Beatriz pushed herself off of the rigging and launched herself out across the darkness, falling into a perfect dive as she went. She twirled like an Olympic diver and hit the ground standing up.
As she ran off, I said, “I guess things like that are pretty easy to learn when there’s no fear of snapping your neck or death, what with the whole being-immortal thing.”
Aidan shrugged. “It does have its advantages,” he said.
Another sharp clatter suddenly arose farther down the lighting work, followed by a snarling hiss that had me already raising the remains of my bat. As I did so, I noticed a soft popping hiss coming off of it. I looked closer at the gnarled bat, only to discover that the smears of ichor from impaling the creature were corroding through the remaining metal. “Hey!”
The clattering of talons on the rigging grew louder and I felt the vibrations as another one of the creatures started closing in on us. I stared with concentration off into the darkness until I saw the beady redness of its eyes as it moved forward.
“You see that, right?” I whispered. “You know, given your preternatural peepers.”
Aidan gave me a look of “duh” and turned back to our approaching foe as it clawed its way along the rigging.
“We need to go,” Aidan said.
“No argument from me.” I held up the dissolving stump of metal in my hands. “I’m almost out of bat.”
Aidan looked around as he assessed our situation. “Grab on,” Aidan said. “We’re leaving.”
I looked at the bat. There was no point in trying to sheathe it now, given what little there was left to sheathe. Plus I was going to need both my hands free to hold on to Aidan if I was going to survive the trip down. Below, a small crowd had gathered on the castle grounds in a small-scale battle royale with these creatures. I let go of the bat and let it fall. I was pretty sure that the crowd below had the reflexes to dodge it. And if it clonked onto one of the creatures, or better yet, impaled it, all the better.
I reached for Aidan’s shoulder, but the creature dove for me, separating the two of us and pushing me back. Aidan shoved at its mass as it passed, and its skin brushed wet against me, far too close for comfort. Even though it was thrown off by the force of Aidan’s deflection, it corrected itself with momentum as it swung full circle farther down the rigging on one of the beams, coming back toward me with increased velocity as its sharp talons went for my face.
“Shit,” Aidan said, already in motion himself. He grabbed my arm, digging into it like a vise clamp. “Come with me.”
He jumped as the talons of the creature brushed against my skin, but gravity already had me falling with Aidan toward the castle grounds. He landed hard, using his arms to absorb the shock of me hitting the ground with him. I set my feet down, shaken but unharmed, and looked around.
The scene around us was chaos. Blurs of these creatures and some familiar faces were all around me, fighting and clawing at one another. Aidan shielded me. “Follow me,” he said and started pushing his way through the forest battlefield.
“Wait,” I said. “What the hell are these things?”
He stopped and turned back. “Does it really matter?”
“I suppose not,” I said, “but I’ve been attacked by one of them before.”
“Bull,” Aidan said. “When?”
“Several nights back. Down in SoHo by my apartment.”
“Really,” Aidan said. “That far south?”
I nodded. Aidan started off toward the castle.
“You sure you want to stick with me?” he continued.
“Half an hour ago you were willing to just walk away from us.”
“I’d still like to be able to walk out of here,” I said. “Just not in several pieces. Either way they’d seem content to tear me apart, but to keep my own brain from leaping out of my head and deserting me, I’d like to know what they are. After two separate attacks, color me curious.”
“They’re ferals,” he said. “Happy?” He headed off as if that explained everything.
Before I could ask what that meant, he was off and I was running to keep up with him, dodging the vampire good guys as well as the enemies. Thankfully, there was enough chaos going on around us that no one paid us much attention.
Aidan led me back into the castle and across the vast courtyard. I followed at a close pace even though the largest and most dangerous chunk of the action seemed to be contained just outside the castle walls. Aidan turned into one of the buildings on our left and started down a winding set of stone steps within it. I stopped at the top of them.
“Hold on,” I said. “Is a basement really the best place to be?”
Aidan pushed back his hood and looked at me with blank eyes. “What’s the problem?”
“Isn’t that a bit… constricting? Given all the fighting going on?”
“Getting a bit claustrophobic, are we?” Aidan asked.
“I’m not claustrophobic,” I said. “I just like to have room to flee; that’s all.”
“No worries,” Aidan said. “There’s plenty of room down where we’re going. Besides, it’s not a basement. They’re called catacombs.”
“Great,” I said, putting both hands out against the cold stone of the walls as I followed. “That’s so much more comforting.”
I was relieved to see that wrought-iron lanterns lit the way as we descended farther and farther, but something in the flickering of the candles inside bothered me.
“Are those electrical, too?”
“Not the most authentic touch,” Aidan said, “but yeah. Saves a lot on real candles.”
“I feel like I’m in the line for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride,” I said. “Didn’t realize your kind were so budget conscious.”
Aidan stopped and turned back to me, his eyes narrowed. “There’s a lot you don’t realize about us. You think the Gibson-Case Center was cheap to build? Brandon goes on and on about the price of things all the time.”
“Part of the In-My-Day crowd, I see.”
Aidan turned away. “Maybe at some point you’ll start thinking of us as something more than monsters…”
“I think I’ve seen the real monsters now,” I said, following once again. “You ready to tell me something more about them?”
The downward spiral of stairs ended and opened up into a short hallway not much wider than myself. Aidan stopped at the remains of what looked like a large wooden door. It lay in splinters, the iron bands that had held it together torn and twisted like long black claws.
“I’m not going to tell you,” he said, pushing the twisted metal out of our path. “I’m going to show you.”
I stepped through the doorway into a large cavern. Not a natural cavern, but a man-made one that looked somewhat familiar to me. An arched ceiling rose high overhead, covered in intricate tile work.
“This is a subway station,” I said.
“Correction,” Aidan offered. “This was a subway station, years ago.”
A brush of wind came from the doorway. Without making any sound, Brandon came racing down the stairs.
“Closed around 1933, if I remember it correctly,” Brandon said, walking past me to join Aidan. “It took a little mesmerism on my part to make that happen down at City Hall, but as I’m sure you can attest to, the minds in government are a bit weak in this city.”
“Where’s my brother?” Aidan asked.
“Don’t worry,” Brandon said. “He’s safe. Beatriz is escorting him down here at a more human pace.”
“What exactly is here anyway?” I asked.
“Converted and reclaimed space,” Brandon said. “Nicholas assures me it’s all the rage with the green movement. I’m sure he talked to you about that.”
“Nicholas says a lot of things,” I said. “When he got going on his whole building thing, my brain sorta tuned him out. Not to mention that I was a little distracted trying to find out just what the hell your building’s done to my girlfriend, remember?”