Lucian shone his light against the cave wall where he’d deposited them.
“Let me just remind you,” Lucian said lightly, “if you injure me, I won’t be able to tend to Vincent.”
I shot him a suspicious look. “Why would you help me? Why not abandon him in pursuit of our mother?”
“I… don’t know,” Lucian said as if the impulse were peculiar to him as well.
A few minutes later I’d eaten and recovered my weapons, Lucian’s medical supplies were packed, and we were only waiting on your cat.
“I could stab it,” I said. If I knew it wouldn’t upset you, I’d seriously consider it.
Lucian eyed the animal. “Spooky, take us to your master.”
Nothing.
He tried to coax her with a pet. Still nothing. Finally, I bellowed your name. The cat shot me a hostile look, raised herself onto all fours, and padded slowly down a passageway we’d traversed the day before.
“We tried this one already,” I said impatiently.
The cat stopped and shot me a prissy look over her shoulder.
“This animal had better not be leading us in circles,” I grumbled.
“Might want to lower your voice. I’d prefer the element of surprise.”
Lucian was right. And yelling at your peevish cat certainly wouldn’t make her go any faster. We dimmed our headlamps, so their light was only a faint glow, and followed your pet through a rabbit’s warren of chambers. I never would have taken this pathway on my own, for it was far too winding and disorganized. Every few meters, I marked our way, so we’d not get lost, but even that slight hiss of noise felt risky.
It seemed we trailed that feline for hours, until at last we came upon a corridor that had been recently disturbed. There were shards of kitchenware, scraps of metal, and most alarming, a scattering of human bones. The dumping grounds of the beastborn’s lair.
I swallowed and tried to rein in my fears about this place and what might have become of you. Ashur had a taste for human flesh, and Nephilim blood was a delicacy. Terror clawed at my throat, and I fought for every rasping breath.
“This way,” Lucian whispered. If he suspected my compromised mental state, he ignored it. Soon enough, I saw what had attracted his attention—a distant glowing orb, framed by an open archway, as though someone had left the light on in an empty room.
We followed the corridor until we reached an atrium where a half dozen oil lamps hung over the span of two dozen meters. The forms laid out on top of the tables were lumpy and draped with sheets. Lucian peeled back one of the cloths to reveal a bloated, waxy-looking human body hooked up to an array of hissing tubes and antiquated machinery.
“He’s kept them alive,” Lucian said, impressed by the beastborn’s handiwork. He placed two fingers to the body’s neck to locate its pulse. The figure’s mouth was agape due to the feeding tubes, and its eyes had been taped shut. I quickly peeled back the other sheets to scan their faces. Thankfully, yours wasn’t one of them.
“He must be pumping them full of steroids.” Lucian tapped one of the feeding tubes, which I assumed fed directly to the body’s stomach. “Crude but adequate.”
Lucian then inspected the series of pneumatic pumps that kept the bodies functioning. “A generator. He probably has a turbine somewhere, powered by the water currents. Or steam. He’s not stupid.”
I didn’t care to know the engineering of Ashur’s day-to-day survival, I only wanted to recover you as quickly as possible. It seemed Ashur hadn’t stolen you for food, which meant…
“Where’s that damn cat?” I whispered as panic girdled me again.
“Must have wandered off.”
The room split in two directions. We’d cover more ground if we separated, but I didn’t trust Lucian to fend off Ashur on his own.
“This way.” I pointed.
The light source at the end of this corridor seemed brighter than the dimmed oil lamps. Both my sword and dagger were drawn as we cautiously drew near. Lucian had borrowed one of my knives, though he wasn’t wielding it. Perhaps he thought his wit to be defense enough.
This room was a much larger cavity, set up like a solarium with heat lamps strung from nets of rope. Several reflective surfaces had been angled to magnify the lighting, and after being in the dark for so long, the room was unbearably bright. There were several shrubs and squat, pruned trees, both potted and rooted in the ground. They appeared mature enough to bear fruit. Ashur