Chapter 73 - Descend

I found Alex and Charles by the manhole, their shadows splayed in the narrow, hazy glow of the streetlight. Charles was down on one knee, hands grinding through layers of frost and grit as he chipped at the ice that had seized the cover in place. I moved into the ring of faint light, and they knew I was there before I even arrived. They'd felt the disturbance in the air.

Alex’s head twisted to look over her shoulder, her gaze cutting through me. "Charles," she droned on, her tone laced with a taunt, "maybe our lazy ass friend here would like to take a crack at this thing? Y'know, since we’ve been carrying all the weight." She smirked, a jab meant to dig under my skin. I could tell she wasn’t bringing it up because Charles couldn’t do it, he was strong as hell. No, this was her petty payback. She was still fuming over her bloody stained clothes. She wasn’t going to let me forget about it.

Charles kept his focus, not saying a word as he worked his way through another stubborn layer of ice. The tension between Alex and me crackled like a live wire above him, and I knew he could feel it too. But he didn’t stop; he just kept working, face set like stone.

“Oh, Alex,” I replied, letting the sarcasm drip. “I’m sorry you had to get your hands dirty.” I made a show of looking her up and down, smirking as I continued. “You should really be more careful where you just show up, dressed like that.”

Her eyes narrowed, and she scoffed, rolling them in Charles’s direction as if he was some silent ally in her irritation. “Cute,” she said flatly, not even looking at me as she adjusted her shirt with an exaggerated sigh. The silence stretched between us, thick with unsaid things and her grudge simmering just below the surface.

Even with Charles’s superhuman strength, lifting the manhole cover was a feat of ingenuity. The ice had fused the heavy metal disc into its frame, sealing every gap with a crystalline layer that glinted in the faint light. It wasn’t just frozen in place; the ice had formed a compact dome, filling every crevice of the rim. Charles knelt, his powerful frame hunched as he dug his fingers into the edges. He scraped away in determined silence, his breaths visible in the cold air.

When scraping wasn't enough, he balled his fist and slammed it dead center on the metal disc. A sharp, echoing clang split the silence as shockwaves rippled through the cover, cracking the ice webbing outward in jagged lines. The impact’s vibration shook the frost loose, rattling the cover just enough that he could finally wedge his fingers into the thin slots around the edge. With a final, guttural grunt, Charles wrenched it up, and the ice creaked and fractured, revealing a yawning, shadowed mouth leading into the city’s underbelly.

He braced the heavy cover open, glancing at Alex, who didn’t hesitate for even a second. With a gleeful defiance, she hopped in, arms tucked, and disappeared into the dark like it was her playground.

I counted a beat or two, giving her time to get clear. Then, leaning forward, I lowered myself with a little more care, my shoulders too broad for the narrow entry to simply drop in like she had. But once I felt myself clear the edge, gravity claimed me, and I fell, ten feet or so, boots hitting the damp ground with a solid thud. The dark swallowed everything, but my black eyes flared to life, cutting through the shadows, and bathing the passage in an eerie, ghostly glow. Every rivulet in the damp walls, each rusty bolt and chipped concrete detail, sprang into sharp clarity, as though the darkness had been peeled back just for me.

I took a step to the side, making room for Charles, who swiftly lowered the manhole cover back into place with a resonant clang. A gust of air swept down as he followed, descending with a quiet, powerful grace. He landed almost silently, his momentum absorbed in a fluid crouch that transitioned immediately into a stride, his intensity cutting through the claustrophobic silence.

“This way,” he ordered, his tone allowing no-nonsense as he led the way forward, all business. His figure was a dark silhouette moving ahead with deadly intent.

Alex and I look at each other, a question, and glance and both of our eyes. Alex slightly shrugged and then walked behind Charles. I followed Alex and we were starting to make our way to wherever Charles was leading us.

After a few minutes of walking through the dim, damp tunnel in silence, I finally spoke up. “Who was the woman?” I asked. “There was something in your expression… like you knew her.”

Charles stopped abruptly, his jaw clenched, eyes dark with something raw. He leaned against the concrete wall, breathing slow, as though steadying himself. “Her name was Barb,” he said, voice strained. “We were… bonded. Family.” His words faltered, a shadow of grief slipping through his normally steely demeanor.

Alex’s breath hitched, surprising me. In the short time I’d known her, I hadn’t seen this depth of emotion from her, nor this tenderness toward Charles.

“Was this your family?” she asked quietly. “The one Martin said you’d found like he did?”

Charles nodded, the pain etched in the lines of his face. He seemed caught in an internal struggle, the weight of unsaid words pressing heavily on him. After a deep breath, Alex spoke, voice low and measured, “I’m sorry, Charles. I don’t know what that means for you… but I am.”

Confused, I leaned toward Alex and whispered, “What’s going on?” The moment the words left my mouth, I regretted them, feeling Charles’s awareness, even if he didn’t look my way.

“She’s dead, you idiot,” Alex hissed, casting a glare at me that warned me to shut up before I made things worse. My face was downcast as I sighed in instant regret.

Charles, thankfully, spared me from my own ignorance. “It’s all right, Alex,” he murmured, exhaling slowly as he drew himself up. He spoke with quiet resolve, “Sam… shapeshifters don’t just take forms at random. They have to… absorb them.” He paused as if the words themselves were like glass shards. “To take someone’s form, they need to… kill them, to consume them.”

The full weight of what he meant crashed into me. The woman I’d seen… it wasn’t her. The shapeshifter had taken Barb’s form, someone Charles had loved, only revealing her death to him in that twisted, horrifying moment.

I stared down at the damp ground, the silence heavy. “I’m… sorry,” was all I could manage. The words felt hollow, inadequate.

Charles’s eyes bore into me, something piercing beneath his grief. “She had cancer… diagnosed a year ago. She didn’t have much time left. But to be taken in that way…” he trailed off. But I knew what he thought. He just hoped it was quick. “Have you been killing for a reason, Sam? Is this… are you trying to get caught?”

I swallowed hard at his loss. “I’ve been trying to get your attention… like before. I need to go down,” I told him. “To the pits.”

He narrowed his eyes, trying to connect the dots. “You want to face the elders?” His voice was edged with warning, as though even speaking the words summoned danger.

“Yes,” I replied, unwavering.

Charles studied me, eyes deep with a mix of pity and foreboding. “Do you have any idea what’s down there?”

“If I did, I’d be down there already,” I said, the frustration sharp in my tone. “I just haven’t figured out how to reach the deeper caverns yet.”

Charles’s gaze narrowed, his eyes flickering as he considered my nod. “So, you’ve been trying to get to them for a while now,” he murmured, the realization settling over him. His mouth set into a grim line as he looked back up at me, his stare unyielding. “You really think you can go down there and kill them, don’t you? You have no doubts.” The last words came out flat, almost as if he wasn’t asking but stating a fact.

I held his gaze and nodded.

A bitter smile touched Charles’s lips. “For my family’s sake,” he muttered. Then, with a quick, purposeful motion, he rolled up the sleeve of his jacket, exposing his inner wrist. The skin there bore a blood-red brand, twisted and thorny, like the silhouette of a spider fused with an ancient hieroglyph. The mark was raised, raw, covering the width of his wrist; a silent testament to his past.

“I can’t go with you,” he said, voice tight. “But I can get you in. If I return without Tanish, they’ll know. And if they already suspect me of treason, going back would be suicide.”

Alex frowned, her brow knitting. “How are we supposed to navigate that place without you?”

Charles shook his head. “I’ve only been allowed in certain areas. That’s all they’d ever show me. But you need to understand this isn’t just some underground lair. Once you realize what that place really is, it’ll be easier to understand. The pits go deep, but they aren’t just a cave.” He paused, eyes grave. “It’s a body.”

The words lingered in the air, thick and unsettling.

I interrupted, “Wait, what do you mean ‘we’?” I locked eyes with Alex, confusion etched on my face. “You can’t go with me!”

“I’m not going to let you have all the fun,” she shot back, her tone unapologetic. “I don’t know why you’re heading down there, but I know why I want to. It’s gonna be a buffet! So many of those fucking leeches down there... they’ll be all mine. So many creatures to kill! I’m not asking,” she insisted, a fierce gleam in her eyes. “Plus, you’ll probably need me, you inexperienced little boy.” She shot her words at me like an insult meant to rile me up.

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My monster bristled, wanting to assert that I didn’t need her help. Yet, a part of me craved her company, craving a companion for the dark journey ahead. I had never expected it would be Alex. Our relationship had always been volatile, to say the least, each of us sizing the other up for a potential kill if one crossed a line. But lately, she had grown on me, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want her along… despite her touchy attitude at times. She seemed less resistant now, and that change intrigued me. There was so much that intrigued me about her past… and her history that she scarcely shared.

I nodded to her and stopped arguing the point. She was coming.

“A body?” I repeated, glancing at Alex, but her expression remained unreadable.

“Yes,” Charles replied, almost reluctantly, as though each word chipped away at a terrible truth. “The pits are the hollowed remains of something ancient, older than anything we know. Saint Louis itself… it’s built over the corpse of this creature.”

My heart thudded. Primeval… The word whispered through my mind, heavy as a curse. Could it be? “Is it… dead?”

“Dead and not,” Charles answered. “It doesn’t move or act, but there’s a power there, a lingering presence. The walls, the rock… they pulse with energy like veins still carrying blood. We call it the Great Spider,” he said, glancing at the brand on his wrist. “People say the pits are arranged like a spider on its back, its legs spread beneath the city. Entrances are hidden around the city’s edge, and the caves beneath the city connect the entrances like an underground network. It’s a refuge… safe from sunlight, from prying human eyes, a place for those who don’t belong aboveground… and aren’t welcomed within the pits.” He gestured into the dark. “The spider rests on its back, legs splayed out, reaching up. Once you’re inside, all you do is descend. You’ll travel through its leg until you reach the deepest part… the core.” He paused, a strange look crossing his face. “That’s where you’ll find the elders… the oldest and most dangerous of them. The place itself feeds them, strengthening their power. They never leave; they send others to carry out their will above.”

Alex’s voice cut through the quiet, sharp as a blade. “How many of them are there?”

Charles’s face darkened. “Nine in total. But one of them, the ninth, rules over the rest… a true Elder.”

Alex pressed on, undeterred. “So, can we get down there without being noticed, or is it going to be a fight all the way?”

Charles’s silence spoke volumes, the grim look in his eyes answering her question better than words ever could.

Charles’s face was grave as he continued, his gaze steady yet distant, as if he could see the twisting corridors of rock beneath our feet. “There are those down there who might notice you, suspect you don’t belong, but most keep to themselves, seeking passage from one edge of the city to the other. They don’t dare descend below the first few layers of the core… the body…hardly anyone does anymore.” His mouth quirked in a grim smile. “And if they do, it’s not out of curiosity. It’s out of need, fear, or worse.”

He gave me a sharp look. “Your presence has been felt there for a while now. You’ve made a reputation for yourself… the unnamed monster prowling our streets, the thing that haunts just at the edge of their petrified fortress. Some hide away deep within.” A shadow flickered over his face. “But no one dares linger near the true depths. Their fear of the Elders is far greater than their fear of you. Only those chosen… those granted permission, ever see their chambers. Once you’re inside, be on your guard. The confrontation is inevitable. And with you two,” he shot Alex a weary, knowing look, “I’d say it’s all but guaranteed.”

I nodded, feeling the weight of his words, and Alex mirrored the motion with a resolute grimace. Charles seemed to gather himself, though his gaze lingered, haunted by the recent loss of his elderly friend, her face perhaps etched behind his eyes. He drew in a heavy breath. “We should move. The entrance is close.”

Without another word, we plunged forward, the three of us moving through the dank, echoing sewers, where every step stirred a chill and the air grew colder as if drawn from deep within the bowels of something ancient and unspeakable. As we traveled further, the man-made pipes and walls gradually morphed into natural rock formations, twisting caverns, rough-hewn stone, walls draped with creeping veins of moisture. This was the transitional space, where human infrastructure melted into the unnatural sanctuary below.

I cast my eyes around, noting the difference between these pockets and the rougher walls surrounding them. Now that I understood more of what lay below, I could almost sense the subtle shifts in the rock. Some parts were mere hollows, geological quirks, but others… others felt almost sculpted. As if some invisible hand had chiseled pathways and chambers, hollowing out corridors for travel between this world and the body of the ancient entity below. If this spider truly was as enormous as Charles claimed, its corpse had been here for thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of years. A colossal, sleeping beast, woven into the very foundation of Saint Louis. And no one up there knew.

The thought struck me with sudden horror, sinking in my chest like a weight. The Primeval… Could this spider be another one of them? Maybe dead, or perhaps merely dormant. What if it stirred to life? Even a slight movement of its limbs, an inch, even less would bring ruin to everything above. The entire city would shatter, its streets would turn to dust, and every living soul crushed beneath the impossible weight of its awakening.

Another stray thought came, rattling me: was this why Death had taken the blade from me? Why he couldn’t follow me here? Could the blade’s presence alone be enough to alert this sleeping titan? If it awoke… would it rise to fight, as the Primeval had in the other realm?

Our pace slowed. I sensed we were nearing our destination, the air growing colder, sharper as if chilled by the bones of the earth itself. Charles’s resolve was palpable, but even beneath his calm exterior, I could sense a gnawing fear. I knew the moment we split up, he would bolt back to his own friends and family, desperate to find them alive and unassimilated by the shapeshifters. That hope was all that kept him going.

“Are there other shapeshifters down there?” I asked, my voice hushed.

“Definitely,” Charles replied, glancing back with a grim certainty. “This place is a haven for all kinds of creatures. Some you know; others… well, you’ll see. But don’t waste your strength fighting everything. If you try to take on every monster down there, you’ll be buried before you reach the elders. Get in, find them, kill them. Cut off the head, and the body will fall.”

“Or we could just pull their limbs off and stomp their heads in,” Alex added, her tone casual, a smirk tugging at her lips. “Makes more sense, doesn’t it?” She was primed for a fight.

Charles’s mouth quirked in reluctant agreement. “Yes, well… I suppose that’s another way to put it.” He sighed. “But listen… there are other shapeshifters down there, one of the elders especially, and its power’s beyond anything we’ve seen, even in Yanish. Every time they assimilate someone or something, they add to their reserves. Tear a chunk off, and they can pull from that mass to heal right back up. The longer they live, the worse it gets. They end up with nearly endless reserves, almost unstoppable.” His voice dropped as if the weight of what we were facing pressed down on him. “That’s why they’re hunted by others… nobody wants them growing too powerful. But that’s not your problem right now. Just keep one thing in mind… when you tear into them, don’t let them gather the pieces. They’re like magnets. The bits pull back together if you let them.”

I nodded, absorbing his words, then glanced at Alex. She shot me a look… one of those sarcastic little smirks that said she was humoring me but we would need to work together down there.

Charles stepped forward, lifting his hand to press against a bare patch of cave wall. It was nondescript, blending in perfectly with the surrounding rock; no signs, no markings. For a second, nothing happened. But then, with a focused twist of his wrist and a surge of his vampiric power, the stone itself groaned and cracked. A fine seam split the wall, thin and jagged, running up from the floor and stretching nearly ten feet high. Dust and fragments crumbled off as the crack widened, revealing a narrow passage, just three or four feet across at its widest point. It’d be a tight squeeze for anyone, so I turned sideways, preparing to slip in just to get a peek after so much time spent trying to get in.

But Charles’s hand shot out, grabbing my arm. His grip was iron-strong, his gaze dead serious. “One last thing, Sam. Once you’re inside, you’re trapped. Only those with the mark can let you out, and you’re not getting that mark if you do what you say you’ll do. Don’t go slaughtering everyone unless you want to be locked in there forever. You’ll need someone alive to open the door.”

I nodded, though I hesitated. “I… wasn’t exactly planning to go in right this second.” My mind jumped to Carter, Eleanor, Autumn, and everyone I’d leave behind if I went down there now. Chaos was already ripping through their lives. “There are things I need to handle, people I need to check on. I need them to know where I’m going… if I don’t make it out.”

Charles’s face hardened, the weariness in his eyes replaced by a sense of urgency. “It’s now or never, Sam. Once I leave here, I’m not coming back. I have to find my family, to see if any of them are still alive. I’m gone after that. And if you don’t go in now, it’ll be too late. Soon enough, they’ll realize Yanish is dead. They’ll send someone else. This is your shot. Take it, or lose it.”

I looked at Alex, gauging her reaction. Her eyes were fierce, her stance solid. She was ready… eager, even. She didn’t have anyone tying her back, no one she needed to see one last time. The thought of the fight, of tearing into something that had preyed on so many, seemed to bring her to life. She nodded at me, fierce and unflinching. She was all in like this was the one thing she was made to do.

I shook my head, teeth clenched as a sharp breath escaped my lips. I had to do this. Deep within my bones, the Primeval surged, a dark force demanding action.

DESCEND!

KILL!

It echoed in my mind, a sinister chant that ignited a primal rage I couldn’t ignore.

I didn’t need convincing; the weight of its presence was a heavy mantle, pushing me forward. “Then we do this now,” I said, my voice low and resolute. “But, Charles, you need to tell Carter. He has to know where I am, and what I’m doing. Make sure he stays hidden. I can’t let anything bleed out from the pits and endanger him and his family.”

Charles nodded a grave understanding in his eyes. “I’ll make sure he knows. Martin as well…” he added as his eyes shifted to Alex.

Her look was sincere as she said, “Thank you.”

Alex and I exchanged one last glance, the air thick with unspoken resolve before our gazes shifted back to the jagged opening that stretched wide before us, like a gaping maw filled with sharp teeth. I nodded to her, a silent promise that we were in this together. She mirrored the gesture, her determination echoing my own.

I stepped forward first, shouldering through the narrow passage into the darkness that had eluded me for so long. As I slipped into the pit, the razor-sharp edges of rock loomed around us, each jagged point a promise of death for most. We pressed on, the air thick with foreboding mystery.

After about twenty feet, I broke into a wider opening, the darkness enveloping me like a shroud, so deep that even my enhanced vision struggled to penetrate it. The blackness was alive, wrapping around me, pulling me into its embrace. Moments later, Alex slipped in behind me, her hand pressing firmly against my shoulder.

“Can you see in here?” she asked, a hint of concern threading through her voice as it whispered in my ear.

Before I could answer, the passage behind us clinched shut with a bone-deep groan, like the earth itself was swallowing us whole. The sound of shifting stone rattled in the silence, the jagged teeth locking together, sealing us in.

This was it. We had entered a new domain… one filled with shadows and dangers beyond our comprehension. But I felt the Primeval inside me stir, urging me forward. It thrummed with anticipation, and with each heartbeat, the bloodlust grew stronger. This was not merely a descent into darkness; it was a descent into violence, and I was ready to embrace it.