Revenant's Kiss (Chronicles of the Afterlife)

by Robles, Joyce

  "Information Phineas,"she pushed the Bowie knife a little tighter against him. "It’s your choice."

  "You don’t understand, I can’t," he looked at her, then back into the crowd. Jennifer either didn’t know, or didn’t care that she was attracting a bit of attention. "You should just go."

  Jennifer pulled the Beretta from under her coat, just to let him know how much business she really meant here tonight. "Let’s not make this more than it has to be."

  "You must be kidding Jenny, you honestly think you can take down all the security here. I know for a fact there are more then just fifteen of us here tonight." Her icy gaze never shifted away from him, she was very willing to risk herself for whatever she needed, he could see that. "I can’t help you Jennifer, you know that."

  "I’m desperate Phineas, that makes me much more of a danger to you right now than any of your buddies here and you know it. They may torture you for talking but I’ll kill you if you don’t, tell me what I want to know and I'll get out of your hair."

  "There are worse things than death Jenny," Phineas gasped as she traced the knife up to his chest with just enough pressure to draw blood.

  Marcia glanced behind her to see that they’d caught more then just a few of the dancers attention and one of the bouncers was headed their way. "Jennifer this is not looking good," she warned, but Jennifer never looked away from the bartender. Like there wasn’t a problem in the world that could touch her.

  "Like I said Phineas, I’m desperate, torture isn’t beneath me if that’s what you think will do it. I know how important being able to see is to you, I’d hate for you to lose your eyes over this." Phineas scowled at her, it was the first bitter expression he’d given her tonight, but it wasn’t likely to be the last. She was much into playing games with the monsters, she just wished they’d take the hint.

  "Jennifer," Marcia exclaimed horrified for a moment, "you wouldn’t, not really."

  "Shut up," Jennifer scowled at Marcia and the woman shied away from her stare. She couldn’t blame Marcia, they did not have time for a debate, half her team was down and it wouldn’t matter if she cut his eyes out here and now with her Bowie knife, given what he was they would just grow back. "This is important Phineas," she gave her full attention back to him. He was statue still, looking at her like he was measuring her up on how seriously she was considering taking his eyes. She glanced over at the bouncer heading their way, moving through the crowds like it was nothing despite the fact that he was huge in both height and width. "Get rid of the muscle or I get rid of him myself and it won’t be pretty." Big words for her, ones that she could only hope like hell wouldn’t back fire on her.

  "Surprisingly Jennifer despite the fact that you’re a beautiful woman, situations concerning you are rarely pleasant." He smiled over at the bouncer and waved him away as she had asked. Jennifer seemed to relax a little next to him, even put a little more distance between him and her knife. "I take it that you’re not going to kill me then."

  "We’ll see," Jenny watched him move his back a little ways away from the bar behind him. He was getting comfortable and she was letting him, she would allow for anything at this point that would get her the information that she needed.

  "I can’t tell you anything Jenny you know that better than anybody. We both agreed that it would be best for the both of us if we just avoided each other for that purpose." he watched Jennifer nod for a minute, "but you still came."

  "I also told you that if I needed the information bad enough I’d risk your neck to get it."

  "You’re so generous," he knew from their past work experience together that Jennifer kept her word unless she had no choice. He was alive now because she had kept her word, that apparently didn’t mean he owed her anything. "What makes you think I know anything?"

  "Don’t try to play games with me, we both know that you have a bad tendency to keep your ear to the ground. We both know that you know what I’m talking about." He seemed to flinch at the implications of what she was saying, but he still shook his head in refusal. "Fine, which eye do you want to lose first."

  "Jennifer," Marcia begged on behalf of a monster she didn’t know. But clearly even the thought of a monster being tortured in any manner was too much for her to handle. "Please."

  "Yes Jennifer listen to your new friend, Please," he couldn’t hold back the gasp as she lifted the Bowie knife inches from his left eye.

  "What do you think Phineas, the left one first, that way if you talk after I take it you’ll still have your better eye." His mouth was gapping at her but no words came out. If he called her bluff then she wasn’t sure exactly what she was going to do, actually deforming him in anyway was out of the question. She was grateful she didn’t have to come up with a new strategy, she instantly knew she’d won the moment she saw him shaking, she knew from experience that it was from fear and not anger, "talk Phineas."

  "You don’t understand, we’re under new management here, this guy is worse then Nickolei, he’s crazy. Okay so he’s not as bad as Nickolei but if I talk to you without his permission he’ll kill me." Jennifer didn’t seem to care, but he seemed to understand that she didn’t have as desperate a look to her anymore. "Please, please take it up with him."

  Jennifer paused to think about it, did she really want to talk to management, the answer was no, why would she when she’d nearly been killed by the last one. But given the amount of shaking that Phineas had been reduced to at the prospect of facing the new boss she wasn’t sure she had much choice, "fine but you are taking us to him."

  "So you’re still asking me to risk my neck for you again?" It sounded like a question even to him. She hadn’t asked him to risk himself for her the last time, he’d done that of his own accord, she’d just been there to risk herself to save him later. He sighed looking at her and shook his head at his own stupidity, "alright."

  "Alright," Jennifer lowered her knife, glad for now at least that her bravado seemed to work on at least one of the monsters. "We don’t want any trouble with the master jerk-off yea, if you’re leading me into a trap I’ll remove your eyes and solder the sockets closed with a blow torch, do we have an understanding?"

  "We have a deal, if he gives the thumbs up I’ll tell you anything you want." Phineas made to walk around her but apparently not outright saying it wasn’t a trap didn’t make her happy. As he made to move around her she pushed her hand down on the wound she’d put on his chest and shoved him back against the bar. "Jesus Jennifer!"

  "And if this guy says no? I think he was expecting me, which is a little un-nerving given the fact that I didn’t even know Nickolei had a replacement." Jennifer vocalized her suspicions without pause, plenty prepared to take it out on Phineus if he tried to lie to her. "I want you to tell me everything you know about him and do it before we get to him."

  "Gabriel, alright, he’s called Gabriel in the coven, he just showed up out of nowhere after Nickolei died. Ada seems to be the only person who remembers who he is, he’s not exactly in any of our records, but among Ada and her close followers he’s like this big legend. Apparently he was the only one the mistress ever let out of her clutches willingly, I tell you he’s crazy." He swallowed hard and tried to clear the nervous lump that was developing in his throat. "Nobody but Ada and her elders know anything about him and nobody will talk, I hope you weren’t coming to call on anything about him cause that’s as much as I have right there."

  "Like I said I didn’t know about him, I need some information about someone else." Jennifer watched Phineas relax a little more with that knowledge, apparently Gabriel was scary. If he compared to Nickolei or Ada for that matter, horrifying sounded more like it. "If you have to get his permission could we get it quickly, this is sort of something that can’t wait."

  "It would be my pleasure to take you to him, but I warn you he’s ruthless in the pursuit of what he wants."

  "That’s a nice and foreboding warning, thanks for that but I didn’t come here to see "him" Phineas, I came
here to see you." Jennifer reminded him, she tried to make a grab for Phineas’ arm but he had already slid past her and was trying to lead her where he wanted. "This smells like a trap," she cursed to herself and moved to follow him. "Keep your guard up Marcia, something about this doesn’t feel right."

  "You think he’s trying to get us killed," Marcia asked following after Jennifer and the bartender. It was clear that Marcia hadn’t caught much of the conversation outside of the parts where Jennifer was threatening the vampire she’d made googoo eyes at.

  "Maybe not intentionally, but if this Gabriel is as dangerous as he says he may have us executed for just asking for information. Especially if he’s close with Ada, she really hates my guts." Jennifer turned away from Marcia and followed closely behind Phineas, even walking he seemed to be gliding perfectly in sink with the music. He was always bewildering to watch, she knew that it was because she had known him once as a human and he’d so comfortably become a monster. He’d gone from working with private school church kids to a bartender who looked a lot like a stripper, oh and she couldn’t forget drank blood.

  Chapter 11

  She didn’t have to follow Phineas as closely as she was, she knew where they were going, she’d been back there before at Nickolei’s request. She ignored the memories that came with Nickolei and his little get together, all that mattered was that she’d kicked his ass. She let herself put her full focus on Phineas and how he made dancing while he walked look so entirely natural. She’d have tripped over her feet by now, landed on her face, and been trampled by all the dancers herding the floor like cattle. She didn’t take her eyes off of his swaying form until they reached the solid double doors on the opposite side from which they’d entered. The bouncer at this door she definitely recognized, she had no doubt he did the same in turn. He seemed to tense up in a defensive position at just her approach, and moved to block the door even before she was within reaching distance. "Rico, nice to see that somebody remembers me well enough to do their job." He didn’t say anything, she got flashes of his expression as the lights darted in and out. He didn’t look happy to see her, but then his kind rarely ever was. He was the only African-American bouncer in the bunch, Nickolei had been very picky about his followers ethnicity. Prejudice had been another talent the bastard had mastered very well, he kept a modern K.K.K group about him. All except for Rico, that had puzzled her, but while she’d been killing Nickolei she’d forgotten to ask why Rico had been the exception. Oh well, some things were better left to the unknown anyway. It didn’t matter now everything that Nickolei had been was gone, in her opinion he had been a Nazi nightmare, that seemed like the kindest way to describe him. All the locals on the other hand, minus Phineas, seemed to have loved him to their own detriment.

  "What’s she doing here?" Rico demanded between gritted teeth.

  "Gabriel is expecting Miss Ryan, I assure you Rico I wouldn’t be so stupid as to bring her here to you uninvited." Phineas looked back at Jennifer and gave her a wink to let her know he knew what he was doing. It wasn’t until that moment that she realized just how much of a trap she might really be walking into. "I wasn’t informed about it, Gabriel would have told me if he was expecting company as dangerous as her." Rico pointed an overly dramatic finger at Jennifer then crossed his arms back over his chest.

  Jennifer watched Phineas step in very close to Rico, she wasn’t sure what exactly he’d said to Rico to make him back down but it must have been something good because he backed out of the way of the door to let them pass. She watched Rico glare at her for one more instant before he shoved the door aside to let her and the other two pass. She turned back to Marcia instantly, "put your coat back on, the less skin you show down here the better off you’ll be." What lay down this next tunnel, flooded with black lights was monster haven. If you got yourself in trouble back there, there usually wasn’t any coming back out. She knew from experience, and once was enough for her. After Marcia slipped back into her coat she beckoned for Jennifer’s hand, claustrophobic, ‘right ’she’d forgotten. "Phineas, will you please take Marcia’s hand," she asked as the double doors closed behind them and the throbbing music and strobbing lights were shut out.

  "Why," he asked suspiciously looking back at the two women.

  "She’s claustrophobic and I won’t risk the loss of the use of my hand so she can hold it."

  "Oh," Phineas obligingly moved to take Marcia’s hand and led them both through the tunnel.

  "Lucky for you Gabriel didn't seem at all that heart broken over word of Nickolei's death," Phineas assured the woman next to him. With every step they took into the tunnel she seemed to huddle closer to him as if he could protect her from the confined space. "No harm will come to Rico for it, and somehow I doubt Gabriel had anything better to do at the moment."

  "Huh, lucky us indeed, and tell us Phineas how exactly do you know what your Master is or isn’t willing to do when it comes to consorting with the enemy?" She didn’t expect an answer not a real one, but she was really only letting him know that she was fully aware and waiting for this trap.

  "I don’t, he disappeared for a few hours earlier, but he did come back, he’s been in his office since. There’s nothing to do back there and I haven’t seen any of Ada’s people so I assumed that he doesn’t have any important business tonight." He said these things reassuringly enough but he couldn’t look her in the eye when he said them either.

  Jenny knew that this tunnel led down to the floor below the club, what lay beneath, Nickolei’s own personal strip joint. On one side there was the female strippers, in a separate room were the males. She’d had the grand tour, she hadn’t enjoyed it much then and if she had to go through it again with the new guy she’d like it even less. She found strip clubs degrading, this particular situation she was going into was worse. Nickolei had been a sadomasochist and he hadn’t even tried to reign his violent nature in. Physically Nickolei had been one of the most beautiful monsters that Jennifer had laid eyes on, and as it always seemed to be the way of it the more beautiful they were on the outside the more repulsive and destructive they were. Only Ada managed to counter his lunacy, and that was a dangerous combination given the amount of power she wielded as a queen among her kind.

  As they reached the end of the black tunnel she found herself holding her breath, hoping she really didn’t have to walk through the bowls of this club again. She could already hear music blasting through the doors, she knew the song, ‘What Kind Of Love Are You On.’ Wasn’t that just the way of it, the monsters had a knack for choosing fitting songs.

  "Remember don’t look at them," Phineas reminded them both before pushing the doors open and leading them in.

  Jenny didn’t bother glancing around, she knew the territory, girls stripping up on poles while killers both watched and had there fill of these women. She wasn’t sure why anyone would volunteer to work down here, given the fact that monsters taking their fill tended to leave you dead. She supposed that strippers never showed up on milk boxes when they went missing. "Let’s get this over with," Jennifer said pushing Phineas and Marcia forward even though Marcia’s mouth had fallen open and she was gawking at the scene like a horror movie before her eyes. "Don’t stare at them Marcia, it’s dangerous."

  "Why," she asked looking back at Jennifer, "they kill people down here." It was a statement, not a question, one look around and she could see that even now people were being drained dry.

  "They don’t like your kind watching them while they feed, they especially don’t like hunters watching them." Phineas whispered to her as he let himself and her be pushed forward by Jennifer.

  Jennifer shivered at how casually Phineas said feeding, she forgot some of the time that he was one of them, that he fed on people too. It was dangerous for her to forget that but it came down to the fact that she’d known him too long. She firmly pushed the two of them forward at a quicker pace, Marcia couldn’t seem to help herself to watching the scene. "Let’s just get this over with Phineas s
o you can tell me what I need to know and we can leave." To her surprise Phineas didn’t say anything at all, she’d half expected him to object and try to linger in the area. As much as she didn’t want to she kept her gaze on the onlookers that consisted of this places regulars. She didn’t trust anyone in the room not to try and attack her, so she would have to look up and not down at the floor. They knew who she was, and that was why she couldn’t afford not to watch them, even if she hated it. Even if just the sight of what they did to people revolted her and she couldn’t stop them. That was the real issue, she couldn’t stop them, where she killed just one, more showed up, and they all killed. "Where’s his office, same as Nickolei’s?" she barely waited for Phineas to answer. She moved out from behind him and took the lead.

  "Farther down, he didn’t want the office, I don’t think he liked Nickolei’s taste very much." Phineas tightened his grip on the woman’s hand that he held, some of the people she was gawking at down here were getting curious. "It’s quieter in his office."

  "I just bet it is, makes it so if he kills me then nobody will hear, that’s great," Jennifer looked back at Phineas but he was frowning at her not smiling.

  "I didn’t mean it like that," he claimed without hesitation.

  "Of course not, which door," she already had her hand on the Beretta. She was being watched too closely by everybody in the room not to reach for some kind of comfort.

  "Jennifer I think that I should go in first."

  "Which door Phineas," Jennifer demanded turning to look at him.

  "You can’t just burst in on him, you don’t know what he might be doing." Phineas pleaded with her but she didn’t care. She knew this was about the fact that it was his neck on the block, and he’d prefer to give a formal introduction instead of barging in, but she wasn’t into giving the enemy warning.

  "The door," Jennifer asked again drawing the Beretta and pointing it at the middle of Phineas’ forehead. "No more games, you tell me which door and I let you keep your head." She may or may not really pull the trigger on him, this very second it was just a show for the rest of the back-stabbing murderers in the room. Phineas flinched when she shoved the pistol a few inches closer, just to be intimidating.