In case she needed both hands, Cadence shoved the Glock into the front of her pants. She was vaguely aware that Elliott was talking to her on the IAC, but she tuned him out, only listening for key words, such as "run" or "get down." Whatever he was saying, it could wait. Grabbing ahold of the doorknob with both hands, she gave it a quick jerk while simultaneously thrusting her entire body through the small opening she made with the door, flinging it shut behind her. Upon realizing there was no audible alarm, she took a deep sigh of relief. Either she had triggered something her ears could not detect, or she had actually been fast enough not to set off any alarm.
The room smelled of old; musty, moldy, a tinge of mahogany. It felt cold and damp, even more so than the December air outside. She had been right about the girth of the bookshelf. After a quick glance around the rest of the room, which appeared to be an office or small library, she approached the monstrosity. She placed her hands under the middle shelf, ascertaining how heavy it might be, if it was actually attached to the wall. She could easily tell that it was quite heavy and seemed to be attached at several anchor points or possibly even built in. In order for her plan to work, she would have to remove the entire bookshelf from the wall in one movement. Otherwise, whatever was left might block the entrance to the room next door, which could give Barbarosa time to escape. Sighing, she wished that Elliott were there. As strong as he was, she knew they could have easily moved it together. She didn't have time to wait, however, and she decided to give it a try.
It didn't work exactly how she had planned, but it was good enough. She grabbed ahold, gave it a good yank, and managed to move the entire middle section away from the wall, sending it crashing over her head, into the wall behind her. The noise was enough to wake the dead, or the undead, and she knew instantly her time was running out. Though some of the shelf stayed behind, fastened securely to the wall, she had moved enough to find the hidden door. Just as she reached out to grasp the doorknob, Barbarosa came flying through the door, knocking her to the ground, her Glock soaring out of her waistband and across the floor, disappearing under the pile of books.
Cadence had seen some unbelievably wretched monsters these last few weeks, but nothing prepared her for this. Pale white skin, covered in craters and thick wrinkles, draped down from his ancient face, his white hair in tufts around his head, whisping out like so many ghostly fingers. His eyes were not the steel gray she had expected, rather they were almost white, opaque in the centers. His jowls furrowed, his fangs exposed, surrounded by bleeding gums the color of crimson ocean tides, foamy and oozing. He grasped her neck with his spindly fingers, roaring in her face, his putrid breath making her gag and spew. Though his body was thin and elongated, the weight of his knees as he pushed against her gut was enough to take her breath away. She dug her fingers into the flesh of his arms, which, though they gave in the same way one might expect a rotten corpse to break apart, did not weaken.
She had been caught off guard, and he seemed to have the upper hand, but Cadence was a force to be reckoned with. Using the muscles in her legs, she brought her knees up sharply, making contact with the small of his back. He was not expecting her to be so strong, and the impact caused his grip on her throat to lessen just enough for her to pry one hand off. It was adequate so that she could catch her breath, and she inhaled deeply, ignoring the stench of his rotting breath. He attempted to bring his hand back down on her neck, but she was able to bend his arm back, forcing him off balance. As he began to topple backward, she pushed up, arching her back and bringing her left leg up at the same time, pushing him off of herself.
Cadence quickly came to her feet, expecting another charge. Barbarosa had not survived so long by making hasty decisions, however. Rather than charge at her again, he gave one last shriek before tearing through the door to the hallway and into the labyrinth.
She had two choices at this point. Go back out the window and flee Barbarosa's lair or follow him through his maze. It only took a split second for her to decide what to do. Grabbing the butt of the Glock from its resting place beneath a pile of books, she pursued the villain, hoping she could catch up to him and that he wouldn't make his way out of the building before she could figure out which way he had gone.
As she entered the web, she realized exactly why so many Hunters before her had had difficulty traversing the narrow passage. Not only was it dimly lit and restricted, the floor was built on a slant. It was almost impossible to keep one's balance without sliding against the wall. However, Cadence had one skill even the most noted of Hunters before her could rarely utilize: her instincts. It was as if she knew exactly which way he had gone, which direction to turn, which path to take. Before too long, she could see the tails of the long white nightdress he wore making the turns ahead of her. She was closing in, and she was pretty sure he knew it.
Not only were they winding their way through the corridor, they were also headed down and out of the building. Cadence could feel that as well. If she didn't catch him in time, he would make his way out of the house and into the brambles before she could destroy him. The further she chased him, the steeper the floor became, the narrower the path. If she had been at all claustrophobic, she would not have been able to handle this situation, and even without those tendencies, she began to feel dizzy.
She considered firing her Glock at him, hoping it would slow him down, or at the very least, anger him enough to make him turn and fight. However, at this point, she had no idea where Elliott was, and she couldn't risk accidentally shooting him. Elliott could not harm her, even if he shot her, but she could kill him, and to her knowledge, there were no Healers in the general vicinity. It wasn't worth the risk. However, just as she began to ponder the likelihood that she would actually hit her Guardian if she shot at the wall, she heard a commotion around the corner in front of her, and shots rang out, bouncing around the corner she was approaching. Instinctively, she threw her hands over her face, waiting for them to stop before she rounded the corner.
Elliott had headed him off at the pass, surprising Barbarosa as he came around the corner. The monster had not been hit, however, and Elliott's Glock now lay behind Barbarosa on the slanted floor. One spindly-fingered hand was wrapped tightly around the Guardian's throat, the other pawing at him, as if searching for another weapon.
Barbarosa had shifted his body to fit more compactly into the narrow hallway, shrinking himself in height and making his body thinner in width. That extra mass had to go somewhere, however, and as he turned sideways to push Elliott against the wall, Cadence could see that he was larger now from front to back, almost filling the entire passage in front of her. Taking the shot would be easy from this angle, and the monster seemed to know that. As she stepped forward, Glock held out in front of her at the ready, the searching became even more frantic, and she was afraid he might actually tear Elliott apart. Even though Vampires could not kill Guardians, it would still be very painful.
"It's over, Barbarosa," she said through locked teeth. "Let him go." Even though she knew she had the shot, she had seen the way the bullets Elliott had fired bounced in the narrow space, and she wasn't sure she wanted to take the risk, not yet.
He snarled at her, showing his rotting, yellow fangs, his bloody gums, the insides of his gnarly lips. "How dare you invade my home!" he croaked, the words almost unintelligible coming from his ancient throat.
"How dare you kill all of those children!" Cadence countered. Elliott was attempting to wriggle free, or at least give her the room she needed to hit the monster cleanly. Though a shot through the heart was ideal, if she could wound him, she'd have the opportunity to take a second shot, so long as she didn't hit Elliott in the process. That wasn't Cadence's preferred method of destruction, however, and she stood debating whether or not to shoot him or pry those twiggy fingers from Elliott's neck and rip his head off.
She didn't have to debate for too long, however. Just as she was about to holster her gun and fling herself at him, he found what he was looking for. Cadence was certain that Elliott only had one gun, but in all his digging, Barbarosa was able to find another. Pulling the weapon from the back of Elliott's waistband, the monster flipped the gun around in Cadence's direction, clearly hoping to take out yet another Hunter and leave himself with only the unarmed Guardian to contend with. Without hesitation, Cadence fired, hitting the bloodsucker in the side of his right eye. He reeled backward, wedging himself against the wall as bloody fragments splattered against the ceiling. Elliott grabbed for the gun, just as Barbarosa pulled the trigger, sending the shot through the wall behind, next to Elliott's head. Cadence fired again, this time sending a silver bullet through the side of the Vampire's chest cavity, passing through his heart, before exiting out the other side, implanting itself in the door at the end of the hall.
Barbarosa let out a high-pitched shriek, shaking the old building, and sending Elliott and Cadence to their knees. His body had disintegrated into ashes before the echoes dissipated. Once the ringing in their ears stopped, the two clambered to their feet, Cadence stepping forward to check on her partner.
"You okay?" she asked, making sure the bullet hadn't grazed him.
Elliott took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said quietly. His throat was still red and looked sore, but his voice was its same deep tone, and he didn't appear to be injured, just a bit shaken.
"Good," Cadence sighed, patting him on the shoulder. "Let's get out of here before his friends show up. I've had enough hunting for one night."
"Good idea," Elliott agreed. "No need for a vacuum this time," he added, thinking the likelihood of anyone ever entering that building again was slim to none. He stooped to retrieve both of his Glocks, shoving one in the holster, the other in his waistband where it had been concealed.
"Do you know how to get out?" Cadence asked, remembering they were in a labyrinth.
Elliott grinned. "Follow me," he assured her. Cadence did as she was instructed, following him the twenty or so steps to the door at the end of the hallway. It opened into the December air at the edge of the brambles, just a few hundred feet away from where Cadence had entered the building on the second floor.
Barbarosa had almost made it out.
