Vampire Mage: An Urban Fantasy Harem (The Vampire Mage Book 1)

by Joshua King

  “He says he'll meet us at The Foundry tonight,” she said.

  “What's that?”

  “It's a club downtown,” she said.

  “Tell him the truth,” Stephana said. “He should know everything he needs to.”

  Ashe didn't look happy about it, but she turned to me.

  “The Foundry is a club, but that's not all it is. It also acts as a front for an underground organization known as Lunaris.”

  “An underground organization in the Underworld?” I asked. “That's a whole lot of secretiveness.”

  Both women nodded.

  “The group is made up of some of the outcasts of society. They're the ones who don't really fit in, and aren't always accepted.”

  “Who could possibly be an outcast in a vampire city? I mean, other than warlocks, apparently?” I asked.

  “I told you, the Underworld is much more complex than just the vampires and the warlocks. Most of the time they stick to their own cities, or their own neighborhoods, but in the case of Lunaris, they come together. There are vampires with alternative beliefs, lycan, hybrids, demons, even a few humans who have wandered over from their slice of reality. The group has existed for as long as anyone can remember, but it's been essentially quiet and self-contained until the last couple of years. It's been gaining strength recently. Nobody really understands why.”

  “Is that why we're going there?” I asked. “To meet with them?”

  “No,” Ashe said. “It's a warning. Just something for you to know, in case things don’t go as planned.”

  20

  The sun was just starting to set when Ashe and I approached The Foundry. I looked around for Tybalt, but didn't see him. Instead, my attention locked onto the man standing beside the door to the club. I'd call him a bouncer, but it didn't seem like he was actually controlling the crowds. Instead, people who walked up to him tended to look into his face, then turn away. Something about him struck me as familiar, and it took a few seconds for me to realize he was one of the men who attacked us in the clothing store. I patted Ashe's leg beside me, and nodded in the direction of the man. We walked up to him, and the man smirked at me as he opened the door beside him. I paused long enough to look into his face. Empty black eyes stared back at me. His irises were dark, with nothing to differentiate between them and his pupil. The effect was chilling, and I instantly knew this man wasn't human. I doubted he ever had been.

  Ashe and I walked into the club, and the door slammed behind us. It felt final.

  “I think they knew we were coming,” I said.

  The club looked exactly like any number of clubs I'd visited when I was younger. It could have been on virtually any street of New York City. Loud music throbbed from speakers positioned in the corners, and bright, flashing lights pulsed around us. Despite having watched the guard intimidate nearly everyone into leaving, the dance floor was full of people. I wondered if there was another entrance we hadn't seen, or if these people had come earlier in the day.

  “How would they know?” Ashe asked.

  I looked across the club and noticed a solid black door. The vibrant lights didn't break through the shadows shrouding the door, or the man standing guard beside it.

  “I don't know,” I said. “But I'm going to find out.”

  I strode directly to the door and stared down the guard.

  “Let me in,” I demanded.

  “You will have to wait to be summoned,” the guard said.

  “What?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”

  “The Dragon will not see you until it's ready.”

  Ashe looked at me curiously as I stalked back toward her.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “You know that manual I keep asking you for? I need to put it in an order for a glossary as well.”

  “What did he say to you?”

  “He refused to let me inside, and said I was going to have to wait until the Dragon summoned me.”

  “The Dragon?” Ashe asked.

  “I take it you aren't familiar?”

  She shook her head.

  “If that ends up in your glossary, let me borrow it.”

  “No problem.” I sighed and looked around. “I still don't see Ty. What are we supposed to do now?”

  “We wait.”

  I gestured toward the bar.

  “After you,” I said.

  Ashe and I climbed up onto bar stools, which were much more comfortable than the ones at Solomon's Fang. The bartender glanced our way, but didn't approach us. I looked at the menu, curious to see what an Underworld club served. Even if the vampires weren't going to be partaking in mixed drinks and snack platters, Ashe had made it clear there were plenty of other species gathering here. What did a demon like to snack on before picking up a girl for the night?

  Were jalapeno poppers too on the nose?

  The environment was almost dizzying. The number of people inside seemed to have multiplied, even though I hadn’t noticed anyone else coming through the door. The dance floor, which took up much of the center of the room, was overflowing. Bodies writhed against one another while hands reached out to explore whoever was in reach. The lust was palpable, and I remembered what Ashe said about the vampires being able to take care of their need for sex amongst themselves. That became very clear as clothing started falling away or getting pulled aside. A hand looped around to the front of a woman who was dancing with three others and tugged the neckline of her stretchy top down. It was cut so low it was barely managing to cover her nipples as it was, and the yank allowed one of her ample breasts to spill out. The hand cupped it, and one of the men in front of her dipped his head down to catch the swell in his mouth.

  My eyes slid over to Ashe. She seemed utterly unfazed.

  “I take it things like this happen a lot?” I asked.

  She watched the people dancing for a few beats, then looked back at me and shrugged.

  “Meh,” she said.

  She smiled at me, and the way her hand ran up the inside of my thigh and brushed against my cock told me she wasn't actually feeling meh. In fact, she was looking more than a little hot and bothered.

  “I should have taken a shower with you and Stephana earlier,” she said.

  I leaned forward and kissed her.

  “Yes,” I said. “Yes, you should have.”

  I kissed her again and felt her tongue slip between my lips. I reached for her, but she pulled back.

  “We can't get distracted,” she said. “We have to remember why we’re here.”

  “So I can fuck you in public?” I teased.

  “Where is that bartender?” she asked, craning her neck to look for the man who had ignored us earlier.

  In the back of my mind, I was cursing Ty. What the hell was taking him so long? He was supposed to meet us here at sundown. Of course, he was also supposed to meet us in front of the club and not inside it, so it was entirely possible it was actually us who had screwed up the meeting. I turned around, planning on taking a peek outside to see if he was waiting, and noticed something strange. I couldn't exactly describe it, but it seemed like the shadows around the black door were becoming solid. I watched as the darkness deepened and a man materialized in front of me. He reached out and put a hand on my shoulder.

  “The Dragon will see you now,” he said.

  I stood as I started to tell him Ashe would be right back, but before I could even open my mouth, we both melted into the shadows. An instant later, we were standing in an octagonal room. I had seen and been through some messed up stuff in the last couple of days, but that freaked me the fuck out. I looked around frantically, trying to figure out what twisted parlor trick the man had used to get us into the room, but I slowly realized that no parlor trick could be that convincing.

  I looked at the man who had somehow escorted me in here. He was standing beside me, but now he was wearing dark robes and a mask over his face. Each of the eight edges of the room had a separate seating area, and in e
ach was another masked man. It was so silent that I thought I could hear the blood moving through my veins and the breath going in and out of my lungs.

  “We are the Dragon,” one of the men said. I couldn't identify which one. The sound of his voice was like ice water going down my spine. “Why have you come here?” he demanded. “And why should we not kill you where you stand?”

  21

  “I thought you were known as Lunaris,” I said, remembering the warning Ashe had given me.

  The man who had spoken scoffed. I assumed the speaker was the man directly in front of me, because he was the one who stood. The large chair he had been sitting on was positioned on a platform, and him standing caused him to tower over me. He glared down at me, and it was obvious he thought he was intimidating me.

  “Lunaris is the name of the larger group. It belongs to anyone who has been cast off. They are welcome to gather with us and find strength in our shared power. The Dragon is the core, the strongest, the most powerful.”

  I had no idea what to say to him. Only one thought came to mind.

  “I am the intended mate of Aurora, daughter of the Prime vampire.”

  The man in front of me gave a bitter laugh. That wasn't the reaction I was hoping for.

  “The vampires mean nothing to us,” he said. “We don't exist because they allow us to. We exist in spite of the vampires who rule this city. We are the outcasts and the hybrid throwaways who have been forsaken because of our mixed blood. Each of us in Lunaris is unique. Some of us were created in passion, others through violence. Those of us called the Dragon are the most varied of blends. Among the eight of us there are mixes of fae, demon, lycan, and, yes, vampire. The blood that runs through the eight of us brings with it some of the greatest power in all of existence. There is nothing that compares to us.”

  “Then why are you lurking in the shadows?” I asked.

  He disappeared, and seconds later was standing beside me. He had moved through the darkness at the edges of the room just as my escort had when he brought me here.

  “We're biding our time,” he said in a seething whisper. “It's coming soon, and when it does, the city will fall, bodies will burn, and only we will walk among the ashes.”

  “Why did you bring me here?” I demanded.

  Dark eyes stared back at me from the mask. Suddenly the man's posture softened.

  “We were curious,” he said. “We heard you were here in Solan City, and we wanted to have the opportunity to be in your presence. Being what you are; a most powerful hybrid of two ancient bloods.”

  I felt like I was being given an opportunity. The atmosphere been aggressive and threatening when I first showed up in the room, but that had lessened. If there was a time for me to seek out what I needed to know, now was it.

  “I'm looking for someone,” I said. “A friend of mine. Maybe you know him. He's a warlock. His name is Malakan.”

  I waited for a response. This man, who I'd come to think of as the leader of the Dragon, had talked so much about them being the outcasts of society. From what I heard, the warlocks would fit perfectly with that. I'd hoped finding Malakan would be as easy as asking them where to find him. Unfortunately, the leader stared back at me without answering, and I got the sense he didn't want to even acknowledge my question.

  “Beware of the people you consider friends,” a voice said from behind me.

  I was surprised when I heard it. Seeing the figures in their cloaks and robes, I had automatically assumed they were all men. This voice, however, was distinctly female. It sounded mature and strong, but there was a note to it, something that reminded me of flowers and perfume. It was a bizarre response to have to the sound of someone's voice, but the impression almost overwhelmed me when I heard her speak. It was like she was surrounding me with herself, even though she hadn't moved from her position behind me. I was drawn to her, and I took a step closer.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Beware of those you consider friends,” she said again. “For one seeks to deceive you.”

  “Who?” I asked. “Who are you talking about?”

  “Why do you want to find Malakan?” another asked.

  “I need to talk to him,” I said. “Do you know where he is? Or where I should look for him?”

  I didn't care about the woman's warning. I needed to find the old warlock if I was going to have any chance of survival. Two days had already passed. I couldn't afford to wait any longer.

  “We can guide you to him,” the woman said.

  “That's fantastic,” I said. “Where is he?”

  “The man of whom you speak is forsaken by his people and cast aside much like us. But he is not one of us. He has turned within himself and lives in seclusion where two rivers meet.”

  I'd lost patience with the games.

  “I want an answer,” I demanded. “A real answer. Tell me where to find him. I'm tired of the cryptic responses, and I hate riddles.”

  I felt my guide's hand clamp down onto my shoulder again. Before I could say anything else, or even fully process what was happening, I was standing in the alley behind The Foundry. He was standing closer to the building, and I pushed him aside to go back in, but there was no door.

  “What’s going on?” I shouted. “I need to get back in. There are people waiting for me.”

  He was completely unimpressed.

  “The one you came with will not be returned,” he said.

  “I told you,” I growled through gritted teeth. “I'm tired of the fucking riddles. Where is Ashe?”

  “She is now considered payment for our council.”

  I lunged at him, but he was gone before I could get to him. I let out an infuriated, frustrated roar as I examined the wall. Finding nothing, I ran up the alley and toward the side of the building.

  “Where are they?” I shouted at anyone who would listen. “Where are the Dragon?”

  I felt strong hands grab me by the shoulders, and I thought for a moment I was going to be transported through the shadows and back into the room again. I didn't resist it. If that was the case, I welcomed it. I needed to get back into the building, and to find Ashe. Instead, the hands spun me around, and I found myself facing Ty.

  “Hayden,” he said.

  “Where are they?” I demanded again. “Where the fuck are they?”

  “Hayden, calm down,” Ty said. I continued to seethe, and he gave me a hard shake. “What's going on? Tell me what happened.”

  “I need to go back inside the club,” I told him. “Right now.”

  “Back inside?” Ty asked, sounding confused. “I thought you just got in here. Weren't we supposed to meet out front?”

  “Yes,” I said. “We were supposed to meet out front at sundown. You weren't here when we got here. I need to get back inside. They have to give Ashe back.”

  “What are you talking about?” Ty asked.

  “They said they wouldn't return her,” I told him. “They said they were going to consider her payment, but I'm not going to take that shit. I'm going in there, and I'm going to demand they give her back.”

  I pressed my hands to the wall again and ran them along the brick as I tried to feel for a door. There was no exterior door, no gap in the bricks, not even a window I could slip through. Nothing that led from outside the club to the inside. Pushing past Ty, I rushed around to the front of the club. I forced my way through a small group of people who were braving the black-eyed man at the front door, and into the dizzying lights of the dance floor. I ran for the bar, slamming my hands against it as I leaned toward the bartender.

  “Where is she?” I demanded.

  The bartender looked at me curiously.

  “Is there something I can do for you?” he asked.

  “The woman who was sitting with me at the bar,” I said. “She came up to you looking for a drink not too long ago. Where did she go?”

  “Oh, yeah,” he said. “She was a cute little thing. I was hoping she wouldn't go too far.
”

  “Where is she?” I demanded.

  “I don't know,” he said. “I went to get her drink, but when I came back, she was gone. I thought maybe she went to freshen up, as they say. But her drink is still sitting there. She never came back.”

  My head snapped in the direction of the back room. The guard was still standing on the outside of the black door, and I headed straight for him. He saw me coming, and I noticed his hands slip from behind his back to tighten by his side as he prepared for me.

  “Stop,” he commanded as I approached.

  “No,” I said. “Get out of my way.”

  “You haven't been summoned,” he said, stepping to the side to block the door.

  “Hayden, what are you doing?” Ty asked from behind me.

  “I'm going into that room,” I said, pointing at the door. “I know Ashe is in there with those creeps, and I'm going to get her back.”

  “You haven't been summoned,” the guard said again.

  “I don't care,” I said. “They summoned me before. This time, I'm inviting myself.”

  The guard didn't move, and I planted a punch into the side of his head. He stumbled slightly, then rebounded and came back at me. I avoided the first blow, but he caught me in the back of the head, and I felt myself nearly crumble to the ground. Behind me I heard a grunt, and I turned to see Ty grappling with the guard. I caught the guard around the waist and wrestled him away from Ty, tossing him to the ground. Before he could get up and come at me again, Ty and I slammed our shoulders against the door. It took two hits, then it crashed down. I pushed through, expecting to end up in the octagonal room again. Instead, I was in what looked like another room of the club. The multicolored lights flashed even faster here, disorienting me, and making the people dancing in the middle of the floor look chaotic and spastic.

  “Where did they go?” I shouted into the room. “Where did they go?”

  “What's wrong?” Ty asked.

  “There was a room,” I yelled above the sound of the pulsating music. “Through that door, there was a room where the Dragon met with me.”