The Terror Gaze: Book 2 of The Mortal Guard Series

Chapter 20 - Nick: Spiral of Misery

Chapter 20 - Nick: "Spiral of Misery"

Nick slapped his bloody hand on the concrete platform at the end of the pool of gore, splattering red everywhere in the process. He grunted and panted as he pulled himself out of the liquid, planting his boots on the ground and standing up straight. "Fuck. I'm disgusting."

Richard yanked himself out of the water next to him and looked down at red-stained Guard Garb. "This isn't good."

Nick turned his head, looking his boyfriend up and down. "Don't worry. It will be easier to wash."

Richard shook his dripping head, pointing to a curved archway into a rocky tunnel ahead, unlike the animal-made structures they had been in up to that point. "You forget where we are, Nicholas. We're in a den of vampires. They might go rabid on us if we're covered in blood."

The hyena aimed the light of his gun down the tunnel and he let out a breath. "Looks like someone's home. There are torches further ahead."

The raccoon looked behind him. "Do you think the Moonlight Gang could have really done all of that?"

Nick watched the drops of blood fall from his TempRes jacket, and he turned around, finding the open space of blood illuminated by light disturbing. He shuddered. "Who else could have done it?"

Richard shook his head. "I don't know. I've heard of vampires taking baths in blood, but to have a ginormous pool of it? How did they even get it all down here?"

"It's obvious. The blood is from whatever animals those bones are from."

The raccoon bit his lap. "I'm not sure those bones are from normal walking mammals."

"Creature bones then?"

"Something isn't adding up here," Richard whispered. "If those vampires truly drank the blood of all these creatures, they would all be hemogoblins."

"Oh yeah. Wait, they can't be hemogoblins. Hemogoblins are mindless creatures and we know the Moonlight Gang can carve their insignia onto the bodies of their victims. With how reckless they are, you'd think they were mindless, though . . ."

Richard looked down at Aktsomhet, wondering if its power would truly be unlocked down in these creepy sewers. "There's only one way to find out what's going on, then. Let's go deeper in."

"And the blood?" Nick fretted, still covered head to toe in red gore.

"Keep your weapons at the ready," Richard answered, aiming his gun forward and beginning to walk slowly.

The hyena kept his gun ready, and he made sure that his blade recoiled so it could strike anything that moved in the torchlit cavern like a snake. Both he and his boyfriend made sure to stay as quiet as possible as they crept forward carefully. Their ears perked when the mumbling of a few animals could be heard just ahead. Richard glanced back and gave him a nod that they both acknowledged they were hearing the same thing.

The pair reached a point where the cavern took a sharp turn. Richard got against the wall and Nick followed suit, watching his actions. The taller raccoon peeked around the corner and took in the sights.

There was an unnatural cavern there that seemed to be a perfect square, with a strange stone contraption in the center. It seemed almost like a door of some sort, created out of a golden material with intricate patterns etched into its surface. Torches aligned the smooth walls, and Richard wondered if they were added during the room's creation, or after. Surrounding the thing in the center of the room were four sleeping bags. A blue, purple, green, and black one that was designed like a coffin. There was a tunnel on the opposite side of the entrance Richard was looking through that seemed to continue further on into the void.