Authors: Maya DeLeina
“I assure you, it is safe. Come.” Steffan left his hand extended, waiting for her to join him.
Anya slipped her hands in his and followed Steffan into the elevator.
Releasing her hand, Steffan reached high above his head and pulled the cage door down, fully enclosing them.
Underneath her feet, the elevator vibrated. Anya stepped in closer to Steffan and held on to his arm.
Suspended by a thick series of silver and black cables, the elevator slowly descended from the platform entrance, sinking into the darkened depth. As the elevator car was about to be fully engulfed in darkness, a flicker of soft light suddenly illuminated the top of the cage, washing light along the cavern walls that completely surrounded them. The earthy walls swirled in shades of brown, green, and subtle hints of muted gold. The light caught flecks of shimmer from crystals embedded in the clay. The walls were damp. Long striations etched in the walls added to the sheen captured by the light.
Steffan turned to face Anya. He lifted his hands above his head and curled his fingers around the wire opening at the top of the cage. “We use this underground system to move between homes if we’re not on Defender. But my primary purpose in building this subterranean quarter was to maintain and protect our laboratory, manufacturing facility, mass enthrall auditorium, and training room. I didn’t want any of this above ground and have an endless set of issues to worry about.”
“Makes sense.” Anya nodded as she rubbed her hands along her bare arms. The temperature had changed. A marked chill danced in the air the further the elevator car delved.
Steffan moved, stepping behind Anya, and wrapped his arms firmly around her. He dipped his head and gave her a kiss on her cheek. “You know the English garden maze I have in front of my house, the one you’re always admiring?”
“Yes.” Anya turned around to face Steffan.
“That also serves a purpose to all of this as well. Throughout the maze, there are access points to and from the mass enthrall auditorium down here. You see, enthralling one or two humans to alter their reality at once is very effective and is immediately embedded in their memory. But once you start adding more than two with a single enthrall, it takes a little longer for the altered reality to set in. If we find we have to enthrall a number of humans at once, we use the auditorium and then release them into the maze. When their minds are engaged on something else, in this case, trying to find their way out of the gardens, their psyches have time to absorb the enthrall.”
“So basically, if they are totally focused on something else, they don’t have a chance to question anything as the enthrall is working?” Anya asked.
“Exactly. And the deeper their concentration is on something else, the better. Hence the maze. We found that humans are susceptible. Whether it is fear in the feeling of being trapped or the thrill and excitement of trying to figure out the puzzle, everyone’s mind is highly engaged when they’re in that maze.”
Anya nodded. “Interesting!”
Steffan reached for the elevator control, a simple mechanism that fit in his palm, fashioned with a key insert, sliding lever, and buttons attached to a thick silver coil. Steffan slid the lever position all the way down and pushed a button. The elevator slowed to a crawl, and the lights turned off. Anya was able to make out another light source piercing the darkness from down below. The light slowly penetrated the open-air cage, starting from the bottom and moving its way up as the elevator reached the opening of the subterranean platform.
Before they reached the bottom, Steffan spoke, “My house, however, is the only access point to the last facility down here…the Nemesis.”
“The what?”
“You’ll see. That’s the last stop on this tour before we head to your house,” Steffan said plainly, no enthusiasm or elation in his expression.
Steffan lifted the cage and took Anya’s hand. He led her down a long corridor of carved earth, the path illuminated by soft light. The music flowing through the passage was faint, but the ethereal character of the melody was unmistakeable.
The end of the corridor opened to a large, circular, vestibule-like passage. Two sizeable metal doors sat embedded in the walls marked with similar symbols above each header, one with the free-flowing symbol, like a figure eight on its side, the other marked with the same symbol, but with a noticeable break in the lines.
Steffan looked down at Anya.
“That’s the infinity symbol. Everything we need to enhance and perpetuate our existence lies behind this door. This leads to our lab, manufacturing facility, training room and the mass enthrall auditorium,” Steffan said as he pressed a metal button on the wall, sending the door to pivot on its axis. “Come, I want you to see everything.”
“But what about this door?” Anya asked, pointing at the second door with the broken symbol. She stood planted in her footing, not budging a muscle toward Steffan.
“That is the Nemesis. We will come back to this one. I promise,” Steffan said as he held his hand out for her.
Anya moved toward Steffan, placing her hand in his, and made her way through the door that opened to a long tunnel system. Intricate iron candelabras illuminated the tunnel from above. Iron scroll sconces dotted the walls every few feet. The lights were candle-like, mimicking the flickering of an amber flame. Between the wall sconces sat paintings of various mountain landscapes. The paintings were vast in their emotional pull on their audience, all depicting variations in the landscape with different seasons, weather conditions, and time of day.
“What do you think so far?” Steffan asked as their stride reduced to a leisurely gait.
“Beautiful. What’s with all the mountain-themed paintings?”
“They’re all the places we either once resided in or will be establishing residency in one day.”
“I see. And I guess the gilded-gold framing on them was to go along with the décor down here.” Anya chuckled. “I can’t help but think I should see some suit of armour, coat of arms, or medieval weapons displayed somewhere in here.”
Steffan laughed. “Since you mentioned it, a collection of weaponry
is
showcased down here, which does include some medieval pieces. The suit of armour is my favourite. This is what the family wanted. I had them vote on how we should decorate this area, and they all wanted an old-world, gothic theme down here. I figured it suited—” Steffan stopped in midsentence and moved in an instant, placing Anya firmly behind him.
“What? What is it?” Anya asked, looking at the empty space in front of Steffan and evaluating his sudden change in posture.
“Steffan, what’s wrong!” Anya shook Steffan by the arm.
“Sorry. I thought I saw something for a brief second.” Steffan was rigid as he stood motionless, staring at the empty space. Steffan eased in his stance, but the air of uncertainty still remained heavy around him. “I guess it was nothing. Damn, this is the second time this has happened to me down here!” Steffan explained, his face marked with apprehension and confusion as he looked at Anya.
“Well, what do you think you saw?”
Steffan shook his head, his eyes focusing back on the hallway. “Not sure. It was like a flash of white floating by. It was heading toward the hall there.” Steffan pointed to an entry fork in the hallway.
“Where does that hall lead to?”
“All the homes to the left of mine—Rhys and Brynne’s, Haydn’s, and yours.”
“And who has access to this system?”
“Well, the entire family is free to come here anytime. I built this for all of us.” Steffan sighed. “Well, it doesn’t look like anyone was here. Maybe it was just a flicker of the lights. Besides, I would’ve at least felt the presence of someone here. Shall we continue?”
Steffan led Anya on the tour of the underground system, familiarizing her with each of the rooms and the basic tunnel configuration. They made their way outside to the maze, taking a romantic moonlight stroll through the formal garden. He showed Anya all of the entry and exit points from the garden to the underground passage, each boasting a massive, white marble urn across the aperture. The urns were almost as tall as Anya. Creeping ivy cascaded out of the confines of the urns while white, starlike flowers filled the cavities, perfuming the evening air.
Steffan and Anya stepped back into the subterranean quarters and made their way back down the hall and through the metal door that led them to the main passage from his home.
There it sat once again, the door with the broken infinity symbol.
Steffan stopped at a door and looked down at the floor. “I debated whether I should show this to you now or after your turning, but I think you need to see this.”
Steffan paused and then looked Anya squarely in the eyes. “From the broken symbol, you probably already figured out that this door leads to something where an eternity is ended. But the symbol is also meant to signify a new path, a new eternity.” Steffan paused. “Anya, this is where we put vampires to punishment or, in some cases, death.”
Anya took in a deep breath. “Is anyone in there now that I have to prepare myself for?”
“No, the last rogue we captured extinguished weeks ago. It’s empty and clean now.”
Steffan punched in codes on the door. The code was longer than the typical four-digit key that was used to unlock the entire system.
“This is the only room with a second locking mechanism, and there are only a few people who have the code to this room.”
Steffan flipped on the florescent lights of the room, flickering at the initial illumination.
“We obviously did nothing to this room but install lighting and a drainage system in the middle. When the workers excavated the area, they found this cavern tucked in to the mountain. We kept it basically how it was found.”
Anya examined the room. It was cold. Water seeped from the walls.
“It looks like a torture chamber from the medieval era,” Anya said as she focused on the leg and arm restraints embedded in the cavern’s wall. In the corner sat a modern-day appliance that seemed out of place for the setting.
“A fridge?” she asked.
“We have Submission injections in there. We don’t mass-produce these or keep them in the lab. It would be deadly if they fell into the wrong hands. We have to use the Submission drug on the vampires who break our laws to diminish their strength. It allows punishment devices to be effective and prepares others peacefully…for death.”
Anya continued to survey the room as Steffan’s eyes watched her every move.
Anya pointed to the line of objects pushed up against the wall that looked like iron sarcophaguses. They sat in a semicircle toward the back of the cavern, surrounding the large drain in the ground.
“Those are the death chambers. You will need to see this and understand why we do this. Come.” Steffan held out his hand for Anya.
Anya placed her hands in Steffan’s as they made their way to the death chambers.
“Well, you were correct with your initial assessment for this room looking like a medieval torture chamber.” Steffan placed his hand on one of the coffin-like, iron structures. “These are fashioned after the iron maiden.”
Steffan released the hinge, and the structure sprung open. Anya gasped and took a step back as she saw the spikes protruding from the cavity of the doors.
“Why! Why would you do this?” Anya shouted.
“Anya, we have to. This is what I want you to understand,” Steffan pleaded.
“To understand that your kind resorts to torture?”
“No. That we must take drastic means in order to kill a vampire.”
“How…How does this work?”
“When these doors are shut, the spikes pierce the body of the vampire while they are pinned in a standing position. This little door up here, by the face, allows us to verify that death has occurred. The blood seeps through these holes at the bottom near the feet, and we slanted the floor in this area so it can drain directly in this system here.”