Chapter 242

Almara’s Pov

Arthur flings open the door, this time it breaks off the hinges. I guess there’s no changing our mind now. I keep Robbie wrapped up in both my arms and under my shirt.

Arthur uses his body to guard mine, outstretching his arms and a puffed-out chest as he keeps his eyes zeroed in on every moving body around us all while moving us forward and falling in exact pace with each of my steps.

We fight through sideways rain and vicious winds, it dawns on me that this storm isn’t just a natural occurrence, especially considering this territory is usually dry and void of any life-giving substance. This storm seems to be the result of supernatural forces.

All the power the familiars are summoning and executing must be interacting with the electromagnetic fields in the atmosphere somehow. The air itself feels as if it’s buzzing, like a low hum of electricity.

At first, I wondered why we didn’t just go through the other door in the storage closet, but now I realize- most of the war has moved inside. A few are still fighting their last breath out here, knowing they won’t last long enough to make it inside and so they’re giving all they got, but there’s nowhere near the number of wolves and familiars that were out here before I gave birth.

I understand why the fields have cleared as we move across the slick dirt, now turned mud. It’s hard to get a solid footing unless you’re moving carefully and with precision. Which now I realize that’s another reason Arthur led us out this way.

If we had gone through the door in the storage closet leading in the building, we’d have to move a lot quicker and I don’t know if I physically could handle that right now, at least being out here gives me a chance to warm up.

Robbie’s warm little body squirms against my chest, his cries are drowned out by the heavy rainfall and crashes of thunder, but I feel it in my heart his little sobs of fear. Arthur motions with his head to veer left. I follow close behind him.

We come up to cellar doors that were once held together with a lock and chain, but has since been split in half. I stand on one side and Arthur on the other, he throws open the doors and they land wide open with a clang.

There’s no light emitting from below, and no sound either. Or at least, no sound loud enough to rise above the storm. Arthur jumps down in and does a quick scan, when he sees it’s clear, he turns back towards me with his arms out reached. I carefully hand him Robbie who is wailing.

He takes his son in his hands and despite everything going on, my heart swells. Robbie looks so small and fragile in Arthur's big hands, yet also protected and secure. I gently descend into the cold ground, pulling the doors shut and cutting off any light source.

It’s pitch black, but our eyes quickly adjust to the night mode. “Watch your step,” Arthur says grimly. I look down and see a body belonging to a vampire crumbled on the ground, the skin somehow paler than they usually look while alive, with a twinge of gray.

Arthur pulls Robbie to him and shields his eyes as we step over the body. He hands Robbie back to me and just then our senses heighten. We both freeze. “Do you smell that?” Arthur asks and I nod slowly at first, then rapidly. My knees go weak, but blood rushes to my thighs telling me to sprint.

“It’s Grace,” I say my throat closing. We take off in the direction our scent leads us. Luckily this basement is a narrow hallway only going in one direction. As we follow along the dark halls, her smell becomes stronger and stronger until we’re completely engulfed in it.

We come up to a flight of stairs and slow our pace. Arthur inspects the stairs my placing his paw on it and seeing if it’ll be able to hold our weight, or if it’’ squeaks and crack under pressure.

Directly above the stairs, at the ceiling is another set of cellar doors. There’s no way of knowing if there’s a lock until we try to open them.

If there is a lock, someone might hear us try to get it open, which gives them the advantage of being on higher ground, but still we have to try. We have no other choice. Grace is on the other side of those doors, I know it.

Robbie has since settled down and I can only hope he doesn’t cry at this moment and blow our cover. I stroke his back soothingly and Arthur gives me a loving look before he turns and slowly creeps up the stairs.

When he reaches the top, he places the base of his palm on the flat of the door and gives a gentle push. The doors give way half an inch before refusing to go any further. Locked.

Arthur takes a deep breath and tells me to back down. I slowly backtrack my steps and watch as he uses all his might to slam his shoulder into the base of the doors, they open in one full swing. Arthur lunges through the top and I wait to hear the sound of attack, but nothing comes.

I want to call our Arthur’s name, but I don’t. A few seconds later, Arthur’s head appears over the opening of the door and I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. I climb up the stairs and Arthur takes me in his arms.

Grace’s scent is overwhelming, but I know instantly she’s not in the room we stand in, which is still more of a closet that’s completely empty. Whatever used to be in here, isn’t anymore. Only scratch marks on the floor and dents in the wall indicate that something used to be in here, or someone. I notice teeth marks etched into the corners of the wall.

Just then a faint beeping captures my attention. I try to focus in on what that sound is and where it’s coming from, but then the sound of a door handle being pulled down startles my sense. I look to find Arthur pushing a door open. The beeping sound becomes louder.

He goes through the door and I follow in step behind him. Instantly I know we’re back in the media room where we did our dual recording of defeat and a cry for help.

This time Grace is strapped to the chair, I want to lunge after her, but Arthur’s arm blocks my path and I instantly see why. The bear-like familiar stands tall behind her, his hands on each of her shoulders.

“We’ve been expecting you,” he says

“It’s over,” Arthur says. “Give us our daughter back and maybe we won’t be the ones who kill you,” the bear-like familiar looks amused.

“Over?” We’ve only just begun,”

“You’re creatures are dying, the vampires want nothing to do with you, you don’t stand a chance,” Arthur takes a daring step forward.

“It doesn’t matter,” the familiar says. “She’s all we need,” I go rigid and silently beg Robbie to stay quiet.

“She’s not yours,” Arthur says through gritted teeth and moves closer, putting some distance between us and risking exposing me clearly holding something under my shirt. I try to move so that I’m still shielded by Arthur and the familiar doesn’t seem to notice anything, yet.

“Who are these people?” I hear Grace ask in a scared voice that I’ve never heard her use before.

“Bad wolves,” the familiar says, his tone expressing concern, though it’s obvious he’s delighting in consoling our daughter.

“Make them go away,” Grace whines.

“With pleasure my dear,” The bear-like familiar says and I feel his heavy footsteps rumble the ground.

“Grace, no!” Arthur shouts and then leaps into the air. Completely exposed and unshielded I look for something to duck behind, but realize I don’t need to, at least not yet when I see what’s going on.

Grace is on the back of the familiar, biting into his neck and Arthur bites at his arms that are flailing about trying to knock Grace off of him. The familiar shout something in an ugly foreign language.

“It doesn’t work!” Grace yells back, her voice having a growl to it. Despite everything, I can’t help but feel some pride. She tricked the familiar into believing she was under their spell, only to wait for the right moment to launch an attack.

The familiars knew she was smart, I guess they just didn’t realize how smart. Then again, she fooled us too.