The Hunters and Guardians with her were local Czechs who had been working together for some time, though not very successfully. The entire country had gotten a bit out of hand after the Sierraville Incident, and the former Leader, Honza, was accompanying her now. He had stepped down willingly when Aaron suggested bringing Eliza in a few weeks ago. Even though Eliza had messed up royally with her handling of the San Francisco Area team last summer, she had a lot of valuable experience and the drive to be more successful this time. She’d also done a bang-up job while she worked in Siberia, even though there really weren’t that many Vampires to take down. Now, using her night vision through her IAC, she led the way, Honza, a Hunter named Katka, and a newer Guardian by the name of Marek, right behind her.
“The tunnel turns up here, according to the sketch we procured from the family of the previous owner,” Honza explained through the IAC. “Then, there is a door that leads to the interior chamber. If Giovani is here, this is where he should be.”
Eliza didn’t respond, only paused to pull her Glock from the holster on her hip. With a nod that it was time, she rounded the corner, increasing her speed. She had no way of knowing what she may encounter around the bend. The door stood directly in front of them. Though the ancient oak showed its wear, it was substantial. Eliza hoped it wouldn’t be too difficult to get through so that she would have the element of surprise.
Honza took position on the other side of the door, Katka and Marek at the ready with their guns drawn. “We’ll go on my count,” Eliza instructed. “One, two, three!”
The team burst through the door, even though it was locked, tearing it from its hinges. It thundered onto the ground, the echo ricocheting off the walls of the chamber. Ascertaining that the room appeared to be empty, the team moved in quickly, the Guardians ensuring Katka, the sole Hunter, was protected as they did so.
Another tunnel led off into the distance, and Honza hurried to see if it were clear while Eliza and the rest of the team checked the chamber. A cluttered table sat in the middle of the room, two throne-like chairs flanking it, a cobweb covered chandelier hanging overhead. Even though the light was on, the room was still dark, and shadows fell over the far reaches of every corner. Eliza saw an archway to her right, and with her gun drawn, she entered, cautiously. What she found inside had her gasping in horror. Despite everything she had seen over the last several years as a Guardian, she had never seen anything like this.
Bodies--four of them--thin and pale, recently deceased, lay sprawled out on the floor, each of them with just one arm chained to the wall by means of a rusted shackle. Three women and one man, all dressed in current clothing, no shoes, covered in dirt and their own waste, each of them with a deplorable expression on their emaciated faces. Eliza put her hand over her mouth, willing herself not to be sick.
“Reserva de sange,” Katka whispered over Eliza’s shoulder just behind her. “It’s true.”
“What the hell is this?” Eliza asked. Though she had heard rumors, she never thought she’d actually see something like this in real-life.
“They are humans, captured by the Vampires, brought here, kept alive so that they may feed from their blood. They are sustained only enough to continue to provide the sange, the blood the Vampires crave,” Katka explained in her thick Czech accent.
“What keeps them from Resurrecting?” Eliza asked, cautiously stepping toward the victims.
“It is a delicate balance,” Katka continued. She entered the cell and began to check the bodies for pulses, just in case. “Only the Vampires know for sure how it is done, and it takes skill to prevent Resurrection.... or death. Eventually, one or the other must happen.”
“And they just… sit here all day long, chained to the wall?” Eliza asked, still snarling.
“Yes,” Katka confirmed. She stood now, having had no luck at finding a heartbeat amongst the victims. “They are given enough food to keep them alive as long as necessary before Resurrection becomes inevitable, and then they are killed; they would never be loyal to their masters having gone through this type of torture.”
“Eliza,” Marek called from the other room, “you should see this.”
With one last shudder, Eliza left the chamber and crossed the room to where Marek stood next to the table. It was obvious by now that the room was clear, and Honza sent word that the tunnel leading out of the chamber appeared to be empty as well. Eliza was disappointed that they had not found Giovani, but at this point she had no reason to believe he had been involved in this particular underground Vampire ring at all--not until she saw what Marek was pointing at on the table.
Dear Purple-Haired Vixen,
Please give my regards to Miss Findley, and tell her this:
Missed me, missed me….
Do you know what comes next?
I await your arrival,
G
Hesitating to pick it up, Eliza stooped over the table and read the letter again. “Man, this guy is batshit crazy,” she mumbled. “What the hell does this even mean?”
“I do not know,” Marek admitted as Honza and Katka joined them in re-reading the letter. “But it seems he is taunting us, no?”
“For sure,” Eliza agreed. “We need visuals on every airport, every train station, every major mode of transportation out of Europe. We need a cleanup crew in here to take care of those bodies. And most importantly, we need Aaron. If he can’t figure this out, no one can.”
***
The flight from London Heathrow would be much longer than the initial flight from Vienna, but it would give Giovani and Zabrina a chance to strategize, and there wasn’t too much to complain about while sitting in first class, sipping champagne.
“What is your plan once we arrive in Philadelphia?” Zabrina asked, absently flipping through a fashion magazine.