“I will go in as bait and the rest of you will wait to attack when they take me to the gala that the note speaks of,” he explained, smiling.

“No way, Jacob. That’s crazy, what if they kill you as soon as they take you to their dungeons?”

“They won’t.”

“Yeah, well, how can you be so sure?”

“Because they will want to show their capture off to the other sister, along with the crowds that gather at their feet.”

He went on further to explain that a few of us would enter the underground tunnels, fully armed, to find out if Alex, the boy Felicia, and his pet Bernard, were telling the truth, then bring them back as our own trading tool. In turn, making their master think it was her sister who had committed foul play against her. Of course, he said we might want to try and make our way to Angelica’s estate and retrieve items we could leave behind to make Inara believe what we were trying to pull off. Taking their pets sounded like a wonderful idea, but that, and getting Martin back was all that I liked coming from Jacob at this point.

“There is one other scenario,” Jacob added.

“Another one? Oh please, do tell,” I laughed, until I heard his reply.

“The assassin could have tracked us here and told the high mistress of our numbers trying to enlist her help to find our whereabouts.”

“I had almost forgotten about the elders. Do you think that I got us in over our heads this time?” I asked, looking over at him, wanting to see the answer in his eyes, not his words.

“I think this is right where fate has brought us,” he replied, with a return smile.

“Do you think whoever has Martin, is hurting him?” I knew I had just asked another stupid question, but he never said a word.

It was then that I saw his answer in his eyes. It was the caliber of creatures we were dealing with that should have had me answering my own question. They would be causing any that they took discomfort for the sheer joy of it. “We have to find him,” I said so softly that he knew my heart was breaking, no matter how angry I was that Martin had lied.  And no matter how mad I was at the man that I loved, it was nothing compared to the fire that was burning for those who dared to take, and possibly harm, him. “One more thing, Jacob. No one is going to be bait…not now, not ever. On this, I am pulling rank.” ***

Once the rest woke, we gathered in the kitchen to discuss who would be going to Inara’s castle to see if our two friends were actually friends or foe. The one rule that would remain with the ones that stayed behind was to stay hidden in the house but not explore anything until the others returned.

Jacob, having a head on his shoulders for planning strategic moves for the past few hundreds of years, decided to split the best of the fighters up, taking two with him, and leaving the others behind to fight if the occasion should arise. I wanted to go and got my wish. I almost immediately wanted to retract my statement of wanting to be a part of the group that headed out when I found out we would have to cover ourselves in the same horrific gore of the decaying bodies before we entered the secret tunnels under the castle. Just the thought made me gag, which made Cates begin laughing loudly, because this time would be staying back with Tammy, Tanda, Garvin, and Sydney. Fala and Jacob would be the strength behind Derek and me, in case the whole thing was a trap to capture more of Martin’s creatures.

We left the others safely locked in the house and ran like the wind through the tunnels, seeing the scavengers once along our way. They moved out of our way so fast it was a mere glance for both parties. It wasn’t until the stench of rotting death filled our noses that our feet slowed down, no matter how much our minds wanted to push forward. I had found some old rags that I think once belonged to the help, and all but Fala wore them. His stature was too big, so he had to wear the same pants that he had on the night before.

“I say we just all do it at the same time,” I suggested when we reached the putrid pile of decomposing bodies.

“Should I not do as Cates?” Fala offered.

“We have to look like we did when they saw us, Fala, and we won’t be swimming in a pit of blood this time,” Derek explained, grabbing his knees, trying to keep the feeding down that none of us should have had before we left.

I was grateful that Tanda had helped me braid my long hair as I put it down my shirt and tucked it into my pants, fighting back the gags myself. “On the count of three?” I asked, looking at Jacob, who also had dread written all over his face. “Glad to see that this is bothering you, too,” I smiled.

“You thought it would be pleasant to me?” he asked, with a forehead full of wrinkles.

“No, you just have guts of steal and sometimes it’s nice to see that you’re a little softer than you seem,” I replied, winking at him.

He looked at me, laid his torch on the ground and counted to three before I was ready for him to even say one. He hit the pile of gore first with the rest of us right behind him. Derek and I were making sounds like wild animals as we slid, and pulling on flesh that had bone that came away with the slightest touch. My arms and legs were sinking in the more I tried to climb, soon I was face to face with a face that was eaten away to the skull and filled with earthworms and other creatures that lived comfortably off of the flesh of the dead. I threw up right on it. I felt a hand grip the back of my shirt, pulling me up by the cloth and my braid, feeling like they were going to rip my braid right off the back of my head. Fala set me down, and reached back in for Derek who was also stuck up to his waist, speechless, and ghostly white in horror of the whole thing. Jacob was the least covered of us all, but was out too fast for me to witness how he had done it. Fala, on the other hand, had stormed right over the pile using the strength of his arms to pull himself right out.

“I thought we were supposed to be ten times stronger than we use to be, and I couldn’t get on top of that…” Derek spoke, desperately shaking the decay from his hands, “to save my life.”

“It is true. Fala has brute strength to fight through just like Cates. But, you are thin and your limbs find their way into the small places and the wetness sucks you deeper,” Jacob explained. “It does not mean you are weaker.”

“So, now we have to cut back and go through the marsh you spoke of earlier?” Derek asked, about to wipe his hands down his pants but rethinking his decision when he saw folds of skin sliding down his leg.

“I think we can use the safety of the forest,” Jacob turned, looking into the depths of its darkness.

“I don’t mean to speak out of place, but I believe it may be best if we do not use the forest this night,” Fala interjected, sniffing the air. “Many others move about the trees this night.”

“What kind of others? Can you tell?” I asked, walking up beside him.

“Other weres, but I’m not sure of their breed.”

“So, if we keep to the outer line of the trees will they know we’re there?” Derek asked, joining us with Jacob coming to stand beside him.

“They already know that we are here, much the same as I can tell that they are in the forest.”

“Then we best move,” Jacob suggested, as he turned on his heel and took off for the marshlands, at the base of the mountain.

I could see why Jacob wanted to use the forest when I stepped down into the grassy marsh, but I also didn’t want to run into anything that shifted into ‘anything’ like that in the graveyard the night of our first adventure in London. By the time we reached the end of the marsh I had lost both shoes somewhere back in the middle, due to the fact that I was knee deep to everyone else’s mid-calve submersion. Even Derek, who was close to my height, seemed to only go down so far compared to me, and no one else lost a shoe. We turned back to the left at the base of the mountain and continued for about a mile; Fala kept an eye on the forest while Derek watched our back. Jacob took the lead, and I just watched my footing.