And he left. I had declined his offer, and he had left. No argument, no fuss, and more importantly, no roofie.
A loud crashing noise came from the apartment above me. It sounded like a vase falling and smashing, but was more likely an ash tray or a bong. A man cursed loudly, followed by a woman’s shrieks. This quickly devolved into a shouting match in which the goal was to make the neighbors as uncomfortable as possible. Neither of them ever won; it was always a tie. Morticia, named after the one and only Morticia Addams—Tish to her friends—was a black cat with white socks and the cutest gold eyes. She hopped onto my lap, settled, and started grooming herself. On the TV, a young John Cryer was lip syncing to an Otis Redding song in Molly Ringwald’s record store. I knew all the words to the movie. This one and all of the other classic 80’s movies.
Morticia looked up at me, then brushed her cheek against my hand—an indication that she wanted to be petted. I sighed, stared at her, then fished my phone out of my pocket and Googled the number for the North Trail Hotel. Hesitating for a second to look around at my dark apartment, wondering if I was making the right move, I finally dialed the number, put the phone to my ear, and waited for the line to connect. A voice on the other end welcomed me to the hotel’s reception and asked if there was anything they could do.
“Uh, yeah,” I said, “My name’s Lilith Palmer. Could you put me through to Dante Rhodes? I don’t know his room number.”
“No problem,” the girl said, “I was told you would call.”
“You were told—?”
The line cut out before the girl could answer me, probably before she had even heard what I had said. He had been expecting my call? I could have hung up on him, but I didn’t, and it was probably due to the same thing that kept my gaze from landing on him as he walked around the Hot Topic. The same thing that made me—not trust him, exactly—but encouraged me to believe some of what he was saying. Believe him enough that I got into his car. He could have taken me anywhere. He could have done anything to me, whatever he wanted. I would have fought him, sure, but after what he had done to that thing, that vampire, would I have stood a chance?
Would I have wanted to fight?
There was a click. “Hi,” he said, his voice smooth and smoky.
I took a breath. “Don’t take this to mean I believe a word of what you’re saying,” I said.
“I’m not making any assumptions.”
“Good, because I don’t know what I’m doing here.”
“Understood.”
“I don’t know if you do… I’m really out of my depth here.”
“You’ll have everything you need. I promise.”
I exhaled. “Alright, so how does this work?”
“You pack a bag. Bring everything that’s valuable to you, leave the rest behind. Come to my hotel. A room is waiting for you.”
“I have a cat.”
“She’s more than welcome.”
“I don’t have a passport, so I can’t go out of the country.”
“That isn’t an issue.”
I shut my eyes and let my head rest on the sofa. “I guess I’ll be seeing you soon.”
“I look forward to it.”
I hung up. A small part of me was looking forward to it, too—the danger, the thrill, the excitement. The fact that this guy was well off, and not at all bad to look at, helped. But mostly I was terrified of what I was about to do. I didn’t like change. Who did? But I also didn’t like the idea that there were monsters after me, and they could strike again at any moment.
CHAPTER FOUR
Arrival
It was halfway through my fifth, or fiftieth, Instagram scroll when I realized I was sick of staring at the six-inch phone in my hand, sick of hearing the same songs playing on my earphones, and sick of travel in general. I ripped myself away from the screen and breathed deep, as if I’d been holding my breath this whole time, and then plucked an earphone out of my ear just as the automatic PA system called out the next train stop.
I listened, despite being unable to understand what was being said, and managed to catch a word I recognized. Teisendorf. That was the name of the place I was going, and I couldn’t have been happier to be arriving soon. I had left Seattle at 2pm yesterday, had caught a connecting flight in Frankfurt, and had landed in Munich just after midday today. There had also been a one-night stay at the North Trail Hotel, a suite all for me. I hadn’t been expecting that, but then, I hadn’t been expecting any of what had happened less than 48 hours ago.
It all seemed like a distant memory that happened to someone else. I had thought his offer, his intention to fly me across the world, was all bullshit. At least until I got on the plane. Then it all became real… if you didn’t count the fact that I’d been attacked by vampires that very same night. But that all seemed pretty surreal, especially as the cold light of dawn touched the hotel where I was staying.
Everything started to feel… a little dreamlike. Scanning the passenger car around me helped reel my mind back into the present, into reality. There was a family of four gathered around a table to my right, playing a card game. A lone, older man rustled through the pages of a newspaper in the row in front of them. Behind me, a child sucked on the straw attached to a juice box; he was travelling with an older woman I could only assume was his grandmother.
Dante sat on the chair opposite mine, across a table identical to the one the family to my right was gathered around.
“You’ve been on your phone this whole time,” I said.
“So have you.”
“I got bored.”
Dante looked up from his phone. Grinned. “Missing my company already?”
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
He slipped his phone into his jacket pocket. “Alright,” he said, “You have my attention. What do you want?”
“Where are we going? Who are we meeting? And why is it in Germany?”
“Asking a lot of questions.”
“Isn’t that why you brought me here? Because I have questions?”
Dante raised an eyebrow. This guy was about as cocky as he was handsome, but I didn’t know a lot about him or where we were going. We’d spent a great deal of time together already, but we hadn’t spoken much. He had told me to wait until we had gotten to Germany, then he would tell me everything I needed to know, but he wasn’t being exactly forthcoming.
“Alright,” he said, “Ask your questions and I’ll give you answers.”
I took another deep breath and stared out the window at the cityscape around me. White tipped mountains rose in the distance, the silvery gray turning to dark green as the mountain touched patches of lush, snow-speckled woodland at ground level. Stretching out from the mountain’s base and approaching fast, a large township appeared. It was just a little less rustic than I had imagined, though aged and weathered nonetheless. The cars were modern, as was the megamall the train cruised past, but the way clusters of old buildings clung together like groups of seniors reminiscing about simpler times made the entire town feel old.
It was quite beautiful here, really; a lot like home, right down to the crows.
“Tell me more about this place we’re going,” I said.
Dante adjusted the cuffs of his white button-up shirt that peeked from his gray suit jacket sleeves, and then straightened his black necktie before responding. “It’s a learning environment,” he said. “You’re going there to learn, not just about yourself, but about the world you’ve been living in your whole life.”
“Because I don’t understand the world?”
He shook his head. “You don’t. So, I’m taking you to a place where you’ll learn how to deal with threats like those, using your own powers.”
I screwed up my face. “And you’re sure you can teach me? Because I don’t have a great track record as far as education is concerned.”
“I hope we can.”
“You hope?”
“Nothing’s guaranteed. If you want results you have to
put in the work, but I bet you’re used to hearing that.”
Hot blood flushed to my cheeks. “Meaning?”
The train came to a halt. Dante started to stand without answering my question, grabbing both of our suitcases from the rack. I stood, grabbed my backpack from the chair next me, and slung it over my shoulder. Then I retrieved the cat carrier and cooed at Morticia, who had flown as many miles as I had and looked just as tired and fed up with it all as I did. I panicked as I went to pick up my coat only to find it wasn’t there, fearing I had left it on a plane.
And I had. Maybe it was on a plane, or maybe it was sitting on a chair somewhere at the Munich airport, but my coat was gone, and I was about to head into the cold for the first time without it.
The train door opened, letting the crisp, dry, winter air inside. The train hissed, a murder of crows fluttered overhead, cawing as they went, and people began to disembark. I stepped onto the stone platform, my breath coming out in puffs as the cold tendrils of that frigid German winter touched my skin, penetrating the oversized black knitted sweater I was wearing. I knew I wouldn’t last long without a coat.
Opposite from me was a giant sign with the word Teisendorf written on it. Next to it was a notice board with a map listing what I assumed were arrival and departure times for the trains in the region, as well as holding advertisements for what I assumed were local restaurants, clothes stores, furniture stores, and the like. Too bad I didn’t speak German.
Dante followed me out of the train. A moment later, the train hissed for a second time, the doors shut, and the electric engine it ran on began to buzz as it started to move. A voice boomed across the platform, signaling the departure of the train I had just been on. I didn’t need to know German to figure that out.
“What now?” I asked, turning to look at Dante.
He held his hand and index finger up toward me, then pulled his phone out of his pocket and put it to his ear. “Right,” he said, after a pause. “I don’t understand why it isn’t coming… engine failure? It’s a new car; how does a new car stall right out of the garage? How far? Alright, fine, I’ll meet him in front of the station.”
Dante slid the phone back into his pocket and seemed to visibly try and collect his emotions. “Everything alright?” I asked.
He checked his watch, then dug into his pocket and pulled out a roll of multi-colored bills. I was so used to American dollars, this European currency looked like it had been pulled out of a Monopoly box. It just didn’t seem real. But when he handed it to me, and I noticed just how many twenties and fifties had been placed in my hand, it all became pretty real.
“There’s a market down the street,” he said, “After you get out of the station, you’ll see it just up ahead. Go, have a walk around, buy yourself a new coat; it’s freezing out. I’ll meet you at the front of the station in twenty minutes.”
“Are you sure? This is a lot of money for a coat from a marketplace.”
“Twenty minutes,” he said, as if he had ignored my comment.
Not wanting to annoy him further, I stuffed the money into my pocket and walked off the platform, and then proceeded on my way out of the station with only my backpack. “Look after my cat,” I said over my shoulder as I went.
The walk from the platform to the market was busier than I had expected it to be, considering this was a slightly out of the way township. There were cars on the streets, and people dressed in much more weather appropriate clothes than I was wearing. Luckily, I had only to walk out of the station and go across the street to find the market Dante had mentioned.
Along the outside of the arcade-like building there were stalls where you could buy anything from candles to winter clothes, and everything in between. Inside the arcade there were also bakeries from which delicious scents emanated, and more trinket shops than I thought possible. I also found a food court bustling with activity, people sitting and eating pastries, drinking coffees. Waiters flitted around, delivering food and drink. A singer filled the space with a soft aria. Looking up, the entire square food court was covered by a yellowed glass ceiling to protect from the rain, though the entire indoor area still had a marketed rustic appeal.
I browsed for a while, moving down the line from stall to stall, enjoying the smell and the cuteness of it all, until I stopped at a stall where they sold what looked like warm coats and other clothes appropriate for the winter season. They weren’t anything like the one I had brought with me from the US. I’d had mine for three years. It was black, long, and warm. But seeing as the climate here wasn’t too different from the climate back home, I was able to find a black coat that I was happy enough to wear. It had a hood lined with black, faux fur, the inside was lined for extra warmth, but still let me keep my figure instead of making me look like a giant ball stuffed in a coat. I also came away with two woolen scarves that looked pretty cozy.
“American?” the woman behind the counter asked as I approached for her to ring me up.
“Uh… yeah,” I said, looking around, “How did you know?”
She was slightly heavyset, but had a kind, round face and tidy brown hair. A smirk waxed across her lips. “I have a nose for this,” she said, with a German accent. “Is this your first time in Teisendorf?”
“Yeah. Never even been out of the US.”
The woman noted the price of the coat and scarves. “Germany was a good choice. There’s lots of history here. Would you like to wear the coat out, or do you want it in a bag?”
“I’ll go ahead and put it on, thanks.” I hadn’t noticed until I pulled the coat on and went to pay her, but beneath the glass display counter was a large collection of fine jewelry. A glittering necklace caught my eye, and it was so ornate and beautiful, I almost couldn’t believe it was sitting in a display case at a clothes stall.
The woman unlocked the display counter when she noticed my reaction, then pulled out the tray of jewelry and laid it in front of me. Several distinct pieces caught my eye. First, a bracelet etched with a swirling pattern all the way around. Next, a ring with a black diamond on it. It wasn’t a real diamond, at least I didn’t think it could be, but it looked good enough, so I made a mental note. The third piece I examined was a beautiful necklace of thick silver that was made to look like a snake, with two serpent heads meeting each other at the front. It was the item that had drawn my attention from the start.
“Do you like them?” the woman asked, clearly eager to sell some of her more valuable products.
“No, thanks,” I said, “I don’t have the money to buy any of these.” I had money, and lots of it, so that was a lie, but the money belonged to Dante. I wasn’t about to go spending it on jewelry. “They are beautiful, though.”
“Thank you,” she said, “I make them. It is a passion of mine.”
“You make these? Wow, that’s impressive.”
The woman smiled, plucked the necklace from the display, as well as a ring and a bracelet, and presented them to me. “Take them,” she said.
“Take them? No, I couldn’t.”
“Take them, and then when people ask where you got them, tell them you got them here.”
“Really? You’re sure?”
“Of course.”
She came around the counter and fitted the necklace around my neck. It was cold, but fit me perfectly. I liked the way the snake heads came together in the center. Next, she plucked the ring and bracelet I had admired from the tray, and added them to my ensemble. I was amazed that the ring was a perfect fit.
I thanked her without arguing too much more, paid for the items and, after checking the time and realizing I had already been in the market for twenty-five minutes, decided I would rush back to the platform to meet Dante.
I thanked the woman again, gathered my bag with the scarves in it, and hurried out of the market and back down the path to the train station platform. I discovered that not only was Dante gone, but he had taken my suitcase and my cat with him. My heart started to race. I moved from one side of th
e platform to the other, then went all the way around it, hoping he was standing somewhere nearby, but he just wasn’t there.
“Dammit,” I said under my breath, society’s rules prevented me from screaming in frustration, although it would’ve barely been heard by anyone actively listening.
“Lilith,” someone grabbed my shoulder, and I turned. Dante was standing there, putting his hands up as if he had done nothing wrong.
“Don’t do that!” I yelled, throwing social niceties to the wind, “You scared the crap out of me.”
His lips twitched. “Car’s this way,” he said.
Dante turned and directed me away from the busy station, around the corner, to where the car was waiting. The black, German-plated sedan shone beneath the gray sky, and as we approached, the driver stepped out of the car and opened the back door for us to get inside. Dante allowed me to enter first. Morticia was there, sitting in her cat carrier, looking as unimpressed as ever, but intact and unharmed.
I let myself sink into the seat as Dante came in behind me. He nodded at the driver, and the car peeled out of the parking lot.
“This is it,” Dante said, “There’s no turning back now.”
“Think I want to turn back?”
“I think you’ve thought about it.”
“What kind of girl would I be if I hadn’t questioned all of this?”
“The kind that would have already gotten herself killed by hunter’s hands.”
“I’m ready,” I said, “If this place is as real as everything else you’ve promised me, then I’m ready.”
“And if it isn’t?”
“Well…” I looked over at him and cocked an eyebrow, “Then we’ll have to figure something else out.”
CHAPTER FIVE
The Keeper
When I was told I would be going to a place of learning, for some reason, I pictured a high school. I imagined there would be people taking all kinds of weird classes—shapeshifting, blood sucking, magic arts. I figured while some students would actually go to class, others would skip class entirely, and others still would just be coasting along, simply happy not to get bullied by the local werewolf or whatever it was. This was stupid, of course. And yet here I was, in a car, on my way to…what exactly? I had absolutely no idea what to expect.
Serpent's Touch: A Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy (The Last Serpent Book 1) Page 3
