The Nekropolis Archives (115 page)

  We felt the deep juddery vibrations of the train's approach, heard the rattle-whoosh of its metal wheels rolling over the rails. There was no way to avoid a collision. There wasn't enough room in the tunnel for me to pull the cart out of the train's path, and we certainly couldn't turn around and outrun the damned thing, not with our tiny electric engine.

  I wondered where we were. Not Cleveland, not if we were in a subway tunnel. New York, probably. Or perhaps the Tube in London, the Métro in Paris, maybe even the Tokyo Metro. But it didn't really matter what Earth city we were occupying space with. All that mattered was when that train hit us, we would be in for two worlds' worth of hurt.

  "Varney!" I had to shout to be heard above the din of the approaching train. "Can you get both of us out of here using your travel form?"

  "I can only carry one of you at a time!" he said.

  I started to tell him to take Shamika, but she said, "Take Matt! I'll be OK!"

  Before I could protest, Shamika stood and leaped off the cart. In mid-air she separated into dozens of roach-like insects – except these sprouted tiny black wings and buzzed away. Varney's form melted into a shadowy whirlwind which grabbed hold of me, and carried me away from the cart, spinning around like an undead top. I wasn't able to see through the dark substance of Varney's travel form, not that I'd have been able to focus clearly, given the way I was spinning around, but I heard the train hit the cart with a violent crash and rending of metal. Varney kept me spinning in the air for a few moments, until the sound of the train began to diminish, then he lowered me to the ground, deposited me on my feet, and resumed his normal form beside me.

  I wasn't dizzy. Being dead, as I've said before, has some advantages. I looked around for Shamika – or rather the cloud of insects she'd transformed into – but I didn't see her. Varney and I both called her name, and when she didn't respond, I feared that she'd gotten herself splattered on the train's front, like a bug on windshield. But a moment later, the flying black bugs buzzed our way, gathered together, and flowed back into Shamika's shape.

  "I didn't know you could fly," I said. "Gregor never did that."

  She smiled. "My brother lacks imagination. I don't."

  I smiled back. "Good for you."

  "What do we do now?" Varney asked. "If Nekropolis and Earth remain merged…"

  Before he could continue, the air shimmered once more, and the tunnel resumed its previous size and the subway rails disappeared. The Underwalk had returned to normal.

  "Never mind," Varney said.

  "That was worse than last time," I said. "It lasted longer and was more solid. The next time it might be permanent."

  "I'm just glad we were in a subway tunnel," Varney said. "If we'd appeared outside during the day…" He shuddered.

  "You might think about buying some imported sunblock, just in case," I told him.

  In reply, he just frowned at me. Some people just don't know a good joke when they hear it.

  "Do you think Talaith did that?" Shamika asked.

  "Maybe. But like I've said before, I don't think she'd cast any spell that would affect the entire city. It's the Sprawl she wants to attack. I've been thinking… maybe Gregor's behind the dimensional crossovers with Earth. It could be why he's abducted the magic-users. He'd need a lot of mystical power and knowhow to pull off something that big."

  Shamika frowned. "But why would he do such a thing? Gregor
hates
Others! And from what I understand, there are
billions
of humans on Earth. I can't imagine my brother wanting to expose himself to that many people."

  I had to admit, it didn't seem in character, but I just couldn't see how Talaith could be responsible for the crossovers. I decided we'd just have to ask Gregor once we found him.

  Right before I squashed the sonofabitch like the bug he was for abducting my wife.

SIXTEEN

We passed a number of ladders leading to the surface – and the remains of several carts and their vermen drivers who had been unlucky enough to encounter the subway train – until we finally came to the ladder we wanted. That is, if I hadn't screwed up the directions Skully had given me. The ceiling light above us activated as I parked the cart, and we climbed the ladder. Just as I had at
Skully's
, I opened the trapdoor to protect Varney and Shamika from any defensive spells there might be, and we stepped into a basement. Like
Skully's
, this basement was used for storage. The big difference was what was stored here.

  Shamika looked around, frowning. "What are these things?"

  Varney and I exchanged uncomfortable glances. We both knew that Shamika only looked like a young girl, that in truth she was far older than either of us, maybe older than any being in Nekropolis – with the exception of Gregor, of course. But I still couldn't help feeling more than a little awkward at having to explain all the sex toys and S&M equipment lining the shelves around us.

  "They're, ah, recreational devices," I said lamely.

  She looked at me with too-innocent eyes. "What, you mean, like for kinky sex? Do you and Devona ever use stuff like this?"

  Varney looked as if he was trying really hard not to laugh. I ignored Shamika's question and said, "Let's go."

  We headed up the basement stairs. The door at the top of the stairs wasn't locked – with the defensive spells on the trapdoor, it didn't need to be – and we opened it easily and stepped out into a small parlor. The room was done entirely in crimson: ceiling and walls, carpeted floor, chairs, couch… all were a deep, rich red. The parlor wasn't empty, though. A naked two-headed man was on the couch servicing an equally naked woman whose mottled skin resembled a snake's. The man had a trim athlete's physique, and when I say he had two heads, I'm not referring to what sat atop his neck. His name was Richard… Richard Deux, and he was one of the most popular men on Bennie's staff for two very obvious and prominent reasons.

  The woman was too busy moaning and gyrating to notice us, but Richard looked in our direction, startled at first, but then he smiled.

  "Hey, Matt! What's up?"

  I resisted making the obvious joke. "Hey, Rich. Sorry to, uh, disturb you at work."

  As he talked, Richard continued performing his duties with energetic enthusiasm, seemingly unbothered to have an audience, even one that contained a being who appeared to be a young girl. But then, this was the
House of Dark Delights
. They got all kinds here.

  "Not a problem. I can multitask." He grinned.

  There was a soft whirr as Varney's cybernetic eye focused on the salient portions of Richard's augmented anatomy. "I can see that," he said, sounding impressed despite himself.

  Richard's grin only grew wider.

  I myself made sure to keep my gaze fixed firmly on Richard's face. "We need to talk to Bennie, Rich. It's kind of an emergency."

  "Last time I saw them, they were holding court in the lounge. I'd look there first."

  The woman's moans suddenly increased in volume and pitch.

  "Now if you don't mind, I really need to concentrate for this next part," Richard said.

  "No problem. Uh, good luck," I said, and we left through the parlor's other door. I closed the door as the woman's moans became screams of pleasure.

  Shamika looked thoughtful. "You know, I've never tried that sort of thing before. I wonder–"

  "Maybe you should wait until you grow up a little more," I said without thinking.

  She looked at me with a surprised expression for a moment, and then she smiled. "Yeah, maybe you're right."

  We headed through the
House of Dark Delights
until we came to the lounge. It was very strange to be here again, considering that my last visit had been to an alternate version of the lounge that existed in a different dimension. That lounge had been crawling with Hydes, and while this one was no less crowded, at least things were normal here. Or as normal as they ever got, I guess I should say. Clients sat at tables drinking, talking, and laughing as they impatiently waited for their appointments to begin, tried to recover from an especially vigorous session, or – for those with stronger sexual appetites and an abundance of stamina – paused for a rest between assignations. Every type of Darkfolk was represented in the crowd, along with more than a few humans. If there was one thing that Darkfolk and humans had in common, it was they both loved sex. And as we stepped into the lounge, I couldn't help thinking, who would've thought that the city's most famous brothel was also a cover for the Hidden Light?

  We found Bennie at his/her usual table, surrounded by some of the city's most famous and infamous citizens. Arvel the ghoul was there, sitting atop a titanium chair designed to hold his incredible – and grotesquely naked – bulk. The banshee pop singer Scream Queen sat next to him, occasionally fanning the air near her nose in a vain attempt to dissipate Arvel's stench. Victor Baron sat on the other side of Scream Queen, dressed casually in a long-sleeved white shirt and gray slacks, looking like the platonic ideal of a male supermodel. Overkill sat next to him; the petite mercenary smiled and gave me a nod of greeting. And next to her sat Acantha the gorgon. She pointedly avoided looking at me – at least I think so; it was hard to tell considering the wraparound sunglasses she wore – but her camera-eye head serpents hissed to let me know she was considerably less pleased than Overkill to see me. And sitting be tween Acantha and Bennie was a woman who called herself the Psychovore. I knew her only by reputation, and while she looked normal enough, supposedly she had no need to eat or drink. Instead, she subsisted off the psychic emanations of those around her. If that was true, being in the
House of Dark Delights
must've have been like an all-you-can-eat buffet for her.

  Bennie was currently female as we approached, and she gave me a grin when she saw me coming.

  "Well, if it isn't the savior of my fine establishment! Well, one version of it, at any rate. I trust my other-dimensional counterpart was suitably grateful for your assistance?"

  "You helped too," I said. "It was your antidote that did the trick. All I did was deliver it."

  I introduced Varney and Shamika, once again saying that she was Papa Chatha's niece. And then a sudden thought struck me. "Have any of you have seen Darius lately?"

  "Funny you should ask," Arvel said in his wet, bubbling voice. "We were just wondering the same thing."

  "Indeed," Victor Baron said in his mellow tenor. "We thought if anyone could shed light on the strange dimensional disturbances the city has experienced of late, it would be the Sideways Man."

  Which was what I'd realized. Great minds think alike – even if one of them was transplanted by a mad scientist and the other belonged to a walking dead man.

  "But no one's seen any sign of him since you returned from the other Nekropolis," Bennie – now a man – said. "You and Devona left abruptly for the Fever House, and in the confusion, I lost track of him. By the way, how is Devona?"

  I gave Shamika and Varney a warning glance. "Better now. Thanks for asking."

  My companions gave me looks that said they weren't clear on why I wanted to keep the truth to myself, but they went along and said nothing. It wasn't that I didn't trust Bennie and his/her tablemates. Well, I trusted Bennie, Baron, and Overkill. I didn't trust Arvel as far as I could hurl his immense bulk, and Acantha would gleefully tear me to shreds with her own hands if she got the chance. I didn't know the Psychovore, but I've always found psychic vampires to be manipulative sociopaths, and she was supposed to be the strongest psychic vampire of all. But the real reason I didn't want to tell them the truth was I wanted to avoid drawing Gregor's attention to them. I had no doubt that a number of Gregor's bugs were present in the
House of Dark Delights
, and while it was tempting to ask Bennie for help – not to mention Baron and Overkill – I didn't want to draw bullseyes on their backs. Bad enough Gregor was out to get me, Shamika, and Varney. I didn't want to add any more names to his hit list.

  "We were here when the last dimensional fluctuation occurred," Acantha said. "It was most dreadful!"

  Scream Queen nodded. "We found ourselves sharing space with a group of humans working in tiny areas separated by flimsy partitions. More nightmarish than anything you can find in Nekropolis, if you ask me, darling!"

  I couldn't help smiling. "Sounds like the lounge overlapped an office building. What you saw is something humans call a cube farm."

  "Whatever it was, I hope to Perdition I never see it again!" Scream Queen said. Her companions agreed and everyone toasted to it.

  "Why don't you and your friends sit down and join us?' Bennie – female again – asked. "You look like you can use a rest. Nothing personal. I know your job can be a bit rough on you sometimes."

  "Rough?" Acantha said. "He looks like he's been through a rusty meat grinder!"

  "If you drop on by the Foundry later, I'll fix you up," Baron offered.

  Before I could acknowledge his offer, Overkill said, "You get caught up in the war between Varvara and Talaith?"

  "I'm surprised you're not out there fighting for one side or the other," I said.

  She grinned. "No one's made me an offer yet. This girl doesn't fight for free, you know."

  "Not even if the cause is right?" I asked.

  She laughed. "Righting wrongs is your department. Mine's kicking ass and cashing a fat paycheck for it."

  "Do you have any news of the war?" Arvel asked. He gestured to the Mind's Eye screens around the lounge, all of which were displaying music videos or reruns of razorball games. "Since General Klamm ordered an information blackout, news is harder to come by than a virgin around here."

  The frustration in the ghoul's voice was palpable. Arvel owns a restaurant in the Sprawl, the
Krimson Kiss
, but in addition to being a glutton for fresh raw meat and blood, he also has an insatiable appetite for information. I've found him to be a useful source in the past, and I knew the media blackout had to be driving him nuts.