Chapter 11

The violent torrent whipped me down the tunnel on a foaming wave, gaining speed by the second. My headlamp flashed across the concrete walls and illuminated a square opening ahead. The water echoed even louder.

The end of the tunnel. I sucked in a breath and clamped my hand over my nose.

I shot out of the tunnel like it was the world's most terrifying waterslide and plunged into deeper water. My hard hat tore off my head, the light spinning away. I caught a glimpse of the cavernous new tunnel I'd fallen into. Water poured in on both sides from huge pipes, and a platform ran along the right side, with drains gushing down onto it.

My tumbling headlamp blinked out and darkness swept in.

As I spun in the deluge, I shoved the remaining strap of my overalls off. The water tore the garment away and I kicked, hands flailing in search of a solid surface. My bulky coat dragged me under.

I yanked the zipper down and my head dunked beneath the freezing water. As I was sucked into the spiraling turbulence where a pipe dumped into the main channel, I ripped my jacket off and let the water take it too. Freed of its weight, I kicked back to the surface.

When my head broke free, I gasped. Light! Dim light illuminated the channel and the platform speeding past me. I flung my hands out, reaching frantically for a handhold as the water carried me along. My fingers scraped across the rough concrete, then caught on a lip.

I jarred to a painful halt. The current pulled at me, splashing over my face and filling my mouth. I spat, coughed, and shook the water from my eyes. My handhold was a one-foot-diameter pipe. Hooking my arm into it, I felt upward with the other and found the edge of the platform.

Gasping for air, I dragged one leg up and stuck my foot into the hole. A terrified voice in the back of my head screamed I couldn't do it, that I'd slip and fall and drown. I grabbed the ledge and launched myself upward as hard as I could. Arms grasping at the slick concrete, I heaved myself onto the solid platform. The water rushed by, dark as ink in the dim light.

Lying on my back, I panted harshly, my throat aching and limbs trembling. I was alive. Somehow.

The infernus under my drenched sweater pulsed, a brief flash of heat and vibration. With unsteady arms, I pushed myself into a sitting position and reached into my shirt. My numb fingers found a smooth stick. I tugged the blood tracker out and dropped it beside me, then slid the infernus out of my sweater.

"Zylas," I rasped.

Red light flared across it. The power ballooned into his shape and he solidified beside me in a final blaze.

"Drādah." He crouched, swiftly assessing my condition. "Are you hurt?"

I coughed up water. "Don't think so."

"I could feel your fear. You did not call me!"

Startled by his angry exclamation, I waved vaguely at the water. "I couldn't. You might've drowned. Do you know how to swim?"

"Var! Why would I not swim?"

He wrapped his hands around my arms and pulled me up. I wobbled, my knees trembling and teeth chattering. Water dripped off my clothes and pooled around my feet.

"Where is this place?" he asked sharply.

"Under the c-c-city," I chattered. "Need to f-f-find a way t-to the s-s-surface."

He stared around, hands tightening on my arms, then pushed me backward until I bumped into the side of the channel, as far from the water as possible.

"Wait here," he ordered. "I will find a way out."

"I'll c-come too. We should s-stay t—"

"You are slow. I will be faster."

As he stepped away, I grabbed his wrist. My breath rasped with a hysterical edge. "Don't leave me alone."

His eyes moved across my face, his dark, dilated pupils more pronounced than usual in the red glow. A wolfish smile pulled at his lips, flashing one pointed canine. "Na, drādah, did you forget?"

"Forget w-what?"

He tapped a claw against the infernus. "I am never far from you. Now be drādah ahktallis and wait here. Quietly."

Pulling away from my hand, he prowled swiftly down the platform and ducked through the spray falling from a four-foot-diameter pipe high on the channel wall. With a snap of his barbed tail, he disappeared.

Drādah ahktallis. "Smart prey." If Zylas wanted me to wait quietly, then I would wait quietly.

I sucked in air, my whole body trembling. My coat would've drowned me if I hadn't discarded it, but I regretted its loss anyway. The damp chill permeated my skin and my sweater stuck to my body. I slid down the wall and curled into a tight ball, my arms tucked between my stomach and my thighs.

Seconds dragged into minutes. I lost all sense of time as I shivered in the dim light. My gaze darted across the pipes and tunnels that vomited frothing water into the main channel. Had I fallen from one of those, or was that tunnel farther upstream, out of sight?

Would the others search for me? Had the rising water forced them back to the surface? I squinted nervously at the underground river, but it would take way more water to flood this massive channel. Hard to believe all this existed beneath the downtown streets, unseen by the hundreds of thousands of people who walked above it every day.

At least it wasn't a sewer. It stank like rotting things, but it wasn't that bad. Though my shivering continued, I didn't feel as cold anymore. And it wasn't pitch dark either. I glanced toward a small bulb, leaking a faint orange glow, that dangled from a black wire looped around a fat, rusty nail. The wire trailed along the wall to another nail and matching bulb twenty feet away. Crude, but better than darkness.

Nerves prickled through me but I had no idea why.

I wished Zylas would hurry. My muscles were tired from shivering and my body ached. Plus, I was tired. So tired I could scarcely keep my head up. How long had he been gone? Shouldn't he be back by now?

Blinking drowsily, I wondered why everything had a reddish haze. Was there something wrong with my vision? The friendly little light bulb glowed orange. It wasn't red, so what…

The marble-like end of the blood-tracker artifact, lying in the middle of the platform where I'd dropped it, was blazing with scarlet light.

Lips quirking, I pushed my cold, weary body up. My numb feet stumbled across the floor, and it took my clumsy fingers three tries to pick up the narrow stick. Straightening, I watched the tracker's red light glint off the wet walls. The jewel glowed even brighter. My dull thoughts prodded at the realization, trying to remember what it meant. Shivers racked my exhausted body.

Warm air brushed across the back of my neck as an unfamiliar voice said, "What's a pretty little thing like you doing down here?"

Strong arms pulled me back into a solid body. A hand closed over my jaw and forced my head to one side. Terror burst through me, clearing the drowsy haze from my mind.

A wet mouth closed over the side of my neck and teeth sank into my skin. Pain shot into my collarbone, spreading from the sharp fangs buried in my flesh. Numbness swept outward in the wake of the pain, bringing intense dizziness with it.

My legs buckled. The vampire held me against his chest, mouth clamped on my neck. Numbness deadened my limbs. I twitched helplessly, the concrete platform swimming in my vision.

Then I remembered.

Daimon, hesychaze! The command screamed through my head, laced with terror. For an agonizing heartbeat, nothing happened. The vampire gulped down another mouthful of my blood.

The infernus jumped against my chest. Heat burned through my wet sweater.

A streak of crimson light burst out of the channel's ceiling like it was an illusion instead of solid concrete. The power leaped downward, hit the infernus, and shot right back out. Zylas materialized in front of me, his eyes blazing as brightly as his power.

The vampire's head jerked up—and Zylas's glowing talons shot past my face. Bone crunched. The vampire's arms fell away and I crumpled. Zylas caught me, sweeping me against him.

"Kasht!" he hissed. "Drādah, can you hear me?"

I couldn't close my sagging mouth, let alone form words. My limbs spasmed as I fought to stand under my own power.

I can't move.Panic screeched in my head. I can't move!

"The vampire bite. The hh'ainun warned of it." He pressed a hand to my cheek, his palm blazing hot. "You are too cold. Your heart has slowed."

Considering my level of terror, my heart should've been racing. A stinging sensation built in my neck and the alarming numbness slowly morphed into cold and pain.

Crimson power flickered, followed by a strange buzz of magic that slid into my body from beneath his hand. "I do not know the vīsh to fix you."

Just get us out of here!

"We will leave," he agreed, scooping me up into his arms. "I found a way—"

He broke off, looking down. With a huge effort, I forced my head to turn.

The blood-tracker artifact lay on the concrete, dropped yet again. It had dimmed when the vampire died, but it was brightening fast. And this time, my thoughts were clear enough that I knew what it meant.

Vampires are coming!