The Den (15 page)

Tonight the bar had been cleared out early as well.  It had to be closed.  Steve was not there to cover while the others practiced their exercises.  If James were going to take part, there was no one to watch the bar.  The chef always left at 2 a.m., and then the inhabitants of the den would be alone.

Peter and James sat at the bar with the books in front of them.  Peter peered over James’ shoulder. 

“I got it,” James said. 

Peter said, “I know.  Just want to keep things consistent on all levels.” 

Then they both turned because they could hear Alex coming.  His thoughts were loud.  He was warning them that Skyla was with him.  She was eager to see everyone in private, while the bar was closed.  
She is ready.  I have a feeling
. 

“Ha!”  James said out loud.  “What does he even know about it?”

“He knows her pretty well now,” Peter said without hiding his smirk.

James jumped at Peter and held him up by his throat.  Peter’s feet dangled.

“They won’t last long.  Say it!” ordered James.

Peter nodded as he kicked at James.  James put him down, and Peter fell to the floor.  James towered over him for a moment and then reached a hand down to help him back up.

“They won’t last long,” James repeated in a whisper.

“We will see,” Peter said, holding his throat. 

James glared at Peter but did not threaten him again.

“You can’t even get close to her without it resulting in her turning white and fainting.  She has some strange guard up for you, my friend.  Maybe she is more aware than we know,” Peter said.

“Steve found her when she was 7.  One of the witch sisters had helped him track her down.  I have been trailing her all over since then.  I think I know her best of all,” James hissed through his teeth.

A solitary knock ended the exchange.  James hoped Alex had heard what he had just said.  Alex knocked again, three times in a row.  

Peter smiled as he unlocked the big wooden door.  He swung the door outward to let them in.  Skyla was surprised that the inside of the bar remained so cool and damp.  Outside, the night air felt sweltering hot.  She might need her little sweater in here after all.  The bar smelled like stale beer.  She resented having to enter.   Alex placed his hand on her lower back and gave her a little push.

“Hi.  Are we interrupting?” Alex asked Peter.  If Alex had heard the conversation between Peter and James, he gave no indication of it.

James answered on Peter’s behalf, “No.  You are just in time.  Lucy is calling us right now.”

Skyla was frozen in the doorway.  She could not move.

“Skyla, are you ready to join in our exercises?”  James turned his eyes on her.

“I am ready,” she managed to say as she looked down at her feet. 

Alex had told Skyla she could see what Steve’s Place was all about.  He hoped she would be able to handle it.  Skyla would certainly make a bold attempt.  She made a mental note to be more accepting of James.  Perhaps she had misjudged him.  Maybe his negative energy was related to his awful childhood.  She assumed he had had an awful childhood.  Why else would he be living here with the others?  They all seemed to have had such sad endings to their earlier lives. 

Maybe growing up in a college town hadn’t been so bad.  Skyla had always felt like an outsider, but at least she’d had her mother and her best friend, Brooke.  She hadn’t had to grow up orphaned and sleeping in a makeshift den.

James noticed the change in Skyla’s demeanor.  He grabbed her hand and escorted her behind the bar and down the stairs.  There was an immediate physical reaction to his touch.  Skyla heard loud ringing in her ears and felt tingling in the fingers of the hand he held. She ignored it and focused on the stairs.  She concentrated as each foot landed on a step, taking her lower into the depths of the den.  The den was lighted so beautifully.  There were white candles set up in a circle on the floor.  The different colors on each wall made it look like Christmastime.  The green wall was behind Alex’s old bed.  Across the room the purple wall was behind Lucy’s cot.  Mara’s red wall stood at the far end and gave the room a really cozy feeling.  Two other beds lined the wall on the left.  These beds were closest to the stairs.  They belonged to Peter and James, and they were pushed up against a sapphire-colored wall.  It looked as if jewels were sparkling around the den. 

Skyla’s head started to spin just as James sat her gently on the floor.  He sat between Skyla and Mara.  Mara looked up and smiled at Skyla, but it wasn’t a friendly smile.  Skyla couldn’t quite understand what it meant.  The others joined them in the circle.  The white candlelight bounced off the ceiling and onto the pale faces and white teeth.  Things became very clear all of a sudden.  She looked back at Mara.  No.  It wasn’t a smile, but the sides of her mouth were turned up over her teeth—over her very pointy teeth. 

Skyla turned to look at Alex, who sat on her left. 
Does Mara have fangs?
 
Is it possible I never noticed before?

Just then Alex smiled.  In the dancing light, his teeth looked quite white and pointy, too. 

“We’ve all got them done,” answered Alex.

“Got them done?” breathed Skyla.

“Yes,” said Mara.  “Right before our eighteenth birthday, we visit the Dark Salon off Bourbon Street to get personally fitted with our own pair.  They look so natural.  Look, mine are retractable.  It is the newest thing.”

Mara moved her tongue to the roof of her mouth and her fangs disappeared.  She leaned over James, who was sitting cross-legged between them, and looked right into Skyla’s face.  With a click of her tongue, the fangs came down again.  Skyla jumped.  Mara smiled.  Mara was obviously quite proud of her new fangs. 

“You can’t even tell, right?  I don’t have a lisp or anything.  I just love them.  I have them in all the time and no one even knows.  I told Lucy she just has to replace hers,” said Mara.

“Mine are just fine,” Lucy said.  “I wear them all the time and no one notices either.  They are very subtle. I don’t have to worry about that bulky mouthpiece.  Don’t you think my teeth are pretty, Skyla?”  Lucy leaned in from across the circle and smiled.  “Skyla?” she repeated.

“Um.  It is true.  I never noticed until right now,” Skyla said.  She looked toward Alex again.  She was afraid to look at his teeth.  Was it possible to kiss someone over and over and never know he had fangs?

Alex smiled.  His lips pulled back to reveal a perfect pair of canine teeth.  They weren’t too pointy, but as Skyla leaned closer, she could see that they were, in fact, fangs. 

“Those are fangs?”  Skyla asked him.

“I guess I do need to get them replaced. They are getting a bit dull, but they fit so perfectly.  I never even know I have them in until it is time to brush my teeth.  You never even noticed, and you have been up close and personal to them,” he said as he shrugged against her shoulder playfully.

Skyla blushed.  Then she thought that was a strange reaction to have.  She looked around the room and it hit her.  She was sitting in on some ritual.  She was sitting between two men with fangs.  She began to shake.  She tried to control it, but she couldn’t.  Her body was trembling so much that her own teeth began to chatter.  She couldn’t move her legs, and her arms were frozen at her sides.  The sounds of the basement began to echo in her ears.  A chuckle came from the right.  It was probably Mara, she thought.  James grabbed her arm to shake her lightly, and a charge went through Skyla that left her feeling cold instead of hot.  It felt as if she had been submerged in a tub of ice water.  Suddenly, she was out of the circle.  Alex had carried her to his cot.  He held her and rocked her on his lap.  Her head bobbled back and she noticed the emerald tones bouncing off his wall.

“Snap out of it, Skyla!  No one is going to hurt you.  You are one of us.  You are just going to sit and meditate with us.  Nothing can happen to you unless you want it to happen.  We are ordered not to harm you in any way.  We are ordered to protect and teach you.”  Alex spoke slowly and deliberately.  He searched her face for recognition.

Skyla tried to lift her head.  Alex helped.  She looked over at the circle.  Everyone did seem friendly and concerned.  Lucy slowly rose to her feet and left the circle.  She walked over to the cot, sat down next to Alex, and faced Skyla.  Lucy tenderly took Skyla’s hands and held them in her own.  She smiled a bit and showed her fangs. 

“It is all right,” Lucy said when Skyla gasped.  “I just want to show you what they are.”  Lucy popped one of the pointy teeth out and turned Skyla’s hand over.  She placed it in the overturned hand.  “It is just a veneer.  They are specially fitted and real comfortable.  Actually, if you look closely, you can see lots of people around here are wearing them.  It is kind of fun, right?”

Skyla did not respond.

“Now everyone is getting the retractable ones like our own little trendsetter, Mara.”  Lucy looked over her shoulder and gave a little nod to Mara.  Mara rolled her eyes.  “They are not that noticeable, so you really have to look.  It doesn’t mean that everyone you see with fangs is one of us, though.  Lots of people just do it for fashion.  They don’t practice like we do.” 

She took her tooth and popped it back in.  She rubbed Skyla’s hands to try to warm them and then leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek.   She lingered for a moment, looking into Skyla’s eyes.  Without thinking, Skyla leaned up and kissed Lucy on the lips in return.  Then she leaned back onto Alex, stunned at her own forwardness.  Lucy smiled.

“Leave her to watch with me,” said Alex.  “You can get started.”

Lucy returned to the circle and said, “Let us begin.”

Lucy lighted some incense and placed it in the middle of the circle.  It smelled like patchouli and lilac and something else.  The smell wafted through the room and caused Skyla’s head to spin.  She concentrated on her breathing. She grew calmer—calm enough to join the group.  Skyla stood up, holding Alex’s hand tightly.  Together they walked over to the circle.  They got back into their original places.  Skyla had her back to the stairs, and Alex sat to her left.  James sat to Skyla’s right, with Mara at his side.  Lucy sat directly across from Skyla.  Peter completed the circle, sitting on Alex’s left.

Skyla tried to pay attention, but it was like a dream.  Everything was a bit blurry, and the skipping candlelight gave the room an underwater feel.  The red wall behind Mara’s bed was directly in front of Skyla.  It seemed to move in waves.  Some parts of it looked crimson, while large spots where the light shone appeared to be a bright pink.  For the moment it was so silent that Skyla had the feeling that she could sleep like the dead here.  She shivered at the thought.  She bravely closed her eyes, and the silence engulfed her mind and body.  She felt a rush of icy air over her face.

Skyla opened her eyes to see James leaning over her.  He blew his breath on Skyla’s face again.  Skyla became very alert.  Her senses tingled.  She could smell the lilacs’ pungent fragrance along with the patchouli.  There was also the bit of roses she had missed.  The kitchen door swung in as a mysterious breeze passed through.  Into the room rolled a swirling aroma of burned sugar and dirt.  Her fingertips tickled.  It was a strange sensation and she rubbed them against the concrete floor.  She felt the rough bumps that remained after years of painting and repainting the surface.  She noticed it was cool on her backside and legs.  The clay color reminded her of the soil that had peeked out from under the vegetation on the road trip from New York.  The drive seemed to have happened a very long time ago.  She got the sensation, once again, that New Orleans was now her home.  The car ride with Alex seemed to have happened to another person:  A character in a storybook who lived in a land far, far away. 

James beamed at Skyla’s total absorption in her surroundings.  He could sense that she was coming back to him.  He had missed her so very much.  He glided his hand down her cheek, watching as the cool touch sent goose bumps down her arms.  

Skyla smiled in spite of herself.  She looked around the circle at the others.  They all sat cross-legged inside the circle of candles.  The incense sent a little flow of smoke up from the center.  She glanced at Alex from the corner of her eye.

Alex sat apprehensively on Skyla’s left.  It was so comforting to be back at the den.  He could feel its energy engulfing him.  A deep part of his soul stayed alert.  This piece of himself wanted his Skyla to stand up and walk out.  He prayed for it silently in his head.  Maybe she would reject the meditations.  He would protect her from the others.  They would run away together. 

A plan started to form in Alex’s head.  He was careful to stay closed off.  He didn’t look at the others.  He didn’t want them to know his scheme. 

Skyla looked to Lucy, but Lucy had her eyes fixed on Alex.  She was deep in thought.  The light reflected off the gold specks in her light brown hair and illuminated her face.  Skyla looked to the spot where Mara sat.  Their gazes met.  Skyla suddenly grew very tired. 

Exhaustion set in quickly.  It was the same lethargy that had engulfed her the first night she’d spent with Alex.  It drained all her energy, and her head began to beat and pound.   Skyla remembered having had this same headache the day she came to New Orleans.  Alex had caused this pain, too.   Yvette’s words rose out of her subconscious and rattled to the surface to ring in Skyla’s ears. 

Skyla blurted, “You are stealing my energy.” 

There was a low chuckle.  Skyla shifted and swiveled from side to side but failed in her attempt to find the source of the laughter.  She was momentarily blinded as James put his cold hands over her face.  She felt better instantly.  When he removed his hands, she saw that he was grinning at her.  His eyes were very dark.  She was swallowed up in their abyss for what seemed to be only a moment but could have been much longer. 

Lucy clapped her hands, and everyone, including Skyla, looked to the middle of the circle.  Skyla grasped that the … ceremony was meant to be quiet and peaceful.  All joined hands and sat soundlessly for some time.