Instead of falling, I felt myself soaring, and it was exhilarating. I could feel the cold air rush past me at an incredible speed. Opening my eyes, I looked down and had to stop myself from screaming. I didn’t know how high I‘d climbed but the crater now looked like a pinprick in the earth below. Tilting slightly forward, I started to plummet downwards, but I still didn’t feel confident in my ability to fly. Looking back at my wings as they rippled on either side of me, I knew it was something I would have to master quickly or I would soon be killed by the two Vampyrus who were racing after me.

Rolling to my right, I cut through the sky and the two Vampyrus sped past me. Looking back I could see them momentarily disappear into a grey mountain of cloud, then come screaming out of it towards me. Flipping around, I angled my wings backwards and dropped through the sky. The air hit my chest like I’d just crashed into a brick wall and I feared that the pressure of it would break my ribs. My cheeks rippled and I felt as if I couldn’t breathe. But I knew I had to, so breathing through my nose, I felt the icy cold air sting the back of my throat. Faster and faster I raced back towards the ground, and with every second I lost altitude, I feared I would never be able to stop. How had I done it before? Had I arched my back somehow? Pushing out my chest and locking my arms tight beside me, I arched my back and at once, as if I’d stepped on an invisible set of brakes, I slowed.

The Vampyrus that were behind me rushed past, as if taken by surprise by my sudden stop. One of them had sharper reflexes and swooped away before smashing into the rocky ground below. But the other wasn’t as quick, and I watched as it dive-bombed into a razor-sharp outcrop of rock. Its severed arms and legs bounced back into the air in a crimson spray of blood. Hovering, I watched as several vampires that had been forcing the humans to dig the crater, race over and begin to fight over the bloody remains of the Vampyrus.

It was then, as I raced back up into the dawn sky, that I saw the rest of the Vampyrus which had been protecting the crater soar up into the sky. As the Vampyrus raced amongst the clouds, the clouds changed colour. They were no longer reflecting the colour of the rising sun; they were turning grey, dark grey, charcoal, then black. Then suddenly, they began to separate as if falling apart into smaller pieces. These then broke up into smaller pieces, and then into black wispy fragments as the Vampyrus swarmed out of them and back towards us.

I saw Potter fly away from a Vampyrus he had just sliced the wings from, and it plummeted away through the sky. Banking, I raced towards him.

“Look! They’re coming out of the clouds!” I shouted over the roar of the wind.

“There’s hundred’s of them!” Potter yelled back.

The Vampyrus that had swept from the clouds swarmed around in the air as if preparing to attack. Then, to my horror, they came racing towards us. And as they came, they made those hideous squawking sounds that pierced the air. Their cries of hatred and anger seemed to penetrate right through me, making my heart thunder in my chest. I could see that their bodies were black, hairy and bloated. Although they closely resembled giant vampire bats, they had bony-looking legs and a set of wings that were transparent and covered in bristly hair. Just like I had seen Luke in his true Vampyrus form at Hallowed Manor, these creatures no longer resembled human beings, but giant winged creatures. Noses turned up, long pointed ears, and jaws full of razor-like fangs.

The Vampyrus were nearly upon us and as they drew within range, Potter banked violently, rolled to the left and sharply lost altitude. I felt my stomach leap into my throat as I banked and raced after Potter. Ahead, I could see Isidor, and Potter was racing towards him.

I caught up in time to hear Potter shout at Isidor. “I’m not usually one for retreating, kid, but we’d better get out of here!”

“To where?” Isidor roared back.

Then, as if from nowhere, Luke swept up beside us and pointing back towards the mountain, he bellowed, “Look! Over there!”

Turning in the air, we stared in the direction he was pointing. The doorway we’d seen earlier was now open and a winged man hovered before it. Raising an arm in the air, he beckoned us towards him.

“Who’s that?” Kayla asked as she came racing towards us.

“Felix Coanda, if I’m not mistaken,” Luke said peering ahead.

“Then what are we waiting for?” I said, looking over my shoulder at the approaching Vampyrus. “Let’s go!”

Curling my claws into a fist, I punched forward and soared back towards the mountain and the open doorway. Was this it? Was I really going to finally enter The Hollows?

Chapter Seven

I swept towards the door where Felix Coanda hovered in front of it. His wings were mottled-looking, like something you would find sticking out of the back of a moth. His skin, just like Potter’s and Luke’s, was corpse white. He had pale blue lips and a set of fangs that looked as sharp as knives. His hair was black and wiry and stuck out in thick clumps, giving him the appearance he had just crawled out of bed. His eyes shone a fierce blue and they kind of reminded me of Murphy’s. He was older than Luke and Potter; I guessed about forty-years-old. He was stripped to the waist, but his upper body, although slim, was muscular. Black hair covered his chest and spread over his shoulders and down his arms, like a fine coat of fur. I had only ever seen one other Vampyrus have such a thick coating of hair even though they were in human form, and that was Ravenwood, but his hair had been snow white.

“Quick!” Coanda shouted, coaxing me forward with his giant claws. “Faster! Faster, I tell you!”

As I raced towards him, I could see that he was glancing nervously past me. Looking back, I could see Potter and the others racing behind me, followed by a mass of screaming Vampyrus. They clutched at them with their claws. Kayla streaked forward, her red hair gleaming in the morning sun, giving her the appearance of being on fire.

“Faster!” Coanda roared again, and I flipped round to see him holding the door open for us, and beyond it all I could see was darkness. A doorway hundreds of feet above the ground set in the side of a mountain, leading to a world hidden hundreds of miles beneath the Earth. Was I ready for this? I knew I had to be, as I shot through the open doorway and into a world of darkness.

The others rushed in behind me into the narrow passageway that, just like Sparky had said, had been gouged into the mountainside. Looking back over my shoulder, I saw the oblong shape of daylight disappear as Coanda slammed the door shut on the approaching Vampyrus. But almost immediately there was light again, just the faintest chinks at first. Then they grew longer and wider, as the Vampyrus on the other side of the door ripped it to pieces with their claws.

“This wasn’t part of the plan!” Coanda shouted as he raced past me, his wings brushing against my face.

“What do you mean?” I called after him.

“Couldn’t you lot use the front door like everybody else?” he snapped over his shoulder. “I heard you were all a bunch of mavericks, but this takes the piss!”

“You mean there’s a front door?” I breathed, looking back at the one that was now being ripped to splinters by the Vampyrus who flew about outside.

“There ain’t no front door, sweet cheeks,” Potter answered as he flexed his claws, readying himself for the Vampyrus that were breaking their way into the tunnel. “The guy’s an arsehole!”

“I didn’t think you knew him?” I asked.

“Never met him,” Potter snapped as he faced the door. “But I’ve heard he’s meant to be some hotshot flying ace – all the women love him, apparently!”

“They’re breaking through!” Luke roared, as the first of the Vampyrus stuck its hideous-looking snout through the gaps in the doorway.

“Then run!” Coanda shouted, as he made his way down the tunnel.

“Hotshot my arse,” Potter growled, as he lunged at the Vampyrus’ colossal head as it poked through the door, removing its eyes with his claws. The creature screamed, thrashing its head from left to right as if it had become stuck. Flicking its eyeballs from the tips of his claws, Potter looked at Luke, and grinning he said, “That should slow them down!”

Then he was gone, racing away down the corridor behind Coanda.

“Go! Go! Go!” Luke urged us, and without any further hesitation, Kayla, Isidor, and I fled into The Hollows.

The tunnel spiralled downwards, deeper and deeper it went. It was dark, so dark that even I had trouble seeing through it. But ahead I could hear Coanda drawing breath as he raced onwards. The others tripped and stumbled behind me, and a couple of times I had to stop and help Kayla up as she fell in the dark.

“Take my hand,” I told her. Gripping it, we raced forward.

Then from behind, I heard the sound of screeching and squawking, and in the confines of the tunnel the sound was deafening and terrifying. Hearing those sounds, I knew the Vampyrus had managed to break down the door and were now racing through the tunnel in pursuit of us. With my heart pounding, we raced on, faster and faster, navigating the twists and bends in the narrow tunnel. How far we had travelled down into the earth I couldn’t be sure; we had raced at such speeds that I didn’t know the distance we had gone.

Eventually the ground began to level, and in the darkness ahead, I could see a fork in the tunnel. Racing towards it, Coanda came to a sudden stop and we all nearly clattered into him. Kayla tugged at my hand and we veered to the right.

“Not that way!” Coanda barked, his bright blue eyes gleaming in the darkness. “That way leads to the crater and thousands more of those Vampyrus.”

“Which way?” Isidor gasped, the sounds of the approaching Vampyrus growing ever closer.

Looking at Luke and Potter, Coanda barked, “You two, give me a hand with this.”

“With what?” Potter snapped back.

“This!” Coanda said taking hold of a giant boulder that was set against the wall which blocked the left fork of the tunnel.

Together Potter, Luke, and Coanda, heaved the giant stone aside, revealing a small passageway on the other side of it. Screwing up my eyes, I could see that it was barely big enough to crawl into.