Chapter 28
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
I t took me longer to find the entrance to the basement than it should have done. I’d expected a handy door and a proper staircase leading downwards but instead, after searching every room, I finally discovered a small hatch in a narrow back room that revealed a rusty ladder that plunged into darkness beneath the building.
For a moment or two I eyed it warily, wondering whether Liam had bluffed and I was about to walk into a trap. Then I caught the brief hum of distant voices and realised he had indeed been telling the truth.
I turned around to lower myself. It was such a long descent that I expected to find myself in a dank space with pools of stagnant water and the occasional scurrying rat, but beneath the bottom rung there was soft carpet. It was too dark to see much but there was a narrow chink of light ahead. I stretched out my arms and my fingertips brushed the walls on either side. Rather than slimy mould, I felt flocked wallpaper. It appeared the Umbra basement was a hideout in every sense of the word.
I tiptoed towards the light that was emanating from beneath a door which, when I got close, I found was made of steel; no doubt it could be barred against intruders. The people inside that room must have known about the hundreds of werewolves gathering outside. Any whiff of danger to their safe space and they’d end Nick’s life in a heartbeat before they made their escape.
I was certain that there’d be another exit, some sort of tunnel that could be reached only from inside the room. It was the only thing that made any sense. For their demonic plan to work, they had to escape with Nick’s blood and make it safely to Crackendon Square.
I could still hear the murmur of voices. Unlike the wooden door upstairs, the steel distorted the sound so it was difficult to judge whether there were five people plus Nick beyond the door or where they might be. I didn’t know who they were and I didn’t know their capabilities so I needed to employ different tricks if I was going to be successful. But there were two things that I definitely did know: one, they were underground, and two, the light was electric.
I went back up the ladder to the ancient kitchen. When I’d been searching for the basement entrance, I’d spotted an old fuse box in the far corner above the cracked sink. I jumped up onto the rickety counter, lifted the cover and flicked the mains switch. Although the result was undramatic from where I was standing, I reckoned there would be dramatic curses coming from the basement room right about now.
I grinned humourlessly, replaced the cover and beat a retreat to the room where I’d found Liam. I took his buddy’s corpse with me so that the hallway was clear. As soon as I entered the room, I flicked on the switch for the overhead light then closed the door, took up my position and waited for the footsteps. When I heard two sets, my smile widened.
Someone walked past the room towards the kitchen; the second person opened the door to the room I was in. ‘You’ve tripped the circuit, you idiots. What are you?—?’
The woman appeared to be the witch of the group. She faltered when she didn’t see Liam or his pal and that was when I stepped out from behind the door and smashed the gun butt into the side of her head. She crumpled to the floor without another a word; it was almost disappointing.
I ripped off her shirt to reveal a plain white tank top that I tore into pieces to gag and bind her in the unlikely event that she regained consciousness. I’d just tied the final knot when the overhead light flicked back into life.
I congratulated myself on my timing as I dragged the witch out of the line of sight of the door which I left open. Seconds later, I heard footsteps returning. This person was warier and seemed to sense that something was amiss and they paused outside long enough to worry me. Rather than waiting any longer, I stepped out to confront them.
The male druid’s mouth dropped open. It only took a moment for me to realise that he’d hesitated not out of suspicion but to check his reflection in the grimy mirror hanging on the wall next to him. Unfortunately, his vanity didn’t detract from his skill or his speed and, even as his mouth started to close, he reached into his pocket.
Unwilling to risk firing the gun in case the steel basement door was open and the remaining occupants heard the shot, I barrelled towards him, knocking into his body with such force that he was thrown off his feet. He landed on his back and I fell on top of him and reached for his hand.
I couldn’t tell what he was clutching but I wrenched his wrist hard enough for him to drop it. I scrabbled around until I touched a small linen bag tied with string. I whipped my hand around and stuffed it into his mouth just as he prepared to shout for back-up .
Whatever magic mixture he’d created, it was incredibly potent. His eyes bulged and his heart rate, which I could feel through his clothes, accelerated. He grunted twice and started to shudder.
I moved back and pulled myself upright as blood dripped from the corner of his eyes, then seeped from his ears and dribbled out of his mouth. As I watched there was a gush of blood from both his nostrils. A dark patch formed around his groin.
‘I see what this is,’ I whispered, feeling nauseous. ‘It’s not defensive magic, it’s something that will increase blood flow. You made this to help you extract as much blood from Nick as you could.’
He was in far too much distress to answer. ‘You thought that you could do this to a teenage boy. To a child .’ I might have been an assassin but I’d never hurt anyone like this – and I’d never killed anyone under the age of twenty-five.
The blood was running faster now, almost pouring from the druid’s every orifice. I hissed as I bent over and extracted the herbal bag. It might already be too late – the toxin had worked so quickly that I wasn’t sure its effects could be halted – but he was still breathing so I hoisted him up and hefted him into the room behind me to join the unconscious witch.
Three to go, Kit, I told myself. Only three to go.
I returned to the trapdoor and gazed down into the depths. There was more light now, which meant only one thing: the steel door had been left open as the remaining occupants waited for their two companions to return.
I no longer had to worry about being quiet because they’d assume I was one of them when they heard my footsteps. In a few minutes, I’d see Nick – or at least what remained of him. Clambering down the iron ladder for the second time, I tried not to allow a mental image of Nick’s dead body to appear in my mind. There was every chance he was still alive .
I walked along the hallway with deliberately heavy footsteps. When the door was only about five metres away, a cool, cultured voice called out, ‘What were those fuckers doing up there with the electricity?’ My ploy had worked: whoever was there believed I was part of the group.
The voice also gave me a lot of information about Nick’s abductors. The oddly clipped accent suggested it was the vampire of the team talking, and the authority in his voice told me that my earlier theory was correct: he was the one who was in charge here.
It made sense. Like the Fae, vampires are long-living creatures and some of them are thought to be hundreds of years old. Longevity tends to produce not wise Methuselah personalities but twitchy men and women who find day-to-day life tedious. A long life doesn’t always encourage joy and wonder, it can promote boredom and cynicism and encourage vampires to do stupid things to liven up their existence – like trying to conjure a demon into existence.
Vamps’ long lives also mean that they’re often incredibly wealthy, with the sort of money that could cover the cost of forget-me-not spells and concentrated wolfsbane. And they know how to deal with blood and how best to extract it. Using your fangs alone is considered passé if you’re a bloodsucker.
I coughed loudly, doing my best to sound like Liam or the vain male druid, but I knew immediately that my attempt wouldn’t fool anyone. Leaping forward before the steel door closed in my face and locked me out for good, I burst into the room with both guns raised.
Liam hadn’t lied. There were three of the bastards left and, as I’d surmised, there was the gaping hole of an escape tunnel behind them. Thankfully, Nick was also there, trussed up on a bed in the far corner. His eyes were closed but there wasn’t time to confirm whether he was alive because his captors were coming at me.
Although the vampire was my biggest problem, the ogre was my most immediate one. She was huge, even for an ogre; her head brushed the high ceiling and her girth was equally impressive. She was also very quick and she threw herself at me as I entered the room. I emptied both guns in her direction.
The bullets wouldn’t penetrate her thick skin but I wanted to slow down her lumbering progress because she could easily shove me out of the steel door with one hand. If that happened, I’d never get back inside and Nick would be lost forever. I’d caught enough of a glimpse of the complicated mechanism on the inner side of the door to appreciate its strength.
Two bullets smashed into the ogre’s cheek and three hit her chest. She staggered backwards and grunted in pain. With both guns empty, I side-stepped just as the druid, an older man with a bushy white beard, started an incantation.
I moved in the nick of time as fire burst from his hands, and instead of engulfing me the flames smacked into the ogre. That had been a particularly foolish move on the druid’s part because ogres didn’t like fire and it would do far more to slow her down than my bullets had done. It wasn’t what I’d been expecting but I took advantage of the situation.
I jumped, gaining height that even a cat would have been impressed by, and twisted a full circle in mid-air to gain momentum. When I scissor-kicked the ogre and my feet slammed into her chest, she stumbled backwards, lost her footing and crashed to the floor. The old adage was true: the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
As I’d planned, she squashed the druid who emitted a squeak of protest before her massive body smothered him. What I hadn’t planned was the searing pain that came from forcing my limbs into a manoeuvre I’d not pulled off since my twenties. I also fell to the floor as bolts of pain flared through my joints. Shit: I’d not been as clever as I’d thought. I kept forgetting I wasn’t the lithe, honed assassin I used to be.
Knowing that the fight was far from over, I tried to heave myself back to my feet but every time I pushed upwards, a shooting pain in my left hip made my leg give away. Three times I tried to stand and three times I collapsed again.
Given my opponents it was a wonder I was still breathing, but when I was finally upright I realised why they hadn’t renewed their attack. Only a small scrap of velvet remained as a testament that the druid had existed. He was still underneath the ogre’s huge body – and the ogre was so heavy that she’d probably killed him.
The reason that the ogre had not continued the battle was because the druid’s fire had continued to attack her even after she’d fallen. Half of her face had been severely burnt, her skin was red raw and several nasty blisters were already forming. She’d squeezed her eyes shut in pain and it looked as if she’d completely lose the sight in her left one. She was probably unaccustomed to being attacked and the hurt was too much for her. She was moaning softly but making no attempt to move.
The vampire was different: he stayed on his feet, watching me through hooded eyes. He didn’t try to help his companions; in fact, he appeared entirely unperturbed by their fate. He adjusted his cuffs and gazed at me calmly. ‘I know who you are,’ he said. ‘You are the landlady.’
As superhero names went it wasn’t the most exciting one but I lifted my chin as if I were proud of it. ‘Yeah,’ I said, with a touch of cat-lady defiance. ‘I am the landlady. Let me guess,’ I said, remembering what I’d overheard upstairs, ‘you’re Brassick.’
The corners of his thin, bloodless mouth quirked upwards. ‘I am. Congratulations.’ He clapped slowly and smiled mirthlessly. ‘Why are you helping the wolves?’ He sounded genuinely interested. ‘They only care about their own.’
‘I’m guessing that’s why you only thought to create defences against werewolves and not someone like me,’ I said drily. The vamp grimaced at his lack of forethought and I half smiled. ‘What can I say?’ I continued. ‘I’m community minded.’ I paused. ‘And it’s just as well since you’re trying to raise a demon.’
I was rewarded with a flicker of surprise. ‘Bravo,’ he murmured. ‘It sounds as if you already have all the answers.’
‘Not all of them. Why the fuck do you think invoking a demon would be a good idea?’
He shrugged. ‘I thought it might be fun and I had nothing better to do.’
I suspected this dick was telling the truth about his motives. I lurched forward, mindful of the shooting pain in my hip. It was time to end this for good and kill the bloodsucker before more damage could be done. Unfortunately, the fanged fucker was a step ahead of me and he was capable of some speedy mid-air leaps himself. He didn’t even twang his hip as he completed them.
I registered what his plan was about a millisecond too late. He sailed towards Nick’s unmoving body and hoisted him up. Nick’s head lolled to one side but finally I could see his chest rising and falling. He was still alive. For now.
Brassick grinned again, revealing his pearly-white fangs. ‘Let’s see exactly how community minded you are,’ he murmured. ‘You can catch me and prevent a demon uprising or,’ he paused for effect, ‘you can save the kid.’
And with that, he raised Nick’s arm to his mouth and ripped his skin with his fangs, making sure that he tore open an artery in the process.