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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.”
