No Humans Involved
Page 55

I did, and the light seemed to flare brighter. "Should we wait here, or continue on?"
Jeremy peered down the tunnel, then looked back down the one we'd come in. A clank. I recognized the sound of the trap door opening and ducked even as Jeremy pulled me down.
A beam danced over our heads. Mud oozed up to my ankles, swallowing my feet.
"See anything?" a woman whispered.
"No," Botnick replied.
"Where does the tunnel lead?"
"To the street, I was told. Guy who owned the shop before me ran some underground political paper. Always worrying about being raided."
"I'm going in," said the other man.
"Wait, you don't know what's"
I didn't catch the rest. They'd pulled back, their voices now indistinct. Jeremy leaned down to my ear.
"We should move. Can you put on your shoes?"
"Not if I plan to walk in this. I'm fine."
I started into the tunnel. He caught my arm.
"You're in stockinged feet and can't see where you're stepping."
"I'm-"
"Here-"
"Don't offer me your shoes. Gallant, but it hardly solves the problem unless you're going to squeeze into my heels. I'll be careful."
"Feel before you step. I'll lead and take it slow."
We'd gone about twenty feet when the water level dropped to a trickle and the ground beneath it turned to concrete. I was about to whisper "well, that's better" when my flashlight beam flickered and went out. That was fate for you. Gives and takes, keeping the balance.
Jeremy's fingers reached back and brushed my arm, warning me that he'd stopped before I smacked into him.
CHIVALRY
"WHAT'S WRONG?" I whispered as Jeremy stopped.
"I can't see. Give me a moment."
We waited, the distant drip of water the only sound. It smelled different here-stale with an almost musky odor. Cold too. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying not to let my teeth chatter, which would only have Jeremy offering me his jacket.
"Hmmm," he said after a moment. "There must be a distant source of light. I can make out shapes, but barely, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better."
"No light at all means even you can't see, right?"
"I'm afraid so. My night vision needs something to work with. I'll move slowly. Here, give me the flashlight and your shoes, and put your hands-"
He guided them to his hips. I moved closer just for safety, of course.
We started forward again, creeping along in the dark. We made it about fifty feet, and around the bend, when I heard a sound that made the hair on my neck rise. The chattering of tiny, needle-sharp teeth.
"Please tell me that's mice," I said. "Orunderground squirrels."
"Okay."
I poked his back. "Liar."
"Don't worry. They're a ways off yet."
"Do you remember the psycho rats in Toronto? Did Elena ever tell you we were cornered by them?"
"No, she left off that part. Left off a lot of parts, I'm sure."
"Well, I had to kill some. The rats. Squashed their poor little skulls with a two-by-four and I know payback's coming. Bad karma for the rodent slayer. They can probably sense-" I stopped. "Jeremy?"
"Hmmm?"
"Something brushed my foot. Something furry."
"Don't worry. It was dead."
"Dead?"
"I smelled it, but thought it best not to mention it and hope you passed by."
"Preferably without stepping on it?"
"I'll warn you next time. It can be hard to pinpoint the exact spot, though. The best I can do is say, 'By the way, there's a rotting corpse around here somewhere.' "
"On second thought, ignorance is bliss. So where-?" I stopped as an overpowering stench filled my nose. "Oh, God, I think I smell a ripe one."
"No, that's just the nest."
"N-nest?"
"It's down a side corridor, I think. We'll be past it in a moment. They shouldn't give us any trouble."
"Right. The predator thing. Like the cat. They smell you and run."
"Hmmm."
Not a terribly reassuring response. Elena had told me before that werewolves confuse other animals, that mix of wolf and human and, when confused and faced with a larger potential predator, they run. We'd had problems with the rats in Toronto only because they'd been infected and acting irrationally.
The chattering grew louder as the smell got worse. Mud oozed between my toes. And if it wasn't mud, I didn't want to know about it. I stepped on something that crackled under my toes, hard and thin like twigs or bones.
"Almost past," Jeremy whispered. "When we reach the entrance to the nest, I'm going to stop and swing you by. All right?"
"Thanks."
A hiss in the darkness. I froze, my hands falling from Jeremy's hips as he kept moving. A loud chatter sounded right at my feet. I resisted the urge to kick and danced backward instead, wildly looking around, seeing only blackness.
"Jaime?"
Another hiss. I stumbled back. My foot slid in the muck and-
Jeremy's hands caught me around the waist and swooped me up.
"Grab my neck and hold on."
As I slid my hands around his neck, my fingertips brushed through his hair, then down along the back of his neck. Just bad aim, of course. Couldn't expect me to see in the dark.