Revenant's Kiss (Chronicles of the Afterlife) (14 page)

            
"And if this guy says no? I think he was expecting me, which is a little un-nerving given the fact
that I didn’t even know Nickolei had a replacement." Jennifer vocalized her suspicions without pause,
plenty prepared to take it out on Phineus if he tried to lie to her. "I want you to tell me everything you
know about him and do it before we get to him."

            
"Gabriel, alright, he’s called Gabriel in the coven, he just showed up out of nowhere after
Nickolei died. Ada seems to be the only person who remembers who he is, he’s not exactly in any of
our records, but among Ada and her close followers he’s like this big legend. Apparently he was the
only one the mistress ever let out of her clutches willingly, I tell you he’s crazy." He swallowed hard and
tried to clear the nervous lump that was developing in his throat. "Nobody but Ada and her elders know
anything about him and nobody will talk, I hope you weren’t coming to call on anything about him cause
that’s as much as I have right there."

            
"Like I said I didn’t know about him, I need some information about someone else." Jennifer
watched Phineas relax a little more with that knowledge, apparently Gabriel was scary. If he compared
to Nickolei or Ada for that matter, horrifying sounded more like it. "If you have to get his permission
could we get it quickly, this is sort of something that can’t wait."

"It would be my pleasure to take you to him, but I warn you he’s ruthless in the pursuit of what
he wants."

"That’s a nice and foreboding warning, thanks for that but I didn’t come here to see "him"
Phineas, I came here to see you." Jennifer reminded him, she tried to make a grab for Phineas’ arm but
he had already slid past her and was trying to lead her where he wanted. "This smells like a trap," she
cursed to herself and moved to follow him. "Keep your guard up Marcia, something about this doesn’t
feel right."

"You think he’s trying to get us killed," Marcia asked following after Jennifer and the bartender.
It was clear that Marcia hadn’t caught much of the conversation outside of the parts where Jennifer was
threatening the vampire she’d made googoo eyes at.

"Maybe not intentionally, but if this Gabriel is as dangerous as he says he may have us executed
for just asking for information. Especially if he’s close with Ada, she really hates my guts." Jennifer
turned away from Marcia and followed closely behind Phineas, even walking he seemed to be gliding
perfectly in sink with the music. He was always bewildering to watch, she knew that it was because she
had known him once as a human and he’d so comfortably become a monster. He’d gone from working
with private school church kids to a bartender who looked a lot like a stripper, oh and she couldn’t
forget drank blood.

Chapter 11

She didn’t have to follow Phineas as closely as she was, she knew where they were going, she’d
been back there before at Nickolei’s request. She ignored the memories that came with Nickolei and
his little get together, all that mattered was that she’d kicked his ass. She let herself put her full focus on
Phineas and how he made dancing while he walked look so entirely natural. She’d have tripped over
her feet by now, landed on her face, and been trampled by all the dancers herding the floor like cattle.
She didn’t take her eyes off of his swaying form until they reached the solid double doors on the
opposite side from which they’d entered. The bouncer at this door she definitely recognized, she had no
doubt he did the same in turn. He seemed to tense up in a defensive position at just her approach, and
moved to block the door even before she was within reaching distance. "Rico, nice to see that
somebody remembers me well enough to do their job." He didn’t say anything, she got flashes of his
expression as the lights darted in and out. He didn’t look happy to see her, but then his kind rarely ever
was. He was the only African-American bouncer in the bunch, Nickolei had been very picky about his
followers ethnicity. Prejudice had been another talent the bastard had mastered very well, he kept a
modern K.K.K group about him. All except for Rico, that had puzzled her, but while she’d been killing
Nickolei she’d forgotten to ask why Rico had been the exception. Oh well, some things were better left
to the unknown anyway. It didn’t matter now everything that Nickolei had been was gone, in her
opinion he had been a Nazi nightmare, that seemed like the kindest way to describe him. All the locals
on the other hand, minus Phineas, seemed to have loved him
to their own detriment.

"What’s she doing here?" Rico demanded between gritted teeth.

"Gabriel is expecting Miss Ryan, I assure you Rico I wouldn’t be so stupid as to bring her here
to you uninvited." Phineas looked back at Jennifer and gave her a wink to let her know he knew what
he was doing. It wasn’t until that moment that she realized just how much of a trap she might really be
walking into. "I wasn’t informed about it, Gabriel would have told me if he was expecting company as
dangerous as her." Rico pointed an overly dramatic finger at Jennifer then crossed his arms back over
his chest.

Jennifer watched Phineas step in very close to Rico, she wasn’t sure what exactly he’d said to
Rico to make him back down but it must have been something good because he backed out of the way
of the door to let them pass. She watched Rico glare at her for one more instant before he shoved the
door aside to let her and the other two pass. She turned back to Marcia instantly, "put your coat back
on, the less skin you show down here the better off you’ll be." What lay down this next tunnel, flooded
with black lights was monster haven. If you got yourself in trouble back there, there usually wasn’t any
coming back out. She knew from experience, and once was enough for her. After Marcia slipped back
into her coat she beckoned for Jennifer’s hand, claustrophobic, ‘right ’she’d forgotten. "Phineas, will
you please take Marcia’s hand," she asked as the double doors closed behind them and the throbbing
music and strobbing lights were shut out.

"Why," he asked suspiciously looking back at the two women.

"She’s claustrophobic and I won’t risk the loss of the use of my hand so she can hold it."

"Oh," Phineas obligingly moved to take Marcia’s hand and led them both through the tunnel.

"Lucky for you Gabriel didn't seem at all that heart broken over word of Nickolei's death,"
Phineas assured the woman next to him. With every step they took into the tunnel she seemed to huddle
closer to him as if he could protect her from the confined space. "No harm will come to Rico for it, and
somehow I doubt Gabriel had anything better to do at the moment."

"Huh, lucky us indeed, and tell us Phineas how exactly do you know what your Master is or isn’t
willing to do when it comes to consorting with the enemy?" She didn’t expect an answer not a real one,
but she was really only letting him know that she was fully aware and waiting for this trap.

"I don’t, he disappeared for a few hours earlier, but he did come back, he’s been in his office
since. There’s nothing to do back there and I haven’t seen any of Ada’s people so I assumed that he
doesn’t have any important business tonight." He said these things reassuringly enough but he couldn’t
look her in the eye when he said them either.

Jenny knew that this tunnel led down to the floor below the club, what lay beneath, Nickolei’s
own personal strip joint. On one side there was the female strippers, in a separate room were the males.
She’d had the grand tour, she hadn’t enjoyed it much then and if she had to go through it again with the
new guy she’d like it even less. She found strip clubs degrading, this particular situation she was going
into was worse. Nickolei had been a sadomasochist and he hadn’t even tried to reign his violent nature
in. Physically Nickolei had been one of the most beautiful monsters that Jennifer had laid eyes on, and
as it always seemed to be the way of it the more beautiful they were on the outside the more repulsive
and destructive they were. Only Ada managed to counter his lunacy, and that was a dangerous
combination given the amount of power she wielded as a queen among her kind.

  As they reached the end of the black tunnel she found herself holding her breath, hoping she
really didn’t have to walk through the bowls of this club again. She could already hear music blasting
through the doors, she knew the song, ‘What Kind Of Love Are You On.’ Wasn’t that just the way of
it, the monsters had a knack for choosing fitting songs.

"Remember don’t look at them," Phineas reminded them both before pushing the doors open
and leading them in.

Jenny didn’t bother glancing around, she knew the territory, girls stripping up on poles while
killers both watched and had there fill of these women. She wasn’t sure why anyone would volunteer to
work down here, given the fact that monsters taking their fill tended to leave you dead. She supposed
that strippers never showed up on milk boxes when they went missing. "Let’s get this over with,"
Jennifer said pushing Phineas and Marcia forward even though Marcia’s mouth had fallen open and she
was gawking at the scene like a horror movie before her eyes. "Don’t stare at them Marcia, it’s
dangerous."
 

 
"Why," she asked looking back at Jennifer, "they kill people down here." It was a statement,
not a question, one look around and she could see that even now people were being drained dry.

"They don’t like your kind watching them while they feed, they especially don’t like hunters
watching them." Phineas whispered to her as he let himself and her be pushed forward by Jennifer.

Jennifer shivered at how casually Phineas said feeding, she forgot some of the time that he was
one of them, that he fed on people too. It was dangerous for her to forget that but it came down to the
fact that she’d known him too long. She firmly pushed the two of them forward at a quicker pace,
Marcia couldn’t seem to help herself to watching the scene. "Let’s just get this over with Phineas so you
can tell me what I need to know and we can leave." To her surprise Phineas didn’t say anything at all,
she’d half expected him to object and try to linger in the area. As much as she didn’t want to she kept
her gaze on the onlookers that consisted of this places regulars. She didn’t trust anyone in the room not
to try and attack her, so she would have to look up and not down at the floor. They knew who she was,
and that was why she couldn’t afford not to watch them, even if she hated it. Even if just the sight of
what they did to people revolted her and she couldn’t stop them. That was the real issue, she couldn’t
stop them, where she killed just one, more showed up, and they all killed. "Where’s his office, same as
Nickolei’s?" she barely waited for Phineas to answer. She moved out from behind him and took the
lead.

"Farther down, he didn’t want the office, I don’t think he liked Nickolei’s taste very much."
Phineas tightened his grip on the woman’s hand that he held, some of the people she was gawking at
down here were getting curious. "It’s quieter in his office."

"I just bet it is, makes it so if he kills me then nobody will hear, that’s great," Jennifer looked
back at Phineas but he was frowning at her not smiling.

"I didn’t mean it like that," he claimed without hesitation.

"Of course not, which door," she already had her hand on the Beretta. She was being watched
too closely by everybody in the room not to reach for some kind of comfort.

"Jennifer I think that I should go in first."

"Which door Phineas," Jennifer demanded turning to look at him.

"You can’t just burst in on him, you don’t know what he might be doing." Phineas pleaded with
her but she didn’t care. She knew this was about the fact that it was his neck on the block, and he’d
prefer to give a formal introduction instead of barging in, but she wasn’t into giving the enemy warning.

"The door," Jennifer asked again drawing the Beretta and pointing it at the middle of Phineas’
forehead. "No more games, you tell me which door and I let you keep your head." She may or may
not really pull the trigger on him, this very second it was just a show for the rest of the back-stabbing
murderers in the room. Phineas flinched when she shoved the pistol a few inches closer, just to be
intimidating.

"The second one," Phineas answered when he caught his breath. He watched her storm over to
the door, for a horror struck second he thought she was going in to kill the new master. "Jennifer wait,"
he called taking chase after her. He’d released the other woman’s hand but she was following very
close behind him at a panicked pace. "This is dangerous, just let me go in first and let him know why
you’re here to see him."

"Let's not pretend that he doesn't already know I'm here, so just stay out of my way Phineas,"
Jennifer grabbed the handle on the door and shoved it open with enough force that it slammed against
the wall opposite. The room was devoid of anything but a few pieces of furniture, a waiting room was
what she guessed. She moved toward the door across from the one that she’d entered, Phineas caught
her before she reached the second entrance.