Blood Chained (Dark Siren Book 3) Read online

  River’s silver wolf melted from shadows in the mouth of an eastern tunnel but abruptly ghosted into another. Several minutes passed before he reappeared, only to disappear into the next.

  “Two could accomplish this much faster.”

  “I’m not letting you out of my sight, Cixi.”

  “Then don’t,” she snapped, and tossed her hair. “Come with me. The girl is injured and slows us down. Leave her.”

  “Not happening.”

  Though Kali thought she’d been keeping up just fine and hated to side with Cixi, she saw the harsh beauty’s point. River had an extensive area to search. The multiple pathways could take an hour to investigate, maybe more. Another nose looking could cut that time in half. And it wasn’t like there was an immediate danger to worry about while waiting. They’d spotted no other signs of life since entering this realm. The catacombs were deserted. “York, if you need to, I’ll be fine.”

  “Not happening,” he repeated.

  Accepting that he had his reasons, Kali dropped the subject. For a third and fourth time, River returned and was gone again. Nearly an hour into his search and their waiting, York’s head suddenly snapped up. He angled an ear to the tunnels, listening. Then he whistled softly.

  “What is it?” Kali whispered.

  “He found something.”

  “Well,” Cixi said impatiently. “Shouldn’t we go to him?”

  “He wants us to wait here. He’s coming back.”

  For another agonizing five minutes, they waited. Finally, the silver wolf slid from the darkness to sit in front of them. Then the wolf was gone, and River stood in its place. “I know where we must go. But there are hidden security measures, intended to maim, trap, or kill any intruders. We must be careful.”

  “Alright. River, take point. Cixi follows. Kali, you’re in the back with me.”

  The passage River led them into was a strange one. A damp chill rose from the floor and drifted from the walls, clinging to Kali’s skin and cooling every breath. Stale air barely circulated. The old, earthy scent of underground hung around them. But it wasn’t the smell or the chill that unsettled Kali’s nerves. It was the whispers. Indistinct voices chattered constantly, almost too low to be heard, and followed every twist and turn the four of them made.

  Unexpectedly, the air transformed, becoming fresher, lighter. The surface beneath Kali’s feet altered, and a different noise resonated in the tunnels—the metallic clink of footsteps. She aimed the beam downward, confirming her suspicions. Dirt and stone were gone, replaced by metal.

  River didn’t slow the pace until a door stopped them. The structure was burnished metal like everything else in this part of the catacombs, but oddly absorbed any light that touched it, refusing to be illuminated even beneath the beam of the powerful flashlight. Kali couldn’t spot any seams or hinges. A dusty window occupied a space just above eye level. On tip toe she could see through the window, but only more darkness greeted her from the other side.

  The whispers had gotten louder.

  Expelling a loud breath, she turned to York. “Okay, how do we get in there?” And do we really want to?

  He shrugged. “River brought us here. I’m hoping he’s already got that part figured out.”

  River answered by pointing to a nearly invisible line on the dark surface. It ran from floor to ceiling. “There’s an inscription here, a simple phrase repeating over and over.”

  The writings had to be microscopic. Kali couldn’t see anything. But York leaned closer, narrowing his eyes as he read. He scowled. “It’s the old language.”

  “Hello,” she said. “Care to share?”

  “Yeah, sorry.” Tracing the words with one finger, he read the script aloud. “By their chained blood may all be freed.”

  Kali’s heart lurched, hammering ice through her system. She licked her lips nervously. “What does that even mean?”

  “I don’t know.” York studied the smooth metal door and peered beyond it through the window. “But I’ve got a hunch. Builders are most likely responsible for all aftermarket parts within this labyrinth. If that’s the case, this little inscription is yet another cockamamie rationale for ruining someone else’s life. The better question is the one you asked earlier but hasn’t been answered.” He stared at River pointedly.

  Without uttering a word of explanation, River slit his finger wide using the blade of his gladius. Blood that was nearly black in the dim light poured from the wound, spilling onto the floor. Kali grimaced but couldn’t look away. Using the bloodied finger, he painted over the vertical script, and the writings immediately glowed bright blue through the macabre glaze. From behind, she heard Cixi’s awed intake of air as the door shimmered. Then it simply dissolved, leaving a black, rectangular-shaped hole in the metal wall.

  “You didn’t say open sesame,” York muttered. He moved to the threshold of the door and paused. “I’m not getting anything. Even those weird whispers have stopped.”

  Kali could have sagged with relief. “You heard them too. I thought I was nuts.”

  “You are nuts.” He smiled over his shoulder. Then he looked at River. “What do you think?”

  “Are we questioning the door or Kalista’s sanity?”

  “Ha. Ha. Look at that. You made a joke. Too bad it wasn’t funny.” He extended his hand. “Kali, the light please.” She surrendered the flashlight, and York aimed it into the gaping oblivion. Nothing was illuminated. The hole swallowed the light just as the door’s surface had before it. “I can’t see a thing, even with this. I don’t like it.”

  “Neither do I,” Kali agreed. “But what other choice do we have?”

  York grimaced. “None,” he said, and the darkness swallowed him as he stepped inside.

  Chapter 19

  Blinding whiteness was the last thing Kali expected to encounter on the other side. After York disappeared, River had basically shoved her through the gateway. He and Cixi followed close at heel. The room they entered was immaculate. Floor, ceiling, walls—all were pure white. Like the shimmering door that once sealed this place, everything was seamless, flowing together indiscernibly. The construction was from a material Kali didn’t recognize, probably alien to Earth. Her gaze swept ahead and back, finding nowhere to rest in the uniform blanket of pristine whiteout.

  York’s absence was glaringly evident. Struggling against the urge to call out to him, she put one foot in front of the other and kept moving forward. At least River didn’t seem worried. Kali felt reassured at the thought until she remembered Rhane’s brother always maintained the same regal composure. If someone put a kitten in his lap and set it on fire, the guy probably wouldn’t blink.

  “Where is he?” she whispered as the remainder of her patience fractured.

  River jerked his head to the right. “Through there.”

  Her feet followed the motion. Slowly the outline of another doorway took shape. The white on white blended far too well, making the door difficult to see. Their black leather jackets, blue jeans, and especially Cixi’s red hair, stood in harsh contrast with the alien environment. York was crouched on the floor and made an exasperated gesture as he acknowledged their approach. “It’s about time. Did you guys stop for burgers?”

  Frowning, Kali shook her head. “We came in right after you. Not even a few seconds went by.” Cixi nodded, folding her arms. Her expression was as puzzled as Kali’s, only shadowed by more scorn than confusion.

  “That’s impossible. I’ve been staring at this unlucky bastard for at least five minutes. It took another two to find him.”

  “What?”

  York scooted backward, waving a hand at the floor. “Look for yourself.”

  Translucent and illuminated by the same white brightness as the rest of the room, an area measuring approximately two feet by four ended where York’s boots stopped. Beneath the transparency was the face of an animal. Of what species, Kali couldn’t readily tell. The skin was reptilian, pebbled and dark green with thin yellow stripes.
A bone white beak, spotted light gray, took the place of where a mouth and nose could have been. The eyes, spaced much too far apart, were closed, sealed over by membrane riddled with thick veins. Only part of the torso was visible. The physique was of a human male, but the skin was characterized by a smooth and glossy appearance—almost like a marine animal—colored dark green like the rest of it.

  “What is it?” Kali leaned closer, held in motionless wonder by the possibility of being in the presence of an actual extraterrestrial.

  “A cross species of some sort,” York answered. He didn’t sound nearly as enthralled.

  “From here?”

  He shrugged. “It’s hard to say. Maybe this thing is a mixture of two worlds.”

  “I wonder how long he’s been down here,” Kali said almost to herself as she reached out, pressing a timid finger against the glass. The creature’s eyes opened, pale blue with thin slits dissecting the pupils, and Kali flew backward, biting her cheek to keep from screaming as she crashed into York. He was on his feet in a flash, pulling her up alongside him.

  “What happened?”

  “It’s still alive. It-it opened its eyes.”

  Breathing a curse, he edged over to the transparent cell. The creature tracked York’s every movement. Kneeling again, York met its stare without flinching. No one spoke. No one moved. Finally, he broke the silence as his gaze shifted to River who had remained oddly quiet since entering the creature’s chamber. “What do you make of all this?”

  “These catacombs are a laboratory of some sort. Builders used it to design, experiment on, and destroy their creations. There will be hundreds of other stasis pods like the one you stand on scattered throughout this facility.”

  York stood up slowly. “Funny. I was thinking we hadn’t seen enough to draw any solid conclusions.”

  “You misconstrue what is merely hypothesis as fact.”

  “How silly of me.” Tension crept into York’s relaxed posture as he and River considered one another from across the room. Watching the standoff, Kali really wished one of her supernatural abilities was that of mind reading. River had done nothing to arouse suspicion of any other objective besides helping to get his missing brother back. But being an unlucky victim of River’s darker side made her disinclined to be the advocate for his intended goodwill.

  Besides, there had always been bad blood between York and River. The two barely got along even with Rhane’s mediation. Of course, in the past year, York had at least taken one hand off the hatchet and made amends. He’d even said himself how much of an asset River had become in Rhane’s absence. Obviously something had happened within the past few hours to change that. Or York had tuned into something outside of Kali’s perception. The only thing to do was wait and find out what.

  “We’re wasting time, York. Why have you returned to doubting me? I’ve done nothing to warrant mistrust.”

  “No. You haven’t. At least not since you fought alongside Rhane in the Barbarian Raid, used your position to get an undeserved spot on my scout team, subsequently turned a two-man operation into a one man show and left me to die.”

  “I thought you’d put that regrettable incident behind us.”

  “I have.” York’s stance shifted ever so slightly. “What bothers me is how well you seem to know your way around this place. You’ve got a great poker face, River. But I can tell when your royal ass is hiding something. You should tell me what that something is now.”

  River’s unease nipped at the calm of his features. After a long hesitation, he shrugged. “I came here just before summer, after Rhane left for Golden Mountain. We’d discussed another visit to Asia in order to investigate the coordinates found on the map. I didn’t because at the time the threat against Kalista remained too great. But the destruction of the rogue hive and an alliance with Ian made journeying here much less of a risk. I’m afraid I did not make it much further beyond this point. There are other laboratories besides this one. The Heart could be in any of them.”

  “That’s all?”

  River inclined his head slightly. “That is all.”

  “Alright then,” York said, but still didn’t seem too sure. “Let’s move forward. No more secrets. I hate ‘em.”

  Kali swallowed a scoff. Tell me about it.

  With the incident behind them, they cleared two more rooms. There were many more stasis chambers just as River had said. Each held another horrific mash-up of creatures that Builders had tried to genetically fuse together. Thankfully, no more of them were conscious like the strange lizard-marine animal with blue eyes full of human awareness.

  They reached a fourth room—the largest so far—cluttered with all sorts of super advanced technology. Blinking lights from dormant consoles lined the walls. Medical tables were scattered throughout in rows. Four vertical tanks, each with the capacity to contain a large shark in each, were positioned in the formation of a square. But Kali’s eyes were drawn to the bony remains suspended in the air behind the tanks. Spanning at least twelve feet across, the wings were suspended by nothing and cast no shadow as they appeared to drift along the wall in front of her.

  York clicked his teeth appreciatively. “That’s impressive.”

  “No kidding,” Kali agreed.

  Even Cixi nodded, mouth parted in wonder. She stretched a slender arm toward the wings.

  “Don’t touch anything,” River warned.

  Her hand stopped. “Are they real?”

  “No. They’re only projections.”

  “Then what’s the harm?” she said, and quickly reached forward, letting her fingertips graze a sloping curve of bone. River’s eyes flew wide as he shouted a warning that came too late. The image shimmered. Kali held her breath, waiting for what would happen next.

  Several seconds passed.

  And a few more…

  When nothing happened, everyone breathed at once.

  Cixi’s red lips pulled into a nervous smile. “The bones felt real.”

  Something creaked, like a door on rusted hinges. Then the bones shrugged, lifting a century old weight, shuddered and collapsed into a dusty film that blanketed the room. It was then that the soft whirring began.

  “We should probably go now.” Kali’s quiet proposition sounded as shaky as she felt.

  York wasn’t convinced. “Wait,” he said, but the whirring grew louder and louder, ending in a boom that shook the floor. That changed his mind. “Run!”

  Doors that hadn’t existed before dropped from the ceiling, creating barriers, forming new walls. Soon they would be trapped. “This way,” River called, beckoning urgently for everyone to follow. A projection descended dangerously close to Kali’s left side, flickering twice, and then becoming a solid wall. York grabbed her hand, hauling her forward in a blur of inhuman speed that even she was not capable of. They barely made it out of the chamber before another barrier sealed off the way behind them. Kali looked around until she saw of flash of red. Cixi was keeping up okay. There was a fleeting moment to acknowledge her mixed emotions of that fact and then it was time to move again.

  Legs pumping, heart pounding, Kali somehow managed to run fast enough. York let go and fell behind. No doubt, he did it intentionally so as to keep her in line of sight. The next corridor was white like everywhere else. More doors closed, trying to cage them in. “Faster,” River shouted.

  Kali concentrated on her breathing, on taking full breaths. Her lungs were burning. Her ribs were throbbing. Even her head had started to hurt. Each step was a jarring rattle to her aching body. But she corralled the hurts to the back of her mind, hoping she would be alive later to feel them.

  At the end of the passage, something interrupted the whiteness. A black rectangle cut into the landscape. But even as Kali watched, the black shape began to dwindle.

  Still running, River turned his head and yelled over his shoulder. “York! That door! You’re strong enough to hold it.”

  Barreling past in a blur, York reached the doorway and braced it ope
n. The door stopped shrinking, preserving their exit, but the tension in York’s face betrayed the incredible amount of strain placed on his body. Kali had witnessed this scene many times before in movies. Things usually didn’t end well for the guy in the doorway.

  The thought spurred her legs faster. Cixi lunged through, disappearing into the darkness of the other side. Kali was only seconds behind. But just as she pushed off to leap, a barrier shimmered directly before her. There wasn’t time to stop or dodge it. She slammed painfully into a solid white wall. The projection hummed, and her skin started to tingle, starting at her feet and rising to her head. Was it scanning her? A buzzing sensation filled her ears. Then the wall turned red and a jolt of misery rocketed through her entire body. A scream tore from her lips as she tried to pull away, but an irresistible force held her in place. A second barrier dropped, connecting to the first, and then a third. It was boxing her in! Panic spurted through her mind, fueling her efforts to escape the agonizing hold of the first wall. But its gravity was too great to overcome. Looking up, Kali saw a forth barrier descending. In seconds she would be trapped, cut off from the others, left alone to face an unknown fate.