Chapter 74

I pushed my way through the shocked crowd and didn’t meet resistance. Then I saw the bodies. The two young men in black robes lay sprawled¹ on the cellar floor. They had been stabbed and their throats cut. Blood was pooled around the bodies. Where were Daniel and Charles?
‘Police!’I called out.’Don’t touch them. Back away.’ The men and women closest to the bodies slinked away. I wondered if they had been about to drink the spilled blood. Wasn’t that the ritual? The pattern for the ghoulish murders so far?  ‘There’s only two of them! Two cops!’someone shouted.
‘We will shoot you/Jamilla called out in a loud, clear voice.
‘Back away. Do it. Where are Daniel and Charles?’ I shouted.  The crowd began to close in on us, so I fired off a warning shot. It echoed loudly. There was chaos² in the cellar. Men and women began struggling to get through the doors. No one would get away though.  FBI agents were waiting outside.
Jamilla and I pushed our way into a connecting room in the basement. We started down a narrow hallway lit only by candles.  Daniel and Charles could have come this way when the lights went out. It seemed likely; they knew the house.
There were small rooms crowded next to each other on either side of the dusty tunnel. The layout reminded me of ancient catacombs.  Everything was closed in - musty, damp, depressing as hell, scary.
‘You okay?’ I glanced back at Jamilla.
‘I’m fine. So far anyway. This place is starting to grow on me.’ She made a wisecrack, but her eyes were darting³ about.  I could hear Kyle’s voice calling to us. The FBI agents were inside now/Anything up there? Alex?You see anything?’ ‘Not yet. Daniel and Charles took off when the lights went off. No sign of them.’
We moved cautiously, checking each of the rooms. Most of the space seemed to be used for storage. A few were completely empty.  Dank and eerie⁴, like tombs. Atmospheric⁵, I suppose. Spooky for sure.  I kicked open another door. Jamilla and I peered in. She gasped⁶, her mouth open in a silent scream. ‘Oh Jesus, Alex! What the hell happened?’
I reached out and held onto her arm. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. I couldn’t make myself believe it. My knees went weak.  Daniel and Charles were laid out on the floor of the room. They had been murdered. I was too stunned⁷ to speak. Kyle came into the room behind us, said not a word.
We moved closer to the bodies, but I knew they were dead. The throats of both men had been cut. And there were deep bites, fang⁸ marks.
So who was the Sire?

1 sprawled   

v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawled full-length across the bed. 他手脚摊开横躺在床上。
• He was lying sprawled in an armchair, watching TV. 他四肢伸开正懒散地靠在扶手椅上看电视。

2 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

3 darting   

v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• Swallows were darting through the clouds. 燕子穿云急飞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Swallows were darting through the air. 燕子在空中掠过。 来自辞典例句

4 eerie   

adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的

参考例句：

• It's eerie to walk through a dark wood at night.夜晚在漆黑的森林中行走很是恐怖。
• I walked down the eerie dark path.我走在那条漆黑恐怖的小路上。

5 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

6 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

8 fang   

n.尖牙，犬牙

参考例句：

• Look how the bone sticks out of the flesh like a dog's fang.瞧瞧,这根骨头从肉里露出来，象一只犬牙似的。
• The green fairy's fang thrusting between his lips.绿妖精的尖牙从他的嘴唇里龇出来。