Almost Midnight (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3.5)(89)

“Wait.” Miranda took a deep breath and found hope in the fact that the black curse didn’t smell so strong. “We might be able to help.” She reached for her sister’s hand and chanted.

“Protect us now. Keep us safe. Build us a barrier of ironclad stakes.”

A loud bang sounded and Miranda saw the bars appear. The voices in the distance rang closer.

“Not bad,” Chase said. “But that’s not going to hold them for long. Let’s get out of here now. There’s another door at the end of this tunnel.”

They took off. Chase ran behind them, as if to protect them if the rogue vamps got through the gate.

Tabitha still held the flashlight, and they ran hard, the thumping of their feet pounding the hard dirt mingling with the voices of the rogues. Voices that seemed to grow closer.

The tunnel curved to the right, then the left. Ahead, Miranda saw the blackness fading to a gray. The exit must be close. She prayed it was, because now she could hear the footsteps of those behind them.

All of a sudden a loud clang rang out, and the gray ahead went pitch black again.

“Shit!” Chase seethed. “Someone closed the door.”

“Faster,” Anthony said and Miranda felt him breathing down her neck.

“There.” He snatched the flashlight from her sister and pointed it up to the metal latch. “Can you two throw up another gate and give me a few minutes?”

Miranda didn’t even take the time to answer, she grabbed Tabitha’s hand, and they repeated the chant together. Behind her she heard Chase struggling with the heavy metal door.

The clattering of steel falling into place filled the air and not a second too soon, for the crowd of eight vampires turned the corner at the same time.

“We are so good,” Tabitha said.

They were good, Miranda thought, but as Chase had said earlier, the gate wouldn’t stop these rogues, just slow them down. Miranda looked back at Chase. Both he and Anthony worked to get the thing opened. And it wasn’t happening fast.

Miranda grabbed Tabitha and moved a few feet back. The dirty vamps growled and they all grabbed ahold of the bars and started pulling. The eerie screech of metal bending filled the air.

“It’s not going to hold long,” she called out.

“Then put up another one,” Chase yelled. “We’ve almost got it.”

Right then one of the bars gave. Not even thinking of what she was about to do, Miranda twitched her pinky at the vamp. And there where the vamp had been was a kangaroo. A pink one. And then a couple of large pimples appeared on the animal’s snout.

The vamp started jumping up and down, craning his pink nose to look down at himself. All the other vamps released the bars and stared in horror.

Tabitha burst out laughing, and then, holding her own pinky up, said, “Who’s next?”

“No one is!” Miranda didn’t recognize the voice, but her eyes lifted up, and she recognized the woman from a few of the competitions she’d attended.

Sienna’s mother. And she didn’t appear happy. Dressed in some hideous-looking dress, she reminded Miranda of Cruella de Vil in the cartoon 101 Dalmatians.

“Why are you doing this?” Tabitha asked her.

The woman glanced at Tabitha. “You think you are the only ones who can put up bars?” She twitched her finger and suddenly behind them appeared another iron gate, separating them from Anthony and Chase.

And right then the smell, the stench of a black curse filled the air.

She heard Chase let out a curse.

Tabitha, suddenly looking more angry than scared, took a step closer to the gate. “Does Sienna know her mother is a murderer?”

The woman glared at Tabitha. “I’m doing this for my daughter.” Then she glanced back at the vamps. “You let me down,” she sneered. “I told you to kill them.”

“We were going to, but why waste their blood?” one of the vamps snapped. “We were going to feed off them in our celebration.”

“Then call this day a celebration and feed on them now!” She raised her hand as if to remove the bars Tabitha and Miranda had brought forth.

So Miranda put up another one. And removed the bars behind them.

Light suddenly spilled into the darkness. Miranda glanced back and saw Chase and Anthony push open the iron door to the outside. Sunlight spilled into the darkness in soft rays.

“Let’s go,” Chase yelled and shot forward along with Anthony.

Miranda felt Chase grab her and saw Anthony snatch up Tabitha. Then all four of them flew out of the opening in the ground.

With almost the speed of light, Chase set her on her feet.

He ran over to the iron door to the catacombs and shut it. The loud clank sounded and still in a bit of panic, Miranda jumped.

They were safe. Safe. Safe. She repeated the word in her head.

“They won’t be getting out anytime soon.” Chase turned back to Miranda and then raised his nose. “And … here comes the cavalry. Which means, I’d better go.”

Cavalry? She suddenly understood. Burnett and the others. She knew they would come for her.

“No,” Miranda said. “You can’t treat Della this way. You can’t let her father pay for—”

He shot closer to her. “I’m not. I’m going to fix this. Tell Della I will be in touch as soon as I have answers. Tell her … I send my love.”