Bite. Part 39

"That's sick."

"I told you it was a miserable existence."

He slung the satchel he'd packed full of deadly goodies over his shoulder and reached for the door handle. "We've got to help

them."

"There are thirty or forty vampires in there. Are you going to fight them all?"

"If I have to." He swung the door open and jumped out of the truck.

Swearing under her breath, she followed, beseeching whatever deity would listen to her-if any would listen to her-to save her

from fools and do-gooders. More importantly, save him.

"Wait." She caught up to him at the edge of the trees, tugged on his sleeve. "They won't get to the...refreshments until after the ceremony. They'll stash them somewhere until they've finished their business."

"Where?"

"Somewhere with only one way in or out so they can't escape. Near the a.s.sembly-that would be in the largest open area,

probably, so there'd be room for everyone."

Daniel took her hand and skirted along a hedgerow, careful to stick to the shadows. "Sounds like the ballroom."

"You have a ballroom?"

"It's an old house. There's a big pantry between it and the kitchen. No windows. One door into the hall."

"Which will surely be guarded. How will you get in?"

He looked back at her and smiled encouragingly. "I told you this house was built before the Civil War, the slave era. It has service

tunnels running all through it. One of them leads right to the pantry close to the ballroom."

"And if they aren't there?"

"Then we'll try somewhere else."

They found a ground-floor window open at the back of the house, the gingham curtains barely fluttering on the still air. Inside, they

heard voices. Raucous shouts and pleas for mercy. A few screams. Daniel's jaw ticked and his hand tightened around hers, but he

said nothing. Just led her deeper into the mansion. Into trouble.

They entered a narrow pa.s.sage behind a stairwell and followed it as it twisted and turned around the house. At one point, they were so close to the a.s.sembly that she could make out the individual voices: Maximillian and Tomasa, Gretchen and Alexi, and Garth's mad screech.

Her breath stuttered and quit. Spiderwebs caught in her hair, and she had to flick something big and black off her forearm twice, but Daniel seemed unaffected, so she stumbled along after him as quietly as she could.

They went down a few stairs, into a cellar. There were racks on the walls. What looked like wine racks, only...

Daniel stopped and stared at the bottles, finally lifted one from its cradle, shook it, squinted at the label and smelled the cork.

"It's blood, isn't it? Your synthetic blood."

He nodded.

"So all this time Garth has been making it and h.o.a.rding it. Making the rest of us go thirsty. Punis.h.i.+ng us for taking mortal blood while he gorged himself."

Daniel put the bottle back in the rack, gave her a hard stare. "Looks like it."

She exhaled noisily. "Let's get the b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

"That's my girl."

They walked on through the musty cellar, finally stopping under an old-fas.h.i.+oned service lift. Daniel pushed the box meant to wench goods up into the pantry from the cellar out of the way and dragged over an old crate to stand on. Stretching up, he wrapped lightly on the ceiling above him.

"Shh," he warned in a harsh whisper. "I've come to help you. Keep quiet."

Then he slid the hatch aside and leaped straight up into the pantry with no more than a mild fluttering of air to mark his travel.

Deadre followed close behind.

She pulled the hoods off the young couple curled together in the corner while Daniel untied their hands.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

The young man's finger flew to his lips. He made the symbol for two and then pointed at the door.

Guards.

Daniel nodded and helped them slide down into the cellar without a sound.

"What now?" Deadre asked when the hatch was back in place above them.

"Take them to the truck," he answered. "Get them out of here."

"What about you?"

His gaze slid up and back to right about where the a.s.sembly would be. "I have unfinished business."

"You can't do it alone."

"I can't do it with them in harm's way." He looked from the frightened mortals to her and brushed her jaw with his knuckles. "Or

you."

W ITH only a few false turns and backtracked steps, Deadre retraced her path back to the truck with the two mortals in tow, shoved the keys into their hands and told them, "Go!"

d.a.m.n Daniel Hart to h.e.l.l and back. He deserved to live the rest of eternity as a vampire for this. But he didn't deserve to die, which was what was going to happen if he faced Garth alone.

Probably what would happen if they faced him together, too, but there was nothing she could do about that. Or about the fact that even if they did survive, by some miracle, he would have his precious Sue Ellen back, and wouldn't need Deadre anymore.

She was head over dead stupid heart in love with the man, so what's a girl gonna do?

Probably get herself killed, too, that's what. But then, it wouldn't be the first time.

As the pickup's taillights disappeared in the distance, she crept back into the shadows, back toward the house.

Back toward Daniel.

If she'd only smelled a little sooner the smoke the guard taking a break by the side entrance puffed out, or stepped a little lighter,

so that her foot hadn't snapped that twig, she might even have made it.

D ANIEL put the hood the man had been wearing over his head and looped the rope that had bound him loosely around his wrists, then waited. The goings-on in the other room seemed to drag on forever, and he willed the vampires to hurry. With every minute that pa.s.sed, the advantage he'd gained from the synthetic blood waned, and his chances of success lessened.

Finally, the pantry door opened. He heard footsteps shuffling in, was jerked to his feet.

"Where's the girl?" a man's voice asked. "Where'd she get to?"

Someone else growled. "Take him out. We'll find her." Daniel found himself stumbling along in the grasps of two strong men-

vampires.

He felt the press of bodies around him when he entered the a.s.sembly, the excited surge of static electricity through the air as he was pulled onto a raised platform at the front of the room. He could almost hear them licking their chops.

The vampires were hungry, and he was the main course.

A hand yanked off his hood and he found himself staring into Garth's insane eyes. "Surprise," he said.

Shock flashed across Garth's face, then amus.e.m.e.nt. "Well, Dr. Hart. How nice to see you again."

"Good to see you, too. So I can send you to h.e.l.l, where you belong." The room was dim, lit only by candles in the four corners.

He scanned the crowd for Sue Ellen, didn't find her.

"Been there, done that. Got the blood-stained T-s.h.i.+rt," he said and laughed. "But I'll take great pleasure in pa.s.sing the favor on to you, instead."

Daniel's heart thumped like he was alive again. He threw the ropes off his wrists and pulled out the sickle jammed under his coat

between his shoulder blades. The crowd of vampires gasped, took a step back as a unit.

"Sorry," Daniel said, flas.h.i.+ng the razor-sharp blade in the candlelight and circling Garth. "Not interested."

"Well, well, Daniel. You do surprise me."

"I'm going to do a lot more than that to you." He spoke over his shoulder, keeping one eye on the crowd and one on Garth as he

moved. A still target was a dead target.

Garth's hand lashed out at supersonic speed. Daniel dodged left, swiped the blade down hard. It was only a glancing blow, and still it sliced his wrist to the bone. He lifted the b.l.o.o.d.y limb and gaped at it.