The cells were only barely illuminated by phosphorescent stones built into the walls of the dungeons. When Cormac and Melusine had made their way down, they had difficulty telling if there were even people in them. Surely, there must have been phosphorescent stones that gave off better light than these!
Gazing into the cells, the two Children of the Storm could see a variety of people. Some were Mer of great variety, some were Profound Ones, some seemed to be some sort of crab people, there even seemed to be some turtle people, something that caused Cormac to stare in confusion. How were the turtle people able to survive down here? Turtles were reptiles, not fish, therefore these turtle people were reptilian humanoids and had no gills. How was this even possible?
Octopus people, jellyfish people, people like Uit, it seemed Uikesh and his fellow aquatic vampires had been busy. Looking at the octopus and jellyfish people, their hair being the tentacles of their respective animals, Cormac wondered if the former made for better prey for vampires than the latter with their stinging hair.
"Rhonda?" Melusine asked, looking back and forth between the cells. "Is anyone here named Rhonda? Rhonda Hartsfield?"
A crab-man in one of the cells closest to the stairs pointed to one of the cells opposite him, farthest from the stairs. A feeling in Cormac's gut told him this was not going to be good, especially when a jellyfish woman uttered: "Be careful! She was bitten, she can't be trusted!"
"Has she turned?" Cormac asked.
"We're not sure." Answered an octopus man. "But you'd be better off running her through right now, mate! You can't take any chances with her!"
Grabbing the ring of keys hanging from the wall, Melusine went forward and began unlocking the cells of those who had not been bitten while Cormac went over to Rhonda's cell. She was the only occupant, a twenty-two-year-old Surface-Born Mermaid whose human half had olive skin, dark brown hair and greenish-blue eyes were a faint glow to them… Greenish-blue with a faint glow? She may not have turned, but it seemed as if she was. Her tail was golden and glistering, much like Melusine's, but chiefly pink in colouration and her breasts were covered by a vivid blue coral. Narrowing his mismatched eyes, Cormac could see that Rhonda's skin had a reddish-rosy crimson hue to it and that her right nostril had nearly completely vanished or closed up. Rhonda's posture was slightly hunched over, her fingers slightly longer than a human's fingers should have been, her nails look somewhat claw-like, her nose was looking rather hooked and her ears looked somewhat pointed and large.
Staring at her with a look of uncertainty, Cormac asked: "Y-You are Rhonda Hartsfield?"
"I am." She answered, her teeth looking fang-like in appearance. "Who are you?"
"Cormac Egan…" he replied. "Jacob told us about you before he died. Me and Melusine are here to rescue you."
"Dead?" Rhonda asked, not at all looking saddened at hearing this. "I suppose he will be rising any moment then."
Pausing as she unlocked another cell, Melusine turned and slowly asked with a frightened tone: "W-What did she just say?"
A vampire buried out in the open and one half-turned vampire in a cell right here. Understandably, Cormac said: "R-Rhonda, I think you can stay here… right here and we will be leaving with the unturned."
"I think not!" Turning around, Cormac and Melusine both saw Uikesh with two of his vampiric subordinates and an octopus behind him. His glowing blue eyes looking over Melusine, the Angelic One smiled like a potential buyer eyeing a new bauble. "This comely one here will join my collection of Surface-Born Mermaids. As for you, my Young Egan…" Gazing upon Cormac, Uikesh's expression changed. He smiled still, but it was less like someone eyeing a bauble and more like a killer eyeing a victim. "You shall by sacrificed to Acclaimed Avatar Phmyn, Paterfamilias Ikne and Materfamilias Sutec! It is nothing personal, dear boy, it is just that your great-uncle fathered Ronemun, who has brought religious freedom to Pacifica, and thus ended the era of the faith of this divine trinity that I worship as Pacifica's sole religion and later banned my religion for something as meaningless as kidnapping those who practice other faiths to be sacrificed."
"That sounds personal." Cormac commented, while at the same time wondering what else the faith of Phmyn, Ikne and Sutec had gotten up to that had caused it to be banned from Pacifica. Tightening his grip on the hilt of his brand, the Young Egan eyed Uikesh and his companions. "What else did your religion get up to after religious freedom was brought to Pacifica?"
"Inconsequential acts." Uikesh answered with a wave of his hand as he began to swim closer, completely ignoring both the knife in Melusine's hand and the brand in Cormac's. "Attacking religious ceremonies of lesser faiths, encouraging defilement by deception, little things that never caused anyone harm."
"So, the standard villainy associated with your faith." Melusine said. "We heard about your faith back in the Celtic Sea and I can say Ronemun's banishment of your religion was good decision!"
"Good decision?" Uikesh cried, turning on Melusine with a glare. "The faith of Acclaimed Avatar Phmyn, Paterfamilias Ikne and Materfamilias Sutec is the faith that turns the humblest of states into mighty empires! My father and his father before him and so many of my ancestors conquered the Pacific in the name of sacrifice and Ronemun dared to turn his back on that! He returned Pacifica to a mere city state at the bottom of an oceanic trench and those lesser states that my predecessors had conquered love him for it, hail him for returning their independence to them!" Turning away, Uikesh stared up at the ceiling, now completely lost in his ranting. "The oceans have gone mad! The one true religion, the greatest religion is being turned away from! No more conquest, no more persecution of other faiths, no more conquest, no more defilement by deception! Where have the good, strong rulers gone? When I sat upon the throne of Pacifica, my headsmen blinded and crippled gentlemen, boys expired in my cells, brides were dragged into my seraglio! These other faiths make weak leaders!"
Taking her chance, Melusine thrust her knife into Uikesh's back, where it promptly broke. This was quickly followed by Cormac giving him a gift, gladly offering the edge of the brand. Generous was his thrust into the Angelic One's cranium. Howling, the vampire died.
Turning their attentions to Uikesh's companions and the octopus, the two redheads watched as the vampires who had followed their leader down seemed to contemplate what to do next.
Upon hearing Rhonda mournfully cry "Father! Father!" Cormac's eyes widened in shock and he turned to look at her in her cell.
"It was he who bit her." One of the vampires explained, as he knelt down to pick up his liege's head. Sighing, he then added: "At least we won't ever have to listen to him rant again!"
"And for that we are grateful and more than willing to let you two depart." Said the other.
"The unturned as well!" Cormac insisted.
Looking more than a little annoyed, the two vampires ultimately nodded. "It is fair." Said the first. "And besides, we will be able to capture more."
"You don't fear us informing Ronemun about you and your evil?" Melusine inquired.
"For all we know, you may not reach Pacifica." Stated the second vampire. "Now, go! All of you! We will explain all that happened to our fellows!"
While Melusine returned to unlocking the cells of the unturned, Cormac sheathed his brand. Both listened as Rhonda uttered: "I'll kill you for this! Jacob and I will hunt you down for killing our father, our lord and master! Uikesh the Angelic One will be avenged!"
Wherefore? No one else in the cells of the turned were making any vows of vengeance. Wherefore were those that had been turned even in cells? Asking this to one of the vampires, Cormac received the answer: "Recently turned vampires are like mad, rabid beasts for the first week and do not differentiate from vampires and non-vampires. Keeping them locked up is a necessity."
Looking to those in the cells opposite of the unturned, Cormac said: "They seem quite docile."
"None of them have turned yet, though I must say that Rhonda is turning at a pace never seen before." Said the other. "Uikesh only bit her this morning, all other Surface-Born Mermaids he had collected took a month or close to it to turn."
"I noticed that he would get impatient." Said the first. "He must have been using to some magic to accelerate her transformation."
"This morning?" Melusine looked over at Rhonda, clutching the bars of her cell and glaring menacingly at her and Cormac. "And how long will it be until she has fully turned?"
"Not sure." Uttered the other vampire. "With Uikesh dead, the spell or enchantment might have died with him. If it did, it could take her another fifteen days, if not she could be fully turned by tonight."
That soon? As Melusine finished unlocking the cells of the unturned, the unbitten, Cormac swam over to her took her by the hand. "Melusine, I think we best be on our way."
The two redheads then made their way out of the citadel with those who had been untouched by their vampiric captors. Away from that citadel did they swim, away from its darkness and its vampiric inhabitants, those worshippers of Phmyn, Ikne and Sutec. When the sun was once more shining down on them, Melusine made her way to the Surface and leapt from the water, an action that caused Cormac a little bit of alarm.
When the Helena of the Deep returned to her companion, she said: "Even if it was just for a little while, I hope to never be in such unnatural darkness again!"
"Still, I think you should be more careful, Melusine." Uttered Cormac. "You might have been seen by someone."
Taking him by the hand, Melusine led the Young Egan to the Surface where in a cloudless sky the sun shone down upon them and the water. Her large, reddish-brown eyes bright with joy of being out of that unnatural darkness in the citadel, Melusine told him: "With such beauty as this above the water, I would risk being seen." Alas, Cormac seemed to hear her not. He had a distant look in his small and triangular-looking mismatched eyes. Concerned, the Surface-Born Mermaid asked: "Cormac, what's the matter?"
"It was what Rhonda said about Jacob rising any moment…" Cormac answered. "Do you suppose it was just wishful thinking on her part?"
"Cormac, we don't know even know if Jacob had been bitten." Stated Melusine. "There were no bite marks on his neck, arms, anywhere."
"Still…" Cormac uttered, only a little bit convinced. "We should make sure." Thus, did he dive down and travel to where Jacob had been buried, with Melusine following after him. Upon seeing the grave undisturbed, the Young Egan narrowed his eyes and proceeded to stroke his chin.
"That looks good enough for me." Melusine commented, as she took hold of Cormac's arm. "Now come on, Cormac. We are so close to the end. Can't you see it in your mind's eye?"
His tone flat, Cormac uttered: "All I see is an undisturbed grave."
"You don't see Pacifica?" Melusine asked, whispering into her compeer's ear excitedly. "All comely and coruscating?"
Cormac did not know what to answer. From what he had heard, Pacifica must have just been some inhabited ruins, but how was he to know?
Turning his gaze from the undisturbed grave, Cormac stared into Melusine's eyes and he could hear his heart say "Kiss her! Kiss her!", but alas, this was hardly the location for such a thing. Looking back at the grave, half expecting to see Jacob rise from it then and there, Cormac could not help but feel that there was something terribly ominous about it.
Was Jacob truly dead or was he to rise from the grave as a member of the legions of the undead? Alas, he knew not, but deep down, the Young Egan hoped it was the former.
Sighing, Cormac looked once more to Melusine and said: "I don't know what I see when I think of Pacifica, maybe they are just inhabited ruins, maybe they are what you see, but as you say, we are so close to the end. Lets go find out."