Warriors of Poseidon 02 - Atlantis Awakening

the formal speak that underscored the intensity of his words.
     
    "I am sure. Into the belly of the beast, Ven," she said, trying to smile. "Well, I don't mean that literally, of course."
     
    "I'm the only beast whose belly you're going to get near," he growled, flashing a grin that belied his mock ferocity.
     
    "Then lead on, beast. The sooner we go, the sooner we get through this," she said. And then she followed him down the stone ladder into the dark.
     
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Chapter 29
Caligula's cavern lair
    Quinn sauntered forward into the enormous cavern, hands in her pants pockets as if facing a criminally insane master vampire was just another day in the life.
     
    Sadly, since she'd started working for the rebel cause, it kind of was just another day in the life. Another step toward the redemption she could never earn. She didn't even fear death any more as much as she feared the idea of never seeing Riley again.
     
    She tried to ignore the rapid pounding of her heart and studied the space, which was lit by torches placed strategically on the stone walls. Dozens of vamps lurked and skittered against the walls, hiding in shadows, making hideous hissing sounds that she figured translated into "yummy, fresh blood walking."
     
    But the centerpiece of the room—and, hey, want to bet that he'd planned it that way?—was the vamp floating about fifteen feet above the floor, slowly twirling in a circle, black silk cape flowing behind him. He had a Ceasar-type hairdo, which she supposed made sense, but he looked like he should be wearing a toga, not a cape.
     
    Well, "no guts, no glory." Or something like that. Maybe, "mouth off and he'll eat your guts."
     
    Either way, she knew it was something about guts. And that was something she had plenty of, notwithstanding the acid curling and roiling around in them. A sense of enormous power, barely leashed, washed over her, and her emotional empathy shut down completely in the face of the pure evil in his intentions.
     
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    She took a deep breath and looked straight at him. "Seriously, dude, a cape! Are you kidding me? Too many Bela Lugosi flicks? Or are you more a Frank Langella or Gary Oldman fan?"
     
    Before he could reply, a huge tolling sound, like some kind of King Kong of a Liberty Bell ringing to alert the soldiers or something, started booming through the cave. This meant that it also started booming through her skull, which was definitely not a happy development in the world of Quinn.
     
    As she clutched her aching head and moaned, she noticed that she wasn't the only one suffering. The vamps and shifters were all clutching their heads, too, and moaning, snarling, and hissing out hideously tormented sounds. Clearly the bell was affecting them on a far more visceral level than it was affecting her, which meant white magic was involved somehow.
     
    Which might mean Erin. Way to go, Erin. It boomed through the cave for several minutes, and then stopped with one extra-loud, final gong. She hesitantly lifted her hands away from her ears, wondering if a person's skull could actually explode from a headache, and getting the feeling she might be close to finding out.
     
    Caligula raised his hands from his ears and snarled, then he lowered his levitating form down closer to the floor and to her. As he approached from above, he almost caught her eyes, but she was careful to quickly lower her gaze. She might have a talent or two in the area of rebel strategy, but there was no way she could pit her emotional empathy against a master vamp's mind-thrall powers and come out a winner.
     
    Or even come out alive.
     
    "What was that noise? Not a happy noise for vamps, I'm guessing," she said, unreasonably proud of the near-steadiness of her voice.
     
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    A flicker of uncertainty crossed his face, as if he didn't know what the noise was, either.
     
    "That noise is none of your concern, Quinn Dawson. I have heard much of you. The infamous rebel leader who drives even master vampires out of their home territories.
    And yet here you are, and you're nothing but a little girl," he sneered.
     
    Quinn clenched her fist around the hilt of the wooden stake that was strapped to her leg underneath her pants. Cutting holes in all of her pockets was second nature these days.
     
    "I'm getting really tired of