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“So you saved the boy at the expense of your own self?” Menolly asked.
Fraale nodded. “And a bitter price it is. Karvanak’s loathsome. He orders me to come here, to find a playmate, and then to bring him—or her—back to his house. There, he ravages them. I’ve complied twice, but I can’t do this time and again. I’d rather die. Is there any way you can help me?”
Her question ringing in my ears, I was about to answer when Menolly jumped in her seat.
“Karvanak. He’s over there. ” She pointed to a table near the back. We couldn’t see much but the back of his head. There was no mistaking that gleaming scalp of his, nor the expensive suit, nor the fragrance of jasmine, orange, and sugar vanilla that drifted over to us.
I cautiously slid out of my seat, trying not to attract attention. “I don’t think he’s seen us, but we have to get out of here. Fraale, you know this place. Where should we go?” If we made for the door, we’d be walking right by him, and the place wasn’t full enough to give us cover.
She hesitated, then said, “The catacombs will be easiest. He’ll never go down there. The R?ksasa doesn’t like vampires and only comes here to finalize business arrangements. Come, follow me, and hurry. ”
Before he could see us, we crept to the descending staircase and headed down the steps. I prayed to every god that might be listening that she was telling the truth. Otherwise, we were in for a world of hurt.
CHAPTER 25
The lower levels of the Fangtabula were far more gloomy than the main floor. The color scheme was a monochromatic black and white set in a large checkerboard pattern across both walls and floor, making me almost dizzy with its squares. The staircase ended in a hallway, which in turn branched off into other hallways. The doors, evenly spaced along the wall, bore no markings, and all of them were the same size and color. For some reason, that gave me the creeps. Who knew what lurked behind them? And with no markings, how did their occupants know which door to enter?
I crowded closer to Menolly. “What the hell is this?”
She glanced over at Fraale. “The catacombs. Vampires come here to rest and to feed. There must be some way of assigning rooms, but I’m not sure what it is. I don’t advise we randomly go opening doors, though. ”
Roz and Zach took up the back, Roz keeping his eye over his shoulder. He had barely spoken to Fraale, and now it seemed like he was looking everywhere but in her direction.
“We can’t stand around here long,” he said. “We’re too conspicuous. What’s our next move?”
I turned to the succubus, feeling inexplicably sorry for both of them. “Can you lead us to Karvanak’s hideout? We have to rescue my boyfriend. ”
She stared at me for a moment, then nodded. “I’ll help you. The hideout’s in south Seattle, not far from here. ”
Her voice was weary, and I had the feeling she’d seen too much over the years. She didn’t seem cut out for the life into which Hera had thrust her.
“You’re taking a great risk,” I said.
Fraale shrugged. “I don’t care. If Karvanak kills me, then he kills me. It’s not like I’ve got a family waiting at home. I can’t go on; if I help him, I help brutalize his victims. I can’t live with that. ” Though she spoke to me, her gaze was fixated on Rozurial, and I realized that she still loved him.
“Then we’d better get moving,” Menolly said. “Is there an underground exit to this place or—” She stopped, holding up her hand. “I smell someone familiar. ”
“Karvanak?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “It smells like—”
“Holy shit!” I let out a shriek as a door to my right opened and a vampire suddenly grabbed my arm. Wearing a simple black T-shirt and blue jeans, he yanked me to his side, his grip far too strong for me to break. I struggled, but he held fast. Menolly hissed, her fangs extending as the vamp sank his teeth into my shoulder.
I instinctively pulled away, and my skin ripped under his pit bull-like vise, but the vampire must not have been expecting me to fight him, because he let go, and I stumbled away, my neck bleeding from the puncture wounds.
Before I could move, Menolly was on him, and they were fighting. She hurled him to the floor, but not before a second vampire entered the hall. The new vamp looked older, and he reeked of power. He stared at Menolly, and she froze, returning his gaze.
“You belong to the Elwing Blood Clan,” she whispered, warily circling him.
My touchy-feely vamp, who had already taken a good bruising and was obviously no match for my sister, took one look at the pair and slunk away toward the stairs. Smart man, he was. But as he reached the staircase, it occurred to me that one word from him would likely have the whole house down on us. I grabbed Roz by the arm and pointed.
“We have to stop him. ” I was set to run, but Roz held onto my wrist.
“You go upstairs bleeding like that and you’re as good as drained and dead. Nope, I say we make tracks. Not only will he set up an alarm that will bring out the vamps, but he’ll alert Karvanak. ”
Meanwhile, the vampire who was circling with Menolly let out a hiss. “Traitorous bitch. You killed our sire. You turned on your own bloodline and broke the oath. I’ll see you in hell before I let you out of here alive. ”
With a leap, he was on her. Menolly managed to break away, and she lashed out with her foot, driving her stiletto into his chest, sending him thundering into the wall behind him. Unfortunately, she didn’t hit center on his heart.
He let out a low roar and lunged for her again, this time taking her down. I wanted to rush in, to stop them, but I wasn’t stupid enough to try. They were both in full form: fangs out, eyes bloody red, their inner demons unleashed. If I tried to pry them apart, I’d be torn to shreds. As they hit the floor, the hallway shook, and I could hear commotion coming from up the stairs.
I frantically motioned to Roz. “We have to leave!”
Roz took one more look at the stairway, then yanked open his duster like some crazed flasher. The gleam of metal from a dozen different weapons hanging from loops inside his coat shimmered in the dim hall. He pulled out something round and threw it on the floor next to the fighting vampires. Immediately, the stench of garlic filled the corridor.
Menolly and her attacker broke apart, both gasping. Roz took the opportunity to shove another one of the garlic bombs into the open mouth of Menolly’s rival, and the vamp began to scream as the fumes poured out in a surge of white smoke. Zach and Roz grabbed Menolly by her underarms as Fraale motioned toward one of the side halls.
“There’s an exit this way. I’ve been down here before,” she said.
As we raced through the labyrinth of passageways, my neck continued to ooze, and doors began to open. Brilliant-eyed vamps watched as we fled, hungry looks on their faces. From inside the rooms, I caught glimpses of half-clad men and women, languorously draped over beds and divans, their chests bare. Blood spattered down a chest, over breasts, as moans drifted out. Agony, ecstasy, it all ran together here at the Fangtabula. But no one gave chase—at least not right away. We managed a few moments’ head start before we heard shouts from behind us.
We were almost to a small stairwell leading up to a metal door with a big red Exit sign overhead when the first wave descended. By that time, Menolly had managed to recover from the garlic, and she turned, blocking the way, Roz by her side. Zach and I were behind her, and Fraale was behind us.
A group of about ten vampires were headed our way, led by the one who had attacked me. Menolly’s opponent was there, too, steadied by another of his brethren. One of the vamps was the hostess I’d seen near the bar. She stepped forward, and I groaned.
The woman had obviously been a bodybuilder while alive because she was built like a brick house: huge boobs and biceps, tiny waist, quad muscles way too big for comfort. To make it worse, she stood a few inches taller than me. Dressed in a pair of fringed white pants tha
t laced up the sides and a cropped Hooters tank top—which she amply filled out—her mile-high stiletto cowboy boots were covered with orange rhinestones. Long blonde hair drifted down her back, and she looked like she should be sporting a California girl tan, but she was as pasty as the rest of them. She smiled, her fangs extended. In an offhand thought, it occurred to me that pale pink lipstick wasn’t really her color anymore.
“You’ve just worn out your welcome,” she said, staring at my sister.
“We’re on our way out,” Menolly said. “Let us leave, and we won’t cause any trouble. ”
The Amazon vamp eyed my neck and licked her lips. “Too late. ” She lunged toward me, trying to dodge between Menolly and Roz.
Menolly let out a low growl as she head-butted the chick and drove her back a few paces. Meanwhile, Roz pulled out a string of what looked like firecrackers. He lit one end and threw it into the crowd. As the crackle of gunpowder went off, another smell infiltrated the hallway, and once again, the pungent scent of garlic rose thickly.
I started to cough, choking on the vile mixture, but I noticed the smoke’s effects were a lot worse on the vamps. Several of them pulled back, racing up the stairs. Steroid Woman, however, seemed relatively unaffected, as did a few of the others.
“Oh shit, she must have some sort of immunity,” Roz muttered.
The woman laughed at him. “What on earth do you think we do around here? Leave the staff unarmed?” At that point, she backhanded Menolly, who was getting ready for another attack, and sent her flying back against me, which knocked us both to the ground.
There was a sudden screech, so loud that I covered my ears to stop the ringing. As I watched, Fraale leapt over us, landing lightly on the balls of her feet between us and the vampires. She sucked in a deep breath.
“Cover your ears,” Roz warned us. We immediately obeyed.
Fraale opened her mouth and let loose, keening louder than anything I’d ever heard. She was worse than a bean Sidhe. Standing with legs spread, hands on her hips, there was something very inhuman about her that scared me spitless. Apparently, she took the vampires for a ride, too, because they backed up as a group, eying her with a combination of hunger and—fear?
Roz grabbed my arm and pushed me toward the stairwell. “Up you go!” Menolly shoved Zach in front of her, and then Fraale spun around and raced after us. We barely made it to the door before a surge of movement told us they were on our heels again. As we sprinted toward the car, Roz yanked something out of his coat and tossed it over his shoulder right onto the hood of a black car. We’d barely made it to Camille’s Lexus when an explosion rocked the parking lot, shoving Zach and me forward to land on the hood.
“Holy crap! What—”
“Just move!” Roz dragged me around to the passenger side as Menolly opened the doors with the automatic control on the key. We leapt in. Zach, Roz, and Fraale tumbled into the back as I landed shotgun.
I glanced at the fire that was raging in what had been a brand new BMW. The vamps had pulled back, except for a couple who managed to skirt the deadly flames. The fireball sent a shower of sparks into the night air as it billowed on the updraft of wind, a roaring mushroom of flames and smoke.
Menolly started the car, and we screeched out of the parking lot at sixty miles per hour and climbing. The cops were either out on another case or were off at an all-night java joint. Although the sound of sirens echoed in the distance, growing louder, I didn’t see any prowl cars. Thank government cuts on spending, I thought. Chase was always bitching about the lack of manpower, and I knew he wasn’t kidding.
Menolly was up to seventy by the time we hit one of the main drags. Only then did she slow down a little and glance into the mirror. It was disconcerting for the others, I’m sure, to not see their driver’s reflection, but I was used to it.
“Everybody in one piece?” she asked.
“I think so,” Zach said. “One thing’s for sure. ”
“What’s that?” I said, leaning back against the seat, trying to calm my fried nerves.
“You guys are going to have to beef up your wards. Somehow, I don’t think the members of the Fangtabula are going to take this lying down. ”
“Zach’s right,” Roz said. “They’re mad as hell. Make no mistake; we almost didn’t make it out of there. We were ten seconds away from being trapped. And that would not have been pretty at all. ”
“Especially not when Karvanak got hold of us,” Menolly said. “Fraale, you can’t go back to him. Let’s hit his hideout and scram. Tell me where to go. ”
Fraale snorted. “Oh, I’m on his shit list now, all right. He’ll eat me alive if he catches me. And I’m not speaking metaphorically. I’ve seen him do it. He was so mad at one of his servants one day that he turned into a tiger and bit off her arm. And you don’t want to know what he did to her before that. She bled to death, screaming. ” Her voice was so strangled, I knew she was telling the truth.
Shuddering, I grabbed my cell phone out of the glove compartment where I’d stashed it before we entered the club. I punched in Camille’s cell number, and she answered almost immediately.
“We ran into trouble, but we’re headed toward Karvanak’s hideout with Fraale. Get Morio and Smoky and meet us there—and hurry the hell up. We need you. We may have vamps on our tail, too, so don’t leave Maggie unattended. I don’t know what you’re going to do, but we have to be very careful out on our land from now on. Menolly ran into someone from the Elwing Blood Clan who wasn’t overjoyed to see her. ”
“Mother of the gods, things are getting so fucked up,” she whispered. “Okay, I’ll figure out something. We’re on our way. I’ll have to put out a silent call for Smoky, but he should be able to pick it up and show up. What’s the address?”