The Tunnels

And that was that, Ryan would switch sides. I was a force to be reckoned with even if I did absolutely nothing. That was so fucking scary. But it was a thought for later, right now, I had to find some missing people. It wasn’t exactly a well formed group, me and my so-called body guards.

Ant lead the way, I followed behind him, once we hit the tunnels. Which was almost instant as Ant shadow walked us all into the underground near Bernstein’s lair in one easy step. The only one who wasn’t hurling their guts out was Alec. And he was smirking at Ant and Ryan.

“How did you know the trick?” Ryan asked.

“I know no trick.”

“He trusts in Nox.” Ant said, “And Nox trusts me.”

“Don’t those two trust Nox?” Alec said. “On no wait, they are paid to be here. A wolf and a dragon to protect my Prince.” Alec seemed skeptical.

“We will do as we are paid to do.” Jae said.

Alec sighed, “Paying is the same as loyalty. As in believing that this boy is the key to saving us and all the world.”

“Belief isn’t everything.” Jae said.

“Belief is why I’m still here.” I said into the darkness. I was the only one without keen eyesight, but I didn’t really need it. I saw the patterns no matter the brightness level. It was very much a Neo with no eyes in the Machine city. It was the one time my seeing things no one else could came in handy.

“Explain.” Seraph interjected.

“Ryan beleived I would rise from the ashes. He insured that my body was taken care of. Had they treated me like any other dead body I’d be buried alive and no one would be the wiser.”

Ryan laughed, “That is highly doubtful. I believed, and Ant and Alex hoped they let me cling to my belief so they had hope. Even if they didn’t believe. The moment you came back they would have figure it out eventually. And you can’t die.”

I sighed, “So I’d probably be super claustrophobic now in these dark tunnels with a few strangers looking for more strangers for what purpose?”

Alec laughed, “Because you are Nox Sétanta – the boy who does because it was right.”

I laughed and so did Ryan. “The little engine that could – sounds like a children’s book.”

Ant grinned in the darkness, “It is you goof.”

“A Golden Book – at least that’s what I had.” Seraph said.

The darkness gave way to the flickering of torches as we stepped into Bernstein’s layer. It was almost too bright when the other vampire stepped out of the shadows I had to blink away the visions of bats. The man laughed. But it wasn’t conjunctive with his words, “Let us go find these missing people before the dawn rises and my people need to sleep.”

“It’s not even dusk yet,” I said.

“The strongest of us are up, the rest will join us when they can. Time is limited.” He bowed his head and I was pretty sure I heard ‘my king’ muttered under his breath.

“Let’s go.” I said.

The vampire energy surrounding us stretched out farther as they spanned the tunnels and sewer systems of New York. There was a howl followed by a growl and hiss in front of us as a confrontation started. We hurried in the direction of the noise and found a group of wolves and dragons searching with flashlights.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Helping….” Again there felt like it was a muttered my king afterwards and I wanted to growl.

“Who sent you?”

The shrugged, “We were told to come help.”

“By who?” I asked a little more aggravated.

The wolf looked at me and frowned, “The only one who can.”

“Dom sent you?”

The man nodded and I looked at the dragon, “Reginald?”

“No, my own clan leader.”

I sighed and looked at Bernstein, “You probably have small groups around the city. Can we call a cease fire until we find the missing people?”

Bernstein nodded, “There was no danger to any of them. But it is hard to forget.”

I nodded, “Fine. We have a lot of ground to cover, let’s keep moving.”

So that’s was what we did. I wished it was more coordinated and we actually knew what we were covering so we didn’t cover the same places twice but with this many people it was highly unlikely that we’d miss something – though it was completely possible.