Dangerous Creatures (Book 3, Pure Series) (14 page)

              The lower level was well lit, and I soon found myself in a large room full of wine racks. There were also two kegs resting on stands and a row of white freezers against the far wall. Just out of curiosity, I peered into the freezers. There was nothing inside but frozen food.

              There were two doors on either end of the wine cellar, and I quickly chose one and ran toward it. I went through the door and found myself in a very ordinary-looking storage room. I saw another door, and I opened it and found a laundry room. I didn't know what I was looking for exactly, but I had a feeling I was on the wrong track.

              I thought for a moment, and I remembered that the rumor was that Maksim slept in the basement at the back of the house. I ran back to the wine cellar and went through the door on the opposite end.

              I found myself in a much smaller room that was full of tents, blankets, camping equipment, and clothing—some of which was bright orange—and I realized that I was looking at hunting supplies. On the other side of the room was a metal door marked 'GUN ROOM. NO UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS.' There was a padlock on the door.

              I figured that there was nothing in the gun room except for what was indicated on the door, but all the same I needed to be sure. And it occurred to me that the gun room was a room that few members of the household would go into on a regular basis. It would be a good place to keep something you wanted to hide.

              But at the moment, the padlock was doing a very good job of keeping me out. I would have to find a way to get past it.

              I searched the small room without much hope of success, and unfortunately, I was proved right—the key to the padlock was nowhere to be found.

              I wondered if I could cut the lock with something, but there was nothing like a saw around, and I figured it wouldn't work anyway—locks were designed not to be cut through.

              I remembered then that Branden had mentioned breaking locks with liquid nitrogen—and I thought I'd seen someone using a canister of it on a dessert in the kitchen.

              I hurried back upstairs and peered into the kitchen. Everyone was busy, and I spotted the canister of liquid nitrogen sitting unattended. Without thinking, I darted into the kitchen and grabbed up the canister. Then I hurried out—no one seemed to have noticed me.

              I ran down the stairs with the canister and made my way back to the gun room. As I fumbled with the lever on the canister, it occurred to me that everything I was doing was terribly illegal. First of all, I was trespassing—I had most definitely not been invited to the party—and now I was trying to break into a locked room full of firearms. If I was caught, I would have a very hard time trying to explain what I had been up to.

              But I had to find out what was going on in this house.

              I continued to fumble with the canister, and after a few failed attempts, I figured out how to get it to discharge. Then I doused the padlock liberally with liquid nitrogen. I waited a few moments, and then I picked up a heavy flashlight. I began to pound on the lock, and after a moment, the lock broke off and clattered on the floor. I tried the door knob then, and the door swung open freely.

              The room was dark, and I fumbled for the light switch on the wall. I found it, and the overhead light sprang to life, illuminating the entire room. I didn't know what I had been expecting, but the sight of the gun room was a little underwhelming. There were two racks of rifles, a row of shelves on the wall, and two freezers.

              I stepped into the room. Up on the shelves, I could see two rolled-up sleeping bags and several folded-up blankets. It was certainly possible that someone was sleeping in this room—and if so, that was a little odd. But there didn't seem to be anything sinister about it.

              I glanced at the freezers. One of them had a chain wrapped around it with a padlock, and the other one didn't. Out of curiosity, I looked into the unlocked freezer. It was empty.

              I looked over at the chained freezer, and I figured I might as well open that one, too. I was already in trouble as it was, and there was no reason not to finish the search completely—and I couldn't think of a good reason for a freezer to be locked.

              I turned the canister of liquid nitrogen on the padlock, and soon I had broken my second lock of the night. I lifted the lid of the freezer, and I found myself staring into a pair of eyes. Inside the freezer was a man, his lips drawn back to reveal a set of prominent canines, and his face crisscrossed by a pattern of gray lines.

              I dropped the lid of the freezer and ran toward the door. As I reached the next room, I heard the lid of the freezer slam home heavily.

              I stopped and listened for sounds of pursuit, but the cellar remained silent. I turned back toward the gun room and walked back to the freezer. There was no sign of movement, and after a moment, I lifted the lid again. The man remained as before, and I could see now that there was a large wound to his chest—his shirt was torn and stained as if something had been driven into him. Lying next to the man was a silver stake like the one that had wounded David, and I leaned a little closer. I could see now that there was frost on the man's face.

              I closed the lid carefully, and then left the gun room, closing the door behind me.

              The man in the freezer was clearly a vampire, and it was also pretty clear that he hadn't moved in some time. I wasn't entirely sure what his presence meant, but it seemed to me that I had found the clue I was looking for—and I had a sudden, strong desire to leave the house as quickly as possible.

              My first instinct was to run out of the house just as I was. But then I remembered that my clothes were in the pantry, and I figured it would be better to remove all traces of my presence—just in case. I ran upstairs and changed back into my old clothes, leaving the server's uniform in the pantry. Then, once the way was clear, I fled the house.

              I ran all the way to GM's car and then jumped in and drove off. As I pulled out of the neighborhood, I tried to think of a good reason for Maksim Neverov to have a vampire locked in his basement. But nothing was coming to me.

              I wondered if the people at the party would be okay, and I figured that they probably would be—the vampire I'd seen was either deeply dormant, or perhaps had even found his final rest. At any rate, anyone who knew anything about vampires would have known that those chains and locks wouldn't hold in a vampire determined to get out, and I realized that the locks probably weren't meant to keep the vampire in, but to keep others from stumbling across it.

              All the same, it didn't bode well, and I was more determined than ever to find out what was going on at the cave.

              As I drove to the Old Grove, I thought about the fact that William hadn't discovered the vampire himself, even though he'd searched the Neverovs' house. I figured that he'd probably been searching by sense, allowing his own ability to detect vampires to tell him if a vampire was present—and as keen as his senses were, even he couldn't see through objects. Perhaps the cold, or the vampire's own dormant state, had thrown William off—or perhaps whatever it was that had concealed David from him had also concealed the anonymous vampire.

              I glanced at my phone and considered calling William to let him know what I had found.

              But I hesitated. William had wanted me to stay safe at home with Simon's family. And once he realized that I was out alone at night, William might come rushing over to find me—and then I would never get to search the cave properly.

              I decided to skip the call.

              As I drew near the Old Grove, I spotted two tiny red lights on the road in front of me. The area around the Old Grove wasn't well lit, and though I couldn't see well, I figured I was just looking at a pair of taillights. But as I continued to look, I realized that the lights were very small and close together—perhaps I was looking at lights on a bicycle, or even a jogger out for a late night run.

              I slowed down—but even so I didn't put on the brakes fast enough. Before I knew it, a man's figure appeared in the road directly in front of me, and I felt the impact as my car slammed into a solid body.

              I hit the brakes as fast as I could and jumped out quickly. By the light of my headlights, I could see a crumpled body lying by the side of the road, one of its limbs bent at an awkward angle.

              "Oh, please don't be dead," I whispered.

              As I started toward the body, I saw it twitch, and then straighten until it was standing up. Suddenly, the bent limb popped back into place. Then the figure turned, and I saw a pair of shining red eyes turn toward me.

              I stopped, staring at those bright, inhuman eyes for just a split second. Then I turned and ran for the car.

              Somehow, I managed to reach the car and pull the door closed before a body slammed into the side heavily. I threw the car into reverse and hit the accelerator without even looking. Instead, I began to rummage through the glove compartment, looking for the weapons William had given me.

              I didn't know if the creature that was chasing me was a vampire or not, but it didn't really matter. Whatever it was, the weapons were all I had.

              My fingers closed around the smooth, round shape of the light bomb, and I felt a brief surge of relief. But as I drew the bomb out, it slipped through my fingers and rolled onto the floor.

              I glanced up, and through the windshield, I could see the shining red eyes pursuing me. I continued to fumble in the glove compartment, and my hand closed around the crossbow.

              It clanked heavily as I pulled it out.

              I had taken the precaution of loading the crossbow ahead of time, and I slammed on the breaks, opened the door, and fired quickly in the direction of the blazing red eyes. I heard a solid thud, and the disc I had fired burst into flames. I could see that the disc had struck the man in the shoulder.

              The man cried out and glanced down. Then he began to move toward me again. I fired once more, but this time the mechanism jammed, and the disc remained trapped in the crossbow. A moment later, the disc ignited, and I was forced to throw the crossbow to the ground.

              I jumped into the car then and swept the floor with my hands until I found the light bomb. I picked it up, stepped out of the car, and hurled it at the man in front of me.

              The bomb struck the man in the chest, and soon both of us were enveloped in a dazzling blaze of light. The entire area lit up, bright as day, and I staggered toward the car. I got in, spun it around, and raced back toward Simon's house.

              Once I reached the house, I parked the car, but I hesitated to go inside. Whatever was chasing me, I didn't want to take it inside and put Simon and his family in danger.

              Instead, I sat in the car, clutching my keys and watching the night for any sign of movement. I hoped that the circle of humanity that surrounded me in this neighborhood would be enough to keep the red-eyed creature away.

              I was determined to stay awake—but despite my best efforts, the stars that came to claim me every night now appeared once again, and I felt myself sinking into them.

Chapter 11.

I awoke suddenly when I heard a loud rapping on the window next to me. My eyes flew open, and I could see that dawn was just beginning to light up the sky. There was another rap at the window, and I turned to see James standing next to the car.

              I rolled the window down.

              James leaned down and smiled, and when he smiled his whole face changed—he looked friendly and relaxed, and the glower his eyes usually held disappeared.

              "Good morning," he said.

              "Good morning," I replied.

              "I don't blame you for being out here," James said. "I can appreciate your having a hard time hanging out in that house. It's hard enough for me, and I'm used to them."

              "It's not that," I said quickly. "It's not that all. I was just—"

              I stopped. I could hardly tell him that I'd been on the run from a mysterious red-eyed creature, and I hadn't wanted to lead it into the house. James might turn out to be more open-minded than his brother, but I doubted even he could accept last night's events.

              James smiled again. "Very genuinely, you need make no excuses on my account. But I would advise you to come into the house. If my mom finds you out here, she will freak out. And my mom is really good at freaking out. It's one of her most notable talents."

              "I couldn't really blame her," I said. "I might freak out a little, too, if I found somebody sleeping in a car outside my house."

              I got out of the car then and stretched.

              "Nobody else is up yet," James said. "Come on in, and I'll make you some scrambled eggs. I make really good scrambled eggs, even if I do say so myself. They're actually a great hangover cure—not that I would know anything about that."

              I had to smile at that, and James and I went into the house. We headed toward the kitchen, but I stopped at the stairs.

              "Thanks for the offer of breakfast," I said, "but I really think I'd better go up and take a shower instead. I had—kind of an eventful night."

              James looked amused. "You know, I noticed that your car disappeared last night. You've only been here one night, and you're already sneaking out."

              "It's not really like that," I said. "There was a party at the Neverovs' house last night—"

              My voice trailed off. I had planned on trying to make the party sound innocuous, but even an abridged version wouldn't work—I hadn't actually been invited, and I'd only gotten in by impersonating a member of the wait staff.

              "Say no more," James said. "The Neverovs? Impressive. That must have been quite a party."

              "Yes—it really was."

              "You know," James said, "I'll tell you this from experience. If you take a shower upstairs you might wake the others. But there's a small shower stall in the basement. If you take a shower there, you can do it without waking anybody. And really, what's nicer than letting everyone sleep in on a Saturday morning?"

              "That's a good point," I said. "I really wouldn't mind letting everybody sleep for a little while."

              James smiled. "I'll have breakfast ready by the time you're done."

              I tiptoed upstairs to get a few things, and then I went down to the basement to take a shower. But as I turned the water on, I decided to give William a call. Now that the danger was past, I thought he should know about the red-eyed creature that had come after me last night. William's phone rang several times and then went to voicemail, and I asked him to call me back—I couldn't really explain what happened in one brief message.

              I showered and dressed quickly, and James was as good as his word. He had a plate of scrambled eggs and pancakes waiting for me when I came upstairs.

              "And the crowning touch," James said as I sat down at the kitchen table. "Real maple syrup. Not the lesser stuff you get at those other joints."

              I accepted the small glass bottle from him and poured a ribbon of the dark amber liquid over the pancakes.

              "You should try a little of it on the eggs, too," James said.

              We began to eat, and the quiet of the early morning was nice.

              "The eggs are good," I said.

              "Breakfast is my specialty," James replied.

              "Thanks for doing this," I said.

              "Don't mention it." James paused, and the tone of his voice changed. "You know, I'm sure they've all said this—"

              I glanced over at him. His head was down as he stabbed at his pancakes.

              "I hope she's okay," he said. "Your grandmother, I mean."

              "Thanks," I said.

              "I'm sure they've been fussing over you. I didn't want to put you on the spot like that."

              "They're not so bad," I said.

              James glanced up at me. Then he gave me a small smile.

              "Maybe you're right. Maybe they aren't."

              We finished breakfast, and not long after, Simon came downstairs to the kitchen. He was soon followed by his parents, and as they appeared, James evaporated.

              "How did you sleep, Katie?" Mrs. Krstic asked as she sat down at the table.

              "I slept very well, thanks."

              She looked me over critically. "You look a little tired and pale."

              I could well imagine that that was true.

              "I'm fine, really," I said. "It's just that I-I—"

              Mrs. Krstic interrupted. "There's no need to explain. It's only natural for you to be anxious. But don't worry, dear. We'll look out for you."

              As it turned out, Mrs. Krstic had an entire day of activities planned out for me. Some of the activities were practical—like stopping by the police station to have GM officially declared missing.

              But some of the other activities, like shopping and antiquing, seemed to be designed just to keep me busy. I had a feeling Mrs. Krstic didn't want me to have any time to dwell on my troubles.

              She
had
agreed to let me have some time alone later in the evening at my house—time that I was actually going to use to meet with William—but until then, I had to get through the rest of the day. And I really needed time to think right now—I had to plan what my next move was going to be.

              So, as Mr. and Mrs. Krstic, Simon, and I drove over to an antiques market after breakfast, I sat quietly in the back as the others talked, and tried to make sense of what had happened last night.

              The fact that Maksim Neverov had a vampire in his freezer was deeply disturbing. Of course, if I was being fair, I had to admit that it was possible that Maksim wasn't responsible for the vampire's presence in the house. Theoretically, Irina and Ms. Finch were both potential candidates, though I felt reasonably certain that neither one of them was involved. And I certainly couldn't rule out Irina's father, Ivan—I didn't really know anything about him. I also couldn't rule out any of the staff that might work at the house—I didn't know anything about them, either.

              But Maksim was the one who was in love with GM—and he was also the one who'd been sleeping in the basement. Any way I looked at it, Maksim seemed the most likely culprit.

              And then there was the red-eyed creature that had come after me last night. Was it possible it had come from Maksim's house? Was it the same creature I had seen in the basement?

              I discarded that idea quickly. The vampire I'd seen in the basement didn't have red eyes—I'd seen them clearly enough. And from the looks of him, he hadn't moved in a long time. Besides, if he'd come from the Neverovs' house, he should have been behind me—not in front of me. And while it was certainly possible for a vampire to get ahead of me, there was no way he could have known ahead of time that I would be going to the Old Grove. Whoever it was in the road had been waiting for me.

              I wondered then—could the red-eyed man have been the Hunter?

              The idea made me draw in my breath sharply, and Simon looked over at me.

              "Are you okay?" he asked.

              "Yes," I said quickly, glancing out the window. Fortunately, we had just arrived at the antiques market. "I'm just surprised at how big the market is."

              Mrs. Krstic turned and smiled at me. "Yes, it's a nice one. I have a feeling we're going to be very lucky today."

              The antiques market was outdoors, so as we walked out amongst the crowd of stalls and tables from all different types of vendors, I hung back a little and glanced at my phone.

              William still hadn't called me back.

              I tried calling him again, but there was still no answer.

              William and I had already arranged to meet up at my house this evening, and I had to hope that seeing him then would be soon enough—I didn't want him running into the red-eyed creature without any warning.

              I put my phone away, and as I did so, Simon glanced back at me. When he realized how far behind I was, he stopped and came back to walk beside me.

              "Were you hoping for a message from your grandmother?" Simon asked.

              I smiled at him. "That would have been nice."

              He glanced up at his parents. "You know, my dad always pretends that coming to these antiques markets is for my mom, but it's actually for him. My dad likes to collect model train sets, and markets like these are a great place to find stuff. My mom actually likes new stuff—she's not so into antiques. But she always goes with my dad because it makes him happy."

              "That's sweet of her," I said.

              "People watch out for one another when they're a family," Simon said.

              "Yes, I suppose they do."

              Simon continued. "My parents mean a lot to me. I don't know what I'd do if I lost them. And I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

              "Simon—" I began.

              He interrupted. "You're going to be careful, aren't you?"

              "What do you mean?" I asked.

              "I mean, you're planning to go off by yourself today, aren't you? That's what my mom said."

              "I need to go back and get a few things," I said. "And I just need to spend some time in my own home."

              "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Simon asked. "To do that alone? What if the same psycho who took your grandmother comes after you?"

              "I think everything will be fine," I said.

              Simon smiled ruefully. "You aren't going to be alone, are you? You're going to see that—that William, aren't you?"

              I glanced at Simon sharply—I hadn't expected him to be so perceptive.

              "Oh, Simon," I said.

              He nodded. "That's a yes, isn't it? I guess I'm lucky that you chose to stay with us and not with him. I think of you as part of my family, Katie. I would go through anything for you."

              "Oh, Simon," I said again.

              As I glanced around, trying to think of something to say, I saw a flash of gold—a flicker of light—and it reminded me for just a moment of the star-filled dreams that I was having every night now.

              Simon turned. "What is it? What are you looking at?"

              "It's that stall over there," I said. "I thought I saw something shining out of it."

              "Let's go have a look," Simon replied. "If you see something you like, we should definitely go check it out."

              The stall was one of the largest around, and it was actually more like a tent than a stall—it had a canvas roof and sides, and the entrance was a flap that was tied open. As we drew closer to it, I could see that the stall was lined with mirrors, and one very large mirror was sitting on a stand close to the entrance. The mirror was positioned in such a way that it just caught the morning sunlight, and I figured that that mirror was what had caught my eye.

              As Simon and I ducked inside the tent, another brilliant shaft of light flashed across my eyes, forcing me to blink.

              Inside the tent it was dark, and it took a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the gloom. No one else was inside, so Simon and I walked around, just the two of us, our images reflected back to us in shadowy profusion from the mirrors that surrounded us.

              Hanging from stands all along the canvas walls were the larger mirrors, and there were also a few full-length mirrors that rested on the ground. We continued on toward the back where there were smaller mirrors lying face down on tables. Many of the smaller mirrors were decorated with shapes and patterns—flowers, stars, birds—and they were all arranged by color. The mirrors ran from bright shades of red and gold, through blue and green and purple, all the way down to more subdued shades of pale pink, pearl, and silver.