Chapter 11.5 ~ The Underworld Part 1

  As we stood still just on the other side of the portal, we did nothing buy take a look at our surroundings and taking in the smells. The stench around us made us all want to be sick and it just got worse the longer we stood in place. The fog was beginning to roll in thicker and there was nothing but dead trees as far as we could see. Off in the distance there was a faint glow of lights shining around a small "city" but everything else surrounding the "city" was run down and enclosed by chicken wire.

  We slowly walked forward about 40 yards or so before stopping at a wide, red river bank. The stench of decay had gotten worse and after staring at the river longer I realized that the river was not just red it was...blood! Nick quietly informed us that they called this river Styx, the river of blood but also known as the river of hate.

  Nick led us to a boat that was waiting to take us across, the boat was being operated by some creature, who did not turn to face us at all. Our journey across the river of hate was particularly slow and every moment that passed brought us something new to hear and/or see. We suddenly heard the low growls of animals far off in the distance.

"They are called Hellhounds and you better pray we never come across them. The consequences an and will be fatal," Nick whispered, as we came to a stop.

  The operator of the boat whipped around, pointing for us to get out, and the appearance caused me to scream and nearly faint.

  Nick hurriedly ushered us out of the boat before the man could do anything. As we walked down the small dirt path we were quickly stopped by a very tall, very gorgeous woman. The woman completely ignored Nick and concentrated on Mika.

"Perché sei qui?" The woman said, in a demanding tone.

"Pardon?"

"Why are you here?" The woman said again, lowering her weapon close to Mika's throat.

"We....uh....we caught him feeding off civilians in a town where vampires are illegal. In exchange for our lives we agreed to be his slaves," Mika said in a rush, trying to get his lie out quickly.

  With that the woman reluctantly let us through.

"Do NOT look at anyone...if we even see anyone," Nick said, as we began looking around, not seeing a single person...or creature. "Oh and so you know, that lady is what they call a Guardian. A high ruler of the Underworld, they are here to keep the peace."

  We slowly and quietly made our way around the slums that surrounded the "city" until we found an abandoned house....well more of a shack, to take cover in for a little while. It was time to regroup and discuss what we needed to do next.

"We need to get a grasp on how the slums and city are laid out," Nick said, as we all got settled in, "We also have to figure out where Ricardos house is and what the security is like."

"So lets go, what are we waiting for?" Mika said, quickly jumping up.

"No Mika, I have to go alone. Slaves are not permitted to be out at this time, it will be to suspicious if you guys come with me. You all need to stay here and be quiet. No fires, no nothing, you don't want to attract any unwanted attention to yourselves. Please, I want us all to make it out of here safely," Nick said quietly, before slowly sneaking out, making sure to stick to the shadows.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  As I headed toward the city, I made sure to steer clear of the Anubis and Hellhounds that patrol the area at night, looking for trouble makers and slaves trying to escape. I saw many people and creatures in front of the slums starving, hurt, and sleeping everywhere. I felt bad for them and wished I could help but right now I needed to concentrate on what was most important to the people who had become my family.

  As I looked around the city I noticed how nice it was, it was the only area that had growing plants. The city here looked like any normal city, with the tall skyscrapers, until you saw the very odd people walking around. 

The Underworld was home to every kind of supernatural creature around. While looking around I accidentally bumped into someone, I turned to apologize but then stopped and froze. It was an accident but now it was a bit tricky.

"Watch it! Vampir prost ce o rușine! (Stupid vampire, what a disgrace!)" The werewolf said in Romanian, before shoving me back.

"Scuzați-mă? (excuse me?)" I challenged back.

"You heard me," The werewolf said, becoming even more angry "Got a problem with that? Not like you can do anything about it since I can easily kill you."

 "Yes I do actually, that was an accident. I'm not looking for trouble but you're going to get mad over an accident anyways? Stupid puppy." I said, turning away, knowing that I was pushing my luck too far. The creatures here are nothing like the ones in the mortal world, they never back down.

  Luckily my senses had intensified after becoming a vampire because I sensed the werewolf moving and stepped to the side before his fangs hit me. Within seconds we were throwing each other around, exchanging punches, and breaking almost everything in sight.

  As he lunged at me again, I grabbed his head, twisted as hard as I could, and then tossed him to the side.

Doing this was a major mistake, random killings were illegal here. Unless it was a slave, deaths only happened at the hands of the higher powers and guardians. The sirens went off immediately and the sound of the Anubis became overpowering. I saw movement in the shadows across the dirt path and took off right away before anyone could catch me and punish me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Back at the shack*

  We were all huddled together in the shack. Scared to move, listening to the noises and "critters" scurrying around. The shack smelled as bad as outside along with all kinds of other rotting smells. We did not want to find out why or from what.

  We tried to sleep but couldn't, everything woke us up and we were all worried about Colton, Ando, and our friends. Suddenly we heard rustling and loud footsteps, causing us to slink further into the shadows.

"Guys....guys, where are you?" Nick whispered, panicking.

"Nick, finally!" Mika and Mira said, jumping up.

"I'm glad you guys are all safe," Nick said, as he placed scrapes of food and a bottle of liquer that looked like liquid diamonds on a rickety table. He quickly explained that all supernatural creatures drank it, it would help keep our strength up before adding, "We are going to have to lay low for a couple days."

"Why, what's wrong?" I asked, becoming concerned.

"The creatures here are becoming suspicious as to why I brought all four of you at the same time. Also, we need to wait out a search that is going on for the killer of a werewolf. I think someone may have seen me but I disappeared as quickly as I could when I saw them. I also saw them turn and run to the Coven house.

"Did anyone follow you here," Calypso asked, as she noticed all the scrapes on Nick that would give him away.

"No but that doesn't mean..."

"Oh no...oh no...what do we do?" Mira asked, beginning to panic. "What will they do to daddy...and Ando??"

"Easy, easy, lets not worry too much, that will only threaten our plans. We will figure this out," Calypso said, trying her hardest to calm us all down.

"Yes please, lets all just relax and regroup," Nick said, in a soothing voice, taking a drink of the liquid diamonds.

  We all gathered around each other, slowly eating the food, and began finalizing our plans.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Once again Colton awoke in a great deal of pain, after enduring another long day as a Coven slave. He had been ordered around all day, tortured, beaten, and forced to allow the Coven members to feed off of him and not complain. He was feeling strange lately and his mouth was always hurting. He didn't know why but he didn't dare try to speak because it hurt too much.

  They were not allowed to have anything except for the ripped clothes they were forced to wear every single day. They weren't allowed to even have a mirror so there was no way for Colton to what was wrong with his mouth. Ino and Loka were in the same condition as Colton. They were being used as "target" practice instead of being bitten, since they were vampires. They were extremely weak and were being used as slaves as well. They didn't even have real rooms. They were pretty much in cells that were in the middle of a room that resembled a living room.

  Each cell had slabs of stone that they had to sleep on and a ratty little table and chair. Books were a privilege they had yet to earn. Clocks and calendars were forbidden as well as televisions and radios. It had been like this since the day they had gotten here and it didn't seem like it would get any better. Kayla and Anika promised that they would be freed but they had not been allowed to see them. Ando had been forbidden to even speak about Colton, Ino and Loka.

  It was then that a group of vampires came in, sitting on the couch that surrounded us, with deep hunger in their eyes. Once again it was feeding and training time, with us on the menu. As Colton was being drank from he overheard another vampire talking to Ricardo. He pretended not to hear them but he heard everything. Wondering why he could hear so well when the vampire was whispering.

"Ricardo, we have a situation. Someone has seen the male vampire that helped the Abruzzis. He disappeared after spotting our informant."

"Go find him! That bitch is probably with him, find her too!" Ricardo said, throwing his glass across the room.