by Sharon Joss
I’d killed a man with my bare hands. This wasn’t Tehuantl’s doing, it was mine alone. Every eye in the plaza was watching me. I grunted as I lumbered to my feet. The words I spoke weren’t mine; they came from someplace deep inside.
“By rite of battle, I stake my claim as the sole and legitimate Alpha of the Mythica Pack,” I panted. I held my bloody fist to my chest and willed my dominance out over the crowd. “Any who dare to oppose me and mine will feel my teeth at your throat. I swear I will eat the heart of anyone who refuses to recognize my rightful place as sovereign leader of this pack.”
I stalked stiff-legged across the plaza. “Those who surrender peacefully and lay down their weapons will receive safe passage off the grounds. Those who resist will feel my wrath.”
A surge of alpha pheromones roiled out from my skin and rippled over the crowd. Half the mercs took off running, the others glanced around uncertainly, and handed their weapons to Silas without complaint. When I took the katana sword from Hale, the near-weres fell to their knees. I could feel the spirits of Wyatt, the near-weres, and one of the mercs connect with the collective pack in my head. The others, I could tell, weren’t having any of it.
Tom, Striper Dave, Wynn, and Chaney all came racing up.
“Where’s Sarah,” I demanded. The blood thirst was still on me, but I refused to give into it again.
The look on their faces said it all. “The Odditorium and Theatre are locked.” Chaney answered.
“Is it true,” Steve-o asked Dave. “Did Vince really know?”
“I wouldn’t be here with Mike if it wasn’t,” he answered. “Vince had the wool pulled over our eyes for a long time.”
“They’ve got Sarah and Yolanda down in the vault,” Wyatt said. “You’ll never get in there without the access codes. Vince was the only one who knew them.”
“What about the others?”
“Kevin and the twins are locked inside the Odditorium,” Hale volunteered. “I’ve got the keys and the code to the vault. Let me go, and I’ll give them to you.”
I took a quick head count. Nixese and his warriors hadn’t shown up yet, but I knew they would as soon as I released the Fae. I’d take Tom, Silas, Wynn, Chaney, and Dave with me into the tombs.
“Make it quick. We’re running out of daylight.”
We locked the mercs and near-weres inside walk-in refrigerator at the Bloody Fang for temporary safekeeping. I sent Rizzo and Trick to round up any stray blood stewards and keep them confined inside the house until we finished up in the vault. That left Wyatt and Steve-O in charge of the park, and keeping anyone from coming down behind us. The rest of us followed Hale to the Odditorium.
Sure enough, we found Kevin and the brothers chained together in silver handcuffs on the floor of the Piasa bird’s glass enclosure, covered with guano. After using Hale’s keys to release them, I instructed Dave to prop open the front doors of the Odditorium and we released the last of the Fae hostages. The eagle scrambled and half-hopped toward the late afternoon light streaming through the entrance. It paused in the doorway for a few moments, before launching itself skyward. The Blood Doves caromed off the glass-fronted exhibits as they frantically fluttered toward freedom; the young Attocroppes half-slithered, half-ran right behind them.
No sooner had last of the Fae disappeared into the sunlight, than a barrage of gunfire broke the silence of the afternoon.
“That’s got to be the Fae,” Tom said. “They’re here.”
“No way.” I raced for the front door. “The Fae don’t use guns.” A bullet whizzed by my left temple and struck the open doorway. “Where’s the vault?”
“You want to go into the crypt this time of day?” Kevin rubbed his wrists where the silver handcuffs had eaten into the skin. “Are you mad?”
“Sarah and Yolanda are down there, and we don’t have a lot of time. Nobody here is going to stop you from leaving, but we could use your help.” I turned to Hale. “Get us into the vault and you’re free to make you own way out of here. If you decide to stay, I’ll do everything I can to keep you safe.”
“I’m out of here,” Kevin said. “I do not want one of those vampires coming after me.”
Tom grabbed Kevin by the front of his shirt. “How can you say that? Sarah told me you two were close.”
“I’m not going down there for nobody.”
Tom shoved Kevin toward the open entrance. “Shut up and get out then. We don’t want you.” With a howl of rage, began to shift.
Kevin wiped his bloody nose on his shirt, and made his way toward the front, where the twins were already waiting. As the hail of bullets paused, the three of them ran outside.
“What about me,” Hale asked.
“How many mercs are still running around out there?” I said.
“Hard to tell. I had six armed lycans stationed on the roofs; another four patrolling the perimeter. From the sound of gunfire, I’d say maybe two or three are left.”
“We took two of them out when we came in,” Chaney said.
Silas paused to listen. “Those shots sound like they’re coming from the house and the roof of the operations building.”
I wondered what was taking the Fae so long. We were losing more men than we could afford, but I wasn’t going to force Hale into the vaults.
“Get us into the Tombs and you’re on your own.”
CHAPTER 44: INTO THE TOMBS
With the wards gone, finding the entrance to the tombs was easy. A door from the conference room in the Odditorium led down three flights of stairs to a tunnel, which led to what the Hale called the Warming Room. The stone-walled room was decorated in modern chrome and leather with a couple of sofas, recliners, and a big screen television mounted on one wall, over a built-in media storage console. A jigsaw puzzle was set up on a table in the corner. Downright cozy. Everything a civilized vampire needed to spend a quiet evening at home.
Tom’s wolf nosed his way through a swinging door and we followed him into a small kitchen. Beside a bank of stainless steel refrigerators and a utility area, lay the unconscious and bruised body of Yolanda. I kneeled beside her and checked her throat to make sure she was still alive. Like the others, she had been handcuffed in silver to prevent her from shifting into wolf form. Tom’s wolf licked her face while I unlocked her, using Hale’s keys.
I glared at the big merc. “What the hell is wrong with you??”
The merc reddened, his mouth an angry line. “That one’s nothing but trouble.” He rubbed his jaw. “Vince had me put her down here for safe keeping until she cooled off a little. She’ll be okay.”
I didn’t have time to argue. We’d take her with us on our way out. As much as I hated to admit it, Hale was right, and we were running out of time. “Alright asshole, get us into the Tombs.”
Hale crossed the room to a metal door next to the sink and jabbed several numbers onto a recessed keypad. The door slid to one side on a silent track. “This is it. This is the coffin room,” he said.
The smell of dry earth greeted us from the chilly cavern. Unlike the smooth concrete floors inside the Bestiary, the floors here were roughly chiseled from bedrock. The stone crypts were an eclectic mix of traditional and old-world gothic coffers, crammed together in tight quarters. Oddly enough, the vault had the same surreal, quirky quality as the amusement park topside. Pink and orange neon lights pin-wheeled across the ceiling; the walls were plastered with posters of old monster movies: Vegas Vampires, The Thing, and a really hot Resident Evil, to name a few. Rafe’s idea, I’m sure.
I shoved Hale up against the wall. “Where the hell is Sarah?”
He shook his head. “She’s got to be here. I saw Vince and Ozzie bring her down.” His eyes swept the room. “Maybe they made her a blood steward.”
I wanted to punch him, just for saying it. The thought of Sarah becoming a blood steward chilled me. Rationally, I knew it hadn’t been the end of the world for Taffy, but the thought of Sarah-- it was too much. And there was the other, darker thou
ght right behind it that was too awful to consider. What if they’d made her one of them?
I opened my senses to Xenotchi. Her scent was everywhere, but so intermingled with the blood smells of the stewards, I couldn’t trace it to a source. It obliterated the much fainter scent of vampire.
“See if you can find her,” I told Tom’s wolf.
Oh god, I hoped we weren’t too late.
Half the crypts were wrapped in chains, but there was no way to identify which vampire was in which stone coffin.
I slapped the top of the nearest crypt. “We know she’s here. She’s got to be in one of these. Help me get the lid off.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.” Hale’s face had lost its color.
“She could be in any one of these,” Silas said.
“I don’t care. We’ve got to find her. Give me a hand.” It took four of us to slide the heavy stone top off the stone casket. Willem was inside, along with one of his blood stewards, a petite blonde. I swallowed my disappointment. It wasn’t Sarah. We all recognized her as Willem’s partner from the high wire act. Silas swore, and even the other pack members appeared shocked.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“That’s Francine. Willem has turned her,” Wynn said. “They’re enlarging the nest.”
I didn’t want to believe it. “No, it can’t be. I don’t think she’s dead.” I checked her for a pulse. “She’s not cold. Feel.”
Silas felt for a pulse and shook his head. “Wynn’s right. This is a new vampire. When the sun sets, either today or tomorrow, she’ll rise as a new vamp. Very thirsty, very powerful, and very determined to feed.”
“But she’s still warm. How can you be sure?”
Hale slapped her face. “If she was human, she’d be awake by now. She’s newly dead. Or close to it.”
“Use the sword,” Hale nodded to the blade Dave was holding. “Kill them both.”
Dave hefted the sword, uncertainly.
The idea of killing Willem and the new vamp in cold blood didn’t sit well. The rest of the pack looked uncomfortable, too. Willem was well-liked, and he and Francine were very much a couple. The idea of decapitating them seemed like cold-blooded murder.
“Or stake ‘em,” Hale said. “If you stake Cobb, Willem and the woman both die. Or better yet, stake Ambrose.”
An unhappy look crossed Chaney’s face. “Yeah, and most of the nest. Looks like Cobb chained half the vampires in the nest. My guess is he’s eliminating his competition. That would mean Ambrose, Gawl, Roosa, and Orcas for sure. They didn’t ask for any of this.”
I counted seven chained crypts. If every stone coffin held two vamps, we wouldn’t have a chance. We were badly outnumbered, but no one but Hale had an appetite for murder.
“All we need to do is find Cobb and chain him,” I said. “He’s the one we want. This is a rescue mission, not an execution.”
“You willing to bet your lives on that? I’d be looking for something to use as stakes, just in case.” Hale shuddered. “Look, I got you in here, my job is done.”
“Coward,” Silas muttered, as Hale took off.
“It’s not a bad idea.” I sent Striper Dave to find something we could use for stakes and pointed to a pile of chains lying next to a box of padlocks on the floor in a gloomy corner of the cavern. “For now we chain them. We can sort it all out later, but we’re running out of daylight. Let’s get this one chained first.” I pointed to the crypt where Tom’s wolf was sniffing with interest. “We’ll try that one next.” I sent out a silent prayer that Nixese and the Fae would show up pretty soon. Hell, I’d even be happy to see Daneah.
The chains looked like those used to anchor big ships. Each required two men to lift and each of the stone coffins had been wrapped with three chains. It took us the better part of an hour to wrestle the chains around the heavy crypt. We had to tip the thing to one side to get the chains underneath it, and couldn’t do that unless we all lifted together. In spite of the chill of the cavern, we were all sweating by the time we finished locking the third chain into place. There was no time to waste. At this rate, the sun would be long set before we finished chaining the vamps.
“We’ve only got enough chains for three coffins,” Dave observed.
“Then we’ll just have to unchain some of the others,” I said. “Anyone but Ambrose.”
“That’s not a good idea,” Silas answered. “Whoever wakes up is going to be very cranky. Friend or foe isn’t going to matter. A desiccated vamp is going to drain everyone in the vicinity. If we uncork two of the bound vamps, they could kill us all.”
I sent Chaney to check the refrigerators. He returned a short time later, carrying an armful of plastic blood bags.
“There wasn’t much in there. Is this enough?”
“I hope there’s more than that,” Silas answered. “Whoever we unchain is going to need at least ten pints of blood.”
Wynn patted one of the crypts. “One of these must be Tryffin’s. He’s a mechanical genius; he doesn’t care who runs Mythica. He had nothing to do with Cobb’s takeover. Cobb needs him to keep the park rides operational. Why not leave his crypt unchained? He’ll listen to reason and won’t need more than a pint or two of blood when he wakes up.”
“Good thinking,” I answered. It was the only gamble that made sense. Between what’s left in the blood bank and the blood stewards upstairs. I hoped we’d have enough. We couldn’t risk the lives of the humans outside the park to a bunch of starving, desiccated vampires.
“That works for me,” Wynn said.
We opened the crypt that Tom had been scratching at. The good news was that the coffin we opened belonged to Tryffin. The bad news was that he wasn’t alone. Next to him lay another new vampire. New vampires required more blood than the old ones. They had to be chained. There was no other option.
“The Fae should have been here by now.” I grunted as we lifted the stone box for Wynn and Silas to slip the chains underneath it. This time, we knew what we were doing, but we were conscious of the time slipping by with every minute. “We need more manpower. And where the hell is Dave with those damn stakes?” Every moment that passed made me more frantic to find Sarah.
The plan was falling apart. We needed to find Rafe’s coffin. The weight of the stone lids on each crypt effectively sealed the inhabitants’ scent inside, making it difficult to determine who was where. I took a closer look at the chained crypts. There was only one that was carved to resemble a familiar-looking building.
“It’s this one.”
“How do you know?” asked Silas.
I ran my hand across the replica of the historic monument. “It’s Graceland.”
We cut the chains and shoved the lid aside just far enough to slip a dozen plastic bags of blood inside. My blood thirst rose as I punctured one of the blood bags and dripped a bit of blood onto Rafe’s lips before laying it along with the rest of the bags atop Rafe’s chest. I resisted the temptation to drain the blood bag myself. As much as I craved it, my own will was stronger. I was no vampire.
Time was running out, and we still hadn’t found Sarah. Maybe she wasn’t down here after all. The next coffin we opened belonged to the Fae-vamp, Lyrissa, and she wasn’t alone, either. Three coffins left, and Cobb was in one of them. We’d just finished putting the first chain around Lyrissa’s coffin when Striper Dave finally returned with a hammer and the box of wood blanks he used for custom fishing pole grips.
“I couldn’t find much in the way of wooden stakes lying around, but these should work.”
“What the hell are you talking about? There’s enough trees around the clubhouse to build a stinking fort,” complained Wynn.
“For your information, willow isn’t strong enough to pierce the sternum or rib cage of a vamp.” He picked up the katana sword and with a few whacks, fashioned a crude but effective point on one end of the two-by-two.
He held it up to admire his handiwork. “Curly maple.” He grinned fiercely, and tossed the
stake at Wynn. He began to sharpen another stake.
“Trick and Rizzo have the blood stewards trapped inside the house. They can’t get out, but they’re using silver ammo, and firing from the windows. Rizzo took a bad hit. Trick says they’ve got enough to hold them for a while longer, but no promises. There’s gunfire coming from the roof of operations building. Steve-o and Wyatt have the mercs locked out up there, but they’re armed, and shooting at everything that moves. It isn’t easy getting around out there. Steve-o told me the phones are out. Sun’s going down in about fifteen minutes. Vamprise won’t be long after.”
“We’ve got no time.” Wynn looked like he was ready to bolt.
I couldn’t ask anyone to stay, but I couldn’t leave. Not now. “Whoever needs to go, go now. But I’m not leaving without Sarah.”
“Mike, it’s too late. They’ve all been turned. We haven’t found a single blood steward. There’s not enough time to chain the rest of these coffins. If Sarah’s in there, she’s one of them. We can come back tomorrow.”
I shook my head. “I don’t believe that. She joined our pack the day she was dragged down into that hell hole with the rest of us,” I said. “We don’t have time to quibble about this. We’ll stake whoever we have to until we find Sarah. Now shut up and help me open this.”
It took three of us to shove the heavy lid aside. We heard Sarah’s panicked shouting before we even got it open. She lay tightly wrapped in the dead, stiff arms of the newly-created vampire, Ozzie.
“I’m here, I’m here! Help me!” Sarah sobbed hysterically. When we pulled her out, she was wearing only a bloody Mythica tee-shirt. She was pale, filthy and covered with bites and dried blood.
She took one look at me and screamed. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed.
“It’s okay, Sarah,” Chaney patted her cheek to revive her, as Tom and the rest of us crowded in. Her eyes fluttered and she shook her head, moaning. A moment later, the sound of stone scraping against stone caught our attention.
