At one point we’d reached a hole in the side of the building and one by one stuck our heads out of it. The breath of cold, fresh air was like manna from heaven. We were high above the ground. I saw a piece of a sky, a distant field of snow, and then a giant reptilian-looking bird swooped down and tried to claw my face off with its talons. Thanks, Roland. Much appreciated.

Curran pounded on the wall for a few minutes trying to break us free. The wall held, but even if we did manage to break through and start climbing down, the birds would pluck us off.

We’d clustered around that hole for a while, not wanting to leave, but eventually we had to move. Down and down, picking up more stray vampires as escort. They were everywhere now, a constellation of filthy magic sparks moving along with us, always trying to close the distance.

“Maybe this hellhole has no end,” Andrea growled, as we opened yet another door.

“No.” Christopher gave her a smile as he walked through the doorway. “It ends. It is finite . . .” He stopped.

We stood in a prison block. In front of us two rows of cells stretched forward, and in the distance I saw a section of a familiar circular clearing. I had seen this exact setup underneath the Casino. Rows of cells radiated from the central circle like spokes from a wheel, except the Casino’s cells held vampires. These cells held corpses.

“No,” Christopher whispered. His legs crumpled under him. He dropped to the floor and pulled the hood over his face, squeezing his slender body into a small ball. “No, no, no . . .”

Bodies filled the cells. Some skeletal, grasping at the bars with fingers that used to have flesh. Others fresher, with rotting muscle still clinging to their bones. A few didn’t look human. One of these cells must’ve been Christopher’s. He had sat here, in a cage, dying slowly and watching the dead around him fall apart.

“How horrible . . .” Nasrin whispered.

I knelt by Christopher and put my arms around him.

“No . . .” he moaned.

Nasrin crouched by me, her voice calming. “It will be fine, Christopher.”

“We’re not staying,” I told him. “You are not in a cage. You are free.”

He tried to rock back and forth. He couldn’t even hear me.

Behind us, the vampiric horde swelled somewhere in the walls, like an avalanche ready to break and bury us whole.

“We can’t linger,” Ghastek said, shifting in the vampire’s arms. His other two bloodsuckers halted.

“No . . .” Christopher murmured.

“Shhh,” I told him. “Look at me. Look at my eyes.”

I let my magical defenses slip a little. My power curled around Christopher. He raised his head and looked at me. “Mistress . . .”