Page 18 of Soulmarked (Hellbound and Hollow #1)
17
TUNNELS AND REVELATIONS
C onsciousness returned like drowning in reverse, water and blood and concrete dust flooding my senses. Everything hurt. The mark on my chest burned like ice, a sharp contrast to the lukewarm water soaking through my clothes.
“Don't move yet,” Sean's voice came from somewhere to my left, tight with what might have been concern. “That was quite a fall.”
I tried to blink away the grit in my eyes, taking stock of our situation. We'd landed in some kind of flooded sub-basement, broken pipes creating an artificial rain that caught what little light filtered down from above. The explosion had torn through multiple levels of the asylum's foundation, revealing older structures beneath.
“How long was I out?” My voice sounded rough, even to my own ears.
“Few minutes.” Sean moved closer, his hunter's grace unaffected by what must have been an equally brutal landing. “Hold still, you're bleeding.”
His hands were surprisingly gentle as they checked my head wound, though I caught him favoring his left side. Typical, worried about my injuries while hiding his own.
“I'm fine,” I started to say, but his sharp look cut me off.
“You have a concussion, probable cracked ribs, and that's not counting whatever's making your chest glow through your shirt.”
I froze. The mark. In the chaos and dim light, its power must have leaked through, creating a faint luminescence beneath my clothing. Sean's eyes met mine, carrying equal parts concern and suspicion.
“We don't have time for this,” I said, pushing myself up despite the world tilting sideways. “They'll be coming after us.”
“Yeah, well, neither do I have time for you passing out on me,” Sean retorted, but his hand stayed on my arm, steadying me. “But we're having a conversation about that light show later.”
I ignored him, focusing on assessing what gear had survived our fall. My primary weapon was gone, probably somewhere in the rubble above. The backup piece at my ankle was soaked but might still work. Extra ammo was a lost cause.
Sean was doing his own inventory, mouth set in a grim line. Most of his arsenal was either lost or waterlogged, though he'd somehow kept hold of his favorite knife. Then he pulled something else from his pocket. It was an old rosary, its wooden beads dark with age.
“Really?” I couldn't help asking. “You're carrying a rosary?”
“Proper tools for the job,” he shot back, checking the beads with practiced care. “Unlike you feds with your fancy theories, some of us actually come prepared. Those scientists up there? They're not just possessed, they're corrupted. Old magic, the kind that needs old remedies.”
Before I could ask what he meant, sounds echoed down from above. Sean's expression shifted instantly from concerned to predatory.
“Time to move.” He gestured toward the revealed tunnels. “Unless you'd rather stay and explain to those things why you glow in the dark? Not that I'm judging your life choices.”
The tunnels stretched ahead like open veins beneath the city, walls slick with more than just water. Our footsteps echoed strangely, as if the space itself was swallowing sound. Each throb from my mark made me more aware of the power running through this place, though I kept that knowledge carefully hidden.
We found temporary shelter in what might have been a maintenance junction, though the architecture suggested it was far older than the asylum above. Massive stone arches met at impossible angles, their surfaces carved with symbols that seemed to move in my peripheral vision.
Sean's attention shifted suddenly to the walls, expression sharpening with recognition. He pulled a battered leather journal from his back pocket, its pages worn and marked with dozens of tabs.
“These symbols...” He compared them to drawings in the book. “They're not just decorative. This whole tunnel system is built on a ley line confluence.”
“And that helps us how exactly?” I asked, wiping blood from my temple. My head was still throbbing, but the analytical part of my brain was already sorting through possibilities, trying to connect the tunnel markings to research I'd done over the years.
Sean tapped one of the symbols with his finger. “These tunnels were designed to amplify energy. Like a supernatural megaphone. Whatever power you channel through here gets multiplied.”
I studied the configurations with new understanding, my researcher's mind immediately cataloging patterns. “You could use them for an exorcism. Turn the whole system into one massive focusing array.”
“Yeah, but it's not without risks.” He flipped through more pages, each one covered in careful notes and diagrams. “Channeling this much raw power... it could burn out anyone trying to control it. Not exactly recommended for long-term health.”
Before I could press further, footsteps splashed through the flooded tunnel to our right. We both spun, weapons ready, but it was Lex who emerged from the darkness. His suit was ruined, and blood ran from a cut above his eye, but his smile was as sharp as ever.
“You two look cozy,” Lex observed, taking in our position against the wall. “Though your timing for romantic tension could be better.”
“What's the situation upstairs?” Sean asked, already turning his attention back to the tunnel configurations.
“Bad and getting worse.” Lex's usual humor vanished. “Those scientists? They're changing. Like they're being rewritten from the inside out.”
As if to emphasize his point, screams echoed from above, human voices twisting into something else. The sound carried harmonics beyond human vocal range, oscillating between pitches that made the tunnel air vibrate and my teeth ache down to their roots.
“How many?” I asked, forcing myself to focus past the headache and the mark's constant burning.
“At least a dozen confirmed.” Lex moved closer, examining the symbols with professional interest. “These tunnels are older than the city itself.”
“They're built to channel and focus power,” Sean explained, not looking up from his journal. “If we can activate the old wards...”
“We might be able to pull off a mass exorcism,” I finished, watching him trace patterns between symbols. The plan was forming in my mind, but the risks were enormous. “But channeling that much power could kill you.”
Sean's smile was grim. “Worried about me, Professor?”
“Just calculating odds of survival,” I replied, already analyzing the variables. “We need to activate specific points in the tunnel system to create a resonance effect, don't we?”
“Five points,” Sean confirmed, sketching a rough map. “Four corners forming a containment square, with a final point at the center.”
More screams filtered down, closer now. The sounds of pursuit were getting nearer, carrying notes that made my skull feel like it was trying to crack open. Whatever was happening upstairs was accelerating.
“We split up,” Lex suggested, checking his remaining weapons. “Hit the corner points simultaneously while Sean sets up the central focus.”
“And if something goes wrong?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.
“Then we die horribly while eldritch horrors wear our skin like suits,” Sean replied with that gallows humor hunters seemed to develop. “Just another Tuesday in paradise.”
Sean tore pages from his journal, handing them to each of us. “These are the activation sequences. The symbols need to be charged in exact order, or the whole thing collapses.”
I studied the diagrams, recognizing elements that matched patterns from my own research into the supernatural. Things I couldn't admit to knowing without raising questions I couldn't answer.
“This is old magic,” I said carefully. “Pre-Christian. You sure you can control it?”
Sean's eyes met mine, carrying weight beyond the immediate crisis. “Worried about my soul, Princess?”
“Worried about all our souls if this goes wrong.”
Above us, something moved through the rubble. The air rippled around the transforming scientists, colors inverting while shadows stretched in impossible directions. Sounds distorted, crashes echoed before impact, screams lingered after silence fell.
“Lex, take the north point. Cade, you're east. I'll start the central focus once you're both in position.”
We moved through the tunnels like shadows, each taking our assigned paths. The mark on my chest burned steadier now, responding to whatever power Sean was preparing to channel.
The corridor to the East point was a gauntlet of twisted shadows and corrupted magic. Three witches blocked my path, their glamours falling away to reveal ancient markings writhing across their skin. Underneath the dark power possessing them, I could see who they used to be, teachers, mothers, people who'd probably never chosen this darkness.
The first came at me with claws made of shadow, her eyes completely black. I ducked under her strike, muscle memory taking over as the silver blade found her throat. Black smoke poured from the wound as she fell, the woman she used to be visible for just a moment before the end.
The second and third attacked together, dark energy crackling between them. One had a photo in her pocket, kids, maybe, or family she'd never see again. The knowledge made my next strikes harder to execute, but hesitation would only prolong their suffering.
“There has to be another way,” I gritted out, parrying a strike that would have torn out my throat. But there wasn't time to find it, wasn't time to try a proper exorcism. The ritual was building to completion, and these people were already too far gone.
The blade sang twice more, and silence fell. I stood among bodies that were already dissolving into grey ash, trying not to think about the lives they'd had before darkness claimed them.
The East point waited ahead, ancient symbols carved into stone that hummed with patient power. My hands were steady as I began the activation sequence, though my heart felt heavy with necessary sins.
“East point activated,” I reported into my comm, hoping it would reach through the interference.
Static crackled, then Sean's voice came through, tight with concentration: “North and west are charged. Lex has south. Get ready, this is going to get messy.”
An understatement if I'd ever heard one. Above us, through gaps in the crumbling ceiling, I could see the asylum transforming. Reality bent around the building like heat waves off asphalt, but wrong, twisting in ways that hurt to look at directly.
“In position,” Sean's voice came again. “Starting the ritual.”
The marks I'd drawn flared brighter, power flowing between them like liquid lightning. Sean's voice echoed through the tunnels, the ritual beginning with quiet intensity.
“Incipit ritus sanctus,” Sean intoned, his voice carrying through the ancient tunnels. The holy rite begins.
The tunnel walls themselves seemed to vibrate, centuries-old symbols awakening to his call. Through the gaps above, I could see black smoke beginning to pour from the scientists' mouths—not normal smoke, but something that moved with terrible purpose.
“Per virtutem lucis et lineam terrae, expello tenebras.” By the power of light and the line of earth, I cast out darkness.
Sean's voice grew stronger with each word, carrying harmonics that made my mark burn with answering cold fire. The smoke-like entities writhed as they were torn free, trying to maintain their hold on human flesh. Each extraction looked agonizing, the hosts' bodies arching impossibly as the things inside them were forcibly evicted.
“In nomine antiquorum et potentiae sacrae,” he continued, blood now trickling from his nose as he channeled more power than any human should. In the name of the ancients and sacred power.
The very air around us seemed to thicken and pulse with each phrase, the tunnel system's ancient design amplifying every syllable. The walls glowed with patterns that had waited centuries to be awakened, and I could feel the mark on my chest responding, resonating with whatever power Sean was channeling.
“Per sanctum cruorem et ignem aeternum, impero vobis!” Sean's voice thundered through the tunnels as he reached the ritual's crescendo. By holy blood and eternal fire, I command you!
The remaining demons screamed as they were banished, the sound carrying frequencies that made reality itself shudder. Black smoke poured from every possessed scientist, swirling in violent vortexes before being pulled downward through the very stone beneath our feet.
“Claudo portam, sigillo viam.” I close the gate, I seal the way.
With these final words, Sean completed the ritual, the power surging through the tunnel system in a wave that made the air shimmer and crack. I felt it pass through me like a physical force, the mark on my chest pulsing in response as if recognizing the ancient power being wielded.
But one remained untouched.
The blue-eyed demon watched the chaos with something like amusement, completely unaffected by Sean's ritual. Her smile was wrong in ways that had nothing to do with facial muscles, and when she spoke, her voice carried centuries of malice.
“Did you think mere exorcism rites could touch me, little hunter?”
Sean staggered slightly, blood streaming from his nose as he tried to focus the remaining energy of the ritual toward her. His face had gone pale with exertion, but his eyes burned with stubborn determination.
The demons around us screamed as they were banished, the sound carrying frequencies that made reality itself shudder. But the blue-eyed thing just laughed, untouched by the power that had expelled the others.
“Your borrowed power is nothing,” she said, her form beginning to shift in ways that defied physics. “I am older than your rituals, older than the very concept of exorcism.”
The temperature dropped suddenly, frost crystallizing on the tunnel walls. I could feel the mark on my chest respond to her presence, growing colder with each word she spoke.
“Sean!” I shouted, seeing him falter as the entity's power pressed against his ritual. “We need to move! Now!”
He was already backing toward the maintenance shaft we'd spotted earlier, his voice never faltering in the ritual even as blood streamed from his nose. “Claudo portam, sigillo viam!”
The entity's laughter followed us as we retreated, echoing wrongly in the tunnel acoustics. The other scientists lay unconscious where they'd fallen, freed from possession but changed in ways we couldn't yet assess.
We found the maintenance shaft. Lex was already there, covering our retreat with weapons that probably wouldn't do much against what was following us.
“Skye!” I tried the comms again. “If you can hear us, we need extraction. South side of the building, utility access point.”
Only static answered. Whatever power that thing was putting out, it was blocking all communication.
“Options?” Lex asked as we climbed, trying to ignore the sounds of pursuit below.
“We need bigger guns,” Sean said, his voice rough from the ritual. “That thing down there? It's not just some demon. It's something older. Something nastier.”
“Wonderful.” I helped him up the last few rungs, pretending not to notice how his hands shook from channeling that much power. “Any other good news?”
“Yeah.” His smile held no humor as he wiped blood from his face. “Whatever it is, it's not trying to stop us from leaving. Which means it wants us to escape.”
The asylum's corridors were eerily silent now, the possessed scientists lying unconscious where they'd fallen. All except one. The sound of footsteps echoed from somewhere behind us, unhurried and deliberate. My mark pulsed in response, a warning I couldn't explain to the others.
“She's toying with us,” Sean muttered as we navigated the maze of hallways. “Could catch us if she wanted.”
“Not exactly comforting,” I replied, checking another corner before waving them forward.
Lex moved like a shadow despite his designer suit, checking our exit route. “Clear to the service door. Twenty meters.”
We made it out into the pre-dawn air, the asylum's bulk looming behind us like a tombstone against the lightening sky. None of us spoke until we'd put several blocks between us and whatever we'd just encountered.
“That wasn't normal possession,” Sean finally said, leaning against a brick wall to catch his breath. Blood had dried on his face, and his skin had taken on an unhealthy pallor from channeling so much power.
“Never seen anything shrug off an exorcism like that,” Lex agreed, checking his phone for signals. Still dead.
I kept watch while they recovered, the mark on my chest still burning cold. Each pulse seemed to be counting down to something inevitable, something I couldn't yet understand. The weight of research I'd done over the years felt suddenly inadequate against what we'd just faced.
“We need to regroup,” I said finally. “Figure out what we're really dealing with.”
Sean nodded, pushing off from the wall with only a slight waver. “Yeah. But something tells me we're not going to like the answers.”
The sun was rising over Manhattan, painting everything in shades of gold and shadow. Behind us, the asylum waited like a cancer in the city's heart. And somewhere inside, something ancient watched us retreat, wearing a scientist's skin like an ill-fitting suit.
We had survived. For now.
But as my mark throbbed with renewed intensity, I knew this was just the beginning of whatever had been set in motion. And I wondered, not for the first time, what exactly had claimed me that night in the snow.