Hell's Army

Chapter Twenty- The Future Race

Ingleseid slipped around the fence of the Lectis mansion in the familiar feel of Tatter's musty clothes.

"And you're sure they won't be able to sense you?" Ingleseid asked as Holly levitated him up and over the fence.

Tatters dropped down neatly beside him.

"If those vampires are as altered as you say," she said, floating down, "I doubt the witch rule will count anymore. It's more of an ancient tradition thing."

They slipped inside the backdoor, eyes peeled for any vampires who happened to be walking by. They crept into a red hallway, diamond chandeliers tinkling above them. Golden cabinets lined the walls, delicate vases with purple flowers sitting peacefully on top of them.

"This is nice," Ingleseid said, looking around. "I mean, I know they're evil vampires and all, but this is top notch design work."

A hand shot out from the next corridor and tangled itself in Ingleseid's hair. The pale eyes of a vampire bored into his, and fangs tore out of its gums.Holly slammed a wooden stake into its chest, and it exploded into dust.

"Less admiring the architecture," she said, handing him a stake, "more stabbing things."

He nodded slowly, not trusting himself to speak.

They continued down the corridor, Holly braced to teleport them should something drastic happen. Which, this being their lives, always did.

An old man with stern eyes glared down at them from a delicate painting on the wall. Ingleseid frowned. Something wasn't right about that painting. He reached out and brushed his fingers over it, and it split in half, travelling across the wall as the wall itself slid apart, revealing a creamy tiled room with a mirror spanning across the entire back wall. An elevator.

"Guys?" Ingleseid murmured. He looked down the corridor. They were no where to been seen.

He shrugged and stepped into the elevator, pressing the bottom level labelled 'B'.It slowly descended, and the doors slid open to reveal a hall the size of a decent stadium. The walls were bare, the floor cold stone. Wrapping around the entire room, almost reaching the walls, was a rusting cage. People sat huddled around the corners, in the centre, some banging on the walls and screaming, others tearing at the wire with bloodied fingernails like animals. Their hair was dishevelled, their clothes dirty and torn. Wild, frightened eyes wrenched back and forth in their sockets as vampires dressed in lab coats studied them from the outside.

The sound of squealing metal filled the room, and a cacophony of screams echoed as one of the vampires entered the cage and pulled a man in a faded suit out. He screamed and struggled, but it was no use. The vampire pulled him to the back of the room, where there were two doors. One with a red light above it and one with a green. The vampire hauled the shrieking man into the green door, and the people in the cages wailed miserably as he disappeared inside.

Ingleseid's heart thudded in his chest. This was much bigger than they had anticipated. There had to be hundreds of people in that cage. Where were they getting them all? He had to find Holly. He turned around and stared right into the pale, empty face of a vampire.

The vampire smirked and latched onto his arms, hauling him back into the elevator. Ingleseid fumbled for his stake, but the vampire kicked it away easily. The doors slid open, and he pushed Ingleseid into a hall with two creamy double doors, pulled him through.They were in an old fashioned dining room, walls lined with golden rimmed portraits of various scowling people, an oak fireplace roaring away at the back of the room. A group of well-dressed vampires sat at the dining table, Ingleseid recognized the old man from the picture in hallway. Sitting opposite him was the ringmaster, black glasses gleaming. They were all sipping goblets filled with a dark, rich liquid Ingleseid was fairly certain wasn't cranberry juice.