Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Chapter 4

CHELSEA

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The Tribunal Chamber was reached by a series of serpentine passageways, a slimy labyrinth of misshaped tunnels and underground filth.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Two men clasped Chelsea's arms firmly. Both had two tattoos on both their hands: crimson rings around their pinkies, then a black chain linking to a larger circle around their wrists. They wore dull gray uniforms with a belt of miscellaneous tools hugging their waists.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The turns and weaving paths ceased. The trio began what Chelsea sensed was the final leg of the journey. The ground changed as well: a steel grate covered the floor over an impregnable darkness.

Drip. Drip. Dri-

"Not again. Not again!" A raspy shriek ripped the hostile air. The sound of wind filled the air, then dark fingers clenched the bars beneath Chelsea and the two men. A face followed, its features distorted against the metal.

If it could be called a face.

Scarlet streaks coated yellow eyes sunken in an ashen skull. The creature- one couldn't tell the gender- had a wide open mouth, filled with dozens of craggy, misshapen stalactites and stalagmites, all of them colored a disturbing, bleached ivory.

The vampire locked eyes with Chelsea. Raggedly, she drew a breath as they stared at each other. The torn edges of its maw tipped upwards, revealing blackened gums.

"Aren't we gorgeous, yes, yes we are lovelies..."

Chelsea's breath shuddered in her chest. One guard, the one with crow's feet lining his eyes, pulled her roughly forward, kept her moving away from the mutant. For tthe first time she was grateful to be moving to the Chamber, to get away from all of Them. Her head twisted, almost against her will, to keep it in her gaze. As she watched, the wind again blew, and the creature... changed.

The head shrank, the hideous nose squashing into his face and the discolored ears growing points at the top. The face turned black, then hair grew from all pores.

He was turning into a bat.

Chelsea panicked. She tore her arms away from the guards and sprinted back, fast, to the ancient wooden door sealing the side of the tunneled hallway they had just exited. She would rather face the evil she knew, what she had left in her cell, than encounter this new horror. From behind, she heard an odd sound, like glass shattering, and the eeriest wail.

Thunk.

A thick fist rammed into her spine, sending vibrations through her bones. She fell to the ground, her back feeling as though it had been hit with a thousand blows. A cry fell from her unwilling lips, her eyesight flushed scarlet. Though Chelsea could not see it, tears of wine-colored blood ran from her eyes. She hastily curled into a ball, praying for the hellish pain to cease.

Did it? No.

The guards pulled her to her feet again, the one who had not hit her holding a half-foot of black metal, sparks spitting from an end. She screamed without abandon as a fresh wave of pain overtook her quivering body. They paid no mind to her, almost robotic in their measured movements.

The group resumed their walk, Chelsea dragging her feet even more than before. They walked over the grate again. She didn't dare look down on what she crushed beneath her boots. She knew that if she looked, the other vampire would be nowhere to be seen.

Finally, tortuously, they made it to the opposite end of that tunneled hallway. There one guard entered the engraved door while the remaining guard stared at Chelsea impassively. She averted her eyes, uncomfortable with his apathetic stare, to the decorations on the door.

The door looked to be purely metal, perhaps bronze. That would explain the way the guard had struggled with opening it; it must be extremely heavy. At least seven feet high, the entire surface was covered in minuscule drawings.

And such drawings! The art was magnificent, showing tiny figures in every attitude imaginable. They were fighting, eating, dancing... Chelsea's eyes raced over the pictures, completely enthralled.

One she stared at for at least a minute. There were two people in the engraving, a woman and a manlike creature. The female held two shining swords, one in each hand. Her face was twisted into a stern, fierce expression, but the artist had somehow managed to convey a sense of sadness in her visage. The man had no such delicacy in his execution. He was unarmed and wore torn clothes, but the real ugliness was in his features. He was harshly beautiful, true, but warped and twisted, his mouth an endless snarl. The two were fighting and seemed to be evenly matched, from this simple spotlight into their history.

The guard watching her noticed her interest in the picture.

"That's Rosa Gyran right there, that is," he grunted.

Chelsea startled, surprised out of her reverie. Why did this warrior have the same last name as her mother's family? She said nothing, then curiosity took the better of her.

"Why is she on this door? Why are any of them, for that matter?" She rasped quietly. Even still, her voice echoed in the empty air.

The guard decided to be chatty.

"That's an easy one. All dem Chancellors of the Tribunal are so damn proud of dem ancestors, dey put dem up on the door the minute dey get on the Tribunal. Load of selfishness, if you ask me. " he sniffed with all the snobbiness of a lord. Then he cradled the sparks-spitting nightstick. "The swords were from when we din't have dese babies. One whack o' dese, you gone." His wicked smirk revealed a missing incisor. "You lucky, you is. Nearly jabbed you myself right there."

Chelsea's heart seemed to sink to her shoes. There was no way, was there...? No way could Geraldine, her old tormentor, be past that door.

As if her mere thoughts had summoned him, the first guard was back.

"The Chancellors will see you now." He enunciated clearly.

She took a breath, figuratively of course, and pushed that heavy door.

Or she tried too. It wouldn't budge. She pushed harder, then kicked the door before looking pointedly back at the sniggering guards.

"Some help, if you please?" She requested coldly, her rasp giving her an authoritative edge.

Sullenly, the first guard pushed open the door and held it for her. She swept in, her back straight and her nose in the air.

I will face her, thought Chelsea. And I will stare her in the eyes and laugh at her. It'll embarrass her most thoroughly- God almighty, are those mirrors?! That's me?!

Levels away, Heidi and most of the inhabitants heard Chelsea's scream of terror.

Guys, I apologize soo much for the long delay. I don't really have a reason except, well, school. But my math final is on Friday, and so the only other paperwork I have to do this summer is my AP English work. Yay me.

Thoughts on this chapter? There's always the comment/ message system. :) Utilize it!