Rell and The Rose

Ch. 38, The Dark, Creepy Basement

Bastien

"Rell? I feel like now might be a little late to tell you this, but usually, going down into dark, creepy basements tends doesn't end well in the Human Realm. Not sure how it works in the Dark Realm." I jumped again when Poxel brushed against my leg, and barely kept from swearing. Couldn't he be something a bit more cuddly?

"The whole Dark Realm is like this. I'm used to it. And Poxel's right, there's def something down here."

Something besides a giant rat? Great, I feel so much safer.

We made our way down into the darkness, step after step, until I set my foot down on the concrete floor. The only light came from behind the staircase, shining a patch down behind us. In the darkness, dark forms took shape, but none of them were moving. Just storage, with sheets thrown over them.

Until one of the forms leaped out at us. Terro lanced through my chest; the things was maybe the size of a German Shepherd, but moved like a lizard, like some horror straight from Jurassic Park. But it streaked by me.

"No!" Rell yelled. But it was too late. I got a glimpse for just a moment of the beast: all black scales and a horrible long tail, before the sunlight hit it, and it turned to smoke.

Rell pounded up the stairs, and I slowly followed slowed. She was breathing hard, tears in her eyes.

"Are you okay? Did it hurt you?" I said, suddenly concerned.

But she shook her head, a single tear falling that she wiped away. "He wasn't dangerous. Just afraid." She bowed her head, "I failed him. He was just trying to find his way home."

"It wasn't your fault," I said, reaching an arm out, but then letting it fall before I could touch her, not sure how to comfort her. I had hunted beasts like these with my mom before, but I'd never thought them more than animals. I'd never considered that maybe they were frightened, and just trying to get home.

"We need to find the Blood Rose," she said, her lips setting in a hard line, and then she turned, leaving the small hallways and striding out into the back alley behind the theatre. "Poxel talked to him before he showed up."

"Did he know where it was?" I said, trailing her.

"No. But he said something else." For a moment she didn't sound like Rell. She sounded like... well, exactly what I imagined a Beast-Slayer would. Cold. Determined. Deadly.

"What was that?"

She stopped, shoulders stiff, staring away from me, voice so soft I nearly missed it. "He said the Beast was close."