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Page 26

 

  With a sigh, I tore myself away. “I have to. Camil e’s going to be out of it for a day or so, and Delilah wil be exhausted by tomorrow from sitting up with her. Smoky and Roz are gone. I have Vanzir, Shamas—who also has to get up tomorrow and go to work—and Tril ian. And Tril ian won’t leave Camil e’s side, not for this. ”

  “I’l go with you. ” Nerissa leaned down and kissed my lips, but I shook my head.

  “No, you wil not. You aren’t trained for fighting. You have your strengths, but babe, I can’t watch out for you and do what I need to do. You stay home with Iris and Shamas. Vanzir, it’s us again. I want to get down there before any other haunts take up residence. ”

  We headed for my Jag. I wasn’t tired in the least, and Vanzir looked down, but not out. I promised Iris we’d cal her in an hour. Nerissa pouted her way back to bed, but I reluctantly slipped out the door.

  “She makes it hard for you,” Vanzir said, smiling a little. “You two obviously have it going on. I’m glad you’re paying attention and not taking her for granted. It’s easy for vamps and demons to forget the niceties. ”

  I thought of Roman. “Not al vampires are like that. At least, not al forget to be generous, even if their emotions are in check. ”

  “Yeah, wel , for a living/undead relationship, you two do pretty good. ” He slid into the passenger seat and fastened his seat belt.

  As we veered off, back to the Greenbelt Park District, I thought over the equipment I’d brought.

  Sometimes I wished I had an arsenal like Roz, but I’d never managed to pul one together.

  However, in the backseat, I had a bag with several wooden stakes—just in case we met our serial kil er—a couple of knives, a pair of handcuffs, and a few other accoutrements.

  Vanzir glanced over at me as we sped through the silent streets. “You blame yourself for Morio, don’t you?”

  I stared at the road, hands on the wheel, not answering for a moment. Of course I did, but I wasn’t going to tel him. Instead, I just said, “What happened with Camil e?”

  It was his turn to press his lips together. Final y, he said, “Touché. Unless you’re ordering me to answer, I’d rather she tel you. ”

  I wanted to confront him, to order him to tel , but Camil e’s privacy was tenuous at best, with three husbands, and I dreaded taking away what she had left. I frowned. “Whatever it is, wil it interfere with our quest?”

  He shrugged. “It’s up to her, and I’l abide by whatever decision she makes. Look, isn’t that the turn up there?”

  I nodded, silently swinging the car to the left, where I neatly slid into a parking space right near the manhole. Again, the city streets were empty—a few people going to bakery jobs or early-morning diners, but here—in Greenbelt Hel —it might as wel stil be the dead of night.

  We hopped out of the car and headed over to the tunnels. Vanzir stopped to shake his head.

  “Fuck, woman, what the hel kind of creepshow did you bring here? I can feel her residue. This scares the shit out of me. ” He shivered and looked around. “She’s gone, right?”

  “Yeah, she went back to whatever rock she lives under. ” I tossed the manhole cover aside. “I’m headed down, punk boy. Fol ow if you dare. ” And with that, I leaped over the side and floated down to the tunnels below. Vanzir fol owed, shimmying down the ladder at record speed.

  The tunnel felt different as I looked around. It wasn’t any brighter, but as I flashed my light around, I realized that the energy had lightened considerably. Thanks to Ivana. Regardless of what the others said, I decided I’d done the right thing. We started through, fol owing our initial direction, but this time nothing jumped out of the woodwork to attack us. Oh, there were a few viro-mortis slimes on the wal s, and I saw rats here or there, but the air felt clear and I glanced over at Vanzir.

  “Nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “There’s nothing of what we were fighting left down here.

  Whatever else the Maiden of Karask might be, she’s thorough. ”

  When we came to the side passage, I slid through, Vanzir fol owing. Once in the chamber where we’d fought the shadow men, I glanced at the entrances leading out of the room. Which to pick first?

  Vanzir caught my arm. “Are you sure you want to do this? Maybe we should just explore farther up the main tunnel? This seems off the beaten path for your vampire. ”

  “Yes, I’m sure. Now come on. ” I chose one at random. We stil had a serial kil er on the loose, and I didn’t want to take a chance on getting caught by the creep.

  The passage continued for about ten feet before it began to descend, and within moments it had turned into a staircase leading down. I paused, wondering if I should cal Iris now. But we’d barely been here twenty minutes, and to cal her, I’d have to return to the surface. There was no reception here. I opted to wait.

  We approached another opening, through which the stairwel plunged. Vanzir stopped behind me. “Menol y, I don’t think this is a good idea. Let’s go back—please?”

  “What the fuck is your problem?” I stepped through the opening and gasped as the wal s fel away.

  I gaped at the panorama unfolding before us. A huge system of stairwel s covered the gaping chasm below, leading from one lower tunnel to another to another. A neighborhood, entirely belowground. We were no longer in Underground Seattle, but we were truly under Seattle. No humans had built this system, unless they were humans no longer mortal.

  How far down the cavern went, I do not know. There was no end in sight. I could barely make out figures scurrying along the stairwel s. Not many—not like the aboveground sidewalks during daylight hours, but enough to show that the stairwel s were wel used and active.

  I paused, staring at the expanse below me. “What the fuck do you think it is?” I whispered. “The vampire serial kil er, he couldn’t possibly be responsible for this. ”

  “No. ” Vanzir drew close behind me, and he placed one steady hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go back. ”

  “Hel no, not just yet. Look at this—it’s like some city beneath the city. Who knows what’s waiting down there in the labyrinth? But our serial kil er—if he’s down there, we have no chance of finding him. ” I shook my head. “We’l have to hope he hasn’t discovered this place. But what the hel . . .

  who could have made this?”

  Vanzir let out a long sigh. He turned me toward him, as we overlooked the spiraling abyss.

  “Actual y, I know who made it. I suppose I’d better tel you what you’ve stumbled onto before you start hunting around down here. ”

  “You know? Have you been here before?” I tilted my head, wondering how the hel this could have remained secret for so many years.

  “Yeah, but not through this entrance. ” He shrugged. “Most of the entrances are guarded by magic. I guess they thought the spirits and shadow men would be a strong enough deterrent. ”

  “Who thought? What is this place?”

  Vanzir let out a low chuckle. “Welcome to the Demon Underground. That’s right—we’re not just a group, we’re an entire suburb below the city. ”

  “You knew this was down here. ” I gazed at him for a moment, openmouthed, then turned back to the staircases crisscrossing the pit. The Demon Underground. Shaking my head, I took one last glance over the edge and slumped on the steps.

  “Okay, tel me everything. And don’t hold back. ”

  CHAPTER 17

  Vanzir sat beside me. We were in no danger of blocking the way—there was nobody near us. A figure or two that I could see on the lower levels, but here: nada. I waited for him to speak.

  “So . . . yeah, this is the Demon Underground. ”

  “I always thought you were referring to a group when you cal ed it that,” I said. “We al did. ” The Demon Underground was a network of rogue demons hiding from Shadow Wing, over Earthside.

  They had formed an al iance to fight again
st the demon lord, and Vanzir had often consulted them for us when we needed a heads-up on one Big Bad or another.

  “It is. A group. But they have to live somewhere, and not al demons can pass for FBHs. I can, to a degree, though most people think I’m one of the Fae, but a good share of the demons look like .

  . . wel . . . demons. Monsters, to the mortals. ” He shrugged. “Where the hel did you think they were al living? In condos along the waterfront?”

  “No, I guess not. ” But now that he asked the question, it made sense. It had never occurred to me to ask where al the demons who’d fled the Subterranean Realms had ensconced themselves.

  Carter, of course, lived in Seattle proper, but he had the ability to mask his appearance, probably because his father was one of the Greek Titans. He wasn’t ful demon.

  I looked up at Vanzir. “I can’t believe none of us ever thought about this before. We can be shortsighted at times. ”

  “You can’t remember everything while trying to save the world. ” At first I thought he was mocking me, but then he laughed and I realized he’d attempted a joke. He reached out and hesitantly patted me on the shoulder. “Don’t feel bad. We’ve done a good job of keeping this place under wraps. Karvanak didn’t even know. And he beat me senseless. ”

  “Now I see why you tried to veer me off from here. You wanted to keep it secret. ” Part of me understood why—secret organizations need secret headquarters. Part of me wondered just how far we could trust him.

  “Hel , eventual y you or your sisters would have come back. Better I’m with you to explain matters than you get yourselves in trouble. The demons here may hate Shadow Wing, but they don’t necessarily like humans or Fae. They protect the Underground with a passion. In fact, we’d better go before we’re caught. I need to warn them to set up a new guarding system now that the shadow men are gone. ”

  “You guys put those fuckers there?” I stood, suddenly understanding what he was saying. “They almost kil ed me. They almost kil ed Morio. What do you think Camil e’s going to do when she finds out you’re partial y responsible for her husband lying in the hospital? What do you think she’l do if he dies?”

  “We didn’t put the ghosts there . . . just the shadow men, and they weren’t the ones that staked him. ” He paled. “Menol y, please don’t let her think I was the one who did that. I didn’t assign them to guard the entrance. I don’t run the Underground, I’m just part of it. ”

  “No, but you didn’t warn us even though you knew they were there. You let us walk into a deadly situation without warning—”

  “You were determined to head down the passage. You knew about the actual ghosts that are there. You knew the area is haunted. What more could you have known that would make it al come out al right? I couldn’t fight the shadow men, either. And you’l notice they were coming after me, too. It wasn’t my fault Morio got hurt, it was whatever that ghost-thing was that did it. ” His eyes whirled with anger.

  Even though he was right, I pressed my lips together, keeping my thoughts in check as rigidly as I could. It would be so easy to strike him down, but what he said was the truth. Final y, after a few minutes, I managed to regain my equilibrium and nodded abruptly toward the stairs.

  “Let’s get the fuck out of here. ”

  We silently returned to the tunnels, and I flipped open my cel phone. No bars, but it was time to cal Iris. And only ninety minutes before dawn.

  “Let’s get out of here. I’m not going to find the kil er tonight, that’s obvious. ” I hurried ahead, letting him try to keep pace with me. When we reached the exit, I floated up topside and, in a blur of movement, headed toward my Jag. Vanzir struggled behind me.

  I slammed my door, popped my seat belt into place and was speed-dialing Iris by the time he climbed in the car. Ignoring him, I waited until Iris answered and then blurted out, “We’re on our way home. We’re al right. ”

  “Good, but Menol y, I got a cal from Chase. We have a problem. ”

  “Morio?” Oh gods, let Morio be al right. None of us could handle losing him, let alone Camil e.

  “He’s stil hanging in there, blessed be Undutar. No, Chase cal ed to tel me he got a tip about an hour ago and he’s going to have to fol ow up on it. ”

  “A tip? What tip?”

  “That Wade’s the serial kil er. ”

  I stared at the phone. “You have to be kidding. I’m headed over toward the FH-CSI now. ”

  “Remember: less than ninety minutes until dawn,” she warned me.

  “I know. Trust me, I know. ” I put the car in gear and, without a word to Vanzir, sped along the silent snowy streets.

  “So, are you just never going to talk to me again?” Vanzir stared out the window as the city streets passed by in a dark blur.

  I stared straight ahead, clutching the steering wheel. “Yeah, something like that. ”

  “Going to make it hard to tel me what to do,” he said, cajoling me. I gave him a sharp glance and he smiled, faintly, shrugging at my gaze. “What can I say? I could grovel, but you three don’t like groveling. But remember: Beyond being your slave, I’m part of the Demon Underground, and we have a loyalty oath there, too. ”

  I was back to staring at the road, but I let out a loud huff. “I know you aren’t responsible for Morio’s injuries. ”

  “Thank you. But wil Camil e? She already . . . ” He fel silent and stared through the window.

  “Already what? What the fuck went on down there while Chase and I were trying to save Morio’s life? Why weren’t you guys climbing out of the tunnel right after Chase? What did you do down there? ”