Murlough pulled my head back. I felt the blade of a knife poking into the soft flesh of my throat. I stiffened in anticipation of the cut. I wanted to scream, but the blade stopped me. This is it, I thought. This is the end. What a lousy, useless way to die.
But the vampaneze was only teasing me. He slowly removed the knife and laughed nastily. He had all the time in the world. There was no reason for him to rush. He wanted to play with us awhile.
"You shouldn't have come," Evra muttered. "It was stupid." He paused. "But thanks anyway," he added.
"Would you have left me?" I asked.
"Yes," he said, but I knew he was lying.
"Don't worry," I told him. "We'll still figure a way out of this."
" A way out?" Murlough boomed. "Don't talk rubbish. How are you going to escape? Chew through the ropes? You could if you could reach them with your teeth, but you can't. Snap them with your super vampire strength? No good. They're too strong. I tested them myself in advance, hmmm?
"Face it, Darren Shan - you're doomed! Nobody's going to ride to the rescue. Nobody can find you down here. I'm going to take my time, cut you up into itty-bitty pieces, drop you all over the city - like confetti - and there isn't a thing you can do about it, so wise up!"
"At least let Evra go," I begged. "You've got me. You don't need him. Think how horrible it'd be for him if you let him go: he'd have to live with the knowledge that I'd died in his place. That would be a horrible burden. It would be even worse than killing him."
"Maybe." Murlough grunted. "But I'm a simple man. I like simple pleasures. It's a nice idea, but I'd rather slice him up slowly and painfully, if it's all the same to you. Fewer complications."
"Please." I sobbed. "Let him go. I'll do anything you want. I... I... I'll give you Mr. Crepsley!"
Murlough laughed. "No go. You had the chance to do that earlier. You blew it. Besides, you couldn't lead me to him now. He's bound to have changed hotels again. Might even have fled the city."
"There must be something I can give you!" I yelled desperately. "There must be some way I can..." I stopped.
I could practically hear Murlough's ears stiffening.
"What is it?" he asked, after several seconds of silence. "What were you going to say?"
"Wait a minute!" I snapped. "I have to think something through." I could feel Evra's eyes on me, half hopeful, half resigned to the fate he felt neither of us could escape.
"Hurry up," Murlough prompted me, coming around in front of me. His purple face didn't show up well in the dim light of the cavern, so his eyes and lips appeared to be three free-floating globs of red, while his discolored hair looked like a strange kind of bat. "I haven't got all night," he said. "Speak while you're able."
"I was just thinking," I said quickly. "You're going to have to leave town after this, aren't you?"
" Leave?" Murlough bellowed. "Leave my beautiful tunnels? Never! I love it here. You know what being down here makes me feel like? As if I'm inside the body of the city. These tunnels are like veins. This cavern is the heart, where the blood of the city flows in and out." He smiled, and for once it wasn't an evil expression. "Can you imagine?" he said softly. "Living in a body, roaming the veins - the tunnels of blood - freely, as you please."
"Nevertheless," I said bluntly, "you will have to leave."
"What's all this talk of leaving?" he snapped, jabbing me with the knife. "You're beginning to annoy me."
"I'm just being practical," I said. "You can't stay here. Mr. Crepsley knows where you are. He'll return."
"That coward? I doubt it. He'll be too -?
"He'll return with help," I interrupted. "With other vampires."
Murlough laughed. "The Vampire Generals, do you mean?"
"Yes," I said.
"Nonsense! They can't come after me. There's an agreement between them and us. They don't interfere. Crepsley isn't a General, is he?"
"No," I said. "He's not."
"There you are!" Murlough yelled triumphantly. "He couldn't have come after me if he was. Rules and laws and ways of living. They mean as much to the vampires as they do to the vampaneze."