Prologue 18 страница

hiring a sketch artist to discover her

identity sooner. Unintentionally, it had

also kept me from recognizing her as the

same vampire who’d watched Dawn and

Marty’s last performance the night of the

carnival explosion.

Then dark topaz eyes met mine as

Cynthiana looked up and stared straight at

me.

Chapter 44

A s casually as possible, I glanced away,

pretending to smile at someone farther

down the walkway. Just another vampire

meeting a friend, nothing to see here.

When I could still feel her gaze on me, I

headed in the direction I’d been looking,

hoping the skin-scouring version of a

deodorizing treatment I’d undergone had

removed all traces of Vlad’s scent from

me. Then I picked a person at random,

coming toward her while saying, “Hello! ”

in Romanian as if we were old friends.

Something punched me in the back, a

hard double tap that made me spin around

so fast, I splashed coffee on the person

closest to me. As that man began to sputter

out a curse, another hard double punch hit

me square in the chest.

I looked down. Silvery liquid oozed out

of two holes onto my blazer, but before

my mind even registered that I’d been

shot, instinct took over. I leapt up,

clearing the crowd and hitting the roof of

the tunnel in less than a second. A piece of

concrete exploded near my head and I

spun away as fast as I could. Then gravity

brought me back down into the crowd. I

landed on a few people, inadvertently

knocking them over. As soon as I hit the

ground, the screaming started.

I couldn’t see anything through the sea

of legs surrounding me, which meant the

shooter couldn’t see me, either. Still, I

wasn’t about to use them for cover. Liquid

silver bullets might be as dangerous to me

as regular ones were to humans, yet thanks

to Vlad’s insistence, I wore a bulletproof

vest underneath my clothes. The people

around me didn’t have such protection. I

began to crawl away from the crowd,

throwing my coffee cup aside after

noticing with disbelief that I’d held on to

it this entire time. As I crawled, I pinched

the wire underneath my scarf. I hadn’t

seen her do it, but it didn’t take psychic

powers to guess who’d shot me.

“The jig is up, ” I said shortly. “And

she’s firing liquid silver bullets.”

I reached the end of the crowd and

stood up. As if my gaze was drawn, I saw

Cynthiana amidst the terrified commuters,

almost casually tucking her gun back into

her jacket. She must’ve thought the silver

bullets had done their job and I was dead

beneath the stampeding crowd.

Vlad’s voice barked through the

receiver. “Don’t engage her. Go to the

Crangasi station. We’ll be there soon.”

Cynthiana whirled, either sensing my

presence or hearing Vlad’s voice over the

noise from the commuters.

She stared at me for what only took a

second, yet felt like an eternity. I don’t

know what possessed me to rake my

coffee-coated hand over the side of my

face, but I did, using the liquid and the

material from my glove to wipe away the

thick makeup that hid my scar. When she

saw it, her dark topaz gaze turned bright

green and she bared her teeth in a snarl.

“ You. ”

I expected her to go for the gun again.

Or to charge me; she looked as furious as I

felt. Both would’ve been fine. I’d lead her

away from the people if she charged, and

if she shot at me, at least she wouldn’t be

shooting at any innocent bystanders. But

Cynthiana didn’t do either of those things.

Instead, she raised her hands and shouted

something in a language I didn’t recognize.

As if yanked by invisible strings, every

commuter who’d started to flee stopped in

their tracks. Then they turned around and

headed straight toward me, their hands

outstretched like claws and their

expressions murderous. Over the horde, I

saw Cynthiana’s snarl change into a smirk.

Then she ran down the subway tunnel in

the opposite direction from the Gara de

Nord.

I muttered a curse as I began to plow

through the crowd, trying not to hurt them

as I shoved them away. I wasn’t shown the

same consideration. My hair was yanked,

multiple fists punched me, and I was even

bitten when a woman latched on to my leg

and wouldn’t let go despite my dragging

her as I ran. My first attempt to use

vampire mind control to get them off me

didn’t work. I was either doing it wrong

or Cynthiana’s spell was too strong. I

managed to get free only after losing my

jacket, scarf, and several pieces of my

pants courtesy of the biting woman. Then I

dashed away before the rest of the mob

joined in the melee.

As I ran toward the Crangasi station, I

squeezed the wire near my neck. “She

went down the M1 tunnel, ” I shouted, then

let out a groan as I saw the frazzled end of

the wire sticking out of the Kevlar vest.

Someone had torn it in two. Without

hesitation, I turned around and began to

run in the same direction Cynthiana had.

With no way to tell Vlad where she was

going, if I didn’t track her, she might get

away before his people converged on the

Metro.

A shrill sound and blinding light

signaled a train headed right for me. I

jumped off the tracks and onto the

concrete lip of the tunnel, hugging the wall

as I continued as fast as I could along the

narrow ledge. When the subway passed

me, the wind from its velocity tried to

suck me into its path, yet my new muscles

held me to the wall as if I’d been glued.

Once it was gone, I jumped down and

dashed along the tracks, my gaze lighting

up the darkness with green.

If not for my enhanced vision, I

would’ve missed the slot in the tunnel

across the tracks that marked the entrance

to another passageway. No light shone

from within and the walls were wet from

what looked like a recurring leak, leaving

a shallow, dirty puddle in front of the

entrance. Must be one of the many unused

passages that made up the underground

labyrinth of the Metro. I paused, glancing

between that and the rest of the tunnel. If I

were Cynthiana, which way would I go?

Seeing a muddy footprint leading into

the passageway made up my mind. I ran

over the tracks and into the narrow

entrance, grimacing at the smell that

suggested indigents used this as a shelter.

Now there was no point trying to track

Cynthiana by scent, though over the stink, I

caught an odd, earthy odor. Was that her?

If so, she needed to change her perfume.

I ran faster when I heard sounds ahead,

almost like a mad scrabbling. Had Vlad’s

people entered the passageway from the

other side and caught her? The narrow

tunnel forked ahead so I couldn’t see. Just

in case Cynthiana was waiting with a gun

aimed for my head, I hunched so I’d be a

few feet shorter than expected, and then

peered around the corner.

What looked like hundreds of glowing

eyes stared back at me. That scrabbling

noise increased. So did harsh chirping

sounds as a mass of gray fur and fangs

charged right at me.

“You bitch! ” I yelled down the

passageway.

Cynthiana wasn’t done with her tricks.

Now it seemed she’d bewitched every rat

in these tunnels to attack me.

Despite my revulsion, I began to run

toward them. Vampires can’t get rabies, I

mentally chanted as dozens of the rodents

flung themselves onto me as though I were

covered in meat. I crushed several of them

as I plowed onward, but just as many held

on with razorlike teeth and claws. Pain

exploded in almost every part of me

except what was covered by the Kevlar

vest. Some fell off as they chewed through

the rubber wetsuit and bit into my currentfilled

skin, but more of them took their

place.

I wanted to dance around madly while

shaking them off, yet I continued on while

only clearing the disgusting rodents I

could reach as I ran. If Cynthiana thought

she’d empty a clip of liquid silver bullets

into me while I was distracted by the

results of her latest filthy little spell, she’d

thought wrong.

My refusal to look away from what lay

ahead is why I saw them. Large forms

hugging the wall of the next corner,

covered in so much grime they almost

blended into the dank concrete. I caught a

whiff of that strange earthy scent even

over the stench from the rats and the smell

of my own blood, and when I stopped

running, they must have guessed that I

spotted them because they came out of

their hiding place. All dozen of them.

They looked human, but their eyes

gleamed with an inner light no normal

person had. It wasn’t vampire green and

they didn’t have fangs, yet they moved

with a quickness that only came from

supernatural ability. When their mouths

opened obscenely wide as they charged at

me, I knew what they were.

Ghouls, I realized with a sinking

feeling. And ghouls ate people, including

vampires.

Chapter 45

W ith rats still chewing on me, I tore off

my right glove. A thin line of white pulsed

from my hand, growing until it reached the

ground. The ghouls looked at it without the

slightest bit of fear, which wasn’t

necessarily a good thing. If they were

tunnel dwellers attacking me because I

looked tasty, they’d cease once I proved

not to be easy prey. If Cynthiana had

managed to spell them into doing this, then

like the rats, they’d continue to come at me

until all of them were dead.

Or I was.

I didn’t have time to ask what their

motivation was. Three of them covered

the distance between us with cheetah-like

speed. I cracked the whip and spun in a

circle, sending more currents into it as I

felt it meet the resistance of bodies.

Multiple thumps sounded and the surge of

voltage through my body made the rats

briefly abandon ship. Then they leapt back

onto me just in time for me to see that I’d

decapitated two out of the three ghouls.

The third lay on the ground, trying to pull

his lower body back onto the gaping stump

that remained of his upper one.

With a roar, the rest of the pack

charged. I spun the whip around me as if it

were a large, deadly lasso, the current

slicing through anything that dared come

into contact with it. Two more ghouls fell

lifeless to the ground, joining a growing

pile of rats as the voltage in me surged to

levels I’d never manifested before. I

snapped the whip at another ghoul who got

close and he fell in two pieces. The pack

circled me more warily now, but from the

empty look in their eyes, they weren’t in

control of their will. They would keep

trying to kill me no matter the

consequences. If I wasn’t in a life-anddeath

fight, I would’ve marveled at the

extent of Cynthiana’s powers. “Dabbled”

in magic, my ass!

Another two ghouls dropped in pieces

when their lunges were met by the crack

of white across their necks. Only four

more to go, and thanks to my new vampire

strength, my arm wasn’t even feeling tired.

More rats began to fall off me as the

rubber suit became torn in so many places,

electricity leaked out like water through a

colander. The rodents’ bodies crunched

under my feet as I took the offensive,

charging at the ghouls instead of falling

back, my whip ruthlessly slashing through

them and the rats that still came at me from

every direction.

Now only one ghoul remained on his

feet. When I got him in range, I snapped

my whip in victory, but it fizzled where it

struck. Instead of cutting through the ghoul,

it seemed to bounce off him. He looked

down as if confirming that he was still in

one piece and then his lips pulled back

impossibly far, revealing a smile like the

open maw of a snake.

Oh shit. I shook my right hand as if to

force more juice into it, but the strand

dangling from it only flickered the way

flashlights did when they were running out

of battery. Then I whirled, ready to run for

it, but at the opposite end of the tunnel,

new snarls echoed, followed by another

wave of musty, earthy air.

My path to escape was blocked.

The ghoul I’d failed to kill started

toward me. Panicked and out of all other

options, I began throwing rats at him. They

bounced off his hulking frame, as

ineffectual at stopping him as they had

been at stopping me. As if to punctuate

this, he caught one, biting its head off and

spitting it at me. Behind him, two of the

fallen ghouls stirred, one hopping toward

me on one leg, the other crawling through

a carpet of rat bodies because everything

below his waist was gone.

One ghoul I’d have a chance against.

Not several of them. Fear made me

immune to the spikes of pain as the rats

that hadn’t been electrocuted continued to

chew their way across my body. Soon it

would be more than rodents feasting on

me. Despite never being more powerful, I

was still helpless to stop my own death.

Then I squared my shoulders, kicking

the rats from my feet. I’d make them earn

their meal. Before they ate me, they’d

have to catch me.

Right as I began to take that first step,

the tunnel lit up with an orange glow that

was both ominous and the most welcome

sight I’d ever seen.

Then Vlad’s voice thundered out.

“Leila, get down! ”

I dropped to the ground, putting me nose

to nose with countless living and dead

rats. In the next moment, an inferno roared

down the tunnel, blanketing everything that

was more than three feet off the ground.

As fire rushed over me in searing waves, I

covered my head with my arms and

pushed my face deeper into the disgusting

mass of bodies. Better to be closer to them

than the fire shooting out with the force of

a hundred geysers.

Seconds later, hands closed over my

arms. I tried to jerk away, thinking the

crawling ghoul had reached me, but then I

realized the hands were hot as a stove.

When they pulled my arms away from my

head, I didn’t resist, and when a booted

foot kicked at the swarm of rats around

me, I didn’t hesitate to sit up despite the

continued roar of flames.

Vlad bent over me. Except for a twofoot

perimeter surrounding us, fire filled

the tunnel from ceiling to floor, burning so

fiercely I couldn’t hear anything over the

crackle of flames. Then he lifted me into

his arms and began to walk through that

blistering wall of orange and red.

It parted before him like drapes held

back by invisible hands. As he walked, I

swiped at the rats still chewing on me,

knocking them off into the flames. By the

time he reached the end of the tunnel

where there was a closed door, there

were only a few left that I couldn’t reach.

Vlad opened the door, carrying me into

a far narrower tunnel that could’ve been

an abandoned service hallway. Instead of

being filled with flames, this space was

filled with Vlad’s people. Well, all except

one. Cynthiana had four vampires restraining

her, which might not have been enough

considering her real strength lay in magic.

Yet with one glance, I saw why Vlad

wasn’t worried about her working any

spells on his men. She couldn’t utter a

word. Her mouth was filled with so much

silver that shards of it protruded from her

cheeks.

“Where’d you get that gag? ” I asked.

He set me down, knocking away the rats

that clung to my back before crushing them

underfoot.

“I melted silver knives together and

then shoved them into her mouth.”

Some days, I really loved his dark side.

“Why didn’t you wait in the Crangasi

station? ” he demanded, grasping my

shoulders now that the last of the rats

were gone.

“She spelled the commuters into

attacking me and one of them ripped my

wire. I couldn’t tell you which way she

went so I followed her.”

“Why? ” he asked with even more

emphasis.

I blinked. “Because she was getting

away.”

His grip tightened while a wave of

frustration and another, far stronger

emotion washed over me.

“When I heard the ghouls coming for

you, all I cared about was reaching you in

time. How often must I tell you that you

mean more to me than vengeance? I can

live without defeating my enemies, but I

cannot live without you.”

Before I could respond, he crushed me

to him, his mouth covering mine in a

blistering kiss. I forgot that I was covered

in blood, dirt, and rat hair. Didn’t care

that a roomful of people were watching,

or about anything else. I kissed him back

with all the relief I felt at being alive to do

so. Now that the fight was over, all the

fear I’d held back came rushing forth,

reminding me how close I’d come to

losing everything. Vlad was right.

Enemies would come and go and battles

would be won or lost, but nothing

mattered more than what we had.

Everything else was replaceable.

When he finally drew away, slow tears

were running down my cheeks. “I love

you, ” I whispered.

He brushed them away, a sardonic

smile twisting his mouth. “And I love you,

which is why I intend to lock you inside

the house as soon as we’re home.”

I let out a watery chuckle. “You won’t

need to. I’ll gladly stay put.”

Then I fingered my Kevlar vest, the

only thing on me that hadn’t been chewed

or ripped to shreds.

“This was a good idea. I must suck at

being a covert operative. Cynthiana took

one look at me and started shooting.”

The smile he flashed me reminded me

of the fire that was so much a part of him

—alluring yet deadly, consuming and yet

quicksilver.

“It was her determination to kill you

that doomed her. When she bewitched the

tunnel-dwelling ghouls into a mindless

murdering state, she cut off her exit behind

her, leaving her nowhere to run except

straight to me.”

I turned and stared at Cynthiana with a

surge of coldness I hadn’t known I was

capable of. “Time to take her home, and I

hope you have a pole with her name on

it.”

Chapter 46

A few of Vlad’s men stayed behind to

make sure any ghouls who survived the

fire didn’t make their way to the Metro

stations and try to eat the innocent

commuters. The rest of us returned to his

house via helicopters. As soon as we

landed, I followed him and Cynthiana’s

guard entourage into the dungeon. After

being covered in enough rats to give me

screaming nightmares, I might long for a

shower more intensely than Midas had

coveted gold, but I was seeing this

through.

Vlad ordered Cynthiana chained onto

the large stone monolith. Then he had

Shrapnel brought in from the other side of

the dungeon to be restrained next to her.

He’d done his best to kill me, and yet I

couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pity at

the grief in his expression when he saw

her. Cynthiana, on the other hand, didn’t

seem to be at all upset over her lover’s

predicament. In fact, her gaze passed over

him in a manner that could only be

described as annoyed.

“He really was just a pawn to you,

wasn’t he? ” I asked in repugnance.

She didn’t answer, of course. Despite

being captured, gagged with silver, and

facing a truly horrible future, Cynthiana

wasn’t cowed. Her gaze flicked over me

in the way women perfected when they

wanted to raze your self-esteem without

saying a word, yet all I did was smile

wide enough to show my new fangs. I

might be covered in filth, blood, and rat

hair, but a centuries-old vampire had

nothing on the belittling looks I’d received

while attending high school with a

zigzagging scar, a limp, and the growing

ability to shock anyone who touched me.

“Did I mention it was nice to see you

again? ” I almost purred. “Though you

don’t remember the first time we met, do

you? ”

The look Vlad shot me was almost as

surprised as hers. Then he went over to

Cynthiana, ripping the silver from her

mouth.

“If you utter one word of magic, I’ll fill

you with enough silver to drive you mad

before dawn.”

Cynthiana stared at Vlad for a long,

silent moment before she looked my way

dismissively.

“I don’t know what you’re talking

about, dearie. I’ve never seen you before

tonight.”

“I don’t blame you for forgetting. You

were busy staring at a young girl named

Dawn who was performing under my

stage name. You thought she was me, and

that’s why you detonated the bomb right

after she went into our trailer.”

Now her gaze raked over me with

calculated intensity. “You used your hair

and a hat to cover your scar, ” she said at

last.

“Habit. Now, let’s see what your worst

sin is.”

With luck, it would lead us to whoever

else she was working with. I came toward

her and she recoiled as much as her

restraints allowed.

“Don’t touch me.”

I didn’t reply, but grabbed her arm with

my right hand. Only a faint current of

electricity slid into her. I’d used most of it

up on the ghouls she’d sent to kill me.

Then the dungeon disappeared,

morphing into a room that didn’t look

much different because it consisted

entirely of stone walls. It seemed familiar,

yet what I experienced next made me

forget about that. By the time those

surroundings faded and I was mentally

back at the stone monolith, I snatched my

hand away.

“You sick bitch, ” I breathed.

“What? ” Vlad asked instantly.

I stared at Cynthiana with loathing.

“She needed a fireproofing spell, but she

wasn’t strong enough to do it without

crossing into the darkest kind of magic. So

she did.”

And that magic had required the highest

price: lifeblood of a newborn. I’d seen

many terrible things through my abilities,

but I’d never seen something as brutal as

that.

“A fireproofing spell? ” Vlad repeated.

“Did you think that was the only defense

you needed against me? ”

She said nothing to that.

Then Vlad sighed. “I know you,

Cynthiana. You would never cross me

without a protector, so tell me who he is.

Refuse, and I’ll find out after you’ve

experienced more agony than you can

imagine.”

She glanced away. “I have no

protector.”

He laughed in that scary, humorless

way.

“Yes you do, although you betrayed him

because he wanted Leila alive.”

Why would Vlad think that? Every

message Cynthiana sent Shrapnel after the

bombing had been demands for him to kill

me. Then I remembered what Hannibal said

after he’d kidnapped me. You’re worth

three times as much alive. Dead was the

only way Cynthiana wanted me, so Vlad

was right. Someone else had been pulling

her strings at least part of the time.

She glanced at me. The pure loathing in

her gaze I expected; the fear, I didn’t.

After Vlad’s threat, why would she be

afraid of me? I’d already done all I could,

though finding out her worst sin had

revealed only revolting information, not

useful—

“Vlad, wait, ” I said, something about

that stone room nagging at my memory.

“Shrapnel told you everything he knew

about my abilities, ” I said slowly, the idea

still forming in my mind, “but you know

more, don’t you? Like, for instance, my

ability to feel other people’s essences in

someone else’s skin.”

Her gaze widened while her scent

changed to a putridly sweet aroma. I knew

what that was. I’d smelled it all over this

dungeon. It was the scent of fear.

Vlad caught it, too. His expression

changed, chiseled features switching from

chilling friendliness to sculpted granite.

“Who is he? ”

Three soft words that managed to be

filled with all the menace of a thousand

shouted threats.

I stared at Cynthiana, measuring the

spikes of hatred and fear in her gaze as I

approached.

“Do you know what I overheard the

first time I linked to you? You told

Shrapnel, Whatever she might have been

worth to him alive, she’s less dangerous

to us dead. ”

I let out a short laugh. “At the time,

Shrapnel thought the ‘him’ was Vlad, but

you really meant your new protector,

didn’t you? He was interested in me and

you already had the inside track.”

Then I glanced at Shrapnel. “Cynthiana

came back into your life right around the

time I came into Vlad’s, didn’t she? ”

Pain creased his features, but Shrapnel

said nothing. Maybe he was still trying to

protect her. More likely, he was under the

effects of a spell. Maybe he hadn’t

betrayed Vlad or tried to kill me of his

own free will.

A searing hand slid along my arm as

Vlad drew near, yet he didn’t look at me.

His gaze was fixed on Cynthiana.

“Your protector must be powerful or

you wouldn’t bother with him. He’s also

an enemy of mine or he wouldn’t dare risk

my wrath by using one of my ex-lovers to

kidnap another. That leaves a small list.

Smaller still if he was interested in Leila

before Shrapnel told you about her

abilities.”

A very small list, indeed. In fact, I

could only think of one name, and though it

didn’t seem possible, it fit with the facts,

right down to Hannibal’s capture-or-kill

order. That hadn’t been the first time a

vampire had been given those instructions

regarding me, and while Cynthiana’s

preference had been dead over alive, her

protector disagreed.

Funny thing was, everyone except

Maximus and Vlad thought my psychic

abilities were gone when Hannibal

kidnapped me. Cynthiana’s protector was

either gambling that they’d come back...

or he knew another reason why I’d be a

valuable hostage.

Only one other vampire had guessed

how Vlad really felt about me even before

he’d admitted it to himself. The same

vampire had attempted to use my abilities

against Vlad before I even met him. It had

been the reason we were first thrown

together, but Mihaly Szilagyi had died in

an inferno months ago.

Hadn’t he?

I took another step closer. Cynthiana

thrashed in her restraints, eyes flashing

emerald and fanged mouth snapping while