Niilo was the kind of vampire you’d expect to see in a movie. Devastatingly handsome. Impeccably dressed in designer clothing. His hair was perfectly groomed, and his skin was so flawless I half wondered if he wore more makeup than I did. I knew from previous experience that vampires came in all shapes and sizes, but Niilo seemed intent on promoting the sparkly stereotype of bloodsucking undead creatures being irresistibly gorgeous.
He eyed my ridiculously pink hoodie, then reached out for what I thought was a handshake, surprising me by bending at the waist to kiss the back of my hand. It took every ounce of self-control in me to keep from recoiling at the thought of having his fangs so close to the arteries in my wrist, but I held fast and breathed an inward sigh of relief when he straightened up and nodded at Chase.
“Kalev Eskola sends his regards,” said Niilo, his voice measured and sultry. “He regrets that he is unable to meet with you at this time.”
“What the fuck, Niilo?” asked Jessica. “I thought you said you could arrange this?”
“I said only that I would try,” he told her. “I am a simple envoy for the Eskola clan, and it is not in my power to demand such a meeting. It is made especially more complicated by the fact that we know very little of the lovely Alex Black or her… associate.”
I sensed Chase getting ready to fling a sarcastic verbal jab at Niilo, so I silenced him with a glare.
“Surely you didn’t come here in person just to tell us that,” I said to Niilo. “No doubt there’s some way we can come to an agreement. Perhaps I can owe you some kind of favor in exchange for five minutes with your boss?”
“Alex,” said Jessica, “these are not the kind of people you want to be trading favors with. Think about this for a second.”
Niilo laughed. “No need for worry, Jessica. We’re not interested in collecting favors from minor mages. Although, Mr. Eskola did offer one potential avenue for earning an audience with him.”
“And what might that be?” I asked.
“Perhaps you are aware of Mr. Eskola’s passion for the combative arts? Should you be so inclined, he offers you a chance to fight a competitor of his choosing. Win, and he will grant you the audience you seek.”
“And if she loses?” asked Chase, a light quaver of fear replacing his earlier bravado.
“Magical duels don’t typically leave survivors,” said Jessica.
“Not usually, no,” said Niilo. “However, we have wards in place to ensure that our main event matches rarely end in death.”
“So what’s the cost of losing?” asked Alex. “And don’t try to tell me I get to walk away scot-free.”
“Should you lose, you agree to a night of entertaining a select group of Mr. Eskola’s favored customers.”
“By becoming their meal, you mean,” said Jessica.
“That’s insane,” said Chase. “You can’t tell me you’re even considering this, are you, Alex? There has to be another way to get in touch with the Conclave.”
I shook my head. “Until Jessica told me about Eskola, I couldn’t have named a single Conclave member. Even if we did know another one, there’d be some other set of bullshit hoops to jump through.”
“Do you accept the offer then?” asked Niilo.
The look on Chase’s face told me he was clearly against this plan, but Jessica was harder to read. While I knew she wouldn’t be happy about what she’d set me up for, I also knew that she above most others would understand the reality of the situation. It was either this, or I’d have to go up against my unknown enemy alone.
“I accept,” I finally said.
Niilo grinned, exposing razor sharp fangs. “Excellent. If you’ll come with me, I’ll take you to the arena.”
“Be safe,” said Jessica as she pulled me into a tight hug. “Do what you have to do to win that fight. Be strong, and trust in your abilities.”
“I’ll try,” I said.
She let me go and walked over to Chase. To my surprise, she pulled him into a hug as well, going so far as to kiss him on the cheek before letting him go.
“Call me when you get back,” she said.
Beaming like a moron, Chase said something to her that I didn’t quite catch. He then rushed to catch up with Niilo and I before we left without him.
“What was all that about?” I asked him after we’d passed through the hidden exit.
“Jess and I talked a bunch while you were sleeping,” he said. “She’s pretty cool.”
“Yeah, and?”
“And I think she likes me.”
I reached up and did my best to wrap my arm around Chase’s shoulder so I could give it a squeeze. “Nice work, bud. Jess doesn’t usually warm up to people that quickly. You must have really charmed her.”
Whatever Chase had been about to say caught in his throat when Niilo yanked open the door to the secret entrance. Behind the hidden door was a long cement tunnel, dimly lit with the pale blue of low intensity LED lights. We walked what I figured to be three or four city blocks before late afternoon sunlight flared orange in the dimly lit corridor, nearly blinding us as we stumbled out into an alley several streets over. A town car idled nearby, and Niilo walked casually towards it, opened the back door, and waited for us to get in before going around to the front passenger side.
“Wait a second,” said Chase, leaning forward to speak to Niilo. “Did you just walk through sunlight? I thought you were a vampire?”
Niilo smiled and shrugged. He addressed me instead of Chase. “Where did you find this one? Not the best choice of companion given our destination, don’t you think?”
“He may be ignorant about the fae, but I trust him with my life.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” said Niilo.
“I’m right here you know,” muttered Chase.
The driver pulled forward out of the alley, and for the rest of the drive to D.O.I. we sat in a silence so sharp you could have cut yourself on it. I couldn’t tell if Chase was feeling my nervous energy, or if I was reacting to his, but the result was a gnawing anxiety that made me second guess every decision I’d made to bring me to this point. Underground magic fights were something I’d heard plenty of rumors about, but most respectable mages considered them lower than dog fights. It was both a waste of magic and one’s dignity to step into a ring to fight another mage for sport. If what I’d heard was true, most of the people who found themselves in that position weren’t there of their own volition. Only the truly desperate and stupid engaged in magic duels for sport or money.
We drove east, heading away from the downtown core and into a more residential part of town. I’d always suspected D.O.I. was somewhere in the middle of the strip of bars and restaurants in the so-called entertainment district at the heart of the downtown core, but in another few minutes we’d actually be out of Vancouver proper and into the considerably sleepier neighboring city of Burnaby. It didn’t seem right that such a big club would be anywhere in this direction, and I became increasingly nervous with every passing second.
“Where are you taking us?” I asked.
“Relax,” said Niilo. “We’re almost there.”
The lights of the PNE and nearby racetrack came into view. The driver made a left turn that took us away from the closed fairgrounds and onto a small side road that dead-ended at a large storage unit warehouse. We pulled into an underground parking facility, driving past several expensive cars before pulling up in front of a set of beat up elevator doors that looked more suited to moving boxes and junk into storage lockers than bringing fae and magical elite to one of the most dangerous clubs in the city.
“This is D.O.I.?” I asked.
The underground parking lot in the middle of nowhere looked more like a perfect spot to execute two nosy humans. I gathered magic within me, trying to decide how best to incapacitate both Niilo and the driver so Chase and I could escape. A fight would be messy, but if we could get out into the rapidly fading sunlight, they’d be far too weakened to chase us.
Niilo fired off a burst of rapid foreign words to the driver, then opened his door and stepped out.
“In for a penny,” I muttered as I followed suit.
“This way please,” said Niilo.
“That’s an NX-487 TI security panel,” whispered Chase, nodding at a numeric keypad mounted below a camera lens secured beneath a thick plexiglass dome. “Way too high end for a simple storage facility at the edge of town like this.”
My curiosity over how Chase knew the brand of security panel fell to the wayside as the solid steel door buzzed and clicked open once Niilo punched several numbers into the keypad. I guessed club regulars used codes of their own to gain entry. I hadn’t been able to catch the code Niilo had entered, but then again, I didn’t plan on ever coming back to D.O.I. if I could help it.
The elevator looked as dingy on the inside as it had from the parking garage. Niilo didn’t bother pressing any buttons once the three of us were inside, yet the doors closed and we began moving downwards. The LCD display showed the parking level as the bottommost floor, but we travelled what felt like two or three more levels before coming to a stop.
“Ho-lee shit,” breathed Chase when the doors opened.
A stunning blonde vampire stood waiting to greet us. My eyes worked their way up impossibly perfect curves wrapped in a sprayed-on slinky black dress before taking in the two sleek white fangs contrasting sharply against glistening cherry red lips. She nodded at Niilo then smiled at Chase, sending the poor kid into a spluttering fit of awkwardness. Under difference circumstances, it would have renewed my concern over his ability to handle himself, but I couldn’t blame him for his reaction. The hostess had been chosen for a reason, and even I couldn’t help but stare a little too long, wondering what it would be like to let her have her way with me.
“Welcome to D.O.I.,” she said as we stepped out of the elevator and into the hallway.
The walls were lined with massive slabs of slate mounted away from the walls to house the lights that had been installed behind them. Irregularly shaped obsidian tiles had been carefully pieced together to make up the floor, adding to the impression that down the end of this hallway was the underground lair of some kind of super villain. The truth of that wasn’t so far off if you could ignore the bit about Kalev Eskola not seeming to care about global domination.
Niilo walked past the hostess, and I had to give Chase a gentle shove in the small of his back to get him to reel in his gaping jaw and follow.
“What did I say about not thinking with your dick?” I said quietly as we walked.
“I’m only human. If every vampire in this place is going to look like that, I think maybe I should wait in the car.”
“Too late for that now.”
At the end of the hallway was a large set of double doors. Both of them swung open when we approached, exposing a room so large and packed with people it seemed suddenly impossible that we were still beneath the storage facility. The ceilings were at least four stories high, and the number of people writhing and dancing to extremely loud electronic dance music far exceeded the number of cars we’d seen in the garage.
“There must be two or three hundred people in here,” Chase yelled in my ear. “Are they all fae?”
I shook my head. “Most of them have no idea what this place is. In theory, humans and fae aren’t supposed to mix, but intermingling is more common than anyone wants to admit. When fae like vampires congregate like this, they can put out the kind of vibes that make people feel like they’re on MDMA just by being in the same room. These people don’t know that they’re nothing but potential food for the vamps, and they probably don’t even care.”
Niilo cut left and skirted the edge of the crowd while Chase and I hurried to keep up with him. Lasers and lights flashed through the darkness, and a jet of fog blasted into the room from a machine mounted in the ceiling rigging. The place stank of sweat, ozone, and the mingled perfumes and colognes wafting off the few hundred people on the dance floor. I was entirely too sober to enjoy being so close to all of it, and I couldn’t believe the party was raging this hard even though it couldn’t have been later than six o’clock in the evening.
Niilo stopped in front of an unmarked door blocked by two hulking bruisers. He waved us towards him, swiped a magnetic keycard over a sensor next to the door, and pushed it open. I was happy to be out of the deafening roar of the dance club, but as my eyes adjusted to the dim red light in the new room, I wasn’t so sure this was going to be any better.
Couches and plush cushions filled the room. Nearly every available surface was being used by vampires and humans in the middle of fucking, feeding, or in many cases, enjoying a little of both at the same time. In theory, the Conclave had explicit rules governing how the fae were allowed to feed on humans, and I was pretty sure most of what was happening here fell squarely onto the wrong side of those rules. There was nothing strictly wrong with consensual feeding on humans, but the glazed look in many of the humans’ eyes made me wonder how many of those donating blood were unwilling participants.
It was all I could do to walk past a circular divan without stepping in to stop the three male vampires from completely draining a girl so young I doubted she could even get a driver’s license.
“Niilo,” I said, reaching out to grab his bicep. “This isn’t acceptable. That girl is going to die if they don’t stop feeding right now.”
Niilo looked down at my hand on his arm, his eyes hardening when he turned his stare to meet my own. I let go of him, but I didn’t back down from his gaze. I had a few tricks of my own for fighting off his power of suggestion, and he seemed to sense this immediately. Instead of telling me to mind my own business, he turned and snapped at the men in the same language he’d spoken to the driver.
The two vampires feeding from the girl’s wrists backed off immediately, but the one with his fangs sunk deep in her femoral artery extracted himself from her thigh and practically growled something incomprehensible back at Niilo. Blood dripped from his teeth down onto his lips and over his chin, eyes narrowing in a mixture of rage and indignance.
A few heads turned to stare, but Niilo remained calm and composed. He snapped off a single short sentence that seemed to put the other vampire in his place.
The offended vampire uttered a single last word then spat blood on the ground. From the way the other vampires reacted, I guessed it to be a grave insult of some kind. He didn’t have time to do anything else, however, because Niilo was on him in a blur of motion, pinning him to the ground with a dagger-sized wooden stake poised millimeters above the vampire’s chest.
Whatever passed between the two during their extended silent standoff seemed to be enough to placate Niilo. He picked himself up, tucked the stake up into a hidden holster in his sleeve, and brushed the wrinkles from his shirt. Two muscle-heads that could have been twins of the vampires guarding the door showed up to escort the chastised vampire away.
“I want your word the girl will be kept from death, and that she’ll be set free with protection from ending up right back here again,” I said.
Niilo frowned, for a second I could see exactly how much of a nuisance he considered me. Whatever his rank in Eskola’s little army, he still had to do what he was told, even if it meant babysitting an impertinent mage. The look vanished in an instant, and he nodded and gestured towards the girl.
A woman appeared from somewhere out of the darkness. Very gingerly, she lifted the girl’s tiny body in order to carry her away. I wondered if they maybe they weren’t going to just slit her throat and dump her somewhere, but my experience with the fae had taught me that most of them came from old cultures where a spoken agreement was still held as a sacred binding. Honor didn’t mean much in the modern world, but it was a reliable old concept that still governed how the fae dealt with each other.
“It will be as
you ask,” said Niilo. “But I might caution you against making any further demands of us while you are a guest here. Mr. Eskola extends you a great courtesy by allowing you this opportunity, and you would do well not to further strain your welcome.”
Jaw firmly clenched, I stared Niilo down. I couldn’t even bring myself to at least lie about not ruffling any more feathers. Spending time around the fae meant expanding your understanding of the natural order of things, but there was a line between reasonable action and objectionable offense. I’d fight to my last breath to protect a girl like that from a death at the hands of cretinous vampires who didn’t know when to draw the line.
We continued on our way, and Niilo swiped his keycard at another door. This one led to a lobby of sorts with several large doors leading away from a small bar where a handful of well-dressed patrons chatting like it was intermission at the opera. Niilo escorted us towards a nondescript side door that opened into a more brightly lit utilitarian hallway. A cart filled with cleaning products had been left parked against the wall, and I figured we’d passed into service corridors.
“This place is insane,” asked Chase. “How big do you think it is?”
“If this is Eskola’s base of operations, I’d say we’ve only seen a fraction of it.”
The hallway went on for an impossibly long way, and as we walked, I was sure I felt the floor rumbling ever so slightly. There was a sound of thunder or a herd of stampeding elephants, and it wasn’t until we reached a section of glass wall that I realized where we were.
The window looked out over a hexagonal patch of hard packed sand surrounded by several rows of stands filled with shouting spectators. Two goblins clad in loincloths circled each other warily, the glint of spotlights reflecting off sharp stiletto knives held in ready positions. One of the goblins moved with a pronounced limp that was most likely the result of a gushing bloody slash across his thigh. Chase and I watched in horror as his opponent lunged in to finish the job. It quickly became clear the wounded combatant had been exaggerating his injury when he deftly sidestepped the onrush and thrust his knife into his attacker’s throat with such force that its point burst through the other side of the attacker’s thick green hide.
Black Magic (Black Records Book 1) Page 18
