Hell to Pay (The Harry Russo Diaries Book 4)

by Lisa Emme

  I glanced over at the line to get in. It had only gotten longer in the time we spent discussing everything. “I guess we’ll have to get in line,” I said with a sigh.

  “Tank doesn’t wait in lines,” Tank replied, striding up to the door, bypassing the crowd. They started to complain, but he turned and glared at them and they quickly fell silent. Have I mentioned that Tank works as a bouncer and is about six foot four and almost as wide? If you think of the most muscled-up bodybuilder you know and added about fifty pounds more of muscle to him, you’d get Tank.

  The bouncer at the door didn’t even blink at our approach. He merely nodded at Tank and waved us through. Either he recognized Tank as a fellow bouncer, or he decided it was safer just to let us in.

  As we passed through the doors, we entered a darkened vestibule, and I tensed for a moment, feeling slightly claustrophobic. As soon as the outside doors closed, a man stepped out of the shadows to greet us. Dressed in a white tuxedo, complete with tails and a top hat, he was flanked on either side by two rather well-endowed, curvy women dressed in white corsets and not a heck of a lot else.

  “Welcome! Welcome! I am your host, Mr. Zed.” He bowed deeply, tipping his hat.

  “If he says ‘welcome to Fahntasy Island’, I’m bolting,” Tess chirped with a smirk.

  “Welcome to Wishes,” Mr. Zed continued, “where dreams really do come true. We can fulfill your every desire…fame…fortune…love…lust.” He gave us a cheeky wink. “Your wish is our command here at Wishes.” He paused and waved the women forward. “If you would be so kind to check your coats and purchase your admission, Miss F and Miss J would be more than happy to assist you. I must see to our other guests.” He turned as if to leave and then stopped, spinning around to add, “And please, don’t forget to help yourself to the complimentary champagne.”

  After one last parting bow, he disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. I walked over to the coat-check girls and peeled off four twenties to pay the cover charge.

  “I’m putting it on Salvador’s bill,” I said to Tank, waving him off when he motioned to pay. Tank grinned and put his money clip back in his pocket.

  One of the alphabet girls (I wasn’t paying attention to who was who, and come on, it’s not like those were their real names) approached holding a tablet with the outline of a hand displayed on the screen.

  “If you would just place your hand on the device and state your name, we’ll get you all checked in.” She smiled a completely vacuous smile and held out the tablet.

  With a shrug, Tess stepped up and put her hand on the screen. “Therese,” she said, giving her actual name. The scanner beeped, and a thin line of light passed over its surface, reminding me of a photocopier. When it beeped the second time, the screen turned green, and Tess removed her hand.

  Barbie went next, and it was a near-exact repeat performance (except she said her name was Barbara). When it was Tank’s turn, he looked less than enthused as he choked out the name Thadeus (OMG, I thought my name was bad!). His hand barely fit on the screen, and when the scanner completed its pass, the surface glowed yellow. The alphabet girls’ smiles dimmed slightly, but they nodded and held the scanner up to me.

  I placed my hand on the screen and felt a slight tingle. There was more to this scan than met the eye, I was sure. “Harry,” I said, somewhat defiantly as the scanner beeped and began its pass. When it beeped a second time, the screen flashed red. Surprised, I glanced at the alphabet girls, but their faces were suspiciously blank.

  The one holding the tablet pulled it away and gestured to a second set of double doors that swung open. “Enjoy your stay at Wishes.”

  Impatient to get going, Tess hustled through the doors, followed by Tank and Barbie. I brought up the rear, but as I crossed the threshold of the inner doorway I stumbled, suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling of vertigo. My stomach did a roll, and for a second I thought I was going to be sick.

  “Harry!” Barbie turned and caught me by the arm, preventing me from falling on my knees. “Are you okay?”

  I stood bent over, my hands resting on my thighs, while I tried to catch my breath and settle my protesting stomach. I could only remember feeling this way once before, right after I had been translocated against my will to this very warehouse. Was I having some sort of flashback? After a moment or two, I got things under control by giving my shields an extra boost. The pressure I had been feeling lessened, and I was able to take a deep breath. I straightened and looked around, awestruck.

  “Whoa,” I said, at a loss for words.

  The space we were standing in was huge—much larger than I remembered. The club itself was hard to describe. The closest I can think of was if you took a casino, a roller-derby arena, a Vegas cabaret and a glow-in-the-dark bowling lane and mashed them together, you would get something that looked like the inside of Wishes. What lighting there was appeared to be either of the black-light variety or neon. Anything and everything that was white was glowing in the dark. And there was a lot of white. Most of the people in white appeared to be serving staff wheeling around on roller skates, trays of drinks and food held high above their heads. Like the alphabet girls, they were dressed mostly in leather variations of fetish wear—corsets and miniskirts, leather pants and vests over bare chests. Directly in front of us at the centre of the building was a huge fountain. It was out of place with the rest of the decor and more like something you would see in Rome, the water flowing from ornately carved figures to splash into the marble basin below. There was a large central figure in the fountain that loomed over the others, but we were too far away to see it clearly.

  “What the hell happened, Harry?” Tess was suddenly by my side, full of concern.

  “I don’t know. I felt…something. Did you feel anything when you walked through the door?” I turned to Barbie and Tank. They were shaking their heads.

  “I don’t feel any different.” Tess gave me an assessing look. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  I put a hand to my head. My temples were throbbing with the music. “Ugh. Why do they always have to play Metallica?”

  Tess cocked her head, listening for a moment then she wrinkled her nose at me. “That’s AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck’. Not Metallica. Geez, Harry, you’re always getting it mixed up. Do you want to leave?”

  “No, I’ll be okay. Let’s get this over with.” I paused to look around again, not quite believing what I was seeing. “Is it just me, or does this place seem like it’s one big, drunken orgy?”

  “It’s not just you.” Barbie’s eyes widened at the sight of a man and woman grinding up against one another. Her voice sounded uncertain, and Tank squeezed her hand.

  People, mostly norms, were everywhere, and they all looked to be having a very good time. Their behaviour was odd though. Everything they did seemed manic and frenzied, like they were trying extra hard to have a good time. I watched as a scantily clad woman dashed by, tearing open her blouse as she ran, giggling hysterically. She was being chased by two obviously drunken, half-naked men. She stopped and pulled off her top, swinging it above her head while shaking her hips seductively. The men caught up to her, and she squealed, grabbing the nearest one and planting a big, sloppy-looking kiss on him. The other man groped her breasts, and her hand slid down to grab his crotch. I averted my eyes, but it wasn’t the only such scene. Everywhere you looked people were pawing each other and making out.

  As we moved towards the dance floor, the crowd got bigger and even wilder. “We should try and stick together,” I said, half yelling to be heard over the music. “But if we get separated, let’s meet up at the fountain.” After catching everyone’s nod, I pushed ahead through the crowd.

  We came to our first break from the crush of bodies when we arrived at a lounge-type area off to the side of the dance floor. It featured a bar and low, cushioned seating. Men and women were draped over the seats, drinking and laughing boisterously. The neon and black lights made everything glow, even the drinks. At one table, a ve
ry large man sat surrounded by an array of food. He was eating ravenously, stuffing one thing after another into his mouth using both hands. He seemed oblivious to anything else around him. I frowned and squinted at him. Something was off about him, like he was slightly out of focus. I shook my head and blinked, but it didn’t help.

  “Complimentary champagne?” A woman wearing roller skates and two little scraps of white leather appeared, holding out a tray. She smiled and fluttered her eyelashes at Tank.

  “No,” I said, reaching out to stop Tank’s arm. “I don’t think we should drink anything here. Or eat anything for that matter. I have a bad feeling about this place.”

  Tank shrugged and lowered his arm.

  The server’s eyes narrowed briefly, and I thought I saw anger in their depths, but then she smiled and replied, “Suit yourself. Your wish is our command at Wishes.”

  Tess grabbed my arm, pulling me down to shout in my ear. “Let’s go check out the casino.” She pointed to the other side of the building where there were several banks of slot machines and what appeared to be blackjack tables and a roulette wheel.

  The music was blaring out some sort of electro-dance-party mashup and I recognized Fifth Harmony and Rhianna in the mix. We left the bar and the dance floor behind and started across the club. Twice more we were approached with free drinks. Each time we declined we were given the same “Your wish is our command at Wishes” reply, and each time I sensed that our response was not what they wanted to hear.

  We were about halfway across the large space when a shout erupted from the surrounding mass of revellers, and I found myself being jostled and pushed back towards the dance floor. Five burly men dressed in worn football jerseys waded through the crowd. They held some sort of cup like trophy over their heads, and they were shouting, “Chug, chug, chug!” They stopped, and a white-clad server appeared as if from nowhere holding two bottles of champagne above her head. The men cheered as she began pouring champagne from both bottles into the cup. When the bottles were empty, one of the men grabbed the trophy and hoisted it to his mouth to take a drink, champagne spilling out the sides to run down his face. His buddies all laughed and pumped their fists, their cries of “Chug, chug, chug!” being picked up by the surrounding crowd.

  I turned to say something to Tess and then stopped in surprise.

  “Shit!” I looked around frantically. She wasn’t there and neither was Barbie or Tank. We had somehow been separated during the distraction.

  I scanned the crowd. Surely I should be able to spot Tank. He was kind of hard to miss. The crowd seemed to close in around me as I struggled to see over their heads. I couldn’t find Tank, Tess or Barbie anywhere.

  I was jostled back and forth by the crowd, making it hard to get a sense of direction. It felt like I had been all turned around. A hand brushed against my back, and I spun around, expecting to see Tess, but it was just a drunken norm.

  “Hey, sexy! You look hawt!” His breath was warm and boozy and right in my face. “Wanna dance?” He reached out a hand towards my breast. With a scowl, I grabbed his thumb, pulling it back to his wrist. He shrieked in pain and dropped to the floor on one knee.

  “Don’t fucking touch me,” I shouted, giving him a push so he rocked back, falling on his ass. I strode away, my heart pounding with adrenaline. I don’t know why I’d overreacted. I guess the place was getting to me.

  I elbowed my way through the crowd, keeping my back to the dance floor. It felt like I was stuck in quicksand, but instead of sand, it was bodies. I’d push past one, only to have another fall in place in front of me. Where were they all coming from? I tried to focus on the people, thinking I must be going in circles and I’d start to recognize them, but their faces blurred together.

  I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned to look, nothing was there. This happened several more times until I started to feel paranoid, like something was following me. Eventually the throng of people thinned, and I was able to breathe a sigh of relief. Finally free from the crowd, I pulled out my cellphone, thinking I would text Tess, but it was dead, which was weird because I had just charged it that afternoon.

  I glanced around and got my bearings. The casino area was ahead and to my right. I decided to check there quickly since that was our original destination. If I couldn’t find Tess and the others there, I would head to the fountain.

  ***

  The casino was a bust. While not as crowded as the dance floor, I wasn’t surprised to find every slot machine busy, their occupants happily feeding in coins and pushing buttons. Every few minutes lights would flash and bells would ring, and a cheer would go up from somewhere in the crowd. It seemed like everyone was winning at Wishes.

  I was turning away from the machines when I spotted a familiar face, stopping to stare at her in surprise. It was the woman who had almost died in the ICU the other day. I couldn’t believe that she was already out of the hospital and ready to party. And party she was. She held a hamburger in one hand and alternated between whooping and cheering every time she pulled the arm down on the slot machine, and stuffing her face.

  “Come on, baby! Mama needs a new pair of shoes!” She took a long swig of beer straight from the bottle and then grabbed a handful of French fries and jammed them in her mouth.

  The machine flashed and the bell went off.

  “WOOOOOO! WOOOO HOOOO!” She jumped from her seat, arms in the air. “Yes! That’s what I’m talking about!” Arms still raised in victory, she threw her head back, her face suddenly slack. A shudder passed over her body, and she moaned, her face contorting into what looked like…well, it looked like she just had an orgasm was what it looked like.

  I stared in disbelief. What the hell? As I watched, her body blurred, and a dark shape appeared superimposed over top of hers. It only lasted a second, and when I blinked, it was gone. The woman slumped back in her seat, momentarily disoriented, and then started to plug the machine with coins again.

  “Harry!”

  Barbie, pulling Tank behind her, her hand firmly in his, came running up to me.

  “Omigod, Harry! I can’t believe we found you.”

  “Barbie! Tank! Is Tess with you?” I looked around hopefully.

  “No, we haven’t seen her. We’ve been searching everywhere for you.”

  “Did you go to the fountain?”

  Barbie frowned, but it was Tank who answered. “We tried, but it wouldn’t let us.”

  “It?”

  “The building, Harry. I don’t know magic for shit, but there’s something very weird going on here.” Tank squinted suspiciously off into the distance, searching the area around us.

  “What do you mean the building wouldn’t let you?” I gave them a skeptical look.

  Barbie shrugged. “We tried, Harry. We really did. We would aim straight at the fountain and start to make our way towards it, but the next thing we knew, it would no longer be where we thought it was. It would be behind us or off to the side. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t get close to it.”

  “Yeah, it’s fucked up,” added Tank. “We need to find Tess and get the hell out of here.”

  “Okay, yeah. You’re right. Something very weird is going on here, but I think you and Barbie should go now.” They protested, but I put up a hand, stalling them. “My phone isn’t working here. Are yours?” As I suspected, neither of their phones was working either. “I need you to go out and get help. Call Nash. He needs to get his ass down here, and I need Max as well. I can’t call out to get them, and I won’t leave without Tess, so you need to go.”

  Remarkably, we were able to find the door we came in easily enough. Although they were reluctant to go, I was eventually able to convince them both to leave. I didn’t know what the hell this place was, but I felt better knowing that at least two of my friends were no longer at risk. The idea that I was getting them to send Nash and Max in didn’t particularly sit well with me, but I needed Max’s magical opinion, and Nash was the biggest bada
ss I knew, and I would feel better having him around.

  Once I had Tank and Barbie safely out, I turned back to survey the club. I could see the fountain directly in front of me, but I knew it wouldn’t do me much good to make a beeline straight to it. Based on Barbie’s story, there was obviously some sort of magic—a redirection spell most likely—preventing people from getting too close. I had a decision to make, but I was torn. On the one hand, I was curious about the fountain. Why was it even there? It was obviously important for some reason—important enough they had built it or brought it in from somewhere because it wasn’t there the last time I was at the warehouse. It also had to be important enough they didn’t want anyone getting too close to it, or why have the redirection spell? These two facts just made me want to see it up close even more. On the other hand, with the redirection spell in play, it was highly unlikely I would find Tess there, and I really needed to find her. When it came right down to it, the decision was a no-brainer. Tess came first. Besides, I had a plan that not only could lead me to Tess, but also get me closer to the fountain.

  A redirection spell reads your intended destination and then, if necessary, redirects you away from what it’s supposed to protect. If I could keep my thoughts trained on finding Tess rather than the fountain and used particular landmarks within the club like the dancefloor and casino, I thought I could search for Tess and circumvent the spell.

  I made my way back through the club, dodging drunken revellers and wheeled serving staff, my mind fixed on finding Tess while using the dance floor as my destination. I scanned the crowd, searching for her familiar form. When I reached the outer edge of the dance floor, I skimmed its perimeter, intent on making my way back to the casino side of the building. With each pass through the club, I managed to move a bit closer to the fountain at its centre, but there was no sign of Tess. I couldn’t stop my growing unease. Something about the place felt very wrong, but I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly. After passing by a group of particularly wasted women, who were laughing hysterically and drinking straight from a champagne bottle, it came to me. Why wasn’t I feeling drunk or high?