Dragon Down (12 page)

A flash of movement to my right caused me to aim my staff and prepare myself to fight. Alarms were going off loudly in my mind. I tried to still my wildly beating heart enough to turn my senses outward.
Zane had raised his gun to fire and I knew that we had both sensed something. We waited and nothing moved. I didn’t hear anything or sense anything until a hand clamped tightly over my mouth. My eyes darted in Zane’s direction and he’d lowered his pistol. Damn it Corbin. Couldn’t he make a normal entrance like everyone else? Realistically, I knew I’d have done exactly the same thing. We would have fired first and sent flowers second. Just kidding, we wouldn’t have sent the flowers.

Corbin motioned for Zane and me to follow him. He lead us through the crates and out through the back of the building.
The rear of the building, which faced away from the water, was deserted. Twilight descended and we were almost invisible in our dark clothing. Corbin didn’t stop, so we set out following closely behind him. He took us swiftly through the back alleys around the waterfront. The noise from the docks was receding and we seemed to have entered an industrial area. The place was either abandoned or closed. There was no light or sound coming from the buildings.

Corbin turned down an alley and forced open the back door of the
nearest building. It had once been a factory of some sort, now it was abandoned. Zane scooted in and closed the door behind us. The inside of the building was dark and it took my eyes a few minutes to adjust. The only light came from the windows and since it was nearly dark there wasn’t much. I mumbled a chant and a small beam of light flared from my staff. It was too risky to flood the area with light. We didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention. Too late I saw the shadows drop down from the ceiling, like spiders dropping down to finish their prey. The three of us moved together in a tight circle, weapons drawn. Since we no longer had the element of surprise, I turned up the lights. I flooded the area in bright, blindly white light. The vampires hissed and scrambled back into the shadows.

I could sense them gathering for an attack and I didn
’t want anyone calling for enforcements. We spun in the direction the vampires went. Unfortunately, the light blinded us almost as much as the vampires. I turned down the light so that we could see better and I saw one of the vampires heading for the door. Zane took off after the escaping vampire, which left Corbin and me to take on the three remaining vampires. The vampires were readying themselves to attack. I wanted to take at least one alive to question. However, these vampires didn’t look chatty. Just before they attacked, I remembered one of my purloined weapons. Who says crime doesn’t pay. I reached into my pack and pulled out a stun grenade, pulled the pin, and tossed it at our vampires. I grabbed Corbin pushing him behind a nearby crate.

A second after we hit the floor
, there was a bright flash and a loud bang. We scrambled back to our feet and ran toward the vampires. They were dazed and disoriented. Not wanting to take any chances with how long they’d stay that way, we tied them up. Zane jogged back into the room just as we were finishing up.

“What was that noise?” Zane whispered.

“A stun grenade, I found one in one of the crates from the first warehouse. Did you catch the vampire or did it get away?”

“I had to kill it. What do you intend to do with these?”

“Question them. It will save us the time of looking around the island for prisoners.”

“What makes you think they
’ll cooperate?”

“Zane, I can be very persuasive when I need to be.”

I walked over and stood in front of the captives. Zane and Corbin stood at either side of me with their weapons drawn. I was pretty certain who their leader was. So, I walked over and stood in front of him.

“I have some questions for you. Answer them and I
’ll leave you tied up in here. If you don’t tell me the truth or refuse to answer, I’ll kill you. Do you understand?”

The vampire in front of me nodded.

“I’m going to remove the gag, if you make any sound other than to answer my questions I’ll kill you. Am I making myself clear?”

The vampire glared at me and then slowly nodded its head. I
reached out and untied his gag. His eyes darted from one to the other of us, before they settled on me.

“Are you holding prisoners anywhere on this island?”

“Wizard, why should I tell you anything? You look surprised that I know who you are. There is a price on your head and your picture is everywhere. I’ll enjoy spending the reward.”

I looked at the vampire and his smirk made me see red.
No sane person wants me to see red, unless it is strapless and cut low. I raised my arm and pointed my bracelet at the vampires head. One quick motion and I cut off his ear. He screamed in anger and I raised my bracelet and aimed at his other ear. He became very still.

“I
’m only going to ask you once more. Are you holding any prisoners on this island?”

“In the basemen
t of the harbor master’s office, there are two men being held there. One is the arms merchant that shorted us on his last shipment. The other is not known to me.”

I stepped back from the prisoners to speak with Corbin. Zane kept his guns pointed at the prisoners.

“Do you know where the harbor master’s office is?”

“Yes, I can get us there. But we need to get out of here before someone comes to investigate the bright light and boom.”

I walked back to our captive and knelt down in front of him.

“If you
’ve lied to me, I’ll be back and you’ll die a painfully slow death.” I shoved the gag back in his mouth and followed Zane and Corbin. We moved back through the maze of crates until we came to the door we entered earlier. It was dark now and that provided us with more protection. Unfortunately, it also meant there would be more vampires out and about. I’d say the situation sucked, but I didn’t want to jinx myself.

Corbin moved back down the alley
in the direction we’d originally come. However, this time when he left the alley he went in the opposite direction. The street was disserted, which I didn’t find comforting. My senses were on high alert, every noise making my heart skip a beat. We were working our way along the street trying to act like we belonged. Half way down the block we crossed the street and headed back toward the water.

I could see a light on in the building at the end of the street. It was a large
, blocky stone building facing the harbor. The sign over the door identified it as the harbor masters. Good. I pulled Corbin and Zane back into the shadows, listening to make sure there was no one or thing around.

“Corbin, is the basement right below the main office?”

“Yes, from what I remember there are stairs going down to the right of the main door. What have you got in mind?”

“I think you should go chat up the harbor master while Zane and I check out the prisoners. Give us
ten minutes and leave. We’ll meet you back here.”

Corbin nodded his consent and we waited for him to go inside. I gave him a few minutes and we followed. I co
uld hear voices when we entered. So we moved in the opposite direction until we found the stairs. Moving as quickly and as quietly as we could, trying hard not to draw any unwanted attention to ourselves, we descended. At the bottom I hesitated, trying to decide which way to go when I heard voices. Damn it, the prisoners were being guarded.

Zane motioned for me to follow him. Hugging the wall we inched our way down the hall in the direction of the voices. The
voices were coming from a room on our left. Light spilled out into the hallway and we could now clearly hear what they were saying.

“Step back from the bars and I
’ll give you some water. We want to make sure you’re nice and healthy for the prince.”

“Let me out of here and I
’ll make you very wealthy. What do you say?”

“I say you are crazier than I thought. Where would I go to spend this money? My life wouldn
’t be worth a thing if I cross the prince. Now step back.”

I looked into the room and saw the guard bending down to slide the water in. I rushed him and rammed him head first into
the bars. He was out cold. Zane tied and gagged him.

“Let me out. Whatever you want, name your prize these freaks are going to kill me.”

“If you don’t shut up I’ll kill you. Where is the other prisoner?”

“I
’m the only one that I know of, but there are other cells. Now will you let me out of here?”

Zane found the keys on the jailor
’s belt. He unlocked the door and pulled the unconscious guard inside. The man scrambled out.

“Show us where the other cells are?”

The man left the room and hurried down the hall. We were moving further down into the cellars. It was damp and the air was musty. The smell of decay assailed my senses making my skin crawl. The man stopped next to a solid wooden door. Great, there was no way to see what was behind door number two without opening it. Zane and I readied our weapons and pulled the door open. The smell of rotting flesh nearly overwhelmed me. Our guide had doubled over, his stomach heaving. It was too dark for my eyes to adjust. I whispered a chant and my staff illuminated the area. I recoiled, jumping back, I nearly dropping my staff.

I
’ve seen some pretty grime things, but this may have been the worst. All along the wall were the chained and decomposing corpses of prisoners. Gagging, I stepped around the room. I had to make sure Traygen wasn’t in there. Satisfied I bolted from the room and emptied the contents of my stomach. When I could speak I turned to the man.

“Are there any other places that they keep prisoners?”

“Not that I am aware of, now can I go? The guards are liable to come back at any time.”

I nodded and turned to speak with Zane. However, he
’d moved further down the hall. My curiosity peaked, I followed him. When I caught up he’d stopped in front of another door, which like the first was solid. This one was locked, at least for as long as it took me to pick it. Zane pulled the door open and I ordered my staff to illuminate the interior. Hissing and screams filled the room. Zane grabbed my arm and shoved me back through the door, slamming it after us. I turned, pointed my bracelet at the door and sent a jolt of energy into the lock. The lock glowed red and the metal melted flowing into a solid glob. Pounding from the other side of the door, told us that for the time being, the vampires were still trapped. We hurried back the way we’d come. When we reached the stairs we paused long enough to listen. I exhaled when I heard Corbin’s voice. He was still chatting up the harbor master. Rushing up the stairs we ducked outside and into the cover of darkness. A few minutes later Corbin joined us.

“Did you find anything? I was about to come down to find you after the man fled.”

“That was the arms merchant we released, everyone else was dead. We found a roomful of vampires that we trapped. I think it is time we get out of here.”

Corbin jogged off toward the water and we followed closely in his wake. We were nearly back at the point we entered
, when the sound of angry voices erupted behind us. Not bothering to look back, we waded out onto the jetty. I slipped and Zane yanked me to my feet just before a loud pop announced our departure from the island.

Chapter Twelve

This time when we landed
, we were on a busy street in the Red Court. I’d like to say we were inconspicuous, but that would be wishful thinking. There were vampires all around us and they were looking right at us. Not waiting to see if we were going to get a warm reception, we ran. Corbin led us into the nearest alley and we sprinted down it.

Running full out we rounded a corner and found a high wall blocking our path. There were definitely vampires pursuing us. Shit. We couldn
’t go back the way we came and I didn’t see any way over the wall. Corbin however had no problem leaping up onto it. He leaned down and grabbed my hand, hauling me up with Zane following right behind me. We shot down the alley on the other side. Corbin hesitated a moment trying to decide which way to go. I hoped he figured it out soon because our pursuers were gaining on us. They could get over the wall as easily as Corbin. We couldn’t hope to out run the vampires chasing us. We’d have to try and lose them long enough to hide.

“We need to split up. It is our only chance to evade them. I
’ll haul you two up the building and then lead our pursuers in the other direction.”

“Corbin, I don
’t like it. I also don’t think we have a choice.”

Corbin had me put my arms around his neck and told me to hold on. He leapt up the side of the building and landed lightly on the third floor. He jumped down, grabbed Zane and brought him up.

“I’ll take them in another direction and then find you.”

He jumped down and jogged away from the building. A few minutes later
, I heard shouts and the sound of running feet. A few more minutes passed and it was quiet again. It was night time and we were out in the open. Never a good idea when you’re dealing with vampires. Zane was already looking around when I joined him. We needed to find shelter until daylight.

Gazing out over the rooftops we had a good view of the city. It looked like Saturday night on the Vegas strip. There were vampires and God only knew what else scurrying about. We couldn
’t stay up here we had no advantage. Vampires could out run and jump us with no problem. Our only hope was to go below ground or at least to find a more contained space. Tight quarters equalized things somewhat.

As much as I detested the thought, we needed to find the town
’s sewers or an underground tunnel. The city looked like any city in the twenty-first century, except the citizens were vampires. Yes, I know there are vampires in the twenty-first century, but we out number them there. No such luxury here. Zane tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to a building several blocks away. I couldn’t tell why he picked that building until I examined it more closely. It wasn’t the building he was pointing at. It was the subway entrance beside it. I gave him a thumb up and we started to make our way toward it. Zane took a running leap and jumped to the building next door. Refusing to look like the weaker sex, I followed. I landed lightly beside him and scampered over to the next building.

I hated to admit he made a wise choice. Vampires could easily move from building to building this way, but I couldn
’t think why they would bother. It didn’t really matter. We would be spotted immediately on the ground. Our building hopping scheme only took us just so far. We were across the street from the subway entrance and I might add a very busy subway entrance.

We would need a diversion and I had just the thing. I pulled out one of my
ill-gotten flash grenades. When we got down from the building and across from the entrance I pulled the pin and tossed the grenade. I heaved it as far down the street as I could. A second later there was a loud bang followed by a bright flash. That was our cue. We walked as quickly as we could without drawing any unwanted attention. The vampires wouldn’t be blinded for long.

We reached the bottom of the stairs without incident and headed for the tracks.
Unfortunately, the vampires were starting to come back down the stairs. We walked as far from the entrance as we could get. There had to be something or somewhere we could hide. I was about to jump down on to the tracks and take my chances, when I spotted a door. Hurrying over to the door, I checked to see if it was unlocked. No such luck. I put my finger on the door knob and sent a pulsing jolt of energy through it.

I pulled my shirt out
, covering the doorknob with it, to keep from burning my hand and turned it. Yes, I pushed open the door and we hurried in. I closed it behind us and waited for my eyes to adjust to the dim light. The room was empty and it looked like there were stairs leading downward in the far corner. We crossed the room and headed slowly down the stairs. There was even less light on the stairs, but I didn’t want to announce our presence.

We moved
deliberately down the stairs from one level to the next, pausing, listening, and waiting. I wanted to get as far from the vampires in the station as I could. Marking each landing we passed, in case we needed to get out of there in a hurry. I counted four floors by the time we reached the bottom of the stairs. We pulled out our weapons and I tried the door. It too was locked. I ran my hands over the door’s surface and did not detect any magic.

This time I picked the lock
. It took longer but, it wasn’t likely to attract any attention. If I ever ran out of jobs in the wizarding world I could make a lucrative living as a light fingered cat burglar. My mother would be so proud. I could put my good taste in fashion, jewelry, and art to good use. I pulled the door open slowly.

My senses were immediately
assailed by the smell of decay and God only knew what. I didn’t like this place one bit. I sent out my energy to search for vampires or worse. Just my luck, it came back worse. I know, what could be worse than vampires? Unfortunately, there were plenty of things. If my instincts were correct these were demons. It made sense. The vampires would protect themselves from unwanted arrivals. Zane and I inched through the door. The area was illuminated by witch fire that burned in bowls along the walls. The area was definitely enchanted and I just knew whatever it was wouldn’t be friendly. We started into the tunnel and we had only taken a few steps when a large shadow loomed before us.

“Who goes there? Speak now or I
’ll unleash the demon hounds.”

Zane
’s head jerked up at the mention of the hounds. I crouched down and activated my staff.

“Witch what do you want here? You do not have my permission to pass.”

“I don’t need your permission. Move or I’ll turn you and your hounds to ashes.”

The demon hissed in anger. I heard the snapping of powerful jaws and the baying of hounds. We didn
’t wait to see what the hounds could do. We turned and ran in the opposite direction. Zane and I ran like our lives depended on it because they did. Unfortunately, the hounds were faster and from the sound of things they were gaining. In our haste we did not see the vampires until we nearly collided with them. A rough hand grabbed me by the neck and lifted me from the ground. I muttered to my bracelet sending a jet of energy into my captor’s chest. Startled it loosened its grip and I drove my staff into the side of its head. I whirled around in time to evade the next vampire. I blew it away with my bracelet. Zane had taken out several vampires and I thought we had things under control.

Wrong, the hell hounds bounded onto the scene. I did the only thing I could think of, I picked up a dead vampire and through them some bones. The first hound grabbed my offering out of the air and I scrambled to fetch hound number two a vampire. I tossed another vampire at the hounds and they pounced on it.

Zane and I took the opportunity to run like heck in the opposite direction. We wouldn’t be able to keep up this pace. It wouldn’t take the hounds long to polish off the vampires and we didn’t want to be the entree. I was so worried about escaping the dogs that I didn’t see the trap in time. I flailed my arms trying to keep from falling, but I couldn’t. I tumbled downward and landed hard. Zane nearly landed on top of me. However, he managed to throw himself to the side. He landed hard, rolling ass over teakettle he hit his head, but he was breathing.

It took me some time to clear my
own vision. I gingerly moved my limbs, at least nothing was broken. Zane had rolled over onto all fours. We’d fallen into a pit of some kind. I could hear the hounds getting closer, but I didn’t think they could reach us. That is when I heard the rattle. Afraid to make any quick movements I scanned the area. There was a wriggling mass of snakes, lots and lots of snakes. I hate snakes more than the ocean. I lost it and fried everything in the area. If Zane hadn’t shouted, I’d have hit him too. I sagged back against the wall of the pit, exhausted, trembling and thankful. At least I had killed all the snakes or I prayed I had. Zane crawled over to sit beside me.

“Are you all right?

“Yes, it would have sucked to survive the fall and the snakes, only to have you blast me into oblivion.

“Sorry about that. Snakes freak me out worse than
not seeing the bottom of the ocean. I’m glad you’re okay. What do you think? Can we get out of here? Or do we have to wait and see whose pit we’ve fallen into.”

Zane looked around the walls of our pit and I did the same. The walls were smooth and it was too far to jump. We might be able to blast our way out, but we would risk detection.
It wouldn’t matter if whomever or whatever came to check the trap.

“I don
’t see an easy way out. Can you blast us out without burying us?”

“I
’m not sure, but even if I could it would probably bring unwanted attention. Nevertheless it is better than waiting to be killed. Give me a minute to gather myself and I’ll try.”

“It is a good thing for you two that the path of destruction you left in your wake was easy to follow.”

“Corbin, can you get us out of here?”

“Give me a second to find something to haul you
up with.”

“I never thought I
’d be that happy to see a vampire. His timing is impeccable.”

Zane frowned before answering. “Maybe too impeccable. I
’m going to keep an eye on him.”

We could hear Corbin rummaging around. Then we heard the sound of something being dragged across the floor. The sound was getting closer. Corbin obviou
sly found something to get us out with and a moment later he peered over the side.

“Get up against the far wall while I let this piece of rail down.”

He swung the long iron rail over the side and let it down. Zane and I hurried over and scampered up it. When we were standing above the pit we looked around for signs of our pursuers. The only thing I could see was the two dead hounds.

“We better get out of here. Whoever sent those hounds will come looking for them. I came in from this direction. It was clear when I came through.”

“Good because there are vampires in the other direction. Lead the way we’ll follow you.”

Zane and I fell in behind Corbin. He was jogging,
so we had to pick up our pace to keep up with him. We were moving along at a steady clip when Corbin motioned for us to stop. Listening, we could hear voices coming from somewhere in front of us. Corbin waved us back in the direction we’d come. Then he sprang up and held tightly to the ceiling. He blended into the shadows so well I had trouble seeing him. I extinguished the nearest torch and we did our best to melt into the shadows. The voices were growing increasingly louder and it sounded like there were at least three and maybe more. I could definitely hear three distinct voices. Time would tell. We waited for Corbin to open up. Nothing and the voices were almost at where we were hiding. What was he waiting for?

I whispered for Zane to cover his eyes and I
waited until the three were almost even with us. Then I sent a ball of fire at their heads. They were temporarily blinded and that was all the opening we needed. Zane and I cut them down where they stood. It wasn’t much of a fight and that worried me. It was too easy and where was Corbin. My senses detected movement on my right so, I crouched and aimed my staff in that direction. I was immediately stunned by a bone chilling cold, an overpowering feeling of dread. My teeth chattered involuntarily and my fingers were getting numb. A fine mist filled the tunnel in front of us. The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was Corbin.

When I came to I was
in a dark place. I couldn’t see a thing. I tried to move my limbs, but I was tied up and gagged. Whoever had me knew enough to gag me so I couldn’t use my bracelet or magic period. Once I realized I couldn’t get free I relaxed and studied the area. I was definitely in a cell. I was alone and I had no idea if Zane was taken or not. The last thing I remembered was seeing Corbin. He had betrayed us. I didn’t want to believe it. Realistically I knew he was a vampire. Maybe he wanted the bounty on my head. If I got out of this fix I’d find out. I heard voices and sagged back against my restraints. I heard a key in the lock and someone came and lifted my head up by my hair.

“She
’s still out. What about the other prisoner? Has he come around yet?”

“Yes, but he isn
’t talking. I can’t get anything out of him. He seems impervious to pain.”

“I
’ll see about that. Take me to him. I wager I can loosen his tongue.”