The flashlight did nothing to banish the oppressive dark behind the door. Though the corridor was wide and the ceiling high, the sense of walls still pressed down. Pipes of all sizes covered the walls, some sticking out or hanging free. The air was tainted with mildew and damp dust, and as we stepped in and shut the door, the dark swallowed everything but the little ray Steve had aimed at the floor. There was a wall to our immediate right and the tunnel stretched out on our left, disappearing into the gloom.
“Nobody waiting for us,” Steve commented, flashing the light down the corridor as far as it would go. “What now?”
“See if you can catch her scent,” Kristair said, his predator aura making my blood stir in response. I was beginning to share his excitement of the chase despite my resolve to keep that separate from me. “You should be able to follow it straight to her.”
“How do I do that?” I took a cautious sniff of the air, but the only thing my nose caught was damp and rust.
“I don’t know how you’ve managed to block yourself so well,” Kristair grumbled and rummaged around in my head. It was a very weird sensation. “You’ve got so many walls up I’m surprised I ever managed to get through to you.”
That gave me something to think about. I had been so intent on trying to go back to normal, maybe I could have had Kristair back sooner if I hadn’t spurned what he’d left me. Suddenly, my nose flooded with scent, so much at once that at first I couldn’t figure out what belonged to any one thing or person. I sneezed.
“Jake?” Tony asked.
“Give me a sec.” There that cold, almost disturbing scent had to be Tony and the other one rich with warm blood was Steve. “Ugh, Kristair, I don’t want to think in vampire terms.”
“Sorry; that’s the only way I know how.” There was a tense pause. “She didn’t come in this way.”
“Yeah, I agree.” There were other indications of people having been through here, but all days old, and nobody carrying the old chill like Tony, either. “Okay, I’m not keen on waiting around for the goon squad. If they want us, they’ll find us. In the meantime, we’ll look for them.”
“How? These tunnels cover blocks,” Steve said in frustration.
“I can track her if we come across her scent.”
“I probably can too. I’m not as familiar with her as you two, but we have met.” Tony hitched his shoulders and started walking. “One of us should scout ahead.”
I didn’t like the idea of us separating, and from Steve’s expression, he wasn’t fond of the idea either. “Don’t trust him. I know you want to, but the odds are bad anyway and not just for Kayla but for you too, Jacob. Please, stick together,” Kristair said.
“How about you? Can you go ahead for us and let us know what you see?”
“It’s worth a try.” Kristair materialized next to me, looking as solid as if he were really there and still stark naked. To my relief, neither of my friends gave any indication they saw him.
“Hold up, Tony. I might have another idea,” I said as Kristair took a few steps away down the hall. “For chrissake’s, put on some clothes. You’re killing me.”
“Don’t have any to put on. Most likely my Mistress’s idea of a joke.” He moved faster down the hall until he’d reached about fifty yards or so, then stopped. I sensed Kristair’s regret before he spoke. “This is as far as I can go. It won’t give us much warning.”
“If Tony’s out to get me, keeping him close won’t make much of a difference, but if he isn’t we can use the extra edge,” I argued then nodded at Tony.
“Be careful and for god’s sake don’t get caught.” It was wrong of me, but I swear I smiled when Kristair growled in my head. “Trust me.”
“It’s not you I don’t trust. I will admit I do admire your loyalty, as stubborn and misguided as it is sometimes.”
“Jake, I don’t think….” Steve’s voice trailed off as the shadows seemed to wrap around Tony before he melted into them and disappeared.
“Wow, that’s a neat trick.” He’d done something similar that night in the alleyway, though I’d been too worked up to really notice it. “How’d you learn that one?”
Tony chuckled softly. “Those first few months in Rome I didn’t want to be seen, so somehow I made it so I couldn’t be. I won’t go too far—no more than a few corners at the most. I’ll let you know if I see anything.”
“You sure he’ll be okay?” Steve murmured, searching the shadows, but there was no trace of Tony. I couldn’t be sure if he was still there or if he’d already gone on ahead to scout.
“As sure as I am about any of us. I’ve seen him in action. He can take care of himself.”
“It’s just ass backward, you know,” he sighed. “Guess I’m not used to being the low man on the totem pole. He’s all vamped up and you’ve got super powers. Not that I’m looking for them, but it’s just weird.”
I knew what he meant. Steve always took care of us. And Tony, damn, he had been like the baby brother and now he was taking point. Then it hit me: the real difference was that before Tony had had an innate trust in people. It used to drive Steve and me crazy. Now, that kind of innocence was gone. It was a little bit ridiculous, but I missed it.
I drew my gun as we started down the corridor, grateful for the way the pipes deadened any echo effect from our low voices. “You may not be able to kick my ass anymore, but I’m still glad you’ve got my back.”
“Trust me, Jake, I’d find a way to kick your ass if I believed it necessary.”
“Kristair, if you can’t scout, do you mind disappearing again?”
Kristair laughed and then he was in my mind again. “Better?” he teased.
“It depends on your point of view, love.” Yes, not seeing him naked was less distracting, but the intimacy of him in my mind reminded me that we’d just been reunited and weren’t in a position to enjoy it.
“Soon,” Kristair promised.
As we made our way deeper through the tunnels and we didn’t see or hear any sign of the people we were seeking, I began to worry that this was some kind of sick hoax, a way to distract us. That they laughed at us as we skulked around underneath Pittsburgh as they pulled some shit above. Frustration eroded my patience with my worry for Kayla growing as each minute trickled away.
“No, they’re down here. Somewhere,” Kristair said.
“How do you know?”
“I can just sense it.” He paused. “Have Tony check your back trail; they may be setting you up for an ambush.”
“Thought you didn’t trust him.”
“Don’t have much of a choice at the moment.”
I caught Steve’s arm. “Let’s wait ’til Tony checks in again. We’re getting nowhere.”
“That’s the damned truth.”
I turned and scanned the darkness behind me, but with Steve’s flashlight, any advantage from Kristair’s night vision was lost to me and I was reluctant to leave him alone while I went back to see if anybody was following us. I strained to hear and picked up nothing more than dripping water and the scurrying of tiny feet.
“How long has it been since Tony last checked in?” I asked.
“About half an hour or so.”
Late, but not too late. Still, with everything else, it made me uneasy. For once, Kristair was silent, and I blessed him for it. Somehow I sensed Tony, so I knew he was still alive at least, but nothing more than that.
“How come I can do that? I couldn’t before.”
“I told you, you held onto him too hard.” Kristair still sounded a little disgruntled about that.
“I’m not going to start hearing his thoughts all the time, am I?” One man in my head was enough. I didn’t want to share this connection with anyone else.
“Not if you don’t let him.”
“Trust me, I don’t want that.” Something eased in Kristair and I realized he’d been the tiniest bit jealous. I’d have to tease him about that later on.
“How much ground do you think we’ve
covered?” I asked Steve.
“No more than a quarter of the tunnels, I’d think. It’s hard to tell,” Steve replied. “And we can’t be sure we haven’t missed a smaller side tunnel.”
I gnawed my thumb, weighing our options. I hated this shit. “Let’s backtrack for about five minutes or so,” I said in an undertone. “Make sure no one’s following us.”
“Wouldn’t they just back off when they see our flashlight?”
“Yeah, maybe, but I’d be able to smell them if we cross their trail. Then at least we’d know if they are hounding us.”
“But what if Tony comes back and we’re not where we’re supposed to be? Won’t he….” Steve stopped and gave me a rueful smile. “Never mind. He’d be able to track us too.”
“You’ve got it.”
“You know, Jake, I’m beginning to believe you were right. I shouldn’t have come. You guys don’t need me along screwing this up.”
I stared at Steve in surprise. “Are you feeling okay?” Steve shrugged. “Don’t go there, man. Besides, there’s no one I’d trust more than you to bring Kayla safely out, and that’s the damn truth.”
We hadn’t gone back more than a hundred yards when I caught their scent. Two of them, and, from their cold abnormality, they had to be vamps. Kristair went very still in my mind then let out a slow hiss. “You’ll have to take them out. Leave one aware enough to talk.”
His merciless tone bothered me, but not enough that I couldn’t see the sense in it. Besides, they’d taken Kayla, and even if Kristair wasn’t in my head spurring me on, I’d still want them to pay for dragging her into this.
“What is it?” Steve whispered.
“There’s at least two of them back there.” Why they had kept back from ambushing us didn’t make any sense. If they’d wanted to attack us they should have done it long ago before we realized we might be on to them. “Kristair?”
“They may be herding you.” Ice trickled through my stomach. That didn’t sound pleasant.
“Let’s go get them. One of them will talk.” Steve’s voice was grim and implacable.
“Go for their heads. It’ll slow them down, at least.”
We started forward, moving cautiously. “Jake, thanks for not trying to tell me to stay behind.”
“I know better.” A recess between the pipes opened up, hiding an old door. I gestured to it and Steve and I stepped inside. “Douse the light,” I said on a breath. As long as they saw it coming they were going to keep backtracking, and I wasn’t gonna chase them all the way back to the start.
It didn’t take long. I could hear them start to run as soon as the light disappeared. Couple of fucking idiots, but better for us. I squeezed Steve’s hand and brought my mouth to his ear. “I’ll knock them down,” I whispered. “You shine the light in their eyes and shoot.” I trusted his shooting far more than my own. Where the hell was Tony? I tried reaching out to touch his mind, but the approaching bad guys had me so distracted I got nothing.
The blur of their outlines came closer in the pitch dark. “Wait!” one shouted just as they pounded past us and stopped turning toward the door. I launched myself at their feet and the three of us went down snarling in a tangle of limbs.
“Too late, motherfucker,” I growled, and kicked free of him. I let Kristair’s instincts take over and jumped to my feet as shots rang out.
“There’s no silencer on the gun. What were you thinking? The sound will draw others,” Kristair snapped.
“For crying out loud, you knew I had one. Why didn’t you say something earlier?”
“I’ve never touched a gun. It didn’t occur to me at the time.”
“Well, that makes two of us! At least until recently.” The other vamp grabbed me and spun me around. I punched him in the nose, drew my gun, grabbed him close, and unloaded it into his chest. It muffled the sound, but not by much, and the vamp fell back with a scream of pain. Damn, that would be heard just as much as the gunshots.
Steve still grappled with his vamp and I rushed over to help, grabbing the knife from my belt that Tony insisted we each take. Fuck, where was he? I was gonna kick his ass when he showed. His absence was beginning to worry me. The vamp who was fighting with Steve half-turned to meet my charge and I buried the blade in his chest. Much to my surprise, he fell to the ground and didn’t move.
“Huh?”
Kristair’s sigh would’ve been comic if the other vampire hadn’t decided to take off, lurching down the hallway. “Did you make any use at all of my memories? As long as something is lodged in their heart, they are defenseless.”
Several things clicked into place. Kristair had done something similar to Dominic, only I’d been too worked up at the time to notice. “That’s not a part of the legends.”
“It’s not something we try to advertise. It’s bad enough that the heart is a known vulnerability without revealing the entire truth.”
Steve cursed and took a shot at the retreating vampire, but he’d already gone past the circle of light from his fallen flashlight. Then a short scream cut off with a squishy thump. Steve and I exchanged glances and bolted toward the sound.
We found Tony wiping his blade clean on the shirt of the headless vamp. Seeing us, the tension around his mouth faded. “Watch where you’re shooting that damn thing, will you? You two sure make enough noise. Three more are heading right toward us. I got caught up trying to avoid them.”
Kristair made a sound of suspicious dismissal in my head, but otherwise didn’t say a word. “We’ll have to take them out too,” Steve said, nudging the loose head out of the way with a grimace.
“One’s staked back there.” I jerked a thumb over my shoulder. “We can ask him questions once we’re done with your goons.”
“Excellent,” Tony said with a Monty Burns-esque smirk and undertone. Then his eyes narrowed before he spun around. “They’re coming.”
“What? I don’t hear anything.” Steve peered down the dark corridor and fingered his gun as my ears caught the sound of pounding footsteps.
“He’s right. Get ready.”
Tony melted into the shadows as Steve and I retreated several yards. The vamps appeared, closing the space between us with a speed that left Steve cursing. Without warning, the shadows came alive behind them as Tony attacked. It didn’t take the three of us long to take them out.
“Younglings,” Kristair sniffed in disdain.
“I, for one, am glad they were and not the souped-up version. We’re not the bad-ass vampire lord you are.”
“Your sarcasm hasn’t dulled one bit.” Kristair gave me a tender nuzzle as Tony checked the bodies to make sure the vamps were destroyed.
“We’re cool?” Steve asked.
“Yep.” Tony rose from his crouch. “Let’s see what we can get out of the one you left behind.”
The vampire still lay where we left him. Though he didn’t move as we approached him, there seemed to be something desperate and terrified in his eyes. A youngling. He was older than I was, in his late thirties, I’d guess, with a receding hairline. “How long are newbies considered younglings?” I couldn’t miss the disgusted undertone older vampires like Ussier and his gang used when they discussed them.
“Depends on the vampire and when they start learning and cease acting like spoiled brats. I must admit, your friend has potential. That’s if he survives his first few years.”
“What if he doesn’t talk?” Tony asked, crouching down next to him and touching the knife hilt.
“Oh, he’ll talk,” Steve promised. “One way or another.”
Kristair made a quick suggestion, one that filled me with a kind of sick, fascinated horror. “Or we can just go the quick route.” We didn’t really have time to waste with a prolonged torture. “And rip the answers from his mind.”
Tony cast me a shadowed, worried glance. “Can you really do that?”
“Think about it.” Kristair had shared his abilities with him, after all. “Both of us should be able to do it.”
“I don’t care what the fuck you two do. Just do something, dammit. She’s been stuck here for hours,” Steve snapped.
That more than decided it for me, and the surge of fury from Kristair melted away any lingering misgivings. Tony shrank back as I reached forward and touched my fingers to the vamp’s temple. I drew in a breath, closed my eyes, and let Kristair guide me. “It won’t be pretty, mo chroí. He’ll try to resist.”
“Oh well. It’s on him then.” I clenched my jaw.
I sensed another mind, one cursing and shouting, but the vampire’s attempts to hold both Kristair and me off were laughable. We pulled down his defenses and laid his mind bare, searching through his thoughts until I lit upon Kayla. Wow, it was kinda like having a GPS device locked in my brain now. I could pinpoint where they were holding her without any effort.
“She’s not too far,” I said, opening my eyes and locking my gaze with the vamp whose brain I’d invaded. “Hell, we would’ve stumbled over them in the next ten minutes. There’s a service room nearby where they’re keeping her.”
“How many people are with her? Have they touched her?” Steve demanded with a sharp edge to his voice.
Kristair went tense in my mind and I attempted to soothe him as I glanced up at Steve. This vamp didn’t know anything past where they were holding her and I didn’t want to think about her being hurt in any way. We’d find out when we got there.
“They’d better pray to whatever god they hold dear that they haven’t.”
Kristair had my wholehearted agreement there. As it was, none of them were going to walk away after kidnapping her, which didn’t bother me in the least. It should have, but it didn’t. I guess I’d have to deal with the repercussions later on.
“With these goons out of the picture, there are only three more,” I replied to Steve.
“If they’re anything like those creampuffs, it won’t be hard, but we’ll have to be quick. Get in and get out with her. They might have additional backup. This entire place could be riddled with them and we’d never know,” Steve said.
That was a very good thought, one I hadn’t considered, and Tony nodded as if he agreed it was a possibility. “I wouldn’t put it past them,” Kristair said. “These tunnels would be an ideal hiding place from Ussier. Many exits, many bolt holes.”
Triquetra Page 45
