of pain instantly after.

When he turned to face her the knife he had previously thrown was jutting from her left thigh. The woman was gripping the handle and she was laughing while she pulled it out of her leg. “Well, I’ll be damned. You used the environment to bounce the knife off of an overhanging pipe, skimming it just enough off of the edge of the blade so it wouldn’t lose momentum and would still strike with enough force to penetrate. Not only that, but you predicted my movements after only seeing me move a couple of times. I got careless when you threw the blade off target, I wouldn’t have thought you would have progressed this much already.”

“Who the hell are you?”

“Let’s just say that I know you better than you think. If you survive the next thirty seconds, I will leave, and report to the Crusaders that you were a better match for this mission. If you fall, or are left in a condition unworthy of continuing on, I will take the keys you have been concealing in your jacket pocket all this time, and I will find the vampire of Whitehall without you. Deal?”

“You know, I was raised to be a man that doesn’t gamble. But, my father was a horrible hypocrite, you see, and he always loved a good wager. You’re on.”

The woman’s stance changed completely as she looked at him, and the smile on her face pulled inward and became thin and vicious. Ellis could feel the bloodlust seething off of her, and he knew that he had woken a beast of which he had never seen. Ellis kept his eyes trained on her so hard that he felt like his blood vessels would burst, but he did not close them, for he knew that any lapse in attention could be his life. She had only suggested him being too wounded to continue as a bluff…she was aiming to kill and nothing short of it.

It happened in a blur so fast that he would not be able to recount the situation if he tried. His breathing slowed, and his hands relaxed beside him as he entered a trance-like state. Her hands moved so fast that he could barely see it happen. She had grabbed and hurled a knife to the left of him, to the top right and three knives all directed perfectly at vital points. If he jumped to the right, he would be hit by her second knife. There was a chair beside him to the right, so there was no escape in that direction. If he rolled left he would be hit by the first knife. If he hopped backward or stayed still he would be hit by the three fatal knives aimed at his torso. Jumping left and avoiding the first low knife that way was the only option that would allow him to escape unscathed…which was the reason that it was the worst possible response.

He ground his teeth together. She was good, but his eyes would never lead him astray. Her body was tense and her eyes were trained on the opening that she had purposely left. She would catch him in the air if he tried to take the safe route. As such there was only one way he was going to escape. He smiled as he swung his body down and to the side. The first of the three fatal knives, instead of driving itself through his lung, pierced his left shoulder. The second, after his movement cut deep into the top of his right shoulder, but avoided any lasting damage. The last knife was, to his amazement, curving in the air. He had only seen that done once in his life, and the man who had shown him was long dead. The knife that should have been misplaced by his movement was now altering course and aiming directly for his heart. His eyes widened and clenched his teeth so hard his gums ached as he felt the warmth of blood pouring from his wound.

There was a slow clapping as the woman folded an arm in front of her and bowed low. “Well done, Ellis. You are just as good as He said you would be. I concede. You win this round, as per our bet.”

Ellis grimaced as he grabbed the hilt of the knife and pulled it out of his hand. The knife was moving so fast he knew that he would be unable to time the catch well enough. The last thing he could do was use his hand as a shield, hovering the hand just in front of his heart so the blade would bury itself through his palm instead of his chest.

“Where did you learn to do that?”

“Do what?”

“Don’t play stupid with me, bitch!”

“Now, now, Ellis, did your parents not teach you manners.”

Ellis charged forward, his hands balled into fists. He knew that she was taunting him—trying to make sure that he slipped up—but he couldn’t stop himself. She knew something about his father. He was sure of it. His hand cocked back and he released an unabashedly sloppy haymaker toward her face. The woman ducked low to the side so the punch would miss and carry him forward with its momentum and her knee came shooting up and digging deep into his gut. The air rushed from his lungs and he hit the ground hard.

He felt pain surging through his head as the woman straddled him and yanked his hair backwards, holding a fistful of the crimson locks so tightly he thought she might be preparing him for a scalping. She lowered one of her few remaining knives to his throat and placed her lips so close to his ear that he could feel her moist breath washing over his cheek.

“Listen close, you little shit. I just gave you a test that I thought you would fail. I used just a little more force than I thought you were able to handle, but by no means was I going all out. I am under strict instructions to judge your capabilities and that is all. If you try to fight outside of our tests again, I will be sure to cut you down before you can utter another word. You will get your information in time.” She let go of his hair and pushed his head forward hard enough that his forehead bounced off of the floor.

“Fuck you,” Ellis spat, fury gripping him as he rose to his feet. When he turned to look at the woman she was gone, and he spun around, looking for where she had disappeared to, but finding nothing.

He shrugged it off, brushing the dust from his shoulder and beginning to canvas the asylum. The light outside had guttered out, and the asylum as dark once more, and he sighed as he returned to the front desk, grabbing his candles from it and beginning his search. He had to move quickly. Night was not a time he wanted to be stuck out in the middle of the woods. He breathed a heavy sigh as he looked around the now blackened room and he pulled the near empty pack of cigarettes back out of his pocket and lit one of the fresh ones. As he breathed it in he felt the tension in his chest ease ever so slightly, and he sighed as he let it hang from his lips as he moved off into the bowels of the building.

It took him just over an hour to make his way through the east wing and then move to the west, where he eventually found his charge. The body was huddled with its knees to its chest in the corner of the room. It was likely starving and weak, so with any luck it would not give him any resistance. The lock cracked out as he turned the key and the door groaned open, but still the person didn’t move. Were they dead?

Ellis’ eyes snapped to the words on the wall, written in blood.

He already knows.

He squinted his eyes as he looked the bloodied letters over, and he quirked a brow as he reached out and touched it. It was wet. His heart began to race and he turned back to the huddled body and grabbed it by the shoulder, wrenching it into a proper sitting position, only to find a grinning vampire with several massive vials of gunpowder in its hands and a lit wick burning toward them.

“Fuck.”