Five: Out of the Pit (Five #2)

by Anderson, Holli

  “Of course I didn’t forget about you,” Alec said. “I just wanted to spend as much time with my mom as I could before leaving.”

  “So, you got to meet her? That’s awesome. How did it go? How… was she?”

  Johnathan tugged on my arm and motioned down the street with his head. “Alec, we’re gonna keep walking.”

  “‘Kay, Johnny, I’ll catch up with you later.”

  Mariah’s face flashed what I interpreted as alarm. I questioned whether I’d seen it at all as it was gone in an instant. “Oh, let’s go with them, Alec. I don’t want to keep you away from your friends.”

  Alec tilted his head. “Uhh, okay, I guess. I’ve been with them for days now, though. So, it’s really okay if you want to… do something else… without them.”

  She quickly shook her head. “No, no. Let’s stick with them.”

  “Okay. Whatever you want.”

  Seth broke the awkwardness of the moment. “What about Claire? Is she around tonight?”

  “No. Sorry, Seth. She went to St. George to visit her parents this weekend.”

  He looked dejected, but Halli looked relieved. I don’t blame her, it’s no fun to be the only single in a group of pairs.

  “Where we headed?” I looked up at Johnathan.

  “I think we should start by finding that Randal guy your sleaze-ball acquaintances mentioned. He obviously has a connection with Brone.”

  I shuddered at the mention of our enemy. “How are we going to find him? That loser met him out by that arch. I doubt he’s there now.”

  I happened to glance at Mariah, who was looking at the ground, her face pale. “Mariah, you okay? Do you know a guy named Randal?”

  The smile on her face looked forced when she looked up. “No. I don’t think so. Not that I can think of, I mean.” Her eyes shifted away from mine.

  I felt like she wasn’t telling the truth. But, why would she lie?

  Halli said, “Maybe we can find those women he tormented. The ones who put him in contact with Randal. He said he met them at a bar on the edge of town.”

  “Good idea,” Johnathan said. He turned to Mariah. “Do you know of any bars on the edge of town?”

  She twisted a strand of hair around her finger. “Umm… yeah… I mean, I guess so. There’s a nice brewery back toward Canyonlands.”

  I shook my head. “I doubt we’re looking for somewhere ‘nice’. These guys were sleazy, so we’re looking for a sleazy bar.”

  “Oh, well.”—Mariah chewed on her bottom lip—“Yeah. Then, maybe S&W Lounge? It’s about the sleaziest place around here. It’s in a trailer park.”

  “That sounds about right,” I said. “Take us there.”

  “You sure? It’s really, really disgusting. Really.”

  Johnathan nodded once. “Yes. We’re sure. That’s just the kind of place we’re looking for.”

  We walked the long distance to the outskirts of town, finding the trailer court lounge. Calling the place a trailer court was a bit of an embellished exaggeration. There were trailers there, all right, but not the kind people were supposed to live in. They appeared to have been placed haphazardly, just wherever the broken-down truck that hauled them there had been able to drop them. There were campers, camp trailers, and a few mobile homes. None of them looked to have been manufactured within the last fifty years or so. And, the place felt dark—not just because most of the lamp posts boasted broken bulbs, either. I was overwhelmed with the suffocating feeling of desperation and evil.

  The lounge was a dilapidated building with peeling green paint and multi-colored, multi-aged shingles on the roof. The two windows were covered with grime so thick you couldn’t see any light shining from inside. We gathered in the parking area which consisted of partially smoothed red dirt that may have been covered with gravel at one time.

  I looked around at my companions. Mariah clung to Alec’s arm with a death grip, her other hand plastered against her abdomen. Surpy, who’d been so abnormally quiet during the last part of our trek that I’d almost forgotten he was with us, hid behind Halli, peaking around her legs with his saucer eyes.

  “I feel it,” the Imp whispered. “M’Halli, let’s go.” He pulled on her hand, stepping back toward the street.

  “What do you feel, Surpy?” Halli asked as she pulled her hand out of his.

  “Mmm. It. Don’t’ you feel it? The thrum-thrumming of danger. A Dark One is near. M’Halli, let’s go.”

  Silence ensued. I’m not sure what the others were doing, but my guess is they were trying to feel the thrum-thrumming like I was. I didn’t feel it, but I felt something. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I looked at Johnathan, his nostrils were flaring in and out and his nose was wrinkled in disgust.

  I sniffed the air to see if I could smell whatever was causing him discomfort. I caught a scent I hadn’t noticed before and knew I would have trouble getting rid of. Decay. That’s the best way I could describe it. The decay of things that once were living. Or living things that were rapidly dying, decomposing from the inside out.

  My pulse sped up. I squeezed Johnathan’s hand. “How about Johnathan, Seth, and I go in and see what we can find out. The rest of you stay out here for backup, in case there’s trouble.”

  Johnathan stiffened. I knew he wanted to make me stay outside. I was impressed when he kept it to himself and didn’t try to talk me out of going in. “Good plan,” he forced through clenched teeth.

  As I stepped toward the windowless door, my legs felt barely strong enough to hold my weight. Johnathan went through first, kind of pushing me behind him as he stepped inside. Seth was behind me. No one manned the door; no one tried to stop us from entering. A few sorry patrons looked up from their drinks long enough to register our entrance, then quickly returned their gazes downward.

  I’m not sure exactly what I expected. The tingling of my skin and heightened senses prepared me for fight mode. I took a quick look around using my sight, expecting to see some creatures of the Netherworld. Those expectations were met when my eyes fell upon an unusual creature, one for whom I had no name. It appeared to be of male gender, but that may not have been the case—some of the Fae have no gender assigned to them. It sat at the bar, head and shoulders above anyone else nearby. My guess was that it would reach at least seven feet tall when standing. A white, thin arm draped around each of the women sitting on either side of the creature. I could see its veins pulsing with purple fluid.

  I wonder what it looks like to the normal people? Once I’d looked with my sight, I only saw the true form thereafter.

  The mismatched nature of its human clothing caused me to let out a short laugh. Seth and Johnathan followed my gaze.

  “What is that thing?” Seth whispered.

  “I have no idea,” I said.

  Johnathan just shook his head.

  A face from nightmares turned toward us. The bald, white head sported gaping holes of darkness where eyes should have been. The elongated face had two slits with overlapping skin running down the middle, and no mouth at all. Having no mouth, however, did not stop the thing from talking. Deep and muffled, its voice carried to my ears. “What have we here? Newbies?”

  My stomach lurched when I realized it spoke out of a wide slit in its lengthy neck. As the slit opened and closed, I caught glimpses of muscle and corded tendons, and other things best kept hidden beneath a thick layer of skin. A chill ran through my body as I remembered Surpy’s words. “A Dark One.” That description fit perfectly.

  I slipped my hand out of Johnathan’s and tried to hide the shaking in my legs as I strode toward the thing. I kept going even as Johnathan’s frantic whisper reached my ears. “Paige, what are you doing?”

  The bar had a slight curve to it just on the other side of the lady to the thing’s right. I sat at the open barstool there. I leaned over the bar to get a better view of the extremely pale Dark One. It had watched me take the five steps or so it took to cross from the doorway to where I now sat, and
it leaned forward to peer around the somewhat pretty, very drunk, girl sitting between us.

  “So, what do you mean by ‘newbie’?” I asked, trying not to let the fear show in my voice.

  What probably looked like a wink to the others at the bar, twisted the terrible face into an even more grotesque shape to my sight. I shuddered. I had to concentrate all my efforts on keeping the disgust from showing on my face when it started speaking through its throat. The voice coming from that slash gave a whole new meaning to the description ‘deep, throaty, voice’.

  “Newbie. New to this fine establishment. You look young to be here. How old are you?”

  I smiled and flipped my hair over my shoulder in what I hoped was a flirtatious gesture. “Old enough.”

  Muscles tugged at the spot on its face where a mouth should have been. A smile?

  I realized then I should probably not stare at its throat unless I wanted to give myself away as one with the sight. I moved my gaze up to the hideous face.

  “Yes. I suppose you are. I also suppose it doesn’t really matter here. What seek ye?”

  Whoa. What seek ye? That was odd speech for someone trying to fit in at a dive bar. Maybe it didn’t care to fit in.

  I decided to just get to the point. “I seek Randal. Are you him?”

  That twitch of the facial muscles again. “First, tell me who you are and who sent you in search of Randal?”

  “I’m Paige”—I saw no reason to lie—“And I don’t know the name of the man who sent me. All I know is he said this Randal guy could get me in touch with…” I looked around and lowered my voice. “Let’s just say, someone that can help me achieve some goals.”

  Seth and Johnathan sat at a table a few feet away from the bar. It was as close as they could get to me without standing conspicuously behind me.

  The Dark One turned in their direction. “What about your friends? Do they seek Randal as well?”

  “They’re just here for moral support.” A twinge of jealousy jumped at my throat for a second when I saw a scantily clad female plop herself down next to Johnathan. Her high pitched giggle made me want to rip her throat out.

  A guttural laugh escaped the creature’s gaping maw. It sounded like the chugging of an old steam engine. “There is no room for morals in this business ye seek, young Paige.”

  I don’t think it even realized when it slipped from the more human sounding you to the dark and mysterious sounding ye.

  “Understood. I ask again. Are you Randal?”

  That startled the creature. I don’t think it was used to mere mortal humans being so direct.

  With a slight nod of its head, it said, “Aye. I am he of whom ye seek. Tell me, Paige, what did the man look like who sent you to me?”

  I sighed. I was still on edge, but not as fearful as I had been. Randal’s questioning was starting to get on my nerves. “He was a low-life scumbag who was pissing down both legs by the time I got through with him.”

  If Randal had eyebrows, I’m sure they would have risen at that. I don’t know exactly why I answered the way I did; I wasn’t there to talk about that sick-o we’d sent to the Netherworld and it annoyed me that I had to.

  “I see,” the eyeless Randal said. “I think I know the one of which you speak, then. How may I be of assistance to you?”

  I really wasn’t sure how to proceed from there. Was it our goal to find Brone? Or were we just looking for information about his plans? I looked over my shoulder at Johnathan and Seth. The slutty woman practically sat on Johnathan’s lap. He’d scooted as far as he could and was smooshed up against the wall. She ran her fingers through his dark curls and heat rushed to my face as I started to get angry—until I looked at his face. He met my eyes and the terrified pleading I saw there almost made me laugh. I looked at Seth. He was in a very similar predicament with a woman that could have been his grandma if the lines on her face were any indication of her age.

  I held up a finger to Randal. “Hold that thought. It looks like my friends need some help.”

  Randal turned to see what I was looking at and made a go ahead gesture with its hand before it returned it to the lower back of the drunk girl I sat next to.

  I slid down from the stool and stepped over to the booth. I placed my hands flat on the table right in front of the hussy that was feeling up my boyfriend. “Excuse me. If you would be so kind as to get your hands off my boyfriend, I might not have to make you bleed.” I turned to the older woman scrunched up next to Seth. “And you… go find someone closer to your own age.”

  Before either woman could put up a protest I pulled them away from the boys with a drawing spell until they were both sprawled on the floor at my feet. “I need your advice boys.” Seth and Johnathan scooted out of that booth so fast I’m surprised the friction didn’t cause a fire. Their companions of a moment before stood on shaky feet and stumbled away, calling me some pretty nasty names as soon as they deemed themselves at a safe distance.

  We huddled there and discussed what I should say to Randal.

  Randal shooed the girls away and gestured for Seth, Johnathan, and I to take the seats near it.

  Sticking to the hasty plan we’d just made, I said, “Randal, I was told you could arrange a meeting… with a Demon or something. I’m in need of some answers.”

  “What kinds of answers? I must know, so I know with whom you should meet.” The creature traced a line down my back with one thin finger. I dug my fingernails into the skin of both hands to keep from shuddering.

  “Let’s just say I have a friend who has been… cursed. And I need to know how to get rid of that curse.” I was desperate to get away from Randal’s roaming hand, but I was boxed in—with Randal on one side of me and Johnathan on the other. I really didn’t want to alert him to the fact that this monster was touching me—I couldn’t see that scenario ending well.

  “Paige, dear, I’m not… unaware of your talents. I know you have special abilities. I saw you use them to remove those pests from beside your friends. What do you really want?” Its hand traveled all over my back in a sickening rubbing motion.

  Scooting forward on the stool until my knees touched the wood holding up the bar, a new tactic came to me. “Yes, I have abilities. I wish to know how to better utilize them. I would love to learn from a master, someone who could make me stronger. Make me a force to be reckoned with.”

  That muscle on its mouth-less lower face twitched again. “That’s better. I think I know of just the person to help you. He’s planning a bit of a get-together next week and I’m sure he would love for you and your friends to be there.”

  “Just tell us when and where, and we’ll be there,” Seth said.

  Randal looked in his direction as if it’d forgotten Seth was there. It turned its face back to me and said, “I’ll tell you. After we agree on a price. I scratch your back, you scratch mine—or so the saying goes.” The hand on my back traveled to my butt and rested there for a moment before squeezing.

  I’d had enough. I whipped around on the stool and grabbed the creature’s thin wrist. “How about the price is that I don’t send you back from whence you came right now?”

  eth and Johnathan stood in a blur. We had the thing blocked in, with the bar to its back. The boys had both pulled their channeling rods and pointed them at Randal. I still had a hold of its wrist and could feel the magical energy start to course through my body.

  “Whoa, there, little humans,” Randal said. I felt a jolt tear through my hand and was forced to release my grip. “You don’t really want to go there with me.”

  From my left, Seth said, “What’s wrong, Paige? What’d he do?”

  A quick look at Johnathan reminded me that, unless I wanted something bad to go down here and now, I’d better calm down. He didn’t need to know about Randal’s roaming hands right this minute. We needed the information Randal could give us, so I needed to play nice. “Nothing, I’m just a little touchy today.” Looking back at Randal I said, “What kind of price a
re we talking about?”

  “How about you and me…”

  “No,” Johnathan said. “No you and her anything.”

  Sometimes I swore I could still hear the wolf in Johnathan’s voice, snarling and ready to snap.

  Randal stood. I’d been a little off on my estimate of its height which had to be close to eight feet tall. Its head nearly touched the ceiling. “You three are getting on my nerves. Either offer me a good price, or be gone.”

  The other patrons in the bar moved as far away from our little quartet as they could, many of them paid their tab and left.

  I could think of nothing I wanted to pay this creature.

  Seth widened his stance and looked up at Randal’s face. “How about we give you an Imp?”

  “No,” I said. “We aren’t going to use Surpy as a bargaining tool.”

  Seth frowned at me. “Fine. How about a nice, big house? When we’re ready to move on, you can move in.”

  That seemed to pique Randal’s interest. “A big house ye say? How big? And, how did ye come by it?”

  Johnathan answered, “It’s big, with high ceilings.”

  A good selling point, I thought.

  “Is it yours to give?”

  “Let’s just say the owner no longer has any use for it,” Johnathan said.

  Randal sat back on the stool and tilted its elongated head. “Hmm. It would be nice to live in a large human home. Much more comfortable than my current dwelling, I’m sure. When will you be done with it?”

  “We’re not sure, maybe shortly after this meeting you set up for us,” I said. Realizing it knew we saw it for what it really was, I stopped trying so hard to pretend that what I saw before me was a person.

  A hint of suspicion crept into the creepy voice. “Tell me whose home it is. You aren’t setting me up for danger are you?”

  “It belongs to an Incubus. He’s no longer around, so when we leave, the house is all yours.” I was getting a kink in my neck from looking up at the thing.