How had they built this? How did they have electricity? They’d even decorated. When she’d first escaped the cell, the paths leading from it had been bare, simple dirt and rough-carved stone. But as she scurried through the passages, the stone became smoother, the walls dotted with carved wooden or leather art or paintings in a variety of styles, mostly Native American. The pounded dirt floor became inlaid with cobblestones, and once, Nicole peeked over a carved wooden railing into what appeared to be an elegant, if basic, common room with colored floor tiles that formed a giant dream catcher.
The sophistication of the place stunned her. By most accounts, vampires were supposed to be instinctive, base creatures that, if not cared for and trained by humans, lived like animals. Nicole had never been convinced that vampires were so primitive, but her arguments with her college instructors, colleagues, and peers had been met with either scoffing and derision or accusations of being a “filthy sympathizer.”
She couldn’t wait to rub this in their faces. Assuming she got out of here alive, anyway. She just hoped Riker remained in the boric-acid stupor for at least half an hour. The chances of her getting caught were already astronomically high, but if he came out of it before she escaped, she might as well schedule her funeral.
She kept to the shadows and crevices as best she could, instinctively moving along uphill paths and staying far away from the few vamps she saw and definitely avoiding eye contact. Even if a vampire didn’t sense the fact that she was human, she had a feeling everyone knew everyone else in this community, and a stranger would stick out like a neon sign.
Heart pounding so hard she was sure every vampire in the place could hear it, she followed a cool draft of fresh air around a corner and bumped so hard into someone that she oof ed and careened into the earthen wall. The person she’d collided with, a small female wearing cutoff Daisy Duke denim shorts and an orange wool sweater, slammed against a log support beam.
The crack of the girl’s skull on the hard wood reverberated through the tunnel.
Nicole watched in horror as the other female crumpled to the ground, blood streaming from her temple.
“Shit,” Nicole breathed. She hurried over to the girl and crouched next to her. “Are you okay?” She dug into her pants pocket for a tissue. “Just hold still, and let me put some pressure on that wound.”
For a long heartbeat, the girl, who must have been no more than sixteen, didn’t move or even open her eyes. And in that brief moment, as Nicole pressed the tissue against the wound, she realized she was trying to help a vampire. While trying to escape from these same vampires.
Stupid.
The girl’s eyes popped open. Confusion lurked in the silver-gray depths. Then, in a wild flailing of limbs, she scrambled to her feet and stared at Nicole like a cat eyeing a mouse.
Oh, God. Nicole was dead.
Very slowly, with her feet rooted to the ground as if she were part of the warren’s structure, Nicole stood.
Her fingers trembled as she casually reached behind her for the dagger she’d taken from Riker.
“Human?” The female got right up in Nicole’s face, apparently oblivious of the fact that she had a tissue stuck to her temple. “You have candy?”#p#分页标题#e#
Nicole’s hand froze on the dagger’s hilt. “I—what?”
The vampire’s broad smile revealed a perfect, gleaming set of fangs. “I like chocolate. And hard candies. Riker brings me candy sometimes. You know
Riker? He likes chocolate, too.” In an abrupt shift of mood, she reached up to wrap her orange-streaked brown ponytail around her fist, a pout turning down the corners of her mouth. “Hunter says candy is no good for my teeth. It’s always blood, blood, blood. All the time, blood.” She stomped her bare foot like a petulant child. “I hate blood.”
Well, that could only be good news.
“So,” the vampire said brightly. “You have candy for Lucy?”
It was pretty clear the vampire wasn’t playing with a full deck, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t as dangerous as a vampire who held all the cards. Best to be nice and see what Nicole could learn.
“Lucy? Is that your name?”
Lucy nodded. “Who are you? Humans aren’t allowed here. Not never.” She appeared to think about what she’d just said. “Well, only for food.” She wrinkled her nose. “Blood. Yuck. Do you have candy?”
Right. Okay, she could work this. “I’m sorry, Lucy, no candy. But I can get some if you tell me how to get out of here.”
Lucy’s eyes narrowed. “Are you tricking me? Humans aren’t allowed to leave.”