Flight from Hell (9 page)

Another moment, and I came to the huckleberry bush. Gingerly moving one branch out of the way, I peeked behind it. And there, I found what we were looking for. A narrow stairwell led down to a lower level behind the mausoleum.

As I stepped back, preparing to go alert the others, the sound of a door opening caught my attention. I made a jump for the cedar, praying I hadn't been seen.

A tall woman appeared from the stairwell. I'd never seen her before, but I knew she was a vampire. She had a European look to her, which was hard to put into words. But . . . there was a certain flair, an exotic bent to her. Her ink-black hair was layered, neatly trimmed into a chin-length bob with bangs as straight as a razor's edge. Dressed in an expensively tailored, form-fitting jumpsuit, her body was lean and tight, and she walked with a grace that made me think she'd been a vampire for a very long time.

She paused, glancing around, and for a moment I thought she had spotted me, but then she launched herself into the air and, in bat form, soared up and out of sight. She managed it so gracefully that, again, I thought, this woman had to have been turned either a long time ago, or she had a powerful sire.

As she flew off to the east, I thought about following her but scrapped the idea. Even though I was now adept at transforming, if she were to come at me in bat form, I'd have no fucking idea what to do. Instead, I waited till she had vanished from sight, and then headed back to the others to tell them what I found.

Alex cocked his head. “Hmm . . . sounds like he may have found himself a partner. But honestly? I don't think we should assume Julian's club is down there. He's smarter than to give himself away too easily. But
something
is going on down at the bottom of that mausoleum, and Shimmer is nearby. So we'd better get our asses down there.”

“And if he's not there, we should at least have a better idea of what to expect.” I frowned. “I wonder if this is the only entrance to the bottom level?”

“Or even if there's only one level belowground? There could be more.” Delilah chewed on the inside of her lip. “I think we have to be prepared for anything—go in with no preconceptions.”

She gave me a guarded gaze and I wondered if she had some sort of premonition, but then realized that she was just making good sense.

“Truth, that.” Camille shifted her weight to one hip. “I think, if there are other entrances, they probably don't come out by the base of the mausoleum. It's not that big of a structure so here's betting that what lies below ground is larger, and want to make a wager there's a system of tunnels attached? It wouldn't make sense to have all entrances congregated at the foot of the building.”

“Makes sense. But we don't have time to go looking for other entrances. We prowl around here too much and they'll notice us for sure.” A thought struck me. “However, we can't rule out a secret entrance from inside of the mausoleum.” I glanced at the others. “Okay, here's the plan. First, Alex, you and I slip into the building and search for a secret entrance. If we find one, we'll come back here, get you guys, and go in that way. If we don't find one, we have to storm the front door, so to speak.”

I waited, but no one objected. Camille, Delilah, and Ralph tucked themselves behind a stand of nearby fir trees, crouching behind the ferns. The ferns were dying off for the season, but they still provided enough cover to hide behind. Alex and I shifted form, and went winging toward the mausoleum. He was fairly graceful in flight.

As we flew through the front entrance to the mausoleum, which was ajar, I was relieved to see no one in sight. We landed, turning back into ourselves, and cautiously proceeded to take stock of the situation.

The building was small, like most family mausoleums, with plaques on the walls that indicated where the members had been interred. Now, of course, the bodies and coffins had been moved, but it was still sobering to see the attempts FBHs went to in order to keep time from eroding their loved ones' remains.

The ivy outside had found chinks in the stone, and now the vines wove around pillars and handholds, gripping tightly to the inner walls. It was thick, and spiders were using the foliage as anchors for their webs, which created a wall of spiderwebs, a city of the creatures.

There were two stone benches inside, no doubt for those who had come to mourn. Otherwise, there were a few broken crates, and scattered debris from the teens and the curious who had wandered through the park.

We searched the base of the benches. Nothing. Then, a thought occurred to me. What about the slots for the coffins? The lockers, so to speak? I hurried over to the wall and tugged on one of the stone doors that guarded the dead. It reluctantly opened, and I shone my mini-flashlight inside, looking for anything that might indicate a secret entrance. It was impossible to see from out here and so I glanced back at Alex.

“I'm going in. Watch my back.” He could lock me in, if he wanted. It went against my nature to trust him like this, but there wasn't time for paranoia.

“Got it. Go.” He nodded for me to crawl inside, as he took up watch, his back to the wall.

I shimmied inside the stone hole. Rectangular, large enough for a coffin plus a few inches, it meant my size worked for me. I was petite enough to manage a fit that left me wiggle room and the ability to turn over. As I elbowed my way along, I examined the walls, floor, and ceiling of the tube. Nothing that I could see. No triggers, no hidden levers.

I scrunched back out and dropped to the floor, shuddering. Vampire or not, I still didn't like tightly enclosed spaces.

“That one's a no-go. Next?”

Alex yanked open the next stone plug, and once again, I squirmed inside. Again, nada. Same with the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth. By the time we approached the seventh coffin slot, I was beginning to doubt that we were on to anything. At the eighth, I was sure of it. But we'd check all ten just to make certain. On number nine, I was glad we'd kept going.

There, on the right side of the slot, was a lever. I examined it, then a thought occurred to me. This locker was on the bottom row. Bottom left, buttressing up against a wall. I shimmied back out of the tube and began to search the wall next to it. Sure enough, so faint I probably wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been looking, was the outline of a door. I motioned for Alex to join me, and silently traced my finger around the indentations.

We'd been talking in low whispers, but now that we'd found this, I didn't want
any
chance of being overheard. Alex nodded, then gestured toward the park where the others were waiting. I stood back, transforming into a bat as he replaced the cover on the slot. If we hadn't been noticed by now, no sense in giving any more of a heads-up than needed. In another moment, he had joined me and we flew off, back to the trees.

“There's a secret door and I'll bet you anything it leads below. We have to get into the mausoleum without being seen. Since none of us can travel through the Ionyc Sea, I suggest we track around front, keeping out of sight, then make a beeline for the entrance. We'll still be chancing things but we'll have to risk it.”

Camille and Delilah nodded. Ralph shrugged, apparently willing to go along with anything we might suggest. And so, we waded through the undergrowth, under cover of the storm, till we were behind a yew tree that stood near the front of the mausoleum. There was nobody in sight.

The downpour had become a thunderstorm, as well, and now in addition to the wind and driving rain, we had forks of lightning lighting up the sky, and thunder crashing in rolling waves. This storm would probably go down in the record books, that was for certain. Puddles of water had gathered along the sidewalk where the cement had sunk, and we were all so wet that any thought of drying off had gone by the wayside.

One by one, we slipped along the edge of the path and up the steps, sliding through the partially opened door. When we were all inside, I held up my hand for silence as Alex shone his flashlight over to the ninth coffin locker. I yanked off the stone closure and motioned for the rest of them to get ready, then flipped the lever I'd found inside.

Slowly, the outline I'd found on the wall began to slide open—a heavy secret door, stone on what looked to be iron hinges, swung inward. It swung silently, which told me that somebody must have oiled it over the years because iron didn't last long in this climate without rusting.

The opening led to a staircase going down. Sure enough, as I thought—we'd found another entrance to the lower level. The darkness loomed from below but it was easy to see only one of us could go at a time and we had to descend without using light. Which meant anybody down below would be able to see us. But there was no help for it.

I motioned for Alex to take up the rear. Best to have a vamp in back just in case someone decided to tail us. Delilah moved up behind me, then came Camille, then Ralph right in front of Alex.

Delilah held the flashlight over my shoulder, so I could have both hands free should anything come at us. I motioned for her to shine it on the steps so I could see if there were any drop-offs or broken stairs or anything out of the usual.

As we eased down the steps, the noise from the storm became muffled, which helped us to listen for anything that might be ahead of us. The steps switched about ten stairs down, turning back on themselves, and when we came to a landing, we were facing a door. Again, it was made from stone, but this one wasn't secreted away; it was in plain sight.

I paused as Alex leaned forward to tap me on the shoulder. He pointed to the homing device, which was glowing a steady blue now—no flickering, no wavering. We were getting closer.

Slowly, I grasped the handle and eased the door open, holding my breath. A silent rush of air gusted past and I found myself looking into a tunnel. Nobody was in sight, so we headed in, Alex cautiously closing the door behind us. Once in the tunnel, I whispered for Delilah to turn off the flashlight. Pale lights—electric by the look of them, or perhaps battery operated—lined the walls. We wouldn't have to worry about our light alerting anybody here.

The tunnel was roughly carved, but looked old—as old as the actual building. Which begged the question as to what the hell the Severance family had needed with an underground tunnel.

We slipped through the passageway, stopping for a brief moment while Delilah examined the lights. She whispered, “Generator is my guess. They aren't battery operated.”

We were on a sloping grade, though it wasn't terribly steep. Some twenty yards in, I paused. Up ahead, there was an opening—we were approaching either a juncture point or a larger room. I held up my hand, pointing ahead, then motioned for them to stay put while I slipped up to the opening.

As I peeked around the edge, I caught sight of something I hadn't expected. No vampire club, or even a slavery setup like I thought we might encounter. Instead, the opening led into an underground room, dim and gloomy yes, but it was furnished like a luxurious living room. Leather sofas and chairs, heavy old wood in tables and bookshelves, china vases on plinths . . . what the hell had we stumbled into?

And then, my attention was caught by a busty, athletic-looking woman sitting on one of the sofas. Her feet were propped up on a footstool, and she was wearing black jeans, a silver belt, and a form-fitting V-neck sweater. She was also wearing retro pumps with chunky heels, and her long dark hair—streaked with blue and violet—was caught back in a ponytail. I recognized her from Carter's place—it was Shimmer. But instead of the brilliant blue I remembered her eyes being, they were glazed over, almost white. What the hell? Had she been turned? But her eyes wouldn't have changed that quickly.

Camille had shoved her way to the front beside me and now she peeked over my shoulder. “Shimmer. And look at her eyes. She's under a sorcerer's charm—her eyes have that look. If we go in there, chances are she's going to fight us, so be prepared.”

“How do we break the charm? Do we have to kill Julian?” I prayed the answer would be no, because finding him meant wading through that brunette bombshell of muscle. And even though she'd lost some of her powers, she was still a dragon, and her strength was still going to be insanely powerful.

Camille shook her head. “Not necessarily. If we can counter the charm with a different type of magic . . .” She hesitated. “If Smoky were here, he could probably break her out of it.”

“Your cell phone? Will it work down here?” I didn't think it would—hell, the damned things wouldn't even work in a parking garage, but it was worth a try.

She scooted to the side and pulled out her phone. After a few seconds, she shook her head. “No bars. I can go back up top and call him. He's been to the park, he can make it to the edge through the Ionyc Sea. Then I can bring him down here.”

I didn't like it—Camille going off on her own like that. She could easily get nabbed by any stray vampires. “Not alone, you don't. Take Alex with you. I can handle things here with Delilah and Ralph. I think the outside entrance also opens into this room, see the stairs over there?” I nodded to behind one of the sofas where we could see an exit leading to what looked like a stairwell. “Ten to one they spiral up to the entrance in back of the mausoleum.”

Camille tapped Alex on the arm. “Let's get a move on, then.”

He graciously smiled at her, and took the lead. “I'll keep you safe, love.” As they disappeared down the tunnel, I hoped I was doing the right thing. We still didn't know Alex from Adam, and here I was sending him off with my sister. But she had faced down far worse menaces.

As soon as they disappeared down the corridor, I motioned for Delilah and Ralph to backtrack a few yards so we wouldn't be in view should anybody look in our direction. As we crouched, I thought over our options. Shimmer didn't seem to be in direct danger—not slouched on the sofa, reading a book like she was.

“I'm beginning to doubt they figured out we'd be coming tonight.” I frowned. “Shimmer has made herself at home. There's nobody else in there.”

“Don't be so sure.” Ralph pushed his glasses up by their bridge from where they'd slid down his face. He was a cutie, actually, his hair was a mop of red curls. “Could be the trap we talked about. Why wouldn't they leave a guard with her, just in case?”