The Black Tide (Outcast 3)

I frowned. “It would have to be a pretty powerful one if we're feeling it at the top of the hill.”

“Or it’s old and not well maintained. Given whatever complex it's supplying power to is sitting on a vampire nest, I'd imagine getting people out to fix the thing would be rather hard.” He glanced at the woman standing just behind him, and she immediately stepped forward and held out a backpack. He passed it on to me. “It contains grenades, more ammo for your weapons, and a halo light.”

What's a halo light? I asked silently, not wanting to ask the question aloud when it was obviously something I should have known.

A small but extremely powerful UV light disk that clips onto your belt. When activated, it creates a halo of light around your entire body. The rangers have been trialing them for the last couple of weeks.

And just how did you get hold of them? I asked, amused. A little mercenary thievery, perhaps?

We do have to keep up to date with the latest in weaponry, otherwise we'd very easily lose our standing amongst mercenary ranks.

And obviously that would be a bad thing. I hitched the pack over my shoulder then added aloud, “If I find her, I'll contact you.”

He nodded. “Be careful. And keep the ear-mic open when possible so I can hear what is going on.

“When possible” meaning when I was in human form, not vampire.

I nodded and, with Cat and Bear by my side, turned and headed deeper into the sewer drain—though in this section at least, there was very little of the old structure left. The widened walls had been braced with steel and concrete, and the ground underfoot was concrete rather than brick. An open drain ran down the middle, and if the increasing water level was any indication, at least some storm water outlets remained in working order deeper in the mountain.

We reached a semicircular junction. An old ATV and several air transports sat here, but I couldn’t see any security measures. There certainly weren't any guards.

Which was odd. Granted, this place was a vampire den, but there still should have been other protections if Dream had established some sort of center here. Especially given we'd now taken out all three of their laboratories.

I opened the backpack, found a small silver disk that looked like a button more than any sort of light, and clipped it to my belt. After I'd hooked several more ammo clips onto the various hooks on my belt and pants, I swung the backpack on and then walked past the vehicles. There were three tunnels leading off this main area; I paused again, studying them with a frown. The stench coming from the left tunnel was so thick it was almost liquid, and that suggested the den was down there. The middle tunnel seemed to slope upward rather than down, meaning there might be another exit point up that way—perhaps one that was closer to the rift. The tunnel on the right was where the vibrations seemed to be coming from.

It made sense to go that way. No matter how in tune Penny might now be to the vampires, surely she wouldn’t want to be near them on a permanent basis. And given Dream had been so desperate for her retrieval that she risked sending her semi-light-immune vamps into Chaos—and thereby outing their existence—she surely wouldn't tempt fate by keeping a successful but still all too human test subject in such close proximity with them.

I switched over to particle form and moved into the left tunnel. There was no concrete propping up this section of the sewer, and it certainly wasn't wide enough to drive a truck through. Water dripped from the upper sections of the old brick arch and slime hung in drooping ropes of thick green. I avoided both as best I could, but the occasional drop still splashed through my particles, making me shiver even though I shouldn't have felt the cold in this form. But I could feel fear, and there was plenty of that gathering as we moved deeper and deeper into the mountainside.

Somewhere up ahead, a light flickered. It was a pale yellow glow in a world that was otherwise black, and trepidation stirred. It rather looked like flame thanks to the way it was flickering on and off, but no firelight I knew was capable of directing such a powerful beam of light directly upward.

I slowed, and then stopped. I had no immediate sense of vampires, so I shifted back to human form and studied that single, solitary light.

Do you want me to investigate? Bear asked.

I hesitated and then shook my head. I don't like the feel of it.

All the more reason for me to investigate, he said, quite reasonably.

You may be right, but I'd rather you both keep close.

I unhooked a couple of guns and walked on. That flickering light grew closer but no warmer. I reached up and switched the ear-mic on. It was far better to do so now, when I had the time, because Rhea only knew what was about to happen.

But I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be a vampire attack, even if that would undoubtedly happen before we got out of this place.

If we got out of this place.

My footsteps echoed across the heavy darkness, a sound accompanied by the steady drip of water. Several foul droplets hit the back of my neck and dribbled down my spine, but I wasn't entirely sure the shiver that followed was due to their coldness.

As I drew closer to that light, it became obvious there was a small figure standing near it. That figure wasn’t a vampire, but it also wasn’t human. It was someone who—like me—stood somewhere in between.

Penny, the ghosts said, even as the same thought ran through my mind.

I stopped again, but the force of whatever machinery they were running was now so strong that my body shuddered under its force and my feet were slowly being inched forward against my will. The sheer strength of those vibrations was undoubtedly the reason for the flickering light—it was, as I suspected, a flashlight, but it was lashed to the top of a rather unsteady rod of metal.

Penny stood in what looked to be a small sewer junction. There were tunnels to her left and her right, but no indication where either of them led. From the little I could see of it, the left one lacked the grime and the hanging strings of green, which suggested it was used more often. Whether that was by the vampires or someone else, I had no idea.

She was alone in the junction, but there were vampires near. I could smell them. Hear them.