A Girls Guide to Vampires(120)

Roxy tugged at my skirt, trying to pull me back down. "Joy—"

"The perfect volunteer!" Dominic bellowed from the stage, leaping into the crowd and heading straight for me, his hand held out. "Mon ange, if you will assist me?"

"What?"

"He was asking for volunteers, you fool. Too late—he's got you now," Roxy muttered.

"What? What?" I stared stupidly at the hand Dominic held out for me. I didn't want to touch him—he was a murderer! The crowd started cheering.

"Come, mon ange," Dominic said with a full-fanged smile. "Assist me. It will be over quickly, I assure you."

I wondered if he had said the same thing to Tanya. Dominic grabbed my hand and started hauling me back through the crowd. I debated accusing him there on the spot of Tanya's murder, of screaming for help, or of kicking him until he let me go so I could run to Raphael. In the end, I decided that it was better to not make him suspicious, so I made no complaint when he jerked me onto the stage and dragged me over to the glass box.

He kept a hold on my hand while he helped me into the box, doing a spiel about his powers and how I would be sent to the underworld to await his command to return. It was a bit creepy, considering Tanya. As he turned to close the lid on the box, he hissed, "Do not fear, mon ange. As soon as the smoke fills the outer layer, the trap will open and you will escape. Crawl under the stage to the rear. Antonio will be waiting for you there."

"Crawl? I'm supposed to crawl?" I asked as he closed the lid, getting a little panicky at the thought of being shut into a box with a bunch of smoke. I crouched in the box, my head pressed up against the top of it, the lights and the crowd blurring a little through the thick glass. Dominic waved his arm dramatically, and the box began to fill with smoke, obscuring my vision.

That was when I realized what he was talking about. The part I was sitting in was insulated, a box within a box, made of double-paned glass. The smoke filled a thin space between the two layers of glass, no doubt making it look as if I were sitting in the middle of the smoke, when in fact I wasn't. As soon as my vision outside the box was completely obscured, the floor beneath my knees gave, and I dropped down to a small space under the stage. The skirting around the edges of the stage kept me from seeing anyone, but I could hear the crowd. They roared with laughter at something Dominic was doing, no doubt misdirecting their attention so they wouldn't notice the box wobble as I dropped. I wadded up my skirt and crawled forward on my belly when I saw a bit of light flashing at the rear, muttering to myself about ruining my lovely skirt just so Dominic could impress his audience.

Antonio, Dominic's assistant, helped me out from under the stage through another trap in the curtained-off area. Antonio pulled on a gruesome rubber mask, saying, "Stay here until you hear Dominic announce that he's brought back a demon from the underworld instead of you. Then you can go out into the crowd." Then he dived under the stage and headed for the box.

"like hell I will," I muttered, and peered out of the curtained area. My watchdogs must have been waiting patiently up front for me to return, because there was no one around the back. I slipped out and started hunting for Raphael, keeping well away from the audience around the stage.

I spotted Henri on the far side of the grounds, zipping up his pants as he emerged from a portable toilet.

"Henri, where's Raphael?" I asked as I raced up to him.

He frowned. "Aren't you supposed to be at the magic show? I thought Raphael said you were there. It's not over yet, is it?"

I almost danced with impatience. "Forget the magic show. I have to find Raphael. It's very important. Where is he?"

"He won't like knowing you're not at the magic show," Henri pointed out.

"He will when he hears what I have to tell him. Where can I find him?"

"He said you were going to stay with Paal. Raphael's not going to be happy that you left without him."

Friendly puppy or no friendly puppy, I wanted to throttle him. "Henri," I said with a smile that would do a shark proud. "Do you remember what I did to Christian in the west garden?"

His hand moved protectively to his groin as he nodded vehemently.

"Good. I don't want to have to do this, but if you don't tell me where Raphael is, I'll do the same to you."

His eyes opened wide. "He's down in the cave," he answered quickly, his voice thick.

"The cave? Already? Thanks, Henri. Wish me luck."

I took off like a hound after a hare, dodging around people, heading away from the festival along the graveled path that curled around the bottom of the abyss, ending at the entrance to the cave. Since the caves were only going to be open for a couple of hours around midnight, there weren't many people on the path, and those were mostly made up of couples lip wrestling.