"I, Vampyre" - Chapter Twenty-Two

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: Infernal Machine

 

            “Hmm…‘Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here,’” I read aloud, staring up at the huge, engraved sign above the entrance.  “Sounds like the perfect motto for a Vegas casino, huh!?”

            Siren chuckled, her ponytail slapping her shoulder as she turned her head to glance back at me.  “It’s from the ‘Divine Comedy,’ Nevik… this Vorenus may be an irredeemably evil son-of-a-b***h, the mastermind of a Machiavellian plot to kill all of us and possibly overthrow the Shadow Council…”

“…but he at least has an appreciation for classic literature,” Adrianos finished, grinning at Siren even as he winced again in obvious pain.  I felt very uncouth at that moment and suddenly very self-conscious about my attire, which was ripped in about two dozen different places.  Siren must have snared that fleeting thought, because she briefly waved her nails in the air like ten remote needles… and my clothes instantly repaired themselves.

The automatic doors of the Inferno opened before us, as they would for anyone, although I knew we weren’t exactly welcome guests.  We stepped into the overly air-conditioned lobby of the hotel, which defeated the Hellish motif to a degree.  The interior décor also seemed incongruous " clouds on the ceiling in various pastel shades, the floor resembling a vast field of grass, frescos of perfectly normal (if somewhat sad-looking) people on the walls " but Siren chortled appreciatively again.

            “Limbo… the first circle of Hell, according to Dante,” she said, and Adrianos added something in Italian that I’m sure was quite profound.  Spike stared up at the ceiling, which seemed to be farther away than it really was, while Bellissima’s murderous gaze was darting every which way.  I didn’t see Makenna, which worried me quite a bit.  I thought I could smell ‘Kenna, but… I staggered around the lobby for a moment or two �" feeling like I was doing a herky-jerky version of the Monster Mash �" looking for her.  ‘Whatever happened to my Transylvania Twist?’ Siren mused in her (and my) head.

            And, suddenly, Makenna’s voice was right by my ear:  “Boo.”

I flinched, and I thought I saw a faint ripple in the air, like light was being bent around the source of her lilting voice.  ‘She’s invisible,’ Siren silently explained, and I finally relaxed a bit.  That was a useful ability to have, indeed… especially if you were walking around with an obvious weapon strapped to your waist.

“We should keep moving,” Spike suggested.  “We’re… being watched…”

“Of course we are,” I muttered.  I looked around again, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.  Just another fancy, themed hotel/casino, going about its usual business of entertaining people while working very hard to relieve them of their money.  “Let’s go.”

The five of us (plus a still-unseen Makenna) started heading for the casino proper… but, predictably, we were soon accosted by Security.  A sextet of tough-looking men " vampires, actually " wearing red uniforms with black jackets and sunglasses now stood before us.

“Where’s Vorenus??” Adrianos and Bellissima asked at the same time.  I groaned inwardly " not terribly subtle, that.  One of the vamp security guards dropped his hand to his belt, his jacket falling open.  He had some sort of a firearm in a holster, and I had a sneaky suspicion that it shot more than just regular bullets.  I also had the universal sinking feeling that anyone would feel, when he or she abruptly realized they had brought a knife to a gunfight.

“We’ll ask the questions here,” the lead security guard said.  I wordlessly begged for my mind to stop wondering if the guard’s sunglasses were meant to protect him from the explosive flash of hollow-tipped, UV-augmented silver bullets.  “What are your names!?”

“Let me handle this,” Siren said, stepping forward.  She pushed her chest out as she reached up behind her head to untie her ponytail, and her barely-there lace robe fell open quite a bit.  As her hair tumbled down in waves, it unleashed a veritable tsunami of desire… and I somehow doubted that the guards’ custom shades were Glamour-proof.  “My name’s Siren.  Why don’t you boys come take a little walk with me…?”

Siren tugged her bikini bottom down just a fraction of an inch, but the vamp guards were now officially done for.  They all followed closely behind Siren as she began to lead them back to their small satellite security office.  It wasn’t until Ad clamped a slightly palsied hand down on my shoulder that I realized I’d been starting to follow her as well, like a rat (or a child) in the thrall of the Pied Piper.

‘I’ll be just a minute, darling…’

I smiled, at first, but as Adrianos nodded, I knew he had heard her, too.  I ruminated on how Siren could call almost everyone ‘darling,’ but still make it sound like she meant it only for you… for me.

Just about a minute later, the door to the office opened.  Surprisingly, another orangey Glamour-mail spirit came shooting out of it, zipping between Adrianos and me, keening a word that sounded like ‘…Ozzz…’  Siren emerged immediately thereafter, wiping a spot of blood from the corner of her mouth.  Her grin was suddenly more like a quarter-smile, and it was heading for empty.  “He’s… on the top floor,” she said.

“Elevators,” Bellissima said, placing a sympathetic hand on Ad’s arm.  “Now.”

Bellissima, Spike, Adrianos (and, presumably, Makenna) started to walk briskly toward the casino floor.  I loitered behind for a moment, looking at Siren as I hitched a thumb in the general direction of the departed ‘G-mail.’

“Do you think she’ll come?” I asked.

“It’s worth a try,” Siren replied.  “I saw the feed from the security cameras.  Vorenus has hundreds of his Kindred here, perhaps his entire clan.”  Her hand went to the opal dangling below her neck.  “We’re going to need all the help we can get…”

            Impulsively, I reached out and grabbed Siren’s other hand.  “Promise that you’ll stay close to me,” I said.  “No matter what happens up there.  So I can… protect you.”

            Siren kissed me then.  I saw her magnificent blue-green eyes, right before she closed them.  I tasted her lips, I felt her tongue as she touched it gently against mine.  I heard her sigh, and I smelled her, a sweet scent of orchids and the infinite sea.  In that moment, I wanted to steal her away… take her so very far away, make love to her like we did a hundred years ago… leave Bellissima to her revenge, Adrianos to his cure… Spike, Makenna, each to their own fate.

            But then I remembered… a name on a scrip of paper, a bounty, the name of a vampiress, a woman, that part of me still adored.  A bigger part of me than maybe I ever even realized, until that perfect moment.  Vorenus had tried to have her killed, the b*****d… the coward.

            Siren pulled back, and then she whispered in my ear: “Let’s go have some fun.”

            We quickly caught up with the rest of our intrepid band on the main casino floor, and, despite the urgency of our mission of vengeance, we couldn’t help but gawk for a spell.  Even more of the sins/circles of Hell were on vivid display.  A strip club was the naked embodiment of lust… a steady stream of humans were displaying a preponderance of gluttony at the all-you-can-eat buffet table (they made the Russian werewolves seem like dainty eaters in comparison) … greed and envy were garishly apparent with every roll of a die, flip of a card, or yank of a slot-machine lever.

            “Come on,” Siren finally urged.  “I stole the key to the security elevator from one of those guards.”  She licked her lips.  “They were tasty, but… unsatisfying.”

            We made our way through the crowd " the opening of Dante’s Inferno seemed to be pretty ‘grand,’ indeed " and soon we were at the elevator.  Siren pulled the key out of the top of her boot… and then, Makenna reappeared, standing between us and the elevator doors, her left hand resting on the hilt of her rapier.

            “Uh, ‘Kenna, sweetie?  What’re you doing?” Spike asked, fretfully tugging on the sides of her green dress.  Bellissima cocked her head warily, and her fingers lingered near the elongated slit in her dress… near where her silver dagger was concealed, I knew.

            “I can’t do this…” Makenna said, a note of barely-contained hysteria in her voice.

            “Why NOT!?” I demanded " feeling very much the hypocrite, since I had entertained thoughts of flight scant minutes ago.  I realized what she was going to say next just before the words come forth; it all made a sudden, terrible sense… the silver rapier… her supernatural speed… the invisibility…

            “Vorenus is my SIRE!” Makenna wailed, ruby tears shining in the corners of her blue-topaz eyes.  She pulled her hand away from the grip of her sword.  “I… I won’t try to stop you… but I can’t help you anymore…”

            I opened my mouth, even though I wasn’t quite sure what I meant to say… but it was a moot point anyway.  ‘Kenna closed her eyes as she dissolved into white mist, which then turned invisible.  Just like that, she was gone.

            We all just stared at each other for a moment or two, not sure what to do or say in response to Makenna’s sudden exit.  Adrianos opened his mouth, as if he would be the one to finally break the suffocating silence " but all that came out of him was a gagging gurgle, as blood so dark-red it was almost black spilled out of his mouth and down his chin.  It was yet another grim reminder, of his ever-fading undeath… and of a ticking clock.

            “Siren… the key,” Bellissima said, nodding toward the elevator as she reached down to her inner thigh and drew her trustworthy dagger.  An elderly human couple came around the corner, the woman with a giant cupful of coins in each hand and bragging about her good fortune.  Belli gave them a glare so abundant with Glamour, it probably turned their brains to scrambled eggs; the old woman dropped her hard-won treasure and did a zombie-like about-face, her partner nearly tripping on rolling quarters as he stumbled after her.

            Siren put her key in the lock below the ‘UP’ button, which illuminated as she mashed it firmly with her thumb.  The doors to the elevator slid silently open, and we all piled in, Adrianos drooped over Spike, with Bellissima helping to hold him up as well.

            I looked at the panel… apparently this was an express elevator, because there were only two buttons: a ‘G,’ and a ‘9.’  I frowned, doubting that the ninth floor would also be the top floor.  Siren’s chuckle was darkly comedic as she ‘heard’ my thought.

            “The Ninth Circle of Hell… treachery,” she explained. “How apropos.  Push it, Nevik.”  So I did, and we rapidly began to ascend.

            I wouldn’t have thought it possible to convert the rousing classical piece ‘Mars: Bringer of War’ into Muzak… and yet, there it was.  In stark counterpoint to the bombastic overture, Spike was whispering softly to Adrianos, and Bellissima seemed to be speaking in a nearly inaudible hush to her dagger.

            The elevator continued to rise.  A tiny black hemisphere on the ceiling of the cab obviously hid a camera, and it occurred to me that we were riding in a deathtrap.  If Vorenus had any idea that were coming, and wanted us eliminated, it wouldn’t be too hard to take us all out in one fell swoop.

            “He does know we’re coming,” Siren declared.  I heard a muted whimper from Spike, and, as I glanced over my shoulder, I saw a fell smirk snake its way across Belli’s face.  Siren grimaced like she was suffering from an intense headache.  “I can already pick up some of his thoughts, but… it’s strange… it’s almost like I’m hearing it in stereo…

            “But he doesn’t want us dead,” she continued, squinting her eyes shut as she rubbed her temples.  “Not yet, anyway.”  And just as I put my arms on her shoulders to comfort her, the cab shuddered to a stop.  Siren’s eyes flickered back open.  “We’re here.”

            The elevator doors slid apart, and, turning around, I immediately doubted Siren’s assertion that Vorenus didn’t want us dead and gone… seeing as how there was a quartet of his vampiric guards in the revealed hallway, pointing their guns at us.

            For a split-second, I thought maybe their weapons fired some sort of noxious gas, since a red cloud of mist appeared and almost entirely enveloped us.  But then Bellissima coalesced, and all it took was four savage swipes of her dagger for the threat to be… ‘neutralized.’

            “This way,” Belli growled, striding down the hall toward a distant double-door.  The silver scorched the tip of her tongue as she licked the blood from the blade.  “I can smell Vorenus’s treacherous stink.”  I followed right behind her " stepping over the corpses now at our feet " then Siren, and finally Spike, who was half-leading/half-dragging Adrianos.

            For some reason, I expected instant destruction with every step.  Maybe the sprinklers in the ceiling would start spouting holy water… perhaps the paintings " classic depictions of Dante Alighieri himself, on his epic journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven " would fall off the walls, revealing a firing squad shooting silver- and wooden-bullets… or maybe the dim lamps would suddenly brighten a thousand-fold, turning ultraviolet, nearly equaling the light of the sun.

            But none of that happened.  Bellissima reached the double-doors, unharmed, the rest of us close behind, and she splintered the heel of her shoe as she kicked them open.  An amused laugh emanated from within the very large, oval-shaped room beyond.

            We passed through the doorway… to face our fates, each to their own.

 

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