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Smoky snorted "What can I say? You know Ca Chase with us Missed the usual comfort of our relationship I bit h hard ti Caht now, I envied her easy ways and confidence I had no idea what I was doing I triedpart of a couple was still new to me
Hell, I was still new toin one topsy-turvy, and it seeed every tih Chase and I were going to have a long talk after this mess with the venideoff my frustration, I turned to the others "Are we ready?" Everybody nodded "Then let’s get ait wide After we all filed through, he slowly eased it shut behind us and caught up to the front
The corridor through which we crept was dark, but thanks to Morio and his fox fire, we could see to the end where the passage turned to the right I soon realized this wasn’t just a basement It looked like a network of tunnels and had probably been added long after the ’s scouts probably bought this place and turned it into a hideout for his network of spies to use forwellwhatever they were up to
The walls of the passage were damp and slick with mildew While the tunnel itself wasn’t heated, I could sense a heat source e froe, I e, where I peeked around the corner
About fifteen feet farther, the tunnel came to an end Directly at the end was a door, this one iron, too, and that’s where the heat was e around the corner and led them down the hall
Vanzir placed his hand on the iron I winced, but he seemed okay with it "Behind that door--the venidemons are there"
"Roz, you’re going to have to get us through that door And ethehost wouldn’t bother us, so it’s got to be so worse And with that portal to the Netherworld, you know it’s going to be nasty The hellhound could have come from either the Subterranean Reallanced at Set the ju to do it I’ll give it a go--but then again, we have no way of knoe’d be getting into"
"What do you on, confused "What’s he talking about?"
Smoky eyed Roz with a cool stare "Surely you jest Without knohat’s on the other end, we could be dropping them into a lake of molten lava, or a nest of larvae where they’d be iasp "So that’s how you get around so fast," she said to Roz "I knew about Sh We’re not atte it, so let it drop for now" I was about to say so, but he shook his head at me "Save your questions for later Rozurial, attend to the door If you don’t, then I’ll reave him a shake of the head "You’re too full of yourself Never mind!" He held up his hands when Smoky took a step forward "I’ll take care of the door No problem No worry" He pulled out his vials ofout on me," I whispered to Camille "You care to dish it up later? That is, if you can tear yourself away fro It just never caain "Shit, this hurts I just want to take care of those bugs and get the hell out of here"
I glanced at Roz, as backing up, his extendable rod in hand "I think you’re about to get your wish Battle order: Smoky and me, Roz and Vanzir, Morio and Camille"
Just then an explosion rocked the hallway
"Stand to the side," S the door wide By the force in his voice, I knew he ust of wind ca him into the room There was a loud screech, and then the s out the door
I raced in after him Smoky must have cast some sort of freeze spell, because the minute I entered the roo what looked to be a dozen nests across the floor, all filled with venide larvae, like giant tube worrown blowflies, and I saw that, indeed, they were as big as h, and I saw a couple try to go airborne, but they couldn’t seeht
A deep chill ran through my body as if I’d just walked into a freezer Srees, and it hadit would last, I didn’t know I suspected ere on borrowed tilance told e and built of solid steel It was lit by the glow froranite slab that rested in the center of the floor The rock was glowing orange, and I kneithout a doubt that if I touched it, I’d burn my hand to a crisp The slab wasn’t molten, but looked well on its way The chill had overco tonext to the granite, and inside the pit was a jumbled mishmash of remains Remains of what--or rather, who--I didn’t know, but a tennis shoe rested near a pile of bones that were still covered with all too juicy bits of flesh and muscle still attached There were other tattered reh sheen, others still ripe--and I fought back oes ht er raised The silhouette of a man was headed our way He was almost invisible, and would be if he turned sideways In the flickering of Morio’s fox fire, I spied the barest glimmer of a face in the inky depths of the shadow Skeletal, it was frozen in a steady stare aimed directly at me
"Great Mother Bast It’s a revenant!" I whispered a quick prayer to the Mother of all Catkind for protection as I backed up, buht behindbreath "The cold won’t stop hie"
Rare entities, revenants tended to inhabit the Netherworld and Earthside haunts more than Otherworld ruins, but I knehat they were and what havoc they could wreak A single touch froive an FBH a heart attack While they didn’t have the sanificant dalanced at me, then at the shadow "What can we do?" she whispered, her voice raspy with fear She glanced at Morio
He grabbed her good hand "Reverente destal a Mordenta"