There was a drain in the floor, and a thin trickle of water ran down it. But I was betting that the drain wasn't there just for water.
Larry moved down the steps to stand beside me. "Are those what I think they are?"
"Yeah, they're torture devices." I forced my hand to make a fist, and another one. The feeling was coming back.
"I thought they weren't going to harm us," he said.
"I think it's supposed to scare us."
"It's working," he said.
I didn't like the decor much either, but I could feel my hand. I could have held a gun if I had to.
A door that I hadn't even seen opened to the left. A secret panel. A vampire came through the door. He had to bend nearly double to make it through the door frame. He unfolded, impossibly tall and thin, cadaverous. He had not fed tonight. and was wasting no power on looking pretty. His skin was the color of old parchment and clung to the bones of his face like a thin film barely covering his skull. His eyes were sunken and dull in his head, the dead blue of fish eyes. His sickly hands were long and bony with impossibly long fingers, like white spiders sticking from the sleeves of his black coat.
He stalked into the room with the edges of his black coat sweeping behind him like a cloak. He was dressed entirely in black; only his skin and the short cut white hair on his head betrayed him. As he moved through the black room, it looked like his head and hands were floating on their own.
I shook my head to clear the image. When I looked back, he seemed a touch more normal. "He's using his powers to make himself look frightening," I said.
"Yes, ma petite, he is." There was something in his voice that made me turn and look at him. His face was its usual lovely mask-but in his eyes, for just a second, I saw fear.
"What's going on, Jean-Claude?"
"The rules have not changed. Do not draw a weapon. Do not strike the first blow. They cannot harm us unless we break these rules."
"Why are you suddenly scared?"
'That is not Serephina," he said. His voice was very bland when he said it.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He threw back his head and laughed. The sound reverberated through the room, echoing and outwardly joyous. But I could taste it on the back of my tongue, and it was bitter. "It means, ma petite, that I am a fool."
25
Jean-Claude's laughter faded away in bits and pieces, like the sound was clinging to the walls. "Where is Serephina?" he asked.
Ivy and Bruce walked out of the room. I didn't know where they were going, but it had to be better than this. How many torture rooms could a house this size have? Don't answer that.
The tall vampire looked at us with his dead-fish eyes. There was no pull, nothing; it was like looking into the eyes of a corpse.
His voice, when it came, was almost shocking. It was rich and deep, resonant, but not with vampiric powers. It was the voice of an actor, or an opera singer. I watched it come out of the thin, lipless mouth and it still looked like a parlor trick, like the mouth should move out of sync with the words, but they didn't.
"You must pass through me before she will see you."
"You surprise me, Janos." Jean-Claude glided down the steps. I guess we were going down. Pity. "You are more powerful than Serephina. How is it you do her bidding?"
"When you have seen her, you will understand. Now come, all of you, join us. The night is young, and I want to see you all naked and bleeding before dawn."
"Who is this guy?" I asked. I could use my hand again; might as well smart off.
Jean-Claude stopped on the last step. Jason moved up, one step behind him. Larry and I stayed a little behind that. I don't think either of us was too eager to go down.
The vampire turned his dead eyes on me. "I am Janos."
"Dandy, but the rules say you can't bleed us, or anything else. Or did I miss something?"
"You miss very little, ma petite," Jean-Claude said.
"You will not be harmed against your will," Janos said. "You must all consent for any harm to befall you."
"Then we're safe," I said.
He smiled, the skin of his face stretching like paper. I half-expected bone to break through, but it didn't. The smile was nicely hideous.
"We shall see."
Jean-Claude took that last step, and moved farther into the room. Jason followed, and after a moment's hesitation so did I. Larry followed me like a trooper.
"This room is your idea, Janos," Jean-Claude said.
"I do nothing without my master's consent."
"She cannot be your master, Janos. She is not powerful enough."
"Yet, here I am, Jean-Claude. Here I am."
Jean-Claude walked around the dark wood of the rack, trailing a pale hand over it. "Serephina was never much for torture. She was many things, but not sadistic." Jean-Claude came to stand in front of Janos. "I think you are master here and she is your stalking horse. She is known as master so all the challenges come her way. When she dies, you will find another puppet.