Whirling, the vampaneze shouted something unintelligible back at us and angrily shook a golden hook. Vancha silenced him with another shuriken, which flew even closer to its mark than the first. Dropping to his belly, Hooky slid to the edge of the roof, where he grabbed on to the guttering with his hooks, halting his fall. He hung over open space a moment, checked the area underneath, jerked his hooks clear of the guttering and then dropped. It was a four-storey fall, but that was nothing to a vampaneze.
"Here we go," Mr. Crepsley muttered, making for a nearby fire escape. "Call the others and warn them - we do not want them running into him on the streets."
I did that while jogging down the steps of the fire escape. They were a block and a half behind us. I told them to hold position until further notice. While Mr. Crepsley and I followed the vampaneze on the ground, Vancha kept sight of him from the rooftops, making sure he couldn't take to the roofs again, narrowing his options so that he had to choose between the streets and the tunnels.
After three minutes of frenzied running, he chose the tunnels.
We found a discarded manhole cover and a trail of blood leading down into the darkness. "This is it," I sighed nervously as we stood waiting for Vancha. I hit the redial button on my mobile and summoned the others. When they arrived, we paired off into our regular teams, and climbed down into the tunnels. Each of us knew what we had to do and no words were exchanged.
Vancha and Steve led the pursuit. The rest of us trailed behind, covering adjacent tunnels, so Hooky couldn't double back. It wasn't easy tracking Hooky down here. The water in the tunnels had washed much of his blood away, and the darkness made it hard to see very far ahead. But we'd become accustomed to these tight, dark spaces, and we moved quickly and efficiently, keeping close, picking up on the slightest identifying marks.
Hooky led us deeper into the tunnels than we'd ever been. Even the mad vampaneze, Murlough, hadn't delved this deeply into the underbelly of the city. Was Hooky heading for his companions and help, or simply trying to lose us?
"We must be nearing the city limits," Harkat remarked as we rested a moment. "The tunnels must run out soon, or else..."
"What?" I asked when he didn't continue.
"They could open up," he said. "Perhaps he is making a break... for freedom. If he reaches open countryside and... has a clear run, he can flit to safety."
"Won't his wounds stop him doing that?" I asked.
"Perhaps. But if he is desperate enough... perhaps not."
We resumed the chase and caught up with Vancha and Steve. Harkat told Vancha what he thought Hooky was planning. Vancha replied that he'd already thought of that, and was gradually closing in on the fleeing vampaneze - if Hooky angled for the surface, Vancha would head him off and make an end of him.
But, to our surprise, instead of heading upwards, the vampaneze led us ever further down. I'd no idea the tunnels ran this deep, and couldn't imagine what they were for - they were modern in design, and showed no signs of having been used. As I was pondering it, Vancha came to a standstill and I almost walked into him.
"What is it?" I asked.
"He's stopped," Vancha whispered. "There's a room or cave up ahead and he's come to a halt."
"Waiting for us, to make a final stand?" I suggested.
"Perhaps," Vancha replied uneasily. "He's lost a lot of blood and the pace of the chase must be sapping his energy. But why stop now? Why here?" He shook his head. "I don't like it."
As Mr. Crepsley and Debbie arrived, Steve unstrapped his arrow gun and loaded it by torchlight.
"Careful!" I hissed. "He'll see the light."
Steve shrugged. "So? He knows we're here. We might as well operate by light as in darkness."
That made sense, so we all lit the torches we'd brought, keeping the lights dim so as not to create too many distracting shadows.
"Do we go after him," Steve asked, "or stay here and wait for him to attack?"
"We go in," Mr. Crepsley answered after the briefest of pauses.
"Aye," Vancha said. "In."
I studied Debbie. She was trembling and looked ready to collapse. "You can wait out here if you like," I told her.
"No," she said. "I'm coming." She stopped trembling. "For Tara."
"Steve and Debbie will keep to the back," Vancha said, loosening a few of his shurikens. "Larten and I will lead. Darren and Harkat in the middle." Everybody nodded obediently. "If he's alone, I'll take him," Vancha went on. "An even fight, one-on-one. If he has company-" he grinned humourlessly "-it's everyone for themselves."
One final check to make sure we were ready and he advanced, Mr. Crepsley to his right, Harkat and I close behind, Steve and Debbie bringing up the rear.
We found ourselves in a large, domed room, modern like the tunnels. A handful of candles jutted from the walls, casting a gloomy, flickering light. There was another way into the room directly across from us, but it was barred by a heavy, round, metal door, like those used for walk-in safes in banks. Hooky had squatted a few metres in front of the door. His knees were drawn up to cover his face, and his hands were busy trying to pry the arrow head from his leg.
We fanned out, Vancha in front, the rest of us forming a protective semi-circle behind him. "The game's over," Vancha said, holding back, examining the shadows for traces of other vampaneze.
"Think so?" Hooky snorted and looked up at us with his one red eye and one blue-green. "I think it's only beginning." The vampaneze clashed his hooks together. Once. Twice. Three times.
And someone dropped from the ceiling.
The someone landed beside Hooky. Stood and faced us. His face was purple and his eyes were blood-red - a vampaneze. Someone else dropped. Another. More. I felt sick inside as I watched vampaneze drop. There were human vampets among them too, dressed in brown shirts and black trousers, with skinned heads, a tattooed 'V above either ear, and red circles painted around their eyes, carrying rifles, pistols and crossbows.
I counted nine vampaneze and fourteen vampets, not including Hooky. We'd walked into a trap, and as I stared around at the armed, grim-faced warriors, I knew we'd need all the luck of the vampires just to scrape out of this alive.
Chapter NINETEEN