Krimson Mind: The Krimson Cycle Vol. 1

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Krimson

The silver cuffs were just starting to hurt again when the door to my cell unlocked and opened. I opened my eyes in time to see Josephina, Isabella, Phantom, and Specter enter the cell. Alexioff's whores walked around the stone slab until there was one posted at each of my hands. Kaign's bastards stood at each of my feet. I glared hatefully at Phantom.

"Listen up bitch!" Phantom said in a low growl. "If you so much as blink the wrong way, we four will make sure that you never make it to your so-called trial. Do you understand me?"

"Suck my lady-dick!" I spat back at him.

Josephina punched my forehead, slamming the back of my skull into the stone slab behind it. Bright yellow stars suddenly clouded my vision. I groaned to let them know their point was received.

They undid my bonds and roughly helped me to my feet. I resisted the urge to rub my wrists. Phantom and Specter walked to the door, and I fell into step behind them. Josephina and Isabella fell in behind me. In absolute silence, we all left the cell.

Being Kaign's personal slave for the first hundred years of my undead life, I was given plenty of time to explore all thirteen levels of Scholomace. Each level had a different size depending on what they used for. The first seven levels were the largest. Level one was the motor pool and hangar for the vehicles that transported Kaign's army. When I had last seen it, there had been hundreds of horses and chariots. I fought off a grin as I imagined 5,000 vampires with machine guns and grenade launchers on horseback and on two wheeled chariots. I was willing to bet that he upgraded.

The next two levels were armories. I was sure that Kaign had upgraded the toys that his soldiers used. The third level armory was where I found the katana that I still use. I wondered what kinds of gun he had stored up there. The next three levels probably hadn't changed that much. Those levels were the barracks that housed his army. While the weapons of war might change, the soldiers who fight and die don't. They still need a place to lay their heads at daybreak.

Even though I hadn't actually seen the seventh level, I was certain that it hadn't changed on little bit. The entire level was a massive arena, complete with a grandstand for people to witness the training. I was pretty sure that Kaign trained his army there.

I wasn't so sure about the next level. A long time ago, it had been a storage level. But with the advent of modern technology, I was guessing that Kaign had transformed it into some sort of mechanical area. It probably had big air movers and some sort of electrical generators.

The next three levels actually make up one room. They comprise the library. The library was a massive tubular shaped room that had shelves covering every inch of the walls. I was willing to bet that some of the books in the library that hadn't seen daylight in over 2000 years. There were texts on every subject imaginable. I know. I spent quite a bit of time in that room.

The last two levels I knew quite well. Level twelve was where Kaign and Alexioff lived with their personal guards. Below that, were the prisons, where I had just spent the last three days.

My captors, who were wearing long black robes, led me over to a very modern looking elevator. Phantom depressed the only button, and the doors slid open without a sound. Phantom and Specter got in and then turned around to face me. Isabella shoved me forward and I stumbled into the elevator. I caught myself before I crashed into the last of the Spook Squad. As I regained my balance, Alexioff's little bitches filed in behind me. They stayed facing my back. I discovered that even with five people in the elevator, there was still enough room for at least four more. I was a little amazed because it had been 800 years since I'd been in Scholomace. Elevators hadn't been invented when I was last here.