......not to mention, that kind of rune work. At least, not in the Ministry. He recognized the individual runes from his Hogwarts days, but the way they were strung together, he couldn't figure an absolute meaning. He could only guess that it was probably a protection string of some kind, but protecting what? What could need that kind of protection this close to the courtrooms? The court files were all kept upstairs on level two, or so Ronan thought.

Speaking of thinking, a wild thought suddenly occurred to him. He reached out and started softly tracing the runes with his index finger. Just a hunch.......but there was probably a door here, right? With the way the blood trail trailed off and the runes just in this alcove. The runes had to be protecting or hiding a secret door.

The trail indeed tapered off.

At that point, Brody took a moment to quickly look away from the trail to the surroundings that they passed by. He kept thinking that the thing would pounce on them. Made sense, right? In a way, that fear was a good thing because it kept the Coordinator on alert.

To the alcove they went. Brody was immediately reminded of the Slytherin dungeons back at Hogwarts. The similarities here were uncanny. Minus the rune work. He stood there nervously while Ronan was busy with the runes. However, Brody was doing a bit of sleuthing of his own by checking for other trails, glowing runes and other inconsistencies. “Find anything?” the DIMC employee called quietly to Ronan?

"He's touching the runes. Why's he touching the runes? That's how you get cursed." Damian said quietly to himself while peering around the corner, keeping himself safe in case somebody exploded or something. "Perhaps one of our cryptographers should take a look. Indigo Rousseau?" The unspeakable liked to know who his department mates were. Hopefully the wizard was following with the rest of the group.

"Not yet." Hmm.

"And dropping jelly donuts in your workspace is how you get ants, doesn't stop people from doing it." Damian may have been talking to himself, but Ronan could still hear him. Auror senses. They were a curse at times. And he may not be a cursebreaker or anything, but he did know a little about how runes worked. It had been one of his best classes back in Hogwarts, after all. "Or, y'know, a cursebreaker." Would be much quicker than a cryptographer or an auror with a basic knowledge of this stuff. Did the Ministry even employ such people? If not, maybe they should start.....

He sent a message to Jake via patronus, asking just this question, the meerkat hurrying down the corridor and disappearing around the corner.

Brody heard what he thought were rumblings from Damian but remained silent. He was too busy examining the rune work. Yet again, he was transported back to his Hogwarts days - to Ancient Runes classes to be exact. It was why the runes were familiar, even if some of their names came easily to him while others eluded him.

All the carvings in one place were unlike anything Brody had seen before. He found himself imagining some witch or wizard gone loopy and carved out all of the runes. He reached out his left hand and used his index finger to brush the familiar sideways hourglass rune that was Daagaz.

“The trail ended here,’’ he remarked to the other two. “Either of you think there’s a chance that thing used these runes to somehow conceal itself?” Brody didn’t understand the situation fully and he was just spitballing a thought.

Careful what you touch, the grime in this alcove would keep a house-elf busy for hours. With as closely as this group is looking, they probably won't miss the bit of fresh blood, the same shade of crimson as the trail, glistening in an otherwise path of the wall just above eye level. Along with some dried-on mud. Or...is it mud?

Aside from the grime, you wouldn't want to contaminate the evidence with your own DNA, after all.

Remaining silent (he wanted to hear what the others thought, really) and turning back to the wall, he caught a glistening in the corner of his eye. Was that also blood? It was definitely the color of it. And it was surrounded by other.... dark-colored stuff. Did that mean....what he thought it meant? Was this like that cave Potter and Dumbledore encountered back in 1996? The one with the fake locket Horcrux? There was only one way to find out......

Ronan took a deep breath before using a silent Diffindo on his palm and placing his now bleeding hand on the stone, hissing a little at the sting. Merlin, he hoped this worked.....

Brody, having found nothing on his side of the alcove, gravitated towards Ronan. He was still carefully scanning the place in an attempt to find something that either the Auror or Damian had missed. Brody hadn’t come across the crimson that Ronan had but he was about to. The hiss had him spinning around and heading over in that direction.

“What… what are you doing?” His eyes darted from Ronan’s bleeding hand on the wall to the actual wall where there was another patch of fresh blood. Something clicked and Brody understood what the Auror was doing. “I think that should be enough.” Meaning that Ronan didn’t need to bleed out all over the wall.

And what was that dried bit of substance there? Dried blood? Mud? Whatever it was, would that wall be opening up to them?

Well, that was effective...

The blood of the Auror, applied to the wall, triggered something. The runes, centered at where the man's blood had been pressed into the stone, began to glow dimly. A deep rumble filled the alcove, like something was moving deep inside the wall.

Was that...a door...creeping open?

"Oh, bloody..." Quite literally. Damian was still halfway around the corner. "Should go get my sword.." But his feet and eyes were fixed. There was no getting away, no looking away.

And now the abyss was opening up to greet them, with the unspeakable finding his wand and his courage. Taking his place next to Ronan, he gave a little nod. "On your lead. No hesitation. No mercy." His heart was racing, but his hand and his eyes held steady.

But......Ronan didn't lift his hand from the wall until he was sure it had worked. He wasn't really worried about bleeding out, so sure he was that this was going to work. And once he heard the rumbling, he lifted his hand from the stone wall and performed a few quick disinfecting and healing spells. "No worries," he replied, holding up his now healed hand. Maybe not as well done as a healer, but at least it wasn't bleeding any more.

What? Pendragon wanted to use a sword against a vampire and he was the weird one?! "Actually, why don't you go inform Mr. Upstead up on Level Two that we may have found what or who has been behind the attacks on Ministry personnel? If anyone asks, tell 'em Ronan sent you." Really couldn't risk any more outbursts from the Unspeakable, not if they were dealing with who he thought they were. Hell, the vamp had sent fireballs in his direction just because!

As for the Auror? He was making his way through the now open door.

"Preposterous." Ronan wouldn't be rid of him so easily. "This monster killed my predecessor. I wouldn't be at the Ministry if it wasn't for him." The unspeakable understood why the Auror didn't want him tagging along, but this was his obsession. The black edge that framed his every waking moment. The inky shadow that smothered his dreams.

"Focus now. Into the breach we go."

Brody shrugged. He knew Ronan knew what he was doing, but it was the sight of anyone bleeding that made Brody uncomfortable. He simply nodded after scanning Ronan’s hand quickly. He didn’t allow his relief to be visible on his face that the bleeding had stopped. In a moment, his attention was on the door? opening and the rumble inside? Dear Merlin. What was in there? The thought sent a chill through him but darn him if he was going to look foolish before Ronan.

Er, what?

The Coordinator swung gaze to Damian, an eyebrow arched questioningly and a little judgmentally. He thought Damian was even more dramatic now.

“We can focus a little more if you stopped talking about swords.” And truthfully, did Damian really expect that they would hang around for him while he trotted off for a sword? Brody, holding really gripping his wand before him again, followed Ronan into the opening. Was he on edge? You bet.

Wider and wider the door creaked open. Stone frame grinding against stone floor made for a eerily jarring tooth grinding sound that rattled to the bone.

Nothing but darkness ahead, was it really wise to go down just the three of you?

Venture on...

Why, oh why, had he been saddled with someone who couldn't follow simple instructions?! And he wasn't so sure Damian understood his motives at all. People would find a way to pin the blame on him if the arrogant idiot got himself killed and if the idiot got them ALL killed....? He couldn't do that to his daughter.

"Now, how on earth would you know that?!" Unless someone had talked that shouldn't have. The official Ministry line, at least as far as he knew, was merely that Goldwasser had been part of the takeover and was now a missing and wanted man. No one outside of himself, the others that were in the tech lounge that night, and the Minister were supposed to know about the whole vampire thing, seeing as those he'd attacked since had no clue what had attacked them (not that he was entirely sure that's what had happened. Was just the most reasonable conclusion he could come to knowing what he knew). So, who had talked? He was absolutely sure that neither Matt nor Saul had said a word, knowing the need for discretion as part of their jobs as they did. He didn't know Conley and his husband as well, but surely they also knew the need for discretion. Which only left....."You really need to stop listening to that Jane. She's a big pot of trouble man...." And she would be in it if they survived this.

"Just keep your mouth shut and let me and Brody do the talking." Because Pendragon obviously couldn't handle it without making a fool of himself or getting others into trouble.

Alana was excited to have coffee with Gunnar, she hadn't seen him for a few weeks and couldn't wait to catch up with her friend. She was finally starting to feeling like she fit in more and more with the friends she was starting to make, though Gunnar was someone she had known for awhile.

Headed down to the coffee place Alana stopped at the sight of blood and something that looked like weird symbols. What on earth could be going on, was that voices in a door, was that door always there?

"Hello?" She yelled thinking maybe Gunnar was with other people? Was it a new section of the ministry?

"Hello indeed," came the department head's voice as he emerged down the corridor from the young woman. Perusing this part of the Ministry was a part of Airey's daily routine as was mandated by the rules of spending time OUT of the Department of Mysteries so that all the experimental magic and other auras did not cause...certain magical mutations within its employees. It was all terribly confidential and complicated but under control, nothing to see here.

He, of course recognized the young woman...though her name escaped him at the moment. Particularly when he noticed that the alcove was opened. "Sweet...solstice..." he gasped as he moved by her, the stank smell coming from beyond the pitch blackness making him gag and recoil. The traces and smell of fresh blood were, likewise, immediately noted now thanks to his proximity and his brilliant blue eyes darted from stone to young woman...though she showed no traced of injury.

"...you did not open this..." It was a statement laced with a rhetorical question. Surely...surely no one had just gone marching down there without alerting someone else and calling for backup...and surely none of HIS employees were daft enough to have gone down somewhere this deep in the Ministry without alerting him. "Have you seen anyone else?" he inquired while patting his enchanted breast pocket for his wand.

Gunnar was running just a bit later than he intended when he was meeting Alana for a break in the Underground Coffee hangout. It was a nice, little, out of the way place that not many people seemed to know about, so of course the 23 year old was drawn to it.

But as he made his way to the lowest levels, he heard a couple voices that told him something was off. One of those voices was Alana and the other belonged to the Mysteries department head. "Hello, Mr. Flamsteed... Alana.." he greeted them both, being familiar with the older man from knowing who the department heads were but also since he was a former teacher of both his parents and had to hear about him ever since he started this job.

"What's going on?" Clearly something was not right, though he did not know exactly what. Just then, a smell hit him, something that reeked of death. Maybe he was being internally dramatic, but it was bad. "What... is that?" He peered at the dark void that he was sure had been a stone wall last time he was done here, soon noticing marks of blood. And... where there more voices? Gunnar reached for his wand as he stepped in from of Alana in an almost protective gesture and looked towards Airey for what they should do.

Alana jumped hearing a voice. She had said hello, but was she really expecting to answer and if she did it certainly wasn't behind her that she was expecting it. Turning she saw the mystery department head coming up, "I... I didn't open this, I.. I couldn't, I'm not capable, I.." She was afraid that if it was something she shouldn't even be near she could get blamed and being a squib there was no way she wanted any of that sort of thing, she had just started getting the confidence for working along wizards.

Before she could answer again Gunnar had come up to them, "Just you, I.. I was just going to meet Gunnar and saw this. Do you think someone was hurt or something?" She was glancing at the blood and trying to make sense of it.

The actions from the Lair of Despair started a chain reaction. Only one colony may have been summoned, but others had been disturbed. The echoes of flapping wings, clicking noises, and the occasional high pitched screeches filled the alcove. Despite the brightness of the space, a small cluster of bats broke through screeching and flapping around the heads of the small gathering of people that were standing around wondering who was insane enough to open, let alone slip off into the secret passage discovered here.

Laurel worked in the lower depths of the ministry since that was where Mysteries was situated. She figured she could use a break from the hall and thus the blond woman left Mysteries to peruse the lower depths other areas. The frequent nudges she had gotten from her dear Inner Eye were not forgotten as the blond woman followed the peculiar sounds of high pitched screeches, flapping of wings and weird clicks. Coming into the Stone Alcove Laurel was met by the sight of Airey and group of others as well as bats hovering over their heads.

Reaching for her wand from inside her robes Laurel called out "Hey! Watch out for the bats!" With wand in hand she casted at the nearest bats "Stupefy!" hoping that she didn't accidentally stun another ministry employee. Where did the bats come from?

It didn't take long for Penelope to head down to the lower levels of the Ministry after hearing Carter's patronus in the offices. The message also confirmed a few theories she'd had, but there was no time to dwell on those yet when there was a job to do.

As she quickly approached the location of the alcove, she had just enough time to note the people - Professor Flamsteed, McCarthy-Toussaint, Potter, Vance-Rose - standing outside of it before the bats came screeching out.

Nuisances. Those bats needed to be taken care of so she could get through there unhindered. A couple of nonverbal Stupefys were cast at the creatures.

Of all the patronuses to get... Jake definitely wasn't mad about the one sent by Carter. Goldwasser located. Goldwasser behind the attacks (shocking? not exactly). Stone alcove near the courtrooms. At last.

He'd hotfooted it there, noting on his way through Level Two that the message had been sent not only to his office, but the investigation headquarters, if the general reaction was anything to go by. Now arriving on the scene, he half-skidded his way around the corner at the end of the corridor, just in time for... bats.

Sending an Immobulus up at the bat that saw fit to cuff him around the ear on his approach, Jake joined the gathered group, quickly noting who was there. Not knowing if they all knew what he did, he explained anyway, just to save time, wrinkling his nose and peering into the gloom of the alcove. "Goldwasser. Carter sent a patronus, he's followed him inside." Or, at least, that seemed to be the gist of the message. Jake, however, did not know if Ronan was in there on his own or with back-up. Regardless, he needed assistance in there.

Jake was about to step forward to enter and provide exactly that - no time to lose - when one of the sky rats headbutted him directly between the eyes. He cursed creatively and got that one with a freezing charm too. "Anyone who's coming in, be prepared for a fight." And not just with bats. Probably.

Kevin had been busy writing a report after venturing inside of a memory in the pensieve room when he had heard the patronus and the voice of Carter echoing through the area. His hand went to the permanent puncture wounds on the side of his neck before he took off his glasses which were mainly used for reading, placed it together with his quill down on the desk. Normally, he would let the Auror's deal with it but since it was Goldwasser, a dangerous Neo-Alliance fanatic, this was an all hands on deck situation and he rushed to the location.

His wand had been in his hand as he entered the stone alcove and he send a couple of spells to get rid of the bats flying around before getting sight of his Department Head. "Ready when you are, sir" he answered, his voice firm with determination before ducking to avoid one of the bats charging an attack and sent another spell towards it.