Jungle Stakes (SHORTLIST Open Novella Contest II)

Chapter 12

Javier's mother was sitting in the same spot before the doorway, hands folded in her lap. and the serene smile plastered on her face. How Javier thought this old woman who creaked and groaned to get up could defend herself or the tomb was beyond her. But they were short on choices.

"Hola," Helena greeted and continued in Spanish, "Javier is sleeping peacefully. Fitzy said he'll recover fully. Fitzy will be here soon to take over. I'm going to do a security check. Do you need anything before I go?" The old woman simply shook her head. She hadn't even looked at Helena when she spoke.

When Helena started towards the tomb, a small noise sounded from Javier's mother. Helena turned and smiled. "I need to make sure everything is ok. It'll be okay."

The old woman waved her forward, beaming. "Take your time. Enjoy yourself." she said, with slight stress on the word 'enjoy'.

As she was going into a dark hole in the ground, with an ancient dead guy who may or may not be a vampire. 'Enjoy' wasn't the sentiment she expected. Helena nodded anyway.

She stood at the top of stairs and flicked on the generator to light the lower chamber. There was no answering scurry or shadows noticeable. Her heart raced, and her legs were frozen stiff. She could go the rest of this trip never setting foot in the lower chamber again. Even if the guy wasn't a vampire. She shivered at her certainty that he was. It was insane to go down there, but she needed the camera.

Javier's mother shifted slightly behind her, reminding Helena she had an audience.

Without looking back, she focused her attention on her inhalation, following the path of her breath in through her nose and down to her lungs. That got her legs to move and take a step down. Another breath, another step.

She put a hand on her weapon and felt a moment of reassurance. But guns didn't affect vampires. Staking, decapitation or fire. If she'd thought of it back at camp, she'd have grabbed a machete. She wouldn't be able to stake him with the fragments on his chest. A hysterical giggle rose up at the the image of stabbing the man with a toothpick sized fragment of the ancient stake.

Her foot cleared the bottom step. She pressed her back to the wall beside the door and focused on breathing before her heart leapt from her chest. Her eyes were glued to the sarcophagus. The only movement came from dust motes that danced by in the beam of the floodlight they'd placed in the corner.

Cold sweat ran down her back and prickled under her arms. She needed to check the man. But this time she'd be prepared.

Tilting her head to the side, she was able to see the black equipment bag in her peripheral vision while keeping her eyes glued to the stone coffin. She leaned down and picked up the bag. By feel she unzipped it and reached inside. "Oh thank God," she whispered when her hand encountered the camera.

"Okay, Helly, you don't have to go all the way over. Just enough to see inside. Hold the camera over your head and shoot it in for pictures."

She grit her teeth together to stop them chattering and took a step. Her eyes didn't stray from the spot on the side where she expected his hand to suddenly appear, gripping to pull himself up before he attacked her. She got another step closer and held the camera up over her head.

Another step and she forced herself to look up at the camera screen to check the angle. On the screen was the man, still lying peacefully. Relief blossomed and relaxed her chest slightly. She flicked the knob to video and stepped closer.

She swept her eyes up his body, noting cursorily that all appeared as she remembered it. Her heart hammered in her ears and fear crushed her heart in an iron fist when she got to his face.

His stunningly beautiful, smooth-skinned face.

Her throat closed and wouldn't pass air. Her mouth opened and closed as she gasped for breath. She gripped the side of the coffin to avoid falling down. When her vision reduced to a pinprick, she knew if she didn't calm down and get some oxygen into her lungs, she'd pass out. And there was no way in hell she was going to pass out next to a vampire who must be very much alive for all that he appeared dead.

With her eyes glued on the vampire, she concentrated on the faint hum from the fluorescent floodlight. Then she focused on her toes, her feet, ankles and slowly moved up her body. By the time she'd reached her head, her chest was tight, but her lungs were working normally.

"Oh my God," she gasped, because she needed to break the deafening silence. She pinched her arm hard, just for good measure. "All right Helly, you've got the camera, now leave. Just take a step back, now another," she talked herself right out of the tomb.

Javier's mother was smiling widely when Helena turned to face her. The old woman's smile faltered slightly, and she glanced at the partially illuminated stairwell. "Is everything okay?" she asked.

Helena almost burst out into more hysterical giggles. She needed to be alone to process this. She couldn't be here with this woman who thought that thing was a nice peaceful mountain spirit. They were dealing with a killer, just not the psycho human kind.

"I'm going to check the perimeter. I'll be back." She raced to the side of the hill and used the vines to pull herself up. She needed to see the bodies. To check them for bite marks.