Angel Assassins - Book 1 Lineage & Lies

Chapter 26 - The Citadel

Warm musty air blew out of the vents into Drago's face.

'That smells dreadful' he said as he held his nose.

Gabriel drew alongside Drago and placing his hand on his back.

'Are you ready?'

Drago removed his hand from his nose and nodded. In truth this is the most scared Drago had ever been, coward he wasn't, but he did have a problem with landing himself in more trouble than he could handle. He hoped that this wouldn't be one of those times. He looked over a Pian and returned her smile. Jinn stood before the group

'Remember the plan, you all know your alternative escape routes and whatever you don't use an orb' He raised an eyebrow at Xavier as he said it.

'Don't worry about me I know what I'm doing' replied Xavier.

Jinn and Nathan led the way into the vents, the air getting warmer the deeper they went. Nathan passed out light orbs to everyone, activating the orbs gave enough light to see where they were walking.

'No point in walking around in the dark' said Nathan.

'I would have thought you would have developed some night vision capabilities like the rest of us by now' teased Pian

'I am terribly sorry, I am only human, immortal, but human and I need light to see where I'm going, unlike the rest of you half breeds!'

'I feel a little offended by that' said Gabriel

'Don't worry he's only jealous' said Pian

Xavier joined in, 'Alright, stop winding him up, that's my job'

'He's big enough and old enough to look after himself' Pian emphasised the old.

The banter continued along the tunnel. It seemed to break some of the tension they were all feeling. Jinn held up his hand.

'That's enough now, we're getting close to the compound'

Everyone went quiet and followed single file. The tunnels narrow, Xavier touched the stone walls noticing that they had been worn smooth by the continued heat and air flow. Gabriel had to stoop a little to make his way down the tunnel. They continued walking for about twenty minutes when they stopped at a junction and Jinn whispered

'To the right will lead you directly to the lower furnace, this way will lead us to our entry point. We are lucky the lower furnace isn't lit tonight, or this would be a whole lot harder.'

They followed Jinn up a steep incline that seemed to go on forever. At last they reach to top, where it levelled out until they came to what seemed to be a dead end. Attached to the stone wall was a brass door handle. Jinn twisted it slowly, trying not to make a sound. The stone door creaked under its own weight as it swung open. 

A wall of heat hit them, almost knocking them back down the slope. They entered the small room and the door closed behind them with a dull thud. The heat was oppressive. Opposite the door they had entered the room through, was a huge grate.

'Right, get ready for this' said Jinn

He was about to pull open the grate, when furnace fired up. A wall of heat hit them again, but the small room, seemed to cool instantly. Jinn pointed to the ceiling. It was funnel shaped with a hole at the top.

'When the furnace fires up, the hot air gets pulled up through the funnel to the heat outlet and feeds warm air throughout Lucifer's compound. As the warm air gets drawn up the room temperature in here drops. A roar burst through the room, as the furnace erupted again, blasting another wave of heat into the room.