by E. S. Moore
Boris’s place wasn’t going to be easy to get into. I hadn’t seen the back, but I figured it might be just as tough. But it might very well be the only way I could get in without being seen. There were too many people on the streets, watching.
Which was exactly why he’d chosen the place as his headquarters, I was sure. If the guy was famous in the vampire circles, then he could afford someplace better. I didn’t know if the house was the place where he took his victims or if he actually lived there. I just hoped he was there when I made my move.
I didn’t like this at all. It was too public. Baset had yet to put me in a situation I couldn’t handle, but this was the first time I was going to have to take care of someone where others might see me. I couldn’t kill them all. Doing this was putting myself at risk and I’d be damned if I was going to get myself killed for Baset.
Still, I had to try.
I dismounted and began the short walk back to Boris’s street. I checked to make sure no one was watching me, and then continued on past the street. An alley ran along the back of the buildings. A graffiti-filled brick wall blocked the rest of the view. If I were careful, I could reach his back door without anyone seeing me.
I hesitated outside the alley to make sure I wasn’t being followed. No one was in sight. I darted into the alley and kept low as I ran the rest of the way to Boris’s house.
The back looked as secure as the front. All windows were barred, so I wasn’t going in that way. There was a back door, but it was three feet off the ground and there were no steps. I had a feeling it was bolted on the other side, if not completely walled off. I couldn’t see even a hint of light through the tiny window in the door.
I frowned, considering my options. I could try to shoot the lock on the door and hope I could get in that way, but a gunshot would announce my presence. I had a feeling a person like Boris Stevenson had an escape plan. By the time I’d get in through the back, he’d be out the front door and halfway down the street.
There might be a basement in a house like this, but I couldn’t find any windows—at least not from the back. I doubted they would have forgotten to bar the windows to the basement, so I wasn’t sure what good it would do me if I’d actually found any.
That only left the front. If I was going to deal with Boris here tonight, I’d have to walk right through the front door, kill him, and figure out how to get out of there before others were on to me.
I worked my way around the side of the house to get a better look at the front. I could see people standing out there, talking among themselves. The moment I stepped out of the small space between houses, they’d all see me.
I was at a total loss. The best I could hope for was that Boris would come outside and take a lonely stroll out back where I could kill him without anyone else knowing.
Right. I’m sure if I waited long enough, that was going to happen.
I crept back into the shadows. I wasn’t sure Boris was even there. I leaned in close and tried to hear through the walls, but it was useless. If he was inside, he’d have to be just about shouting for me to hear anything. My hearing might be better than an average Pureblood’s, but that didn’t mean I could hear through walls.
I decided to wait it out. I moved so I could keep an eye on the street. If the people chatting out front decided to move on, I might make a go of it. Otherwise, I’d see what I could learn and then come back another day with a better plan in place.
Cars occasionally went down the road, but none of them stopped outside Boris’s house. I heard a door slam inside once, telling me someone was home, but I had no idea if it was Boris or someone he associated with. As far as I knew, there could be a dozen people inside.
I was just about to give up and leave when the front door opened. Voices filtered down to me and I stepped back into the shadows. The wooden porch creaked as a pair of men came walking down the stairs.
“I’m heading to Avril’s.” I instantly recognized the voice as Boris’s. It wasn’t as sinister sounding as it had been on the video, but it was definitely him. “See that you get a good deal, all right?”
“Of course.” The other voice belonged to a man who sounded like he’d smoked all his life. It was either that or he’d gargled razor blades as a kid. “Need me to pick up anything else while I’m out?”
“Nah,” Boris said. “I won’t be back tonight. If I need anything, I’ll get it myself when I’m done.”
Two shapes appeared and walked past the gap between houses. Neither looked my way, much to my relief. If either one had glanced down the gap, they’d surely have seen me. There wasn’t enough room for me to swing my sword and by the time I drew my gun, they could have gunned me down.
“Do you think you can bring me back some . . . ?” The gravelly voice trailed off.
“You know I can’t do that for you, Ray.”
“But man . . . I need it. Can’t you just get me a little? I’ll pay you for it.”
“I’m sorry . . .” The voices trailed off.
A moment later, a car door a short way down opened and closed before an engine started up. Another car engine revved a few moments after that, and a piece-of-shit convertible putted past. I caught a glimpse of the driver. He was bald with a ratty beard. My best guess was it was the guy Boris had been talking to.
I waited five minutes longer before heading back into the alley. I knew where Avril’s was, so I didn’t have to tail Boris to know where he was going. I could take some time to formulate something of a plan before I got there.
Of course, even the best laid plans typically fall apart moments after execution. In the end, I didn’t care how I did it. I only knew that tonight would be Boris Stevenson’s last.
19
Avril’s sat square in the middle of the worst stretch of High Street. The nightclub had once been a concert hall, but now was used more often for raves and parties. Vampires and werewolves were the main patrons, along with Purebloods who let the vamps drink from them. While there were rules against killing the willing sheep, accidents did happen.
I’d always left the place alone, figuring if people wanted to throw their lives away by becoming blood slaves to vamps, they didn’t deserve saving. And as long as the vampires and wolves were coming here to feed, they weren’t out on the streets, killing innocent victims. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but it was one I could live with.
A bouncer stood just outside Avril’s front doors. He was wearing the requisite sleeveless leather that displayed biceps that were more than likely chemically enhanced. His eyes scanned left and right, lingering on girls in the skimpiest of clothes. A woman leaning beside him didn’t seem to mind.
I was sure Boris had already gone in, but I couldn’t be sure. Just because he’d told the other man that he’d be going to Avril’s didn’t mean he was telling the truth. He could have been misleading the man for one reason or another.
But the place fit. The pulse-pounding music I could hear coming from Avril’s every time someone opened the door was similar to the background noise I’d heard in the video. Could Boris be filming his movies here? Did the owner of the nightclub know?
I didn’t see how he couldn’t. Chances were good they provide Boris a room where he could conduct his business without interruption. The owner probably got a cut of anything Boris made with his movies. Where else could the filmmaker find so many willing victims to exploit? It wasn’t like Avril’s catered strictly to the legal.
A man wearing a loud pink suit poked his head out of the nightclub. He said a few words to the bouncer and then ducked back inside. The woman gave the bouncer a quick kiss on the cheek before heading in after the guy in the pink suit.
I was torn on what to do. I didn’t want Boris to get away, or worse, kill someone while I waited outside. But I also knew that confronting him in such a public place, especially one where the people were more than likely on his side, was just asking for trouble. If I waited, I might be able to take him out as he walked back to his car, but
that would mean standing around on High Street for who knows how long. The guy might decide to spend the night in there.
There really was no other choice. Waiting would more than likely mean someone would die. If I wanted to make sure it was Boris Stevenson who met his end, I needed to be proactive.
I crossed the street and approached Avril’s warily. I’d seen a few people go into the club and none of them had been patted down for weapons. The bouncer had simply nodded and let them pass without another look. I had no idea if that meant they were regulars or if anyone could go in and the bouncer was simply there for show. He might be their way of weeding out the weak. If someone was afraid to approach the club because of the big guy out front, there was no way they could handle what went on inside.
Just as I stepped onto the sidewalk, the woman returned. She leaned against the wall beside the bouncer, grinning from ear to ear. Her lips were a little redder than before she went in.
The urge to whip out my gun and shoot her was so strong, my hand actually moved toward my coat. I stopped myself, plastered on a smile, and sauntered up to the pair, hoping they wouldn’t take a look at my outfit and decide I was a danger. If one of them so much as touched me, I’d be forced to fight. A sword isn’t an easy thing to hide.
I didn’t need to worry. The bouncer glanced up long enough to give me a quick nod before turning back to the woman. I thought I caught him sniff, telling me he was likely a werewolf, put there to sniff out trouble. I walked past them and opened the doors to Avril’s.
Music blasted into me the moment I was through the heavy doors. The lights were so dim, only a vampire or werewolf could see without tripping all over themselves. I walked down a short hallway, into the main section of the club. The dance floor itself was a large open space near a stage where a DJ bounced in a red haze caused by light filtering through mist. The dance floor was surrounded by a raised section where tables were bolted to the floor, sectioned off from one another.
The place was packed nearly wall to wall. There were multiple feedings going on at the sectioned off tables and a few were happening by the walls. Nothing expressly violent was happening—if you discounted the blood dribbling from wounded necks and fangs. The dancers on the floor below seemed happy, if not in something of a daze.
I scanned the room, hoping I’d spot Boris, but it was nearly impossible to make one face out from the next. The mist was coming from beneath the DJ. It seeped over the crowd, especially those at the front, further masking the features of those reveling in the loud music and blood.
Hunger and disgust warred inside me as I moved farther into the room. The place felt cramped. No matter which way I walked, I ended up passing someone who was bleeding. I wanted to slit the throat of every vamp and wolf in the place, to punish them for feeding on people like cattle, yet I also wanted to join them. Blood seeped into my mouth where my fangs began to protrude.
I couldn’t stay there. The hunt might have started with Boris, but if I stayed in the midst all of the feedings going on around me, I’d end up giving in to my monster.
I backed out into a narrow room I’d passed coming in. A bar ran along one wall, serving what looked to be actual liquor instead of blood. I decided it might be the best place to start my search. Boris was a familiar face here, and if I was right, he was using Avril’s to film his movies. The nightclub had an addition built on over the last few years, adding another couple of floors to the building. If I didn’t miss my guess, Boris might very well be upstairs with a victim even now.
Walking to the bar was a test of my control. Even out here, there were people being fed upon. I very nearly stepped on a woman’s hand who was apparently having some sort of pleasure seizure. She stared up at me with glassy eyes and smiled as her entire lower half vibrated. Another woman—this one a vampire—was feeding from the bottom of her foot.
I grimaced as I stepped around the pair. Foot blood was the same as any other blood, yet something about it made my stomach curdle. My disgust very nearly quieted my hunger.
There were no stools at the bar. It was standing room only and I could tell that it was a favorite hangout for a lot of people. I had to squeeze my way between two leather-clad women wearing fake fangs. A blue light shone up from the floor behind the bar, casting strange shadows on the two barmen behind the bar. One of them saw me slide up and moved my way.
“I’d like something to drink,” I shouted. The music was so loud, I could hardly hear myself think, let alone speak.
The barman seemed to have heard me just fine and he ducked away to make me something. I figured he knew what he was doing and left him at it. I just wanted something that would help ease the hunger inside me. If it had a little fire to it, all the better.
He returned a moment later with something red in a glass. For a split second, I thought it was blood, but it didn’t move right. I sniffed it, decided it wasn’t going to hurt me, and drained the glass. It burned going down, but it did its job. The hunger was still there, but it was now more of a faint pulse in my gut rather than the raging beast it had been.
“Anything else?” the barman asked. His voice carried well over the noise and it made me wonder if they specifically found someone with the right cadence to be heard over the music or if he was a sorcerer of some kind.
“I’m looking for someone,” I shouted, hoping no one in the immediate vicinity was listening. They all appeared to be absorbed in their own conversations. “He came in a little while ago.”
The barman shrugged in a way that told me I’d have to do better than that. He picked up my empty glass and it vanished behind the bar, presumably to be washed later.
“His name is Boris Stevenson,” I said, keeping my voice as low as I could and still be heard. I really didn’t want to have to say his name, but if I wanted to find him, I had no choice.
The barman hesitated a moment before leaning forward. “How do you know Boris?”
I shrugged with one shoulder and gave the man a sideways grin. “We go way back,” I said. “I was going to meet him here, but was held up in traffic. I’m not sure where he’s gone.”
“Really now?” the barman said, his smile hardening. “How come I’ve never seen you here with him before?”
“I’m from out of town,” I said, the lie not quite stumbling from my lips. I managed to hold my smile in place and look him in the eye while I said it.
The barman studied me for a long moment, as if deciding whether or not I was telling the truth. I felt the need to press him a little harder and hoped I wouldn’t go too far.
“We were supposed to look for someone for the next flick,” I said, casting a look around the bar area as if I was on the job even then. “Boris wanted me to be a part of this one.” I waggled my eyebrows at him. I felt like an idiot.
The barman’s smile turned genuine. “Really?” He eyed me up and down. From the look in his eye, I knew he was picturing me without my coat and clothes. “He always did have good taste in women, even if you are a little old.” He glanced to the side. “Hey, Cal, is Boris upstairs?”
Cal—the other barman apparently—nodded without glancing our way.
“He’s upstairs,” my barman said, needlessly. “I think he’s already chosen tonight’s star. She’s a little older than what he goes for, but I guess since this one’s for you, he made an exception.” He laughed. “She was a little pushy for my taste. She practically begged him to take her somewhere private.”
My gut tightened. Had Boris already started filming? Was his victim still alive?
I thanked the barman and started to turn away. I stopped myself and turned back before the barman could move. “How do I get upstairs?” I asked, giving him a toothy smile. My fangs were still showing a little bit.
He eyed them with something akin to hunger. I didn’t think this guy was a supe of any kind, outside of maybe a little sorcery. I couldn’t see any fang marks on his exposed flesh, but that meant little. There were quite a few places a vampire could feed witho
ut leaving telltale signs. I had a feeling this guy was someone who enjoyed his bites in those sorts of places.
“That way,” he said, gesturing toward the entrance. I vaguely remembered seeing a pair of staircases, but they’d been blocked off. “There’s an elevator around the corner, just past the restrooms. Tell Yancy you’re here for Boris and that I sent you over. He’ll send you up.” He leaned forward and gave me a hungry smile. “My name’s Dom, by the way.”
I think he was hoping I’d offer to take him with me to see Boris, or at least, take him home afterward. I thanked him and turned away with a faint shudder. My smile fell away and I put on my game face.
I pushed through the crowded room and stepped out into a small open space. The stairs were indeed there, but sheets of plywood had been placed on them, leaving only a flat surface that would be next to impossible for most people to crawl up. Large barrels were placed in front of the stairs, effectively blocking them off to anyone who didn’t get the hint.
The elevator was right where I’d been told it would be. I hadn’t seen it when I’d come in because the guy standing in front of it was the size of a truck. He stood at least seven feet tall and I swear he had to be near four hundred pounds. He grinned at me as I approached, exposing wolfish teeth.
“Dom told me I could find Boris upstairs,” I said, trying to look casual.
“Did he now?” the man I took to be Yancy said. “And what is a little thing like you going to do with him, hmm?”
I huffed out an annoyed breath. “I’m late,” I said. “We were going to do this one together. I don’t have time for this.”
Yancy’s eyebrows rose and his grin widened. “Oh really? That sounds . . . tasty.” He chuckled and rubbed his chin. “I might have to see this one.”
God, I hoped not. Taking out Boris in a place like this was going to be hard enough. I just had to hope the rooms were private enough I could kill him and get out before anyone was the wiser. From the video, I knew the rooms weren’t soundproof.