Page 21 of Queen of Darkness
The beast on the other side shook the door again.
“—born,” Fred finished dryly.
There was a third hit, and then, nothing but silence.
“What the hell was that thing?” I asked, staring at the steel door, beyond thankful Fred had known about it.
“A bear …”
I shook my head, loudly denying his claim. “No way. That thing was bigger and faster than any bear. Wasn’t it?”
Fred shook his head, holding a finger to his lips again, urging me to be quiet. “Drakul has a habit of turning things that aren’t necessarily sapient.”
I was momentarily speechless. But only momentarily. “Are you telling me thatthingout there is a fuckingvampire bear?!”
Fred waved his hand sharply at me, trying to silence me, but it was too late.
Behind me, deep in the cave that I didn’t realize extended so far, came the sounds of metal scraping on rock.
“Shit,” Fred muttered. “He knows we’re here.”
“This place isoccupied?” I moaned, though this time, I kept my voice low.
“I told you Count Drakul still haunts the area,” Fred said.
“You never said that he haunted this area in particular. Wouldn’t it have made sense to go somewhereelse?”
Fred shrugged. “We’re looking for somewhere people won’t find you, aren’t we? This seemed like the best choice.”
“I’d sort of hoped to survive the encounter.”
“Who says you won’t?”
“You seemed to be a little worried that he knew we were here.”
“I’d hoped to announce ourselves and ask for entry,” Fred said.
“Instead, we snuck in the back door, and now, he knows we’re here. Which, I take it, is a bad thing?”
“I don’t know,” Fred admitted. “I’ve never been inside. Word is, though, Drakul … doesn’t really like visitors.”
“Great,” I whispered. “Just great. First, a vampire bear. Now, an ancient vampire from history who probably wants to kill us.”
“You shouldprobablyget ready for a fight,” Fred said before sliding past me.
Towardthe oncoming sound.
Chapter Twelve
“You’d rather take him on than a vampire grizzly?” I asked, shaking myself loose, wondering if I dared to shift.
“I’d rather not fightanyone,” Fred said as we crept down the dark hallway.
I didn’t have anything to say to that since I was distracted by my thoughts. My wolf would be infinitely more helpful in a fight. With both Fred and Drakul being vampires, I didn’t have to worry about the scent of blood driving me crazy. Vampire blood just didn’t have that effect. It was “already” dead, or so Fenrir had told me.
Yet, we were on Earth, and if wedidrun into something, I still wasn’t sure I could stop myself. Shifting was a last-ditch choice and not one I was ready to make. There would have to be another way to ensure we survived the coming fight. If indeed it was going to be a fight.
I reached out to run my fingers along the wall. Surprisingly, it felt like carved stones. We weren’t in a cave. This had to be a part of the old castle that Fred had told me about, the original.
