Page 71 of Waifs And Strays
Who else, indeed?
He continued. ‘I’ve known about these tunnels since I found one of the older entrances by accident after I was thrown out of the Barrow pack. I know where a few others are located, but they’re not easy to find and it’s not wise to use them unless you turn into a bat and guzzle blood by the bucketload.’ He shuddered. ‘A vampire caught me the first time I came down here and it didn’t end well for me. I’ve not been tempted to return since.’
I didn’t blame him: it wasn’t a good idea to cross a vampire if you could help it.
Thane looked at me anxiously, too afraid to voice the question aloud but desperate to know the answer. I put him out of his misery. ‘Nick’s alive,’ I told him. ‘I got him out. He’s in a bad way, but with the right treatment he should be okay.’
I felt his body relax. ‘Good work.’ He passed a hand in front of his eyes. ‘Bloody good work, Kit.’
I wasn’t prepared to accept any praise, not yet. ‘One of the kidnappers got away. That’s why I’m down here.’ I quickly told him all that had happened.
‘What about Nick’s blood? If they were harvesting it…’
‘There was no blood in any containers so any that they’ve already drawn from Nick must have been transported elsewhere, probably closer to Crackendon Square in preparation for the solstice.’ I paused. ‘Nick is still alive, so they didn’t get the thirteen pints of blood from him. Even if that vampire Brassick escapes, he hasn’t enough to summon a demon.’
Thane’s eyes met mine. ‘He won’t escape.’ He tapped the side of his nose. ‘Take me back to where you started and I’ll sniff out the bastard.’
Chapter
Thirty
There were no giant worms or vampires as we went back through the tunnels. I caught Thane’s gaze drifting down my body and I knew he’d noticed that something was wrong with my hip, but thankfully he didn’t comment or suggest that I hang back while he went after Brassick alone. Instead we jogged through the gloom to the intersection where I’d first emerged.
Thane’s nose twitched and he made several slow circles as he absorbed the scent. I watched; my sense of smell was better than most, but I was no match for a werewolf.
I wished the knot of anxiety in my stomach would disappear. Although Nick was safe, these unfamiliar tunnels and my lack of preparation made me feel as if I had no control and that wasn’t a sensation I was used to. I didn’t like it one jot; I trusted Thane but it was hard to yield to his werewolf senses and let him lead the way. In many ways, I was as much of a lone wolf as he was.
‘I can’t catch any scent from the vampire,’ he said after several moments.
‘But?’ I prodded.
‘But I can smell wolf blood. It’s faint but it’s definitely here. It must be what they took from Nick.’ He turned to the right. ‘The scent leads that way.’
So I’d made the wrong choice earlier. My irritation with myself grew, even though there was no way I could have known which way to go. ‘He’s got an hour’s head start.’
Thane shrugged but I could see the tension in his eyes. ‘We’ll catch him,’ he said with a confidence that neither of us felt. He started to move away. I swallowed my ego and followed.
For the first few hundred metres there was nothing of interest. We stayed silent until we reached another intersection then I waited while Thane sniffed the stale air. There were two heavy looking iron doors on either side of the junction; although they were unmarked, I was certain that they led to vampire-owned properties. The only way to keep these tunnels exclusively to anyone with fangs and a penchant for O neg would be to control the exits and entrances and that made it likely that every doorway led to a private property rather than a public place.
‘This way, I’m sure of it.’ Thane pointed left but despite his words he sounded doubtful. I gave him a long look. ‘The smell is fading and there’s only a faint odour clinging to the air,’ he admitted. ‘There are a lot of competing scents and no spilled blood to track. It won’t linger for much longer.’
‘Then we’d better get a move on and find that fucker before the trail vanishes for good.’
‘Amen to that,’ Thane murmured. We took off once more.
One turn started to look much like another. I noticed notches on some of the walls, doubtless markers for the vampires who used these tunnels, but the dark surroundings and similarities between one section of tunnel and the next meant that I had little idea of where we were. At one point I wascertain that we were doubling back on ourselves. It didn’t help that Thane was stopping more often and seemed less and less sure of himself, though even the most skilled werewolf tracker would struggle down here.
We were forced to take cover twice as more giant worms and their fanged passengers passed by. The second time there was a procession as five worms carrying five vamps trundled by. One of the vampires lifted his head and his nostrils flared. I felt a shiver of fear that he had smelled us even when the strange parade had drifted past and disappeared.
I didn’t like the prospect of being discovered. I could handle one or two vamps, but if the alarm was raised and a whole host of the bastards came after us, we’d never get out. The more time I spent underground, the more my thoughts darkened – and the more my damned hip hurt. Once all this was over, I was going to start training again. Just because I was retired didn’t mean I had to grow weak.
We’d passed twenty-three iron doors when Thane finally stopped in the middle of a tunnel that, to my eyes, looked exactly the same as every other section we’d been through. He looked left then right, then pointed ahead. ‘There,’ he said softly. ‘In there.’
I moved to the rusty door he had identified; there was no number or name to indicate what it led to. I squinted as I examined it carefully. ‘Are you sure?’
He snorted. ‘Yes, I’m sure.’ I gave him a longer look. ‘Alright,’ he admitted. ‘I’m mostly sure. Can you do better?’
That was a hard ‘nope’. I pursed my lips and reached for the door handle. Although there was every chance that we’d set off a trap by opening it, we had little choice and I was keen to get out of the tunnel.
