by Joshua King
“In New York, that is the spot on the bridge where a lot of people decide to,” he paused, licking his lips before curling them up into a morbid smile. “Well, let's just say they decide to make a big life decision. Of course, that happens at a lot of spots along the bridge. That particular spot, though, it's special.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because that spot is a portal,” the man said.
Ty shook his head.
“There's no portal there,” he said. “There's no keeper, no way to protect it. It would be too dangerous.”
“A portal doesn't have to have a keeper to exist,” the man pointed out. “The danger keeps people away well enough. It's been there for as long as the bridge has, but not everybody knows about it. Rumor has it, one of the warlocks hid it there for his own personal use, and purposely didn't assign a keeper, or a means of locking the portal. That way he could use it whenever he wanted, without needing a keeper or a blood price.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked, feeling the frustration building up inside me again.
“The warlock designed the portal to only be safe for those with magic to use. Anyone else who stumbled upon it would not meet a good end. And that's what happens to those people who choose that spot on the bridge. When they jump, the portal is activated, and they travel here. Through the Triking and on to the Styx.” He laughed a mirthless laugh. “I like to thank our little home is the last thing they see before they hit the water. We are their Final View.”
The explanation of the community’s name sent chills along my skin, but it was something else that he had said that stuck with me. I turned and looked at Ty.
“Through the Triking and on to the Styx,” I said. “The river Styx.”
“Where two rivers meet,” he said.
We had figured it out. Take that, Dragon.
Ty and I started toward the community under the bridge.
“I'd be careful,” the man said from behind us. “Not everyone who goes through that portal is gone for good. A few have crawled back up and joined our number. They don't always respond well to people who remind them of what they left behind.”
Ignoring the warning, I looked around, hoping there would be something obvious that pointed to Malakan. Instead, I saw something I wasn't expecting, and definitely wasn't happy to see. Standing in the middle of the makeshift settlement were several men who didn't fit in. If their tailored suits weren't enough to set them apart, the fact that they wore dark sunglasses even in the deep shadow of the bridge did.
“Shades,” I said to Ty. “What are they doing here?”
“Protecting something,” he said.
He nodded toward the rocky cliff, beyond the boxes and tents. I hadn't noticed it before, but now I clearly saw a door built into the rock.
“We need to get in there,” I said. “That's where he is. I just know it.”
The sound of my voice seemed to reach the Shade guards, and they turned to look at me. As soon as they noticed me, they rushed at us. Ty and I braced ourselves for a fight. Around us, people scrambled to get out of the way. Some dove into the tents as if they thought the shabby fabric would somehow provide them protection. Others ducked down behind the trash cans. Some simply backed up and watched. It seemed fights weren't all that unusual around here. That was good, in that it meant the people living under the bridge knew how to respond and were willing to get out of the way quickly. It also meant we weren't going to get any help from any of them.
I ducked down as one of the guards swung at me. He stumbled past, and I ran a few steps forward, but was stopped by an impact on the back of my head. I whirled around and saw him drop a heavy piece of wood.
“Progressing, I see,” I said, and lunged at him.
The strength was growing inside me. I could feel it tingling in my fingertips and down through my legs. It was even stronger than last time, and I let it burst out of me as I clashed with the guard. Soon he was crumpled at my feet, and I turned my attention to the next man. Ty was holding his own against two others a few yards away from me, and I focused in on the man squaring off directly between me and the door. My punch made his head snap back, and he returned it fiercely. I brushed away the droplets of blood clinging to my mouth, not looking at them as I wiped them on my pants. My hand shot out and clenched around the guard’s neck. Squeezing it tightly, I lifted him up and threw him aside. He landed in one of the trash can fires, and let out a shrill scream. He tumbled to the ground and rolled to extinguish the flames licking along his clothes. I didn't have time to feel any compassion for him. There was another man taking his place, and I focused my energy into a kick to his stomach. He fell, gasping for breath.
I had battled my way through the guards and was nearly at the door. Ty rushed up beside me, and our eyes met briefly before I reached for the door. My hand hadn't even touched the latch when the door shifted and opened. I took several steps back and watched as two figures emerged from the cliff. The pain in my thigh increased intensely as my eyes locked on Aurora. She stared back at me with an emotionless face, then tilted her head slightly to survey the broken bodies of the Shades sprawled on the ground. She looked impressed but said nothing to me. Instead, she glanced up at the man beside her. He was glaring at me and was obviously displeased. He took a step closer to me.
“Who are you?” he demanded. “What are you doing here?”
I noticed his eyes flicker over to Ty, and something dark flashed through them. Ty said nothing but stood his ground. Aurora stepped up closer to the man and rested her hand on his shoulder. Using it as leverage, she rose up on her toes and brought her mouth close to his ear. She whispered something unintelligible to him, occasionally looking over at me. The man's face grew even angrier, and he took two long strides toward me when Aurora stepped away.
“Don't think too much of yourself, young man,” he said in a deep, grumbling voice. “You will never get near my daughter. You will be dead in a few days, anyway, so it doesn't really matter. It will be a slow, painful death. Exactly what you deserve for not understanding your station.”
He straightened and swept past me. Aurora followed slowly behind him, her eyes on mine until she passed.
24
“So, that was Aurora's father,” I said.
Ty nodded.
“That was Darien, the vampire Prime. It didn't look like he was too excited to welcome you as his new son-in-law.”
“He also didn't look too happy to see you,” I pointed out.
Ty stiffened and glared at me, but he didn't give me any further explanation. He gestured at the door.
“Should we go inside?”
“They came out of there,” I said. “They had to have been meeting with Malakan.”
“Probably to find out if you'd come to talk to him yet,” Ty said.
“Then that means he knows we're coming,” I said. “We're as good as invited. Let's go.”
I expected something to happen when I opened the door. I didn't know what, exactly, but I figured if I was entering the home of an ancient, exiled warlock, there would be something to mark the occasion. Instead, the door opened easily under my hand, and Ty and I stepped through it into a small, dark entryway. A single flaming torch on the wall provided illumination as he closed the door behind us. Once it was shut, and intense silence closed around us. It seemed the stone filtered out all of the rambunctious noise from Final View.
“Is this it?” I asked. “I would have thought he would have more security. Everybody keeps saying he's exiled and talking about him like he's some mythical being. Somebody like that should at least have an alarm of some kind.”
“Did you want a guard dog?” Ty asked.
“Don't you think it's strange?” I asked, ignoring him. “He's exiled, living like the Mayor of Boxtown because people in the city hate him, he's the secret confidante of vampire royalty -- but he just lays out the welcome mat at his home? No lock? No alarm? No booby trap that sends poisoned arrows into us u
nless we're pure of heart?”
Ty glared at me.
“Did Ashe give you the rundown of all the things that are total fiction bullshit about vampires?” he asked.
“Yes,” I told him.
He gave a single nod.
“Remind me to tell you about all of the other species as well.”
“Fine,” I said. “Forget about the arrows. But you really don't think it's odd there's nothing to keep people out of his house? Anybody can just walk right in?”
Ty took the torch from the wall and held it above his head to spread the light further throughout the space. The area we were in was barely bigger than the space needed for the two of us to stand side by side. It was a rounded room carved into the rock like a foyer. He turned, lighting up a further portion of the space, and revealed the mouth of a long, dark tunnel.
“I don't think he needs security,” he said. “At least not here.”
“An illusion,” I said. “The house isn't actually carved into the rock. It's just the entrance.”
“Let's find the rest.”
I took the torch from him and held it aloft as I started down the tunnel. It was tight, so close that Ty and I weren't able to walk beside each other. He had to stand behind me as I went ahead first. I realized as we spiraled deeper into the cliff that this was in itself security for the old Warlock. I could imagine plenty of people losing their minds as they plunged further into the darkness without any idea of where they were going, or when they would see light again. The walls were gradually getting closer, and the knowledge that I couldn't just turn around and go back without having to force Ty ahead of me started making my skin crawl.
“This is scary as shit,” Ty said, giving voice to my thoughts.
“Scared of the dark?” I asked.
“Scared of something coming out of the dark and you trampling my ass trying to get out of this tunnel,” he said.
Fair enough. I lifted the torch a little higher to try to see further down the tunnel. As my hand rose above my head, it hit the ceiling. I hadn't realized that the ceiling was lowering as well. If it continued like this, we wouldn't be able to get much further before we were encased in the stone.
“How much farther do you think it is?” I asked.
“I don't know,” Ty said. “Do you want to turn back?”
“No,” I said without hesitation. “That's not an option. If Malakan is in here somewhere, we're going to find him. I'm not giving up on Ashe. And I'm not going to accept just rotting away.”
“What Darien said didn't bother you?” Ty asked.
“I haven't gone more than a few hours in the last few days without a fight, I traveled through a shadow without having any idea what was happening, I'm apparently a visitor to the Niagara Falls of suicides, and I'm a couple of days away from my dick corroding and falling off. Do you seriously think I'm going to let one pissy bloodsucker scare me because he doesn't want his little girl shacking up with me?”
Ty was silent for several more steps.
“You should write greeting cards,” he finally said.
As we walked, I busied my mind by trying to remember all of the twists and turns, but it was impossible. Finally, the closeness of the walls around us started to lessen. The tunnel grew larger and Ty was able to speed up and walk beside me. Ahead of us I saw a faint light shimmering in the distance. Our speed picked up a little as we got closer to it, and I saw it was another door. It was standing slightly open, allowing light from the room beyond into the tunnel. I took hold of the latch and pulled it open. The bright light from inside felt as though it was stabbing into my eyes, and I had to squeeze my eyelids shut for a few seconds to let them adjust. When I opened them again, I looked around. We were in another entryway, but this one was larger. Lamps of different sizes and shapes added to the glow of torches along the walls. The different types of light bounced off of the stone floor. The surface of the floor itself was strange. It was shimmering, almost metallic. It looked like rocks had been chipped away at to reveal the layers of mica inside and then set into the ground. As soon as I thought that, I wondered if this room, like the tunnel, had been carved out of the cliff itself and left exactly as it was.
I walked out into the middle of the room.
“Malakan!” I yelled out.
I heard a rustling sound to one side, and I followed it down another short hallway and into a second room. This one was much smaller, and torches lining the walls were the only source of light. A figure stood in the center of the room.
“Who are you?” he asked.
It sounded different than the many other times I'd been asked that question recently. Rather than demanding or angry, or even afraid, it sounded like one of the riddles that the Dragon asked. Like he was asking me more than just my name, or even my station.
“Hayden,” I said. “And this is Ty. I've come because…”
“I know why you're here,” he said. “I've been expecting you. Aurora told me I'd be having a visitor soon.”
I stepped closer to him.
“Are you Malakan?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Did Aurora tell you why I was coming here?” I asked.
“She told me there was a question you needed to ask me,” Malakan said. “And that it was a question she already asked of you.”
“Yes,” I said. “She says there's something about me that's different, that's special, and I don't know what it is. But I have to know. It's quite literally a matter of life and death. Can you tell me what she wants to know?”
Malakan took several slow steps toward me. His robes rustled against the floor as he approached. Wise pale blue eyes stared back at me from a weathered face.
“I can tell you what you need to know to answer Aurora's question,” he said. “But it will require you to relinquish some of your blood.”
“My blood?” I asked. “Haven't I already done that?”
“That was for Aurora,” he said. “She drew your blood to begin the process of transforming you into a vampire. This is for another ritual. It will reveal your past, so it can be reconciled with the present and the future. After that, you'll have everything you need to know.”
“What about Ashe?” I asked. “Do you know where she is?”
He tilted his head slightly.
“I thought you came here to get the answer for Aurora's question,” he said. “Isn't that the most important information you seek?”
“I do need to be able to answer her question, but Ashe was taken. I was asking about you, and she was kidnapped as payment by the Dragon. I need to know where she is and how to get her back.”
He drew even closer, so close I could smell a strong scent of herbs and smoke coming from him.
“There is something unusual about you,” he said.
Suddenly his eyes flashed over to Ty. The bouncer hadn't said anything since we'd been inside. Malakan looked at him with knowing eyes and gave an almost imperceptible nod.
“I'm pleased to see you have embraced your failures so completely,” he said.
I saw Ty's spine stiffen and his jaw tighten. He didn't respond.
“When do we start the ritual?” I asked, not wanting to waste time asking what he’d meant.
“I'll need to prepare. Come with me and I'll show you where you can wait until I'm ready.”
Without waiting for either of us to respond, Malakan turned and strode out of the room. We caught up with him and followed him down another hallway that led to a short flight of steps. We climbed the steps and he pointed to a room to one side.
“Ty, this will be your room. Wait until I return.”
“Why are you putting us in different rooms?” I asked.
“You'll get better rest alone,” he said.
“I don't need to rest,” I told him. “I need to get this done as soon as possible.”
“Your mind will be at its clearest if you rest.”
Ty walked into the room, and Malakan continued down the hallway. There w
as another short flight of steps that brought us up to another door. He opened it and gestured inside.
“Wait here. I will let you know when I'm ready for you.”
I wanted to argue with him, but I knew it wasn't going to do me any good. The sooner he did whatever it was that he needed to prepare for the ritual, the better. The longer it took him, the more danger Ashe was in. If she was considered payment, then she was a commodity. She was disposable. I hadn't known her for very long, but I knew enough of her to know that she would not simply submit to being kept as a slave or as a possession. They would have to kill her, or let her die trying to escape. If I was going to have any chance of saving her, I needed to know where she was as soon as possible.
Malakan closed the door behind me as soon as I walked into the room. I immediately grabbed the handle and tugged to make sure he hadn't locked me inside. Fortunately, the door creaked open, and I was able to take a step out and look down the hall. It had been only a matter of seconds since Malakan left me in the room. He should have been only a couple of steps away, but the staircase was empty. I listened for the sound of his robes rustling on the floor, but it was silent. Part of me wanted to go down to Ty's room. I wanted to ask him about what the old warlock had said to him. What were his failures? And why was him showing up here a sign of him embracing them? Tempting though it was, I forced myself back inside the room. Malakan had told me to wait here until he was ready. As much as I didn't like the idea of following his instructions, I didn't want to risk angering him. It was possible this was some sort of test, and if I left the room before he wanted me to, he would refuse the ritual and both Ashe and I would be screwed.
Turning around, I scanned the room. It was a sparse bedroom with only a bed, a small table, and a lamp. The walls were roughly carved out of stone in an uneven, circular shape that reminded me of an ant colony. There was nowhere to store any clothing or any other belongings. Malakan didn't expect whoever used this room to stay here for long. I didn't know if that was reassuring or frightening.
I paced around the room for a while. There wasn't really anything else for me to do. I briefly thought about the cell phone shoved deep in my pocket. A critical fixture of life before walking into Solomon's that night, it had become far less important since. I thought about digging it out and... what? What was I going to do with it? Even though I got perfectly fine service in Solan City, I doubted I was going to get very good reception in the middle of a cliff. Even if I did, there wasn't really anything I could do. It's not like I was going to scroll through my social media and do a check in at Final View. I suddenly wondered what would show up as my location if somebody decided to look. The thought made me laugh. It really sank in then that no matter what kind of ridiculousness I was dealing with here, I already liked this so much more than my previous life. I felt physically better, but it wasn't just that. It didn't make sense, but I felt more myself than I had in as long as I could remember. Maybe ever.