Sweet Blood of Mine (39 page)

And the incongruity of her attire only added to the bizarre vibe I got from her. Realy, she should have been born French.

"How do we get into the door?" I asked.

"More importantly, what kind of door and how is it locked?" Elyssa said.

Stacey smiled sheepishly. "While my kin could detail a mouse down to the number of his whiskers, they are not so very good at detailing mechanical things such as locks. Nightliss said the door seemed quite sturdy, though admittedly most do for one of her delicate stature."

Elyssa dug through her pouch. "I guess I can handle it." She puled out what looked like a lock-pick kit.

"Nightliss also says that one of the vampires accessed it while she was there and was jabbing his finger at something on the wal next to it."

"An electronic lock?" Elyssa tossed the lock picks back into her pouch. "Just great."

"It could've been an intercom." Shelton gave me a look. "If it's magnetic, a hex ought to do the trick, though."

"So you'l need to come?" I asked.

"Unless you're up to it."

"Even if he can do it," Elyssa said evenly, "it might take him too long."

"Yeah, wel dragging around an extra person is gonna be even tougher to hide." Shelton handed me a bit of chalk. "An experienced caster wouldn't need a container, but you don't know how to create your own internal wel.

Just make a circle and close it like before. When you feel a little pressure in your ears, you should have enough juice.

Concentrate on the keypad and imagine throwing that built-up energy at it. It might help to use a word to focus your effort."

"Like fizzle?"

He chuckled. "Exactly. The magnetic lock should die at least temporarily."

My stomach flip-flopped a couple of times. Every time we got closer to the objective, we found another snag.

Except this one was pretty major. "Maybe I should practice on a street lamp."

"That's a briliant idea," Elyssa said. "Let's go into the middle of the street, draw a big chalk circle, and blow out some light bulbs right in front of the place we're about to invade."

"No, I mean go somewhere else I can practice."

"We don't have time."

Stacey was marking a copy of the map that Elyssa had given her with the sentry locations and other items of importance. There were no direct routes to the basement, and the best entry point appeared to be the service door in the back as Elyssa had predicted in her first version of the plan.

"Drive us around to this parking lot," Elyssa said, jabbing a finger at the map after examining Stacey's edits.

I started the van and puled out into the street. The I started the van and puled out into the street. The parking lot was the same one Stacey had used to hide the moggies. I parked and took a look around. A sturdy chain-link fence separated this lot from the vampire compound. A cat the size of Nightliss could get through, but not the rest of us. I was about to wrench a hole in the links when Shelton put a hand on my arm and shook his head. He took out his wand and examined the metal links.

The runes on the wand glowed. Static electricity charged the air.

He aimed the wand at a link. The metal bubbled and melted away like solder. He ran the wand up the length of the fence, leaving a neat incision in the metal. He repeated the process next to one of the support poles. A rectangular patch of fencing fel to the ground with a rattle.

We winced.

"I should have caught that," I said. "Crap."

"It wasn't that loud," Shelton said. "Plus the metal would've been scalding hot."

"Maybe you two would like to set off fireworks while we're here," Elyssa said in a cross voice. She stared through the trees bordering the grounds at the service doors.

I belted on the swords and knives Elyssa had so thoughtfuly given me and made sure I stil had the chalk from Shelton in my pouch. Worry knotted my stomach while fear slithered its cold fingers into my bowels. I had to clench my teeth to stop them from chattering. Then, before I charged in with my emotions broadcasting my presence, I made sure I quieted my psyche so it wouldn't give us away the moment we entered the place.

Elyssa seemed very calm and unperturbed as she watched me go through my preparations. She untwisted the buckle to the sheath holding the sword on my back and smoothed my shirt down. What was it I saw in her eyes?

A hint of regret, maybe? Concern? Then the spark vanished and she was al business again. She walked toward the compound without even looking to see if I was behind her.

A delicate hand took mine. Stacey's eyes brimmed with worry. She stood on tiptoe and kissed my cheek.

"Good luck."

I gave her a hug. "Thanks."

Nightliss rubbed against my leg and meowed.

"She wil go with you and scout ahead," Stacey said, picking up the smal cat and kissing her nose. "She is so brave."

Shelton slapped me on the shoulder. "Come back in one piece, Justin." He offered a grin that didn't quite reach his worried eyes.

"The moggies wil be ready to come in if you need rescuing," Stacey told me. "We wil be listening on the wireless contraptions."

By that, I assumed she meant the cheap walkie-talkies Elyssa had brought along. I just hoped they could stil reach each other from underground. I gulped and trotted to catch up with Elyssa, who was standing at the edge of the wide-open area leading to the service door.

Grass carpeted the open area for thirty yards or so where a paved service road led up to steel double doors. A sidewalk ran the perimeter of the compound, lined by saplings which hadn't grown large enough to hide much of anything. Thankfuly the back area was iluminated by nothing but a single lamp above the service door and the moonless night offered the cover of darkness. Stil, vampires had excelent vision, should one of them be staring forlornly out the back windows of the complex because he couldn't go party tonight.

We blurred across the open area at a ful run, reaching the doors within seconds and putting our backs against the wal. Elyssa pressed slowly down on the outside door handle until it clicked open. It sounded like a cannon shot from where I stood, but the noise from the lively shot from where I stood, but the noise from the lively crowds at the bars across the road would hopefuly camouflage it. We crept inside. Nightliss trotted between us and into the wide corridor ahead. Wooden palets with furniture and other odds and ends leaned haphazardly against the wals giving us some cover in case someone came looking for the one with their favorite Snuggie on it.

Nightliss dashed ahead and vanished at the far end of the corridor. I wasn't sure how the little cat would tel us if something dangerous lurked around the next corner since neither of us spoke meowish, so I folowed Elyssa's lead and kept low and quiet. We reached the propped-open doors of the next entryway without incident. We peeked around the corner. The first sentry Stacey had marked should be patroling the nearby vicinity.

The interior of the compound was simple. The building was a large rectangle with a halway that ran the perimeter on al three upper levels. The basement could be reached via the elevator from the front lobby, by a service elevator in the back halway, or by the door that was halfway down this halway on the right. The service elevator would be too noisy, so we needed to reach the basement door.

Nightliss sat and stared at the doorway, the tip of her tail twitching up and down. She looked to us and then waved her paw at the door to the basement and meowed.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"I have no idea but I don't see any sentries," Elyssa said.

Nightliss hissed as Elyssa started down the hal. I grabbed her arm and brought her back. "Just wait a minute."

As if on cue, the basement door swung open and a vampire dressed in cargo shorts and a kickbal T-shirt stomped into the halway with a half-empty blood bag clenched in his hand. He punched the metal door and left a dent in it. Nightliss dashed between his legs and down the stairs. The vampire didn't seem to notice.

"Freaking assholes, leaving me here to guard," the vampire muttered as he stalked down the hal toward us.

"You need to learn how to dress," he said in a whiney voice. "God, I hate Britney. I swear I'm gonna pee in her blood supply."

Elyssa and I crouched behind a palet and waited until the disgruntled vampire disappeared around the corner at the other end of the hal.

We made our way down to the basement door and stepped onto the stairs. The corridor was so dark I could hardly see anything. I groped for Elyssa's arm and hit something a bit softer.

"What are you doing?" she whispered.

"I can't see."

"Are you kidding me? Adjust your eyes."

"My night vision kind of sucks." I hoped that whatever night vision had tried to turn on the night the moggy attacked me would work automaticaly because I didn't know how to manualy turn it on.

She sighed. "You are such a newb." She grabbed my hand and led me down the stairs. It almost felt like old times.

We reached the bottom of the spiral staircase nearly two-hundred stairs later and peeked into the wel-lit basement. Huge chandeliers hung grandly down the center of the ceiling with a disco bal hanging awkwardly from the bottom of the middle light fixture. Marble columns ran up the two-story wals and arched across the dome-like roof.

Bunk beds and cots lined the sides in neat rows with a walkway splitting the cavernous room in half. It looked like a giant army barracks. Some areas had cubicle partitions, probably for privacy or silence.

Several leather sofas surrounded a huge plasma television screen at one end of the chamber. An Xbox 360, television screen at one end of the chamber. An Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and al the accoutrements for Guitar Hero were neatly tucked away on a svelte glass entertainment center. It was awesome. A girl who I recognized immediately as the geek chick was competing in a Dance Central dance-off versus two guys.
Body Movin'
from the Beastie Boys boomed from the huge sound system.

Vampires really know how to have a good time.

Elyssa caught me staring longingly at the entertainment center and puled me down into a crouch just in time to hide from two more male vampires as they rounded a corner and walked past, animatedly discussing how to beat some game which involved catapulting birds at pigs.

We stayed low and dashed across the open space to the left side of the basement where a long cubicle-style divider hid a mess of electrical cords. Behind the divider and a few feet down was the door Nightliss had meowed about to Stacey. The little black cat looked at me with wide green eyes and extended a paw toward the door.

"I never realized cats were so smart," I said in a low whisper.

Elyssa ignored me and puled out a penlight so she could study the arched doorway. The door was solid hardwood with hefty metal hinges. The lock looked old-fashioned—something a skeleton key might open. I felt incredibly relieved. Then I noticed two metal plates at the top and bottom of the door jamb. A conduit ran from the plates, along the gray marble wal, and up to the ceiling. I stifled a groan as my relief turned into a pang of worry.

"Magnetic," I whispered.

Elyssa nodded and studied the keypad to the left.

She gave me a pointed look.

I puled out the chalk, trying to keep the tremors from my hands.
Everything
hinged on me being able to hex this thing. I drew a circle around me and wiled it shut by pressing my thumb against it. The air crackled, indicating I'd at least done that part right. I waited. After a few heart-pounding seconds, the pressure in my ears built to a point where I knew there had to be enough magic around me to do the job.

Staring at the keypad, I wiled it to malfunction.

Nothing happened.

"Fizzle," I said. Nothing again. "Poof." Stil nothing.

Elyssa gave an exasperated sigh and examined the sturdy metal conduit. She puled out a knife and pried at it.

I imagined al sorts of terrible things happening to that blasted keypad without anything actualy happening.

My hair felt like it was standing on end, probably from the magical energy hanging uselessly around me. Elyssa peeled the metal conduit away and stared at the thick wires inside it. I gave up my attempts and scrubbed out the chalk circle, giving the keypad one last dirty look and flipping it a bird.

"Just die already," I hissed through clenched teeth.

A thick blue bolt lanced from my middle finger and into the keypad. The keypad sparked and smoked. The magnetic latch went dead and the door click open a fraction, held in place by the old original latch. That would have been great except the electricity springing from my middle finger arced into one of the power strips on the floor. Loud pops and sizzles echoed across the room. The sound system boomed one last time and went silent. Light bulbs in the chandeliers exploded. Vampires yelped in surprise. The basement went black.

My eyes automaticaly went into night mode this time, which was good because several angry vampires were shouting about how their perfect game of Dance Central had just been wrecked by whatever nitwit had overloaded the power breaker with their hairdryer again. I'd expected my night vision to be green like the goggles used by the military.