Reign of the Vampires (31 page)

“Mason, there’s a hallway,” called William from behind the first curtain.

Mason darted for the red curtain. Inside, William held back a second curtain, which connected to a hallway. William didn’t look too good.

“We’d just come out of this room when Xenock appeared behind us. He must have come through this way.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Mason sniffed him.

“Xenock put something in our blood. But it’s clearing.”

“Danika’s drugged?”

William nodded.

Mason swore. His blood would do little to help her if she were out of it. Mason rushed past William to a small passage. He ran down the hallway to a door. Mason slammed into it, and broke the door with a crash. A dark staircase led down to another underground tunnel. Taking the stairs three at a time, he hit bottom at a run. It was an old access tunnel, which Mason was sure connected to others all across the city. He ran flat out and came to the end of the hallway within seconds. The hallway split and he looked both ways; he couldn’t hear a thing. His beast sniffed the air and caught her scent coming from the left. Mason took a minute to try and control him.

“What’s wrong?” William caught up.

“Nothing,” said Mason.
It’s not your turn yet
. The beast howled in frustration. Mason looked down the hall and took off again at top speed.

Chapter
21

Xenock moved Danika down the long passage. The drugs in her system made it hard for her to focus. She’d forgotten about the tunnels under the city. They’d used them during the war, after the outbreak, to get from place to place in the daytime to avoid the human lynching parties.

The smell of the wet, moldy tunnel was only outdone by the dirt and cobwebs that housed numerous vermin and insects. Water dripped from cracks in the ceilings. Dimly glowing candles burned in sconces lighting the way, casting an eerie radiance over piles of trash and debris that littered the walkway. The sound of Chin Lee’s heels clicked on the stone behind her, pounding through the fog in Danika’s head like gunshots. The smile had left the small Asian’s face; she was now all business. The tall bartender brought up the rear, holding an automatic pistol and glancing behind every once and again, as if waiting for something.

Xenock, on the other hand, beamed, oblivious to anything and everything except for Danika.

“Where are we going?”

“To our new home, my dear.”

“I already have a home, Xenock, you know that.”

“You did have a home, but new arrangements have been made, and since that wouldn’t have been your home for much longer, I decided to help you out by saving your life.”

“What are you talking about?” She stopped abruptly, pulling her hand from Xenock’s and almost causing Chin Lee to run into her.

“Lord Garon was planning on having you killed soon after you were mated,” Xenock said with a shrug.

“How do you know that?”

“I heard him say as much few nights ago.” He yanked her forward again.

Her heart sank. Garon had planned to kill her all along to get his hands on her company. She knew he wanted to use her, but not that he wanted her dead.

“And why were you and he in the same place?”

“He was having a conversation with my mentor. They were discussing the technicalities of the arrangement. I must say, to my credit, they didn’t realize I was listening. But then again, my mentor has always underestimated me. You see, he was the one who first gave me the human blood. After you had, well, broken my heart, he took me under his wing. He explained to me that you’d had too much pain in your life and that you were afraid of losing me as well, which was why you had ended things. He told me that I should do anything it took to get you back. That’s why I came to you that night. Unfortunately, you didn’t understand. You belong with me. We’ve been through so much together.”

“My coven will come looking for me.”

“Yes, well, I doubt that, Kitten.” He frowned.

Xenock might be right about that. Except for Chase and Mason and William, she’d kept her distance from most of the other coven members. Doing so might now have cost Danika her life.

Xenock pulled her around another left turn. The passage widened into a larger corridor lined with dozens of branching tunnels. He let go of her hand, and she tried to steady herself against the cavern wall. The fuzziness of the drug was receding. She had to do something, anything, to leave a clue as to which direction he was taking her. Most likely Mason was still standing outside the club trying to figure out how to get in, but she had to try.

Xenock walked to the third tunnel on the right and beckoned her forward.

“I’m not going with you, Xenock.”

“Come on now, don’t be like that, we were getting along so well.” He walked to her.

“You’re sick. Something went wrong when you drank that human blood, and it didn’t get fixed when you were turned.”

The smile wavered on his face. “Danika, you don’t mean that. You’re scared, change has never been your strong suit. But we can be happy together. Wait till you see what I made for you.” He reached to touch her face.

“No.” She slapped his hand away.

For a fraction of a second, she thought he might listen to her, but then his face changed and quick as lightning he struck her, his ring painfully slicing her skin. She staggered back, blood trickling down her chin. She spat blood on the ground. Fury built inside her. She pounced on him, scratching his face, and causing deep gashes to ooze. The blood hit the dirt floor beneath her feet. He reached for her again, but she moved out of the way; Mason’s blood rose inside, strengthening her.

Spinning around, she grabbed Chin Lee and threw her the length of the tunnel, slamming her into the opposite wall. The girl crumpled in a heap, blood seeping out of her ear. Xenock grabbed Danika from behind, but she spun out of his grasp and threw him, as well. He sailed across the cavernous tunnel, but landed on his feet and sprung at her. The sudden movement caused her to sway and she tried to get her bearings. She braced herself for his attack, but a sharp blow connected with the back of her head. She crumpled to the floor, her vision darkening.

“You fool! You could’ve killed her!” Xenock yelled at the bartender.

“I thought she was going to kill you.”

“Kill me? Of course not! She is my mate. She would never do anything to hurt me. She’s passionate,” said Xenock.

He lifted her.

“Are you hurt, my darling? I’m sorry it has to be this way, Kitten. But once we are mated, everything will be like it was between us before.” Xenock pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Fat droplets of blood from her head wound hit the dirt, and as she started to lose consciousness, she hoped it was enough for someone to find.

* * * *

Mason followed the twists and turns of the tunnels, slowing every now and again to sniff the air. The scent was fading, the dirt walls sucking it in like quicksand. He came to another fork in the road and stopped. He breathed deeply, inhaling the musty air. Her scent hit him like a sheet of cold water, but it wasn’t just her scent. It was her blood. His beast raged within, kicking and fighting to get out. He dove to the left and sprinted toward the scent.

They came to a hall full of splintering tunnels and Mason stopped. There were a dozen or more, all leading in different directions. She could be in any of them.

“Mason, over here.”

Mason jogged up a few yards to where William looked at the ground. A dead human lay on the floor. Blood had pooled underneath her head from her nose and her mouth.

“She showed us around at the club.”

“Then we know we’re going the right way.” Mason turned around and looked at the other tunnels. He peered into one, then another, then another; they were all the same. He walked back the way they’d come, staring at the floor for clues.

When he reached the third tunnel on the right, he saw it. Droplets of blood mixed in the dirt. He stepped forward and studied them. They led into the tunnel. He bent down and touched the blood, bringing it to his nose. Several of the droplets were hers, but others were the scent that he had smelled at Danika’s office. He cursed himself. Xenock had been at Danika’s office that night, and Mason hadn’t been quick enough to catch him. If Mason had been in his true form, he would’ve.

“Come on.” He stood and motioned to William. They followed the trail of blood droplets for a hundred yards, but then stopped. Mason searched the area for more blood, but there wasn’t any. Good sign. It meant she wasn’t hurt too badly. They continued to follow the tunnel until it ended. There was a door where the hall narrowed. Mason tried the handle, but it was locked from the inside. He stepped back and kicked. It gave way easily beneath his booted foot.

The door swung into a dusty storage room. Shelves lined the walls, full of old boxes of toilet paper and cleaning supplies that hadn’t been touched in years. There was a door on the opposite end; Mason stalked toward it.

Noises emanated from behind a metal shelf. A vamp crouched over, chewing on something in the corner. When Mason crossed, the vamp turned, red-eyed, and flung himself at Mason. Mason grabbed the vamp mid-leap by the face and crushed his skull into the cement floor. Blood splattered Mason’s face and shirt. William stifled a scream behind him.

Mason stood over the dead vamp’s body. He bent down and wiped the blood from his hands onto the vamp’s dirty, stained shirt.

“How... How did you do that?” William whispered.

“You ask that a lot.” Mason stood and wiped the blood splatters from his face onto his sleeve. He threw open the door and stepped into the room.

It was a large warehouse. Every wall was lined with cages, approximately eight feet high and ten feet by ten feet. Inside, humans were crammed together, twenty to a cell. They were dirty, stank, and looked like they needed food. Mason scanned the room in disbelief. William gasped behind him.

“What the—” William stopped short.

At his words, the humans turned to where Mason and William stood. Before he knew it, all the humans were on their feet, staring at them both.

“Please help us,” a woman whispered.

Quickly the whispers started, “Help us,” “Please,” “Get us out.” “Please help me.” It became overwhelming.

“What is this?” Mason stared at William.

William’s eyes brightened, and his fangs gleamed brightly. “The menu.”

* * * *

“What have you done?” asked a male.

“She’s mine, you said so yourself.”

“I told you that you’d have her.”

“You lied. I heard you, you were going to give her to Garon. And he was going to kill her.”

Danika heard voices, but her eyes wouldn’t open.

“This idiot is your creation? I thought you had things under control. We had a deal,” Garon said in a cold voice.

“I’ll handle this,” said the first male.

Danika recognized it; it sent a chill down her spine. No. Not him. It couldn’t be. Again she tried to open her eyes, but they wouldn’t budge.

“This will end badly. I want no part of it. Our deal is off.”

She heard the shuffling of feet.

“Garon, wait.”

“I am Lord Garon to you. If you make it out of this alive, then I might consider our deal, but not until then.”

Danika heard a door open, then close. There was silence for a minute.

“You fool!” Chase said. “I had a deal in place. A deal that would have given me the company so we could fulfill our vision.”

“You can still have your vision. With Danika here, you can still have the company, and the coven. That’s what you wanted to begin with, isn’t it? That’s why you killed her parents, to fulfill your vision. We can do it without him.”

“No, we can’t. I needed him to run the coven. To keep them in line while I changed the world. The coven doesn’t respect me the way they do her. Now they’ll come looking for her. They’ll suspect me. We have to return her before she awakens. She has a head wound, and she’s been drugged, anything she says she saw can be played off as a dream.”

“No. You said she was meant to be my mate. And I can’t go back. They think I’m dead.”

“I know, Xenock, I know.” Chase lowered his voice. “But we have to take her. Before she awakens.”

“She’s mine,” Xenock roared.

Danika managed to get her eyes to open in time to see Xenock fly at Chase. Chase side- stepped him, but Xenock flew at him again. She couldn’t quite focus on what was going on. Xenock and Chase’s fight spilled out onto the level below.

She sat up shakily. She was in a bedroom of sorts, but the walls were cinder block painted a moldy green color. Florescent lights hung low overhead, an office of some kind. Danika swung her legs to the edge of the bed and pulled herself up by one of the four posts. Her head began to clear from the haze of having a gun butt smack her skull.

As the fog lifted, panic arose. The room was an old office of a warehouse. It had been converted into a small living quarters. There was a bathroom attached to it, a sitting area, and the bed.

She moved to the door and looked out at the factory floor below. Hundreds of dirty vamps milled about, watching Chase and Xenock fight. Where had they come from?

Two doors waited below. One about twenty yards from her, and the other all the way on the other side of the building. She opted for the closer one, hopping over the railing and landing on the cement floor below. She wobbled only slightly. The drug was wearing off. Chase struck Xenock with a hard blow to the face. Xenock spun and landed on the floor. He looked up, his eyes widening in surprise.

She took off in a sprint toward the exit. It was locked. Xenock and Chase yelled behind her. She took a step away and kicked with all her strength. The door splintered at the jamb and swung inward. She slammed the door behind her and pressed her weight on it. Someone slammed into it from the other side. She searched frantically, trying to find something to keep it shut.

Chase yelled while beating on the door, “Nika, open the door, dear. This isn’t what you think. I found you and was trying to get you out of this place. Let me help you.”