Darkness Devours (35 page)

Azriel drew Valdis and swept her lightly from left to right. She hit nothing, but her blue fire lifted the darkness even further, and gave the gaunt figures that flirted briefly with the light a surreal glow.

A glow that spoke of hunger and need.

I shivered and hoped like hell the Rakshasa made an early appearance. I wasn’t sure if the swords would keep the vampires at bay once Marshall left us.

They will not,
Azriel said,
because that is not what the council wish. They aim to test or kill, and they would be happy with either outcome.

Since Hunter doesn’t want me dead, this test makes no sense
. My gaze darted sideways as a shadow moved. A
vampire bared his fangs at me, madness in his eyes. I raised Amaya and he withdrew, but there was a light in his eyes that suggested it wouldn’t be for long.

As you have noted, Hunter is not the council, even if she is one of the most powerful vampires in its ranks.

So why doesn’t she put that power to use and save me from idiotic situations like this? It doesn’t make sense.

Hunter plays for more than just your life. And remember, she is not constrained by human sensibilities.

But she was human once.

Near-immortality has a way of cleansing the soul of any semblance of humanity. It is rare for anyone—human or otherwise—to live for many centuries without time washing away all that they once were.

That’s not always the case,
I said, thinking of Uncle Quinn, who was only a hundred or so years younger than Hunter.

As I said, it is rare.

We continued to walk through the room. By the time we swept into a narrow corridor, sweat beaded my forehead and ran down my spine. I flexed my fingers, but it didn’t do a whole lot to ease the tension thrumming through me. We may have made it out of the main room, but we were far from safe, and the ever-growing tide of hunger that trailed us only confirmed that.

The glow from the swords revealed a dozen doors leading off the corridor. Each one had a light above it, some red, some green. The sounds coming from inside the red-lit ones suggested there was some heavy-duty lovemaking going on—some solo but mostly partnered, if the scents were anything to go by.

And suddenly the reason for all the thralls we’d sensed earlier became obvious—they might have been here to provide sex, but they were also more able to withstand harsh punishment, and healed far faster than regular humans, thanks to their blood link to the vampire who had created them. Which wasn’t saying they couldn’t be killed—they weren’t immortal, just as vamps weren’t immortal—but short of cutting off their heads or gutting their internals, they were capable of surviving events that would have killed them in the pre-thrall era.

Marshall stopped at the second-to-last door on the right and opened it. As he did, the light above went from green to red. “I don’t recommend moving out of here without me.”

“It’s not like we’re going to be any safer inside than outside now, is it?” I commented grimly.

“No.” He stood to one side to let us pass. “Not given what the council desires. But I will do my best to limit the damage, both to my club and to my customers.”

Meaning we could go to hell in a handbasket for all he cared. Fabulous.

“However,” he continued, “this is the only door into this room, so if you remain here, you should be able to handle all but an insane rush.”

Which
he’d
all but implied might be in the cards. And the hunger so evident in the larger room certainly backed that up. “The council might not care either way, but I don’t think Hunter will be pleased if I end up dead, and I suggest you remember that.”

“I think I have more knowledge than you
ever
will on just what will and won’t please Hunter.” His voice
was dry, but there was an undercurrent that spoke of anger. Resentment, even. Which was odd if he
was
her creation. “The viewing screen is to the right, and the control panel to your left. Ensure that the door is locked.”

“Like a lock is going to stop any of the vampires out there.”

He half shrugged. “No, but I would still recommend it.”

Though I couldn’t see the point, I locked the door as requested, then turned and looked around. The room was little more than a small white box, with no furniture other than the bed and the light screen. I walked across to the touch panel and slid a finger across the appropriate app. The TV came to life. The scene it revealed was one man viciously fucking another as he sucked the life from the poor fellow. The only sounds to be heard were the slapping of flesh against flesh and the occasional slurp.

I shivered and turned my back to the screen. I might have to listen, but I didn’t have to watch. Not the whole sick performance, anyway.

Azriel still stood near to the door, Valdis held by his side. She gleamed with an ugly blue-black fire.

I raised an eyebrow in silent query, and he said, “There is much unrest outside.”

I know
. Fear sharpened within me. Amaya responded immediately, her noise adding to the ache in my still-tired brain. “When do you think they’ll attack?”

“We are not dealing with sensible vampires in this place.” He paused, then added, “We’re not even dealing with
your
kind of sensible.”

The comment drew a smile, as he’d no doubt intended. “Then we could be in
big
trouble.”

“And it means you will have to watch the screen to see when the Rakshasa appears. I will deal with what comes.”

My gaze flicked to the light screen. The vampire was reaching his climax and the whore was intact, and alive. “I will, when I have to.”

He nodded. His attention obviously wasn’t on me, but rather on the danger that lurked beyond the closed door.

“How many do you think they’ll send at us?” I asked quietly.

“There are at least a dozen, by the feel of it.”

Twelve against two weren’t great odds by any stretch of the imagination, but they weren’t insurmountable given that we had not only Azriel’s skills but the two swords, as well. It could have been a whole lot worse. It could have been half the damn room.

I flexed my fingers and glanced briefly at the screen. The room was being cleaned and the blood whore escorted away. “I still can’t see the point of testing me like this if they’d rather see me dead.”

“As I said, we are not dealing with any rational mode of thinking.” He paused. “We could leave. We have that option.”

“But it’s not one we can take. However crazy this whole setup is, proving I can protect myself against a horde of crazy vamps might just be enough to save me from the council’s death edict—especially if the Rakshasa doesn’t turn up tonight.”

“Then prepare to fight.” His gaze came to mine, the blue depths storm lit. “It’s not going to be pleasant.”

My stomach began to churn. I stepped back and raised Amaya. Her fire burned over the hilt and crawled across my skin, as sharp and as electric as the hissing in my mind. Hissing that said,
Come, come, come…

I shivered, and wished I couldn’t hear the beat of those words, or feel the answering echo of anticipation deep inside me. Wished the vamps that were crowding closer and closer down the hall would just leave us alone.

But all the wishes in the world wouldn’t change the reality. Not this time.

Then Azriel said the two words I’d been dreading.

“They come.”

And they did.

Only not just through the door, but from the ceiling itself.

There was little warning, just a crack of sound as half the damn ceiling fell on our heads and spewed a seething mass of hissing, hungry vampires onto the floor—at the exact same time the first lot hit the door and crashed it open.

Back to back
, Azriel said.

I pressed against him and ignored the plaster still falling around us, Amaya held at the ready and her
die, die, die
chant a scream inside my head.

Azriel entered the fray and Valdis screamed. It was a sound of defiance, a call for blood. I shivered and swung Amaya as the first of the vampires scrambled to their feet. Her fire rained through the air, the droplets hitting floor and flesh with equal deadliness, burning whatever it touched but having little impact on either. Then her sharp point met flesh, but there was no jolt, nothing to indicate I’d hit anything at all. An arm plopped to the floor and blood sprayed, covering all of us. The scent of it filled the air, fueling the hunger already rampant in the room. The nearest vampires turned and attacked the injured vampire, sinking their teeth into his flesh and tearing him apart. They reminded
me of dogs fighting over a bone, and again I wondered at the council’s willingness to destroy their own just to test my worthiness.

But then again, they weren’t exactly sacrificing the cream of vampire society here.

More vampires scrambled to their feet and came at us. I swung Amaya left and right, the movements so fast her fiery edges were little more than a blur. Blood and gore and flesh flew everywhere, the stench of it so thick that bile rose up in my throat and threatened to choke me. And still they came at us, the tide seeming to have no end and certainly no hesitation.

Claws slashed and tore, teeth gleamed. I dodged one blow, barely rocked back against another. Fingernails as sharp as steel sliced across my chin, peeling it open. I cursed, swung my sword viciously, and cut the offending talon off at the elbow. The vampire’s scream was one of rage rather than pain, and I had to wonder just what sort of drugs they were all on, because this was more than just blood hunger. It had to be.

Then, with a thunderlike crack, more of the ceiling came down, bringing with it more vampires. I dodged, but not fast enough, and hit the floor with enough force to see stars and lose my grip on Amaya. The vamp on top of me knocked her farther away, and she screamed furiously, the noise cutting through the din the vampires were making. Then another weight joined the first, pressing my face into the floor, squashing my nose and making it difficult for me to breathe. I punched wildly but ineffectively, and the vamp holding my head chuckled. His breath washed over me, and even
though I could barely breathe, his odor crawled into my body through my pores, leaving me with the bitter scent of rancid meat.

Then he tore into my left shoulder blade, biting deep. I yelped in pain and bucked, trying to dislodge his teeth and get both vampires off me, but they rode me like cowboys and wouldn’t budge. Again the first vamp tore into me, this time my back. I choked back another cry and twisted around, throwing my elbow backward as hard as I could. The vamp riding my shoulders was too intent on sucking up the blood to register the movement, and my elbow smashed into the side of his face, caving in his cheek and throwing him off sideways. I twisted violently to one side and half dislodged the second vampire. He lunged forward, canines bared and bloody and madness in his eyes. I tried to roll away, couldn’t, so I threw up a hand in a vain attempt to batter him away. Then, suddenly, Azriel was there, wrapping a fist around the vamp’s neck and flinging him back hard.

He reached down and pulled me upright. There was a cut above his left eye and fury in his expression, but he wasted no energy on words, simply turned and dove back into the attack.

I lunged for Amaya, but she was already slithering toward me. I swept her up, then dove sideways as a vamp leapt over one of the fallen and came at me. I swung my sword but he checked his speed, leaned out of her way, then dove straight at me. I dropped, hitting the floor hard enough to knock the wind out, and pulled my sword onto my stomach. This time he
couldn’t check. The blade pierced his flesh, and his momentum drove her dark metal right through his body and out the other side.

I let him fall, then scrambled to my feet, pulled Amaya free, and swung around to face the next threat.

But it was over, and I’d been proven right. The odds
hadn’t
been insurmountable.

More than sixteen vampires lay dead or near dead in the small room, and there were at least another three or four out in the corridor if the bits I could see were any indication. Blood and gore and body parts lay everywhere, and suddenly I was shaking. But it was anger, not fear, not reaction.

Azriel stepped over the bodies and came toward me. “Are you all right?”

“No, I’m fucking
not
.” My fists were clenched so tight that Amaya’s hilt cut into my hand. I glanced at the ceiling, looking for the cameras I couldn’t see but had no doubt were there. “Enough! Do you hear me?
Enough!
No more fucking tests. Either use me or kill me, but stop this stupid waste of life.”

“Impressive,” Marshall said from the doorway. “I don’t believe the council expected you to win so easily.”

My fury suddenly had a focus point, and I took a step forward. Azriel threw out a hand and stopped me from going any farther.

It would not be wise to kill him at this time,
came his soft warning into my thoughts.
This is not his doing.

I gave Azriel a somewhat dark glance, then returned my gaze to Marshall. “I hope they realize this circus might well have caused us to miss the arrival of the
Rakshasa—and wasn’t killing her our actual reason for being here?”

“It is the reason you are in this club, yes,” Marshall agreed, “but not the reason you are on this floor. And trust me, I am no more happy about this waste than you are.”

“Then why the
fuck
didn’t you do something to stop it? You run the damn place.”

His expression darkened. “I may run it, but that doesn’t mean I have free rein to do as I wish. And I am beholden to the council for certain supplies.”

The blood whores, I thought wearily, and scrubbed a bloody hand across my face.

Marshall added, “And the Rakshasa would not have made an appearance as yet, simply because there has been no killing in that room.”

I stared at him for a moment, his words echoing through my brain. “Meaning you know exactly when someone is going to be killed?”