A Darkness Below - Chapter 15

Another week, another seven days of law school kicking me in the ass. My previous suggestion that I was getting the hang of it was premature. Still, I have another chapter for y'all! As always, upvotes and comments are appreciated, as well as critique of the work.

If you're just coming to A Darkness Below, you can check out the previous chapters here:

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14

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His sleep had been fitful, as it always was. One didn’t make it through the hell that was trench warfare unscathed, even if one’s body was intact, and William Sullivan was no exception.

It wasn’t until the actual report of gunfire reached his ears that he was roused from his sleep. Blinking his eyes a few times to orient himself back in the darkness of his executive suite, he threw off the covers and climbed to his feet. His cane was ignored for the moment, leaning heavily on his right side as he stumbled across his room to his desk. If they were under attack on their own grounds, then Maggie had been right; the bloodsuckers in Ireland were coming to snuff out the Order, once and for all.

Despite knowing it was an exercise in futility, he looked out the window toward the courtyard, where he figured the gunfire had come from. Hunters and other personnel were now coming out of their barracks, only to be greeted by a veritable army of creatures. He counted thirty of their number now storming the barracks and heading for the halls on the other side of the interior wall. Finally banded together, he thought, a grim expression crossing his face.

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The trek back to the car was made that much more difficult by carrying Daniel’s body. Maggie had hoisted him over her shoulders, holding onto his arm and one of his legs to distribute his now dead weight on her back. Her shoulders strained to keep him steady, but she’d already told Warrick she was carrying him. Her tears were gone from her now. The only thing that stung her eyes was the seething rage that needed an outlet, one that she was certain she’d find back home.

She’d been right all along.

Despite everyone telling her that there wasn’t anything to worry about - that all of these monsters laughing at the moment of their deaths were just hurling empty, idle threats - she’d been right, and no one had heeded her demands to be ready. Now they were paying the price. Normally she’d get some pleasure out of telling people she was right, especially when she had to be vindicated, but not tonight. Tonight, it was a hollow victory, and it was overshadowed by the anger and despair she felt at losing Danny. They’d been lovers, once, and they’d been friends their entire lives. Now she had no one but her father.

Warrick winced as he opened the back door, the pain from his rib cage searing back to the forefront of his mind. Maggie shifted her foot off the curb, leaning down and rolling Daniel’s body onto the back seat. Without bothering to catch her breath, she reached down and tucked his legs into the gap between the back cushion and the front seat. Wiping sweat from her brow, she stood back up and made her way toward the front, where Warrick was already trying to climb into the driver’s seat.

“Move over, sergeant,” she said, “I’ll drive us back to the castle.”

“The hell you will, Sullivan,” he said, gritting his teeth as he turned to sit down into the seat. He tried to shut the door, but Maggie slammed her hand against the doorframe, staring down at him.

“I don’t have time for this bullshit, Warrick,” she started, voice carrying an air of authority to it she usually didn’t assume.

“You’re injured, which is going to make operating the wheel and the clutch a lot harder. Move your ass to the passenger side, and let me drive. We have to get back. Now.”

The Taskmaster stared up at her, trying to judge whether this was a fight worth fighting at this particular moment. Exigency won out in the end, and he slid himself over to the passenger seat in the front. Maggie hopped in and cranked the key to the start position. The old Ford chugged to life, struggling for a moment before it settled into its idle. Slamming the shift lever into first gear, she took off from where they parked, gunning it down the narrow alleyway before hanging a right and making their way toward the road they’d taken from Cahir. It took them back to a wider street, and, a few seconds later, the river they had to cross to make it back toward the road out of town.

Within a few minutes, they were on open road again, and she opened the throttle all the way, the engine straining to keep up with her desire for vengeance.

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