Well, he’d give them some trouble first.
Turning into a man, he took the single torch from the wall to set the tables, the chests, the cabinets to light.
Distraction and destruction, he thought, tossing the torch aside before turning back into the rat again.
As fast as he could, he went back to the area where the prisoners were kept. He saw the man the boy had chosen was no longer in his cage. So he was too late to save him or the woman. But there were others, more than twenty others, and he would give them a chance at least.
There was only one guard now, leaning up against the wall and despite the moans and pleas, he seemed to be half dozing.
It would take speed and it would take luck, Larkin thought. He was counting on having both. He changed into a man, grabbed the sword at the vampire’s side, swung it hard.
As the dust exploded, the screams from the cages were deafening.
“You have to run.” He grabbed the keys from the hook on the wall and began to unlock cages. He shoved the sword into the hands of a man who looked at it blankly.
“You can hurt them with that,” Larkin said quickly. “Kill them if you cut off the head. Kill them with fire. There are torches in the tunnels. Use them. Here.” He shoved the keys into another pair of hands. “Unlock the rest. Then run. Some of you may get out. I’m going to do what I can to keep the way clear.”
Though he knew he risked draining his energy, he changed once more as the chaos whirled around him. Into a wolf that sprang out of the doorway.
He veered left, hoping to buy time and charged the first vampire he saw. He took it by surprise, ripped out its throat. Muzzle dripping, he ran.
He’d hoped the fire he’d set in the arsenal would keep many of them busy. But he heard no alarm as yet.
He saw two carrying bodies to a stack of more dead. Tossed, he thought, like offal. As he ran, he changed, and as he changed he reached for a sword.
He took them both with one blow.
There was shouting now, not the human screaming, but sounds of alarm and fury. Once more he changed into the wolf to use its speed. He could do no more than he had done.
He swung down a tunnel, and he saw the boy.
He was crouched on the ground, feasting on the man who’d been in the cage. The child’s shiny hair was streaked with blood, and it dripped from his fingers, from his lips.
The low growl that rumbled out of Larkin’s throat had the boy looking up. “Doggie!” Davey grinned, horribly. “None for you until I’m finished. I’m done with that one, so you can have it if you want.”
He gestured toward the woman who lay facedown a few feet away.
“She wasn’t as much fun as this one, so I finished quick.”
Beyond rage, Larkin bunched to spring.
“Davey, there you are!” The one who’d sparred with Lora clipped quickly down the tunnel. “Your mother wants you in your chambers. Some of the humans are loose, and they’ve managed to set a fire.”
“But I haven’t finished yet.”
“You’ll have to finish later. Are these both your kills?” He crouched down to give Davey a congratulatory pat on the back. “Good for you. But if you eat any more, you’ll just get sick. I’ll send someone down, have these taken to the heap, but for now, you need to come with me.”
He glanced over as he spoke, eyeing Larkin. “One of your mother’s wolves? I thought she’d sent them all—”
Larkin saw the change on its fa
ce, the sudden bracing of its body. He leaped, but missed the throat as the vampire blocked the charge. The force of the blow hurled Larkin against the wall, but he was up quickly, charging again before the thing could clear its sword.
There was screaming, horrible screaming and his own snarls and snaps. The part of him that was wolf lusted for blood as much as the man inside it lusted for vengeance.
He sank his claws into the thing’s shoulder, its chest.
Then there was pain, unspeakable pain as the child leaped on his back and used his fangs.