“Good thinking.” Anna broke off another post, and the prisoner emptied a pillowcase and put the food and bottled water inside. Armed with their crude weapons, they slowly opened the door. The structure they were in was round with stairs circling the outer perimeter. “We’re definitely in a tower.”
“That should make it easier to determine where we are,” the prisoner said.
“I don’t know. This fortress had several towers. Guess we’re going down. We’ll have to risk running into someone.”
“Towers often have a door leading to the roof. Perhaps we can climb down and avoid getting caught.”
He was remembering more about his past. She had her own theories, but she didn’t want to spring them on him. Now wasn’t the time. “If I remember the size of this fortress, we’d have a long drop if we fell. But it’s worth a try.”
They checked the small area but didn’t find any other way out. “I guess we take the stairs,” he said.
They crept down the narrow staircase, armed with their bedpost stakes and the pillowcase of food that the prisoner held in his other hand. “We should be nearing the bottom,” Anna said after they had descended dozens of steps.
“I hear voices.”
His hearing must be excellent. Hers was as well, and yet she hadn’t heard anything. “We’ll have to be very quiet from here on out.”
“I’m not as light of foot as my brothers,” he whispered. “They say I stomp like a bull—” He stopped and frowned.
“Your memory is definitely coming back.” If his brothers were quieter than he was, then they were damned good.
They continued without speaking and soon came to a door. The voices were louder. “We must be on the second or third floor,” Anna whispered. “I’ll check.” The door was unlocked. She eased it open and saw a large room filled with people. Before she could move, a woman walked by. There wasn’t even time to shut the door. Anna froze, but the woman moved on without a glance. A man followed behind her, pausing briefly to sniff the air as he passed.
“They can’t see us,” the prisoner whispered after they were gone.
“It’s cloaked,” Anna whispered. “He’s cloaked the tower, just like he did the fortress.”
“What do you mean?”
“He puts a cloak around things, like a magic veil, so it’s invisible from the outside. This entire fortress is cloaked. No one would know it’s here unless they ran into it. That’s how I found it. Problem is, we don’t know how far the cloak extends around the tower, what its inner dimensions are, and how it works. Once we step into this room, they might see us.”
“And just because they can’t see us doesn’t mean they can’t hear us,” he said. A second man approached. He slowed and sniffed, lips drawing back to reveal fangs. Anna stood still, not breathing. The vampire frowned and continued walking.
“Vampires,” she whispered. “This sucks. They have a really strong sense of smell.” At least that’s what she’d gathered from her brief experience with the creatures. “We need to test the cloak. I’ll step out and see—”
The prisoner pulled her back. “I’ll do it.” He scowled. First, he extended his bedpost stake out a couple of feet. No one in the room seemed to notice. “I think if we stay close to the wall we’ll be all right. Follow me.”
The prisoner led the way. Backs against the wall, they crept past the vampires lounging in the richly furnished room. The lighting was low, but Anna could see that some of the creatures were elegant, lean and pale, some Goth. Several couples were drinking in dark corners. Not from glasses, but with fangs sunk into throats as bodies writhed in passion.
“Bloody hell,” the prisoner whispered just above his breath.
A gaunt-looking man walked by, his eyes ringed with red. He stopped and turned, looking straight at Anna through the veiled air. His nostrils flared, and he stepped closer.
Anna froze, her hand tightening on the bedpost stake. She felt the prisoner beside her, but she didn’t dare move or glance at him. Anna closed her eyes and focused on the prisoner’s scent and not the bloodlust in the vampire’s eyes.
The vampire stepped closer. His lips pulled back, baring sharp fangs. Anna looked deep into his red-rimmed eyes as he stared blankly at her. The prisoner’s fingers tightened on his stake, and he lowered the pillowcase of food to the ground. If the vampire took one more step Anna knew the prisoner would attack.
“Don’t,” she mouthed, feeling for his hand. Across the room, a woman glanced in their direction. Smiling, she called out to the man. He sniffed again, shook his head, and walked to the woman. She lifted her hair, and the vampire sank his teeth into her neck. Her body went stiff, either with pleasure or pain.
“We’ve got to get out of this room or go back to the tower,” the prisoner whispered.
“I’m not going back.”
He pointed to an elaborate door at one end of the room. “Let’s try to reach that door. It seems to be the only one that’s close to the wall.” He led her past another couple. Anna looked back and didn’t see the prisoner had stopped to avoid the servant. She plowed into his back causing both of them to stumble. Her stake flew out of her hand and landed at the feet of the red-eyed vampire. He raised his head, his fangs red with blood. The other occupants of the room looked at the bedpost and then lifted red-tinged eyes to Anna and the prisoner.
CHAPTER NINE
WE’RE OUTSIDE THE veil,” Anna said.
“Run,” someone yelled. Anna thought it might have been the servant. The prisoner grabbed Anna’s arm as she reached down for her stake, and they started to run through the dimly lit room. They didn’t get far. Hisses cut through the air as the vampires rushed at them in a streak of light, circling them. Anna and the prisoner stood together, stakes gripped in their hands as they faced the fanged creatures standing only feet away.
Anna was sure they would have attacked immediately if they weren’t trying to figure out who they were and where they’d come from. The vampire with red-rimmed eyes moved first. He leapt at her, and she was pulled aside as the prisoner yanked her arm, flinging her behind him. He swung his bedpost like a sword, knocking the red-eyed monster to the floor. Anna attacked, driving her stake through his heart. He vanished in a pile of dust.
The others looked stunned. “You have to cut off their heads or pierce their hearts,” she yelled, taking advantage of their hesitation.
“If I had a bloody sword, it would help,” the prisoner said. Another one rushed them, and he drove his bedpost into its heart with one powerful thrust.
Definitely a warrior. But there were too many vampires. They would never defeat them all. Someone screamed, and everyone turned. A man stood at the back of the room. He towered over them all, a giant of a man with long, brown hair, and dressed like a biker. He let out a growl, and his skin stretched and bones lengthened, until he didn’t resemble man, but a monster with gray skin and yellow eyes.
“Oh my God.” Anna felt her mouth drop.
“Kill them all!” the demon roared, and more demons burst into the room. Hisses filled the air as the vampires rushed at the demon and his allies.
“We have to leave. Now,” Anna cried. But the prisoner stared at the demon, his face as pale as his shirt. Anna grabbed his hand and yanked. “Come on!”
He moved ahead, using his body to shield her from the fighting creatures. The room echoed with screams and roars. The vampires were fast, but the demons were stronger and appeared to be winning.
The prisoner tried to open the fancy door, but it was locked. He stepped back and threw his weight against it, and when it gave, he shoved Anna inside the dark room. She found a light switch and turned it on. Treasures and antiques filled every space.