by Kenneth L. A. Lineberger
A blast of air hurled Kim to the ground. Sound and sand pelted her as she tucked her head. When the din quieted she rolled to her knees and brushed long, black hair out of her face. The collapsed cave entrance stood in ruins before her, rocks and boulders strewn in every direction. A large chunk had tumbled past her, gouging a trench in the soft turf and nearly wiping out a light pole.
Shit, that was dangerous. Kim stood and brushed herself off. Even for me.
She turned to find Warren, wide-eyed and pale-faced, running up beside her.
“God!” he said, “Oh… Christ.” He straightened his glasses and tried to smooth his hair, but only managed to make the brown curls more unruly. He pulled out his phone and started jabbing the screen.
“It’s just a cave, Warren,” she said, shaking her head. “We’ll find another spot.” Kim rolled her eyes and reached for her friend’s shoulder, then froze. “Wait…”
“I told them to meet me inside,” he said.
“Is there-“
“As far as I know,” Warren said, “this is the only way in.”
Kim squeezed his arm and the leather jacket creaked in a comforting way. “It’s alright,” she said. “They’re fine. We just need to work out how to get to them.” For extra credit, a handful of graduate students from the local university would accompany Warren while he studied the cave’s hydrology. Kim agreed to come as a safety instructor.
“C’mon,” Kim said. “Let’s see if the entrance is even blocked.”
Further inside, several enormous slabs of stone were wedged at awkward angles as if the roof had come down in sheets. Piles of rocks and gravel filled the spaces in between so there was no way through. Kim wondered if she could shift one of the larger rocks to clear some space. Not with Warren here.
Stones and gravel slid toward her, Warren atop them.
“Hey!” she said. “Relax.”
He scrambled forward again, gripping another stone and straining to dislodge it.
“Stop,” Kim said, snagging his arm to guide him back. “You can’t just pull them free, not like that.”
He stood there, breathing heavily. Full-bearded with thick rimmed glasses, he was almost a cartoonish caricature of the goofy professor. Even his name, Warren Roper, rolled off the tongue as awkwardly as eggs off a table. As Kim regarded him, Warren cupped his hands over his mouth and blinked away tears.
Kim surveyed the scene, her sharp eyes tracing cracks and crevasses. “Hey!” she said, distracting him from the students. “Look.”
He squinted up into the dark then dug out his light and directed the beam upward. “What?”
“We can try to go around it.”
“What?” he repeated.
“Sharp edges,” Kim said.
He dropped his hands and his eyes widened. “A clean break. Dolomite. You think that’s a fissure? Some cleavage?”
“Could be. We’ll have to climb in and see.”
He turned to go but Kim stopped him. “Wait, give me a leg up.”
“Are you insane?”
“Leg up! I know what I’m doing.”
He hesitated but braced himself and offered his knee.
Kim took a deep breath then, with a little bounce, stepped into his hands and jumped toward the hole. One hand flailed but the other disappeared into the dark and found purchase. She dangled for a second, slowly rotating and smiling at how silly she must look. Then, with a grunt, she hoisted herself into the crease.
Warren found himself alone with an uneasy silence as the mountain swallowed her whole. After a moment, falling sand and the rustle of fabric preceded Kim’s muted voice.
“It’s deep. I’m going.”
Then nothing.
Warren stared up at the tiny crack in the rocks and thought about Kimberly. Does 911 deal with this sort of thing? Could he help? He rolled his eyes at the stupidity of that, he could barely hike these caves, much less climb through cracks in the rock. Kimberly was the expert, if anyone could get to the students, she could. He looked back at his phone. Right. 911.
Kimberly trained her eyes into the void ahead of her and reached for her light, but fumbled with an empty loop on her belt. Damn, must have dropped it outside. If the profession could see her advancing into the pitch black, alone, unequipped, they would have a collective stroke.
Of course, she didn’t need a light. After her eyes adjusted, the walls glowed with faint, latent heat. Soon the cave was awash in shades of orange and red. A little ominous, perhaps, but perfectly visible. She smiled to herself, then pushed forward.
The passage was uncomfortably narrow. She inched along, solid rock pressing in on all sides. She paused, lowering her head to listen for water. Her sensitive ears picked up the faint trickle of natural seepage but nothing substantial. Well, I’m not about to drown.
With no unusual water flow, no apparent substrate intrusion, and no shift or change in local geology, nothing suggested a cave-in. Absent heavy industry or even heavier rainfall, caves like this weren’t prone to instability. That made this strange, and strange occurrences in Kim’s life were usually cause for alarm.
One thing at a time, Kim. Finding the graduate students should be the priority, so she kept moving. Fortunately, the same rainwater that carved out the grand formations also cut winding tubes and chutes all through the mountain. There would be dozens of tunnels around the main cavern and, if she was lucky, this crack would open into one.
Eventually, loose rocks and debris marked a transition from her narrow passage to a more flowing, tubular one. Cut by water, this was what she wanted to find. She started down it then stopped, smelling a faint scent of something foul. It didn’t seem to fit and sent a chill down her back, but she couldn’t place it. In an instant, it was gone.
Kim walked where space allowed and crawled along on her stomach everywhere else. After several corners and a steep drop she started to think she overshot her destination. Turning to go back, she noticed a faint glow ahead.
At a bend was a small hole in the tunnel wall, just above the floor. On the other side she could see a vast open space and the grand flowing formations of the Cathedral, still glowing warmly from a busy day. The cavern was tall and vaulted, reminiscent of Gothic architecture. Cascading walls of flowstone, sparkling soda straws, and pools as flat and clear as glass made it a popular tourist attraction.
Kim reached into the hole with one arm and found the wall to be a few inches thick. She considered smashing through but all her instincts screamed that was a bad idea–the cavern floor was further away than she liked and a section of the tunnels had just collapsed after all. She sighed, but there was no better way she could see.
She hit the rock near the edge of the hole. It chipped, but not much. Turning, she braced her knees against the opposite wall and pushed with her legs, trying to crack the wall around the hole. Not enough leverage. Repositioning, she tried again.
Her eyes shot open as she lurched backward, plummeting into the cavern below. The world flipped and spun as she fell alongside the shattered wall. She crashed onto the rocks, rolling as she hit the curved flowstone. Stone cascaded around her and she curled up, covering her head for the second time that evening.
Great. Damn it, Kim. She looked up to find the entire top of the flowstone had come apart and tumbled into the cavern. Angry, she shook her head. That takes eons to form. She stood and brushed herself off. Her back, head—ugh, everything—ached but nothing felt broken. Surveying the wall she wasn’t sure if she could free climb back up or not. It wouldn’t be easy.
She turned to face the Cathedral. It was the right spot and, well, at least she was inside. There was no sign of the students so she started across the cavern. She stopped abruptly when she caught the scent again—brief, metallic, and slightly foul. The source was back toward the collapsed tunnel. Since the collapse warranted investigation anyway, Kim moved that way. As she approached, she was surprised at how very little had fallen in.
In fact, one slab was wedged at an angle she recognized from outside. If it went all the way through, moving it should open space along one wall or the other. There was no sign of injured students either, so that was good.
Kim approached the angled slab and set her shoulder against the stone. She took a few deep breaths, closed her eyes, then pushed. Straining with the effort, her legs trembled but the slab was entirely too heavy. She could feel the stone creaking like it wanted to break, but it would not move. She relaxed, then turned to regard the slab. With fresh blood I could do it, she mused. Killing one student to save the others? Philosophers would love that one.
But no. That seemed a little macabre, even to Kim. I’m no monster. Well, I am. But… not like that. She rolled her eyes. Why do I have these idiotic conversations with myself?
Kim started back the other way, then paused. She cocked her head and squinted at an odd gouge in the wall. Something had smashed, even clawed at the rocks here, pulverizing a section of the wall… until the roof fell in.
Kim’s heart raced. She studied the scratches and found a streak of brownish fluid stuck in a sharp cut. Blood. Taking a deep breath, it was the source of the foul odor she’d been picking up. Not human.
She couldn’t place it. Most of the world’s “monsters” were long since extinct, exterminated over the last few thousand years of human civilization. The only ones remaining, that she knew of, were those that could pass as human. Vampires, particularly the older ones such as herself, were the best at it. There were still a dozen or so alive. Werewolves could manage, but there weren’t many. She couldn’t think of anything else.
She inhaled, trying to let the scent pull memories from deep in her mind, but only a jumbled swirl of images and sounds presented themselves. She shook her head, then dabbed a finger in the sticky fluid. Bracing herself, she closed her eyes and tasted it.
Her stomach lurched and she took a few deep breaths to steady herself. She sucked her tongue to get the taste off, then spat.
A grendel. But here? Nobody had heard of one outside Germany in centuries. They could pass in human society, but weren’t known to. Her thoughts turned to the graduate students, she needed to find them. Fast.
She ran across the Cathedral searching for any signs. There was a river running through the middle of the cavern, but the frigid water stood out from the glowing red rocks like purplish black ink. The combined effect was more or less the way she pictured Hell. While hoping the similarity ended with visuals, she spotted a bag.
It was a backpack, resting upright, and propped against a small ledge where someone might have been sitting. No heat lit the rocks nearby, so the owner had been gone a while. Inside, Kim discovered batteries, food, water, and a light. A small sketchbook was tucked into the front but she couldn’t make out the drawings.
She didn’t like that such useful supplied sat abandoned; whoever left them must have gone in a hurry. Fortunately, there weren’t that many directions to go. Deciding on the main tourist route, Kim followed the well-worn stones until the path hooked around a large collection of columns the public called Sherwood Forest. Beyond that was a smaller room with thousands of thin, clear soda straws hanging from above. Uncountable blue glow worms clung to the ceiling around them and their soft light reflected in the delicate crystals for a dazzling effect that was pure magic.
Kim stepped around the corner and into light. She blinked, squinting. A group of six or seven people sat huddled in the corner almost fifty yards away, their body heat glowing like warm coals. They hadn’t seen her, but one of them looked up as if she heard something.
“Hey!” Kim called out. “It’s ok, I’m a rescuer. I need a light over here!”
Startled, someone shined one in her direction. The beam hit her directly in the face and felt like someone threw bleach in her eyes. Kim shrank back and threw up both hands. Christ.
After recovering, she joined the group and set the bag down. “Ok. Well, we can get through. Is this everybody?”
“Us, and Shawn,” a young woman said.
“Shawn? Where’s he?”
“Looking for another way out,” another girl added. “I told him to stay here, but—”
“He knows what he’s doing,” the first girl, a blonde, cut in. “He’s got over a hundred hours in cave safety and—”
“That’s fine,” Kim interrupted. “Do you know where he went? I want you all together.” She pointed at the bag. “Does that belong to Shawn?”
“No that’s mine,” said the blonde. “I forgot it. Shawn said he would grab it on the way back.”
“Ok,” Kim said, raising an eyebrow. You just… forgot it? She looked around, not sure what to do next. “Uh, grab your stuff. I want to go back to the Cathedral. It’s closer to the front.”
“The exit’s blocked.”
“I know, but there’s a way through. It’s a tough climb, but possible. Rescuers can get some supplies in while they clear the tunnel and I want you where they’ll find you easily. Everybody ready? Let’s go.”
With the students relocated, Kim left to search for Shawn. Of course one of them would go off alone. The grendel’s probably hunting him this instant. She walked faster. Unless it isn’t… She remembered the bag sitting casually by itself and the blonde girl asking Shawn to get it for her. Was she trying to single someone out? Maybe she—
Kim froze. The scent hit her like a lightning bolt. Powerful—then gone. She hoped for a moment she had imagined it, but knew she hadn’t. There was no mistaking it, not for her. The powerful, salt-iron smell of blood pierced through to her deepest instincts. She closed her eyes and suppressed the urge washing over her. She’d controlled these feelings for over two hundred years and wasn’t about to let go now. But damn, it was hard. She took a deep breath, steadied herself, then her eyes shot open as she realized how stupid she was.
Kim ran toward the scent, rounded a corner, then stopped, staring. Splattered blood painted the far wall, glowing brightly to her heat-sensitive eyes. Her nostrils flared, something wasn’t right—
Movement caught her eye. A collapsed figure lay on the ground not far away, trying to roll over.
“Shawn?” Kim asked.
“Who…” the figure trailed off, groaning.
“It’s alright. I’m part of the rescue.” Kim knelt beside him and looked for injuries. A gash across his shoulder leaked blood but he would survive if the bleeding stopped. A lack of warm blood pooling within him revealed he wasn’t bleeding internally, at least not badly. “Do you think you broke anything?”
“I can’t see,” he said.
“Don’t worry about that,” Kim said, then looked around.
“Did you have a light?”
“I dropped it.” He turned his head to look down the passage. “I don’t… know where.”
“It’s fine,” Kim said. The cut on his shoulder needed attention. She tore strips off Shawn’s shirt and tied them tightly around his upper arm, securing wads of fabric to act as bandages. It might lead to infection, but that was a risk they needed to take. She could smell the grendel, it hadn’t gone far. “What happened?”
As Shawn started to speak Kim hoisted him up by his good shoulder. He hissed in pain, then groaned.
“Walk and talk,” Kim said.
“I was just trying to get through the cave. I know there’s another tourist area further back and I wanted to see if there were lights, food, or… whatever.”
“Alright. Not a bad idea.”
“Yea. Laura wanted to leave the Cathedral. They thought they heard something strange before the collapse.”
“Laura? Blondie? The one who left her bag?”
“Yes.”
Kim frowned, suspicion forming. A grendel in this cave makes no sense. There were public tours, students from the university, and local caving clubs. Way too many people, it would have been discovered. Must have come in with the students. Probably is a student. “So what happened back here?”
“I don’t know, I was just walking down the passage when I heard someone coming up behind me. I turned to see who it was, and something big knocked me over. My light went flying and I hit the ground hard.”
“Did you scream?” Kim asked, wondering why she hadn’t heard any of this.
“I don’t know, maybe. It happened really fast.”
“Ok. Well, let’s get you back with the others.” Where the hell is his light? How would he—
Shawn slammed her into the rock wall, shattering the stone and sending broken chips skittering down the hallway. Her head cracked against the rocks and she slumped, stunned. He grabbed her arm and flung her to the ground, then plunged a fist toward her face. She jerked her head and his fist cracked into the stone beside her ear. He tried to pin her but Kim grabbed his arm and rolled, pulling him down and levering herself atop him. He thrashed, but she wrapped her arm around his elbow and wrenched it, the bones shattering with a wet crack. Shawn screamed a deep, gruesome howl, then smashed her with his good arm and kicked her off. She tumbled down the passage, looking up as she slid to a stop.
He stood, rolling his shoulder as the cut healed. Pops and cracks echoed off the stone walls as his broken elbow reassembled itself. He smiled down at Kim.
Oh… shit, shit, shit!
Her mind raced. He was strong, and clearly healing. That was unexpected.
Shawn lumbered toward her. “Vampire eh? I could smell you all night.”
Kim scrambled to her feet and dashed through the tunnel away from him. He clambered along behind her, slow, but persistent. As she reached the room with the blood on the wall, she stopped. Its glow was dimming. Idiot, of course it was fresh. He set you up.
She turned and Shawn lurched into view.
“You’re weak,” he said. “Must be hungry.”
I’m on the wrong side of this passage, Kim thought. This was the only space big enough for a struggle. I have to get past him, block his access to the students.
“There are plenty of them,” Shawn continued, grinning. “We could split them.” He paused. “You know, I didn’t catch your name, vampire.”
“I’m Kim—” she began, then lunged toward him. She closed the distance with blinding speed then darted to one side. He swung his arm as she passed, connecting with her shoulder and sending her sprawling across the floor. He lunged after her but Kim kicked, finding his knee and halting him.
Kim bolted down the hall, racing back toward the Cathedral and the waiting graduate students. She rushed out into the open cavern, ducked to one side, then leapt to the wall beside her. Slamming her fist into the stone, she hung there, listening. Shawn lumbered down the hallway after her. She knew what he wanted. She couldn’t beat him in a straight fight.
She winced. I’ve only got one weapon here.
Shawn slowed as he approached the entrance.
Kim shuddered. Two hundred years… Starving herself, denying her cravings for centuries, all to live with humans. She had been so strong, determined to build a normal, sensible existence. Fuck!
He turned as he stepped into the cavernous space, exposing his back for an instant.
Kim pounced, slamming onto him and wrapping her arms around his face and neck. He thrashed and tried to throw her off, but she buried her fangs into his neck and clamped down. She sucked in his blood, pulling so hard her throat ached. Her instincts flared when she felt the warmth, tasted the salt of it. Rhythmic pounding as his heart strained to circulate blood calmed her mind.
He clawed and screamed, twisting, trying to rip her off his back. She held fast as thirst, no, starvation washed over her and overpowered anything else.
After a moment, he slowed, then one knee gave out. He kept moving, but it was more twitching than fighting—a common reaction to rapid blood loss. Finally, his desiccated body hung limp in her grip, and she released him. He flopped to the ground, dead.
Kim shuddered, then lowered herself to the ground clutching her stomach. Her head pounded and a wave of nausea racked her abdomen. Her sides threatened to split and she took slow, deep breaths, trying to hold it together.
She couldn’t. She pitched forward and vomited on the cavern floor. Blood, bile, and filth poured out around her and she collapsed.
Oh cursed gods, she thought. I haven’t fed in… centuries. She started shaking and her muscles tensed up, straining, screaming to be used. She curled into a ball and flexed her whole body, trying to satisfy the ache. Shit, this is bad.
There wasn’t much time before she became a threat to the students, she had to run while her mind was still together. Kim stood, shaking, and looked up. She froze in horror.
Five of the students stood before her, bathing her in their lights. “Are you… ok?” one asked.
Oh no.
Kim ran. She bolted past them, through the Cathedral, and into the collapsed cave entrance. The pile of rubble stood there, blocking her path.
On the other side, radios chattered and buzzed with static, muffled shouts and grunts filled the gaps, and the groan of a heavy diesel engine laid underneath it all like a rumbling baseline. Rescuers were shifting rocks and scraping shovels, trying to break through.
Kim scrambled as far up the debris as she could manage, then screamed.
Sounds stopped, voices halted, then people started to shuffle and shout. “We hear you! Hey! Are you ok? Are you hurt?”
“No!” Kim shouted back. “Not hurt!” She wheezed, trying to keep her voice steady. “We’re just on the other side, it’s not far! Can you pull on this slab?”
“We’re working to get through! Back away for me! It won’t be long!”
“This slab!” Kim shouted, punching the rock. “It needs to move!”
“We’re looking at it, just hang tight!”
Kim huffed, then kicked loose rocks out of her way. She braced against the slab and pushed, throwing her weight into it. She heaved with every muscle, straining against the stone. Her body flexed and her heart pounded.
It felt good, actually. Her aches needed the challenge. The slab resisted, but groaned behind her. She reset her shoulders, planted her feet, then pushed.
The stone shifted. Not much, but it did shift. Sand fell to the floor around it and shouts rang out from the other side.
“Hey! This one’s loose, help me here! Bring that chain, get the winch around this!”
As machines hummed to life, Kim pushed again. With a crunch, the stone slid a foot or so. She took a step to stay with it, then heaved one more time. The slab twisted in place, letting light and dust pour through on one side.
Kim dashed into the gap and past the startled men outside. She ran out into the evening where fire and police lights bobbed and swirled around her. She staggered, then slammed into something. A man. She grabbed his vest and hauled him closer, smiling at the shock in his eyes. His sweat smelled so sweet…
A little dessert after dinn—
NO. Move.
Her arm shaking, Kim forced herself to let go of him. She started to move away.
“Kim?” said a familiar voice. “Kim! Oh my god what’s going on?”
She looked up and met Warren’s eyes.
He seemed relieved, then his face darkened. “Jesus Kim, are you ok?”
She didn’t respond. Pale skin, pulsating veins, she knew. She must look like horror by now.
Kim ran, only looking up occasionally to be sure she was headed to the mountains. She ran until she collapsed into the dirt and pine needles. Heaving and out of breath, she rolled onto her back. Her throat burned with uncontrollable thirst. Her lungs burned. Her muscles burned too, desperate to chase, run, tear at something. She shivered.
“Seven curses on you!” she hissed to the sky, then spat. “Fuck!”
Rare steak, red wine, heavy sunscreen. She had done so much to keep herself in check. It took centuries, but she had finally felt like a person again.
She clutched her head in her hands as her vision blurred. Tears? She thought of Warren, then let out a quick laugh. She hadn’t been attracted to him, but by the rings of hell she had at least considered it. A vampire! In a relationship! Ha! She kicked the dirt. Wasted now.
Kim looked up at a full moon hovering over wispy, silver clouds. She laughed, she wouldn’t be the only miserable soul tonight. At least she wouldn’t have to find a safe place to rampage as a crazed wolf.
She rose and continued toward the mountains. Could she push through, recover, reclaim her life in a few weeks? Unlikely. The wilderness was the best place, perhaps find a cave to hide in. If I can stomach another one of those.
She took a few more steps, then swayed. She dropped to her knees and fought to keep her eyelids up. Around her, the cool night air swirled through the tree leaves, insects buzzed and chirped, and the wispy clouds danced in the moonlight. She blinked heavily, then fell asleep.
Tap tap tap.
Warren looked up. Was that the door? He set his book aside.
Click.
“Warren?” A soft voice floated through the hallway to his study.
He stopped. “Who’s there?” he said.
Footsteps.
“I’m an old friend,” came the reply. “Can I come in?” More footsteps.
Warren reached for his cane. Taking it, he gingerly rose to his feet. He closed his eyes and shrugged to himself. “As it seems you already have, is there much point in my consent?”
A woman stopped in his door frame, eyeing him. He raised an eyebrow at her curious expression. She smiled. “Hi Warren.”
“Do we know each other?”
“I’m Kim.” She let the words hover in the air for a moment.
“Kim?” he asked. He did not recognize her at all.
“From the university,” she continued. Her grin deepened. “It’s only been thirty-five years, how could you forget? How many caving instructors have you explored a tunnel collapse with?”
A cold chill shot through his spine, sending shivers down his arms and legs. Sleek, pitch black hair. A sharp, angled face. Deep-set, hazel eyes. It was Kim. But she was…
“You,” he stammered. His mouth hung open. “How did you get here?” he managed.
She laughed. “That’s your question? A mysterious woman, missing for decades, shows up in your study without aging a day, and that’s your question?”
“I have many questions,” he said. “I couldn’t think of a starting place. I recognize you, but I know you can’t be her. A daughter? You are a striking clone of your mother, young lady.” He let out a breath, then smiled. “You know, I never knew she had children.”
The woman lowered her head, then chuckled. “And I didn’t know she had any friends, but now I’ve found you. Got a few minutes?”
The old man smiled, then swept the room with his hand.
“Sit anywhere you like.”
Kenneth L. A. Lineberger is a criminal lawyer for the State of Florida. As an alumnus of Florida State University, he enjoys college football, role-playing games, or any sci-fi, fantasy, or adventure story with compelling characters. He writes in his free time, and credits Brooks, Rowling, and Sanderson for teaching him to do magic. Check him out on Scribophile at https://www.scribophile.com/authors/kenneth-l-a-lineberger/.