Drake grunted. “Templars of the Unseen Path. A bunch of righteous characters trying to keep evil away.”
“Why are the symbols crossed out?”
“These Templar jokers started something they couldn’t control, so the government took over.”
“Archangel was the passcode. Is that her code name as well?” Gerrick asked. The two had worked numerous jobs together, and Drake was patient enough for Gerrick’s incessant curiosity.
“No, that was the name of the program they were running. Project Archangel,” Drake explained. “Ever read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley?”
“I-I don’t read,” Gerrick said. He quickly added, “Not my thing.”
“Well, it’s about a scientist who made a monster, and this here warehouse is full of monsters made by scientists.”
“And you think this asset we’re picking up will help us?” Gerrick asked, wiping rainwater off his bald head.
“Pretty sure we’re not asking,” Drake said. He studied a blueprint for a few moments. “This one is the most dangerous of the bunch, so we’ll need to be careful.”
Drake gazed at the various paths lining the paper and shook the water off his Stetson before making a decision.
“She’s down on the left here,” he said, and the men followed him deeper through the winding maze of crates and barrels. There was a heavy metallic snap! and they paused.
“Front door locked?” Gerrick asked.
“Astute,” was all Drake said, and spit his chew. He scratched at the grayed stubble on his jaw and kept walking.
“Will we need a password to get out? Or will the first one work?” Gerrick asked. His voice was a tad higher than normal as he looked behind him.
“We’ll be fine,” Drake said. “Let’s get to the target and get the hell out of here.”
They finally arrived at rows of boxes, each separated by heavy wooden beams embedded with curious, glowing orange gems. Gerrick drew close and squinted.
“Don’t touch anything,” Drake hissed.
“What are they?”
“Aurorium. Harmless to us but a formidable hindrance to what’s inside these boxes. Kind of like barbed wire on a cattle fence. Except this stuff keeps these creatures weak enough that they won’t cause anyone trouble,” Drake said.
They gazed down the long corridor of iron boxes separated by glowing orange dots. Each box rose in height to their shoulders and was wide as an arm span with a padlocked hatch for access. Drake covered his nose and mouth. The odor of bodily excretions, mixed with a strange musk, flooded the air.
Whispers and guttural voices, low growls and snuffling echoed through the cavernous space as they arrived at a cage marked Fang-0120. Gerrick and the others stared at the dark slits of the cages, expecting inhuman claws to reach out at them. The hardened mercenaries kept a wary eye out and their rifles ready.
“Are those slits for air?” Gerrick asked, rubbing his nose.
“No, they’re for administering pain compliance,” Drake said. With a grunt, he dropped his pack and pulled out a white metal rod with an aurorium tip. He twisted the rod and pulled it out to its full length.
“Here, take this.” Drake handed the rod to Gerrick. “Shove it in there.”
Gerrick glanced at Drake before jabbing the glowing end inside. A piercing shriek made him jump back. The ogrek shot toward Drake with something close to stark terror.
“She sounds like a woman,” Gerrick said. “Not a vampire.”
“And what are vampires supposed to sound like?” Drake squinted at Gerrick before he turned to the cage and rapped his knuckles against it.
“You awake now? Good. Allow me an introduction. My name is Drake and I’m in charge of this little operation.” He thumbed towards the ogrek. “And this here’s Gerrick. You are ...?”
There was a rush of panicked breathing before a weak answer came back.
“Fang.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Fang.” He tipped his hat. “The boys and I have heard so much about you. Now, I have some questions. Have you heard of The Curse of Shadows?”
“Yes,” Fang whispered in pain.
“You sure?”
“Positive.” Her British accent was clipped yet somehow attractive given the situation. Gerrick squinted through the narrow opening but there was nothing to see but inky darkness.
“Well, a couple of guys stole it. Maybe you know their names. Trevin and Moreci?”
“I know them,” she hissed.
“I was tasked with finding this book, and I think you might have an interest in finding them. But just so we’re absolutely sure, can you tell me what the book is all about?” he asked.
There was a long pause before she responded. “It’s a very old, very rare book created in the nether-realm. It curses people into monsters. They tried to use something similar on me, but... it didn’t work properly.”
“Sounds about right,” Drake said. He looked around. “Then let’s get this association between us straightened out. You work for us, and we don’t kill you, understand? If you hop out of place, we will kill you. If you try to change our plans, we will kill you. If you look at Gerrick’s neck the wrong way, we will kill you.”
Gerrick frowned and rubbed his neck.
Drake pulled out an aurorium bullet and turned the glowing end in front of her.
“See this? Forty-five-caliber aurorium shell. Pretty sure this’ll put a good-sized dent in you. And they gave us a few between the twenty-four of us. Are we clear?”
“Crystal.”
“And the matter’s settled. Gentlemen,” he said, and pointed to a corner. “We’ll need those iron rods to move her cage out.” Four heavily muscled men moved to obey.
Drake and Gerrick stepped away as the men tugged the cage out into the open space. The space around them awakened with grunts and snarls as the men dragged iron across concrete.
Gerrick shot a look at Drake. “This is all real, isn’t it? These are real vampires?”
“Not all of them,” Drake said. “There’s more preternatural beings here than just vampires. Hell, if you want just vampires, go to the Sierra Madre del Sur, Mexico. Vampires up to your damn eyeballs. Up here? Well, they want a little of this and that. The US military’s a finicky bunch.”
“How old is she?” Gerrick rubbed his neck
