"How do you feel?" Vancha asked.
"Fine."
"Remember," he said, "all that matters is the result. Fight dirty if you have to. Kick and spit, scratch and pinch, hit below the belt."
"I will," I grinned. Lowering my voice, I asked, "Will you really surrender if I lose?"
"I gave my word, didn't I?" Vancha said, then winked and whispered in a voice even lower than mine. "I promised we'd drop our weapons and let them take us. And so we will. But I said nothing about letting them keep us or not picking our weapons up again!"
The vampaneze ahead of us parted ranks as R.V. marched through, dragging Debbie behind him by her hair.
"Stop that!" I shouted angrily. "You're hurting her!"
R.V. bared his teeth and laughed. He was still wearing one red contact lens and hadn't replaced the one he'd lost the night before. His bushy beard was flecked with bits of moss, twigs, dirt and blood. It would have been easyto feel sorry for him - he'd been a decent man before he lost his hands to the jaws of the Wolf Man at the Cirque Du Freak - but I had no time for sympathy. I reminded myself that he was the enemy and erased all traces of pity from my mind.
R.V. tossed Debbie down in front of me. She cried out in pain, then lunged to her knees and flew into my arms. I clutched her close as she sobbed and tried to speak. "Shhh," I said. "Take it easy. You're safe. Don't say anything."
"I - must," she wept. "So much - to say. I - I love you, Darren."
"Of course you do," I smiled, my eyes filling with tears.
"Such a touching scene," Steve sneered. "Someone pass me a hankie."
I ignored him and held Debbie's face away from me. I kissed her quickly, then smiled. "You look awful," I said.
"Charming!" she half-laughed, then stared at me appealingly. "I don't want to leave," she croaked. "Not until after the fight."
"No," I said quickly. "You have to go. I don't want you to stay and watch."
"In case you are killed?" she asked.
I nodded, and her lips thinned almost to nothing.
"I want to stay too," Harkat said, stepping up beside us, his green eyes filled with determination.
"It's your right to," I agreed. "I won't stop you. But I'd rather you didn't. If you value our friendship, you'll take Debbie and the Chief Inspector, lead them to the surface, and make sure they get away safely. I don't trust these monsters - they might go on a rampage and kill us all if I win."
"Then I should stay to fight - with you," Harkat said.
"No," I said softly. "Not this time. Please, for my sake and Debbie's, will you leave?"
Harkat didn't like it, but he nodded reluctantly.
"Come on then," someone snapped behind us. "Let's get them out if they're going."
I looked up and saw the treacherous police officer called Morgan James striding towards us. He was carrying a slim rifle, the butt of which he poked into his Chief Inspector's ribs.
"Get the hell away from me!" she snapped, turning on him furiously.
"Easy, Chief," he drawled, grinning like a jackal, bringing up the rifle. "I'd hate to have to shoot you."
"When we get back, you're history," she snarled.
"I won't be coming back," he smirked. "I'll guide you lot to the cavern at the end of the tunnel, lock you out to make sure you can't create a disturbance, then take off with the others when the fighting's over."
"You won't escape that easy," Burgess snorted. "I'll track you down and make you pay for this, even if I have to travel halfway round the world."
"Sure you will," Morgan laughed, then nudged her in the ribs again, harder this time.
The Chief Inspector spat at her ex-officer, then pushed him away and crouched next to Vancha to tie her laces. As she was doing that, she whispered to him out of the side of her mouth. "The guy in the hood and cloak - that's the one you have to kill, right?" Vancha nodded wordlessly, guarding his expression. "I don't like the idea of sending the kid up to fight them," Burgess said. "If I can create a bit of space, and provide firing cover, d'you reckon you or Crepsley could get up there?"
"Maybe," Vancha said, lips barely moving.
"Then I'll see what I can do." Burgess finished tying her laces, stood and winked. "Come on," she said aloud to Harkat and Debbie. "The air stinks here. The sooner we're out, the better."
The Chief Inspector started walking, shoving ahead of Morgan, purpose in her stride. The rows of vampaneze ahead of her parted, clearing a path. Only a few now stood between us and the stake the rope was tied to.
Harkat and Debbie looked back at me sorrowfully. Debbie opened her mouth to say something, but words wouldn't come. Crying, she shook her head and turned her back on me, shoulders shaking miserably. Harkat put his arms around her and led her away, following the Chief Inspector.
Burgess was almost at the mouth of the tunnel leading out of the cavern when she paused and glanced over her shoulder. Morgan was close to her, cradling his rifle. Harkat and Debbie were several metres behind, progressing slowly.
"Hurry up!" Burgess snapped at the dawdling pair. "This isn't a funeral procession!"
Morgan smiled and looked back automatically at Harkat and Debbie. As he did, the Chief Inspector swung into action. Throwing herself at him, she grabbed the butt of the rifle and dug it into the soft flesh of his stomach, fast and hard, winding him. Morgan yelled in pain and surprise, then snatched the rifle back as she tried to pull it away. He almost wrenched it from her grasp, but not quite, and the pair rolled over on the ground, wrestling for the gun. Behind them, the vampaneze and vampets moved to intercept them.
Before the advancing troops reached her, Burgess got a finger on the trigger of the rifle and squeezed off a shot. It could have been pointing anywhere - she didn't have time to aim - but as luck had it, it was pointing at the jaw of the vampet she was struggling with - Morgan James!
There was a flash and a roar of gunfire. Then Morgan was falling away from the Chief Inspector, shrieking with agony, the left side of his face a bloody, shredded mess.
As Morgan surged to his feet, hands clutching the remains of his face, Burgess slammed him over the back of his head with the butt of the rifle, knocking him unconscious. Then, as vampaneze and vampets swarmed towards her, she leant a knee on the ex-officer's back, swung her rifle up, took careful aim, and fired off a volley of shots at the platform - at Steve, Gannen Harst - and the Lord of the Vampaneze!