Yaref started to bay, the deep awoowoo that seemed to be their warning cry.
Errata gripped Talia’s arm. “Hold on. Something’s gone wrong.”
Talia pulled herself free and crept forward, her gun in both hands.
“Talia!” Errata hissed.
A huge, angry fireball whistled down the corridor. The enemy! It was bigger, brighter, and faster than anything Talia had seen. Growling and snarling erupted and she heard Joe’s angry shout. Talia turned and ran back to where Errata waited. The reporter was unarmed.
“Run! ” Talia ordered.
Errata obeyed. Neither of them looked back until they reached the last place where two pathways joined. They crouched for a moment just inside the mouth of the intersecting tunnel, both silent and still in the dark. There was an angry growl, and then stillness. The hypnotic slosh-slosh of the ocean sounded right beneath Talia’s feet.
“Now what?” Errata whispered.
A fireball burst past the tunnel entrance, making them jump. Talia could hear Errata’s heart pounding fast. Yaref flew past, legs churning. Pause. Then a huge shaggy wolf burst past.
“Was that Joe?” Talia whispered.
“I think so.” Then Errata raised a finger to her lips.
Four figures ran past, two vampires and two Hunters. Talia recognized both Hunters as lieutenants of her father. Seeing them together with the Undead was just weird. Unexpected tears filled her eyes, as if trying to wash away the sight. Her old tribe was violent and filled with hate, but now they’d betrayed everything they stood for in a bid for yet more power.
One of the vampires stopped, called fire to his hand, and threw it with the efficiency of a sportsman. Talia itched to shoot, but she couldn’t take him and the other three in time to prevent return fire.
The vampire ran on. Talia waited a long moment until the sound of their footsteps had fallen silent before she stirred.
“Do you remember the way back?” Errata whispered.
“Baines is still down that tunnel. We’ve got to try finding him.”
“We don’t have Joe or the hounds.” Errata looked doubtful. She pulled out her cell phone. There were no bars in this part of the underground.
“We could at least go look for Baines,” Talia argued. “Yaref thought he was down here. It can’t be far. This tunnel has to end sometime.”
Talia could see Errata thinking, the call to adventure warring with caution. “Okay. Let’s look.”
They slowly slipped back into the main tunnel, stopping to look and listen every few yards. They stayed at the edge of the passage, close to the brickwork. In places, the floor was spongy, no more than rotten planks.
As Talia suspected, there wasn’t much tunnel left. Soon they could see the end of it, a round brick mouth looking out at the gray ocean. Flakes of snow made a diagonal curtain across the opening. The wind was freezing cold.
There was a power boat tied up at the tunnel mouth. Errata pointed the camera at it. “Want to bet that’s where those guys came from? Think they were patrolling this entrance?”
“Watch it!” Talia cried.
Errata froze, pulling the camera from her face. About twenty feet from the tunnel mouth was a gaping hole in the floor. Errata looked down. “Omigod! Baines!”
Talia rushed over. The detective had propped himself against the wall, his gun in his hand. He looked white-faced and pinched with cold.
“Are you hurt?” Talia asked.
“I blew my knee falling.”
“Maybe I can pull you out.”
“Watch out for the cat,” he said.
“Huh?” said Errata.
“A different cat. I used up my pepper spray getting it to back off. It’s still around.”
Errata pulled back from the hole, whipping her head around and sniffing the air. “Is it very big?”
“Let’s just say Fluffy’s on steroids, and he’s mean.”
With quick motions, she shut down the camera and stowed it safely inside her leather knapsack. “Take this,” she said to Talia, passing her the bag. “I’m going to get changed.”
Talia set the knapsack to one side and lay down on her stomach, peering into the hole. She remembered you had to lie flat when rescuing someone from an icy pond. She guessed falling through soft ice and rotten wood involved similar physics. Spreading out her weight would be a wise idea. Many vampires could levitate, but she’d never mastered the trick. “Can you reach my hand?”
Baines holstered his gun and hopped over on one foot, hissing through his teeth with pain. Their fingertips brushed. “Not quite,” he said.
She wriggled forward a couple of inches, listening for ominous moans from the flooring, and reached down again. This time, she got a firm grip on his hand. He was as cold as she was, all of the usual human warmth having fled his fingers.
It was at that moment she heard a low, feline murmur. She twisted to look behind her. “Oh, shit.”
Baines hadn’t been kidding. A long, wiry tabby was stalking around the hole, staring at Talia with brilliant green eyes. As cats went, it wasn’t pretty. One ear was torn. She could see its ribs. Its tail was missing patches of fur. And it was the size of a St. Bernard.
Talia froze, mesmerized by the lime-green stare. She could reach for her gun, but by the time she could draw it, she’d be vampire pâté.
“It’s there, isn’t it?” asked Baines.
“Uh-huh.”
“It’s fast. I’m a good shot, but I’ve only managed to wing it.”
“That’s so not what I want to hear right now.”
A second yowl rippled down the tunnel. Errata.
The cat sprang to attention, forgetting all about Talia.
Talia immediately took advantage of the reprieve. Bracing herself the best she could, she gripped Baines’s hand and hauled with all her vampire strength. She heaved him up, up until his other hand could grab the edge of the hole. That gave her a bit more stability, so she used her free hand to clutch a fistful of his coat and drag him forward. It was an awkward maneuver. He landed with a flop, using his elbows to lever himself the rest of the way out of the hole.
Talia got to her feet, grabbing Errata’s backpack. Baines got to his feet, but it was obvious he wasn’t up to much walking, much less running away. Talia wrapped his arm over her shoulders, taking his weight. Step one was accomplished. She’d found their man. The next order of business was to get him aboveground, preferably without getting chewed on along the way.
The first obstacle was the Evil Kitty. It was hunched into an unhappy ball, tail lashing, sending up a nonstop chorus of warbling yowls. Errata was answering in kind, her own tail whipping against the floor.
The werecougar was smaller than Talia would have expected, her body only about four feet long. Errata was packed with muscle, her fur a tawny golden brown except for her white chin and underbelly. Rather than hunkering down, she had one paw in the air, ready to swipe at her opponent.
The caterwauling blended into a continuous meeeoww w w w w owrr . Talia would have given a lot for earplugs.
She struggled to think past the racket. She’d never get Baines back through the tunnels to the Castle entrance, but there was a boat a short hobble away. Under the circumstances, a bit of piracy didn’t bother her, especially when the rightful owner was a villain.
A hop at a time, they started toward it. Baines was silent, his face gone ashen with pain.
“Do you know how to hotwire a boat?” Talia asked.
“Not. Done it. Long time,” Baines replied through his teeth.
But you have. Interesting. Talia eyeballed the vessel as they got closer. It was a small Ranger, okay for traveling close to shore. “It’s got an old Evinrude outboard. There’s a red plug on the main wire harness. Disconnect it and jump the starter straight from the battery. Just choke it down to kill the engine later.”