With one last tortured look, Zeke turned and fled up the ladder. I spun toward the stage, slashing at another raider, and grabbed the oil lamp from the post. As the mob outside drew close, I raised the lamp over my head and smashed it to the floor, shattering glass and sending flaming oil over the red fabric.
The old curtain caught fire instantly, and tongues of orange flame sprang up with a roar, engulfing the cloth and spreading to the wood beside it. As a pair of raiders came through, I snatched the second lantern and did the same to the other side, flinching away as the oil splattered everywhere, catching the two men in the spray. They howled, flailing their arms as their clothes caught fire, and fled back the way they had come.
The inferno roared, eating rapidly at the old curtain, licking at the wooden frame around it. I stumbled back, clutching the last lantern, fighting the instinct to run as the flames snapped and reached for me, blistering and lethal. For the first time, I felt an almost primal terror, facing down one of a vampire’s greatest fears. Fire could destroy me. The wind, rushing in from the roof and shattered windows, blew clouds of embers and burning cloth into the air; one landed on my coat sleeve, and I hissed as I slapped it away.
I smashed the final lantern at the base of the stage, turned and fled up the ladder, feeling the heat sizzle against my back. Cries of alarm echoed over the roar of the fire as the raiders scattered back and forth, not knowing what to do. Some jumped into the water to flee and some tried dousing the flames with whatever they could find, but the inferno was licking at the walls and ceiling now, spreading to the oiled wood without any sign of slowing down.
At the top of the ladder, I looked over to see Zeke usher the last of the group through a door at the end of the catwalk. He glanced back, and our gazes met. For just a moment, we stared at each other, as the wind and flames shrieked around us, snapping at hair and clothes. I saw regret that he wasn’t able to come with me, a fierce determination to get the rest of them out alive…and a trust that hadn’t been there before. I gave him a brief nod, and he returned it solemnly before vanishing through the doorway.
I turned. The flames were spreading faster than I thought possible, tearing at the walls, the wind carrying burning embers to the plush seats to catch fire. I faced part of the outer wall that had collapsed, seeing crumbled buildings through the gaping hole, the dark outline of the city through the smoke.
I sprinted for the end of the catwalk and leaped, hurling myself over the water, grabbing rough wood and plaster as I hit the wall. A section gave way beneath my hand, plummeting down with a splash as I pulled myself up. Finding handholds along the outer wall, I easily climbed up to the roof and gazed out on the city.
Skeletal buildings loomed above me, dark and crumbling, brushing the sky. I turned, scanning the towers, looking for anything that might indicate Jackal’s lair. They all looked the same, broken and empty, and I spat out a curse. How was I going to find that old man in such an enormous…
I stopped, blinking. A light suddenly glimmered against the darkness like a stray star, a glow at the very top of a massive black tower.
The tower of a vampire king. If I was lucky, I would find Jebbadiah waiting there, alive and unharmed. If my luck held, I would not find a certain raider king waiting for me, as well. And if I was really lucky, I could rescue the old man and bring him back without being killed, by Jackal or Jebbadiah Crosse.
Chapter 22
I didn’t encounter any resistance as I made my way to Jackal’s tower, probably because everyone was preoccupied with the burning building. I hoped that it would be enough of a distraction to cover Zeke’s escape, and that he’d be able to get everyone out safely.
I could still see the glow of the inferno as I approached the tower. Clouds of burning embers billowed over the wind, and several smaller fires had already sprung up in adjoining buildings. It surprised me how far a fire could spread, even through a city that was so completely waterlogged.
The steps and first floor of Jackal’s tower were underwater, but a series of bridges led from the elevated tracks into the lobby. The water here was only waist deep, and it lapped against the platforms and rotting front desk as I snuck into the dark, open room. Pausing on a swaying walkway over the desk, I looked around. How did one get to the top floor of this place? Did they take the stairs all the way up? Did the vampire king know how to fly?