Free Soul Bound by Mari Mancusi Page A

will be allowed entrance. Since you do not seem to know this password, I can only assume you come here uninvited. Therefore it would be a disservice to my people to let you in.” He smiles patronizingly at me. “Now why don’t you come with me and I’ll escort you back up onto the city streets? I’ll help you find a lovely hotel with a hot shower where you can wash the stink off your clothes before returning home and rejoining your cheerleading friends.”
    “No!” I cry, furious at his trying to dismiss me like that. “Hell no! I’ll never leave without my sister!” I step forward, ignoring Fluffy’s warning growl. Screw her—I’m not going to let some mythical beast and old guy vampire tell me to go take a bubble bath. Not when Sunny’s life is in danger! I grip my stake tightly in my hands. “Now you tell me where Sunny is or I’ll—”
    A voice breaks out from the darkness. “What’s going on here?”
    I whirl around, happy beyond belief to see Jareth step out from the shadows. Thank goodness. And just in time, too. After all, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to rightly stake this guy—and what if he decided to call my bluff?
    “Jareth!” I cry, rushing over to my boyfriend. “This guy knows where Sunny and Magnus are, but he won’t tell us unless we know some sort of stupid password. Let him know that we’re here to—”
    Jareth sidesteps me and heads straight to the elderly vampire, giving him a low bow.
“Pax tecum,”
he says.
    The elder grins. “Now why didn’t you say so in the first place?”
    “Say what? What did you say? You knew there was a password?” I demand. “Why didn’t you tell me there was a freaking password?”
    Jareth gives me a sympathetic look. “Sorry,” he says. “I didn’t think you’d run into them before me. The vampire underground railroad has always used the same password over the millennia.
Pax tecum—Peace be with you.
I learned it longago when I sought protection after Slayer Inc. killed my family. They helped me reinvent myself and rejoin society as a new vampire—to absolve me of my crimes against Slayer Inc.”
    I give a low whistle, completely sobered by his words. “Wow. I had no idea.” Poor Jareth. I assumed once he’d escaped from Slayer Inc.’s siege, he was free and clear. But I guess it makes sense. After all, if he’d taken out some of their agents in the big fight, they might end up holding a bit of a grudge.
    “The Consortium has been around a long time,” Jareth adds. “But there are many vampires who have been around a lot longer.” He nods his head respectfully in the elder’s direction. The elder gives him a small smile.
    “Well, all righty there,” I interject, a renewed sense of hope surging through me. Maybe this will work out after all. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go get Sunny and Magnus.”

10
     
    T he elderly vampire—who introduces himself as Drake—unlocks an ancient-looking door at the far end of the platform with a golden key tied around his neck and ushers us into a narrow passageway, leading off into, yes, more darkness. Luckily, he goes first, illuminating the path with his lantern, his trusty Chupacabra, Fluffy, sticking to his side. The creature wags her tail as she scampers along with her master—she’s so freaking cute, it’s hard to believe she tried to eat me ten minutes before.
    We walk for what seems like forever, through a twisted maze of passages lined with booby traps, which Drake helpfully points out as we go. I realize there is no way on earth Jareth and I could have discovered this place on our own—never mind survived all the traps. Guess Magnus knew what he was doingwhen he picked this place over the Four Seasons when choosing his and Sunny’s hideaway. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so worried about Pyrus tracking them down after all.
    Still, it can’t hurt to give them a head’s up. And I’ll be thrilled at the chance to see my sister again after so much time apart.