Enemies Make the Best Company
1416 Words
“Stay behind me.”
Lucien’s voice was low but firm as he advanced through the narrow tunnel.
The crying grew louder.
It echoed strangely against the ancient stone walls, making it impossible to tell exactly where the little girl was hiding.
Elena kept close despite the fear tightening in her chest.
The flashlight Lucien had given her cut through the darkness, its beam revealing centuries-old carvings etched into the walls.
Wolves.
Crowns.
Crescents.
And names.
Hundreds of names.
Some had been scratched out.
Others had been carved so deeply they seemed impossible to erase.
“What is this place?” Elena whispered.
Lucien scanned the corridor without slowing.
“The original sanctuary.”
“It doesn’t look like one.”
“It stopped being a sanctuary a long time ago.”
Adrian knelt beside a patch of disturbed dust on the floor.
“Fresh footprints.”
“How many?”
“Three adults.”
He paused.
“…and small footprints.”
“The children.”
Lucien nodded.
“They’re alive.”
A frightened sob echoed ahead.
“Please…”
The little girl’s voice trembled.
“Don’t leave me.”
Elena instinctively moved forward.
Lucien caught her wrist.
“Wait.”
She looked at him.
“She’s scared.”
“I know.”
“Then why are we stopping?”
He pointed his flashlight toward the ceiling.
Thin metal wires stretched almost invisibly across the corridor.
Tripwires.
Connected to crude explosive devices hidden inside the walls.
Elena’s heart skipped.
“I would’ve walked right into them.”
“That was the idea.”
Adrian carefully crouched and began disarming the first wire.
“They wanted us to rush.”
Lucien remained focused on the darkness beyond.
“No.”
“They wanted Elena to rush.”
His words sent another chill through the tunnel.
The little girl’s crying continued.
Closer now.
“Mr. Lucien…”
She sniffled.
“My brother won’t wake up.”
Lucien’s expression hardened.
“We’re coming.”
He looked toward Adrian.
“How long?”
“Thirty seconds.”
“You have fifteen.”
Adrian sighed.
“You never make anything easy.”
“I don’t pay you for easy.”
Elena almost smiled despite the danger.
Almost.
Within moments, Adrian clipped the final wire.
“Clear.”
Lucien moved first.
They rounded the corner and entered a circular stone chamber.
Three frightened children huddled together behind a fallen pillar.
The oldest boy couldn’t have been more than ten.
He held a broken piece of wood like a sword, standing protectively in front of the two younger children.
The little girl gasped with relief.
“Mr. Lucien!”
“It’s okay,” Lucien said gently, kneeling to their level.
“We’re taking you home.”
The boy didn’t lower his makeshift weapon.
“How do I know you’re really you?”
Lucien didn’t seem offended.
Instead, he answered quietly,
“What did I promise you when we played chess last Tuesday?”
The boy blinked.
“You said…”
His voice softened.
“…that a king never leaves his people behind.”
Lucien nodded.
“And I don’t.”
The boy immediately dropped the wooden stick.
Elena watched the exchange in amazement.
“You play chess with them?”
Lucien looked almost embarrassed.
“I lose sometimes.”
One of the children giggled.
“You let me win.”
“I absolutely did not.”
“You did!”
For one brief, impossible moment…
The tunnel echoed with children’s laughter instead of fear.
Then…
A slow clap came from the opposite side of the chamber.
Everyone turned.
Leaning casually against the stone archway stood Cassandra Vale.
She wasn’t alone.
Beside her stood Viktor Sokolov.
The man who had hunted Elena from the beginning.
Both of them smiled.
Viktor spread his arms.
“Touching.”
His eyes settled on Lucien.
“I almost feel guilty interrupting.”
Lucien rose slowly, placing himself between the children and the newcomers.
“Cassandra.”
“Lucien.”
“You’ve chosen your side.”
Cassandra’s smile faded.
“No.”
She glanced at Viktor.
“I’ve chosen survival.”
Viktor chuckled.
“Call it whatever helps you sleep.”
Lucien’s hand rested on his pistol.
“So.”
His voice was calm.
“Are we enemies again?”
Viktor smiled broadly.
“Weren’t we always?”
Before Lucien could answer, Cassandra looked directly at Elena.
“I’m sorry.”
The apology caught everyone off guard.
Then Cassandra reached into her coat…
And handed Viktor the second brass key.
Lucien’s eyes narrowed.
“You’ve made your mistake.”
Cassandra looked at him with tears in her eyes.
“No…”
She whispered.
“I made it eighteen years ago.”
The brass key clicked into Viktor’s waiting hand.
Somewhere deep beneath the tunnels…
An ancient lock turned.
And something hidden for nearly two decades…
Began to awaken.
A deep rumble rolled through the underground chamber.
Dust drifted from the ceiling as the ancient mechanism hidden somewhere below completed another turn.
Viktor smiled with satisfaction.
“You hear that?”
His fingers closed tightly around the brass key.
“History is waking up.”
Lucien didn’t take his eyes off him.
“You have no idea what you’re unlocking.”
“I know exactly what it is.”
“No.”
Lucien’s voice remained steady.
“You know what you’ve been told.”
For the first time, uncertainty flickered across Viktor’s face.
Only for a second.
Then it was gone.
“I’ve waited too many years to be lectured by you.”
The frightened children clung to one another behind Lucien.
Elena knelt beside them.
“It’s going to be okay.”
The youngest girl looked up with tear-filled eyes.
“Do monsters ever lose?”
Elena hesitated.
Then she looked at Lucien standing between them and the enemy.
“Yes.”
She answered with more confidence than she felt.
“They do.”
Viktor laughed.
“That’s adorable.”
His attention shifted to Lucien again.
“You’ve changed.”
“I’ve adapted.”
“You’ve become sentimental.”
Lucien shrugged slightly.
“I’ve become selective.”
Viktor smirked.
“That’s another word for weak.”
Before anyone could react, he suddenly drew a pistol from beneath his coat and aimed it directly at Elena.
Everything happened at once.
Lucien moved.
Adrian fired.
Cassandra shouted.
The gunshot echoed through the chamber.
Elena instinctively shielded the children with her body.
A sharp cry broke through the smoke.
But it hadn’t come from Elena.
Cassandra staggered backward, clutching her side.
Blood spread across her dark coat.
She stared down at the wound in disbelief.
Viktor lowered his smoking pistol, his expression completely cold.
“You…”
Cassandra whispered.
“You shot me.”
“You hesitated.”
His voice held no emotion.
“I don’t tolerate hesitation.”
Realization washed over Cassandra’s face.
To Viktor, she had never been a partner.
Only a tool.
Lucien took advantage of the distraction.
“Move!”
He ushered Elena and the children toward a narrow passage leading out of the chamber.
Adrian covered their retreat with controlled bursts of gunfire, forcing Viktor’s men behind stone pillars.
Elena looked back just once.
Cassandra had collapsed against the wall, struggling to breathe.
Their eyes met.
With trembling fingers, Cassandra reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper stained with blood.
She tossed it across the floor.
It slid to a stop near Elena’s feet.
“Take it…”
Cassandra coughed painfully.
“…before he does.”
Without thinking, Elena snatched up the paper.
Viktor’s face changed instantly.
“Stop her!”
His men surged forward.
Lucien fired twice, driving them back.
“Run!”
The narrow escape tunnel echoed with hurried footsteps as Elena, Adrian, and the children fled deeper into the underground passages.
Lucien remained behind for a heartbeat longer, covering their escape.
He looked once at Cassandra.
“You can still come with us.”
A weak smile touched her lips.
“I don’t deserve that.”
“No.”
Lucien answered quietly.
“But your choices from this moment still matter.”
Before Cassandra could reply, another explosion shook the chamber.
The ceiling began to c***k.
Stone blocks crashed between them.
The tunnel split apart.
And Lucien was separated from Elena by a wall of falling rock.
His last sight before the dust swallowed everything was Elena reaching toward him.
“Lucien!”
Then the darkness claimed the passage.
- Writer
