armor of magic 02 - rising light (8 page)

He had the gall to laugh. “Sweet girl, I
own
the media.”

“Not on the West Coast. Or the internet. And once the story hits, it’ll go viral. Even your controlled media won’t be able to spin it. Sure, you’ll survive, but your
refined
reputation will be a bit soiled, wouldn’t you say?”

I paused there, letting my words sink in. I was banking on Rocco’s earlier assessment of vampires being unbelievably vain. I figured the head vampire would have enough vanity to give the threat some weight, as absurd as it seemed.

Lucius folded his hands neatly on his desk. He assessed each one of us momentarily, and then smiled. “Let me consider your proposal. Let’s regroup in the lobby at 6 a.m.”

Rocco stood next to the door. “No. Not your turf. You can come to The Plaza.”

“Fine, Detective. The Palm Court room at 6 a.m.”

We left IP Montgomery and headed back to the hotel. I couldn’t help but think that went
way
too smoothly. Something in my gut didn’t feel right.

Back in our suite, Rocco stretched out on the couch, while Julian kicked back and turned on the television. And I had a secret meeting with a stinky hybrid in the Meatpacking District.

thirteen

When I stepped out into the brisk New York night, a chill brushed over me. I had lied to Julian and Rocco about going out to get some donuts to help with the annoying cramps I didn’t have. I didn’t like lying, but that hybrid douchebag Cosby had instructed me to show up alone. Sure, I was doing my own thing again, but I couldn’t just let my best friend be held prisoner in some high-end escort service. Who knew what her succubus sister was forcing her to do just so they could stay protected from Cagliostro? I swore if Lilith had compromised Charlotte in any way, I’d personally hand her over to Cagliostro.

The cabbie dropped me off in front of what looked more like a warehouse than a club. Scantily dressed people, demons, warlocks, and who knows what else, stood in a line that snaked around the entire building and down the block. Among the supernatural, there were “normals” sprinkled throughout. They might’ve been human, but judging from the miscreant vibe and icky scent I was getting, most of them had gone bad, like expired milk.

I wasn’t going to wait in that ridiculous line, so I tapped my helmet, cloaking myself, and slipped right past the hulking bouncers.

Inside The Graveyard, the cacophony of heavy metal blared at deafening levels, and everyone shouting over the music didn’t help. I still hadn’t mastered dialing down the sensory input on my helmet. This was going to be a bit more challenging than I was anticipating.

The venue’s massive structure held hundreds of clubbers, most thrash-dancing in the middle of the place. They had really gone all out with the graveyard theme, using headstones for chairs, and the VIP rooms along the periphery were actual mausoleums. Barren trees with sharp branches were dispersed about the space. And high above, there was a round white light illuminating the room like a full moon. On each of the tables sat antique candelabras. An eerie fog settled over the floor. They kept the place cold. Like meat locker cold.

Before de-cloaking myself, I scanned the place for Cosby. Lots of black leather and fishnet stockings, spiky heels and chains. Bodies pressed up against each other, gyrating to the music. I spotted the stumpy hybrid slouched at one of the bars in the corner farthest away from the door. No doubt intentionally. I’d have a long jaunt to the exit if anything were to go wrong. Even with my magical boots, who knew what these motley supernatural thrash goths were capable of? Also, I was
slightly
outnumbered.

I sat on the empty stool next to Cosby and tapped my helmet, de-cloaking. “Hey.”

He jumped a bit. “Don’t sneak up on people like that!”

“First of all, you’re no person. Second of all, only those who are hiding something think people are sneaking up on them.” I waved over the bartender and ordered a shot of vodka.

“I wouldn’t drink that if I were you,” he warned.

“It’s not for me. It’s for you.” I shoved the shot glass in front of him.

“I don’t drink,” he murmured.

“Look, can we get down to business? I want you to write the address of the escort service on that cocktail napkin, and I’ll be on my merry way.”

He stood up. “Not yet. I want you to see something.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you, shorty.”

Ignoring me, Cosby walked toward one of the sinister mausoleums and opened the door, staring back at me. I rolled my eyes, grabbed the cocktail napkin and joined him.

“You try to pull any vampire-demonic crap, I’ll cut you in half,” I warned him as we stepped into the small room.

The semi-circle booth made of shiny red leather took up half the space. Once my eyes adjusted to the scarce light coming off the candles, I noticed Charlotte hunched over in the booth. I squeezed into the seat and lifted her chin. Her brown puppy dog eyes were glazed over and not able to focus on anything. And she looked like shit. Her skin was ashen and she had deep shadows under her eyes.

“What did you do to her?” I yelled, sliding out of the booth and shoving Cosby up against the door, holding my sword against his throat.

“I didn’t do anything, Miss Farrow. Diamond has her under a spell, using the powers of the Sacred Scroll combined with an ancient vampiric incantation.”

“Why would he do that to Charlotte?”

“He’s using her as collateral to keep Lilith in check. In exchange for his protection, he’s commissioned Lilith to lure high-level players into the escort service. She draws them in, Diamond gets them to divulge trade secrets, and then he blackmails them. Sometimes he kills and bleeds them for sport.”

Charlotte looked vacant and hollow, as if her entire essence had been drained from her body. Lucius was sucking blood, money
and
souls. I needed to save my friend. I could’ve killed Lilith for getting her into this mess.

I pressed my sword harder into Cosby’s neck. “Let’s say this is true, why are you telling me this?”

“Diamond is doing a purge, getting rid of those he
thinks
oppose his ‘big plans’ to gain more power. My name’s on the list,” he said.

I laughed. “There’s a list?”

“A long one. He’s even murdered some of his most trusted escorts who were trying to get out of the business. Funny part is, I
was
on Diamond’s side. I was committed to him. But he’s gotten paranoid and dangerous. I don’t want to die, Miss Farrow.” He stared deep into my eyes. “I need you to capture him. He needs to be taught a lesson.”

“I have no incentive to help you, hybrid. So, I’m gonna go ahead and leave with my friend. Good luck with the whole boss revenge plot.”

I edged over to the booth and tried to pull Charlotte out, but she screeched like a bat and clawed at me, slicing a decent-sized gash across my cheek.

“Taking her with you isn’t a good idea,” Cosby said.

“Yeah, no shit. What’s this spell? Can you break it?”

“We can’t do anything without the Sacred Scroll.”

I could see where Cosby was going with this whole thing. “And I suppose you know where that is?”

“Perhaps …”

I was growing bored with the passive aggressive hybrid. “And let me guess, you’ll tell me where it is if I promise to capture Diamond for you?”

Cosby smirked, the reek of bologna growing stronger. The gloating prig had all the leverage now.

“That sounds about right,” he said. “After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

“Let’s get one thing straight: we are
not
friends. We’ll never be friends. This girl right here, she’s my friend. You’re an evil nobody with a lame vendetta.”

“Fair enough. But if you want to help your friend, you’ll need to get that Scroll, and I can tell you where it might be.”

I was beyond irritated, being forced into making a deal with a vampire-demon hybrid who smelled like bologna. I glanced over at Charlotte. “Fine. What’s next, then?”

“You capture Lucius Diamond, you’ll get the Scroll.”

“How’s that?”

“The Scroll is always on him. He never goes anywhere without it.”

“So, why wouldn’t I just capture him, take the Scroll and leave the city with Charlotte? Why do I need you?”

Once again with the evil smirk. “Diamond will never tell you how to break the spell. But I will.”

Touché.

I never would’ve guessed the smarmy hybrid had it in him, but he had me cornered with no wiggle room. “So you’re suggesting I just snatch up the king of the vampires and bring him to you? Can’t I just slay him for you and be done with it?”

Cosby shook his head almost frantically. “No. No. You must keep him alive.”

“Not my first choice, but if that’s what it will take to break the spell, fine by me. You can have the bastard. Any tips on how to capture the all-powerful vampire?”

“Silver,” he said.

fourteen

I made it back to The Plaza sometime after midnight. Julian and Rocco were still hanging out in the living room of the suite. Rocco was sipping a scotch on the rocks, and Julian was flipping through a fashion magazine.

“Look who’s back,” Rocco said.

I tossed a box of donuts onto the coffee table and plunked down on the couch. “Why are you still up? We have a big morning ahead of us.”

“I was waiting for those donuts,” Rocco said.

“I got a little sidetracked, but I have some good news.” Neither seemed to care. Who could blame them? I wasn’t exactly being a team player. “Okay, I guess if you’re not interested …” I grabbed the box of donuts and headed to my bedroom.

“Wait!” Rocco said.

Julian sat up a little straighter. “Yeah, just chill out. We’re interested. But dude, seriously, you gotta stop going rogue on us.”

Hearing the word
rogue
made my heart leap, thinking about Asher and how he had gone rogue from the Monarchy and was now being held somewhere, awaiting trial. I really missed him, but this was no time to get all maudlin and sentimental. I’d find him when this mess was cleaned up. In fact, I’d
make
Ezra take me to him as payment for retrieving the Scroll.

I sat back on the couch and took a sip of Rocco’s scotch; the burn coursed down my throat to my stomach. “You’re not gonna like it, but I’ll be straight with you guys. Just promise me you won’t get pissed.”

Julian shrugged; he didn’t have an angry bone in his body. But Rocco scrunched his face and cocked his head. “I ain’t makin’ no promises.”

“Okay, whatever. The Scroll is on Diamond; he never goes anywhere without it.” So far, they both looked calm, so I continued. “We capture Diamond, nab the Scroll and bring him to a place called The Graveyard for a trade.”

“A trade for what?” Rocco grabbed a glazed donut and devoured it in two bites.

“We hand him over to a hybrid vampire named Cosby.”

“Dude, I was with you until the part about the hybrid,” Julian said.

Rocco glared at me. “If we get the Scroll, why do we need to make a trade? Why don’t we just waste Diamond and be done with it? Who’s this Cosby character?”

“I need him to break the spell Diamond cast over Charlotte.”

Rocco folded his arms across his chest, his leather jacket bunching up around his huge biceps. “You’re serious?”

I nodded.

“This is about that girl?” He drank back the rest of his scotch.

“She’s not just a girl. She’s my best friend and the only family I have left at the moment. She’s innocent and a healer. We need more Charlottes in this world.” I bit down on my lip to keep from getting too emotional.

“So, we nix our plan to use the story as leverage?” Rocco asked.

“The more I thought about it, the more I realized Diamond will
never
give us the Scroll. I don’t care how vain he is. If he has the Scroll, he thinks he can do anything, including fixing his reputation. He’s probably making a plan to destroy us tomorrow morning. Look, I don’t want to work with the hybrid either, but this is the only way to get Charlotte back safely.”

Rocco leaned against the couch, rubbing his temples. “And how do you propose we capture Diamond? With a friggin’ net?”

“Silver.”

Rocco let out a howl of laughter, slapping Julian’s shoulder. “You hear that, kid? Silver.”

Julian polished off his bear claw, licking his fingers. “Dude, we’re gonna need a
lot
of silver.”

“I know just the place,” I said.

When I was heading back to The Plaza from the club, I had searched the darknet for methods on using silver to capture a vampire without killing it. I found a “reputable” site with specific instructions and locations on where to score a bunch of silver.

“We have about four hours to make this happen, so enough with the donuts and let’s go.”

fifteen

We took a cab to Chinatown. Though it was a little after 2 a.m., the streets were packed with people walking along about their business or filing into the open-all-night restaurants. The streets were lined with one place to eat after another; their neon signs stretched for blocks. Many of the streets were decorated with strings of lanterns dangling overhead. It made San Francisco’s Chinatown seem tame, which it isn’t.

The three of us walked down Broadway and took a street that led to Cortlandt Alley—a dark and foreboding walkway that had probably seen its fair share of seedy shit. We crept through the alley wedged between red-brick buildings that were covered in graffiti. The overflowing trash cans added to the overall unpleasantness. And though we wore our Armor, I felt anxious strolling through the murky underbelly of Chinatown after hours.

“This place looks familiar,” Julian whispered, seeming a little freaked out.

“They’ve shot a lot of Hollywood type shit here,” Rocco said.

“Dude! Yes! They totally shot a video for Vampire Weekend in this alley.” Julian’s mood went from apprehension to excitement in two seconds flat, but I was still nervous.

I tried to be cool about the whole thing. “Well, I guess that’s a little ironic,” I joked.