02 Seekers

by Lynnie Purcell

  There was a driver and two others who kind of looked like bodyguards.”

  “Which hotel?” I asked.

  “I’ll show you.” He turned and took us down a familiar road in search of the hotel.

  “Where are you going?” Eli matched his pace with ours on Alex’s side, appearing in his sudden way. Had he been watching or was our meeting chance?

  “Spider,” I said imitating Eli’s terse way of using Spider as his translator. I wasn’t in the mood for a conversation with Eli. It was too frustrating, and I was too focused on Daniel.

  “Here it is. Look,” Spider finally said around his explanation.

  We were in front of a different high-dollar hotel. It was larger than the one that had burned and was a chain rather than an independent hotel. It bustled with activity as people swarmed around the open doors.

  “I wonder what he was doing here,” I wondered.

  “Probably hooking up with someone,” Spider said.

  Alex wacked him on the back of the head in response. He grabbed his head with an indignant

  ‘hey!’ “Or he could be interested in that…” Alex said pointing at a sign. It welcomed scientists from across the nation and was an explanation for the crowd milling around the outside.

  “Spider?” Eli mumbled to Spider, squinting at the sign.

  “It’s for scientists,” Spider explained. “Some kind of meeting.”

  “You can’t read?” I asked Eli.

  “Do you think they were here for that?” Alex asked, saving Eli from answering.

  Eli coughed and kicked at the sidewalk, his face tight with embarrassment. It was obvious he didn’t like his illiteracy, even more than the hated me knowing about it. “They could have been here for anything. I’m going to keep lookout at the club and see if they turn up.”

  “I’ll come with,” Alex said.

  Eli shrugged in silent agreement, and they walked off.

  “Bye…” I said as they walked off. Alex hopped and skipped to keep up with Eli’s relentless pace. Neither noticed my goodbye.

  “I guess we should go beg,” I said quietly. I looked at the front of the hotel sadly. Another near-miss in being reunited with him; another moment where minutes mattered, and I had been too late.

  “Let’s do something else,” Spider said.

  “Something else?” I asked. “I thought you have rules about everyone pulling their own weight?”

  “All good rules are meant to be broken,” Spider said. “And it’s only a couple of hours.”

  “I don’t know…I think I’ll go to the club with the others. Daniel might show up, and I don’t want to miss him again.”

  “You need to turn off the worry, or you’ll go mad,” Spider said. “Alex won’t let him get away if he shows up. You trust her that much.”

  “Yes.”

  “So, let’s do something fun.”

  “Fun…”

  “Trust me?” he asked, his green eyes shining with the question.

  I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and pulled him in close. “Sure.”

  He smiled at my affirmation and started to direct us down the street. He kept up a constant stream of dialogue, distracting me with ridiculous things he didn’t mean and funny stories of his time on streets, until we reached our destination. Spider’s idea of ‘fun’ was the movies. We snuck in to the old movie theater through a back door to avoid paying, his words not slowing with our sneaking.

  Inside the theater, Spider waved at an old man in the back of the theater, and the man waved back with a toothless grin. “That’s Jimmy. He’s a friend. I fix his projector when it breaks, and he doesn’t rat me out. He’s pretty cool. Has some crazy stories. Drinks a lot,” Spider filled me in quietly.

  As Spider spoke, the man took a long pull from a flask he had pulled out of his pocket. Spider slouched down low in a seat and settled in comfortably in the dark. My eyes roamed around the dark theater. There were only a few people scattered about – a woman wearing a hat, which

  obscured her face, and two old men in the corner mumbling to each other incoherently.

  “When was the last time Twitch got a night terror?” I asked Spider to take my mind away from Daniel.

  “It’s been months,” Spider replied. “It might be because of you and Alex coming to our digs.

  Twitch doesn’t handle change very well.”

  “Do you know why he doesn’t speak?” I asked.

  Spider’s grin was lopsided. “He never said.”

  “Right.”

  “How come Twitch hasn’t taught Eli to read? Eli could pick up more, because he can read his thoughts,” I said. “Or does he not want to learn?”

  “Well, Eli doesn’t hang around long enough for lessons, and I don’t think…”

  “Yeah?” I urged him to finish.

  “Promise you won’t tell?” Spider asked.

  “Cross my heart,” I said crossing my heart to emphasize my promise.

  “Eli said he can’t hear Twitch. He’s the only other person besides you and Alex he can’t hear…

  you know, beyond the others like him.”

  “I can hear Twitch just fine.”

  “You’re strange, though, doll. And I don’t just mean that in the ways that matter.”

  His eyes traveled my form suggestively. I raised my fist to punch him, but he shied away from the blow. “Just kidding! Women are goddesses I totally respect.”

  “That’s right,” I said.

  The lights lowered further and the movie flickered to life on screen. It was an old movie, one I’d seen on the Classics Channel during long, restless nights of insomnia. Spider’s rapt face, and the way his lips and mind moved over the words, was a clue to some aspects of his character

  previously obscured from me. No wonder he was so found of the word ‘doll’; he’d seen it in movies like this one a hundred times. This was his escape from the realities of the street, his oasis away from trouble.

  With his excitement as a catalyst, I let my mind get lost in the plot and uncoiled some of the fear I’d been carrying around my heart. Too, watching someone else’s drama helped me not feel so in the middle of mine. It was exactly the sort of distraction Spider had promised, and one I reveled in.

  As soon as the credits started to roll, Spider hopped up. “Time to work. Are we going…” to break into that club tonight?

  “I’ll let you know,” I replied.

  I wasn’t sure if we were going to break into the nest or not. I’d probably have to consult with the committee first. Alex would suggest planning and Eli would suggest…well, I wasn’t sure what he would say, or even if he would say anything at all.

  “Later,” Spider said with a half wave.

  I stuck my feet out and sunk into the dirty fabric of the chair to watch another movie as he walked away. I got half way through the film when I realized I didn’t want to be sitting still anymore. The old-fashioned, gritty detective on screen wasn’t as entertaining as when Spider had been next to me. He was just another man getting wrapped up in trouble because he didn’t look past his female client’s looks first.

  The need to be moving too much, I decided to go beg, figuring it would keep my mind occupied.

  I left through the door Spider had shown me, feeling depressed and anxious. How many more

  close calls before I found Daniel again? Who was the red-haired man, and why did the image of him leave me so cold? I wasn’t sure there was an answer.

  Chapter 16

  It was raining in thick heavy sheets, and thunder rolled across the buildings in waves of rumbling sound, when I escaped the darkness of the theater. I ducked under an awning and contemplated going back into the theater to wait out the storm. I knew that wouldn’t work, though. I was too curious about the club and the possibility that Daniel was there to sit inside and wait.

  The rain drenched my clothes and hair in seconds as I stepped back out into the storm. I didn’t mind the water; it felt good after long days
of humid heat. The rain obscured the familiar roads and closed me in comfortably as I walked. It was peaceful knowing I was one of the few out in the city. I went a different way to the club, ending up on the opposite side of the club than the one Eli and I had staked out. Scanning the area was impossible with the rain, so I decided to wait before I went in search of Alex and Eli, who I assumed were waiting out the storm nearby. I ducked under a balcony across the street from the club and leaned against the brick wall,

  watching the road. For a long moment there was nothing but the sound of my breathing and the cascade of water on the narrow road. Then I braced myself as the sharply accentuated sounds left me painfully debilitated for a moment. Every raindrop was a hammer against the buildings

  around me – particularly the balcony I was perched under.

  Around the noise, and the consequent headache, I heard an unexpected sound. I didn’t try and block the voice. The panic made it impossible, even if I had wanted to. “Help! HELP!!!!

  Someone help me!” a woman yelled out.

  I popped off the wall and searched for the owner of the voice – the fear was too immediate to ignore – but the rain barricaded me in.

  “Shut her up!” a man responded.

  A hard sound of flesh on bone and a painful grunt ended any question I had about what this was.

  Someone was attacking the woman.

  “I’m tired of bringing them in,” a different female voice said. “It’s more trouble than it’s worth.”

  “You tell Damian that,” the man said.

  “Yeah, and go through the gauntlet again? I don’t think so,” she said.

  I crossed the street and rounded the corner of a side street, running in the direction of the sounds.

  I slid on the wet road as I took the corner too fast and fell. As I fell, I saw three figures at a back door of the club. One figure held the door while the other carried the woman over her shoulder.

  Scrambling to find my feet, I raced to help the no longer struggling figure of the woman. The door swung shut seconds before I reached it. I tugged hard but it remained impossibly sealed.

  “Come on!” I hit the metal with my palm and spun around to search for another entrance.

  I ran to the front of the building hoping they kept it unlocked. This door was open, though not unguarded. “We’re closed,” a man said as I stepped in.

  The interior was massive; across from the door, a large stage fifteen feet in the air held the DJ

  station and a bar ran along the far right wall. Standing behind the bar was a man I had seen before. His aura of confident sexiness was unmistakable: it was Mick from Serenity’s club. He had complimented my eyes. He was staring at me now as if we had never met.

  “Oh…I’m…um…” I tapped on the ground with my foot nervously unsure of what to say or how

  to react to his surprising presence.

  “You have problems hearing?” he asked coldly.

  I looked away from his eyes and did some fast thinking. I didn’t know his game, but it was a game I had to play along with if I wanted to get anything done. At least, until I understood the rules of the game I was playing.

  “Look, man… my car broke down a couple streets over, and my phone was drenched in the rain, and I went to another place to call a tow truck but they kicked me out…and I’m drenched. I just need to use the phone….and maybe your bathroom for like two seconds,” I said in the first

  outright lie I had spoken in a long time.

  “This isn’t a charity, belle,” Mick told me.

  “Oh, come on! Have a heart. It’s just a call and the use of your bathroom. I won’t be long,” I promised.

  He stared, and his smooth Italian face shifted into a sexy grin. “Well, I am a fool for a pretty girl in distress.”

  He came around the bar and moved in close. His sensuality was overwhelming, and I blushed

  from the roots of my hair to my fingertips. He took my hand in a way that suggested he knew how to approach women. You are a terrible liar…You also shouldn’t be here. His thoughts were foreign and strange. The pressure of his thoughts was strong like Daniel’s always was, but they wrapped around mine like silk, caressing me.

  I saw a pair abducting a girl, I answered. They brought her in here.

  He walked me through a door toward the back of the club. That happens a lot here. If you chase after every single one, you will be running for a very long time.

  I couldn’t just leave her, I said.

  Sometimes, that is exactly what you must do, he said.

  Why are you here? I thought you work for Serenity.

  I work for Odette. There is a difference. And I am here doing what I must. Take a couple of minutes, then leave. If someone else sees you they will think it is their lucky day and add you to the collection downstairs.

  Downstairs? I asked.

  A small door appeared in front of my eyes for a brief moment, before he dropped my hand. It was a door we had passed on our way to the bathroom. He made a face at the slip, but didn’t try to cover his mistake.

  “Here is the bathroom. Don’t be long. I do not want to get in trouble…or get you in trouble,”

  Mick said.

  I caught the double meaning in his words. “Thanks so much,” I said.

  He took my hand again and kissed the top of it in parting. I went through the door to the

  bathroom and waited a minute. When I was relatively certain he was gone, I peeked back out.

  The hallway was empty.

  Walking on my tiptoes, hoping no one was listening, I went to the door Mick had inadvertently put in my mind. It was another unlocked door. I opened it, cursing every stray sound, and found a set of stairs in front of me. They were lit with florescent lights, which flickered dully against the grey space. Occasionally, one was out, or hovered between working and not, adding an eerie light to the corridor. All I could think about, as I carefully maneuvered my way down, was Ellen and the million scary movies we had watched with scenes just like this one. I hoped I was a character with a name and not ‘Screaming Girl #2’ – she always died at the end of the stairs.

  The stairs finally opened up to a narrow tunnel, which looked to be part of an old sewer system, complete with rats. Water dripped endlessly from somewhere, my heightened senses picking it up; darker, further away sounds of screaming slowly permeated my brain, adding to the feeling of fear in my stomach. Despite my worry, no one was waiting for me, axe I hand, at the bottom of the stairs.

  I followed the claustrophobic tunnel for a hundred yards, until it split off in five directions.

  Beyond the split, I saw more divisions in the system and realized it was a maze – a complicated maze I could spend days lost in if I wasn’t careful. Feeling that finding the woman was too important to spend time aimlessly wandering, I shut my eyes and listened for sounds of the abducted woman. The sounds of water, of screams, of voices, and other sounds of terror were too loud to pick out a single one from the chaos. Resigned to trusting in luck, I opened my eyes and went straight, hoping it was the right way.

  The narrow halls progressively got bigger as I walked, though moisture kept its slow drip down the sides. Doors started to line either side of the hall and dim thoughts of terror, of drug induced stupor, and pain, slithered like chains into my mind. It was obvious I had stumbled into a far greater threat than a single missing woman. I turned to another hall lined with doors, realizing that Mick had been right. Saving her was useless – there were hundreds down here who needed to be saved, and there was no way I could save them all. I walked on though, feeling helpless and sad around my determination, anger at my limited abilities increasing with every step I took.

  “What do you think this one’s going to be used for?” the same female voice from the street asked.

  I stopped walking and flattened my body against the wall. Their voices were coming from

  around the corner.

  “I dunno,” her male counterpart replied. “Doesn
’t matter to me. Hey, you want to go watch

  training? Isra’s teaching again today.”

  “Sure,” the woman agreed. She paused thoughtfully as they started to walk off. “There’s

  something different about Isra.”

  “I’ve heard that a lot from the women,” the man replied.

  “Not that way, though I wouldn’t say no if he called me to his chambers. He’s able to fight quicksilver. I’ve seen him win against his temper when he shouldn’t be able to do that. I can’t…

  not that I try. It’s weird he fights it so much…”

  “Are you questioning Isra?” the man asked. “You must be crazy. He’s the best fighter we have…

  and the most loyal to Damian.”

  “I’m not questioning his loyalty…he’s just not like the others who have been fully initiated, is all. They say he’s met and killed an Elder – that’s how he’s so strong.”

  “He’s just older than a lot of the ones here is all,” the man replied with jealousy in his words.

  They walked past the entrance to my hall, and I held my breath. Neither noticed me and, still talking about ‘Isra,’ they disappeared down a different tunnel. I poked my head around the corner after they had left, to see if anyone else was hanging around. There were more rows of thick metal doors rusted from years of dripping water, but no Watchers guarding them. On silent feet, I went to the one holding the woman whose struggles I had witnessed, and tugged on the handle. The door was sealed tight. Frustrated, I asked myself the next logical question: what would Spider do? Figuring he would do what he always did in any given situation – try to pick the lock – I pulled my knife from my boot and stuck the tip in the hole of the small lock. My knife was too big to pick the small lock.

  “Crap,” I muttered.

  “Who’s there?!” the woman inside yelled. “What is this? Where am I?!”

  People hissed through their doors in response to her yells, urging her to be quiet, sounding like steam escaping from a vent. I listened to the people around me in shocked sadness.

  “Shut up!”

  “They’ll hear you!”

  “They hurt us all if you keep it up!”

  “What is this?!” the woman yelled back.