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“Cover your ears,” Roz warned us. We immediately obeyed.
Fraale opened her mouth and let loose, keening louder than anything I’d ever heard. She was worse than a bean Sidhe. Standing with legs spread, hands on her hips, there was something very inhuman about her that scared me spitless. Apparently, she took the vampires for a ride, too, because they backed up as a group, eying her with a combination of hunger and—fear?
Roz grabbed my arm and pushed me toward the stairwell. “Up you go!” Menolly shoved Zach in front of her, and then Fraale spun around and raced after us. We barely made it to the door before a surge of movement told us they were on our heels again. As we sprinted toward the car, Roz yanked something out of his coat and tossed it over his shoulder right onto the hood of a black car. We’d barely made it to Camille’s Lexus when an explosion rocked the parking lot, shoving Zach and me forward to land on the hood.
“Holy crap! What—”
“Just move!” Roz dragged me around to the passenger side as Menolly opened the doors with the automatic control on the key. We leapt in. Zach, Roz, and Fraale tumbled into the back as I landed shotgun.
I glanced at the fire that was raging in what had been a brand new BMW. The vamps had pulled back, except for a couple who managed to skirt the deadly flames. The fireball sent a shower of sparks into the night air as it billowed on the updraft of wind, a roaring mushroom of flames and smoke.
Menolly started the car, and we screeched out of the parking lot at sixty miles per hour and climbing. The cops were either out on another case or were off at an all-night java joint. Although the sound of sirens echoed in the distance, growing louder, I didn’t see any prowl cars. Thank government cuts on spending, I thought. Chase was always bitching about the lack of manpower, and I knew he wasn’t kidding.
Menolly was up to seventy by the time we hit one of the main drags. Only then did she slow down a little and glance into the mirror. It was disconcerting for the others, I’m sure, to not see their driver’s reflection, but I was used to it.
“Everybody in one piece?” she asked.
“I think so,” Zach said. “One thing’s for sure.”
“What’s that?” I said, leaning back against the seat, trying to calm my fried nerves.
“You guys are going to have to beef up your wards. Somehow, I don’t think the members of the Fangtabula are going to take this lying down.”
“Zach’s right,” Roz said. “They’re mad as hell. Make no mistake; we almost didn’t make it out of there. We were ten seconds away from being trapped. And that would not have been pretty at all.”
“Especially not when Karvanak got hold of us,” Menolly said. “Fraale, you can’t go back to him. Let’s hit his hideout and scram. Tell me where to go.”
Fraale snorted. “Oh, I’m on his shit list now, all right. He’ll eat me alive if he catches me. And I’m not speaking metaphorically. I’ve seen him do it. He was so mad at one of his servants one day that he turned into a tiger and bit off her arm. And you don’t want to know what he did to her before that. She bled to death, screaming.” Her voice was so strangled, I knew she was telling the truth.
Shuddering, I grabbed my cell phone out of the glove compartment where I’d stashed it before we entered the club. I punched in Camille’s cell number, and she answered almost immediately.
“We ran into trouble, but we’re headed toward Karvanak’s hideout with Fraale. Get Morio and Smoky and meet us there—and hurry the hell up. We need you. We may have vamps on our tail, too, so don’t leave Maggie unattended. I don’t know what you’re going to do, but we have to be very careful out on our land from now on. Menolly ran into someone from the Elwing Blood Clan who wasn’t overjoyed to see her.”
“Mother of the gods, things are getting so fucked up,” she whispered. “Okay, I’ll figure out something. We’re on our way. I’ll have to put out a silent call for Smoky, but he should be able to pick it up and show up. What’s the address?”>“So you saved the boy at the expense of your own self?” Menolly asked.
Fraale nodded. “And a bitter price it is. Karvanak’s loathsome. He orders me to come here, to find a playmate, and then to bring him—or her—back to his house. There, he ravages them. I’ve complied twice, but I can’t do this time and again. I’d rather die. Is there any way you can help me?”
Her question ringing in my ears, I was about to answer when Menolly jumped in her seat.
“Karvanak. He’s over there.” She pointed to a table near the back. We couldn’t see much but the back of his head. There was no mistaking that gleaming scalp of his, nor the expensive suit, nor the fragrance of jasmine, orange, and sugar vanilla that drifted over to us.
I cautiously slid out of my seat, trying not to attract attention. “I don’t think he’s seen us, but we have to get out of here. Fraale, you know this place. Where should we go?” If we made for the door, we’d be walking right by him, and the place wasn’t full enough to give us cover.
She hesitated, then said, “The catacombs will be easiest. He’ll never go down there. The RÄksasa doesn’t like vampires and only comes here to finalize business arrangements. Come, follow me, and hurry.”
Before he could see us, we crept to the descending staircase and headed down the steps. I prayed to every god that might be listening that she was telling the truth. Otherwise, we were in for a world of hurt.
CHAPTER 25
The lower levels of the Fangtabula were far more gloomy than the main floor. The color scheme was a monochromatic black and white set in a large checkerboard pattern across both walls and floor, making me almost dizzy with its squares. The staircase ended in a hallway, which in turn branched off into other hallways. The doors, evenly spaced along the wall, bore no markings, and all of them were the same size and color. For some reason, that gave me the creeps. Who knew what lurked behind them? And with no markings, how did their occupants know which door to enter?
I crowded closer to Menolly. “What the hell is this?”
She glanced over at Fraale. “The catacombs. Vampires come here to rest and to feed. There must be some way of assigning rooms, but I’m not sure what it is. I don’t advise we randomly go opening doors, though.”
Roz and Zach took up the back, Roz keeping his eye over his shoulder. He had barely spoken to Fraale, and now it seemed like he was looking everywhere but in her direction.
“We can’t stand around here long,” he said. “We’re too conspicuous. What’s our next move?”
