“And does your protocol,” I continued, “allow for your victims to remember just enough of what was done to them that they are haunted by nightmares? How many have taken their own lives because they couldn’t live with the trauma they’d endured here?”
I took a step forward to separate his smug head from his bloodsucking body, but a hand fell on my shoulder.
“Take the child out with the others, yes?” Vlad said. “I’ll deal with this. Wait for me at the door.”
He was right. The humans were the priority right now, not my rage. I looked into her blank eyes and felt my own filling with tears. Nope. I needed to hold it together and get these people out.
Cadmael beside him, Clive was walking under his own power, helping to keep the humans moving forward. He paused. The tunnel door?
He’s not going to want us to compromise the Guild’s secrecy, so I assume so.
He kept them all going down the main hall.
How are you feeling? I asked.
Like I’ve been dead for a thousand years.
I’m sorry.
It serves me right for not being more careful. It’s been a few centuries since I was poisoned. I’d forgotten how painful it is.
Is there anything more we can do?
You’ve already done it. Your blood stopped the cramping. I’ll recover.
Vlad met us when we reached the door. He opened it and we all filed in. When it closed, though, he didn’t head down the stairs, instead pointing to the right.
Waving his hand in front of what appeared to be an earthen wall, he triggered a mechanism and a panel slid open to a narrow passage. The humans couldn’t see in the inky dark, so I turned on the flashlight on my phone and Clive did the same. We both aimed our lights at the ground as Vlad led the way.
“I’ve seen no listening devices here,” he said. “I don’t believe the current Guild members even know this passage exists, so we should be safe enough.”
“I didn’t know,” Cadmael said, “and I’ve been a member almost since the beginning.”
“Good,” Vlad said.
One of the humans staggered and Cadmael reached out to keep him upright and moving.
“Where does this tunnel let out?” I asked.
“Behind the Bloody Ruin. There is a small youth hostel nearby. Someone is at the front desk around the clock. We’ll leave them there.”
“Okay, but you have to wake them up. Otherwise, they’ll be at the mercy of human predators. And this little one has to have family frantic, trying to find her.” We couldn’t just leave a group of mesmerized people in front of a hostel and take off. They were our responsibility now.
“We won’t, darling,” Clive said. “I realize it’s foremost in my mind right now, but perhaps poisoning would work for a cover story. They’d all eaten at a kiosk and got sick, feverish. That might explain the lost time.”
“I’ll call Viktoria. It’s the pack’s job to protect the people of Budapest. They can escort them to different clinics,” I suggested.
“Yes,” Vlad agreed. “The wolves can take them to the proper authorities. Wait until we’re close to the hostel and then call.”
We were silent for the rest of the walk. Finally, Vlad stopped us. He looked at Clive and Cadmael. “Poisoned sausages? Vomiting, diarrhea, fever, too sick to leave the public toilet?”
“Yes,” Clive agreed. “Then too disoriented to know where they were and how to get back. Do they have wallets? IDs?”
“No,” Vlad said. “That’s the first thing they destroy so there’s no link to the Guild.”
“You two are the most powerful of your kind in the world.” I didn’t want to use the word vampire in front of the humans. “Why didn’t you stop this? What’s the point of having that power and authority if you’re not going to use it to do the right thing?”
Cadmael glared at me. “I haven’t been here in at least a decade. I only came to support Clive.”
