She shivered. "You know, I don't know why I got us onto such a depressing topic. I do apologize. Let's think of something a little nicer. What's this movie you're watching? It looks really familiar."
A flush began to creep up Simon's face. "It's called Realms of Night."
"Oh, I know that movie," Mrs. Krstic said. "Haven't you seen this quite a few times already? It's based on those video games you're always playing."
She turned to me. "Simon has comic books that go with the games, too. And some dolls—no, figurines. No, that's not the word, either. What do you call those toys you collect?"
Another flush began to creep up Simon's face. "They aren't toys. They're collectible action figures. I don't actually play with them or anything."
"No, of course not, dear. Heaven forbid those things should actually come out of their boxes."
Simon put his head in his hands, and I tried very hard to suppress the smile that tugged at my lips.
Mr. Krstic joined us a little while later, and after Realms of Night was over, we watched another movie.
Then, at long last, everyone was ready for bed.
Mrs. Krstic showed me to the guest room, which was done up in soothing shades of cream and pink, and she turned back the covers on the bed for me.
"Sleep well, dear," she said. "Everything will look brighter in the morning."
She moved to the door, and Simon appeared in the doorway over her shoulder.
"Mom's right," he said. "You'll feel better in the morning."
"Thanks," I said.
Mrs. Krstic closed the door, and I was left alone.
I sat for a time on the bed, listening to the sounds of the household as everyone settled in for the night. I had a feeling that James, who had retired to the mud porch after dinner, was still out there and probably would be out there for a while. I figured I could sneak out without his noticing.
When I was sure the way was clear, I hurried down the stairs as quietly as I could and slipped out of the house.
I ran down the driveway and got into GM's car. Then I drove over to the Neverovs' house.
My plan wasn't entirely clear—but I wanted to get a look at that basement that Maksim was supposedly sleeping in—maybe I could find something William had overlooked. And then after that, I was going to go to the cave—and I wasn't going to leave until I found something.
At the moment, however, I didn't know how I was going to get into the Neverovs' house—I had been there enough times to have noticed a sign on the front lawn proclaiming that the house was protected by a security system. And I certainly didn't know how I would get past that.
But as I reached the house, I realized I was in luck. All the lights were on, the street was all parked up, and a steady stream of people was moving toward the house. The Neverovs were clearly having a party.
I parked at what I judged to be a safe distance from the house, and then I walked around to the back of it—I doubted very much that I'd be able to get in through the front door.
At the back of the house, I found a tall gate, and since no one was in sight at the moment, I climbed to the top and then jumped down to the other side. I quickly ran up to the house and concealed myself in the shadows that surrounded it.
I waited, but no one seemed to have seen me climb over the gate. I decided then to risk a look into the nearest window, and I found myself looking into a large, busy kitchen.
There were a number of people in white working away on stoves and counters, and as I watched, servers in aprons came in and took away trays of food.
A door next to me opened suddenly, and I quickly ducked back into the shadows. I held my breath as a server came out, deposited a trash bag into a nearby trash can, and then went back into the house.
I waited a few moments, and then I went inside.
I found myself in a long hallway, and I could hear talking, a few shouts, and the clanking of pots and pans. From where I was standing, I could see the door that led into the kitchen.
A woman hurried out of a door across the hall from the kitchen, and she stopped abruptly when she saw me.
I knew I had to improvise. "Sorry I'm late."
"Late?" The woman stared at me in disbelief.
"Yes," I said. I had a sudden, terrible feeling that I was just about to be thrown out for trespassing.
"You're more than just late," the woman said. "You were supposed to be here hours ago. If we didn't need the help so badly, I'd tell you to turn around and march right out of here."
"I'm really sorry," I said.
"Save it for later," the woman said. "Right now, I need you to get to work. Come on."
I followed her down the hall, and we passed a man hurrying back toward the kitchen. "Look who just showed up," the woman said to him.
The man stopped and looked at me. "Hey, it's the missing girl. Melissa, right?"
"That's right. Melissa," I said.
"Do we have any extra clothes?" the woman asked. "She shows up late, and she's not even dressed properly. I told everybody, white on top, black on bottom. I can't possibly send her out there in jeans."
"Yeah, we have extra clothes," the man said. "We always bring a few things, just in case. Somebody always manages to spill some sauce or some wine. The stuff's in the pantry."
"Thanks," the woman said.
"Hey, try not to be too hard on her," the man said. "I was young once, too. I bet it's all the boyfriend's fault."
The man gave me a wink and moved on.
"Come on," the woman said.
I followed the woman to the pantry, and she began to rummage around in some boxes by the door. Soon she came up with a white shirt, a black skirt, and an apron, which she pushed into my hands.
"Put these on. And get out there."
The woman hurried out of the room and shut the door.
I changed quickly and then hurried into the kitchen. I grabbed a tray and followed the server in front of me into a room full of guests. I set the tray down on a nearby table and grabbed a passing server.
"I need to get more wine," I said quickly. "Which way is the cellar?"
The server pointed out the way for me, and I hurried back down the hall to the cellar door. I glanced around quickly, and then I opened the door and ran down the stairs.
The lower level was well lit, and I soon found myself in a large room full of wine racks. There were also two kegs resting on stands and a row of white freezers against the far wall. Just out of curiosity, I peered into the freezers. There was nothing inside but frozen food.
There were two doors on either end of the wine cellar, and I quickly chose one and ran toward it. I went through the door and found myself in a very ordinary-looking storage room. I saw another door, and I opened it and found a laundry room. I didn't know what I was looking for exactly, but I had a feeling I was on the wrong track.
I thought for a moment, and I remembered that the rumor was that Maksim slept in the basement at the back of the house. I ran back to the wine cellar and went through the door on the opposite end.
I found myself in a much smaller room that was full of tents, blankets, camping equipment, and clothing—some of which was bright orange—and I realized that I was looking at hunting supplies. On the other side of the room was a metal door marked 'GUN ROOM. NO UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS.' There was a padlock on the door.
I figured that there was nothing in the gun room except for what was indicated on the door, but all the same I needed to be sure. And it occurred to me that the gun room was a room that few members of the household would go into on a regular basis. It would be a good place to keep something you wanted to hide.
But at the moment, the padlock was doing a very good job of keeping me out. I would have to find a way to get past it.
I searched the small room without much hope of success, and unfortunately, I was proved right—the key to the padlock was nowhere to be found.
I wondered if I could cut the lock with something, but there was nothing like a saw
around, and I figured it wouldn't work anyway—locks were designed not to be cut through.
I remembered then that Branden had mentioned breaking locks with liquid nitrogen—and I thought I'd seen someone using a canister of it on a dessert in the kitchen.
I hurried back upstairs and peered into the kitchen. Everyone was busy, and I spotted the canister of liquid nitrogen sitting unattended. Without thinking, I darted into the kitchen and grabbed up the canister. Then I hurried out—no one seemed to have noticed me.
I ran down the stairs with the canister and made my way back to the gun room. As I fumbled with the lever on the canister, it occurred to me that everything I was doing was terribly illegal. First of all, I was trespassing—I had most definitely not been invited to the party—and now I was trying to break into a locked room full of firearms. If I was caught, I would have a very hard time trying to explain what I had been up to.
But I had to find out what was going on in this house.
I continued to fumble with the canister, and after a few failed attempts, I figured out how to get it to discharge. Then I doused the padlock liberally with liquid nitrogen. I waited a few moments, and then I picked up a heavy flashlight. I began to pound on the lock, and after a moment, the lock broke off and clattered on the floor. I tried the door knob then, and the door swung open freely.
The room was dark, and I fumbled for the light switch on the wall. I found it, and the overhead light sprang to life, illuminating the entire room. I didn't know what I had been expecting, but the sight of the gun room was a little underwhelming. There were two racks of rifles, a row of shelves on the wall, and two freezers.
I stepped into the room. Up on the shelves, I could see two rolled-up sleeping bags and several folded-up blankets. It was certainly possible that someone was sleeping in this room—and if so, that was a little odd. But there didn't seem to be anything sinister about it.
I glanced at the freezers. One of them had a chain wrapped around it with a padlock, and the other one didn't. Out of curiosity, I looked into the unlocked freezer. It was empty.
I looked over at the chained freezer, and I figured I might as well open that one, too. I was already in trouble as it was, and there was no reason not to finish the search completely—and I couldn't think of a good reason for a freezer to be locked.
I turned the canister of liquid nitrogen on the padlock, and soon I had broken my second lock of the night. I lifted the lid of the freezer, and I found myself staring into a pair of eyes. Inside the freezer was a man, his lips drawn back to reveal a set of prominent canines, and his face crisscrossed by a pattern of gray lines.
I dropped the lid of the freezer and ran toward the door. As I reached the next room, I heard the lid of the freezer slam home heavily.
I stopped and listened for sounds of pursuit, but the cellar remained silent. I turned back toward the gun room and walked back to the freezer. There was no sign of movement, and after a moment, I lifted the lid again. The man remained as before, and I could see now that there was a large wound to his chest—his shirt was torn and stained as if something had been driven into him. Lying next to the man was a silver stake like the one that had wounded David, and I leaned a little closer. I could see now that there was frost on the man's face.
I closed the lid carefully, and then left the gun room, closing the door behind me.
The man in the freezer was clearly a vampire, and it was also pretty clear that he hadn't moved in some time. I wasn't entirely sure what his presence meant, but it seemed to me that I had found the clue I was looking for—and I had a sudden, strong desire to leave the house as quickly as possible.
My first instinct was to run out of the house just as I was. But then I remembered that my clothes were in the pantry, and I figured it would be better to remove all traces of my presence—just in case. I ran upstairs and changed back into my old clothes, leaving the server's uniform in the pantry. Then, once the way was clear, I fled the house.
I ran all the way to GM's car and then jumped in and drove off. As I pulled out of the neighborhood, I tried to think of a good reason for Maksim Neverov to have a vampire locked in his basement. But nothing was coming to me.
I wondered if the people at the party would be okay, and I figured that they probably would be—the vampire I'd seen was either deeply dormant, or perhaps had even found his final rest. At any rate, anyone who knew anything about vampires would have known that those chains and locks wouldn't hold in a vampire determined to get out, and I realized that the locks probably weren't meant to keep the vampire in, but to keep others from stumbling across it.
All the same, it didn't bode well, and I was more determined than ever to find out what was going on at the cave.
As I drove to the Old Grove, I thought about the fact that William hadn't discovered the vampire himself, even though he'd searched the Neverovs' house. I figured that he'd probably been searching by sense, allowing his own ability to detect vampires to tell him if a vampire was present—and as keen as his senses were, even he couldn't see through objects. Perhaps the cold, or the vampire's own dormant state, had thrown William off—or perhaps whatever it was that had concealed David from him had also concealed the anonymous vampire.
I glanced at my phone and considered calling William to let him know what I had found.
But I hesitated. William had wanted me to stay safe at home with Simon's family. And once he realized that I was out alone at night, William might come rushing over to find me—and then I would never get to search the cave properly.
I decided to skip the call.
As I drew near the Old Grove, I spotted two tiny red lights on the road in front of me. The area around the Old Grove wasn't well lit, and though I couldn't see well, I figured I was just looking at a pair of taillights. But as I continued to look, I realized that the lights were very small and close together—perhaps I was looking at lights on a bicycle, or even a jogger out for a late night run.
I slowed down—but even so I didn't put on the brakes fast enough. Before I knew it, a man's figure appeared in the road directly in front of me, and I felt the impact as my car slammed into a solid body.
I hit the brakes as fast as I could and jumped out quickly. By the light of my headlights, I could see a crumpled body lying by the side of the road, one of its limbs bent at an awkward angle.
"Oh, please don't be dead," I whispered.
As I started toward the body, I saw it twitch, and then straighten until it was standing up. Suddenly, the bent limb popped back into place. Then the figure turned, and I saw a pair of shining red eyes turn toward me.
I stopped, staring at those bright, inhuman eyes for just a split second. Then I turned and ran for the car.
Somehow, I managed to reach the car and pull the door closed before a body slammed into the side heavily. I threw the car into reverse and hit the accelerator without even looking. Instead, I began to rummage through the glove compartment, looking for the weapons William had given me.
I didn't know if the creature that was chasing me was a vampire or not, but it didn't really matter. Whatever it was, the weapons were all I had.
My fingers closed around the smooth, round shape of the light bomb, and I felt a brief surge of relief. But as I drew the bomb out, it slipped through my fingers and rolled onto the floor.
I glanced up, and through the windshield, I could see the shining red eyes pursuing me. I continued to fumble in the glove compartment, and my hand closed around the crossbow.
It clanked heavily as I pulled it out.
I had taken the precaution of loading the crossbow ahead of time, and I slammed on the breaks, opened the door, and fired quickly in the direction of the blazing red eyes. I heard a solid thud, and the disc I had fired burst into flames. I could see that the disc had struck the man in the shoulder.
The man cried out and glanced down. Then he began to move toward me again. I fired once more, but this time the mechanism jammed, and the disc remained tr
apped in the crossbow. A moment later, the disc ignited, and I was forced to throw the crossbow to the ground.
I jumped into the car then and swept the floor with my hands until I found the light bomb. I picked it up, stepped out of the car, and hurled it at the man in front of me.
The bomb struck the man in the chest, and soon both of us were enveloped in a dazzling blaze of light. The entire area lit up, bright as day, and I staggered toward the car. I got in, spun it around, and raced back toward Simon's house.
Once I reached the house, I parked the car, but I hesitated to go inside. Whatever was chasing me, I didn't want to take it inside and put Simon and his family in danger.
Instead, I sat in the car, clutching my keys and watching the night for any sign of movement. I hoped that the circle of humanity that surrounded me in this neighborhood would be enough to keep the red-eyed creature away.
I was determined to stay awake—but despite my best efforts, the stars that came to claim me every night now appeared once again, and I felt myself sinking into them.
Chapter 11.
I awoke suddenly when I heard a loud rapping on the window next to me. My eyes flew open, and I could see that dawn was just beginning to light up the sky. There was another rap at the window, and I turned to see James standing next to the car.
I rolled the window down.
James leaned down and smiled, and when he smiled his whole face changed—he looked friendly and relaxed, and the glower his eyes usually held disappeared.
"Good morning," he said.
"Good morning," I replied.
"I don't blame you for being out here," James said. "I can appreciate your having a hard time hanging out in that house. It's hard enough for me, and I'm used to them."
"It's not that," I said quickly. "It's not that all. I was just—"
I stopped. I could hardly tell him that I'd been on the run from a mysterious red-eyed creature, and I hadn't wanted to lead it into the house. James might turn out to be more open-minded than his brother, but I doubted even he could accept last night's events.
Dangerous Creatures (Book 3, Pure Series) Page 12