by Nathan Parks
They stepped out of the elevator when they reached the tenth floor and proceeded down the hallway to their left. Eve stopped at a door and knocked. There was a sound on the other side, and the door opened. Jackie greeted them.
“Eve? What are you doing? No, actually where have you been?”
Eve had called Jackie on their way to her place and told her to go ahead and close down the tattoo parlor and meet them at her apartment. She had told her friend that there were some things that they needed to talk about and that she wasn’t coming alone. Jackie let them in, but eyed the sharp-looking black man that was with her. She didn’t like the disheveled look of Eve and wasn’t sure if this guy had anything to do with it.
The apartment was contemporary-oriental. Much of Jackie’s furniture had an oriental theme to it, including bamboo centerpieces and a panda silk screen, but it was mixed tastefully with contemporary pieces. It wasn’t something in which Isaiah felt he could relax, but to each their own.
“Jackie, we are going to need to stay for a few hours. We don’t have a lot of time to explain everything, but let me just lay a few things out for you, none of which I expect you to believe.”
And she didn’t.
Jackie even asked to see Eve in the bedroom for a minute. She asked her friend if she had been on any drugs and if the man that was supposedly a preacher slash angel, or something like that, was really someone safe. Eve finally got Jackie to understand that she was not, at this moment, in any harm and that Jackie just needed to trust her.
“We have got to figure out how to find Alfonso. Isaiah says he is pretty sure they have him at The Vortex.”
“Who are ‘they’? Vampires, right?”
“Ok, stop with all of that Jackie. Seriously, just let us stay here for a few hours, and then we are out of your hair.”
“Under one condition,” she offered.
“What is that?”
“You let me go with you and help out.”
“No way.”
“Why not? What better way to show me this is all real and that you aren’t high on some kind of hallucinogen than to let me help you out? I can schmooze my way past any vampire. Just let him bite this pretty neck of mine. I’ll tell him I want to be his for eternity, and there you go.”
Eve rolled her eyes. “I will ask Isaiah, but this isn’t a game, Jackie. This could be deadly! I have seen things over the last few days that would fill a lifetime of nightmares.”
Jackie shrugged her shoulders and gave Eve a look that stated she was offering nothing less, and she could take it or leave it.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The sun had reached its full height about four hours before; but there was no way that anyone could tell that, because a storm had moved in and taken control. The sky had become almost black with clouds and strong gusts of wind came and went.
Denora knew that even if mortals would call it a cold front or something similar, that it was a sign that the hierarchy was starting to move into the area. It would be only a matter of hours before the Gathering was in full force. There was no news to bring back to Arioch concerning Megan. It was as if, with the movement of the hierarchy, that even the Alliance had become silent; and Kadar was nowhere to be found.
It was a waiting game now. Arioch believed he could bluff the Family and still demand a seat of power, but the only thing he actually had was an almost lifeless Watcher who wasn’t giving up any information. He still was determined that he had enough Familiars and clan members to make a stand.
There was a commotion at the door; and word passed through that a black Ferrari had pulled up, along with a motorcycle motorcade. The first of the leadership had shown up.
Hecate stepped out and made her way, along with her bodyguards, through the doors of The Vortex. She was tall, seductive, and walked with authority, yet with the enticement of a cat. Hecate was Lady Death herself, the only female with superior power and control within the Fallen. Dressed to kill and to turn heads, she wore a form-fitting evening suit with a plunging neckline. Men called her a goddess, and women strove to be her. The Dark Ages of Europe had been her baby; Wicca was her child. She was shrewd, but dangerous. Most members of the Hecate Clan were known for their trickery, deceit, and seduction. They mastered it; yet on the more sinister side, they appeared in visions, out of incantations, and out of the cavities of the dead to twist the minds of their victims.
“Arioch, quite a place of flesh you have here,” she stated as she accepted a drink from a waitress. “Is everything ready?”
“Yes, more than ready. My Lieutenant, Denora, will take you to the VIP room. That is where Adremalech said that we will meet. We are keeping the club open while we meet so that the Familiars and clan members will be able to feast. It will also ensure that we are not disturbed by anyone.”
“Are we expecting trouble?”
“No.”
Arioch was done talking. He wanted this to get started so it could end. He could feel the beat of power surging through him; and he was ready--more than ready--to take his stand tonight.
Over the next couple of hours all the players moved into place, and The Vortex was packed. A new band was on stage tonight, and they had the crowd writhing in demented ecstasy. The dancers where doing what they did best; and, once again, darkness descended as a blanket. This wasn’t Hell--no, Hell was the end. This was just pure evil, and Arioch loved it.
The beat of the music was hypnotic, and the atmosphere was alive! Patrons were able to get lost and forget themselves. This is where they needed to be tonight! Lights and smoke, drinks and drugs, and immortal and mortal, all mixed together. Vegas had nothing on this club tonight. All of the hierarchy was here, and their entourage was hyped up. Life? Who needed to live when one could die?
*****
Jackie wasn’t even close to buying into anything that Eve had told her; but she did know that, no matter what, she was going to have fun here tonight. She had only been to The Vortex one other time, and that time it was not even close to being packed as it was tonight. Now, this was a party!
She had made a few calls after Eve and Isaiah talked, and she was able to get them all passes into the club from a friend who owed her a favor. She threw in the promise to her friend of a free inking to seal the deal. She had been washed up into the crowd and wasn’t fully sure where her partners were, but at this point she didn’t care. She needed a break and to get lost. As Jackie allowed the music to take over her body and dress her soul down, she felt the crowd rush in on her, and she was gone. She loved it. Some strong guy with his hair dyed blood red and black took a hold of her waist and began to take her deeper into this trance. She smiled; he was cute.
Isaiah stood holding Eve in one of the corners of the dance floor as if they were a couple dancing. Their position allowed Isaiah to survey the area and to see what they were up against.
“If Alfonso is here, we need to find him soon, because once the hierarchy meets, then we are out of time, especially if he is going to be a pawn.”
“Do you see Kadar or any of our clan?” she asked as she danced close to him, feeling a sense of safety in his presence.
“No, and we won’t. If he is going to announce the clan tonight, he won’t show up until he’s ready to do that. It is going to start enough of a stir. He has to know he has their attention, but not enough that he loses control.”
“Do you think he is here, Isaiah?”
“He is here if . . .”
“If?” Eve repeated.
Isaiah didn’t answer her question. It was time to stop their talking and actually do something about it all.
Another friend of Jackie’s had gotten the trio into The Vortex without having to stand in line, so they had walked past the security at the door. This was a good thing, because together they were a walking mini arsenal. They had stopped at one of the Alliance back-up weapon caches prior to coming to The Vortex. Eve had questioned their using the weapons from Leah’s group, but Isaiah had told her that they woul
d deal with that later. Right now, the most important thing was to find Alfonso.
“You ready?” he whispered in her ear.
She nodded.
Eve had some knowledge of the back area of the club from walking through it when she had been here with Megan. They headed toward a door that would lead them into the heart of The Vortex where all the “behind the scenes” operations took place. It was as if they were walking into a minefield, holding their breath, praying they didn’t step on a mine, but begging to find what they were looking for. This was a chance they had to take.
*****
“He isn’t talking, Arioch.”
Denora was tired of playing this cat-and-mouse game. She wanted blood; she needed agony. This old man wasn’t giving her anything that would satisfy her need for torture and pain.
“We can still stand up tonight, and then we can go from there. Let me finish him off,” Denora pressed.
Arioch was calm and collected. His tirade over not having Megan was done. Denora and Drake were right: they would find her. That wasn’t a problem. When they did . . . let’s just say she wouldn’t ever leave again, or at least until what they needed her for was completed.
Arioch circled the semblance of a man--if that is what one could call him. Blood was still oozing from the mutilations that had been dealt to him by Denora.
“You have to better your tactics, Denora. You’re telling me that an old man can take what you are dishing out without singing for mercy?”
Denora sneered at his taunting. There was too much at stake tonight to get in a match with Arioch. Tonight wasn’t just about Arioch, but about all of them. They were all in on this.
“He kept muttering things about Jah, and then when he started becoming delirious, he kept saying, ‘Leah, Joan’s work is not done’--whatever that means.”
“Joan?”
“It didn’t make any sense. Come on, Arioch. We can’t even take him in front of the hierarchy. You know if we do, then Adremalech is going to have to explain why a Watcher is still alive after he just announced that we have taken them all out. Let me have my fill tonight of his blood.”
“Joan?” Arioch repeated. Arioch was thinking. The Watcher wasn’t giving them anything. He had never seen any Watcher be this strong. Maybe he didn’t know anything, but there is no way that he didn’t know something.
“So nothing about the vial of blood?”
Denora shook her head. “I told you everything he has said.”
Arioch would just have to stand on his own tonight. If he needed to bluff, he could. He would just have to stand firm and let them know that they were breaking off as their own clan, no matter what. It could be done peacefully or with a fight.
He took the cigarette he had been smoking and put it out on the back of the old man’s head. The Watcher didn’t even flinch. He was probably already gone.
“He’s yours, Denora, but if he does give anything up, I want to know right away. Understand?”
She almost shrieked. “You will know before the last drop of his blood has quenched my thirst.”
“Yeah,” he said uninterested.
Arioch never was one for a lot of drama and torture. He was a ‘smooth-and-quick’ type of guy.
He opened the carved door that led into the main ceremony area that he had shown to Drake the night that Sedit had met his demise. Soon it would be the seat of authority for a new clan. He made his way across the ancient-looking hall and through the door that would take him up the stairs into the club. Was he in the best situation for tonight? No, but he was still in a good one. He emerged from the staircase and into the buzz of people: dancers, waitresses, guards, and some Familiars. Tonight it would all come together. It was time to start the Gathering.
Arioch headed toward the sound of the club activity past several private dance rooms and a few semi-private lounges. There were several patrons who called out to him or nodded in his direction, but he was preoccupied with what steps needed to be taken from here that he didn’t pay them any attention.
Arioch’s inattention actually proved to be detrimental to him, for as he walked through the crowd, he passed right by a couple who were doing their best to blend into the surroundings and the small crowds around them. Isaiah and Arioch had had a couple of run-ins before; and Isaiah knew that if Arioch spotted him, they would be exposed. He held his breath as the playboy brushed past people, preoccupied, and he didn’t let it escape until he and Eve both acknowledged that they were in the clear.
“Did you see where he came from?” Eve asked.
Isaiah nodded. “I did, and I know that there is a sublevel to this place in which only the clan members and Familiars are allowed. If I was a betting man, I would say that is where Alfonso is . . . and maybe Megan.”
She looked up at Isaiah with a smile. “Well, then, I will take that bet. Let’s go.”
Chapter Forty
Isaiah and Eve bypassed all those whom Arioch had just walked past and came to the door that he had exited. Without any fanfare or drawing attention to themselves, they quietly opened the door that had awed Drake by its intricate carvings and descended the stair case.
“It’s musty smelling,” Eve noted as they went further down. “What is this? A dungeon?”
“I don’t know what we are about to get into,” Isaiah answered. “I have never been down here. Just watch yourself. We could be walking into a hive of danger. We can hope that all the activity is upstairs.”
Isaiah reached underneath his shirt and pulled out a large pistol. It had been a gift from Troy about a year ago. It was silver plated, and its chamber was made of some sort of clear ballistic material that would allow him to see the round chambered. The rounds were a unique hybrid of explosives and a liquid infusion of white phosphate and olive oil. Isaiah didn’t understand how Troy had managed to discover this fatal blend, but he was aware of what it did to the Fallen.
Eve had chosen to only carry a belt of blades. She had never really handled any firearms; but as a child, she had taught herself how to wield a knife in order to give others a reason to think twice before trying to get too close to her.
“It smells like oil burning,” she said as the came to the bottom of the stairs and could see a glow on the walls of a large, spacious room ahead.
“Probably torches. This place looks like it was set up to be some sort of replica of an ancient hall, most likely Persian or even Babylon.”
“Great place from which to run your own clan,” Eve noted, but then stopped as they walked into the main ritual hall.
She didn’t have much time to take it in before she felt a cold chill come over her, and she began to fill distressed and full of anxiety. Depression hit her hard in the chest. She felt that she would break down and sob, but at the same time wanted to just die to escape the emotional torture. She could hear Isaiah’s voice cut through her emotions.
“Eve, fight it! Focus on my voice!”
Eve felt cold fingers reach through her, and the best way she would describe it later was that her soul was being drained and replaced with a cold bitterness. She reached down to her side and pulled out an ultraviolet flare and ran her thumb on the trip switch with which Troy had rigged it. She placed her finger underneath it. She couldn’t breathe. She could see two wispy creatures darting fast at her, and then it seemed they came out from her chest. They were just small soul tormentors that had no real intelligence of their own. They were used as a type of security system. It was wondered if they were even real beings. They had not been around at the time of the exile, but had come into existence since the clans had separated.
Falling backwards, with a quick flip of her fingertip, the flare shot out a hot, iridescent flame that she kept at arms’ length and wielded it wildly in front of her. The tormenters had no time to stop their dash toward her and were, therefore, caught in the radiance of the light. They screamed into oblivion.
“Any more?” she asked Isaiah.
She was angry now. “They just u
pset the wrong Nephelium.” She growled.
Isaiah chuckled. “Maybe so, but if they were here, then there is something here to guard. It could be . . .”
He stopped. One of the doors across from them opened, and a man stepped out, but walked in the opposite direction of them. Isaiah looked over and saw Eve holding a blade in her hand.
“Whoa! What are you doing?”
“I am not sure who he is, but I have seen him before. He was at Megan’s apartment. I think the lady that was with him called him Drake.”
Isaiah watched the man walk out of sight.
“He isn’t a Familiar, but I think he is possessed. You say he was at Megan’s?”
She nodded. “I bet Megan is in that room.”
Isaiah and Eve checked the area to make sure there were no more surprises. They made their way to the door that Drake had just exited. They didn’t know what they were going to do next. They stood there looking at each other, waiting for one to suggest something. They didn’t know what was on the other side of the door, but they also knew that time was not their friend. Eve put her ear to the door, but she couldn’t make anything out. She shook her head at Isaiah.
“So does being a Nephelium mean that we can walk through walls or see through things?” she whispered.
“Well, honestly it varies with each of us on what we can do, and you can’t really do anything until you have your time of ‘turning.’ Even then, you kind of grow into things.”
“Well, I guess that means there is only one thing we can do,” she whispered.
He nodded, and with a hard slam of his shoulder and with both guns in his hands, he was through the door. Isaiah’s arms were outstretched, pointing his weapons at anything that might move. Eve was right behind him. As he went to the left, she went to the right; and that is when, if she had thought that any of this had been fantasy, she was left with the sickening, grotesque understanding that this was real--bitterly real.
Was that her screaming? She couldn’t tell. Was this another mind trick? She was going to vomit. She felt it coming up her throat. Her mind refused to hold anything back, and her body was refusing her any control! She was going to pass out!
