VIP visitors could then descend once more to Pride, where the small VIP dancefloor could be found, or go one more floor down to Envy, the VIP lounge and bar.
Wide, easy stairs linked all of the floors, and those who walked on them found they didn’t tire as much as they might otherwise have done elsewhere while walking up seven flights of stairs. For the lazy, however, there were three pairs of lifts between Wrath and Gluttony.
Beneath the VIP lounge were the private areas used by the Harbingers Coven, including meeting rooms and private quarters for Lucian and each coven member. Passageways, staircases, and ladders led off deeper and wider into the network of hidden tunnels and spaces deep beneath New York from the coven’s living area. Since the earliest settlers on Manhattan Island dark and dangerous things had made their homes here, deep underground. Scions and Magi and worse always followed the crowds, and Manhattan had been no different. As the city expanded and the subways were built, the hidden city beneath the streets grew.
Below the coven’s main living areas, two individuals made their home. Bull lived inside the main complex of the club in dark rooms and passageways with his Scion dogs. Shaun, a coven member and Scion, kept his lair away from the club’s main structure, preferring to have some separation from the coven he did a lot of work for. You could still walk between the club and Shaun’s lair using access passages and subway tunnels, though.
Lucian only came down here occasionally, usually preferring to send Lex, unless the matter required his personal attention. Shaun had proved himself to be trustworthy so far and also very useful. Like Aneurin, Shaun had an affinity for technology, but Shaun’s skills were far and above Aneurin’s.
Shaun had always been a hacker, a malcontent who hated authority and government, but also something of a conspiracy theorist, and through his investigations into the shadows of the world, he came to the attention of his creator who turned him into the Scion he is today.
Lucian passed through a series of dark corridors barely lit in places. Water dripped and pooled on the floor. While rats and insects skittered and crawled in the dark silence of this subterranean world.
But Lucian didn’t need eyes to see down here, his Magic showed him everything he needed to see, even through the ever-present shades that he wore everywhere.
After a few minutes, he reached a thick iron door, pitted and rusted like something from a World War II submarine.
Lucian’s Magic turned the wheel in the centre of the door and it spun easily and clanged as the bolts slid home. With a metallic squeal, the door swung open, spilling light into the darkness of the corridor Lucian stood in.
Warm electric bulbs glowed inside, throwing splashes of orange light and cooler shadows all around the large room.
Shaun lived in a forgotten subway access platform, complete with a section of curved track opposite the door where Lucian stood, with an old, rusted train car sitting next to the platform, ready to disappear into the darkness of the tunnel ahead.
Between the train and Lucian, on the platform itself, sat Shaun’s living area. To Lucian’s left were tables and notice boards pinned to the walls where monitors and computer towers sat amongst snaking cables humming away to themselves.
To the right were three beds, a kitchenette, and other detritus of life. Shaun lived here with two initiated humans, Ben and Vanessa, who helped Shaun with his work for Lucian.
All three of the occupants sat in front of the computers on the left. Ben and Vanessa were both tapping and clicking away on their respective workstations, while Shaun sat back in his chair, deep in thought, his eyes on the door to see who would be coming to visit.
Shaun had been one of the less lucky Scions. The change into a creature of the night had deformed him, giving him a waxy pallor, warts, and a ridge of bone that started in the middle of his forehead and passed over the top of his head all the way down his back. He also didn’t have any hair whatsoever.
On seeing Lucian, Shaun raised his eyebrow ridges a fraction then quickly recovered. Lucian caught the tiny movement, giving away Shaun’s surprise at his visit.
Lucian stepped through the doorway into the room and moved across the platform towards the front of the train car, beckoning Shaun to follow with a slight movement of his head.
“Hey, back to work,” Shaun told his assistants who had stopped working and were staring at their visitor. They both quickly returned to their computers as Shaun stood and moved to follow Lucian, eventually, coming to a stop next to him at the platform’s edge.
“What can I do for you, sir?” asked Shaun.
In hushed tones Lucian said, “I have a job for you, Shaun. Something you need to keep between you, me, and your assistants. No one else is to know for now. You feel me?”
“Of course, sir, what can I do for you?” Shaun asked, curiosity narrowing his gaze.
“It’s a surveillance job, nothing too strenuous.” Lucian passed Shaun a manila folder. “Everything you need is in there. You need to find them, inform me the moment you discover where they are, and monitor them; that’s all. I’ll give you further instructions later.”
Shaun nodded at Lucian.
“Thank you. I’ll get right on it.”
- Chat between Blind Eagle and Chronos on the DWeb Message Boards.
Chronos: Thanks for responding. You have access to the Liberty’s Children Mainframe?
Blind Eagle: I do. What’s the pay?
Chronos: Cash or info, your choice.
Blind Eagle: Cash, $10,000, upfront.
Chronos: No deal. $2,000 upfront, balance on delivery.
Blind Eagle: Deal.
Chronos: Payment details?
…
- Redacted –
…
Blind Eagle: Got it, thanks. What do you want to know?
Chronos: You had a visitor to the coven house recently. Goes by the name of Amanda-Jane Page. We need anything the Liberty’s Children have on her.
Blind Eagle: I’ll see what I can find. I’ll message you later.
The Jade Palace
New York
Amanda bounced down the stairs to where Yoh waited for her near the front door. She pulled on a light jacket over her strappy white vest top as she descended, pulling her hair out from the back of the jacket so that it spilled over her shoulders.
“So, we’re ready, then?” she asked, smiling.
“Just about.” He smiled back. She liked his smile. His whole face lit up when he smiled, which he didn’t seem to do a lot of, but she loved it when he did. She thought he looked really rather handsome, especially when he was happy.
“What about GW and Liz?” she asked.
“We’re here,” said Gentle Water from behind her. She turned to see him and Liz walking into the hallway, both wearing coats, ready for the outside air of New York in May.
It wasn’t usually freezing in May, but there had been a bit of a turn in the weather these past few days. Not that the cold really bothered any of them, their Magic took care of that, but it would look odd for them to walk about in summer clothes when everyone else was dressed for the weather.
“Excellent. So, we’re ready? Let’s head on out!” Amanda said.
“Are we walking all the way there?” asked Liz.
“Just so you can start to get your bearings, yes,” Yoh replied. “But we won’t walk out your front door. We’ll Port to the other side of the junction, just as a precaution.”
“Do you think someone’s watching this place?” Liz asked, concerned.
“I’d say that’s unlikely, but when it comes to the Nomads, and Lucian-kun in particular, it pays to be careful,” Yoh replied.
“To be sure. Where were you thinking?” Amanda asked.
Amanda could feel the small working of Magic that stirred from Yoh and reached out to her and the others.
“Would you be happy to link with me?” Yoh asked.
They all answered in the affirmative and a couple of seconds later, they had a real-time view o
f an alleyway on the other side of the junction in their mind’s eye that Yoh had shared with them. He’d been psychically checking the area out to make sure it remained empty.
“Shall we?” Yoh asked.
Liz had not yet reached a level of Magical ability that allowed her to teleport, so it would be down to Gentle Water to take her, as he was currently the only one of them that could Port other people, as well as himself.
Amanda often marvelled at the things she could do now, from throwing lightning bolts or fireballs, to teleportation, mind reading, and conjuration. All things that seemed relatively normal to her now, but just a year or two ago would have seemed really freaky. The world was a strange place and appeared to be getting weirder every day.
Amanda nodded, Gentle Water took Liz’s hand, and all four of them disappeared from the hallway.
At the same instant, they appeared in the alleyway on the other side of the four-way junction. The sounds and smells of the city filled their senses and the noise felt overwhelming for a moment, compared to the silence of the house.
Amanda looked about her. They had all Ported safely over and stood in a passageway between two buildings with refuse bags and huge bins on casters.
They were a short walk from the street where people went about their business, but no one had noticed them.
“This way,” Yoh directed them, leading them out.
At the end of the alleyway, Amanda spied her house on the other side of the street, a short distance up the road and felt a swelling of pride for her new home.
Soon, they were on their way and following Yoh along the sidewalk, walking the handful of blocks to Yoh’s place, which she knew he called The Jade Palace. This, according to Yoh, functioned as a restaurant, spa, and gym, as well as a living space for Yoh and another Magi, named Stella.
Yoh walked beside Gentle Water, talking casually, with Yoh doing most of the speaking
Behind the two men, Amanda walked beside Liz, who had taken hold of Amanda’s arm and stayed close. She looked around, her eyes as big as saucers, her jaw slack in apparent awe of the city, something Amanda could relate to from the time she lived here before becoming a Magus. New York always left an impression on new visitors.
While Liz took in the sights of the city all around her, Amanda admired a different view, and despite trying to look elsewhere, she just couldn’t help but enjoy the shape and form of Yoh’s bum.
She couldn’t see much of it beneath the suit he wore, but she could see just enough to hold her interest.
In the middle of wondering what Yoh might look like without his suit on, she realised that Liz had been speaking to her.
She tore her gaze away and looked over to the other side of the street, past the traffic, and gazed at nothing, anything, something. She didn’t care what it was, she just didn’t want to get caught staring at Yoh’s arse.
But what an arse it was!
No, not again, she thought. This was scandalous. She needed to think of something other than having a firm hold of that rear with both hands while she lay beneath him …
“When do you think Lucian might turn up?”
Liz’s question broke through her daydream, snapping her back to reality and away from the fantasy she’d been indulging in.
“Sorry, what?” she asked.
“Lucian, he’s not appeared yet, but he must know we’re here, surely.”
Amanda furrowed her brow in response, glad for the distraction.
“I’d ideally like to think that he has no idea we’re here, but I think realistically, he must know. He’s a competent Nomad from everything I’ve heard. So, I would suspect there must be at least one informant within the Liberty’s Coven House, probably more. We’ve been here, what? A few hours? I’d expect he’d know we were here by now.”
“I don’t feel very safe on these streets. I keep expecting to be jumped at any moment.”
Amanda looked around at the people going about their daily lives, ignoring the Magi in their midst. Might there be an Initiated amongst them, secretly watching them, monitoring their movements, and reporting back to Lucian about where they were headed?
It was certainly possible, and the thought of that possibility darkened her mood a touch as they walked.
After a couple more blocks of uneventful walking, Yoh came to a stop beside a magazine kiosk on the sidewalk. He picked up a newspaper and pretended to look in it as he turned to his companions.
“The Jade Palace is on the other side of the street a short distance up, can you see it?” Yoh asked.
Amanda, Liz, and Gentle Water looked up the street to see the square-fronted, two-story, beige building with a sign out front proclaiming it The Jade Palace.
It looked big from what she could see and busy from the number of people sitting out front at the tables and chairs.
“Lovely,” said Amanda. “Are we not walking in the front door?”
“No, too risky. We’ll Port to the side entrance and go in that way,” Yoh answered.
“Sure,” Amanda replied and looked at her two companions who also agreed.
“Hai, when I say, follow me, don’t hesitate.”
Moments passed, and Amanda could sense the small working of Magic coming from Yoh, but only because he happened to be standing right next to her. She knew that he had shielded the Magic from casual detection, and anyone not right next to him wouldn’t notice it.
Seconds passed, and after a moment more, he put down the magazine and set off.
“Follow me,” he said as he turned.
Amanda followed Yoh into a nearby coffee shop and walked with him towards the back. The ambient Magic of the group worked in their favour, allowing them to slip sight-unseen through the shop and a door marked Staff Only at the back. A short walk along a corridor, past a breakroom where someone sat watching television, they finally passed through a rear door into another alley.
“More alleyways?” Amanda asked.
“Occupational hazard.” Yoh shrugged and then sent the group details of the location of their next Port. “We’ll be Porting here.”
“Let’s go, then. I’m not a massive fan of alleyways,” Amanda said. New York alleyways reminded her of the attack a couple of years ago by the Scion, Horlack that had turned her into a Magus and killed her good friend Stuart, so the less time she spent in them, the better.
That said, she knew one day soon she would want to return to the site of the attack and try to make some kind of peace with it.
Seconds later, they stood close to the side entrance of what Amanda presumed to be The Jade Palace. Concentrating on her location, she knew exactly where she was in the city in relation to where she now stood and her house.
Looking about her, she couldn’t sense any Magic at all. Yoh had done a great job of hiding the magical signature on the building that would give away his location to Lucian’s coven.
“In we go,” he urged as he opened the side door of The Jade Palace and ushered them in, a tiny flare of Magic the only sign that he’d passed through the building’s hidden Aegis.
They all walked into a small entryway as Yoh closed the door behind them.
“Welcome to The Jade Palace. I’ll give you the dime tour and introduce you to a couple of people as we go. Follow me.”
Yoh proceeded to show the trio around the ground floor of the building, walking them through the softly lit corridors and showing them the spa area with its treatment rooms, small pool, jacuzzi, sauna, and more. Amanda loved the idea of spending a day here, making use of the facilities, something that Yoh made clear would always be open and free to them whenever they needed it.
After that, he walked them through the restaurant at the front of the building that seemed to be gearing up for the midday rush. The smells of cooking food made Amanda’s tummy grumble. She would need to get something to eat soon.
Next, on the opposite side of a sparring area, he showed them the private members-only gym where several people were working out.
The building itself had a square footprint, with an open-air Japanese rock garden in the centre.
Yoh led them out through a glass door into the Zen garden with its winding paths, raked gravel areas, carefully arranged rocks, and pruned plants.
The whole building had an air of calm, relaxation about it, especially the garden, which seemed very serene.
Small water features burbled away as they admired the space around them.
Amanda noticed a beautiful, young, black woman with long silver hair stand up from a bench on the other side of the garden. She smiled at Yoh and approached the group carrying a leather folder in one hand. As she drew level with Yoh, they stopped and bowed to each other.
“I’d like you to meet Stella, my business partner and apprentice,” he said. “To the best of my knowledge, we’re the only two Magi who have ever managed to live here under Lucian’s nose for so long.”
“It’s lovely to meet you all,” Stella greeted them. “Yoh has told me all about you. You’re very brave choosing to set up here in New York. I wish you all the luck in the world, but don’t underestimate Lucian, he’s a tricky character.”
“Oh, to be sure, we won’t, and thank you.”
“A pleasure. I’ll catch up with you soon, I have some work to do. Enjoy the tour.”
With that, she walked away.
Yoh proceeded to show them the offices at the back of the building on the ground floor, before showing them through a locked door and up a staircase.
Upstairs, the Japanese style intensified, with dark lacquered woods and a minimalist look. Everything was in its place, clean and orderly.
Yoh showed them through a few rooms before leading them into a large library where the walls were lined with hundreds of books with a small seating area in the centre.
“Aah, Maya, there you are,” he said walking over to a woman sitting in one of the chairs. She turned to greet him, and Amanda smiled, recognising the Vampire Scion from the Legacy House in Paris. She was a little surprised to see a familiar face here, but it had been a few weeks since Maya had last been in Paris.
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