“I’m sorry,” said Daniel.
“How could you be? You didn’t know her.” Mr. Martin gestured at the stream he’d blessed. “Drink. You’ll need its protection, where you’re going.”
Daniel and Tina looked dubiously at the muddy water, but Mr. Martin’s gaze was implacable. So they both got down on one knee, cupped some of the blessed water in their hands, pulled pretty much the same face at the smell, and then drank the filthy stuff down as fast as they could manage. When they were finished Daniel felt like doing some serious spitting, but he didn’t want to seem disrespectful. The Hydes got to their feet again, and Mr. Martin nodded slowly.
“That’s it,” he said. “We’re done. Now go and do God’s will . . . or Edward Hyde’s. And finish off as many of the bloodsucking bastards as you can.”
“What will you do now?” said Daniel.
“Wait here, and listen for the sound of the explosion,” said Mr. Martin. “And then, perhaps, I’ll get some rest at last.”
They left him standing there in the unsteady candlelight, with his bible and his thermos and what was left of his faith.
Daniel and Tina trudged steadily on through dark tunnels and deserted workings. The air was cold and getting colder, as they descended farther into the earth. The only sounds were the ones they brought with them: the scuffing of feet and the rustling of clothing. And the occasional muttered curse as they tripped over something, or kicked out at a scuttling rat.
Daniel was still convinced something else was down there with them, following at a safe distance so it could stay out of the light. He didn’t say anything to Tina. He didn’t want her thinking he was jumpy.
They passed through a number of deserted stations that no one used anymore, stepping carefully over rusting rails that hadn’t known a train since the nineteenth century. The advertising posters on the walls offered faded reminders of products no one remembered anymore, like the ghosts of business past. After a while, painted arrows started to appear on the walls, in a variety of colors.
“Could be the vampires,” said Daniel. “Saying: This way to the party.”
“Not necessarily,” said Tina. “They’re not the only things that live down here.”
“Okay . . . ” said Daniel. “What are we talking about, exactly—mole people, survivors of previous civilizations, or dark Wombles?”
“Old things,” said Tina. “From before there was a London. Sleeping away the millennia, waiting for Humanity to disappear. I did some reading on the subject for a previous mission. And learned just enough to make me just a little insecure about being here.”
“I didn’t think Hydes did nervous.”
“They do in places like this. So keep your voice down. We don’t want to wake anything.”
They kept going, until once again a tunnel opened out into a great open space. Tina’s flashlight beam leapt around, illuminating two empty platforms with long-unused rails passing between them. The sign on the wall said Fleet Harbour.
“This is where we’re supposed to be,” said Tina. “The abandoned station next to Albion Square, where the Vampire Clan will already be whooping it up.”
Daniel checked his watch. It was well past midnight. He hadn’t realized how long they’d spent down in the darkness. He looked quickly around him.
“I’m surprised they haven’t set guards here.”
“Why should they?” said Tina. “No one is supposed to know where the gathering is, unless you’ve got an invitation.”
“Written in blood?”
“Almost certainly. Vampires are such drama queens.”
“Do I get to hear the rest of the plan now?” said Daniel.
“It’s really very simple. We attach our bomb to the ceiling. This station was called Fleet Harbour because the River Fleet runs directly above. When the bomb goes off the ceiling will come down, and the blessed waters of the River will fall through. Gallons and gallons of holy water . . . more than enough to destroy all the vampires we’re going to lure here.”
“Simple enough, I suppose, if not particularly straightforward,” said Daniel. “How exactly are we going to persuade the entire Vampire Clan to follow us all the way here from the other station?”
“We’ll just have to do something seriously annoying,” said Tina. “Shouldn’t be too difficult. We are Hydes, after all.” She flashed her light up and down the deserted station. “Once they’re here, there’s nowhere they can go to escape the waters. The River Fleet will fill both of the approach tunnels.”
“How are we supposed to survive?” said Daniel.
“You can hold your breath, can’t you? Come on, help me stick the bomb to the ceiling.”
Daniel craned his neck back, to stare up at the high arching stonework, and then looked at Tina.
“I haven’t seen any ladders anywhere.”
Tina smiled brightly at him. “I’ve been thinking about that. I have an idea.”
Daniel sighed. “I’m really not going to like this, am I?”
“That’s how you know it’s a good idea.”
Tina clambered up onto Daniel’s shoulders, balanced herself carefully, and then stood up straight; but she still couldn’t reach the ceiling, so Daniel had to brace himself while Tina jumped into the air. She slapped the bomb against the curved stone ceiling, and it held. She just had time to hit the activating button before she fell back, and Daniel caught her in his arms. She scowled at him until he quickly put her down.
“Tell me you have the remote control.”
“In my pocket, ready to go,” said Daniel. And then quietly slipped a hand into his pocket, just to check.
“All right! Let’s go find the vampires,” said Tina. “I’ve had some really good ideas on how to annoy them into chasing us.”
“Of course you have,” said Daniel.
It didn’t take them long to make their way from Fleet Harbour to Albion Square station. As they drew nearer they heard a rising clamor of voices. Not the usual sounds of people gathered together, but shouts and screams and a particularly vicious kind of laughter. Like a party in Hell, where someone was always going to be the butt of the joke. Lights spilled into the tunnel mouth, in bursts of clashing hues, as though the gathering couldn’t decide which color scheme to go with, so went with all of them at once. Tina turned off her flashlight and put it away, and they both stopped just inside the tunnel mouth for a cautious look at what they were getting into.
The vampires were partying on one of the abandoned platforms. Hundreds of figures packed tightly together, dancing and gossiping and milling back and forth, with all the vitality of maggots writhing in a corpse. Screams and laughter rose up from the babble of conversation, like bubbles in poisoned champagne. Down here, in the depths, the vampires didn’t have to pretend to be human, and yet still they hid their true nature behind their glamours. Perhaps because they couldn’t stand to see what they really were.
“Okay,” Daniel said quietly. “How do we do this?”
“I was hoping you’d come up with something,” said Tina.
Daniel looked at her. “You’re the one with hands-on experience of monsters. I never even knew vampires were real, until Paul showed up the other day.”
“Outsiders don’t normally get this close to the undead,” said Tina, studying the gathering and trying hard not to grimace. “Not and live to tell of it.”
“What did Edward’s file have to say? He’s the man with the plan.”
“He was a bit short on details.”
“Not to worry,” said Daniel. “We have good reasons to be confident.”
Tina looked at him. “We do?”
“We have special weapons, and we drank the holy water,” said Daniel. “And on top of that, we have one advantage that the vampires don’t.”