Chapter 10 #2
I was wearing my black leather pants, a cobalt blue halter top, and my black leather jacket studded with shiny hardware.
While my belt was silver colored, it wasn’t the actual metal itself, so it shouldn’t draw too much attention.
My ankle boots had three-inch heels, and I had pulled my hair into a high ponytail.
Together, Dante and I made for an intimidating couple. The less daunting you looked when you were in the Underground, the more trouble you were likely to attract.
“Come on, let’s get moving,” I said, pocketing my wallet and keys, and making sure my dagger was firmly in its sheath around my thigh.
That, as well, would offer some visual reinforcement to our fuck around and find out appearance.
I also had clipped a boot knife to my right boot, and I was carrying a canister of pepper spray, made from Carolina reapers, ghost peppers, and a mostly-illegal pepper that had been bred in South America and was used against the drug cartels.
It wasn’t lethal, but it did permanent damage to the eyes and lungs, and its use was creeping through the black markets here in the states.
Dante pocketed his wallet and keys, and he strapped a dagger to his belt. “Ready,” he said, brushing out his hair. The blonde strands looked edgy next to the black leather.
I texted Lazenti that we were on the way, and we set out, taking one of the company’s spare cars.
We had a couple old beaters that were in excellent shape beneath the hood, but they looked like junkers.
It didn’t make sense to drive a good looking car into a district populated with thieves and lowlifes.
And the district around the Underground was just that.
The two-door, ocean-blue, 1982 Chevy Impala looked old and weathered, but beneath the hood, the engine purred. I turned the ignition and we headed out, into the afternoon light which was shining a little too brightly for my taste.
“So, how are you dealing with the whole family-reunion thing?” Dante asked. He stared out the window as the city streets rolled by. Traffic wasn’t great, but the gridlock hadn’t started yet. Everybody was either back from lunch, or taking a break from their shopping.
“I’m not sure how to answer that,” I said.
“I’m not going to tell you to be careful?—”
“You know that I will,” I said. “So don’t even go there.
” I paused, then added, “It feels like things are lining up for a reason. I can’t explain what I mean, but I don’t think I was meant to meet Konstantine until now.
I don’t know why, but it just feels right.
The more Devon and Seton help me learn to accept my powers, the more my intuition seems to strengthen.
” I eased on the brakes as we approached a yellow light, then stopped to wait for the red to pass.
A group of students crossed the street in front of us—four boys and two girls, who looked scared out of their mind. They were headed in the direction of the Underground.
“The teen years are a dangerous age, where mortality seems so far away, and where carelessness feels like exploration. You think they’re headed for the Underground?” I asked.
“I do,” he said. “I think that they’re out for adventure and I just hope they don’t get in over their heads.” Dante hesitated, then asked, “Do you think we should yell at them to go home?”
“We’re old in their eyes, remember? Even if they’re shifters and older than they look, they’re young in heart and mind, and they’ll see us as curmudgeons out to ruin their fun,” I said. “It won’t do any good. We just have to hope that they don’t fuck up.”
The light turned and I shifted gears and started driving again, heading for one of the more popular entrances to the Underground.
During the 1880s, a fire swept through downtown Seattle, gutting much of it.
At the time, Seattle had been built at—or below—sea level, and a lot of the shops had flooded from time to time.
But with the fire burning through so much of the business district, the city had chosen to raise the elevation up to where the shops wouldn’t be subject to flooding.
So they built over the older parts of the city, but left them intact.
Around that time, the vampires and Supes took over and created their own city beneath the new streets, until a thriving community formed.
But the Underground was darker than Seattle’s usual countenance, and took on a dangerous air.
The upper two levels appealed to tourists, but they were carefully cultivated, and if strangers to the Underground veered off into the lower levels, they did so at their own risk.
The UnderPark was a lot near the First Street entrance, leading into the underground counterpart of Pike Place Market. Supposedly, minors were turned away, but that didn’t always hold true, and even an entrance fee didn’t discourage them.
I flipped on the alarm before locking the doors. It didn’t guarantee theft prevention, but it was so loud that it would scare away a number of thieves.
As we hurried toward the entrance—it wasn’t wise to stroll along in this area—I glanced at Dante, who was looking at his phone. “What’s up?”
“Lazenti just texted me the name of the bar. The demon’s still there, he says. Apparently, he—the demon—appears to be waiting for someone. The bar’s on level three, so we’re heading into dicey territory.”
There were at least five levels to the Underground.
The first was mostly tourist stuff—with a few generic vamp bars so that people could go home, bragging they’d been in an actual blood-bar .
They were fairly safe, and made a lot of money.
Level two held both shops and residences—the latter mostly for vamps, though some low-life Fae were allowed to live there, like goblins.
With level three, came more serious territory, where the lightest of the fetish bars began to show, along with some brothels, and other, less savory, shops.
Level four wasn’t safe for humans, or anybody the vamps, gangs, and mobsters hadn’t welcomed in.
And level five was vampire-only, intrude at your own risk.
“Level three…we’ll be okay. Though I’m surprised a demon chose that level instead of a lower one.
Most demons who live here aren’t likely to go window-shopping with grandma, you know.
” A tingle in my stomach told me I was nervous, though I didn’t want to focus on it.
The more I let my nerves get to me, the more mistakes I made.
As we paid the entrance fee and took the stairs down into the first level, the foot traffic was mild.
It would pick up later in the evening, and I found myself relieved that we had arrived in the afternoon.
I wanted to be out of the Underground by seven, if possible.
It would be good to see Lazenti, though.
We hadn’t met up face-to-face for awhile.
He couldn’t come above ground in the daytime.
The moment we entered the Underground, the mood shifted. I brought up my shields and let my instincts guide me.
The Underground was mostly made up of dark metal, cool lights, and over the top embellishment. The top two floors were for show, mostly, with shops displaying bay windows with bright displays. Lower down, the décor was darker, and the shops more secretive.
We came to the elevator—it was generally safer than the stairs—and punched the button.
“Okay, let’s go see what this demon has to say,” I said as I stepped into the car.