I remembered once driving by a vacant building about a block away from the address, so pulled up the internet on my phone, searching nearby commercial properties for sale. The one I had driven by was still listed for sale, so I began swiping through the pictures, getting a feel for the general layout so I could open a Gateway there.
Claire was watching me, yawning. “Did you forget what we’re doing? The meeting with the real estate agent is tomorrow,” she said, referring to our appointment with Paradise and Lost.
I scowled over at her. “No. I’m picking out a drop spot for my Gateway. I need to get a feel for the place. Better results.” I swiped through a few more images of the empty unit. “I think.”
She watched me doubtfully.
Better off than I had started, I pocketed my phone, took a deep breath, and focused, imagining the empty retail unit. I hoped today wasn’t the day that the real estate agent had a hot prospect interested in buying the place. I had to be sure I got it right. Usually, I could Shadow Walk to a place I wasn’t as familiar with, but there had been… issues with Shadow Walking lately.
Namely, some giant, robed, Candy Skulled dickwads waiting to slice you to ribbons with glass claws. I would wait until I received the go-ahead from Nate – who said he was looking into it – before trying that anytime soon.
Long story short, Gateways were trickier – if you were concerned about being discreet, anyway.
I glanced at Claire, eyeing her robe as if to check that she hadn’t changed her mind since we would now have to walk a block through the city streets. Maybe she hadn’t noticed that part.
“We should probably hurry. You have a date tonight,” she said sternly.
I scowled at her. “It’s just a double-date with my dad to meet his girlfriend. Not a big deal.”
“It is a big deal. And I won’t let you be late,” she said in warning.
“Fine,” I mumbled, not very eager about the whole thing.
“Good. Let’s go fuck some shit up,” she said, fingering her new pale bracelet in anticipation.
“Or save a victim,” I said, opening up a Gateway. A ring of white fire erupted before us, revealing an empty room inside the commercial unit for lease. “Yes! It worked!”
Claire arched a brow at me. “Let’s be practical. This is most likely a trap or I wouldn’t be willing to wear the robe,” she muttered, then jumped through the Gateway ahead of me.
I heard a muffled curse.
“A big fucking man-cow!” Claire shouted in disbelief, out of sight. “I told you it was a trap!”
I frowned for a millisecond before jumping through after her. What the fuck was a man-cow?
Chapter 23
I landed on a rickety wooden floor, silver knuckle dusters on one fist and a wooden stake in the other, eyes darting about the room for something to hit.
Claire was motionless, staring up at…
Well, a big fucking man-cow.
I lowered my weapons, recognizing him, but my brain short-circuiting at the unexpected appearance.
The legendary Minotaur – a half bull, half man named Asterion – was a reformed Buddhist, according to Nate. And the large set of prayer beads hanging on his bulging chest kind of confirmed it.
“I’m not a man-cow,” he snorted to Claire, holding up his massive hands in a peaceful gesture. He was well over seven-feet-tall, covered in long, shaggy, brown fur, and wore a kilt and a pair of huge, custom-made boots. His thick, ivory horns threatened to brush the ceiling if he rose from his slouch, and a fat golden nose ring quivered in his wet nostrils. “I am Asterion, and this is King Midas,” he added, pointing to an older gentleman standing beside him.
King Midas – the fabled king cursed with the golden touch – perhaps in his mid to late fifties, judging by the hard lines on his forehead – was watching the exchange with amusement, not the least bit startled. He seemed to have a vibrancy of life to him, something that just made me want to smile as if a ray of sunshine had touched my face on a rainy day. He had crow’s feet at the edges of his glittering eyes, and his blonde hair was pulled back into a tight tail. He wore a crisp white suit and polished brown loafers – sans socks. He also wore a pair of tight leather gloves, in case he wanted to shake anyone’s hand or touch something. He grinned at Claire. “Nice robe, child. I’ve got one just like it, in gold,” he added, winking.
He might as well have shouted stupefy at Claire, for all the reaction she gave him.
Asterion’s eyes flickered over to me and he flashed me a relieved smile. “Callie! When I saw that Gateway appear, I figured it had to be you. The white fire,” he explained, pointing a sausage-sized finger at the Gateway.
I let it wink out, shaking my head. I knew these two from my trips to visit Nate in St. Louis, but what were they doing here?
Midas dipped his chin politely at me. “Miss Penrose. A pleasure.” Then he turned to Asterion. “It seems we will have to buy the place, now…” he said, sounding only mildly inconvenienced.
“What are you doing here, Asterion?” I asked in disbelief.
“I was escorting Midas through his weekly real estate interests,” Asterion said, fingering his prayer beads subconsciously.
“And… one of those interests just happened to be a property in Kansas City where I opened a Gateway,” I said doubtfully, placing a reassuring palm on Claire’s back. She jumped, so focused on the giant Minotaur that she hadn’t paid attention to my approach. She flashed me a demanding look. “This is Claire Stone. A bipolar shifter bear.”
“Polar bear shifter,” she corrected, face flushing slightly as she glared back at me.
I nodded. “Claire, meet Asterion, Nate’s pal from St. Louis. And Midas Kingston, also from St. Louis,” I said carefully, wondering exactly how I was supposed to formally introduce him.
Claire assessed him, sniffing the air curiously. He smiled back at her, shrugging. “Not a monster. I just like gold, Claire.”
I grunted. “This is too much of a coincidence…”
Midas coughed, shooting a look at Asterion. “I’ll just go check on the real estate agent. She’s probably too busy on her phone to have noticed any of the shouting.”
“Didn’t she notice the giant freaking Minotaur?” Claire muttered under her breath.
Asterion frowned at her. “She knows us. But your sudden arrival could have been… unnecessarily complicated. She’s a wizard, you see…”
“Let’s get back to the part where you explain why you’re interested in Kansas City real estate. Not that you aren’t welcome, but this could have ended very badly. I would appreciate some warning next time.”
Asterion nodded sheepishly. “We… have been keeping eyes on certain groups throughout Missouri. One isn’t far from here, and Midas liked the idea of having a nearby base of operations just in case we needed to do some digging.”
I felt some stars suddenly aligning to ruin my day. “Does this certain group spend time at a building about a block away?”
Claire piped in with the actual address.
Asterion’s jaw dropped open, his nose ring quivering at the sudden motion. “You know of the Hellfire Club?” he asked incredulously.
Chapter 24
I kept my face studiously blank. “Sure do,” I lied. “What do you know about them?”
Asterion was shaking his head in disbelief. “Have they done something to upset you?” he asked, twisting the hair at the base of his chin like a human would twirl his mustache.
“Yet to be determined,” I said carefully.
Claire was frowning at the massive set of prayer beads dangling from Asterion’s hairy chest, as if only just now noticing the odd necklace. I hadn’t told her much about the St. Louis crew, but Asterion was as solid as… well, gold. He worked for Midas Kingston – or King Midas, as he was historically known – and ran the St. Louis Fight Club – a place where Freaks could go to let off some steam.
One could literally pull out all the stops and fight to the death there and w
ake up the next morning in the comfort of their own beds. Pretty neat, actually. I was eager to test it out, but had also felt the need to keep my abilities under wraps. Having secrets was beneficial. Maybe I could get Midas and Asterion to privately open up the Fight Club for my next birthday party.
Nothing celebrated the gift of life like a birthday cake and friends fighting to the death.
This Hellfire Club sounded oddly familiar, like I had heard about it somewhere.
“I don’t see how they could have done anything to upset you. We’ve been keeping an eye on their members in St. Louis, as well, although they have laid low enough that we almost didn’t learn they even had a location there.”
“If you don’t think they are dangerous, why are you buying this place?”
Asterion smiled faintly. “Nate Temple has taken a sudden interest in his… subjects.”
Claire frowned at that, turning back to me. I hadn’t brought her up to speed on events in St. Louis, wanting to clean up my own house before worrying about our sister city.
“Who are they?” I asked, realizing too late that I’d just proven I had no idea who they were.
Asterion shot me a puzzled look. “Witches. Fans of the occult. Other supernatural loners.”
Claire folded her arms smugly, proud that her assumption that we were going to find trouble at the address had proven accurate. “You don’t say?” she said, smiling over at me.
“Witches?” I asked incredulously. “We have honest to god witches in town? How is that not a concern?” I asked, alarmed. Witches were nasty. Well, if they wanted to be, and most did, according to what Roland had taught me. Then again, what I had been told had been fed to me through the objective and altruistic lens of the Vatican.
And we all knew how much they loved their witches.
Maybe it was a knitting circle of retired, middle-aged women who had practiced medicine.
But if this Hellfire Club was really witches, they were capable of brewing a broad array of potions – curses, spells, and healings – with their obscure ingredients. Where wizards typically focused on directly impacting the elements to their will, witches focused on directly combining substances of the earth into something greater.
A difference of semantics, now that I thought about it.
But give a witch a little forewarning, and she could be downright lethal. Curses and potions attached to her belts like Batman’s utility belt, ready to shatter vials of unpleasantness upon her foes like nuclear rain. Fighting a witch was tough, because there was no direct element to defend against. You were at the mercy of battling whatever vial or brew she had created, hoping you had chosen the right defensive maneuver when the glass grenade cracked.
With a wizard, you knew – typically – what you were getting into… a street brawl.
With a witch, you were playing a game of cards where they always played ten hands ahead.
Now, given the chance, a wizard could quickly execute a witch with sheer force. But give her even a fraction of warning, and she could curse your entire bloodline for generations. Or turn you into a goat. Or… any number of things, really.
I shook my head, waiting on Asterion to answer, to explain their interest.
Midas came back into the room, whistling softly. “It is done.”
I blinked at him. That could be taken all sorts of ways. “What is done?” I asked him warily.
“I bought the place.”
Claire grunted. “Just like that. You… bought the place.” She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, as if demonstrating the creakiness of the floorboards. Then she pointed at a large hole in a nearby wall. “Hope you got a good deal…”
Midas chuckled. “I always get a good deal,” he said, chuckling as he walked over to a low-hanging chandelier. He took off a glove and touched it with a finger, closing his eyes. In a flash, the chandelier transformed into gold. Claire gasped in astonishment. Midas was grinning at her again as he slipped his glove back on. “And I know how to get a good return on investment.”
Claire shot me a stunned look. “You saw that, right?”
I had figured some of the stories might be true, that whatever King Midas touched turned to gold, but had also considered the fact that it was an exaggerated story. A figure of speech. Like he knew how to always come out ahead in a deal, or something. But to see it happen in person.
“In the future, I would appreciate forewarning if you’re playing in Kansas City,” I told Midas, since he hadn’t been in the room when I had said it to Asterion.
The man watched me thoughtfully. Not agreeing, but not denying. Then he put his hands in his pockets and Claire winced, holding her breath.
“It seems I’ve already crossed the line, so to speak,” he said conversationally, indicating the building around us. “You will let me know how I can make that up to you…”
I nodded in appreciation, surprised it had been that easy. Was he being literal? He hadn’t put any limitations on his offer, but I was pretty sure I could come up with a few ideas for a man that had no concern for money.
“Thank you. Now, we have some business to attend to at the… Hellfire Club.”
“Perhaps we could tag along,” Midas offered.
I hesitated. “Um. I don’t really know what we’re walking into. I’d hate for you to get tossed into the middle of a fight…”
Asterion grunted. “He runs the bloodiest Fight Club in the country – a Den of Freaks who fight to the death on a weekly basis. You’d be surprised at what he can do.”
“Okay,” I said, not finding any polite way out of it. “We might as well head over there, I guess.”
They followed me to the door, and I glanced back at the Minotaur. He had slipped on a long, black coat and was already holding a massive gold – of course – golf umbrella over his head as he squatted low in an awkward shuffle. Well, that worked. I had thought to see something a bit more magical and classy. A way for the Minotaur to conceal his true form. Something majestically wondrous from the legendary Minotaur.
Not a giant fucking man-cow with a gold umbrella.
We made our way across the street, and I caught them up on recent events as we walked towards our destination. I told them about seeing the men chasing a woman into a dark alley before everyone had disappeared. That I had found a piece of glass with the address on it leading us here. They didn’t offer comment, just filed the information away.
“I don’t know what we’re walking into,” I said as the building loomed ahead of us. “I just wanted to see if she got away clean.”
“But there’s always the chance we might need to fuck some shit up,” Claire offered helpfully. She arched a brow at Midas. “Maybe you can make something pretty.”
“What a novel idea,” Midas said, eyes twinkling thoughtfully.
Asterion snorted under his umbrella, but he just looked like a giant golden mushroom, crouched too low for me to even make out his head. Maybe the approaching darkness and rain would help keep him concealed under his golden umbrella.
I sighed. “There’s always that possibility in Kansas City,” I said to Claire. “Let’s hurry before darkness falls.”
Chapter 25
The three-story brick building Claire pointed out as our destination looked to have once been a hotel – about fifty years ago. I approached the front door, surprised to find it unlocked. I held it open for Claire, Asterion, and Midas, inwardly shaking my head at my gang. What were we about to find, and was it smart for me to involve Asterion and Midas in Kansas City politics?
I entered to find them huddled in a small lobby. Asterion shrugged off his coat and closed his umbrella as he stretched back up to full height, towering over the rest of us. His ears pricked towards the empty space as if searching for threats. Claire had her hands tucked into the pockets of my robe, and Midas was flexing his fingers thoughtfully. I glanced down at my own attire – a pair of jeans, my Darling and Dear jacket and boots, and a long-sleeved tee with a unicorn dragging his ass
across the ground, leaving a rainbow trail behind him.
So professional.
I glanced around me, not seeing any furniture, desks, or people. Just a big empty lobby with dust motes drifting in the air. This was the present-day Hellfire Club? Asterion and Midas had caught us up on the historical origins of the group, sparking my memory. To sum it up, they had been a group of occult aficionados who performed rituals, sex rites, and all sorts of ridiculous parties. But it seemed that had just been a front of sorts – that the real Hellfire Club was actually run by real witches. And nowadays, they were kind of like a United Nations committee for their sisters across the globe. A central hub to open lines of communication across great distances.
And the fact that they had laid low for so long – both in Kansas City and St. Louis – was very impressive. They didn’t get involved in politics. I hadn’t even known of a single witch in Kansas City, let alone a group of them. They had restructured their business model and kept their noses clean. Establishing a network for safety, not to attack other Freaks.
The woman I had seen running away from those men was likely a member, judging by the glass we had tracked here, and I didn’t want to drop the case until I found out her fate – whether she had escaped or not. If she was missing, I wanted to tell this Hellfire Club about seeing her running from those men. Maybe they would know the full story.
Or they were unaware anyone was hunting them.
After recent events, my money was on Templars, but there were plenty of other predators in town who liked chasing down lone women. Even some of the human variety. I was just a little biased.
Either way, the Hellfire Club needed to know they were in danger.
Another thought sent a shiver down my spine. Maybe… the men had been the members, using their blue potion to abduct the woman. I shivered. That would mean we were walking into a very dangerous situation.
Friend or foe?
Angel's Roar: Feathers and Fire Book 4 Page 11