by Kyanna Skye
She walked passed an electronics shop and froze as she saw herself reflected in a nearby plasma screen displayed in the window. Unable to help herself she turned and faced her reflected digital twin. She saw the source of the image, a camcorder was mounted on a nearby tripod and innocently filming people as they walked by on the street. Most went by without concern, but she found it interesting in a way.
Though she had no real love for technology, it did offer some pleasant diversions. She looked upon herself in the living mirror. There stood a woman with a slender waist, but full breasts, and wrapped in a long leather trench coat. Her hair was braided in cornrows, she had chocolate colored skin, her eyes a bright and dazzling gray that even humans would have thought interesting if they knew it to be genuine. To the casual observer she could have been wearing contact lenses. L.A. was filled with people looking to stand out in one way or another after all. She simply passed for just such another soul.
All in all, she was not an unpleasing thing to look upon, she thought. And pleasing to the eye was exactly what she wanted to be tonight. She had a special appointment and composure would count for a lot.
“Looking good, Callie,” said a man’s voice from beside her.
She almost jumped at the sudden tone and barely managed to keep her abilities under control, reminding herself that a camera would have easily caught her in action if she lost control of herself. Nine centuries of practice had yielded mastery of her abilities, but sometimes it was just as natural a reaction as closing her eyes to sneeze. Immortal or not, she could still be startled. And while it wasn’t intentional exposure – and therefore forgivable by the common laws – she would still have to uproot and find a new continent to live on until everyone that had seen her in action died of old age. That added up to at least a century of being in hiding.
She turned and saw a rotund man standing beside her. He wore a long flowing brown beard and a head of hair to match. His arms were just as hirsute, but covered by a long sleeved shirt with the logo to some kind of a hiking company that she didn’t recognize. And in his mouth was a stogie that smoldered half through its life. As a whole he was the poster boy for rugged life in the mountains.
“Jesus, Carl!” she hissed at him. “I could have…!” she began, but managed to gain control of her composure. “Damn you!”
He replied with a small guffaw. “I know you better than that, Callie. You had it completely under control.”
“Don’t call me that!”
“You’ve got it down like it’s been nailed to the deck,” Carl said, blowing out a puff of smoke from his cigar.
“And you don’t, obviously!” she said, pointing at the screen through the window. Though Carl was standing within inches next to her he didn’t appear on the enhanced television screen before her. It was as if she conversed with nothing but the air around her according to the camera’s eye. She reached out and tugged on his arm, “C’mon, before someone sees!”
Carl laughed again and as though he were a stately gentleman he hook his arm through hers and put a hand on her free hand as if he were escorting her to a ball. “You know I can’t help it. It’s not my fault I was born this way.”
“If there was any justice in the world – any at all – then all of you damn Light Mages would be invisible to the rest of us too.”
He put a massive hand over his heart. “You wound me.” He dropped his hand and looked her over. “Generations of women, unable to see this?” he said, gesturing to the whole of his body. “Perish the thought. Although, I suppose you should be glad that we’re visible to the naked eye.”
“Oh, I should? And why is that?”
“Yes, you should. Just imagine… the next time you take a shower…”
“Stop right there!” she said tersely, squeezing his arm.
“Ow! Ow! Alright! I’m sorry, I take it back.” Though he spoke as much she had a feeling he wasn’t sorry at all. Light Mages did have a way of sneaking around, but they also had a tendency to get into the most trouble and only because it was impossible for them to be caught on camera doing so. She had a strong suspicion that Carl must have made a few hum-dingers in his time, though he wouldn’t admit to it.
“I notice that you’re all dolled up,” he said after they had walked a short way and seeing fit to change the subject. “Do you have a big date tonight?”
She couldn’t resist taunting him a little. “As a matter of fact I do… sort of.”
“Who is he? I’m terribly jealous.”
“No chance, Carl,” she said, squeezing his arm again.
He covered his pain with a laugh. “You’re dressed to the nines; which tells me that you’re meeting someone special. You were hiding up on a rooftop and watching the peasant folk walk by, which is something that you Wisps usually don’t do, not even on full moons. And then misting down those fire escapes is also exceptionally daring for your kind…”
She squeezed his arm again, looking about frantically for anyone who might have overheard him. “Will you please shut the fuck up?”
He continued as though he had not heard. “And there is a full moon in the sky! My keen sense of intellect tells me that you have someplace you’d like to be tonight and for a very specific reason.” He turned a suspicious eye on her. “Care to share where you’re bound for and who you’ll be meeting?”
She sighed. She had known Carl only for a century or so and off and on at that. But she knew him well enough to know that he was a curious one. And if she held back details he would only pester her until he got the answers that he wanted. And just as it was for all Light Mages, he had the ability to see right through her. So there was little point in lying. Additionally, she couldn’t help lording one small piece of information over him.
“I was going to Dynamo.”
His brow arched in surprise, the jealousy he felt was as obvious. “Dynamo?!”
She nodded.
He shook his head. “Dracula’s nuts! It’s been around for a long, long time.” His eyes twinkled as if some fond memory just passed before his eyes. “I used to visit there when it was just an opium den. Quite often in fact, now that I think of it,” he said as he blew out a reminiscent puff of smoke.
“Oh?” she asked.
“Mortal men… high on the hookahs… it was like having a hall pass. We could do anything we wanted while they were there. The humans… they saw things. Things that were unnatural… and they just attributed it to the herbs they were smoking and they left being none the wiser for what they had seen.” He squared his shoulders. “It felt kind of good. Like we could be ourselves in front of ordinary people and they just dismissed it like it was nothing at all.”
Interestingly she could understand what he meant well enough. More than once she found herself wondering what it would be like if the whole world knew that she and those like her really existed. Could they perform their abilities in broad daylight and no one would care? Would the world just carry on as if nothing had changed?
She doubted it.
Just as immortals didn’t care to taste death; mortals craved immortality beyond reason. If they should see that a vampire or a werewolf was a real thing, they would stop at nothing to possess the genetic traits that would turn a mortal man into an ageless creature. If they were to find out that there were other creatures out there – ones possessed of even greater magicks – that would only sweeten the pot and add to the bloodlust that the mortals would feel. And they would stop at nothing to try and possess such secrets for themselves.
No, it was better to let them all think that everyone like her was just something to be found in bad movies and books. Eternal life was better that way.
“Sounds like something that I would enjoy,” she said honestly. “To be able to do whatever I wanted, even knowing that humans were watching.”
“So that’s why you’re going to Dynamo, eh?”
She nodded. “So you’ve been there?”
“Many times… although not a lot in the last few
years.”
She smirked. “Gee, I wonder why.”
He licked his lips nervously. “It wasn’t my fault, really.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t,” she said, her voice full with the same kind of false sympathy as his had been with false apology. She looked around and saw that they were well clear of any cameras or prying ears that might have overheard them. “Well, I’ve saved you from making a complete ass of yourself, Carl. So here is where I leave you, so goodbye for now.”
“No! No!” he pleaded. “Callie, it’s been decades since I’ve been to Dynamo! If you’re going then you obviously know someone with pull! You’ve got to get me in!”
She scoffed. “Why should I?”
“It says on the door “Members Only” and that’s the rule there! I haven’t been a member since the 50’s!”
Her voice was again laden with false sympathy. “Gee… I wonder why.”
“Callie… please!” he pleaded again.
“Forget it, Carl. You’re an ass and being an ass is probably what got you kicked out in the first place. And if you’ve been there then you should know full well that I can’t whisper into anyone’s ear to get you back in. Only the owners decide who gets kicked out and who doesn’t. And it’s up to them to change their own minds. Nobody’s going to do it for them.”
“Callie… the place has changed since I was last there. I’ve got to see how it’s changed! I want to relax a little… have a few drinks… shoot the breeze with some of my fellows…”
“Find a back alley somewhere,” she suggested. “No one will notice you.”
“I’m serious,” he countered. “The club is designated neutral ground and the guys who run it have the ability to enforce that rule. Members of warring tribes have gone into that place before now.”
“No shit, I had no idea,” she said sarcastically. “But if your intention is to sweet talk me into getting you, you’re shit out of luck, Carl.”
“But if you can get in then you still have to know someone who can let me at least have a seat at the bar… get a drink… maybe have a lap dance or two?”
“Forget it.”
“You won’t even know I’m there!”
“Every Light Mage’s motto, that is. But you’re right, I won’t even know you’re there and that’s because you won’t be there.”
“Callie…” Carl said, his voice as pleading as a child’s. “The magic that runs that place is old. Ancient, even” Carl corrected. “I ain’t ever heard of anyone ever finding out just how ancient… but it goes back a ways. Probably even well before you, sweetie.” His tone changed, becoming serious. “Are you really going to go there?”
She nodded. “Yeah… I have business there.”
“I know how you conduct your business, Callie. And it has nothing to do with going to a place like Dynamo.”
“Tonight, I’m making an exception,” she said. She allowed herself to slip back into the veil of invisibility so that ordinaries on the street could not see her. She could sense that Carl was aware of her shifting as well and his face tinged as though he was about to begin crying. “Goodnight, Carl,” she said as she blinked and vanished into a puff of smoke that the Light Mage alone could perceive.
Every time she saw Club Dynamo she was struck by its awe.
Not because it was a spectacle that people from all over the world would venture to see, but because of the kind of power it radiated with that only those of her kind were sensitive enough to perceive. With her age came certain advantages and one of them was to be able to sense the world as humans did while still retaining her ability to see through to the truth of things. Dynamo, and is surrounding structures, were such a spectacle that only immortal eyes could pierce.
To the human observer, the place was nothing special and hardly worth a second look if it at all merited a first look. And that was just how the owners liked it. But to souls like hers, it was something that people from across the world would have ventured to see.
On the outside, the place looked simple. It was a twin-story building, made of old red brick with iron bars on the front window and a balcony on the second floor fronted by iron railings where four tables sat. And sitting at them were people who appeared to be no older than their mid-twenties as they were served beer and food by white-shirted waiters and waitresses.
The lower level had two large windows on either side of the door. Both windows were painted black, to keep prying and curious eyes away. Framed in each of those windows were mirror images to advertise what Club Dynamo offered. In each window were three neon signs. One was an image of a steaming plate of food, the other a generic mug of frothing beer, and the third of musical notes. In short, the signs advertised what the club had to offer: food, drink, and song.
The mortal observer, she knew that this would not be enough to lure curious souls in. Not in L.A. when more was part of everyone’s daily appetite. And unless the advertisement snared people’s interest like a net, no one would bother about it at all. Not here.
The Carver District of L.A. was filled with a variety of clubs that offered so much more than the three basics of entertainment that Dynamo did. What the Carver District, more commonly referred to as “Sin Row”, provided was a myriad of pleasures in all of their forms. Sex, drugs, gambling, all of them could be found on Sin Row and quite easily if one knew who to ask. A simple club like Dynamo would have seemed of little importance to the eyes of others.
She smirked at the simple trick that was used to hide this place. Little did any of the human denizens realize that all three forms of the most basic of pleasures – and much more – could be found only inside Club Dynamo.
As part of its protection, the club looked as dull on the outside as if it were a school building. It was so generic looking, the building, it was if it were something that one could see exact replicas of all over town, but hardly somewhere that they would want to stop if they didn’t have to. In that, its design was flawless for her reckoning.
But as she approached she could feel the power building up inside of her as to the building’s true identity. If mortals could feel the place as she did – as anyone from her undying community could – then they might be inclined to actually stop in and have a look around. And if they could see the club for what it really was then they would forever be transformed and most likely, they would never want to leave.
Her eyes cast up to the building as she drew nearer. The effect was hard to describe, as all ancient magic usually was. The air seemed to almost boil around the building. The shimmering effect rose up by more than two stories… by much more. The effect was grand enough to hide a small hill and she could almost sense that it was just that: a hill.
She almost laughed at the power that had been employed to hide this place. Not out of humor, but out of how impressive it was. The entirety of Sin Row had been built on a hillside that they didn’t even realize existed. She could faintly make out the curve of the formation… the wild brush that still grew there… even rocks that had not been overturned for centuries before settlers had first come here. And the people who bypassed the club had no idea that they were walking directly through solid matter and that it was magic more ancient than anything on earth that protected them.
An amazing place, she thought with a contented smile as she approached the front door, feeling the power that it radiated increasing with every step that she took. It was as if the building could have been on fire and every foot she traveled closer threatened to cook her alive. Yet she remained unharmed, desire and intrigue both lent her strength to draw nearer and the promise of a thrill deep within. Nothing could stop her tonight… not when she had the full moon to lend her strength.
When she reached the door she touched the metal handle and pulled on it. To the human observer, the look of a bustling bar packed with people would have appeared before their eyes and the sounds of a live band playing on stage would have reached their ears. But to immortal sight, what presented itself was much different.
<
br /> When she stepped inside, the image presented for the sake of human eyes faded away. The magic overpowered her senses and the real world as it should have appeared made its way into her eyes like a conquering army.
Everywhere she looked, the building seemed to expand as if it were made of smoke suddenly caught in a high wind. From the outside the building would have looked as if it couldn’t have been more than twenty five or thirty feet wide. But standing in the threshold of the place she saw it expand to nearly five times that size, like the interior of a warehouse, or more precisely a cavern.
The smell of cigarettes and other smokes tinted the air, as did the smell of booze, blood, and an assortment of other aromas that her nose couldn’t quite identify. Such was usually the case in a setting such as this. Immortals were subject to the power of such human distractions as tobacco and alcohol, as well as other stimulants and substances. The difference being, in most cases, no immortal could become addicted to the actual effects.
There was music that blasted against her ears. Some kind of European techno, she thought it was. She had never really cared for the sound but she knew that there would be souls within the walls who would have appreciated the noise for what it was. And to prove it she saw throngs of people, men and women, all about the club dancing to the beat. They danced on the overly large dance floor in the middle of the club, but there were still too many enthused by the music to be contained to the single surface.
Some of them danced on the structures that had been built throughout the cavernous spaces. Iron tiers, like salvaged fire escapes, had been erected across the interior of the club like skeletal buildings across a miniaturized cityscape. Some of them danced on the overhead balconies, some of them on the bar at the far side, others on tables or in the narrow spaces between them, and some she even saw with a small glint of amusement, were dancing on the rocky walls or around the stalactites on the ceiling as though gravity could not affect them at all.
Yes, mortals would definitely have been swayed in a different direction if they could see this place as it really was. She shook her head as she pushed her way through the crowd. She wasn’t interested in song or dance, not even in music or booze. Her appetites for tonight were much more basic.