The Vampire's Last Omega

Into the Darkness: Part 1

Lucas gasped himself awake, coughing up what felt like clouds of dirt.

Where the hell am I? I can't see shit! Am I blind?!

Flashes of the violent earthquake came to mind:

Blaise yanking him into the cave to escape the splitting, fiery earth.

Meeting Teru's terrified eyes.

Falling down the metal stairs with boulders tumbling after them. His vampire shifted mid-air to act as a safety pillow.

Pass out.

That's right. Please, Teru, please be okay up there.

"Ugh," he groaned when rolling to his side. Everything really fucking hurt. When would the pain go away? Would it just get worse? His entire body felt like crap, getting worse by the day. Constantly tired. Sweating but cold. Muscles sore as if he chopped trees for a week to prepare firewood. Lucas missed being healthy and ready to fight in an instant if he had to.

He touched his arm, feeling itchy bumps.

That's a new one. Awesome.

"Blaise?" Lucas croaked, throat aching. His lungs bothered him like crazy from breathing in dust that had nowhere to go in the confines of the pitch-black cave. COUGH COUGH. The cool temperature irritated his insides more.

He knew immediately after gaining consciousness that Blaise was alive. Though he couldn't explain how he had a hunch, he just...knew. That was why Lucas wasn't concerned.

"Blaise?"

Only drips of water and his own raspy breathing responded.

Where the hell is my vampire?

Thankfully, Lucas knew every nook and cranny within the first several tunnels without needing a light.

There's a supply pile near the entrance. If it's not destroyed and the pack didn't take all of it during the ambush, there should be a stock of glow sticks Nolan found last year.

Lucas sat up, gritting his teeth. From toes to fingers, he tested out each limb for anything broken. There were some deep cuts on his back from when he skidded across the jagged floor.

Satisfied that there weren't any life-threatening injuries, Lucas got to his hands and knees. He skimmed his hand on the ground in front of him to touch anything that would give him any indication of where he was at.

There were numerous objects.

Round thing. Must be the string of lights to highlight the path. Hmm, this feels like a shirt. Marker...where's a marker?

For every body length next to the path, symbols were etched into the hard ground, carved way before he was born. Its purpose was meant to guide them. Every pup was trained to learn just in case of an emergency: torches going out, if vampires invaded the underground system and they had to extinguish all the light sources to escape, a flash flood, or really just any situation that made them blind in the dark. Add earthquakes to the list!

And the pack couldn't read the alphabet from Before. They memorized hundreds of made-up logos only the Valley Pack could understand. Nolan's father, the prior leader, forced them to do monthly drills to find their way to other entrances. No lights. Just symbols. It wasn't a popular activity among the kids, inciting groans and complaints.

That man was an asshole, too, just like his son. But, thank you for making us do that. I'd be utterly fucked right now.

His finger finally touched a marker. It was a small X with four dots under it.