Seduced by the Night (39 page)

After what seemed like an eternity, Dirk unwound the chains. He moved cautiously, poised to react should Patterson suddenly spring into action. However, even with the chain no longer around his neck, Patterson lay still. Dirk slowly backed out of the room. Closing the door behind him, he turned and raced down the hall, praying he reached Beth before it was too late.

"Can you stand?"

Bethany blinked her eyes, trying to clear the dizziness. She found herself staring up into Harris's eyes and realized she was lying on the floor. She stared at him blankly as her brain did a rewind.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. She struggled to push herself into a sitting position and then paused while the world righted itself. Then she put her hands on the floor and tried to leverage herself up.

"Give me your hand."

Bethany paused in her efforts and stared at Harris's outstretched hand. Did she dare trust him? He stood there patiently while she made up her mind. "What did you do in Iraq?" she asked, finally placing her hand in his and letting him pull her to her feet.

The sudden movement made her light-headed and everything turned black. She felt herself falling, but could do nothing to prevent it. Then strong arms wrapped around her, arresting her fall, holding her while the darkness passed.

"T
hank
you." Her voice sounded weak, even to her own ears, but she didn't care. She needed to pull herself together if she was to have any chance at all of escaping.

From far off, she heard the sound of a door crashing open and then she was falling again as Harris was tackled to the floor.

She heard grunts of pain and the clanking of metal against concrete. Struggling to her knees, her hands braced against the floor, she looked over and saw someone on top of Harris, arms flailing. With a quickening of her pulse, she realized who it was.

"Dirk?" Her whisper couldn't be heard above the fighting, so she tried again, this time louder. "Dirk?"

Still he didn't respond and as adrenaline shot through her body, she got to her feet. "Stop it," she ordered, going over to grab his arm. He shook her off as if she were nothing more than a fly. A glimpse of Harris's bloodied face gave her the strength to try again.

She pulled at Dirk's arm pinning Harris to the floor by the throat. It was like trying to move a stone column. Giving up, she grabbed Dirk's face and turned it so he stared at her. It was a frightening sight. Never had he looked so much like a vampire. She was almost afraid he wouldn't recognize her.

Keeping her voice smooth and easy, she tried talking to him. "Dirk, look at me. Please. You have to let Harris up."

"Why?" Dirk's voice came out a snarl.

"He saved my life."

 Dirk shook his head. "I saw him. He was attacking you."

"No. I was too weak to stand. He was helping me up."

Dirk looked unconvinced, so she hurried on. "Patterson came in here and attacked me. Harris stopped him. Please. I'm begging you. Don't kill him. Please. For me?"

Dirk loosened his grip and she heard Harris draw in a breath. Running her hand down Dirk's arm, she pried his fingers from around the vampire's throat and pulled him away.

Harris lay there, unmoving, his gaze focused on Dirk. Bethany didn't know if he was hurt or just being cautious. Once Dirk and Bethany stepped back to give him room, though, he got to his feet.

He stood there, rubbing his throat. "What now?"

Dirk gestured to Bethany and himself, "We're getting out of here and you're going to let us."

Harris shook his head. "It's not that simple. These pipes run under the entire city; some of them caved in years ago and are impassable—and there are other surprises out there. Unless you know the way, you could be down here a long time before you get out." He nodded to Bethany. "She's not in any shape to be down here that long and from the looks of it, neither are you."

Dirk took a step forward. "How about I just beat the directions out of you?"

Harris shrugged, though his eyes blazed angrily. "I'm already dead. What more do you think you can do to me?"

Dirk started forward again, but Bethany pulled him back. "This isn't helping," she said, looking from changeling to vampire. "We—"

"What did you do to Patterson?" Harris interrupted, his brow furrowed.

"What? I killed him."

Harris gave an impatient jerk of his head. "No, I don't think so. Royally pissed him off, maybe, but you didn't kill him." He looked back at Dirk. "Can't you feel him?"

Bethany watched Dirk cock his head to one side, as if he was listening to a sound she couldn't hear. Then he grabbed her hand. "Time to go—can you make it?"

His blue eyes shone with an intense light. "Yes." She was exhausted beyond belief, and frightened, but she would do whatever he asked of her.

"Get out of our way," Dirk growled when Harris blocked the door.

"Not so fast. Ms.
Stavinoski
?" Harris stared at her expectantly.

She knew what he wanted and it reminded her of the journal. Releasing Dirk's hand, she crossed the room, picked it up, and hurried back to Dirk's side. Instead of taking his hand, though, she stepped in front of him, facing Harris.

"I'm sorry. I don't know how to make you human again. I lied to you earlier because I wanted to escape and I'm sorry for that." She looked down at Dr. Weber's journal and then held it out to him.

"I think that Dr. Weber might have been on to something. I don't know if there's a cure for you or not, but if there is, the notes in here might help."

"What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" Harris growled, taking it from her. "Kidnap another biochemist?" He threw the book across the room where it smashed several glass flasks sitting on top of the lab table.

"Maybe I could help," she offered hesitantly. "If I can get out of here—to a real lab. Maybe in time—"

 She was interrupted by a roar as something powerful hit the door from the other side. Only Harris, leaning against it, held it closed.

"Open the door, Harris," Patterson yelled, his manic tone more frightening than anything Bethany had heard before. She watched as Harris and Dirk stared at each other, volumes of unspoken words passing between them.

Patterson rammed the door again, startling her and apparently breaking the deadlock between vampire and changeling.

Clenching his jaw, his expression world-weary, Harris spoke. "When you leave, stay right. Where it dead-ends, you'll find a set of rungs in the wall leading to the surface. It comes out in the park. From there, you're on your own." He waited until Dirk nodded and then, moving at lightning speed, tore open the door and rushed at Patterson. The sound of the two vampires fighting was more like that of two wild boars.

Dirk grabbed her hand and they took off running through the pipe. The farther they moved away from the vampires' lair, the fainter the sounds of the fight became. They turned right at the first intersection and kept running. The light faded until it finally became too dark for Bethany to see. With his night vision, she knew Dirk would have no trouble, but several times she stumbled and he had to catch her before she fell.

When they neared an intersection where another pipe T-boned into the one they were in, Dirk slowed their pace, bringing them to a stop. Beth moved close and automatically Dirk wrapped his arms around her, holding her. She curled her arms around his neck and froze.

"Is that blood?" She lightly touched his skin and then pulled her hand away, pressing thumb and index fingers together to check the stickiness.

"I'm okay," he assured her.

"No, you're not. Patterson bled you again, didn't he?"

He captured her hand in his and brought it to his mouth where he kissed it. "I'm okay. Let's keep moving."

They continued down the pipe, stopping occasionally to listen for sounds of pursuit. Bethany wasn't sure how far they'd gone when she heard a noise that chilled her to the bone. Up ahead in the tunnel, blocking their path to freedom, were several of Patterson's abandoned vampires and from the sound of their piercing howls, they were crazed and hungry.

She instinctively clutched Dirk's hand a little harder as she slowed her steps. "How many? Can you see them?"

"Four. Maybe five."

She fought to keep the panic at bay. "Maybe we can find another route?"

"The only other way is back the way we came—that's not much of an option."

"What'll we do?"

"I can fight them," he said grimly.

She thought about that as the sounds of the approaching vampires got louder. "No. You've lost too much blood and besides, you have no weapon. How much of a chance do you have?"

She heard him sigh. "I can't kill them, but if they're busy fighting me, you might be able to sneak past them and escape."

She grabbed his hand and pulled him back a step. "No. I'm not leaving without you. Let's go back. We can hide in a side tunnel until they move past us."

She realized that Dirk must be hurt worse than she originally thought because he didn't argue with her. They retraced their steps, the howls of the vampires trailing after them. At the first side tunnel, they turned, taking it far enough that the approaching vampires wouldn't see them when they passed.

Pressed against the wall, they waited, hardly daring to breathe. When the vampires came to the opening, however, instead of walking past it, they turned in.

Bethany heard Dirk swear softly under his breath as he led her farther down the pipe. The sound of the vampires continued to grow louder, as if they were coming faster. Bethany and Dirk had no choice but to keep moving. It soon became apparent that the vampires knew they were there and were hunting them.

Going down yet another intersecting tunnel, Bethany and Dirk came to a sudden stop.

"What's the matter?" Bethany asked, all too aware of the vampires closing in on them.

"Dead end."

"Really? Do you see rungs leading up?"

There was a moment of silence as Bethany waited, trying not to let herself get too excited. She hated it down in the tunnels. The oppressive dark was suffocating her.

"There's nothing here." He sounded tense. "We'll have to go back."

"But the vampires—"

"I know, but if we stay here, we're trapped."

He tugged her arm and she stumbled after him. It was hard for her to tell how far they'd backtracked before Dirk suddenly pulled her to a stop and pressed her to the wall.

As she opened her mouth to ask what was going on, he covered it with his hand to silence her.

"Vampires," he whispered in her ear, barely loud enough for her to hear.

He pushed her back the way they'd come, hugging the wall as they went. Then suddenly Dirk dropped to the ground.

Panic ripped through her as the image of Dirk lying unconscious flashed through her mind. When a hand grabbed her arm, she nearly cried out.

"It's okay. It's me. I found a shaft. We can hide there, but we need to hurry."

She let Dirk guide her as the sound of the approaching vampires got louder.

"Here," Dirk whispered, bringing her to a stop. "There, at the base of the wall, is a small shaft. It'll be tight but I think we can both fit. Get down on your hands and knees and back into it. I'll guide you."

With Dirk's help, she did as he instructed and backed into the small opening. Just as he'd warned her, it was a tight fit, especially when he squeezed in beside her.

They had no sooner wedged themselves in than the vampires entered their tunnel. Their guttural snarls and heavy breathing reminded her of a pack of wolves on the hunt and if she hadn't already been lying down, she felt certain her legs would have buckled from sheer terror.

She prayed they weren't smart enough to look down and wondered how visible the shaft was to someone with night vision. As the sounds of them grew closer still, Bethany felt something brush her foot. At first, she thought it was Dirk's foot, but then it came again.

 "There's something in here with us." There was virtually no sound to her whisper, but she knew Dirk heard her.

"Be still," he whispered back.

Easy for him to say, she thought as whatever it was brushed up against her leg. This time, she thought she felt the scratch of claws.

She leaned closer to Dirk. "What is it?"

His breath was warm against her cheek when he answered her. "Rat"

Bethany felt the scream well up inside her as she shrank back as far as the shaft would allow. When the rat burrowed between her legs, she let loose with a bloodcurdling yell.