Vampire Uprising by Marcus Pelegrimas

stamp at the bottom rolled backward as Cole held down a button. “This computer’s got a camera attached to it.”
    “It does?”
    “Yes,” he said, since he’d been the one to attach it. “That way, we can see who comes and goes through here to get to the valuable stuff.”
    “You didn’t go back far enough. That freak was dragged out of here at least—”
    “I’m not looking for that.”
    “So what are you looking for?”
    Rolling backward through the video until he found the image of someone walking directly past the computer, Cole played it at normal speed. “That’d be it.”
    Abel leaned in to see. “That’s the dude from Toronto. Bobby.”
    “Right, but that’s not the same Nymar he had with him the last time.”
    “Sure it is.”
    The image on the screen wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough for him to pick out the differences between Tru and the Nymar who was with Bobby in the video. The one captured by the webcam had similar hair to Trudy’s, but was definitely shorter and skinnier. Even the way she walked was different, in that the one on the video had a definite stride while Tru walked more like someone waiting to step out of someone else’s way. Aside from that, the tendril markings were all wrong.
    “You seriously think that’s Tru?” Cole asked.
    “Sure. As far as I can tell, or at least as far I can see on thispiece of shit monitor.”
    “When all else fails, blame the equipment.” Before taking one step away from the computer, Cole put that section of video into a separate file and e-mailed it to himself. After that he secured the computer and headed for a narrow trapdoor in the corner. Although the entrance to the dissection room had been hidden by Skinner runes placed by Lancroft, the smaller door was hidden by every means possible. Apart from more runes, there were subtle techniques to hide the markings, which ranged from painting over them to arranging the equipment racks to make it seem like a door didn’t even belong in that corner. All of those techniques would have been enough to keep the door a secret if Lancroft himself weren’t forced into revealing it during the battle that ended his life. When Cole walked toward it, he was grabbed by Abel.
    “Where are you going?”
    Cole shook loose of the grip, walked through the door and down the stairs to a brick hallway that looked to have been charred by a flamethrower. “Checking to see what those other two were after.”
    Tagging along like an anxious puppy, Abel said, “I’m surprised you and Paige didn’t already comb through all of this good enough to know what’s here.”
    “We’ve been busy.”
    “Yeah, I just bet you have.”
    The snide tone in Abel’s voice was easier to pick up than the markings on the mysterious Nymar woman’s face. Cole let it slide, however, since he’d already spotted something out of place farther down the hall. He jogged past bulbs fit into sockets every fifteen to twenty feet along the wall. Alcoves on either side widened into anything from storage spaces to small cells sealed off by thick, rune-encrusted bars. Some of the cells had doors built in that forced anything bigger than a child to crawl on all fours to pass through, while others were simply one-way storage units. The things imprisoned there had died there. As of yet, the Skinners that claimed the Lancroft house hadn’t figured out how to cut through tothose remains.
    Cole’s sights were set on one of the smaller cages. Its little square gate was open, so he reached over his shoulder and grabbed his spear to prepare himself for what might be loose. He tried to remember what was in that cell but couldn’t pick it out amid all the other things he’d discovered underneath that single, empty shell of a house.
    “Shit, is one of those cages open?” Abel asked.
    “Looks like it.”
    Gripping the spear in both hands, Cole felt the familiar pinch of its thorns piercing his flesh as he extended the weapon to its full