Tess lifted a brow in a look that made blood rush to new parts of my body. “If there’s chafing, we’ll handle it for you.” Kamila snickered, but Tess wasn’t laughing. I took that as a promise for later and kept tugging at the pants. They slid on with minimal fuss, and there I stood in my ass-hugging glory. To my utter shock, they were flexible enough that I could run—and fight.
There was just one problem. As a former insurance man, I wasn’t used to wearing things that gave away my secrets. “These are indecent. You can tell whether or not I was circumcised through these pants.”
“I know.” Kamila smiled dreamily. “Here’s your shirt.” She handed me a puddle of red and black fabric. It clung to me when I put it on.
I put it on. “I feel like an utter douchebag. An unmitigated ass. I can’t go out in public like this. I wouldn’t have gone out in public even when I went to these kind of clubs for fun.”
“Hush. Close your eyes.” Tess reached into another bag and pulled out two objects. They looked suspiciously like makeup.
I backed away. “Oh, hell no.”
Kamila held me in place. “Jason the Lifebringer would never wear makeup, not in a million years,” she said quite reasonably. “He’d never wear these kind of clothes. We’re going into what very well could be a vampire nest. We don’t want to be recognized. Now hold still and take your guy-liner like a man.”
I groaned but let Tess apply the eyeliner in whatever ridiculous design she wanted.
She and Kamila finished dressing and putting on their makeup. They stuck black lipstick on me too, which didn’t just look awful. It tasted bad, like I’d had a candle jammed between my teeth. “My fall from humanity is now complete. I’m so glad Ferin don’t do electronics,” I complained. “I would never live this down.”
They ignored me. I fought the urge to jump back in the shower—after burning the clothes, of course—but Kamila leaned close to me, her eyes dancing with mischief.
“Act natural, and you’ll get laid. Sound good?” she asked me, her lips curled in a smile that was both promise and enjoyment at my discomfort.
“At this club? I don’t—no. I’m not chasing some drunk tourist girl around while I’m dressed like a refugee from the 80s. Not a chance,” I said.
“By me. And Tess, probably,” Kamila purred. “All you have to do is—”
“I’m going to need him to dance with me in order for there to be nudity,” Tess said.
“No,” I told her, my palms going up in a defensive gesture.
“No? To all this?” Tess waved at her body. She looked good, but she was also on the verge of laughing, despite our situation.
“To repeat, no. I will not go into a vampire den and simultaneously be held sexual hostage by someone who wants me to wear tight leather pants. Full stop. No,” I said, crossing my arms.
“Not even a little,” Tess said while wiggling her hips.
“Especially not that.” I tilted my head, giving her a sour look.
“Fine.” Tess pouted. “I guess we go find out what’s up without the added bonus of seeing you dance. You know, you are Ferin now. You can dance.”
“You sound like vodka speaking as a person. Trust me, you can dance. No. We go to fight, and then, if we live, we get naked,” I said.
“Now who’s a sexual terrorist?’ Tess asked as we all moved to the door. “What about her?” Daisy wagged her tail, knowing we spoke of her.
“Stay here, baby. Guard the room,” Kamila said, and Daisy got comfortable.
“See? Even she knows it’s a shitty club,” I said.
We went into the night, and I didn’t know who I feared more: vamps or being seen by the general public. My pants squeaked in agreement, and if the moon could have spoken, it would have laughed.
20
We paid our cover, but the Mainer in me wanted to argue about the exorbitant cover charge. It bordered on fraud, especially given that there was no live music and the prices at the bar were obscene. At the end of the day, the money was all stolen anyway, so I decided not to dwell on it. Se la vie, the old saying went. Such is life.
Or the more modern interpretation: shit happens.
We stepped into the club, and for a second, I thought I was back in that dump of a church. I overcame it, thanks to the soothing presence of Tess and Kamila, but it was a close thing. I kept on going into the main room and looked around, my eyes adjusting to the intentional gloom.
The place was big. I would give the owners that much. I picked up on no less than seven security cameras. Funny how quickly I’d gotten used to looking for things like that. A year ago, or even six months ago, I wouldn’t have noticed. If this place was the vampire base, the vampires would know we were there almost immediately.
Tess went out onto the floor to dance for a while and watching her was a gift. She had an innate grasp of rhythm, and of course, she knew how to use her body perfectly.
Kamila and I took a turn around the room, our eyes drawn to faces, motion, and shadows. Most of the other patrons were exactly what I expected. They probably had perfectly respectable day jobs, but here at night, they could be themselves. I resolved to loosen up but failed when my lips stuck together for the tenth time.
Tess approached with three glasses of rum. “It’s clean. I didn’t see him put anything into it, and I was watching him like a hawk. Not that it would be an issue if he had,” she added with a toss of her head.
I sipped from my glass. I’d never been the world’s biggest rum connoisseur, but ever since we’d come to the Caribbean, I’d learned so much about it, I was turning into a rum snob by default. The stuff we’d been served wasn’t the best, and it wasn’t the worst. It was okay. “What do we see?”
“The guy in the fake vampire fangs is American, and he’s handsy. He’s also not a vampire.” Tess nodded in the direction of a bald man with glow-in-the-dark artificial fangs. “I’m sure he’s just lonely, but I had to stop myself from stabbing him. We don’t need police involvement.”
“If he’s that handsy, the police have probably already been involved.” Kamila raised an eyebrow. “Folks here don’t seem to be all that friendly. No one’s really circulating with each other. People show up with a group, or they find a group when they get here, and that’s who they stay with. It’s weird. It kind of defeats the purpose of a nightclub, doesn’t it?”
“I suppose it does.” I chuckled. “But you’ve probably never gone to a Goth club. It’s kind of par for the course. You’d have to show up at least three times before anyone bothered to talk to you. Otherwise, they won’t trust you. You’re just some tool to them, especially if you show up alone. Most Goths don’t trust outsiders much. You don’t get to be Goth by getting along well with mainstream folks.”
“I suppose not.” She shrugged. “I guess that does make me feel a little bit better about getting all those looks. Still, it seems rude, but then my manners are older than this building. Anyway, I saw a sign for the VIP lounge. Let’s go be next-level, shall we?”
Tess and I followed Kamila to an open doorway. A neon sign proclaimed the stairs to lead to the VIP lounge, as well as to the “Rooms of Respite,” which I seriously hoped was just the restrooms. The idea of a fuck palace in the club made our job that much more difficult. Vamps didn’t need a designated hunting room; the whole world was theirs to exploit.
The basement was frigid and not what I expected. It was several degrees colder than the upstairs, and upstairs was freezing. I could see my breath, so I used my power to warm up, but Tess shivered, her nipples at high attention in the unusual air.
“Cold from—what? There’s water running here. I can feel it,” I said.
“Just being below ground level. Like a cave,” Tess said, her eyes open and watchful. Even Kamila’s body language was brittle with stress. There were carvings on the walls, diminished by time but still present.
While much of the city had been destroyed in one hurricane or another, the club had been built on the foundations of som
e giant old building. What we saw wasn’t just old; it was ancient.
My hackles rose. We passed the bathrooms. They were labeled, but no one would call us liars if we said we didn’t see the signs. The light was dim, verging into darkness. Even for a Goth club, the atmosphere was one of worrisome gloom.
We walked to the end of the hall. The big stone door proudly proclaimed itself to be the VIP Lounge. It had been carved onto the door, chiseled like it would be onto a tombstone. I traced the letters with my fingertip, the stone rough and crude.
Tess, ever practical, tried the door. It wouldn’t budge, even with her strength. “It’s locked,” she whispered. “And there was no room in this outfit for my picks.”
“We should go.” I put my hand on Kamila’s arm and walked back up the hallway. As we got closer to the bathrooms, I saw a local man coming down the stairs. He gave us a hard look. “What are you lot doing down here, then?”
“Sorry.” I made a point of slurring my words. “We were trying to find the bathroom, but the light was so low, we walked right past ‘em. Found ‘em.”
Kamila and Tess giggled and stepped into the women’s room. I slipped into the men’s, and the local man followed me.
I almost panicked. Then he moved his arm. I noticed the silver cuff as the local stepped up to me. “Look, mate,” he said. “I don’t mean to frighten you or your friends. But it’s best to keep your wits about you in strange places, yeah? Belize is a great country, but this city? We’ve got some issues.”
I looked down at his bracelet. “Thanks… mate.” I dropped the slurring. “I appreciate the advice. Do you know a lady by the name of Zarya?”
He blinked. “No, I don’t. If they’ve got your friend, she’s already gone.”
I pressed my lips together. “Here’s hoping you’re wrong. Please thank Christie for me.” I slipped back out into the hallway. If we’d gone back together, it might have caused problems for him.
The girls were ready to go too. We finished our rum and left at a bland pace, neither hurried nor deliberate. Tess was kind of disappointed. She’d enjoyed dancing there, but we couldn’t afford to stay. I made a promise to myself that if we ever got through this mess, I would find ways for her to indulge in her love of dancing. Without leather pants, of course.
We headed back out onto the street. None of us spoke until we were two city blocks away. Then we stopped, and Tess leaned against a building, exhaling in frustration. “Well, that was exciting. Who puts a secret passageway in the women’s room?”
“Perverts.” Kamila didn’t wait for me to even briefly consider the answer before glowering back at the club. “I didn’t see any signs of vampires, but plenty of—” She shuddered with distaste.
“There were vampires.” I went through a rundown of my encounter with the man with the silver cuff. “He didn’t know Zarya, but he did say if they had her, it wasn’t looking good.”
“Why would someone who knows about vampires be hanging around in a vampire nightclub?” Tess stood up straighter. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“He came downstairs to warn us. He thought we were just dumb tourists.” I sighed. “At least there are some folks around here who don’t need to have everything hidden from them. On the one hand, that’s good. On the other hand, it’s making me nervous. It means they’re so entrenched here, they have no fear, and the populace has to defend themselves.”
“Awesome.” Kamila gave a big, fake smile. “So we know they’re here, but we can’t get in. We hit a dead end at Zarya’s place. What’s our next move?”
I looked up to the sky. Belize City gave off plenty of light pollution, but I could still see a few stars. “Morning Star.”
Tess sighed. “Would you stop obsessing about that place?”
I counted things off on my fingers. “One, the building hasn’t changed owners since it was built. Not through probate, not through sale. It’s always belonged to the same person. Two, the company consists of maybe ten people but four floors. Three of those floors, not counting the basement, are empty. You’re the one who told me that. They’re not even storing stuff down there. It’s just empty. And three, the president of the company lost her husband a few years ago in a boating accident in around the same area as Deadman’s Caye.”
Kamila frowned at me. “How did you find all of that out?”
“You don’t think insurance companies just pay out because someone says to, do you?” I wiggled my fingers at her. “We research. We find evidence. The Internet isn’t just for cat videos, Kamila.”
She glared at me for a second. “Okay, all right, fine. Do you want to go back and break in?”
Tess perked up. “Can we?”
“I thought you didn’t bring your lock picks with you?” I turned to face her directly.
“I didn’t. There’s a key to the back door under a potted plant. Employees must get locked out all the time.” She beamed. “How do you think I got in?”
We walked back over to Morning Star. Surprisingly enough, the office building wasn’t very far away at all. It might have been a block back toward the club, on the next street over. I didn’t like the proximity. It set off yet another warning in my senses, but we walked, arrived, and took a steadying breath in less time than I had to consider other options.
Tess took the key and let us in the back door. The office was closed, of course, but Kamila and I didn’t need light to see. Tess had enough, thanks to the streetlights. We crept across the old wood planks and over to the basement.
“Ready?” I whispered. Two silent nods, and we were going down.
21
The basement was locked.
“We could break the lock,” Tess offered, looking up at both of us. “It might not be the most fun option, but it’s one option open to us. We could just go right ahead and break that lock.”
I eyeballed the iron door. “I’m not exactly the weakest guy in Belize, but I don’t think the door is going to be easy to break. If I get the iron hot enough to weaken it, we might have a chance.” I scratched at my chin, studying the weaker points on the door.
“And you might set the whole building on fire while you’re at it.” Kamila gave me a hard look. “There has to be some other way out of there, though. It’s not new construction, but they’re not going to put an office building on top of a building with one means of egress.”
I wanted to respond, but Tess held up a hand and then pointed to her ear. She heard someone coming. I concentrated on listening for the sound, instead of on my debate with Kamila, and I could hear it too. Feet trod on the wide plank floor, somewhere far enough away that we couldn’t see. The person walking was getting closer. The pace was regular, even bored. Like a security guard.
I pointed to the stairs. All three of us nodded and ran up them in total silence. Security guards brought problems. Even if they weren’t working for the vampires, a security guard could cause trouble for us in the form of police. While we weren’t human, we lived in a human world, and thus, their problems could be ours. It was a complication no one needed, least of all the guard.
We made no sound as we hurried into the upper reaches of the building. Just as Tess had warned us before, and just as Belize City records had stated, the upper floors of this old counting house were vacant. I covered my mouth and nose at the amount of dust, then let my hand fall. I was Ferin. I didn’t have mundane things like allergies. Instead, I had black lipstick and chafing balls. It was a tradeoff I hadn’t agreed to, but here I was, holding my breath and wondering who was coming toward us in the dark.
The footsteps entered the room we’d been in, becoming muffled by the occasional carpet. I glanced at the wall by the stairwell. Someone was in the room directly below us, but they hadn’t turned on any lights at all. Worse yet, I couldn’t feel any water in their body or any heat that would indicate a living person. I got the attention of the others and signaled that it was a vampire.
Tess and Kamila nodded carefully, and we all strained our ears to
listen. The squawk from a radio or walkie-talkie, like a cop would use, seemed five times as loud in the absolute silence.
“Yeah, everything’s quiet here. No sign of forced entry. Joseph is being paranoid. Again.” The voice was male, bored.
The reply came back within seconds. “Alistair, you’re a moron. Are you sure you’ve checked everywhere, or did you just walk into a few rooms on the ground floor like the laziest vampire to ever stalk the night?”
Alistair heaved a mighty sigh, especially considering he had no breath. “Look. There’s nothing upstairs for a burglar to get into, and there’s no way for anyone to get into the basement. The silent alarms haven’t gone off, and every time I go into the upper floors, I get dust on my uniform and you yell at me like a child. Why, exactly, do you think I should be going up there if it’s only going to result in problems?”
“Because if there are intruders up there and they take anything on your watch, I’m going to do a hell of a lot more than just yell at you, all right?” The supervisor was shouting into his radio now. He sounded English, not that I was any judge, and to say he was unenthusiastic about this whole charade would be an understatement. “Get your ass upstairs and look for the enemy. Have you given any thought to the idea there might be Ferin up there, hmm? It’s a war, you know? It’s not like the little roaches respect persons or places. They got Chilperic in his own home. Flooded it out too. Caused a sinkhole. You want a sinkhole, Alistair? Because I’ll make damned sure you spend the rest of time stuck at the bottom of it, choking on sludge from this godforsaken city.”
“Ferin are a myth, George.” Alistair might have thought we were a myth, but he was listening to his boss. His feet clomped up the stairs, but not quickly.
I exchanged glances with Tess and Kamila. We needed to be ready because this was about to get ugly.
“I’m sure you’ll be saying that right up until you get a silver spike up your arse,” the boss said. “If I don’t see some dust on your uniform when you report back, I’ll hand you over to them myself.”
Forever Young - Book 2 Page 13
