I pushed the thought of Gee DiMercy away and chose where I would wait, to the left of the elevator. I stepped through, pulling the door behind me. I shot the flash over Joses and caught him smiling. It wasn’t a pretty sight. His fangs were like a sabertooth cat, upper and lower, and his tongue was a black strip jutting between his jagged incisors. Yuckers. I flipped the light away from the prisoner and stepped into the room.
“Aaaaah.” The breath echoed, bouncing back from the walls.
I flinched and spun, shining the flash back on the prisoner.
“I am visited yet again by U’tlun’ta, warrior of The People,” he said.
That didn’t sound insane, or not the gibbering insanity of the usual rogue vamp. Not wanting to actually chat, I grunted at him.
“Do you not bow? Do you not genuflect in the presence of one worshipped as a god?”
“Shut up,” I said as I considered the elevator door. This close, I could hear the sounds of gunfire and the shrill screams of the injured. And the thump as something or someone landed on the floor of the elevator shaft. But the door didn’t open. The gunfire continued. I crossed the room.
“Release me and I shall give you a third of my kingdom.” I heard the breath grate in his lungs and realized he was about to shout.
Midstep, I pulled a silver-plated throwing knife and focused the flash on him.
“I shall—”
I threw the blade. It spun through the dark and sank into his throat. He made a soft squeaking sound and went silent. “War Women do not miss,” I whispered, only partway lying, “not with knives.” Though he wasn’t dead, not even now. A vamp that old could heal from a dose of silver. However, it did take care of the annoyance factor.
I took my place beside the elevator door and steadied Wrassler’s Judge. The kick was gonna be bad, but if I managed to blow Peregrinus’ head off before the battle started down here, it would be worth it. That was the plan. Like I’d said, it was lousy. And simple. But sometimes lousy and simple were best.
From behind me, I heard a thump and flipped off my flashlight. The pocket door slid open. Light speared the darkness. Air whooshed down and into the basement. I smelled Bethany, Onorios, and humans in need of deodorant. Great. Just what I needed. Not.
“Spread out,” Bruiser murmured softly, barely at the edge of hearing. His voice was intended for his dedicated headset, one not tied into mine. I knew that because I heard his voice through the air, not through the electronics. “Get in position. Stay well away from the man on the wall.”
“Ain’t no man, dude. Ain’t human,” a human said.
“Better reason to stay from him,” Brandon or Brian said, humor in his voice.
By sound, I knew that they took up positions. Their flashlights never caught me in the glare, allowing me to decide what I wanted to do. And I decided not to share my position with them. I didn’t know how compromised Bruiser was. Or if he was. Or . . . It was too much to think about.
Readying the heavy gun in two hands, I took a stance with one heel braced on the wall and both knees bent. I lowered the weapon and relaxed my shoulders. Keyed my mouthpiece and tapped it twice, code for I’m in position.
I turned off the mouthpiece, breathed in and out, and shrugged my shoulders. Okay, Beast. I’m gonna need some of that time thing you do, I thought at her, for as long as you can hold it. Don’t let me down, girl.
Price will be high.
Yeah. I figured. And I had hoped to never do this again. Silly me.
In the back of my mind Beast snorted and padded forward, taking up the forefront of my mind. She stared out through my eyes, which I kept turned away from the rest of the room to hide their glow. I stood in the dark, in a room with the Son of Darkness, armed Onorios, an insane outclan priestess, and humans. Stupid. Really stupid. But smart to be quiet if they were not on my side in this little battle to come.
Together, Beast and I waited.
Around the edges of the door I saw flashes of light and heard hollow booms. The door thundered, vibrations that shuddered my eardrums. Seen through the crack in the elevator opening, there was an unfinished room on the other side of the elevator shaft, some twenty-by-twenty feet in size. With the elevator secured at the top story of vamp HQ, there was room for close-quarters fighting beyond the doors. Very close-quarters fighting. On the other side of the closed elevator doors I heard a bellow of anger and the clash of swords.
CHAPTER 24
I Probably Shouldn’t Trust Me Either