Vampire King 2 Chapter 40-part 2

Den raiding was a tricky job and most of Mael's enforcers did not relish the work but Adrian found a strange pleasure in it. He assumed that his removed memories likely held moments when he was doing this kind of work, though perhaps not as pleasurable as it was now. He had always had an unfair advantage being able to walk in the sun and he used it as often as possible when stalking his prey. Whether it be for dinner or for justice.

The dens were normally hidden in the worst neighborhoods and slums in the city, sometimes underground in unused sewer systems that had been cut off.  This particular one was inside an abandoned building with several stories. The upper part was almost rotted entirely through and the building had been scheduled to be torn down within the week. If they waited for the building to be torn down first, it would be hard to find the rogues that fled, there would be no telling where they would go and that endangered more lives.

Essentially the hunting of rogues was to ease the misconception of vampirism to mortals. The less they knew about them the better but if they had to find out, it would be best to have a clean record. Rogues tarnished Mael's idea of an ideal society. They bred and converted without consent and they killed their prey needlessly. Rogue dens were few but they housed up to fifty vampire at once, this particular one was said to have about twenty.

Adrian's job was to sweep it. Rogue vampires, even if innocently converted, were dangerous to the stability of the race. They had to be eliminated. Mael was a soft touch, however and if Adrian found any stragglers that looked worth saving, he did so and Mael would send them away for proper training and introduction to their way of life. It wasn't uncommon to find fledglings who were malnourished and stupid to the ways of surviving. Some were out of their minds because of the separation from the one that sired them.

These poor fools would fall into the trap of a sadistic rogue and allow themselves to be turned, only to then be left for dead. Adrian hated those jobs. Sometimes there was no choice but to put them down. The den was near the city dump, on the edge of the water. This meant they had a chance to escape. A misconception about vampires was that they couldn't go in water. They could and did if they had to survive in the day light. Adrian carefully surveyed the surrounding area, running several escape scenarios out in his mind and then thinking on how each one could be foiled. After making fairly sure he had each possible escape route realized, he removed his sunglasses and stepped inside the doorway.

Door hole, would be more accurate as the door and frame itself actually sat outside in a heap of rubble. The ground level was somewhat protected from the sun but there were still gaping holes that allowed light to stream in. It wasn't safe enough for sleeping, Adrian decided and began to search for a basement entrance. He searched the entire ground level and found no door or room that seemed to lead to a basement area nor to a den of any kind.

Mael wouldn't have given him the wrong information and their source was one of their own who had seen vampires coming from this very location. Suddenly feeling uneasy, Adrian returned to his car and retrieved his sword and re-entered the building, dragging the tip of his blade along the dirty floor. In some areas it was hard to tell if there was floor there at all and that was what he was looking for.  Sure enough, in the darkest corner of the ground level there was a patch of earth exposed.

Adrian gently, slowly, placed the tip of his sword at the center of the long rectangle patch and sunk the blade down. The blade hit something hard and solid only an inch or two down. "Bingo..." Adrian whispered aloud and began running his hands through the dirt until he found a handle. This kind of an elaborate hiding place meant two things, one, they had a human helping them or two, one of the vampires was substantially powerful and could will a human to cover the hatch.

Either way, he hoped the human was gone so he didn't have to inadvertently kill them, as well. The hatch was a large, heavy slab of metal with a handle, something only an immortal could easily lift. Adrian tossed it aside and peered down into the pitch black chamber below. There was an over powering scent of blood from the hole and it wasn't entirely human. Adrian heedlessly dropped down into the darkness, hitting the ground fairly soon. It was only about forty feet down. When his feet hit, they slashed in something. It wasn't deep, not even coming above the soles of his boots.

There was a strong odor of ocean water along with the blood, which lead Adrian to believe that there was an escape to some kind of water cavern in the chamber. His eyes were struggling to adjust to the darkness and that worried him. His eyes didn't have to adjust. Something told him he had just stepped into a trap and he was pretty sure it wasn't set by the rogues he was hunting.

"You'd be right about zat, mister Church." A voice spoke from above. Adrian looked up and saw a man standing at the entrance. He couldn't sense him, couldn't scent him. He moved to get a better look and his foot hit something soft and without taking his eyes off the man at the entrance, he knew it was a body. "Thanks for taking care of the rogues for me... saved me a lot of trouble." Adrian said. He instantly locked his mind knowing now this guy, whoever he was, could read his thoughts and hide his own.

"Vell, it vould be too hard to deal vit you and dem at the same time." The man said. Adrian recognized the voice and accent now, Julian. One of Ulveress' lackeys. A sadistic ex Nazi albino with a passion for science, though his dark roots suggested his lack of color was for show only. "What makes you think you can handle me at all? Ulveress has made a mistake incurring my wrath." Adrian said, wondering what Julian had up his sleeve. He wasn't stupid, in fact, he was everything but.

"Ve aren't even going to try..." Julian said, a wicked grin spreading across his lips as the heavy lid Adrian removed, suddenly slammed down over the opening, trapping him in pitch blackness. The sound of water pouring could be heard and Adrian knelt and checked the level of the water at his feet. It was rising rapidly. the chamber was smaller than he had originally though. He couldn't see at all, even with his adapted vision he couldn't see so finding the hatch so far up was going to be difficult.

"Mister Church, Ulveress vishes  me to tell you zat your troubles vill be over very soon. Your little blond friend is being taken to her guests as ve speak." Julian's voice announced through some kind of speaking somewhere in the room. "Abby... Leave her alone!" Adrian growled then quickly felt for his phone. "Your phone vill not do you any good, mister Church. No signal... no varning your little pet. I'd love to vatch you struggle, trying to breathe once the vater level reaches the top but I must go and see to arrangements. Auf Wiedersehen."

Adrian fought back the overwhelming panic that was rising. The room must have been under some kind of enchantment, he guessed but that didn't help him. He had to find a way out, he had to get to Abby before they did. He turned the flashlight on his phone on and tried using it to see his surroundings. It helped a little. Just as he had assumed, he was in knee deepwater with about twenty corpses and water flooding in from a drain. The walls appeared to be metal. Knowing Julian, there was a catch to the walls.
"Only one way to find out..."