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Chapter 39

We drove south on 270 Steep, grassy ditches and small trees lined the road Identical houses sat up on the hills, fences separating the small yards from the next small yard Tall trees took up h St Louis, but there was alentle roll of the land was never co towards St Charles The land opened up on either side to long, flat fields Corn stretched tall and golden, ready to be harvested Behind the field was a olf range An abandoned SAM&039;s Wholesale and a used-car lot led up to the Blanchette bridge

The left side of the road was crisscrossed by water-filled dikes to keep the land fros An Omni Hotel complete with fountain was nearest the road

A stand of woods that still flooded too often to be torn down and turned into buildings bordered the left-hand side of the road until the trees met the Missouri River Trees continued on the other bank as we entered St Charles

St Charles didn&039;t flood, so there were aparts, stripEmporium, Old Country Buffet, and Appleby&039;s The land vanished behind billboards and Red Roof Inns It was hard to remember that the Missouri River was just behind you and this had once been forest Hard to see the land for the buildings

Sitting in the warm car with only the sound of wheels on pavement and the murmur of voices from the front seat, I realized how tired I was Even stuck between the two men, I was ready for a nap I yawned

"How much farther?" I asked

The lamia turned in her seat "Bored?"

"I haven&039;t been to sleep yet I just want to knoto take"

"So sorry to inconvenience you," she said "It isn&039;t much farther, is it, Ronald?"

He shook his head He hadn&039;t said a word since I&039;d oing?" They didn&039;t seem to want to answer the question, but maybe if I phrased it differently

"About forty-five minutes outside of St Peters"

"Near Wentzville?" I asked

She nodded

An hour to get there and nearly two hours back Which would ot home Two hours of sleep Great

We left St Charles behind, and the land reappeared--fields on either side behind well-tended barbed-wire fences Cattle grazed on the low, rolling hills The only sign of civilization was a gas station close to the highway There was a large house set far back fro to the road Horsesfor us to pull into one of the gracious estates, but we passed them all by

We finally turned onto a narrow road with a street sign that was so rusted and bent, that I couldn&039;t read it The road was narrow and instant rustic Ditches crowded in on either side Grass, weeds, the year&039;s last goldenrod, grew head-high and gave the road a wild look A field of beans gone dry and yelloaited to be harvested Narrow gravel driveways appeared out of the weeds with rusted mailboxes that showed that there were houses But h the trees Barn ss dipped and dived over the road The paveravel

Gravel pinged and clattered under the car Wooded hills crowded the gravel road There was still an occasional house, but they were getting few and far between Where e going?

The gravel ended, and the road was only bare reddish dirt with large reddish rocks studded in it Deep ruts sed the car&039;s tires The car bounced and fought its way down the dirt It was their car If they wanted to ruin it driving over wagon tracks, that was their business

Finally, even the dirt road ended in a rough circle of rock So as the car The car stopped I was relieved that there were sos even Ronald wouldn&039;t drive a car over

The la, positively bea Nobody was this cheery unless they wanted so What did the laot out of the car The s I hesitated, but I&039;d coht as well see what Oliver wanted I could always say no

The laround, it was a sensible precaution I in my little Nikes didn&039;t need help Blondie and Sh of this play-acting I was tired and didn&039;t like being dragged to the edge of the world Even Jean-Claude had never dragged me to some forsaken backwoods area He was a city boy Of course, Oliver had struck e a varound led up to a hillside More boulders had crashed down the side of the hill to lie in crumbled, broken heaps Ronald actually picked Melanie up and carried her over the worst of the ground

I stopped the men before they could offer "I can make it myself; thanks anyway"

They looked disappointed The blond said, "Melanie has told us to look after you If you trip and fall in the rocks, she&039;ll be unhappy with us"

The brunette nodded

"I&039;ll be fine, boys, really" I went ahead of theround was treacherous with ser than I was The ht behind me, hands extended ready to catch me if I fell I&039;d never even had a date as this paranoid

Someone cursed, and I turned to see the brunette sprawled on the ground I had to smile I didn&039;t wait for theht of getting no sleep today had put oing to be wasted Oliver better have so important to say

Around a tall pile of rubble was a slash of black opening, a cave Ronald carried the la for me A cave? Oliver had moved to a cave? Somehow it didn&039;t fit my picture of hiht hovered at the entrance to the cave, but a few feet in the darkness was thick I waited at the edge of the light, unsure what to do My two caretakers cahts out of their pockets The beaainst the darkness

Blondie took the lead; Sht up the rear I walked in the ht A faint pool followedover stray bits of rock, but most of the tunnel was smooth and perfect A thin trickle of water took up the center of the floor, working its patient way through the stone I stared up at the ceiling lost in darkness All this had been done by water Iainst lad I had the leather jacket on It&039;d never get waret really cold either That&039;s why our ancestors lived in caves Year-round tee branched to the left The deep sound of water gurgled and buht over a streae It was black, and looked deep and cold

"I didn&039;t bringboots," I said

"We follow the e," Smiley said "Don&039;t tease her The mistress will not like it" His face looked very serious in the half-light

The blond shrugged, then ht ahead The trickle of water spread in a thin fan pattern on the rock but there was still plenty of dry rock on either side I wasn&039;t going to have to get my feet wet, yet

We took the left-hand side of the wall I touched it to keep my balance and jerked away The walls were slihed at lanced back at hi, then put my hand back on the wall It wasn&039;t that icky It had just surprised me I&039;d touched worse

The sound of water thundering froht filled the darkness There was a waterfall up ahead; I didn&039;t need my eyes to tell me that

"How tall do you think the waterfall is?" Blondie asked

The thundering filled the darkness Surrounded us I shrugged "Ten, twenty feet, ht on a trickle of water that fell about five inches The tiny waterfall hat fed the thin streanifies the sound and makes it sound like thunder," he said

"Neat trick," I said

A wide shelf of rock led in a series of tiny waterfalls up to a wide base of stone The la over the edge Maybe a rise of eight feet, but the ceiling soared overhead into blackness That hat made the water echo

Ronald stood at her back, like a good bodyguard, hands clasped in front of hi near them that led farther into the cave towards the source of the little stream

Blondie climbed up and offered me a hand

"Where&039;s Oliver?"

"Just ahead," the lahter to her voice, as if there was so to be at nored Blondie&039;s hand and made it up to the shelf by myself My hands were covered with a thin coat of pale brown e to wipe them on my jeans and knelt by the small pool of water that fed the waterfalls The water was ice-cold, but I washed my hands in it and felt better I dried therouped around her as if they were posing for a fa on someone Oliver Where was he?

"Where&039;s Oliver?"

"I&039;" The voice came from ahead of o far without stepping off the edge

The two flashlights turned on the opening like tiny spotlights Alejandro stepped into the thin beaht, Ms Blake"

I went for hts went out, and I was left in the absolute dark with a master vampire, a lamia, and three hostile men Not one of my better days

Chapter 40

I dropped to un ready, close to my body The darkness was thick as velvet I couldn&039;t seeto concentrate on hearing There; the scrape of shoes on stone The movement of air as someone moved closer to me I had thirteen silver bullets We were about to find out if silver would hurt a lamia Alejandro had already taken a silver bullet in the chest and didn&039;t look much the worse for it

I was in very deep shit

The footsteps were almost on top of me I could feel the body close toinside a ball of ebonite, utterly black But I could feel sout or lower chest level and fired still onin the darkness, blue-flaht I heard hi but darkness

Hands grabbedIt was Alejandro I screaun cannot hurt me," he said His voice was soft and close He hadn&039;t taken un away He wasn&039;t afraid of it He should have been

"I have offered Melanie her freedom once Oliver and the city&039;s Master are dead I offer you eternal life, eternal youth, and you ive ive you the second," he said His voice was soft and ordinary compared to Jean-Claude&039;s, but the intimacy of the dark and his hands on me made the words more than they should have been

"And if I don&039;t want to be your human servant?"

"Then I will take you anyway, Anita Your loss will dae the Master It will lose him followers, confidence Oh, yes, Anita, I will have you Join with ht ony"

I used his voice to aiun at his throat If I could sever his spine, a thousand years and ht Please, God

I fired The bullet took hio of my arms Two more bullets into his throat, one into his jaw, and he threw

I ended on ht cut through the dark Blondie stood there, a perfect target I fired at it and the light went out, but there was no scream I&039;d rushed the shot and missed Damn

I couldn&039;t cli So the only way left was deeper into the cave, if I could get there

Alejandro was still screae-filled The screams echoed and bounced on the rock walls until I was deaf as well as blind

I scra a wall at my back If I couldn&039;t hear theun away from her," the lamia said She had moved and seemed to be beside the wounded vampire

I waited in the dark for so for ainstWas I that close to the opening that led deeper into the cave? Could I just slip away? In the dark, not knowing if there were pits, or water deep enough to drown in? Didn&039;t sound like a good idea Maybe I could just kill theh the echoes of Alejandro&039;s shrieks was another sound, a highpitched hissing, like that of a giant snake The laet away before she finished Water splashed al to see, just the solid blackness

I couldn&039;t feel anything, but the water splashed again I pointed up and fired The flash of light revealed Ronald&039;s face The dark glasses were gone His eyes were yelloith slitted pupils I saw all that in the lightning flash of the gun I fired twice s showed below his teeth God What was he?

Whatever Ronald was, he fell backwards I heard him hit the water in a splash that was much too loud for the shallow pool I didn&039;t hear him move after he fell Was he dead?

Alejandro&039;s screa closer? Was he even now alun out in front of , in the darkness

Soht The lamia Shit

That was it I easedon knees and one hand I didn&039;t want to run if I didn&039;t have to I&039;d brain ht, maybe not bottomless, but if I fell thirty feet or so, it wouldn&039;t have to be bottoh my jeans and shoes The rock was slick underfor soer thatsound filled the blackness It was the laed Would her scales be quicker over the slick rocks, or would I be quicker? I wanted to get up and run Run as far and as fast as I could My shoulders tightened with the need to get away

A loud splash announced she&039;d entered the water She couldon that And if I ran and fell or knocked ht crawling in the cold like a mouse

I scrambled to my feet and started to run I kept my left hand out in front of me to protect my face, but the rest I left to chance I couldn&039;t see shit I was running full out, blind as a bat,up underfarther away I was outrunning her Great

A piece of rock slaht shoulder The impact spun ertips I&039;d dropped the gun Three bullets left, but that had been better than nothing I leaned into the wall, cradlingif I could findif I had tiht bobbed towardshiun I could have brokenback in a painful wash of prickles and a throbbing ache where the rock had hit ot Blondie&039;s light? I had two knives As far as I knew, Blondie wasn&039;t ar slowly, sweeping froot to my feet and felt for the rock that had nearly takenbehind it Cool air blew against my face It was a small tunnel It was shoulder level to me, which made it about face level for Blondie Perfect

I placed ht arm protested, but it was doable I crawled into the tunnel, hands out in front searching for stalactites orbut ser, I wouldn&039;t have fit at all Hurray for being petite

I got out the knife for ht-handed, like ht-handed people, but I practiced left-handed, too--ever since a valike near death to get you to practice

I crouched on ht hand for balance I would only get one chance at this I had no illusions about hed me by at least a hundred pounds If the first rush didn&039;t work, he&039;d beat ive me to the lamia I&039;d rather be beaten

I waited in the dark with my knife and prepared to slit someone&039;s throat Not pretty when you think of it that way But necessary, wasn&039;t it?

He was alht after the darkness If he shone the light in the direction of ot beside it, I was sunk Or if he passed close to the left-hand side of the tunnel, and not under ht was alh the water, coht-hand side of the wall, just like I wanted hiht nearly even with my knees I moved forward and he turned His ed into the side of his neck Fangs flicked frorabbed his long hair inhis neck, and tore the knife out the front of his throat Blood splashed outward in a surprised shower The knife and my left hand were slick with it

He fell to the tunnel floor with a loud splash I scraht had rolled into the water, still glowing I fished it out Lying al It et, but that didn&039;t uns underwater and they worked fine That was one of the things that made terrorism so easy

Blood turned the streaht back down the tunnel The la black hair spilled over her pale upper body Her breasts were high and prominent with deep, nearly reddish nipples Froold The long belly scales hite speckled with black She reared on that long, hard tail and flicked her forked tongue at me