I ran as fast as I could, up, up, up, for the garage exit—it was closing much too fast. Moonlight was disappearing and complete darkness setting in as the huge door shuddered on its way down.
The garage door was less than two feet from the ground when I reached it. I dropped and rolled out from under it just before it slammed shut with a low rumble like thunder.
Loose soil along the edge of the garage door settled into place. Even the motorcycle’s tracks were gone, erased as if never having existed at all.
When I got to my feet, I brushed dirt from my bare arms while looking around me. The mirrored structure towered above like a great smooth iceberg in the middle of the forest.
I walked toward the pyramid, planning to send a quick message to Rodán, then to Olivia. Rodán would be able to find my coordinates through the GPS on my phone, but in my message I would tell him to let me handle this part of the op.
If I wasn’t back in touch within two hours, then he could send out the hunting dogs. So to speak. His backup were his Doppler bouncers whose animal forms were dogs of different types and varieties. Fortunately his bouncers had both brawn and brains.
But when I reached for my phone, I touched … nothing. I looked down. My cell was gone.
Where had I dropped it? I rubbed my temples. Rodán would have someone go to wherever the GPS signal led them, but who knew where that could be. I could have lost it in the fight with the female Vamp or somewhere along my run from Manhattan.
I glanced at the garage door. It could have come out of my belt when I dropped and rolled. I hurried back to the garage door and something glinted in the pale moonlight.
When I got there I saw that it was my phone—only it had been crushed beneath the door. Great. Just great. My XPhone had everything on it—all of my contacts, notes, everything. I hadn’t remembered to back it up on my computer at the office this morning, either.
Maybe the GPS still worked. I glanced around. Just me, the pyramid and the trees. The phone wasn’t protected by my glamour because it was no longer on me, so I needed to get every piece.
The earth was soft beneath my knees as I knelt and tugged at pieces of my poor, smashed phone. It was wedged tight. I used a little of my earth elemental magic and the dirt shifted enough that I could drag out what remained of my cell.
Total pancake. No way could the GPS have survived, much less any of its memory. Still I stuffed the pieces into a pouch on my weapons belt, not wanting to leave any traces. So much for contacting Rodán or Olivia. I was on my own.
I turned back to the task I’d taken on and studied the glass structure before approaching it.
Despite my glamour, I felt naked as I started walking along the front glass wall. I stopped and placed my hands against the surface. The glass was cool. Of course, wrapped in a glamour, I couldn’t be seen. I could see myself, just no norm or paranorm that had been born human had that ability.
What was it like from the inside of the pyramid looking out? Could every little detail of the forest be seen through all of that glass?
I used my air elemental to search the pyramid all the way to its peak at the same time I moved my palms along the entire length of the front of the structure. I frowned. By the time I’d reached the end, I hadn’t felt a single seam in the glass to tell me where a door or even a window might be. My air elemental magic had found nothing, too.
The soft purr of a luxury car’s engine met my ears. Maybe it was Volod. I unsheathed one of my daggers. As I ran back in the direction of the garage, I lightly ran the tip of the dagger along the same territory I’d just used my hands and air elemental on. Might as well—couldn’t hurt.
Unfortunately, the point didn’t pause in the slightest, not catching on any break that might have been a clue as to how to get in and out of that pyramid from the front.
The surface was perfect. As in Per-fect. Nothing. Absolutely nothing marred the surface of glass from as high as I could reach on down to where the glass met the earth.
Just as the gate creaked open, I reached the corner of the structure closest to the garage. I peered around the tree while headlights cut the darkness and I blinked the bright light away. When I glanced at the pyramid I saw that the glass absorbed the light from the vehicle’s headlights, rather than reflecting it, just as I’d suspected. I looked back to see a Rolls-Royce, moonlight glinting on its “Spirit of Ecstasy” hood ornament.
Ground shuddered to my right and the huge garage door yawned open again. I made my way closer to the door and followed the car into the garage all the way to where it parked. I watched as the vehicle took up two parking spaces—apparently even Vampires can be pretentious.
A Vampire in a standard chauffeur suit got out of the driver’s seat and walked back to open the rear passenger door. A big Vampire climbed out with something draped across his arms.
The Vampire wore a pained expression and the chauffeur took off his hat, held it to his heart, and bowed his head. It was then that I saw the sparkle of a red sequined dress beneath the coat lying across the big Vampire’s arms. My stomach churned as I realized it was the Vampire I’d beheaded before coming to the compound.
Another Vampire slid out holding a black bowling ball bag. I looked away, not wanting to imagine what was in there in place of a bowling ball. I still pictured it in my mind despite myself.
The trio remained quiet with only the thump of the car doors breaking the silence. They headed in the same direction Drago had gone but the garage door didn’t close.
With my enhanced hearing, in the distance I heard more engines, probably a couple of miles away. Soon more Vampires would be arriving at the fortress, apparently to convene after the night’s events.
One of them no doubt would be Volod, proudly carrying the serum and the antiserum. That thought had me grinding my teeth.
During the time it took the next vehicles to make their way through the forest to the compound, I had left the garage and explored the length of the one side of the pyramid, again running my palms along the perfect surface.
The garage couldn’t be the only entrance or exit, could it?
My air elemental magic still had me cloaked in a glamour and I peered around an evergreen close to the garage. I placed my hands on it, more to ground myself than any other reason.
Three more vehicles approached the gate, which opened and allowed them through before closing again. A BMW, a Cadillac, and just to shake things up, a beat-up old Toyota four-wheel drive truck complete with lift kit, roll bars, and running boards.
Heh. Vampires with style.
I eased closer to the open garage door, then followed the vehicles down into the parking garage again. I watched the truck and cars park. From out of the Caddy and the Toyota, Vampires carried lifeless bodies of their comrades or loved ones who had died in battle. The sight made my stomach queasy. Like with Sprites, I had never liked to think of Vampires as anything but lowlife scum.
Yet now I was fighting off feelings of pity for beings who were set on destroying the paranorm world.
That thought alone made the pity leave my mind and my stomach settled. I ground my teeth as I thought instead of all of the dead Sprites. None of them had deserved to die. Well, maybe a couple, but for the most part they were a race of beings living life as their kind had for centuries, perhaps millennia.
And I thought about what could happen to all paranorms if I didn’t get the serum.
We could be extinguished. Every last one of us.
Research in the notes had confirmed all paranorms who weren’t human had the mutated gene. Paranorms not susceptible to the virus included any being not born human, including Vampires, Necromancers, Witches and Sorcerers.
I am half human, but lucky me, I carry the mutated gene from my Drow side.
Several more vehicles returned, some bearing the Vampires’ dead as well as those who still lived.
Considering Vampires are the undead, it wasn’t easy to distinguish between those who still had their heads atta
ched and hearts intact from those who didn’t. Then I figured it really didn’t matter.
In between arrivals I managed to search all four exterior walls of the pyramid physically and with my air elemental.
It was quiet for a while with no more vehicles approaching. The garage had closed, maybe for the last time that night, and I still hadn’t found any other way into the pyramid.
The fact that I was stuck outside when I needed to be inside started to eat at me. I should have gone into the garage when the last vehicle had passed through.
A low hum told me another car was coming and I breathed a sigh of relief.
I waited and watched until a black Mercedes convertible rolled up to the black gates, then traveled up the driveway to where the garage had opened, its big mouth ready to swallow the car whole.
Good. Now I could follow whatever Vamp this was, and find my way in.
When we got down into the garage, the Mercedes parked in the closest spot, which had been left empty until now. That gave me pause and I stopped mid-stride.
A Vampire stepped out of the Mercedes, then reached in and drew out a red shoebox.
Volod.
SIXTEEN
I held my breath. Kept my emotions under control. The blood throbbing in my veins couldn’t be slowed, though, and I prayed Volod couldn’t hear it or sense me. Vampires are known to be able to hear human heartbeats but not paranorms. I was grateful for that.
Volod appeared preoccupied as he shut the door of the black Mercedes. He stopped and faced the garage entrance. I bit my lip hard enough that my tiny fangs pierced my bottom lip and I tasted blood.
The Master Vampire’s head snapped in my direction and my entire body tensed as I fought to control my emotions. He sensed me. He might even be able to smell my blood.
For a long time he looked my way, then finally took his gaze from where I stood and slowly examined the garage, searching for whatever it was that had caused him to pause. When he saw nothing, he turned and strode in the same direction everyone else had. I found myself having to control my breathing and my flow of emotions.
My gut clenched. Volod had sensed me. If I followed him, he might actually discover me, so I didn’t dare try. I gripped the hilt of one of my daggers and didn’t move. Maybe another vehicle would approach and I could follow them inside the compound.
The garage door started to close and my heart sank with it. I’d have to wait for another car. I bolted out, this time making it with no problem.
After it closed, the earth settled once again, leaving a perfect unmarred surface. Just like the pyramid—
I cut my gaze to the glass structure. I’d tried finding exits and entrances to the building … but I’d never tried to find one in the ground. The garage went deep, and Vampires were known to go to ground when they slept, so just maybe where they congregated was below the pyramid.
This time when I approached the building, I searched the ground with my earth element, sending out feelers of magic all the way around the structure. My magic found one, then two, then three, and finally a fourth.
Four underground entrances and exits, one on each side of the pyramid. How could I not have thought of that before? Yes, it made sense that their ways in and out of the place would be below, too.
I went to the one closest to me and knelt beside it. The earth was soft and loose beneath my palm as I brushed it away from the square of stone.
With my eyes closed, I used my earth magic to explore the entrance. Below the slab, stone steps went far below the ground. The earthen walls allowed me to gauge the dimensions and the distance to a door. But that’s as far as I could go because the door was metal and the walls beyond were not made of earth.
The slab was thick and heavy but it moved easily when I pushed it aside.
It was dark. Drow Realm dark. Good thing I didn’t need light.
I moved the stone back overhead, cutting off the moonlight. I jogged down the steps, which led me about thirty feet underground to the slanting earthen passageway that went even deeper into the earth. Roots dangled from the ceiling and crawled along the walls in the tunnel and the cool feel and the scent of earth reminded me of home.
The door was black and too perfect-looking to be in a dirt tunnel. Didn’t even look dusty. But there was a strip of light beneath the door where it didn’t quite meet the ground.
When I reached the metal door, I let my earth and air elements search it to make sure it was safe. After my experience in the Werewolf case, touching something I was unfamiliar with had me a little gun-shy.
My earth and air magic told me the door was fine. I reached out and placed my palm on the cool surface of the door.
It caught me by surprise when the door swung open without the slightest sound and I caught my breath. My heart pounded as the open doorway revealed a black marble foyer.
Blood seemed to rush faster through my veins causing a jittery sensation along my skin. The metal door frame was smooth as I gripped it and peered in.
An enormous chandelier was overhead, hundreds of teardrop crystals winking with brilliance. A black marble staircase swept up from the entrance as if the way I’d entered was the main doorway. The hum of many voices came from beyond the staircase and my stomach flipped.
From a hallway to my left I heard two individuals talking, the sounds coming closer and closer. The sensation in my belly worsened. I still couldn’t be seen, but I had to get the door closed before they reached the foyer and suspected anything was wrong.
Thank goodness the door was just as silent closing as it had been opening. When I shut it, I was no longer looking at a black metal door, but a huge ornately carved wooden door.
Between that and the foyer and sweeping staircase, I felt a little like Alice must have felt in Wonderland. Where was the unbirthday party going to be held?
I backed up and my thigh hit an umbrella stand. It rattled on the black marble and almost fell before I caught it.
What Elvin grace?
“Did you hear that, Drago?” a female voice said. “I thought this was an unused part of the mansion.”
Why did it have to be Drago? I sucked in my breath and flattened myself against a wall, as if that might help him from sensing or seeing me.
“Yes.” The word was clipped. “No one should be at this entrance.”
I called to my air element to wrap me even tighter in my glamour and held my breath as I inched along the wall to my right, as far from the doorway as I could get before Drago reached me.
He walked from the hallway to my right and I came to a complete stop. At his side, with her arm hooked through his, was a beautiful female Vampire, a blond who wore a halter top evening gown in ocean blue.
She didn’t look the least bit concerned about the noise she’d heard, but Drago did. He studied the doorway, the umbrella stand and the surrounding area. His gaze passed by me as he made a slow perusal of the area. The sight of his green eyes made my skin itch.
“What, Drago?” The petite Vampire siren had a cute little pout that would have had Olivia rolling her eyes.
He looked at her, and she paused, her lips open in a perfect little “o” and she stared into his gaze. Maybe she was mesmerized by his green eyes.
“When I want you to know anything, Jennifer,” he said in a low, icy voice, “I will tell you.”
He looked away from her and she blinked. “Whatever you say, Master.”
Master? Drago was a Master Vampire? No wonder he’d been close to sensing me. To be honest, I didn’t think there were any other Masters left in New York City after the Rebellion. One Master Vampire was enough.
Drago took another look at the surrounding area, then started walking to the right of the marble staircase toward the hum of voices. Jennifer still clung to his arm, but she seemed more subdued than before.
Relief that he was gone and hadn’t found me made the cramp in my stomach relax.
I needed to explore, to memorize the layout of this place before following the vo
ices. The broad staircase ended at a balcony and then split off three ways. To the right and to the left were open hallways—the dark wood spindles revealing doors along each side, bedroom doors was my guess.
To the center was a spiraling staircase that went up to another floor and who knew beyond that. Maybe it went to the top of the pyramid itself.
I had hallways to the left and right of me, and more area behind the sweeping staircase.
The best place to start was probably wherever it was that Drago had gone and where I heard talking because likely that’s where other Vampires were headed and where I would find Volod and the serum and antiserum. Or at least get some clue as to where he was holding it.
I touched my collar and rubbed one of the runes. I took a deep breath and followed Drago, which was the last thing I wanted to be doing right now. Trailing a Master Vampire into what was probably a nest of Vamps.
It didn’t take me long to find Drago—and the hoard of Vamps. A shudder rippled through me as I took in the huge ballroom filled with Vampires.
I remained motionless even though I had the urge to start staking Vampires while at the same time having the strong desire to run.
Locating exits would be a start in case I had to do the latter. There were four total. The large entry I had just walked through, a set of white French doors, and two archways.
The French doors were across the expansive ballroom floor, directly in front of me. The two archways were on either side of the ballroom, one of which was a hallway and the other I couldn’t tell. The archway with the hallway was on my right, the other archway was to my left.
The Vampires were my biggest concern right now. If any one of them could sense me, like Volod had, I might have a big problem. Fortunately all of the Vampires in the ballroom were busy chatting in small groups, including Drago.
Rich wood flooring warmed the room and the walls were painted indigo blue. Sconces with flickering candlelight were along each wall, giving the room subtle lighting. The décor was nineteenth century, which seemed odd considering this lair was in a mirrored pyramid. I’d half expected Egyptian furnishings, maybe a depiction of the Egyptian god Set and a statue of Anubis.
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