Authors: Rebecca Ann Drake
The descend into the lower parts of the coven seemed to take
forever, or it was Madison’s own dread and fear that seemed to make time move
slower than usual.
“Listen up, the first floor was the easy part, down here
it’s going to be a hell of a lot harder. We can’t evade the guards. They patrol
every corridor and they are posted at every door. They know our faces. We’ve
worked alongside them for many years. Act normal. Don’t make eye contact and
don’t attempt to make any type of communication unless you are spoken too. Stay
hidden if possible, but if necessary show yourself, but don’t arose suspicion.
Gabby, keep Madison at a distance from anyone in the Coven.
If they smell her, then it’s game over! Do you understand?” Trace asked.
Gabby nodded. Her eyes were soft but lustful as she watched
Trace take command. It was clear from her body language and features that Gabby
was the kind of women that enjoyed being ordered around by men; she got off on
men throwing their dominants over her.
“And the devil twins, its best if you stay out of sight all
together. Head towards the corridor on the right, follow it to the very end
until you come to the white room. This is where the coven keep all their most
expensive and dangerous artifacts. It‘s heavy guarded so stay hidden until we
meet you there.” Trace added, turning to look towards the two hooded boys at
the back of the elevator.
“As you wish” they said together, their voices ghostly
unnatural.
“We will bring the key to you” Trace said his voice becoming
strangely amused.
The elevator jolted to a halt, Madison’s stomach felt like
it was being pulled down to her feet and then sprang back up again to its
rightful place.
“Just act normal. Any funny business and you’ll lose a
finger, okay?” Gabby whispered, leaning towards her ear.
Madison made eye contact with Gabby. Her eyes were red and
swollen from crying and her lips were chapped and blistered. She wiped
her face and nose on the back of her hand, removing some of the water stained
tears.
Gabby winced in disgust, grabbing hold of her left elbow,
but holding it loosely as if they were friends rather than hostage and captor.
Madison stared as the two golden doors as they sprang to
life and slid open. Her eyes widened as the room outside the elevator came into
focus – it was the biggest room Madison had ever seen in her life.
The room was the size of a football field, the walls and
ceiling made grey stone. The floor was a beautiful grey marble with white and
yellow swirls in the granite, which sparkled.
Chandelles which held dimly lit candles hung from the stone
ceiling, lighting the dark room up in a beautiful golden glow. Hundreds of
candles lined the floor around the grey stone walls. Two large white statues
stood in the centre of the room opposite one another. The statue on the right
wall was of a Woman in a long flowing dress, her arms stretched out by her side
as if she were welcoming you into her arms. Her head was thrown backwards, her
eyes closed and her mouth open wide relieving razor sharp teeth. Her hair
flowed down over her shoulders and down her back. Candles burned at the base of
the statue, illuminated her in a brilliant golden glow. Enhancing the
smoothness of the stone and shadowing the craved waves in her dress. The statue
looked eerily lifelike, every inch of it was beautiful.
The statue on the left was of a man dressed in a robe with
the hood pulled up over his face. His face was masked by the shadow that was
casted by the long hood that curved over the top of his head. His arms down by
his side, five thin bony fingers with fingernails sharpened to a point, pocked
out from the sleeve of the stone robe. This statue was also illuminated in a
brilliant golden glow from the candles that surrounded the base.
The texture of the statue of the man appeared coarser than
the statue of the lady in the long dress, the stone darker and cracked in some
areas.
The whole room looked like some posh abandoned cave that had
been redecorated to create a type of shrine for the Vampire species.
At the far end of the room was a long corridor which was
covered by a thick layer of darkness. From where Madison stood it appeared to
be a black hole consuming that end of the room.
Trace stepped out of the elevator, the heel of his black
leather shoes tapped on the marble floor. Gabby pulled Madison out of the
elevator as she followed Trace eagerly. The twins quickly followed standing
beside Gabby.
After Trace’s speech in the elevator, Madison had expected
to see several guards scattered about, however, the entrance to the lower
levels of The Coven was deserted. Madison stared up at the stone ceiling of the
room. The room was about 100 feet high, the height of the ceiling caused
Madison to feel slightly dizzy.
On the right was a long corridor like Trace had mentioned
when he had thrown instructions at the two hood boys. On the left was another
corridor that mirrored the corridor to the right.
Madison turned her gaze back towards the elevator, the two
hooded boys were no longer stood inside the brightly lit up room of the
elevator. She hesitated for a second, before slowly turning back toward the
Vampires. The hooded boys had vanished again, staying hidden as Trace had
instructed.
Gabby squeezed Madison’s arm, her French manicured nails
digging deep into her flesh, small half-moon shaped bruises began to form at
the surface of her skin. Madison made eye contact with Gabby, this time she did
not flinch or try to shake Gabby’s grip off. She allowed the Vampire to take
her frustrations out on her, after all Gabby wanted to prove some kind of point
to Madison, and Madison was beginning not to care what that was. Gabby threw
Madison a frustrated look. Her eyes widened slightly in pain as Gabby proceeded
to force her fingers into Madison’s flesh deeper, but she did not respond.
Trace looked around at Gabby as he heard Madison flesh
beginning to break and she instantly removed her fingernails from her flesh and
smirked at Trace shyly.
Madison looked away from Gabby, swallowing hard and taking a
deep breath as the pain began to ease. She refocused on the room ahead,
examining every detail and feature.
The room was beautifully elegant in a gothic fashion; it was
almost like somewhere you would expect Dracula to live in one of the movies
based on him. Although she was terrified of who or what she might come across
down in the depths of the coven, Madison felt oddly at home down in the damp,
darkness. Only the company she kept and the pending danger ahead stopped her
from feeling completely at ease.
“Let’s go!” Trace said, eyeing Gabby.
Trace began to walk down the long room followed closely by
the twins.
Gabby pulled Madison alongside her. The tapping sound of
Gabby’s stilettos echoed throughout the room. Their shadows danced on the stone
walls from the dimly lit candles. The uneven surface of the walls and the
flickering of the candles increased the size of the shadows, making them
giant-like.
Madison couldn’t help but stare from statue to statue, as
they approached them in the center of the room.
The detail which was carved into the statue of the woman was
astonishing; every strand of her hair was in place, every eyelash curled
perfectly. The flickering flames of the candles beneath the statue danced over
it, giving the impression that she was moving slowly. However, the statue of
the cloaked man seemed eerier then before. Half of the statue was cast in
shadow that seemed threatening to her and the Vampires below. The other half
was lit up in an orange glow which was inviting.
Shivers flew up Madison’s spine and she couldn’t help but
gaze up underneath the hood of the statue of the man as they passed underneath
it. The face of the statue was at first covered in darkness but as they passed
the statue further, the light from the candles moved direction - illuminating
the face of the cloaked man. She gasped as she caught a glimpse of the
distorted face of a man. His facial features twisted and his skin scaly like a
serpent. His eyes were large and angry piercing out from underneath the stone
hood of his cloak. His forehead creased with deep brown lines and his mouth
hung open, flashing a set of razor sharp Vampire teeth.
Gabby eyed Madison carefully, feeling her fear. Madison
caught her gaze and slowly lowered her eyes.
They continued to walk down the marble floor towards the
growing darkness from the corridor ahead. Trace scanned from wall to wall, his
posture was straight and rigid as if he was expecting some type of aerial
attack.
The twins slinked along behind Trace, their heads lowered
towards the floor, but their eyes dotted around the room in the same manner that
Trace’s did.
Gabby held onto Madison tightly, her cold hand rubbing
against her skin as she bounced across the room in her high heels.
As they approached the dark curtain that covered the
corridor ahead of them, Madison began to realise she was running out of hope
and chances. She was reaching the finish line and this was the last
hurdle left.
Madison stood in the entrance of the darkened corridor
before her. Her toes touched the broader into nothingness, an eatable darkness
which would surely consume her if she was sucked in. Madison stared into the
deep black and strained to see anything within the black curtain that protected
the corridor.
Gabby pulled at her upper arm, urging her to dive into the
nothingness that lay before her. Gabby’s smoky scent burnt Madison’s nostrils.
With the anxiety and stress running through her, she found it difficult not to
gag at Gabby’s scent.
Madison winced and swallowed the mouthful of saliva that had
been produced due to her nausea.
Trace stared at her from beside Gabby. He studied every inch
of her expression, trying to understand her emotions.
Alex and Andy lingered around the entrance of the corridor,
their backs towards the black hole, staring back towards the other end of the
room – keeping watch.
Gabby ushered her towards the darkness.
Madison stretched out one leg and placed it into the
blackness, the darkness instantly consumed her body. Gabby’s hand wrapped round
her arm - keeping a tight hold on her as they entered the darkness together.
She was blinded by the darkness – it had eaten her completely. Gabby pulled her
along, as a Vampire she could see perfectly in the dark, but as a human Madison
was now vulnerable. She shuffled along the marble floor, trying to balance and
protect herself against the blinding darkness and the tugging of Gabby at her
arm. Madison’s sense went wild, she almost want to get down on hand and knees
and crawl, she couldn’t find her footing nor did she know where she was walking
in the thick darkness. Suddenly, she tripped. Gabby released her grip of
Madison as she fell to the floor. Her knees screamed impacted with the marble
floor with a thud, she fell forwards, her chin bouncing off the marble floor.
She wailed quietly in pain, she couldn’t stop herself. An intense pain
surrounded her knee caps and ball of her chin. Her chin felt tingly, like a
flap of skin was hanging down from the impact on the marble floor. It was
almost definitely bleeding. Madison lifted her head from the marble floor and
she rolled onto her back – not to put pressure on her injured knees.
Gabby and Trace whispered in the darkness. She couldn’t see
them, but she still blinded by the darkness.
Panting through the pain, Madison picked herself up from the
cold marble floor. She looked wildly around for any of the Vampires which were
hidden in the corridor with her. Panic pulsed through her like adrenaline. The
thought of escaping crept into the back of her mind and the thought of being
free blinded her just as much as the darkness around her.
The darkness only confined Madison further and she had
little chance escaping when she had no idea which way to run or to run blinded
when the predators which followed her could see clearly in the dark. Madison
was disorientated by the fall and the lack of food or drink. She couldn’t
remember the last time she had had a sip of water or even the last thing she
had eaten.
Madison struggled to stand on her injured knees as she
pressed her back up against the right wall, using her hands to feel her way
down the pitch black corridor.
Gabby whispered in the darkness, louder than before. Madison
couldn’t hear what she was saying and the more she tried, the more the pounding
in her head grew louder.
Click.
Madison froze on the spot, she searched
frantically for whatever or whoever had been the source of the noise.
Frames erupted from the darkness. The frame flowed out of a
wooden torch that was fixed to the wall by the entrance of the corridor.
Suddenly more flames erupted a few feet away from the first torch – another
torch had ignited. Then another and another, gradually torches which lined
along the left wall of the corridor began to ignite - Illuminating the corridor
in a warming glow.
Both walls of the corridor were the same dark grey stone
that surrounded the entrance room of the lower depths of The Coven. The floor
was the same dark marble with white and yellow swirls.
Madison directed her gaze down toward the endless corridor,
the lit from the flames of the torches danced on the opposite wall.
Quickly Madison spun around towards the entrance of the
corridor; she looked nervously around as her eyes focused on Gabby who was lent
against the wall a few feet away from her. Her posture calm and relaxed, one
leg bent and placed against the wall. Trace stood across from Gabby, his eyes
burying into her.
The twins stood at the entrance of the corridor, Alex’s arm
was stretched up and his hand clutching an iron metal lever.