I stepped in front of Faith. “It’s not going to happen, Razeen. We made a deal. You got the price you asked for, and now we get to leave.”
Razeen shook his head. I could feel the movement in the darkness around us as the vampires that had so recently been relaxing on sofas and jewelled cushions slowly approached. I saw the bloodlust in Razeen’s eyes as they blazed red.
“It’s not going to happen,” I repeated. Razeen just smiled, and I sensed rather than saw the inhabitants of the chamber begin to circle us. We were well and truly trapped, and my heart sank.
There was no way we were going to get out. No way we could escape together. My mind scrambled through possibilities, considering fighting our way out or even leaving Faith and returning with help. But the only help I had was Euriel, and I wasn’t sure what the two of us could do. I felt Faith move beside me, and I glanced over at her. She had dropped into a defensive stance I recognised from Amadi’s training sessions, and although my heart rocked, I smiled. She had decided to fight. I closed my eyes, sending a prayer to whoever or whatever might be listening, and then I launched myself at Razeen.
The act was pointless and I knew it. He deflected my attack easily, catching hold of my arm with lightning speed and flinging me across the room where I hit a stone column. I heard something snap inside my body, and pain rushed through me as I dropped to the ground. I lay for a moment, letting my healing abilities reform the bones in my spine. When I could bear the pain, I struggled to my feet, leaning heavily against the column. On the platform, I saw the four vampires who had crept up behind us surrounding Faith. She had kept her defensive stance, but none of them had attacked her yet, and she glanced anxiously over at me.
“My dear, you are greatly outnumbered, and I doubt you have the strength and speed to hold off all of my followers,” Razeen said smoothly, settling back onto his throne as though he were enjoying a theatre show.
She turned to look at him, and I saw her eyes move to the altar. “You’re right, Razeen. I highly doubt I could physically take out every vampire in the room. What I need is a little firepower.”
Razeen chuckled. “You’ll find bullets aren’t overly effective against the undead, my dear. Now, why don’t you relax so we can discuss our future together?”
This time, it was Faith who grinned. “Oh, I didn’t mean guns, Razeen. I meant firepower.” She held out her hands, and even I gasped as the flames from the candles on the altar left their wicks and streamed towards her through the air. She caught them, letting them dance on her palms for a moment before flicking them towards the vampires that blocked her way.
Four sets of order robes went up in flames, and the screams made Razeen sit up in shock.
“How is that possible? I didn’t scent witchcraft on you.”
Faith turned towards him. “I don’t know what I am, but I can tell you what I am not. I am not some kind of supernatural energy drink that you can tap whenever you feel like it. My apologies, Razeen, but I’m afraid you’re stuck down here in this little hole, because I’m leaving.”
I knew it was bravado speaking. There were too many of them to fight our way out, even with her new power, but I loved her fight and her fury anyway. Another four vampires approached from each side, and she called flames from nearby torches, fusing them together into a line of fire that she swung around in a circle to keep them at bay. They dodged backwards, but one wasn’t as fast as the others, and the flames engulfed him within seconds.
“Keep them coming, Razeen,” Faith called and started to back towards the entrance. “Alex, are we going or not?”
“Yeah, I’m coming.” I tore myself away from the column, gritting my teeth at the pain that flowed through my back and legs. She looked over at my moan of discomfort, and the distraction was all they needed.
Vampires launched themselves at us from all directions. I struggled and fought, but there were too many of them, too many hands grabbing and punching, and I was soon lifted off my feet completely. I caught a glimpse of Faith. They were trying to do the same, pinning her down and keeping her hands restrained. Through the dark knowledge I was probably about to die, I felt a moment’s pride in my woman that it was taking eight full-strength vampires to restrain her.
Then she went limp in their hands and I panicked, struggling against my captor’s grip, determined to get to her. Thankfully I didn’t manage to get free, because her eyes snapped open and balls of fire flew from all the sconces in the room, heading straight towards her. With so many vampires around her, they couldn’t reach her, instead embedding themselves in the bodies of those who blocked their passage. A wall of blazing figures filled the platform, and she fell to the ground, gasping as she hit the stone floor. Instead of trying to stand amongst the mayhem she’d caused, she rolled sideways off the platform, hitting every step, and I winced.
Scrambling to her feet, she ran over to me. A couple broke away to face her, and she used basic martial arts, taking one out with a roundhouse kick. He went flying into the dark pool and then staggered to his feet, dripping with the black, sticky liquid. Faith’s eyes widened, and she wasted no time grabbing the sleeves of those holding me. Flames ran over her fingers and their robes caught afire. As I stumbled backwards, she darted forward and caught me, sliding my arm around her shoulders.
I glanced behind us. We were maybe a hundred yards or so from the door, but the rest of the vampires were advancing on us, and with their unnatural speed, there was no way we’d make it in a dead run. As I turned forward, they were on us. Trying to ignore the pain still reverberating through me, I fought alongside her. I wasn’t as fluid as she was. I hadn’t spent my life training, I just had some basic skills to defend myself should the situation arise, so I made a mental note to up my training considerably after this.
Next to me, Faith was like a dervish, whirling around and landing kicks and punches everywhere. Her speed and strength were incredible, and when she had a moment between opponents, she called another fireball to rain down on those farther from us. Each was tiny, though, and they didn’t always catch, sometimes simply smouldering out where they landed. They were getting smaller, and I realised not only was she physically tiring, but she was running out of fire. The cavern was nearly dark, with only a few torches remaining.
I was struggling badly. Aside from the pain in my healing back, my shirt was torn and I could feel slices and cuts across my chest where a few had gotten in some swipes. One vampire dodged a fireball, ducking down and coming up right next to Faith too close for her to kick. He grabbed hold of her wrist, a tiny fireball already cupped in her hand. She brought her other hand up to punch him, but he easily blocked it, catching it. She pulled back, but then realised she couldn’t free herself, so instead she twisted her hands around and pressed the tiny flame into his sleeve. Thankfully, it took, and he screamed as the flames raced up his arm. I watched as his flesh burnt away, his skeleton falling to dust where he stood.
Faith moved forward as another came towards her, but she stumbled, so I slipped my arm around her waist and held her up. She swayed against me, her knees unsteady. Her face was pale, and there were dark circles under her eyes. She was utterly exhausted, and they still kept coming. Despair flowed through me. We were going to die here, and it was my fault. I’d brought her. I was going to die. The woman I loved was going to be imprisoned, and the man I loved was going to be left to rot inside his own body.
No. Adrenaline flooding through me, I bent and scooped her up into my arms, backing away from the advancing vampires.
“Alex?” she murmured.
“Hmm?” I kept my eyes on the vampires, well aware of Razeen’s self-satisfied smile on the other side of the pool where he still sat on his golden throne, the light from the single remaining torch flickering over his eerily handsome face.
“Can we make it to the hallway? One last try?”
I nodded. “We could, but they’ll catch us before we reach the surface.”
“Get ready,” she whispered. She held her hands out and exhaled, her eyes falling closed. I watched as the last torch went out and the ball of fire travelled through the air, darting over the heads of the approaching vampires to land in her hands. She cupped them together, holding it to her.
“Where did you learn to do that?” I asked.
“A big cat called Furcifer showed me how,” she murmured, her eyes squeezed tight in concentration. She opened her eyes, looking across the hall at Razeen.
“He’s too far,” I insisted. “We need to stop them.”
She smiled. “Get ready to run… Now!” She released the fireball and it shot forward, soaring over the vampires’ heads, but as I watched, it slowed and then fell, landing with a soft sizzle in the middle of the dark pool. I closed my eyes as it vanished, and knowing she was out of firepower, my last shred of hope died.
I pulled her into my chest, pressing my lips to her forehead. “It’s okay. You did great, sweetheart. And Euriel knows who we were looking for. He’ll come find you. You’ll be fine.” She sighed, barely conscious. I looked up at the vampires, wondering whether to set her down before I died defending her or let them rip her from my arms.
Suddenly, behind the crowd, a huge column of flame shot into the air. The heat practically knocked me off my feet. The vampires that stood in front of us turned all at once to look behind them as the pool in the middle of the chamber erupted into flames. The fire spread across the surface of the liquid and engulfed everything. Those close to the pool shrivelled and burned in the heat, collapsing into dust, while others’ clothes caught fire from the sparks flying from the flames. Razeen stood up in horror as the fire began to spread, catching on the ornate drapes and cushions and covers. The dark chamber was now golden again, the flames reflecting from the gold picture frames, tea sets, and jewellery of the vampire women dressed in silk.
Thick black smoke billowed up to the top of the chamber, filling the cavern, and ash started to float down on top of us. Faith took a breath and began to cough.
“Faith, Faith!” I shook her, and she opened her eyes and looked at me. “Good move, sweetheart, but we’ve still got to get out of here. Can you walk at all? I’m not sure I can carry you that far.”
She nodded, and I lowered her legs until her feet touched the floor. She leaned unsteadily against me as we stumbled away from the inferno, practically crawling up the stairs as our bodies began to give out. We emerged through the hidden doorway on one of the offices and staggered out into the fresh air, coughing from the black smoke that followed us. The sky was growing lighter, and we were close to collapsing, but I knew we couldn’t stay here. Behind us, the thick, black smoke began to billow out of the windows of the surrounding buildings, forming dark columns that rose into the pale sky.
As we stumbled along the pavement, away from the factories, pieces began to fall into place like a jigsaw—the riches that adorned the chamber surrounding the dark pool in the centre of the room—and I realised what Faith had seen and what I had completely missed. It was not a pool of blood, but something far more valuable and far more flammable—crude oil.
