Marcus considered the point.
Alex refocused the conversation on the current situation. “I’m guessing going in there won’t be a pleasant experience, so I brought some stuff from the old days. Insurance.”
“Oh? I wasn’t aware you’d kept any of it.”
“I’ve got some flash-bangs, some Mace—the good stuff you don’t like, not the crap we’re using now—and I brought along a Rubicon case.”
Marcus almost choked. “Rubicon! That’s a bit excessive. We’re going in there to intimidate and gather information, not to start a war.”
Alex shrugged. “Well, you know as well as I do, if a war breaks out, the Rubicon will finish it. If I’m right, wouldn’t you rather have that case on our side?”
Marcus shook his head. “Alex. Whatever happens here tonight, I seriously doubt it will be our last night in this world.”
“Let’s hope you’re right and I’m wrong. Too late to change our minds about it.”
“Just leave it in the car.”
“Sure. I’ll set it for remote.”
They parked about a half a mile from the club’s industrial park. Alex crawled into the back of the Explorer. He opened the Rubicon case and inserted the control key. He turned it to the appropriate choice, and the LCD screen rewarded him by broadcasting REMOTE ACTIVATION in bright letters. He closed the case, then crawled back into the middle seats. He got out and closed the door behind him.
“We’ve got about forty-five minutes.”
“Now that we are prepared for your worst-case scenario, what if things only go half bad? You have had a long day, Alex. Are you up for this?”
“I could be better. I was cooped up most of the day, but I still managed to catch a few rays. If you’re right, I won’t need to be, you know, ready. And if you’re wrong…”
A moment of silence passed between them.
“By the way, you know Aguirre’s crazy philosophies about vampires’ ascetic living and the nature of the soul?” Alex asked.
“Of course,” Marcus answered.
“I think it’s working. I saw some interesting developments at the church today.”
“Did you tell Lopé?”
“No. I’m not letting that son of a bitch off that easily. I should assuage his guilt? What is faith if I hand him proof?”
Marcus shook his head.
The first of many police cruisers pulled in silently behind the Explorer. The patrol officers got out and approached the rear of the SUV for a quick huddle. After they all arrived, Alex and Marcus gave the officers an overview of what they were going to attempt.
They needed to hurry. If tonight proved half as problematic as the day had been, there was going to be more trouble than the department could easily handle. The city would need every available officer on the streets.
The night was pregnant with possibilities, most of them hideous.
32
9:05 P.M.
Six squad cars, lights and sirens blaring, screamed into the industrial park with screeching tires and made an impressive show. They turned the spotlights on the guards standing outside in the shadows. The Explorer was right on their heels. The other cars stopped; the Explorer barreled down the ramp to the entrance of the club.
Alex nearly hit one of the bouncers at the bottom. There was a crowd waiting to get in. More than half of them were cringing and holding their ears. The siren would be playing hell with their hearing in the enclosed echo-prone space of the parking garage. Alex killed the siren, but left the lights on.
“A bit more crowded than I saw it last time,” Marcus said.
Alex’s swiveled his eyes, taking in the location and marrying it to the way he’d imagined it from Marcus’s description. The ABZU sign was not as bright as he’d imagined it. And the name called out to him over the eons. It was old. Sumerian or Akkadian. The pallets of blood products were still there, though he couldn’t tell if any were missing.
“Notice anything else different?”
“Not at first glance.”
The guards regained some composure. He didn’t want them thinking that this was an attack they’d have to shoot their way out of. He wanted them very much to know they could probably bargain or buy their way out.
“Let’s do this.” Alex stepped out and held his badge high for all to see. “Nocturn Affairs. This is a raid. Everyone place your hands on top of your heads. If we don’t see hands, folks are going to get hurt.”
Speed was critical at this stage. Speed and chutzpah. You didn’t want to give anyone the chance to come up with a different solution than the one you were going to present. You wanted them to think about Option A until you proposed Option B. There was always the chance that some idiot would think there was an Option C. Not for the first time, Alex hoped Marcus was at the top of his game.
Alex could see people jerking in line, hands moving hesitantly to their heads. Sangers and bleeders were both wearing indecision on their faces. Should they try to run for it or weather it out? As some of the cops came down the ramp, it helped them make up their minds.
Marcus called over his shoulder to the officers, “No one leaves until you get their information.” Of course, they had no such intention at all, but the crowd didn’t know that. The officers nodded, looking a little less than prepared as they fumbled for notepads to jot down names and data.
One of the bouncers stepped away from his post in the line. He was a massive vampire with at least a hundred pounds on Alex. Alex hardly had to look at him to tell he was a youngblood, eager to prove himself to his new master, but still moving and thinking like a human.
“Take a hike, fellas. There are no victims here. No one’s looking for trouble. Besides, didn’t you already get your cut this week?”
Some people in the crowd chuckled. Alex needed to end that and instill fear in everyone there immediately. The second they weren’t fearful of him and Marcus, that’s when things would get ugly.
Alex closed the distance with the bouncer while seeming to voice his reaction to Marcus: “Do you believe this? Who the hell do these guys think they are?”
As he closed with the larger vampire he could see that he had undercut the youngblood’s confidence.
The vampire retorted, “I’m trying to do you a favor. You don’t want this kind of trouble.”
“Maybe we do.” Marcus positioned himself between Alex and a second bouncer. His movement made it clear to everyone that whatever happened between the first bouncer and Alex, it was going to stay between just those two.
Alex could feel Marcus begin to assert his presence. It was something the Ancients did well. It oozed from him, a miasma of experience and antiquity that forced a measure of awe in all those that felt it.
The first bouncer was now less than two yards from Alex. Alex shouted at him, “Get on the ground now! Hands on your head!”
The vampire reached for Alex. No one ever got a chance to see what he was going to do. Alex struck out with both arms at once. His left fist struck at the vampire’s solar plexus while his right hand delivered a brisk open-hand palm strike at the vampire’s windpipe.
The bouncer was quick. He parried Alex’s left hand to the inside, but he wasn’t fast enough to stop the blow to his neck, which was the one that really mattered. He stopped in his tracks, sputtering and choking. Alex used the momentum from the bouncer’s parry to pivot to the right and drop to his knee. He whipped around and delivered a bone-crunching roundhouse punch to the bouncer’s right knee. Before the knee started to buckle, Alex stood up rapidly, catching the vampire’s head with his right elbow as the bouncer crashed to the floor.
After the miserable day he’d had, Alex had to admit it felt good to drop the youngblood.
He glanced at the crowd, defiant, the look in his eyes daring someone else to try something, anything. They’d gotten the message. The rules were different now. He could feel a measure of respect, or at least fear, coming from them.
A commotion started near the folks at the
front of the line, farthest away from Alex. After a moment, Alex could see that a man was forcing his way through the crowd and stepping underneath the velvet rope barriers. The man was well dressed and reminded Alex of a maître d’. Alex shot a quick glance at Marcus. They were in business.
As the man got closer, Alex could see that he was a smartly dressed vampire. He looked like a middle-aged human and Alex couldn’t tell how old he actually was. Judging from Marcus’s attitude this was not the Ancient they suspected of being in the club, but he certainly wasn’t giving off the youngblood vibe.
The vampire beckoned Alex and Marcus over to him. As he did so he stepped off to the side away from the crowd, inviting them to a semiprivate conference.
“Might I have a word with you gentlemen?”
Marcus stepped from where he’d been standing and Alex put on an act of annoyance. They moved toward the vampire. The other bouncer moved to help his hacking colleague off the ground.
The maître d’ waited for Marcus and Alex to get close to him and spoke in a very quiet, cultured, and reserved tone.
“I am the manager of this establishment. The owner is … uncomfortable with the presence of this much of the city’s finest. It doesn’t convey the proper image, you understand.”
He addressed himself to Marcus. “As well, allow me to convey our most personal of apologies for the greeting you yourself have received. Had we known we would have the pleasure of a person of such esteemed repute as yourself gracing our establishment, we would have made more adequate preparations.”
Alex chuckled. He didn’t doubt that one bit.
Marcus made a gracious gesture to indicate that he was not offended, and he stuck to the game. Since Alex had established himself in the role of the hothead, it was up to Marcus to play the reasonable one.
“We understand. This line down here is violating a number of codes however, you must understand.”
“Of course, Master Scaevola. If you wish, we shall disband the line immediately.”
Alex picked up a completely new vibe now and he didn’t like it. The manager had just confirmed Marcus’s hunch that someone inside had recognized him. That meant it was likely that this man knew exactly who they were. Not just who they were now, detectives in Nocturn Affairs, but maybe who they’d been more than two years ago. He winced inwardly but kept his outward pretense of authority.
The manager was at least playing along. If everyone stayed on the same sheet of music and played their assigned parts, this might not turn to dogshit. Yet Alex’s inner voice was tending to his more realistic—or as Marcus called it, pessimistic—proclivity.
“If we turned away these fine patrons for the evening, until we can come up with a better way to greet their numbers, would that be sufficient?”
That was Alex’s cue. “We’d have to get inside, just to look around, and satisfy our curiosity that no other codes are being violated.”
“I’m sorry, but unless you gentlemen have a warrant—”
Alex decided to ramp up the loose-cannon act. He hoped he didn’t cramp Marcus’s style, but to tell the truth he was enjoying his role a little too much. He hoped that bravado was going to make up for a lot on this one. Alex stared right at the manager’s eyes, mentally letting him know that he knew he’d made them and didn’t care. He dropped his voice so it was barely audible.
“Listen, fuck your warrant, okay? You know who we are, and we know who you are. We don’t give two shits about procedure right now. But we’re—”
As expected, Marcus cut him off. “Please excuse my colleague. He doesn’t fully understand how things are done.”
Alex stared at Marcus and, putting on a show of annoyance, threw his hands in the air, and stepped away.
“Earlier, you expressed regret that you were not properly able to greet me because you didn’t know I was coming. Now, imagine my embarrassment when a fellow Ancient arrives in my city unannounced and begins operations under my very nose, without allowing me the courtesy of knowing who they are. If I were another person and less polite, then I would not have come here under a professional pretense.”
Marcus let his volume rise and manifested his full presence as an Ancient. Even Alex could feel the intimidation now. Marcus seemed as if he were two heads higher than the manager was, even though they were probably about the same height. The manager appeared to have shrunk where he stood.
The manager took an unwilling step back from Marcus. Alex didn’t have to be a vampire to be able to read that kind of body language. They’d won this battle.
“One moment please.”
The manager stepped away from them and toward the people waiting in line. “Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you that our club has reached maximum capacity for this evening. We look forward to your patronage on another occasion.”
There weren’t any of the expected groans or complaints. People were jumping at the chance to get out of there without any penalties. Marcus made of show of nodding to the two officers near the ramp, and they left their positions and went back to the street level.
The crowd filed out in an orderly, if hurried, fashion. The manager gestured for Marcus and Alex to follow him. Tit for tat. Alex suppressed a smile—with Marcus around, “quid pro quo” was more appropriate.
He passed the two bouncers who had been overseeing the line. They glowered at him. He made a point of ignoring them and letting them know they weren’t worthy of his regard. They glowered harder, but theirs was the rage of the impotent who still believed that their day would come. Alex had felt that emotion many times before and recognized it for what it was. They were youngbloods and they had bought into the notion that now as vampires they would be nearly invulnerable. To have that belief debunked publicly would irk anyone.
They followed the manager through the velvet rope line and up to the concrete security walls and finally to the entrance of the club. The door was propped open and a metal detector was set up right at the entrance. The dull thump of a low bass line pounded Alex in his chest.
Two large vampire bouncers stood inside a trapezoid-shaped hallway, which was narrow near the entrance but quickly opened up wide and then split off into the rooms beyond. On the left side was a cashier’s cage. Two young female vampires sat and stared at them as they came in. When they noticed the manager, they went back to their conversation.
Several cameras covered the entrance. There were probably cameras all over the place. Whoever ran this place was either serious about security or was a voyeur of sorts, probably a little of both. If this was the kind of blood club they thought it was, what better way of scoping out premium stock right when it came through the door. Undoubtedly, there’d be a hotline nearby that the watcher could use to invite a lucky patron to a private party, where they would further screen and sample them.
As if to confirm Alex’s thoughts, the manager stepped past the bouncers and picked up a phone. He addressed Marcus: “Master Scaevola, if you would wait here for just a moment.”
Marcus nodded. Alex leaned in toward him, keeping his voice very low so that only Marcus could hear him. “This whole place is swank, but I’d bet it was just slapped together. I thought you people planned long-term.”
Marcus shrugged.
The manager spoke quietly into the phone. Alex couldn’t make out a word. He’d have to ask Marcus later what was said. The manager seemed to get a decisive answer, which, from the look on his face, he didn’t agree with.
“Please, gentlemen. The owner wishes to speak to you. Of my own free will, I invite you to cross this threshold.”
Marcus stopped.
“Your master observed no such courtesies when he entered my city unannounced. I shall pay him the same measure of respect he showed me.”
That set the tone. In vampiric terms that was as rude as spitting in someone’s face.
The manager grimaced at the show of incivility. “As you wish, Master Scaevola. Please follow me.”
They moved farther into the c
lub. The metal detector sounded as Alex and Marcus crossed the threshold. One of the bouncers stepped forward with a detector wand and gestured for them to step to the side. Alex got the impression the vampire was doing this more out of habit than anything else. Alex refused to comply and just stared at him, daring him to try something. After a moment of awkwardness, they moved on.
As they moved farther into the ground floor, the techno music in the club got louder. It wasn’t as loud as Alex had expected. He could see patrons speaking in normal conversational tones. Then he reminded himself that more than half the patrons here were vampires. Music any louder than this would have been painful to them. The light was very dim and Alex’s eyes hadn’t adjusted yet. He was having a hard time seeing. Black light and neon ruled the space, with the occasional flashing strobe or swirling spotlight sweeping across the makeshift dance floor. A mass of silhouetted figures gyrated within. Alex couldn’t tell if he was looking at a rave or an orgy. He guessed it was probably a bit of both.
They moved through what seemed to be textured walls, but as Alex grew nearer, he saw that they were actually pallets of blood products, Sangri and Hemotopia, which had been arranged in a mazelike configuration. He saw patrons sitting and petting each other on long benches made out of blood-product crates. There was no way to tell if the contents were tainted or even if the crates were full or empty.
They followed the manager to the far side of room, where he paused at a metal stairway. He turned to make sure they were following him and then began to ascend to the second story.
Even as they climbed the stairs, Alex couldn’t shake the feeling that he was walking into the underworld. Every cell in his body told him this was wrong. They should turn back. Just as quickly, he chided himself. They’d been in worse places and walked out before. Then again, they’d been better prepared in those days. He casually stuck his hands in his pockets and gripped the smart phone in one hand and the UV flash-bang in the other. His fingers brushed up against the edges of Aguirre’s silver cross.
Graveyard Shift Page 24