Pomegranates full and fine (44 page)

They reached the entrance. Tango turned the horse so that it blocked anyone from following them, then they slipped off its back and down the stairs. The mare started moving away the instant they had dismounted, but the press of the crowd prevented it from getting far. “What will happen to it?” Miranda asked.

“It’ll turn back into your car at sunrise. That’s the way Riley’s magic works.” Tango contemplated the heavy metal doors that sealed the subway station. This was going to be the hard part of getting into the subway. She flexed her fingers, spat twice, and got a grip on the edge of one door. “Ready?” she asked Miranda as she called Glamour into her muscles again.

Miranda got a grip on the door as well. “Ready. On three? One... two... three!”

Kithain and vampire strength combined ripped the door away. The stale air of the subway drifted up.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Swift fire spread through her veins, knocked at her knocked at her heart,

Met the fire smouldering there And overbore its lesser flame

The subway tunnel sloped downhill all the way to Union Station, the closest stop to the lake. The only illumination came from the far-apart maintenance lights and down from the streets above through ventilation shafts. Miranda depended on her ability to see in the dark. Tango held Miranda’s hand and depended on the vampire to keep her from stumbling in the deepest shadows. They walked without speaking. When they passed one of the ventilation shafts, they could sometimes hear the sounds of the riots going on overhead.

There were two subway stations between Dundas and Union Station. They moved through them quickly and stealthily, alert for security guards or cameras. After the second station, the tunnel curved sharply, turning ninety degrees before it reached Union Station. The darkness was at its thickest in that curve. There were no maintenance lights and no ventilation shafts. Tango was completely blind. Miranda held the changeling’s hand tightly. The warmth of her living grasp felt good.

“Tango,” she asked abruptly, “what are you going to do after this is over?”

“Assuming we win?” Miranda could see her smile in the darkness. “I suppose I’ll go back to San Francisco.” “Ah.”

Tango was silent for a minute. “And you?” she asked quietly.

“I’m not sure.” Miranda shrugged, trying to make the gesture seem casual. “The pack has pretty much fallen apart. I could join a new pack, I suppose, but there would be a lot of awkward questions. The Sabbat punishes demon worship with destruction. I’m not sure I could go back to the Sabbat’s way of life anyway.” She snorted bitterly. “Maybe the Camarilla would take me. I’m starting to feel like I’d fit right in with them.”

“It’s hard to walk away from a life,” observed Tango. “You don’t have to tell me,’’ Miranda pointed out. “I’ve done it before — a little more literally, of course. It was easier then. I just fell into the role of a vampire. Big, bad, dress in black.”

“Vampires don’t have to be like that. I told you about Elyse.”

Miranda nodded. “I know. It’s just that I used to look down on Blue and Matt — and Tolly — for not really accepting what they were. Now I’m the one having regrets.”

“Miranda,” Tango said softly, “you might have the body of a vampire, but you don’t have to have the soul of one as well. I know you’re strong. You can do this. I can help you.” The smile returned to her face, thin and a little hesitant. “Come back with me to San Francisco. I’ve got friends there. And I understand the vampires are pretty relaxed.”

“I don’t think I want to be around vampires for a while. You understand.”

“Too well.” Tango’s smile became devilish. “How about a job, then? 1 have a hard time finding bartenders who don’t take nips on the side.”

Miranda choked back a laugh. “I’d be looking for a different kind of nip!”

“Just not at work.”

“Not even on my breaks?”

Tango choked as well and stopped. Her free hand felt for Miranda’s mouth, silencing her. “Enough!” she murmured with a smirk. “Solomon may have posted lookouts on the subway platforms. Loud noises will carry a long way down here.” Miranda nodded and the changeling took her hand away. “Even if Solomon doesn’t suspect—”

The first attack came out of the shadows without any warning at all. Tango would have seen nothing at all, or maybe a vague figure. Miranda had only the briefest impression of a big, blond man appearing out of nowhere to slash at her with taloned fingers. She thrust herself aside and the talons raked across her shoulder. The figure vanished again, Miranda came back to her feet, talons sprouting from her own fingers, fangs descending in her mouth. Tango had her knife ready.

“What...?”

“Blue!” spat Miranda. The big vampire could see in the dark as well as she could, and he had something of Tolly’s ability to vanish from sight. Where was Matt, then? Probably safely in the light where he could see. She cursed herself. She should have guessed that if Solomon suspected any kind of attack out of the tunnels, he would have posted the vampires there! Matt had probably heard their quiet whispers with his heightened senses and sent Blue to investigate.

The second attack came from almost in front of her. Blue was suddenly there, as if he had just been waiting for her to look at him. His arm was already lashing forward with deadly speed. Miranda blocked it desperately. Blue’s other arm came in low. Miranda let go of Tango’s hand to snatch at Blue’s wrist.

It was barely a thought for her to crush the man’s bones. Blue vanished with a shocked and angry howl. Miranda grabbed for Tango’s hand again, afraid that the big vampire might try to separate them. Blue’s blood was wet in their grasp. Tango hissed.

“It’s his,” Miranda said quickly.

“He’s attacking you because he knows I can’t see in the dark. You’re the danger right now.” Tango tugged her forward, toward the light.

“Matt’s there!”

“Better the devil you can see than the one you can’t. Blue’s just going to keep picking at us.”

“Not if he can’t see us either,” Miranda murmured grimly. She drew on the shadows, spinning them out as thick as she could, darker and darker until even she was blind. She found Tango’s lips in the darkness and pressed a finger to them.
Quiet. Wait.
She had taken away Blue’s advantage, but at the cost of their own. They were all equal in the shadows. If they could just reach the subway platforms of Union Station alive, they’d both be able to see. It would be Matt and Blue against her and Tango, but at least the changeling would be able to fight there. After a moment, Miranda drew Tango forward silently. She walked carefully, always feeling for each railway tie with her feet, then stepping on it at right angles. She hoped Tango had the sense to do the same thing.

It was a tedious, nerve-wracking way to move, but somewhere off to one side was the electrified third rail. If they stayed on a straight line down the middle of the tracks, they should be safe.

Blue was somewhere in the darkness as well. If they bumped into him, they wouldn’t have any choice but to fight. If they were lucky, Blue would have already retreated back to wait with Matt in the light and to heal his shattered wrist. Miranda wasn’t counting on that, though.

Neither, apparently, was Tango. She tugged on Miranda’s arm, stopping her, then crouched down to the ground. Miranda wasn’t sure what the changeling was doing, but she crouched along with her. Tango felt along the ground. Whatever she was looking for, she found it. Her arm came up. She threw something back into the shadows behind them, just hard enough to make a quiet skittering. A skittering that might lure Blue away from them. They waited breathlessly. Tango tossed something else into the darkness, a little farther away this time.

A moment later, they heard a third faint sound from that direction. A footfall. It had worked. The two women rose. They had barely taken two silent steps toward the unseen platform when a sudden flash shot through the darkness and a high-pitched, short-lived whine broke the silence. Something large fell heavily. The stench of ozone and burned flesh brushed against Miranda’s nostrils.

Blue had found the third rail.

Shocked breath whispered from Tango’s mouth. “I didn’t mean for
that
to happen!” she murmured. The changeling sounded aghast. Miranda could feel her halfturn back to where the big vampire would be. She stopped her.

“Well, it did.” She felt stunned herself, but jt was a lucky break for them. She dispelled the blinding shadows. Blue’s body lay about thirty feet away, smoke drifting from him, his face locked in a horrible, exaggerated snarl. It was impossible to be sure if he was alive or dead. Miranda pulled Tango silently onward, more quickly. If Matt was waiting on the subway platform, he would have heard the sound of Blue’s encounter with the third rail. If he was smart, he would have gone to warn Solomon.

Miranda knew Matt better than that, though. His pride wouldn’t let him admit to Solomon that he had failed. He would stay. But he would know now that they were coming, and he would be alert. Blinding shadows wouldn’t blot out his other senses.

Tango’s hand squeezed down suddenly on hers, and the changeling shuddered. Miranda glanced back at her. “What is it?” she asked in concern.

“Nothing.” Tango shook her head. Her jaw was tightly clenched as if she were trying to avoid being sick. “Keep going.”

“No. Something’s wrong. Tell me.” Miranda’s eyes narrowed. “Is it...?”

“Shiv,” Tango choked. “This is all too much like it used to be. The stalking, the...” she shuddered again, “the kill. I thought I could handle it.”

“Riley doesn’t know, does he?” Tango shook her head. Miranda grimaced. “How were you going to stop

Solomon, then?”

“Knock him out. Disrupt the summoning. That’s what matters.” Tango pushed a hand through her hair. “I wasn’t expecting that we would have to deal with Matt and Blue, too.”

“Blue wasn’t your fault. It was an accident.”

“And how are we going to deal with Matt?” Miranda stomped on the railway tie under her feet. The black wood was too heavy and chemical-soaked to chop easily against the grain, but it might be possible, she thought, to split off a long, tough splinter.

* * * .

Miranda slid along the inner wall of the tunnel between the northbound and southbound tracks, edging closer and closer to the platforms of Union Station. There was no sign of Matt. She slipped a little closer, watching for him intently. Still nothing. Another step...

“Don’t move.” Matt stepped out of a thin, shadowy gap between two big concrete pillars. There was a pistol in his hand. Miranda looked at it contemptuously. Matt shook his head. “It might not kill you, Miri, but it would hurt like hell.” He glanced back up the way she had come. “Where’s the changeling?”

“You saw the flash?”

“Yeah.”

“That was her.”

Matt raised one eyebrow skeptically. “Then where’s Blue?”

“He pushed her onto the third rail.” Miranda bared her fangs. “I killed him.”

“Bullshit. I would have heard something.”

“He died fast.”

That spooked Matt, though he tried hard not to show it. His hand shook slightly, however, as he gestured for her to step away from the wall and back out onto the tracks. “Solomon wondered if someone might try sneaking in this way. He’s going to be happy to have you again.” The other vampire leered at her. “He’s playing a game with you, Matt.”

Matt laughed. “I know! You think I didn’t learn from what happened to you? As long as 1 keep Solomon happy, I’m sitting pretty.”

“How long do you think that will last? He’s going to get tired of you.”

“I don’t think so. Didn’t I always say I was better than you, Miranda? I meant better in every way—”

His voice cut off suddenly as Tango lunged through the gap behind him, from the other set of tracks, and stabbed him in the back. Matt’s face twisted. He jerked half-around to sneer at her — her and the broken wooden splinter in her hand. The vampire wore his leather jacket for more than ornamentation, it seemed. Matt favored her with a sneer as he grabbed at her with his free hand. “Stupid bitch!”

“Dumb bastard,” Miranda snarled at him. Deftly, she stepped up close to him, flipped back the front of his jacket — and thrust a second stake through his chest from the front. Propelled by her strength, the wood pierced his heart. Matt shuddered once. The pistol dropped out of his grip. For a moment, his weight hung off the stake in Miranda’s grasp, then she let the stake go. Matt crumpled to the ground.

Tango climbed through the gap to join her. “Good work.” She heaved Matt’s inert body into the gap, tucking his arms and legs in until he might have been mistaken for a bundle of rags. He would remain there until someone found him and pulled out the stake. Miranda pitied the poor person who did that.

They left the tunnels and scrambled onto the platform. There were more big metal doors in place at the top of the stairs leading up into Union Station, but Matt and Blue had left them open. Tango and Miranda slipped through. They paused at the base of another set of stairs. Chanting drifted down to them. Miranda recognized some of the words. It was a full obedience being chanted in a round. The effect was eerie.

“Well?” she asked Tango. “Now what?”

Tango frowned. “Something’s not right. The summoning is still going on.” She glanced at her watch. “It’s eleven-thirty.”

“Do you think Tolly and Riley failed? The Ride didn’t break up the riots?”

Tango shook her head. “No. I imagine Solomon is trying to compensate for that somehow. What surprises me is that we just met two of the High Circle downstairs. If that’s the case, I suspect Solomon is using other members of the High Circle as guards elsewhere.” “He’s nervous. He probably knows the court is working against him.”

“That’s not it. At the Bandog ceremony, it sounded like the High Circle was his right hand. That the Bandog are weak when it’s not complete.” She glanced at Miranda. “I’ve been around enough mages to know that a summoning rite is no easy thing. Even summoning a minor demon — or something like a demon’s voice, I would imagine — is tricky. It has to be done just right. And minor demons don’t require that a whole city be thrown into chaos just so they can perform a little ventriloquism.” Tango paused. “Miranda?”