I learned long ago that if I relied solely on luck I would be long dead. However, when the explosion went off and took out half the mansion, I was immensely lucky to be in a blast proof jail cell. The thing must have been guarded by magic because it and I were completely ok. The entirety of the space around me was on fire and crumbling, and I had no idea what happened to Norman, but I was ok. Who knew my prior stupidity would save my life. The only issue I had now was that I was still stuck inside the magic plastic.
I was in the middle of a desperate attempt at beating the walls open when I saw movement in the fallen rubble. A hand popped up out of the detritus followed by an arm, torso, and finally I could see Norman’s face.
“Are you ok?” I yelled to him while still banging on the cell. He climbed out of the burning debris and hobbled over to me. He roughly coughed out that we needed to get out of here and clutched his ribcage.
“Seriously, are you ok?” I repeated.
“I’ll live, but not if we don’t get out of here now.” He pulled a card from his pocket and waved it in front of the cell. Part of the plastic slid out and over finally freeing me. I would have celebrated, but there was too much happening to fully appreciate the moment. Norman grabbed me and pulled me across the fallen wood and insulation from the floor above. I looked up and could see a hole leading to the night sky.
“What happened?” I asked as we tried to find an exit.
“I don’t know, but it’s not good. I think this was where the door was. If we go through here and continue right, we should be able to get outside.”
“Whatever you say,” I said gripping his hand tight as we quickly made our way down the path he pointed out. I noticed he was moving at less than half his normal speed. The collapse really took it out of him. I guess that’s another way I was lucky. If he’d been knocked unconscious, who knows if I would have ever gotten out of that cage. The rest of the building could have collapsed around me, and I would have been trapped.
“Yes, I was right.” he said. “This will lead to the backyard. Hopefully, we can regroup and then go look for others.”
I nodded but kept my actual thoughts to myself. The hell if I would go look for more vampires, who would no doubt just find another place to lock me up as soon as things calmed down. No thank you. It was clear this entire mission was doomed. I did love Norman, but this was not my war. I was done with all of it. Sarah, Norman, Harding, all of it. They could kill themselves just fine without me. I just needed to get to Aaron and both of us could disappear. It was about time I listened to dear old dad.
When we made it outside, I realized the flaw in my plan. Sarah’s inferno still enclosed the entire property. With the house up in flames in the middle, it was blazing all around me. It was hot, and it was hard to breathe. Norman must have realized this, too, because he ripped off part of his shirt and tied it around my face.
“Try to stay low,” he said after the material was snugly covering my nose and mouth. “I’ll go back in. Stay here. I won’t be much help in this state as it is, but I can do more if I don’t have to worry about you as well.”
Not wanting to give myself away I waved him on, but after half a second rethought it and threw my arms around him. If this was goodbye, I at least wanted it to be memorable. I pulled his torn shirt down and pressed by lips to his in a desperate attempt to make him understand before pushing him away and recovering my face.
“Be careful,” I mumbled through the fabric. He nodded and was headed to the house before I really knew he was gone.
Now what Trembley.
I walked as close to Sarah’s fire as I dared to get, which turned out to be really friggin’ close. Did any of the vampires realize the flames weren’t radiating heat? I thought they were a moment ago, but I guess all of that was coming off the bombed house. Did Sarah redirect her magic? Did she want the vampires to run now? Whatever was happening it was clear the ring of fire wasn’t melting my skin. I walked with my hand raised in front of me as I carefully stepped closer and closer. Did anyone check this? Someone must have. But would Sarah have really risked everything, including losing some of her girls, to an illusion?
As I was inching closer to the burning wall, a frantic Renfield ran out of the house. He must have seen me and figured out what I was doing because he made right for the wall. That didn’t seem like the wisest decision, but he was screaming and throwing his burning body on the ground before I even realized what was happening. Was he on fire before attempting to run through the wall or was that the consequence of attempting to go through it? Luckily for me another Renfield showed up at that exact moment.
“Did he just try to run through the witch’s wall?” she asked.
“Yeah, I think he did.” Not wanting to wait around to test out my idea, I volunteered her services. “Can you come here without throwing yourself into the flames, please?”
“Um… yeah ok.” She was hesitant and with perfectly good reasoning. What the hell was the first guy thinking?
“Ok just reach out with your hand, do you feel heat?”
She looked at me like I was crazy. “Are you kidding? It’s scorching. How are you standing here?”
“Find a clear spot between the two fires,” I commanded her. “Try to cover your face and stay low to the ground until Norman or Harding can help you get out of here.”
How was I standing here?
When the girl was gone, I pushed further. There was still no heat or burning. My skin was fully intact. This was too easy, but I continued to make my way through the first fire. It was inches, maybe multiple feet, thick. I understood why the first Renfield didn’t fall to the other side. It took me several seconds to fully walk through. When I did clear the flames and see the forest on the other side, my heart could have fallen out of my chest; it was beating so ridiculously fast.
Lucky.
Why couldn’t that kid get through? Was it because I was a halfling? That didn’t make sense. Unless the magick was only targeted to specific species, and since I didn’t fall into either the vampire or human category, I didn’t qualify.
“What now?” I asked the air. I was free to run, but run where. I didn’t have a strong idea of where I was. I saw maps in Harding’s office; but it was the middle of the night, and there was nothing but forest surrounding me. With no other option coming to mind, I just started walking. As I got deeper into the woods, the flames from the burning house and witch’s spell grew dimmer. You’d think it would put out light for miles, but the trees were dense. Luckily, my vampire side came with enhanced vision, so I could still make out where to safely step without falling on my face. It also allowed me to see them.
I was being watched. I couldn’t make out actual people, but I could see their shadows as the crept along behind the foliage. They stayed close enough to keep me in their eyesight, but not so close that I could grab them. I guessed they were Sarah’s minions. Of course, she would want to leave some of her girls around the perimeter in case the spell went down and the vampires got out. They could send a message to let her know.
The bad news was I didn’t know what orders they had for me. The good news was they knew how to get back to Sarah’s compound. That was my only guess for where she had Aaron locked away. I needed them to take me there.
“I surrender,” I yelled to the shadows while kneeling to the ground.
One of the shadows stepped out and her face came into focus. I didn’t recognize her, but she looked smug. Maybe she didn’t recognize me. I think only a few in the higher ranks knew of my existence.
“I don’t know how you escaped, but Sarah will love to hear it,” she said getting even closer.
“I’ll be happy to tell her. Please take me with you. I’m so scared. I didn’t sign up for any of this. I just wanted an Anne Rice experience, you know. Not this blood and guts and endless fire.” The best way to get what you want is almost always to play stupid. People will do exactly what you want either out of pity or arrogance. Either way, it worked for me in this moment. The other women came out of hiding, and a couple of them tied my hands together. They neglected to cover my face, which was either extreme faith that it wouldn’t matter or their own version of stupidity.
~
It turned out the lackey Sarah sent to the mansion was correct. Harding had setup shop in her backyard. That seemed like a misstep on his part. Either he was trying to draw her out or hadn’t realized her bite was definitely bigger than her bark. After hundreds of years, it didn’t seem like that should be possible.
Luckily for me, I knew exactly where I was when we reached the compound. It had been years, but I had been here before. Harding had to have known she was setup nearby. He wasn’t that unlucky, and he definitely wasn’t stupid. What was the game here? I was missing something huge. Why put his people right in her line of sight?
Another perk of knowing this specific location so well, I was fairly certain I knew where Sarah was hiding Aaron. I just needed to sneak away before she could see me. Her unpaid henchmen left me alone in one of the dormitories, where the newbies tended to bunk during their stays here. If they made it out of the first few trials, Sarah offered better accommodations. While these rooms were barren, they also didn’t come with magical protections. Sarah felt it was up to each woman to learn the basics of taking care of herself, magical or otherwise. Most of them never discovered these rooms were basically open to the surrounding elements. The doors and windows didn’t lock, and, my favorite, the floorboards could easily be pushed up to let anything in or anyone out. Since all of these cabin-like rooms were built adjacent to one another, it was a great way for sneaking in or out undetected. I think I was around six when I figured that out for the first time.
The gap between the floor and the ground wasn’t as roomy to my fully grown self, so it took me longer than I remembered to make it to the end of the cabins. When I finally crawled out from under that last room, I was happily pleased to find the tree line still ran alongside this part of the compound. After checking for any witches-in-training, I darted out until I was fully covered by the night and the forest.
Now that I was free, finding Aaron was going to be a breeze. When I was a little girl, one of my favorite books was Peter Pan. Sarah and mom would read it to me nearly every night. One day, they surprised me with a trip into the woods to see a special tree. Sarah told me my book had given them the idea to build a hideaway. She said it might come in handy for hiding special people in the future.
It had been years since I had set foot here, but the path was the same as I remembered. Sarah didn’t want to fully clear it out in case a stranger stumbled across it, but there were tell-tale signs of people trekking through. The closer I got to the tree, which couldn’t be missed even if you didn’t know it was there due to its sheer size, the forest cleared out even more. I wondered why Sarah would have only cut down the trees closest to the hideaway tree. It made it really obvious something was here to find. When the clearing fully opened, though, I understood. There were at least five women guarding the tree entrance. These were only the ones I could see. There could be more hiding in the treeline like they were outside Harding’s mansion.
I was making good time until this snafu. I couldn’t just run straight at the door and hope no one would see me. It would be like a kamikaze mission, as I had no doubt Sarah had her best standing guard.
Think, Trembley.
I needed a distraction. I was not sure I could get all of them to run off, but maybe if I created some kind of mayhem, most of them would go check it out. I could easily take down two to three, assuming they weren’t armed with lethal spells. Most of the girls I had encountered before weren’t natural witches. It took a lot for them to form simple spells. Creating something more complex would take a lot out of them. It might even cause them to blackout.
I looked around, and there wasn’t a whole lot I could use to make a nuisance of myself. Maybe simply making loud noises would creep them out enough to walk away. As close as I dared, I began walking noisely. When I looked at the guards, I could tell they knew something was here. They were more focused and glancing around nervously.
“What do you think, wolf?” one of the asked.
“I don’t know. We don’t really see wolves around here. Maybe a coyote or a fox. Nothing to be worried about.”
I’ll give you something to worry about.
I stopped running and picked up a few rocks. I hurled them at different spots to try and create the effect of many animals. To my ears, it was working. The rocks bounced around and made echoes.
The women were fully on alert now. I kept throwing rocks, trying to go in new directions with each lob.
“You sure there aren’t wolves around here?” I kept at it until one of them finally went to check out the noise.
“Wolves are stealthier than this. Also, I think we’d have heard at least one of them howl by now.”
“I don’t know about this,” another one said. “Sarah said we’d be safe out here. I don’t feel very safe right now.”
I crouched low and made my way toward the brave one who went to investigate. It’s a shame she had to go before the cowards. It was simple enough catching her off guard though. She was being extra careful, but I was able to come up behind her and knock her out with one quick punch to the head.
Unfortunately, her absence hadn’t gone unnoticed nor had the lack of noise.
“It’s quiet now. Why hasn’t Theresa come back?”
“All right,” a petite brunette said, “you come with me.” She pointed at the girl who had been rethinking her choice of safety.
“What are we going to do?” she asked.
“Make sure Theresa is ok. She walked right through there. She’s probably on her way back, so it will only take a moment.”
I stayed low to remain hidden as they approached. Two would be trickier than one, especially since the goal was incapacitation and not death. They walked by my hiding spot none the wiser. The night was keeping me well guarded. I would think they would have a basic illumination spell in their pocket, but maybe these weren’t Sarah’s most gifted. Seemed strange to have novices keeping her prisoners guard.
“Hey, Amy!” one of them yelled about 40 yards from where I was. One of the other girls came running. I made myself even smaller.
“What is it?” she asked out of breath when she caught up to them. I guessed they found the first girl.
“Is that Theresa?” Yep. Damn, I thought it might take them longer to find her in the dark. I could have moved her, but I thought it would make too much noise and not the animal hunting kind. Oh well, it wasn’t like I was improvising this whole thing anyway. My attention turned back to the one remaining on guard. With the others preoccupied, it was more to my advantage to go after that one instead.
I crept towards the opening behind the tree. She was still standing by the hidey hole, and the tree was big enough it could easily hide me. My only worry was one of the others would return from a similar direction before I could act.
As I made my way around the circumference of the tree, I kept my ears alert for any approaching sounds. Currently, I could hear the four women in the woods increasingly freaking out about finding their friend knocked out. The one remaining at the tree could also hear them and she was clearly in distress about whether to stay or go help. This gave me hope that they were the only ones nearby. If backup was available, I imagine she would have taken off.
I waited in the shadow of tree, hoping she’d turn her back towards my direction, but it was clear her anxiety had her on edge. She was spinning and looking everywhere for a threat. If she walked a few feet to the left, she’d clearly see me standing there.
I tried to think about how to best get her gone without attracting any attention, but all of my solutions were not coming up with a foolproof quiet outcome.
Note to self: work on quiet, non-lethal attacks.
When I was about to give up and take the girl down however I could, one of the others returned looking white as a sheet.
“We’re going to take Theresa back to her room and alert Sarah. We don’t think this was an animal.”
“All of you are going?” the final girl asked panicked. “What do you expect me to do? Get taken down next. I’m only here because Sarah said this was a beginner job with no threat risk.”
“Yeah, that’s why we were all here, but we can’t leave the door unguarded. You know that. I’ll be back as soon as I can. I promise.” With that she returned to the forest.
“What the fuck!” the remainder whisper yelled. I would have felt bad for her if I didn’t need her out of the way and fast. If Sarah was coming, I only had minutes. These witches were harmless, but Sarah could trap me without batting an eye.
The moment the fledgling turned away, I ran at full speed and slammed her into the ground. She yelped and thrashed, but my inhuman strength could easily overpower her. I held her down and covered her mouth and nose until she passed out. It would only buy me a few seconds, but it was long enough to get in the tree.
As expected the door was secured with multiple locks. Normally, I would pick them, but I had knowledge I was betting none of Sarah’s followers had: the magic word. When I was a little girl, my mother and Sarah told me if I ever needed to hide, run to this door, and say the word while thinking of nothing else but getting inside.
I wasn’t sure it would work because I still doubted I had any magical ability, but I made it work earlier. Didn’t I? Maybe it was a trick, and I never actually did any magic without Sarah’s help.
“Welp, no time like a life and death situation.” I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, cleared my mind of everything but opening the door and walking inside, and said, "Darling.”
I opened my eyes to see the locks falling off the door before it swung open. It was like it was waiting for me like an old friend.
The entryway led to steps that would take me underground. Fortunately, the place was lit up, so I didn’t have to blindly feel my way through. Without any more hesitation, I went as fast as I could without hitting my head on the low ceiling. When I was fully underground, the hall widened into a large room. I hadn’t been here since I was a little girl, and I’m sure more had been added in that time. If I remembered correctly, though, the “guest” holding cells were down the hall to the right. Without pausing to think, I started throwing open every door. After the first four were empty, I began to think I had picked the wrong location. What if Sarah was keeping him somewhere else? He might not even be on the compound.
I pushed open the last door, and felt immense relief.
“Dad.”
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