I reached for Aidan’s shoulder, but the creature dove for me, separating the two of us and pushing me back. Aidan shoved at its mass as it passed, and its skin brushed wet against me, far too close for comfort. Even though it was thrown off by the force of Aidan’s deflection, it corrected itself with momentum as it swung full circle farther down the rigging on one of the beams, coming back toward me with increased velocity as its sharp talons went for my face.

“Shit,” Aidan said, already in motion himself. He grabbed my arm, digging into it like a vise clamp. “Come with me.”

He jumped as the talons of the creature brushed against my skin, but gravity already had me falling with Aidan toward the castle grounds. He landed hard, using his arms to absorb the shock of me hitting the ground with him. I set my feet down, shaken but unharmed, and looked around.

The scene around us was chaos. Blurs of these creatures and some familiar faces were all around me, fighting and clawing at one another. Aidan shielded me. “Follow me,” he said and started pushing his way through the forest battlefield.

“Wait,” I said. “What the hell are these things?”

He stopped and turned back. “Does it really matter?”

“I suppose not,” I said, “but I’ve been attacked by one of them before.”

“Bull,” Aidan said. “When?”

“Several nights back. Down in SoHo by my apartment.”

“Really,” Aidan said. “That far south?”

I nodded. Aidan started off toward the castle.

“You sure you want to stick with me?” he continued.

“Half an hour ago you were willing to just walk away from us.”

“I’d still like to be able to walk out of here,” I said. “Just not in several pieces. Either way they’d seem content to tear me apart, but to keep my own brain from leaping out of my head and deserting me, I’d like to know what they are. After two separate attacks, color me curious.”

“They’re ferals,” he said. “Happy?” He headed off as if that explained everything.

Before I could ask what that meant, he was off and I was running to keep up with him, dodging the vampire good guys as well as the enemies. Thankfully, there was enough chaos going on around us that no one paid us much attention.

Aidan led me back into the castle and across the vast courtyard. I followed at a close pace even though the largest and most dangerous chunk of the action seemed to be contained just outside the castle walls. Aidan turned into one of the buildings on our left and started down a winding set of stone steps within it. I stopped at the top of them.

“Hold on,” I said. “Is a basement really the best place to be?”

Aidan pushed back his hood and looked at me with blank eyes. “What’s the problem?”

“Isn’t that a bit… constricting? Given all the fighting going on?”

“Getting a bit claustrophobic, are we?” Aidan asked.

“I’m not claustrophobic,” I said. “I just like to have room to flee; that’s all.”

“No worries,” Aidan said. “There’s plenty of room down where we’re going. Besides, it’s not a basement. They’re called catacombs.”

“Great,” I said, putting both hands out against the cold stone of the walls as I followed. “That’s so much more comforting.”

I was relieved to see that wrought-iron lanterns lit the way as we descended farther and farther, but something in the flickering of the candles inside bothered me.

“Are those electrical, too?”

“Not the most authentic touch,” Aidan said, “but yeah. Saves a lot on real candles.”

“I feel like I’m in the line for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride,” I said. “Didn’t realize your kind were so budget conscious.”

Aidan stopped and turned back to me, his eyes narrowed. “There’s a lot you don’t realize about us. You think the Gibson-Case Center was cheap to build? Brandon goes on and on about the price of things all the time.”

“Part of the In-My-Day crowd, I see.”

Aidan turned away. “Maybe at some point you’ll start thinking of us as something more than monsters…”

“I think I’ve seen the real monsters now,” I said, following once again. “You ready to tell me something more about them?”

The downward spiral of stairs ended and opened up into a short hallway not much wider than myself. Aidan stopped at the remains of what looked like a large wooden door. It lay in splinters, the iron bands that had held it together torn and twisted like long black claws.

“I’m not going to tell you,” he said, pushing the twisted metal out of our path. “I’m going to show you.”

I stepped through the doorway into a large cavern. Not a natural cavern, but a man-made one that looked somewhat familiar to me. An arched ceiling rose high overhead, covered in intricate tile work.

“This is a subway station,” I said.

“Correction,” Aidan offered. “This was a subway station, years ago.”

A brush of wind came from the doorway. Without making any sound, Brandon came racing down the stairs.

“Closed around 1933, if I remember it correctly,” Brandon said, walking past me to join Aidan. “It took a little mesmerism on my part to make that happen down at City Hall, but as I’m sure you can attest to, the minds in government are a bit weak in this city.”

“Where’s my brother?” Aidan asked.

“Don’t worry,” Brandon said. “He’s safe. Beatriz is escorting him down here at a more human pace.”

“What exactly is here anyway?” I asked.

“Converted and reclaimed space,” Brandon said. “Nicholas assures me it’s all the rage with the green movement. I’m sure he talked to you about that.”

“Nicholas says a lot of things,” I said. “When he got going on his whole building thing, my brain sorta tuned him out. Not to mention that I was a little distracted trying to find out just what the hell your building’s done to my girlfriend, remember?”

“Ah, yes,” Brandon said, giving a polite smile, “but of course. It appears she isn’t the only one in jeopardy around here. Please, follow us.”

I followed the two vampires as they walked farther into the area. The wall along the right side of the room was made up of tiny rooms built into it. Modern piping and power couplings ran across the tops of them. Clear doors with bars set in them were slid off to the side on all of them.

“Cells,” I said.

Aidan moved to a control panel that sat all alone against an empty stretch of wall. “Odd,” he said.

“What is?” Brandon asked.

Aidan pointed off to where we had come from. “The door to get out of the catacombs was torn open, but look at the cells. Their doors are all fine. Someone used the control panel to get them out of here. Those ferals were released. Not only that, but Simon’s been attacked by one of them outside of here. All the way down in SoHo.”

“So either someone’s been letting the ferals out,” Brandon said, “or else it’s spreading.”

“What’s spreading?” I asked. “And what exactly are these ferals? Aidan here has been having a little trouble explaining what they are to me. Care to try your hand?”

“We’re not quite sure,” Brandon said. “Perversions of what we are, I suppose. The darker and more sinister side of our people made manifest, but how, we just don’t know.”

“And you keep them down here?” I said. “Why not just, you know, kill them?”

Brandon turned to me, his face dark. “Tell me, Mr. Canderous, when you have a sick friend, is that what you do? Kill them? I hope for Connor’s sake he never takes a sick day.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“This feral state is a relatively new development among us,” he said. “We’ve been keeping these poor creatures down here in the hopes of studying them, discovering what is wrong, but to no avail so far. And whatever it is, it is spreading…”

Aidan slammed his fist against the wall, the tiles crumbling apart beneath it. “We need to find out who did this.”

I was already in motion, walking across the station floor, peeling off my gloves. I headed for the control panel. “Out of my way and I’ll tell you.” I had wondered earlier just what vampires could need salvation from; now I knew.