I indicated to Nathaniel that he should walk down one side while I took the other, so that we could see—or hear—whether there were any signs of which tunnel they might have taken.
Nathaniel took the northbound side, and I the southbound. The platform stretched between the tracks, so Nathaniel and I were within sight of each other at all times. There was nothing between us except some empty customer benches.
We walked slowly and carefully from the Dearborn end of the platform. Halfway down, Nathaniel waved his arm at me. I joined him and he pointed south.
He hopped down to the tracks, holding his arms up for me. I let him swing me down.
“Stay away from the third rail,” I whispered. “We don’t know if the electricity to the subway has been shut off.”
He nodded, and we stared into the tunnel. Ahead of us there were no lights except the occasional service lamp for CTA workers. I could have lit a ball of nightfire, but that would have advertised our presence for miles. Once we went in there, the vampires would have the advantage. My new superpowers didn’t seem to have come with the ability to see in the dark.
“Can you see in there?” I asked softly.
Nathaniel shook his head. “Now would be a good time to have the werewolf with us.”
Despite the fact that I had just burned thousands of vampires with one spell, I didn’t want to go into the tunnel. In the tunnel I would be a trapped rat, just like them. I could sense Nathaniel’s reluctance as well. We had so recently been in the pitch black of Titania’s cave, and I hadn’t forgotten how helpless I’d felt there. Gabriel had told me once that angels were born of the sun. Creatures of the sun do not like to scurry in the darkness.
But our quarry was scurrying away, and I wasn’t going to let him escape.
I stepped into the tunnel, and Nathaniel kept pace with me. The air felt close and damp. I focused on breathing steadily—and quietly. The scrape of our boots on the tracks sounded like gunfire in the silence.
We crept along for a while, trying to be crafty, both of us tense. And as we crept along I started getting annoyed. And I went from annoyed to angry to insanely furious with no stops in between.
“Why are we tiptoeing around in here?” I said loudly. “What freaking difference does it make?”
“Madeline, shh,” Nathaniel said.
“No, I will not be quiet,” I said. “They can see in the dark. They can hear better than we can. Why should we play by their rules?”
I raised a ball of nightfire and launched it up so it would float ahead of us. “If they’re going to run, then they’ll run whether or not we’re scuttling in the dark. If they’re going to fight, then we should be able to see them as well as they can see us.”
“Madeline, stop. Do not be impulsive,” Nathaniel said.
“Who’s being impulsive?” I said as the ball of nightfire lit up the tunnel. “THERION!”
Nathaniel stared at me like I’d lost my mind.
“THERION! You COWARD!” I roared.
There was no answer.
“They are gone,” Nathaniel said angrily. “They were ahead of us. I could hear them, and now they are gone. As soon as you began yelling they disappeared.”
This news just made me even angrier. Therion had escaped, and I wanted him to pay. Still, I wasn’t going to play the vampire king’s game.
“Fine,” I said. “Let’s go home.”
Nathaniel’s eyebrows went up to his hairline. “You are giving up?”
“Hell, no,” I said. “I’m going to track him down and take out his intestines through his nostrils. But I’m not going to chase him through miles of tunnel to do it. I’ll find him later. I have something else I need to do, anyway.”
“Deal with Alerian?” Nathaniel asked.
“Alerian’s not even awake yet,” I said, trudging back in the direction of the Washington stop. We hadn’t really walked that far. I could see the lights over the platform a short distance away. “I have something I need to do for Lucifer.”
“Then I will accompany you,” Nathaniel said.
“No,” I said shortly. “This is not optional. You’re staying home, and so is everyone else. This is for me to do.”
“Have I not proven that I am trustworthy?” Nathaniel asked, an edge in his voice.
“This isn’t about whether or not you are trustworthy,” I said. “This is about me and Lucifer and my duties as the Hound of the Hunt.”
“What has he asked of you?” Nathaniel said.
“I can’t tell you,” I said. “You may assume that the task sucks and that there are about ten million things I would rather do.”
“Let me help you,” Nathaniel persisted as we reached the platform and clambered up from the track level.
“Nathaniel, I am the Hound of the Hunt. Where I go, you cannot follow,” I said. “Besides, I need you to stay in Chicago. You’re the only one here who can deal with Alerian if he does rise. Or at least, you’re the only one who can contact Puck to come and deal with his brother.”
We climbed the stairs back up to the station. Everything looked the same. When we reached the street I half expected Therion to be waiting there with another army of vampires to take me down, but he wasn’t. I guess the vampire king really was a coward, and the nightmare was over. For the moment.
There were a few people on the streets, wandering in a daze, blinking at the sky like they’d never seen it before. News helicopters soared overhead. Nathaniel and I quickly cloaked ourselves and then took off flying. I wasn’t interested in being attacked by an angry mob just because I looked different, and I’d already had enough television exposure to last a lifetime.