Toska

by A. R. Kingston

  At the entrance, four glass elevators sit above a large pool. They make me think of escape pods on spaceships that science fiction books like to talk about. If you go into the glass capsule, be sure to stand at the front so that you can see the entire hotel unfold before you as the elevator soars to the sky. It’s been a favorite pastime of mine to sit in one of the elevators and watch the delight and wonder on children’s faces as they looked down at the floor below. It’s always nice to share in the simple pleasures of children, but that is something you come to appreciate far too late in life.

  Yes, the lobby and elevators of the Crown Plaza Hotel are spectacular, but it’s the centerpiece of the hotel which is my favorite feature. In the middle of the lobby, just in front of the glass capsules sits a large brass clock with a rooster on top. Every hour the clock opens up the small doors on the side and starts to play music, little figurines inside begin to spin and dance. When they finish their performance the doors close, and the rooster perched on top of its spire flaps its wings and crows out the hour of the day.

  I have spent countless hours at a time at this hotel, watching the clock every hour, and exploring everything it had to offer. There is not a room, office, or administrative portion of this hotel that I have not drifted into. Yet, for some reason, I had never encountered a secret organization here. There have been many meetings between government officials at the conference center here, sure, but never ones that talked about the supernatural or the start of the apocalypse. What’s more, I think I would have remembered any secret headquarters that the hotel may hide, but the closest I’ve come is the hidden pantry in the executive kitchen.

  “You want me to believe The Order of the Shadows is inside this hotel?”

  “Yes. Well, technically…” Vasily pointed the way down the hall before leading the way for the rest of us to follow “…it’s underneath the hotel, in the sub-basement hidden within the security office.”

  Odd, I’ve been inside the security office many times, I don’t remember anything there but pipes and tv screens, especially not a sub-basement. How does one even go about concealing a sub-basement inside such a high-traffic building, wasn’t someone bound to notice? Intrigued by this new piece of information I trailed along, making sure to keep an eye out for anything that had previously escaped my eyes.

  Vasily walks up to a set of double doors, the metal is covered in chipping, flat blue paint. Above the doors in bright yellow block letters is the word Security, this still has not changed. He guides us through the door into a large room full of TV screens, just as I remember. To this day four guards sit in swivel chairs, two on each side, watching the screen. They pay no attention to us, and I follow the men through a single metal door into what appears to be a standard break room.

  The small room looks no different than it did before, with three tables situated snuggly around the pipes that run along the walls. There is fridge that’s been here since the eighties, a vending machine full of foreign concoctions, and a Formica counter which has a coffee maker from the Soviet era on it. Behind me should be a wall of yellow lockers for the security guards to put their street clothe in, I turn around and confirm that all is as it should be.

  Nothing has changed in years, so where can the secret entrance be hidden. My mind flashes to the fireplace in Nadia’s apartment, is there a secret button which moves an entire wall hidden inside this room? I spin around the break area trying to figure out where it might be. The vending machine perhaps, after all, who in their right mind would consume anything inside of those things? Defeated by the puzzle of the hidden headquarters, I cross my arms and lean against a hot water pipe in frustration.

  Whistling a cheery toon, Matroskin walks over to the locker furthest away from the security office and begins to fiddle with the metal lock. Spinning the dial in the palms of his hands, he pulls the lock off with a flick of his wrist and opens the door, pointing his hand inside. I walk around to see that instead of a locker it’s a cleverly disguised door which leads into a marble chamber, a narrow escalator descends into the tube. Victor, Shawn and I follow Matroskin down the escalator while Vasily shuts the metal door behind us.

  The escalator stops at the mouth of a colossal room constructed from beautiful white marble, complete with pillars and gold-plated doors that reach to the ceiling. A large brass pendulum lamp hangs above a black rose laid into the floor from black marble. I am in awe at the space the Order was able to conceal underneath the hotel, this can almost count as a hotel itself. Walking ahead of us, Vasily waves his hands for us to follow him as he walks through the double doors directly in front of us.

  We venture down a long marble hallway with no end in sight; our footsteps echo as they fall on the stone floor. Vasily stops in front of a small wooden door, identified with a single set of numbers, twenty-six. Unlocking the door, Vasily allows us to step inside a tastefully decorated room. The small space was just enough to accommodate a double bed and a small table for two, but the light beige wallpaper made the space seem larger than it was. It was nice for what it was, an over-glorified prison cell, but it’s a step up from Victor’s apartment. Hopefully, we won’t be here for long.

  “Well, there you go, your accommodations for the duration of your stay with the Order. I will get Victor some fresh blood as soon as we are done debriefing Father McAllister here.” Vasily glanced back over his shoulder at Shawn who was giving me two thumbs up; I think it was meant to encourage me. “I know you don’t sleep Katya, so is there anything I can get you to help pass the time?”

  “Some books would be great I guess.”

  “Sure, I’ll grab a few that I think you may like from the library and bring them over.” Vasily went to shut the door and shot me a nervous look back. “Don’t go anywhere; I promise to release you as soon as I can.”

  I nod to let him know that I intend to stay put and he shut the door, effectively locking us in inside this cell. Feeling trapped, I remind myself that they are doing this for our safety, the Order must know there is no way they could contain me if I wished to leave. Still, there is something about a small space that makes me feel claustrophobic; I suppose I got used to being able to come and go of my own free will. I have no desire to leave though, I don’t want to keep shifting form, and I am worn out from the previous night. A few days of rest, free from the problems of the outside world sound just like what the doctor ordered.

  Victor must feel the same way as he walks over and collapses on the bed. It’s been a while since he had a comfortable bed to sleep on. Flipping on his back he spreads his arms out, inviting me to join him. I have no need or desire for sleep, but I crawl in next to him regardless. If anything, I would like to continue laying in his arms as I did back in the attic until we were rudely interrupted. Playing with his hair, I watch as he drifts off to sleep, the events of last night are starting to seem like a distant memory, a horrible nightmare which we are finally free from.

  Victor and I have been living at the Order headquarters for about a couple weeks now and have mostly grown accustomed to our temporary accommodations. I did not get to say goodbye to Shawn as he left the same day we came in, but he left me a note promising to keep in touch. True to his word, Vasily pushed the officials to clear us as soon as possible, and within a day we were free to explore the facility. For the first day or two Matroskin showed us around the hidden sub-basement and the secrets it hid behind its walls.

  The network of rooms and passageways that made up the headquarters was far more extensive than I had originally thought. Some of the halls housed sleeping quarters and offices, while others contained ritual chambers and a grand library filled with ancient knowledge, knowledge which was believed to be lost. Upon my visit to the library, I discovered books and scrolls from the Royal Library of Alexandria, filled with information about the world I now find myself in.

  It had been explained to me by Vasily that the people of Alexandria were getting to know far too much information on the worm and the supernatural. Some o
f the more ambitious people were planning to use the power of the worm to rule the world. To protect society from the fallout that the summoning of the worm would cause the Order had set fire to the library one night. The destruction fooled the people into believing this knowledge had been lost, when in fact, it was hidden in the archives for safe keeping.

  But the secret collection of scrolls is not the only thing they hid underneath the hotel. I think the thing I found most impressive is how self-sufficient the Order was. The entire complex was designed to be run independent of the city, relying on its own power and water supply in case of an emergency. There was even an entire sector dedicated to a hydroponics bay and livestock. Feasting upon the blood of cow that were hidden beneath the city, Victor had regained his strength. Having healed from his encounter with the worm, he insisted on spending more time with me outside the headquarters.

  We started out small at first, just wondering around the basement at night, exploring what it had to offer. After we exhausted our run of the rooms which contained gardening supplies, carts, and a laundry room, we decided to venture out into the city. The hotel is conveniently located on the banks of the Moskva River and across the street from a park. For two nights Victor and I were able to enjoy casual strolls outside. I had been telling Victor all about the lobby, and the clock which I had loved so much, which in turn caused Victor to burst into Vasily’s office and demand that we be allowed access to the rest of the hotel.

  Clearly, that did not go over well with the Order, and Vasily was adamantly against it at first. I was about to convince Victor to give it up when Matroskin stepped in and managed to convince the Order otherwise. He came up with a clever ruse as to how we were going to explain my outdated appearance; retrieving an old video recording device from storage, Matroskin instructed us to say we were there to film a commercial.

  With a cover story, we snuck upstairs and took a casual stroll around the lobby, even going as far as riding the glass elevators. In physical form, I was finally able to feel what it was that made the children giggle in the glass capsules; it was the feeling in the pit of your stomach as the elevator moved that tickled you from the inside. Having watched the metal rooster announce it was six o’clock in the evening, we followed Matroskin to a small café on the third floor. He insisted they make the best espresso and zefir in the city, but I was just going to have to take his word for it.

  Sitting down in one of the plush white chairs in the modern café, we turned our attention to the television that had the evening news on. A pretty woman, in a tailored suit was describing the ongoing investigation into the events which transpired on New Year’s Eve. It would appear the officials have ruled out any connections between the explosion on Stary Arbat, and the forty-nine accidental death that occurred that night.

  The police claim the deaths had occurred due to tainted champagne which came from one of the local plants, and they have found more bottles which have been tampered with. They had a disgruntled former employee in custody now and are encouraging anyone with this brand of champagne to turn it in to be safe. Now, the three of us know this is not what happened, but I give the Order props for coming up with such an elaborate explanation.

  The explanation for the house Victor lived in was a lot simpler, the city council was calling it a main gas line explosion. A small fire erupted and contained itself once the gas supply ran out, only one resident of the building was killed in the incident, her body reduced to ashes. So, with a few strokes of a pen, our existence remained a secret, and the public was none the wiser as to what went on in the city that night. As we were watching Matroskin change the news to a set of old Soviet cartoons, Vasily walked in and plopped a manila envelope on the table in front of me.

  “What’s this?” I slide the envelope closer and pick it up.

  “Your new location. Your transfer has been approved, go pack your stuff, you’re leaving first thing in the morning.”

  I pried open the envelope and pulled out the official looking letterhead with the seal of the order on the bottom. Quickly I skimmed over the official contents of the letter that contained the rules of being in the Order and how we were to conduct our life from here on out. Going straight to the meat of the documents I read over all the details transcribed on the sheet containing our new life.

  Transfer Order No. 1022

  Subject Number: 785

  Name: Yekaterina Orlova

  Age: 153

  Creature/Class: Spirit/Ghost

  Designation: Safe

  Previous Location: Dedinovo. Lukhovitsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia

  Subject Number: 786

  Name: Victor Vasilyev

  Age: 153

  Creature/Class: Vampire/Rouge

  Designation: low-risk

  Previous Location: City of Moscow, Russia

  Transfer: Approved

  New Location: Pogorelovo, Krasnodar Krai, Russia

  Transfer Date/Time: Immediately

  Agent Status: Active

  I look over the document several more times, trying to come to terms with where I’ll be headed in the morning. Pogorelovo is nowhere near Moscow, it’s located near the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and it’s more of a ghost town than Dedinovo. It seems when they relocate potentially dangerous creatures, they really relocate them, as far away from the entire human population as possible. Taking my eyes from the paper, I slip it back into the envelope and slide it over to Victor. He studies it carefully without saying a word before pushing it back over to Vasily.

  “So, that’s it, huh? You’re just going to hide us away in the remote Russian countryside where we can’t cause any more problems for you?”

  “No, we are relocating you to the one place we have where you can be yourselves. We keep a house there, the one we are giving to you. The barn there is stalked with cows for you to feed on, and the lack of people living in the area ensures no one notices a woman in a dress from the nineteenth century. I understand the location is not ideal, but you have to think of Katya. It’s painful for her to shift form all the time, this way she can at least maintain physical appearance for longer periods of time.”

  Victor looks over at me and sighs “You’re right, I don’t want her to suffer if she doesn’t have to. And I suppose it would be good to get back to the peaceful life we once had, away from the hustle and bustle of the city.”

  “Yes, I hear the sea is beautiful in that area…” Matroskin leaned back in his chair and smiled “…even more so at night. I’m sure the Order will provide you with a new car to get around in. Not to mention that fresh country air. Man, I’d love to be able to be a cat in a small village, the trouble I could get into.”

  “We will indeed provide you with a new car. As for you my feline friend…” Vasily pats Matroskin on the shoulder “…you shall get your wish, as the grand command has ordered for you to go with them.”

  “Say what?” Matroskin dropped the feet of his chair back to the floor with a loud clang “Come on captain, I didn’t mean that I wished to go with them. No one wants a third wheel with them on their honeymoon.”

  “That may be so, but, they are new to the Order and need someone to keep an eye on them, to keep them out of trouble. And you are a cat for Pete’s sake; I’m sure you can stay out of their way most of the time, go hunt some mice or whatever it is that cats do.” Vasily winked at him “Also, need I mention that you are the only one who can go out in the day and not stick out like a sore thumb? These two will need a link to the outside world, and God forbid, the Order if they need to get a hold of us in an emergency.”

  “What can I say chief, when you’re right, you’re right.” Matroskin shut his eyes with a huge smile. “Oh well, guess I’ll have to get used to living in the countryside. Wonder if the mice taste better than they do in the city.”

  Across the table, I could see Victor raising a finger with a frown on his face, about to protest the decision. Reaching over I press his hand down and shake my head; I know Vasily is
right. Where we are going, we will need someone who can blend in best to the changing world, and someone who won’t roast under the sun. That, and Matroskin had become almost like family to me, and I could use the company during the day when Victor sleeps. With the orders finalized, the only thing the three of us had left to do is wait for morning to come and van to take us down to our new life on the Russian sea coast.

  Sitting in the cafeteria with my friends I recalled the images I had received when I connected with the worm. There was the past, but then there were the visions of things to come, bad visions. The beast was not done with our world yet, and it would not be long before he reared his ugly head again. But that was no longer our problem, I have already beaten him once, and I doubt he would come for me again. Still, somehow I was not sure that our battle was over, something tells me that there will come a time when I will have to face him again, but not now.

  For now, I had a new life waiting for Victor and I in a serene Russian countryside by the sea. This was the life I had dreamed of so many, many years ago, while I was still a living young woman. The worm is still a threat, but tonight he is of no concern to me, tonight I pack for my new life. Come tomorrow, the three of us will leave the city to make the drive to the sea, far from the evils and corruptions which live here. I’m not sure when we will see the city again if we see it again, but that’s of no concern to me anymore, I’m happy to leave the city behind.

  Tomorrow we follow the new road on the path of life to a new destination where we are meant to be. Someday soon, The Order will require our services again, and we will journey to a new location. The worm is still in the void, plotting his next move, seeking his Annabelle, and he will come for her soon. Whatever is meant to happen will come to pass, best thing I can do now is be ready for it. Listening to the TV drone on, I smile and nod, knowing that tomorrow we’re finally going home.