Chapter 15: Alexis

Chapter 15: Alexis

Maurice did not have the heart to keep torturing me. That much was clear after the first few hours. He tried, I’d give him credit for that, but he was not built for it. He was pretty resourceless in this cave, with nothing but a taser at his disposal. There were only so many times he could zap me before it got tediously boring. What was worse for him was my resolve not to show him any emotion while I was being tortured. Sometimes, the pain drew a tear or two, but in that depressingly dark place, those tears might as well be invisible to him. Besides, he had forgotten the prime rule in deriving pleasure from torturing someone: He had forgotten to remove the tape from my mouth, making it easy for me to hide my screams.

“I’ll just leave you to starve, then,” he said tiredly. The battery on his taser had died. From the commotion coming from the other end of the cave, it seemed that he had some visitors. “Maybe when I come back, we’ll try cleaving your skin and seeing if that puts some pep in you. Sooner or later, you’re going to give me what I want.”

It seemed that Maurice’s thinking faculties had taken quite a steep fall. His thoughts were scattered all over the place. His actions seemed to lack conviction. Even as he had tortured me, it felt like he was doing a half-hearted job. His spirit was broken. Even if he didn’t say it out loud, every single action of his spoke of a very tired man on the brink of giving up. In one day, he had lost so much—his pack, his vampire co-conspirator, and his standing as the mayor of the town.

I used this to my advantage, naturally. Whenever he was not in the room, I tugged at my ropes to loosen them. It wasn’t until I had loosened them quite a bit that I realized that I could simply shift my hands into their wolf form and tear away at the ropes. It was a novel idea, but one that I had never tried before.

Given my current state, there was no better opportunity to try this semi-shift than right now. I focused my shifting intent on just my hands. There was some strain tugging at my wrists, but I persevered as slowly, my hands turned into paws, and then claws came out from where my nails used to be.

With a single slash, I tore the ropes binding my arms. Then, I quickly tore the ones that were holding my feet. I shifted myself back, taking off the tape from my mouth.

It felt so comforting just to be able to stand. I hid myself behind one of the cave walls and stretched my limbs till I could move without any pain. I could hear the sounds coming from above me now. This cave had several floors, and Maurice was using many of these floors to carry out his smuggling operations with the vampires. What else could he be doing shacked up in this dump?

Once the pain of being bound in ropes had left my body, I did the next logical thing—plotting my escape. Behind me, there was just a big black cave wall. After touching its surface all over in the dark, I discovered that it was impenetrable and inescapable. I could not risk shifting into a wolf and breaking free from the metal bars that were holding me prisoner here. That would only attract Maurice’s attention, and he’d come back with vampire reinforcements. Free though I was, I was not strong enough to fend myself against Maurice and his bloodsucking cronies.

It wasn’t long after that Maurice’s voice rang through the cave. He was coming back, and apparently, he was not alone.

“Some of you are as old as Ralph, and I reckon you’re even stronger. Now is not the time to give up, men. I don’t know how you elect your leader, but this would be the ripe time to do it. Together, we can still get ahead of this situation. Think of it this way; the wolves are not expecting any retaliation right now, are they? They’re comfortable in the knowledge that they’ve won and driven us out,” Maurice said.

I squinted against the metal bars and saw three silhouettes standing in the distance. Two of them were unmistakably wearing the long coats characteristic of vampires. The third stout silhouette undoubtedly belonged to Maurice.

“How can we ever trust you again? It was you who suggested that we ambush the wolves in the first place. I think that you’re working with them, playing the role of a double agent. Who gained from that ambush? Our leader died, and so many of us were killed in that battle. On top of that, our reduced numbers meant that we had to leave the cove. So, Maurice, let there be no misunderstanding. We do not trust you,” the vampire snarled.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Maurice yelled. “Ralph was a friend of mine for the longest time. It was with him that I killed Wilhelm Grimm. Admit it, none of us knew that he was going to come back. How can you even suggest that I was with the wolves? Don’t forget that the business was as much mine as it was yours. Half-half, those were the terms. I’m hit just as much as you are. Why else do you think we’re operating from this fucking shithole?”

“Prove it,” the second vampire said.

“Prove it how?” Maurice slapped his forehead.

“The bitch in there. She’s a werewolf, isn’t she? Go bring her out. Kill her in front of us. That’s the only way we’re going to believe that you’re telling us the truth,” the vampire said.

“Fine. Although I was saving her for some personal vengeance of mine, I can do this much for you out of respect for what we’ve all been through. If that’s what it takes to get your trust back, then very well. Come with me, and I’ll maybe even let you have the honor of ending her life in the way you see fit,” Maurice said.

“Heh, maybe you’re not a bad egg after all,” the vampire chuckled.

I could make a run for it. The entrance to the cave wasn’t that far off by the looks of the light coming from the end of the tunnel. All I had to do was run past Maurice and the two vampires. I could even do that without shifting.

To err on the side of caution, I shifted into my wolf form, acknowledging that due to my weakness and being trapped for so long, my form wasn’t at full strength. It was probably because of this compromised state that I wasn’t able to contact Will with my bond. That would come later.

In all the time that I’d spent in Maurice’s prison, I had made up my mind that if and when I got out, I’d go back to Will and talk things over. I’d hear the truth from his mouth and forgive him. I yearned for his earnest embrace and the sensation of his lips touching mine. What the fuck did it matter if he had taken Ariana’s name or not. He was alive, and last I checked, he had claimed that he loved me. It wasn’t like Will to lie.

As Maurice and the vampires neared the metal bars, I readied myself to pounce and tucked myself behind the wall.

“What the fuck?” Maurice gasped. “I swear she was here!”

“Is this one of your tricks, Maurice? See, I knew we couldn’t trust you. You let that bitch free!” the vampire yelled.

“I swear she was just here. It’s not possible,” Maurice said. I could hear him jangling the keys in his hands. He swung open the metal door and came inside the cell.

At that exact moment, I lunged forward from behind the wall and collided with Maurice, pushing him aside. As I ran past the metal door, I saw from the corner of my eyes that the vampires were chasing me viciously. But it did not matter. The entrance was so near. I could see the light coming closer and closer.

I pushed myself to run harder, even when doing so meant straining all my muscles. But when I reached the so-called entrance, I realized that what I had been mistaking for the light of the sun was, in fact, light coming from overhead lamps.

This was not outside, far from it. I was still inside the cave. It was a vast network of sprawling caves in every direction, all of them lit by lamps and lanterns. Which way led out?

I couldn’t just stand there and calculate the odds of which exit led outside. The vampires and Maurice were on my tail. Instead, I just ran down the slope into the next cavern and came across several crates of blood packed in there. From cavern to cavern I ran, noting everything that was stacked in those caves while trying to find out which way led out of this abysmal maze of caves. There was no air nor light to guide me.

Will! I called out. If you’re there, please come quickly. Find me. I’m outnumbered.

I hoped that this message would reach my mate before it’d be too late. Behind me, the two vampires and Maurice had caught up to me finally. What with so many cave entrances, there was no way for me to go without knowing for certain which way led out.

As I turned around, the two vampires flanked me from each side, and Maurice ran at me from the front. Knowing this was my only chance to save myself, I did not back down from this fight. Instead of tackling Maurice head-on, I attacked the vampire from the right.

Perhaps I had already defeated so many vampires and had gotten used to fighting them, or perhaps this particular vampire was still weary from his battle in the field. It only took one slash on my part to bring him down on his knees, holding his slit neck in his hands, bleeding out and looking at me with shock and horror.

The second one gave me a bit of a challenge, as rather than come at me directly, he took out a pistol and began shooting at me.

“Don’t shoot at the goods!” Maurice yelled at him. I looked around and saw that blood was leaking out of several of the crates. The sight and smell of blood momentarily distracted the second vampire, allowing me to attack him and yank the gun out of his hand.

Without his weapon, he was just as helpless as his friend. I bit down on his head and pulled it, tearing it off his shoulders.

Now, it was just Maurice and me.

“I guess the cat’s out of the bag, or rather, the wolf’s out of the cage,” Maurice said. “Seeing as how you’ve seen the inside of my backup layer, you have to understand that I can’t let you out of here alive. That is, you can try to escape, but where exactly will you run off to? It’s not like there are directions written on the cave walls. I’m giving you this one chance to give up and go back to your cell. Otherwise, I’m going to have to kill you right here and now.”

I howled at broke into a run toward him. I would rather die than go back to that cell. As I lunged at him, Maurice shifted and caught me in mid-air, then pinned me to the ground.

He put his claw right over my face and pressed deeper. As he growled loudly, digging his claws deep into my face, a crashing sound came from up above, catching him off guard. I took my shot and threw him off, then raced off in the direction of the sound.

I had learned the hard way that even though he was not much of a werewolf, Maurice was too strong for me to take him on by myself.

As I ran for my life, he chased me, crashing into the crates, toppling them over, causing cascades of blood to fall onto the cavern floor, creating an utterly macabre sight. The entire network of caves stank with the smell of stale blood.

Even though I was being chased, I still registered all the caves where the crates were kept. Before I’d get out, I would somehow find a way to destroy this entire network of caves so that Maurice wouldn’t ever be able to smuggle even a drop of blood from Fiddler’s Green ever again.

After going through cave after cave, I became completely lost, not knowing where I was headed. Maurice gained on me from behind, leaving me no other choice but to enter the only cave that was ahead of me. As I ran through the darkness, I crashed into a solid wall, and to my horror, when I turned around, I saw that I was back in the cell again.

Before I could run back through the open metal door, Maurice shifted just in time and clanged the door shut.

“I’m going to give you a second to cool down,” he said fiercely. “Then I’m coming back with blowtorches and pliers. First, I’m going to rip your fingers apart, and then I’m going to set fire to all that fur.”

Exhausted, I let out one last weak signal to Will, Please, wherever you are, come find me.