The door opened to a smaller room with an additional door on each of the other three walls.

“Scan them, Mr. Twig,” Sharp said.

The smaller man quickly walked up to each door and looked them over.

“I see nothing, Colonel. But that bomb that went off is bound to have alerted somebody down here. You can’t make that much noise without attracting attention, even underground.”

Sharp nodded, then turned to the other nobles.

“What say you, Bixby? Split up again? It’ll be faster that way.”

“Perhaps. I worry about spreading our forces too thin, though. Battle tactics, you know?”

“If my sense of direction is not off, to our right goes back toward the staircase. Perhaps it’s a dead end that way?”

“Or perhaps the way leads under the stairs and beyond. It’s hard to gauge underground like this. Anyone have [Sense of Direction]? As a real skill, and not just something innate?”

No one raised their hand.

“That’s more of a forest ranger’s skill,” Finley said. “Although I can see its utility down in the vaults and here underground. Why don’t we check out the right door first? If it leads to nothing, we’ll split up and explore the other two.”

“Capital idea,” Sharp said.

“Let us open the door, Lord Sharp,” Hilda said.

“Ah, now there’s another good thought. If you please, everyone, make way for the Verez sisters. They are most excellent in times like these.”

The two girls unstrapped their Tommy guns and approached the door.

Rip frowned.

After reading the book on etiquette, and from what he knew about this rather Victorian culture, it seemed unlikely that the nobility would allow young women to place themselves in danger like this.

But, nobody objected.

Well, it is the Venture Society, he thought. Maybe the rules are different out in the field.

Everyone moved to give Hilda and Liza space as they approached the door.

“It’s unlocked and not rigged with anything,” Twig said. “But of course, we don’t know what lies in wait.”

Hilda put her hand on the latch and looked at Liza, who nodded. She threw open the door, exposing them both to the light behind the door.

A hail of bullets flew from the other side, peppering the girls’ bodies. Most bounced off their enhanced garments, but several plunked into exposed flesh.

Rip saw two thunk into Hilda’s jaw, and one creased Liza’s head, leaving a trail of smoking hair.

He grimaced in sympathetic pain.

When the door fully swung open, both girls crouched in a shoot stance, feet spread apart. They emptied their drums.

When they finally stopped shooting, and the string of empty shells stopped falling to the floor, the whole room stank of cordite. It wafted through the enclosed space like fog.

The girls walked through the door while calmly swapping out the magazines on their guns.

Rip’s eyebrows slowly rose higher in astonishment.

He knew for a fact Hilda and Liza were hit multiple times. Having been shot recently himself, he also knew how painful it could be, even enhanced. But the girls acted like nothing had happened.

“Everyone stay out here. Except for you, Lord Humphries, if you’d care to investigate.”

The old professor nodded, his outrageous sideburns shaking with the motion. He followed the girls inside.

From Rip’s vantage point, he could see four dead bodies on the floor, all men wearing natty old suits. The girls quickly looted the bodies, liberating coins from pockets, rifling through wallets and pocketing rings.

Humphries quickly returned.

“There is nothing there. It appears it was simply another type of trap, to try and take us unawares. No additional exits, either, as far as I can tell.”

Sharp looked at Twig while Bixby glanced at Chance. Both barons nodded toward the room, and the men walked in for a quick look. They came out moments later.

“No hidden doors from what I can tell,” Twig said.

Bixby raised his eyebrows at Chance, who shook his head.

“Very well,” Bixby said. “Now that we’ve seen what they like to put behind their doorways, we’ll take your suggested course of action, Lord Sharp. I propose we all remain here while opening both, and then split up.”

“Agreed.”

“Lord Sharp?”

Everyone glanced at the door to the right, which remained open. Liza stood there, smiling at the barons. Rip could not help but notice how attractive she looked, even in the dim, flickering light.

“Yes, Liza?”

“May we indulge? I’m afraid we both took quite a few shots.”

“Of course, my dear. But be considerate of others and close the door first.”

Her face brightened in an even bigger smile, with a strong hint of lust this time. She quickly shut the door.

Now thoroughly confused, Rip looked at Blair for an explanation. But she just shuddered, and said nothing.

A few minutes passed. The leaders talked quietly amongst themselves while Chance, Twig and a couple other men watched the other exits in case someone tried to surprise them.

At last the door on the right opened again and the two girls came out. Rip caught a glance inside the room before Hilda swung the door closed. The bodies looked . . . deflated.

He glanced at the sisters and found they were completely whole with not a wound on them.

“You have a little something, right there . . .” Liza told Hilda.

Hilda smacked her lips and Rip saw her lick a red drop off the side of her mouth.

And suddenly, it all clicked.

These two are vampires.