💀Death's Apprentice💀

Chapter Twenty: An Altar In The Catacombs

Rose Delaney

Hundreds of feet into the tunnel, and everything was pitch black. It never seemed to turn or stop. Shuddering at the thought of running into the walls of bones, I took one careful step after the other. I didn't like the idea of my hands touching human remains, but I really didn't like the thought of running into them face first. I decided to walk with my hands held out in front of me.

Eventually it began to lighten up. Moonlight trickled down from the end of the tunnel and into another dome shaped room from what looked like the bottom of an old well. I stopped in my tracks. There was another horrifying thing in the catacombs. At the center of the domed room was an altar complete with black iron shackles. Dark red stains ran across the surface and down the side.

"This family is more messed up than I thought..." I whispered to myself. Something was sitting in the center of it. The tablet! I fought the urge to race to it. No one was in sight. The catacombs were deathly silent. It was too easy.

I took a tentative step forward. Nothing happened. Another step. Still nothing. Finally I just took a deep breath and lunged for the tablet. With a sound like howling wind it disappeared, and the catacombs were plunged into darkness. The moonlight from the well was gone.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, but not the way they usually did. The entire room was coated with a glowing sheen of blue. The well had disappeared from the ceiling as if it had never even been there. I looked down. Unlike the tablet the dried blood stains were still there, and my hands were resting right on them. I cringed and picked them up to see if anything had gotten on them, wondering who or what the blood had once belonged to. Dried flakes of blood were stuck to my fingers and palms.

WHAM! Suddenly my head was slammed down onto the altar. I was disgusted and disoriented long enough for someone to shove me onto the altar. CLAMP-CLAMP! I tried to get up, but my hands were trapped! CLAMP-CLAMP! I yanked my arms and legs as hard as I could, but it was no use. Someone had fastened me into the shackles.

"It's so wonderful, this magic. You can do so many things with it." Katherine Hawthorne cooed. "Mirages, seeing in the dark...even this." She snapped her fingers, and in an instant fire erupted from old fashioned torches jutting out from the walls. Something glinted from her hand in the firelight. A dagger. A black leather handle held an intricately designed black blade.

"You have an altar in your basement." I remarked.

"Catacombs-this is where our family held hundreds of dreadfully boring meetings when Cedrick and I were children."

"That's...that's not better. Does that sound better in your head? Because I have a feeling that sounds better in your head...Your family...held meetings having to do with an altar...in the catacombs under your mansion. That doesn't sound good in any context whatsoever. Have you ever washed this thing? It's disgusting." I watched her with a deep-seated discomfort as she laughed.

          "The guards told me you and your boyfriend were full of sass. You know, my family collected dozens of mansions and various properties throughout the centuries. But this one...this one was to be mine. I was to inherit everything on this land and more. I wanted to fill this terrible place with cement and start a new chapter for our family. Then I was murdered. Murdered by my own step-brother! This altar hasn't been cleaned since shortly before my death."

          "What happened to him?" I asked. She giggled. Her free hand ran along the altar thoughtfully. Neon blue eyes wondered about the hundreds of skeletons surrounding us before finally landing on me. She leaned down with a sly grin pulling at her blood red lips as if she were about to tell me a secret. I wanted to shrink away from her, but the shackles held me firmly in place.

          "I wouldn't worry about him. I asked my little brother what happened when I woke up. He assured me he took care of him a long time ago." Katherine purred, running the flat end of her blade over my cheek menacingly. She raised the dagger into the air. I yanked at the shackles with all of my might, but to no avail. A searing pain tore through my middle as she brought the dagger down. I screamed in pain. Now I had been stabbed twice in three days! By the same family!

"I might not be able to kill you without the Scythe, but I can certainly leave you a mess for when you next come into contact with it." Katherine growled. "You may live for now, but you'll die the moment they get the Scythe back. How about that for motivation to leave me and my brother alone?" She yanked the dagger out and prepared to bring it down again.

BAM! The dagger slipped out of Katherine's hand and clattered down onto the altar. Katherine crumpled to the floor in an instant. Behind her stood Prometheus Cain. He was covered in blood, black goo, and green pus, but he seemed to be going strong. Cain held up the butt of his gun.

"I can't kill her, but I can knock her out." Cain stated. I laughed euphorically at the prospects of not being stabbed again. He set to work unlocking my shackles. I sat up quickly, and he helped me hop down off of the altar. My stomach hurt. "Come on, we have to find the tablet and Scythe." I tried to pull out of his grasp, but his grip on my arm only tightened.

"That's not the plan, Death and th-"

"That was never the plan."