The Darkening (19 page)

". . . things overseas I must attend to," the woman was saying.

"How long will you be gone?"

She gave a delicate laugh. "Not long enough for you to think you can take charge, if that's what you're thinking."

"Of course not," the vampire quickly denied, though he didn't sound sincere.

"I will be gone for the next two days. When I return, I will send for you. Bring Tain with you. We have things to discuss."

Thin!
His brother was here, just as Darius had suspected all along. He watched the female walk off. He wasn't interested in her; it was the vampire who could lead him to Tain.

The vampire took his time finishing his drink, and when he finally left the bar, Darius was not far behind.

It was after dark when the driver who had picked up Martin Ironwood returned to the station.

"Do you remember where you took him that night?" Lexi asked after explaining the situation.

"Sure. I'll even take you there if you want."

"How far is it?" she asked once they were in his car.

"Not too far," he replied as he drove. "Up near Central Park. Popular place," he added.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Seems like I've dropped off a lot of fares there this week."

When they reached the old brick building, Lexi climbed out of the car and saw part of a sign hanging on the door that identified the building as some type of fellowship hall. The lights were on inside, but Lexi wasn't sure this was a place where she wanted to march up to the front door and knock.

After watching the car drive off, she looked around to make sure no one was about and then slipped around to the back of the building. There, she saw two back doors as well as four windows on the second story. Below each window was the fire escape-her ticket inside.

Looking around once more to make sure no one was watching, she hurried to the fire escape and pulled down the ladder. Quickly climbing it, she kept close to the side of the building so she wouldn't be seen by anyone standing inside.

She inched toward the first window and slowly leaned toward it until she could see inside. As far as she could tell, the room was empty. But when she tried to open the window, she found it locked.

Breaking it would make too much noise, so she walked to the next window. This time, she found the room occupied. Men and women wearing dark red ceremonial gowns were moving about. She quickly ducked out of sight before she was spotted.

Dropping to her hands and knees, she crawled under that window and on to the next. A peek inside showed the room to be empty, and when she tried to open the window, she felt it give. Looking through the window to the lock, she saw that it was the kind that latched, but both the window and the lock were old.

Pushing in on the lower pane so the two halves of the lock-one on the upper window pane and one on the lower-didn't touch, she pushed up on the window. Slowly it edged upward, and soon there was enough room for her to climb in.

Once inside, she opened the latch and closed the window, not wanting any cool breezes to attract attention, but also wanting to leave herself an option for a fast escape if she needed it.

She found herself in what looked like a small office. There was an old wooden desk with paperwork neatly stacked on it. The bookcases against the walls held as many knickknacks as books, and a musty odor of age clung to the furnishings.

She took a second to scan the papers on the desk and learned that she was in the Knights of Blood Fellowship Hall. Knights of Blood was a vampire organization trying to improve the image of vampires with their wannabe Knights of Columbus image and supposed charitable functions. To Lexi, it was almost as convincing as a used-car salesman endorsing buyer protection plans.

Why would Martin have come here?

A noise caught her attention, and she froze. Footsteps in the hall were coming her way. She looked about the room for a place to hide. She tiptoed to a closet and opened the door. It was filled with a huge, four-drawer filing cabinet.

The footsteps were drawing closer, so she hurried back to the door and barely managed to duck behind it as it opened. Holding very still, she watched a hooded, red-robed figure enter. It crossed to the desk, though fortunately didn't go around to the other side.

Lexi hardly dared to breathe. She considered ducking around the door, but without knowing what lay on the other side, it didn't seem a smart move. Maybe, if she was very quiet ...

Then again, maybe not.

"Who are you?" the figure growled. "You don't belong here." He set the papers he was holding on the desk behind him. "Did you sneak in here to spy on us? Well, you picked a bad night to be curious."

He charged at her without giving her a chance to explain. Feet planted slightly apart, hands clenched into fists, she made two quick jabs to his head and followed with a roundhouse kick to his side. He doubled over, grunting in pain.

He didn't stay down long, though, and soon was coming at her again, arms stretched out before him.

Lexi feinted with her left fist and clocked him with her right. He fell back a step, shaking his head. She knew better than to give him a chance to collect his thoughts and immediately hit him with another roundhouse kick to his side and a jab to his head. Throwing back his hood, he came at her again, bloodlust turning his eyes a bright red that matched his robe.

Up until that moment, Lexi had been fighting to immobilize her opponent-maybe knock him unconscious. Now she knew it was going to come down to him or her. Lexi absolutely had no compunction about killing this vampire in order to save her own life.

She looked about for a weapon, wishing she had morphing tattoos like Darius did.

When the vampire came at her again, Lexi put all her strength into punching him. It didn't knock him unconscious, but he did fall back against the desk, clearly shaken. In that moment, Lexi found her weapon.

Grabbing the old wooden coatrack beside the door, she rested it against the floor and brought her foot down in the center of it, snapping it in two.

She had just straightened up when the vampire charged into her, driving her back against the wall. A wicked grin split his face and then vanished as Lexi shoved the coatrack deep into his chest.

He stepped back, shock etched across his face. He looked down at the piece of wood sticking out of his chest even as his body started to age and wither. He was dead before his skeleton collapsed to the ground.

Lexi felt a momentary remorse. She didn't like causing death-even to save her own life.

Stepping to the doorway, she stopped and listened. From below, she heard voices-a lot of voices.

Just what I need,
she thought,
more vampires.
She wondered if she should give up trying to find Martin. She glanced back at the window, considering making an exit. Her gaze fell on the vampire. He'd been reduced to a pile of disintegrated bone beneath a red robe.

She quickly picked up the robe and shook out the dust. The piece of wood clattered to the floor, reminding her there was a gash in the robe. Still, it was better than nothing.

She pulled it on and tugged the front together, making sure the rip fell inside a fold. Then she pulled the hood over her head. She half considered carrying the piece of wood with her, but that would have been too obvious. Going back to the doorway, she took a bracing breath and stepped through.

She walked down the empty hall, glancing inside each doorway as she passed. At the end, she found a stairway and took it to the first floor. When she reached the bottom, she almost lost her nerve. She was standing before two open double doors leading into a huge room filled with easily a hundred or more people dressed in red and white robes like the one she wore.

She had no idea what was going on-and she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

The room was set up with rows of chairs facing the front where there was a raised dais.

No one seemed to pay much attention to her as she slipped away. She just wanted to find Martin if he was there-and leave.

She took a few minutes to explore the rest of the first floor, which was surprisingly empty. Finding nothing, she hurried back to the stairs and went down to the basement.

It was a finished basement and looked much like the second floor in that there was a hallway with doors opening on both sides. She went to each one and tried the knob. In most cases, the doors were open, and she found herself peering into very small offices piled with books and papers.

The fifth room, however, was different. This room reminded Lexi of a medical-school anatomy lab with rows of bodies stretched out on gurneys. The sight gave her an ominous feeling.

She had only to check the first body to know the truth of what she'd found: newly converted vampireseach bearing twin fang marks on their neck.

She walked up and down the rows, disturbed at the sheer number of people. There were young and old alike in the room, and it made her sick. Why would so

many people choose this alternative to life?

She was halfway through the room when the face of one body caught her attention. She stopped and took a second, longer look. In death, Martin Ironwood looked much as he had in his file photo.

Lexi heaved a sigh. She'd found him. Now what? Carry him out?

Suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck prickled. Clenching her hand into a fist, she whirled around, swinging her fist with all her might at the huge vampire looming behind her.

There was enough power in her punch to knock a man silly-and it would have, she felt sure, if the man hadn't in one smooth move caught her fist with one hand and grabbed her wrist with the other. Before she had time to react, he twisted her arm and shoved her forward over Ironwood's body.

The speed and ease with which he immobilized her made a mockery of her abilities. When he leaned into her, she felt the size and mass of his body dwarfing her. She tried not to panic as he pulled back her hood.

"You're determined to get yourself killed, aren't you? I bet you gave your parents heart attacks growing up."

Lexi froze. "Darius?" He pulled her to her feet and released her, stepping away. She rubbed her arm and scowled at him. "You scared the shit out of me."

He pushed back his hood and smiled. "Serves you right. What the hell are you doing sneaking around down here?"

She gestured to Ironwood's body. "I'm working. That's my skip. What are
you
doing here?"

He frowned. "I was following a lead that I thought would take me to Tain." He shrugged. "It didn't. I was about to shake things up a bit when I saw you sneak down here."

"How'd you know it was me?"

His gaze heated. "I'd know your body anywhere."

His answer hinted at such intimacy, she felt flustered. "Wh-what do you mean you were going to shake things up? What's going on upstairs?"

He shook his head. "Lexi, Lexi. When are you going to learn to find out what's going on before you go rushing in? Upstairs, the vampires from the Crypt are initiating new members

"So? That's not necessarily against the law-not if they have the proper Authorization of Conversion documents."

"I don't care if it's legal or not. With every converted member, the balance of magic shifts a little more to the side of death magic. I'm here to put a stop to it."

"How?"

He gave her an exasperated look. "It doesn't matter now. Put your hood on," he told her, pulling his own back over his head. "Let's see if I can get us both out of here undetected."

"I can't leave yet," she told him.

"Why not?"

"I'm not leaving my skip here."

Though she couldn't see Darius's face, she could imagine him rolling his eyes. She crossed her arms in an admittedly childish gesture, but it worked. She heard his sigh.

"Fine." He stepped beside her and lifted Ironwood to his shoulder as easily as if he were carrying a bag of potatoes. "Are you happy now?"

She hadn't expected him to help her, so she gave him a grateful smile and pulled her hood over her head. "Yes, thank you."

"Okay, let's go."

"What about these others?" she asked, looking at the rows of dead bodies.

"Want me to stake them?" he asked.

"No," she said quickly. "Let's just get out of here

They left the room, and as they slowly climbed the stairs, she could hear voices joined in a ritual chanting. The faint coppery scent of blood floated on the air.

When they reached the top floor, the front door loomed less than a hundred feet in front of them. To reach it, they had to walk past the double doors of the large conference room, which were luckily closed.