A Blood Seduction (Vamp City #1)(63)

Finally, the woman stopped, rapping softly on what appeared to be solid rock. How were there tunnels in the rock this far below D.C. . . . and no water? She thought this part of D.C. had been built on a swamp. Then again, this wasn't D.C., was it?

To her surprise, a narrow, short strip of rock swung open. A door. For midgets.

The woman bent low and swept under. Quinn hesitated only a moment before doing the same. In for a penny, in for a pound.

On the other side, she straightened, taking in a cave easily three times the size of her apartment back home, the walls unadorned except for the three lanterns sitting on various natural shelves, their light flickering over the damp walls. Around the cave, close to a dozen people stood watching her, as many men as women, all dressed similarly to the first two in varying shades of black and navy, some with shoes or boots, others barefoot. None of them had hair with that phosphorescent glow except the woman who'd come for her.

And Grant Blackstone.

He stepped forward, the only one still dressed in nineteenth-century landowner garb, his expression no more friendly than it had been any other time she'd met him. "I have a proposition for you, sorceress."

Nice to see you, too, Grant. "What's the proposition?" And really, was she likely to say no? Even if she wanted to, she probably couldn't find her way back to her jail cell. And she certainly didn't want to.

"I want you to free these slaves." His hand waved to encompass the entire lot.

"And how am I supposed to do that?"

"Send them through a sunbeam."

Quinn frowned. "They can't walk through on their own?"

One of the slaves stepped forward, a petite young woman with a bit of a weight problem. "I heard how you escaped. So a couple of days ago, I was in the right place when a sunbeam broke through, and I ran right into it and out the other side, still in V.C. Three times. It didn't work."

"Could you see the real world in the light?"

She looked surprised. "No."

Quinn turned to Grant. "Why can I do it, and she can't?"

"Because you're a sorcerer."

"What about you? Are you able to see the other side through the sunbeams?"

Grant lightly scratched his beard, his nails clicking at his whiskers. "I don't know. I rarely leave the castle and haven't seen the sunbeams." A wistful look crossed his face. "I should like to. It's been far too long since I've seen the sun."

Quinn frowned, turning to look at the girl thoughtfully. "Even if she couldn't see the outside world, she should have been able to run into it. The sunbeams are the real world breaking through."

"True," Grant replied. "But perhaps it takes a sorcerer to lead a human."

She was a human, dammit. He made it sound like she was one of the weirdo creatures that inhabited this place.

"Was your brother touching you when you came through together?"

"Yes." She'd been holding his arm. She glanced at the hopeful faces, then back at Grant. "You want me to help them escape."

A chorus of whispered yeses and sighs echoed off the cave walls.

Grant nodded. "The ten in this room."

She took a quick count. There were eleven in all - nine with normal hair plus the woman and Grant. With understanding, she met the sorcerer's gaze. "Not you."

"No. I can never leave."

"What about her?" Quinn glanced pointedly at the woman who'd sprung her from her room, the other one with the glowing Slava hair.

"Celeste only turned Slava a year ago. She should be able to escape."

Celeste stepped forward, her features pinched. "I don't care about the risk. My children were left orphans when I was captured. I have to get back to them."

Quinn's heart went out to her and the children whose mother had been missing for . . . what? Three years, now? She turned to Grant. "If I can hand them through without going myself, I will. But I'm not leaving Vamp City." She resisted adding without my brother. It was time she started keeping that to herself.

"Good enough. But if you're going after your brother, you should know he's no longer at Smithson Castle."

So much for the secrecy. "Smithson Castle?"

"Lazzarus's stronghold."

So, had Arturo lied about that, too? Or was Grant lying, now? Was there anyone she could trust to tell her the truth? "Where is he now? And how do you know?"

"He was moved yesterday to the Gladiator camp."

Her eyes widened, her blood turning cold. "The Games?"

"Yes. He was the one chosen for this week's."

She swayed. Her head began to pound. "How do you know?"

"I may not leave this castle often, but I have a valuable network of spies."

"You don't even know what he looks like."

"No, but Arturo does. It was his spy my own learned this from."

Arturo had probably seen him that day when she and Zack first came through.

"So Arturo knows that he was moved."

"He does."

Hell. Would the traitor grab him and take him to Cristoff or leave him there to die? She squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her fingers to her eyelids. She wasn't sure which she preferred.

Zack.