The Dark Edge Chronicles - Clan War

Underground Horror

Lash nodded in satisfaction as he heard the screams of pain and the thud of bodies colliding coming from outside. Their efforts to create a panic had worked even better than they had hoped, thanks to the inherent paranoia and distrust between the various Dark Edge races. Then he was pushing his satisfaction aside to quickly pass through the building to the staircase leading down into the actual market itself. With the guards all rushing to get outside and take control of the situation there despite what their Shifter bosses were yelling at them, he had space to make the descent.

But it wouldn't last long. As soon as the Shifters restored control and discovered it was significantly less serious than Viper Team yelling from various parts of the crowd made it sound, those guards would be sent back into the building double time.

Lash flew down the stairs, taking them three or four at a time. Unlike the stairs leading into the enclave itself, these didn't have any cutbacks to descend in a series of flights. The stairs into the market was a broad, single run, fairly steep, that took him right into the heart of the market. When he reached the floor, he found himself stepping into a large space, almost like a professional basketball court, with a central platform for displaying individual items, smaller platforms around the edge for side displays and stadium-style seating.

Running between the side display platforms were a number of entrances, presumably into the specialized markets like the slave market. Running through the large, central space, Lash made for the nearest door to a specialized space.

Pushing the sliding door aside, he cautiously tested the air with his nose. While not as keen as a werewolf's, a vampire still possessed a sense of smell several times more sensitive than a human's. As a race that hunted humans as food, this was essential.

Hoping he'd catch a whiff of a living creature past that door, making it the possible location for the slave market, Lash was disappointed when he picked up a hint of cleaning oil and Nitrocellulose, the propellant in most modern munitions. Those smells were common with firearms. Which made this space the illegal firearms market.

Lash slid the door closed and sprinted at full vampire speed to the next one, hastened by the sounds of movement coming from the central space. Syndicate members were starting to re-enter the building, a bit sooner than he had hoped. And that meant he needed to move faster.

Again the big vampire pulled the door aside and took a cautious sniff. It filled his nose with the pungent scents of exotic animals and their waste.

Another headlong sprint to the third door along the arena's outer wall and he was pulling it aside with a jerk. And felt a trickle of relief when the smell of stale perspiration, blood, unwashed bodies, and fear tickled his nostrils.

With those smells, it could only be one place: the slave market. With a glance over his shoulder to make sure nobody was on the way down the stairs, he stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

Without the outside air diluting it, the atmosphere in the slave market became pungent to the point of being nauseating. Yet Lash couldn't afford to not breathe deeply in case he missed catching the instantly recognizable scent of a vampire queen. So he drew it all in as he moved down a short corridor into the main display room.

Like the arena behind him, the display room was a fairly large space with a central platform with diffuse lighting and available spotlights to highlight individuals. And, again like the arena, there were a number of doors leading presumably to the storage areas where the slaves themselves were being kept.

Yet, after checking just about all of them, the puzzled and frustrated vampire couldn't find any trace of the missing liliths. Had they already been sold and moved?