Crimson Veil

Chapter 12

“Fuck! Roz, are you all right?” I scrambled in the darkness that followed the fiery blast. The magical flames had exploded, then burned out within seconds, as frozen rain pelted the hall through the darkness.

“Roz! Rozurial!” Camille and Delilah were calling his name, too, but there was no answer. A moment later and the foxfire suddenly blossomed into view again, lighting the area. Morio was focusing on it, and the flames kept growing until there were several of the lights dancing around us.

“I don’t see him anywhere.” Smoky raised his hands and the sleet began to die down. “Is he on the ground? Did he fall?”

“I don’t know! Did you cause the storm?” Camille turned to him.

“Yes. When I saw the flames engulf him, I did the only thing I could think to do in order to smother them.” Smoky was about to say something else when a force slammed past me, into Delilah. She flew back, as if whatever it was had punched her in the stomach. As she landed on her butt, up against the wall of the passage, a low laughter echoed along the hallway.

“That’s not demonic. I can’t sense demon anywhere.” Camille grabbed for Morio’s hand. “Ghost?”

I was about to say, “What else?” when Tanne sprang forward.

He pushed us to the side. “I know what it is! Let me through to face it.”

Reaching up, he clasped an amulet that was hanging around his neck, and fell into a soft whisper—again, a tune that was as magical as the chant he was invoking. The rush of power that surrounded him was immediate, and dark, and felt like predatory dogs on our heels. In fact, I thought I could hear the baying of a hound—not a wolf—but some large dog, hungry for blood.

“What the fuck—” Camille started, but then fell silent.

Morio stared at Tanne. “I know what you are.” His words were soft, but I caught them, and Camille did, too, by the look on her face.

Delilah and Smokey were working their way along the side of the wall, trying to sneak behind Tanne and whatever the fuck it was he had engaged. If they could make it through, they could check on Roz.

Tanne started backing up, but he didn’t look afraid. No, he was fishing—luring the thing toward him. As he coaxed the thing toward him, it began to materialize and take shape. What had been a misty field, a ripple in the air, now formed into a dark, winged shape, slowly moving forward. Its wings were arched, oddly reminding me of a spider’s jointed legs. The creature looked like a miniature dragon, only bony, murky, and blurred. Its eyes glowed, a neon green that bordered on blinding, and they were focused on Tanne.

He continued to sing—whatever the invocation was, it seemed to be mesmerizing the thing. As he drew it away from the door, Smoky and Delilah were able to slip past and inside.

I glanced at Tanne, wondering if he wanted us to attack, but until he gave the word, I wasn’t going to interfere. Morio and Camille were holding hands, and I had the feeling they were prepping a spell.

As Tanne backed it down the hallway, I glanced over at the door. Relief swept through me as I saw Smoky emerge with a soot-covered Rozurial. He looked a little shaken, but was on his feet. The next moment, Tanne raised one hand and began drawing a rune in the air—his fingers leaving a trail of glowing light behind them as they traced the sigil. I had no clue what spell he was casting but it looked like nothing I’d ever seen before, curled and coiling, with smooth, rounded strokes rather than angular.

A moment later and the creature froze, hanging in midair. Tanne held his hand steady, keeping the rune alight.

“Attack now, while it’s paralyzed. Hurry—it can be attacked with silver or death magic.” His voice echoed through the hall.

That left me out, but Delilah immediately readied Lysanthra, and Roz pulled out a short blade from his duster o’ weaponry. But before they could move in, Morio and Camille held out their hands, a purple flame encircling them—they were the hub in a wheel of crackling electrical fire.

They moved forward, hand in hand, until the edge of the flames was just on the outskirts of the creature. Then, with a loud “Mordente elektris!” they surged forward, engulfing it with their spell. A loud crackling filled the air, then the sound of shattering as the smell of ozone filled the hallway. A moment later, the winged beast shattered into dust and vanished, as soot showered the floor. The flame vanished, and we all stood there staring at the powder that dusted the hall.

“First things first, Roz, are you okay?” I turned to him, eyeing him up and down. “You hurt?”

He shook his head. “Nothing a little ice and balm won’t cure. I was lucky, though. Any more and the rest of the fire bombs I’m carrying would have exploded on me. Then I would be looking at hospital time.”

“What was that thing?” Delilah poked at a pile of the shattered cremains.

Tanne shook his hands, as if to shake off excess energy. “A daeflier. The creatures are from the Subterranean Realms, and although they are not daemonic—or demonic—by nature, they are vile tempered and enslaved by daemons and demons to be guardians. It was a sentinel, placed here to guard against anyone going in that basement. They can only be harmed by silver and death magic. Fire—actual flame—will empower them. Ice and water won’t faze them. Physical attacks—unless made with silver—just bounce off.”

Silver had a natural ability to both harm and repel a number of demonic creatures, including myself. Vampires, incubi, succubi, we were all considered minor demons, and while we hadn’t been conscripted to the Sub-Realms along with all the other demons, we were still affected by the essence of the metal. Each metal had an elemental energy to it, a primal force that was considered a god by some people, and each of those forces had its own attributes. Silver hated demonic energy and could bite it. Badly. Just like unalloyed iron hated the Fae.

“Then we are on the right track. If Lowestar is using the tunnels beneath this building and in the area to hide where he’s keeping his slaves, then it makes sense that he would use the—you called them daefliers?”

Tanne nodded. “Yes.”

“Then it makes sense he would use the daefliers to guard the way. He’s a daemon, after all. But… do you think there are more, and what can they do to us?” I glanced at the door, nervous. I had nothing to use against these critters. And I had no clue how many times Morio and Camille could cast their spell without draining their energy.

Tanne shrugged. “As to whether there are more, I cannot tell you. It depends on how much he values his operation. I suppose, we have to be prepared for the possibility. Therefore, let me go in front with you. I can hold them. As far as what they can do to you? You saw the blast—that was no trap. That was the daeflier. They can be lethal, and they have claws that can rip open the aura and let the life force bleed out.”

“Lovely. Just what we need.” I motioned to the others. “Regroup.”

We shifted positions, and then Morio cast another foxfire spell and we headed into the open door.

The doorway led to a stairwell, leading both up and down. We, of course, chose the downward route, though Roz silently slipped up a half a flight to scope out whether anybody—or anything—was waiting on the upper level. After a few tense seconds, he returned, shaking his head.

Tanne and I in the lead, we headed down the steps. They were wide, like most stairwells, and the steps were smooth, concrete, with a solid railing. Each level ran two flights deep, each flight turning back on itself. Unlike a spiral staircase that was open, we couldn’t see all the way to the top or bottom.

We’d come in on the main floor, and we descended two floors down without incident to reach the basement level. The door at the bottom, however, made me uneasy. Was another daeflier lurking behind it? Had the one we’d destroyed triggered an alarm that we didn’t know about? Any number of possible scenarios flashed through my mind, none of them good.

Morio tapped me on the shoulder. “Let me look for traps. I might be able to find something.”

I moved back as he took my place. Tanne knelt by the base of the door. Just what he was examining, I didn’t know, but he was intent on something. The others nervously shifted on the stairwell. Smoky stood at the back, guarding the rear. He had a stern, almost alarmist expression on his face.

A moment later, Morio tapped Tanne on the shoulder and pointed to something—I couldn’t see what. Tanne scooted over next to him, looked, and then nodded. They stood and Morio motioned us up the stairs.

When we were crowded on the landing above the basement door, Morio let out a long sigh. In a low voice, he said, “No magical traps per se, but we have a security system rigged to trigger if we break through the door. And I sense a similar setup on the astral level if we attempt to gate through the door using the Ionyc Seas or anything else like that. The magical system is set to trigger if the door has not been disarmed. See that panel down there that we uncovered? That’s the panel for the Defense One system.”

“Oh great. Without the code, we can’t get through?” Camille frowned. “And you’re certain there’s something similar on the magical level?”

Morio nodded. “Yeah. Tanne agrees with me.”

“The magical system is bad enough, but the Defense One system? A real bitch.” The Black Forest Fae looked unusually grim. “I’ve dealt with these before and they’re bastards to disarm. I know I don’t have the knowledge.”

“I can take care of simple locks but nothing like that.” Delilah leaned against the wall.

Tanne glanced at her. “Somehow I doubt any of us is going to have the know-how to disarm it. Without the code, we’re screwed.”

“What will the magical side of the alarm do?” Camille stared at the keypad as if she could bore a hole through it with her gaze.

“Think of it this way: If you trip it and don’t key in just the right code, it will trigger whatever it’s rigged to do. And that could be anything from an explosion to unleashing a hellhound to setting off an alarm.”

“Do we have to disarm both?” If we had to not only disarm the physical one, but take care of the magical alarm, we were doubly screwed.

“No. As I said, if we disarm the physical alarm, the magical one should disarm itself—at least that’s the way it looks.” Morio looked over at Camille. “So what do we do?”

“I haven’t the faintest.” Camille crossed her arms, frowning at the door.

“Well, there has to be an access panel for the Defense One system—all we found was the keypad but you know it has to be hidden somewhere along the wall.” Tanne began searching the wall, squinting by the light of the foxfire.

“Tanne is right.” Delilah was holding Lysanthra by the hilt, the tip of the dagger pressing against her opposite index finger. She was gently twirling the dagger back and forth.

“Do tell.” I grinned at her.

“All security systems have to have a setup. Now if this were purely magical, maybe it wouldn’t. But since there’s an FBH system in place, there has to be a panel or something in the wall for the wiring. With some security systems, it’s obvious where they are, but Defense One? They put megabucks into making it as hard as possible for a thief to find. If we can find the panel, we can probably disarm it that way.”

Bingo. That we could work with. “Scour the walls. Just be cautious not to trip off anything.”

Morio and Camille joined Tanne in the search. They seemed to be the best bets because of their experience with magic and with traps. After about five minutes, Camille held up her hand.

“I think I found it.” She gestured to a place on the wall that looked like… well… wall, to me. But I did notice a slight depression about the size of a finger in the area to which she was pointing.

Morio and Tanne motioned her to move aside, and then they examined the spot. After a moment, Tanne let out a low laugh.

“This is it. Hidden panel leading to the access, I’ll bet you anything.” He gently pressed a finger against the indentation, and sure enough, a panel slid back to reveal a hole in the wall. A contraption the size of a square dinner plate rested inside, wires feeding into it, then through the wall toward the direction of the door.

“Okay, now we just have to figure out how to take it down. And that’s not going to be easy.” Morio shook his head.

“Damned straight. Defense One is the top security system in the nation.” Tanne cocked his head, examining the panel. “I have dealt with a few of them, but this isn’t the best way for me to test out my skills.”

A lightbulb went off in the back of my brain. “I know who can do it. But we have to call him fast.” I looked at Camille.

She groaned. “You aren’t thinking of who I’m thinking of, are you?”

But I already had my phone out. “We have no choice. None of us can take care of this without endangering all of us, as well as anybody locked behind those doors.” I punched my Contacts and found the name I was looking for. Within seconds, he answered.

“Hello?” Daniel’s voice was easy on the ears; that much was for sure.

“Hey, it’s Menolly. Listen, we need your expertise. But we need it now—if you have the time. I don’t know what we can give you in payment, but we’ll think of something.” A man like Daniel wasn’t prone to philanthropy for philanthropy’s sake.

But he just chuckled. “That was fast. Well, you’re in luck. I happen to still be in Seattle right now. Where are you, and what am I facing?”

I gave him the address and directions on how to find us. “You need to hurry. And as to what you’re facing… ever disarmed a Defense One security system before?”

“Yes, and I’m intrigued. I’ll be there in ten minutes… hold tight. And don’t touch anything without me. I have experience with this sort of thing.” With that, the dial tone sounded. He’d hung up without so much as a good-bye. But then again, men like Daniel usually didn’t engage in chitchat much.

“Daniel’s on his way. Smoky, can you go topside and wait for him?”

“I think you’re making a mistake, but yes, I will.” The dragon shook his head at me, then turned and swept up the stairs.

We waited. With a little luck, nobody but Smoky would come down those stairs, and nobody would come bursting through that door before Daniel got here. While we waited, we kept quiet. It wouldn’t do to attract any unwelcome attention. I was relieved so far to find a distinct lack of ghosts. Though given the choice between fighting spooks or disarming this door, I almost would rather have the ghosties. At least they hadn’t ever exploded on us. So far.

Sometimes the universe actually tossed us a break.

Ten minutes later, nothing had happened, we were still in one piece, and Smoky reappeared with Daniel behind him. Daniel must have carried a change of clothes with him, because he was dressed in dark jeans and a sleek turtleneck. He had on fancy sneakers and was silent as a cat. Around his waist, he wore a belt that had a number of gadgets attached. Delilah glanced at me and mouthed, “Bat utility belt,” and I did my best to stifle a snort of laughter.

Tanne motioned him over. “The Defense One system is tied into a magical alert system. If you fail to disarm it, and the DO system trips, the magical alarm will also go off, and there’s a good chance it will set off something far worse than just a warning system. But we believe that if you can disarm the Defense One system, it will also disarm the magical alarm.”

Daniel barely said a word, simply approached the open panel and took a peek in. A moment later and he rubbed his hands together, almost gleefully. “Oh, this isn’t so hard. I’ve taken down systems much more complex than this.”

He moved in, pulling a few tools out of his belt. It was hard to see what he was doing from where I stood, but his attention and focus were apparent. Daniel loved his work—that much was clear. And he was also incredibly capable of keeping his mind on what he was doing. Even though Morio and Tanne were watching him intently, he didn’t budge, didn’t look up. Just worked away.

Ten nerve-racking minutes later, he let out a slow sigh, and then turned back to us. “When I flip this lever, the door will unlock without an alarm. I take it you need to be ready to move in.”

“Do you have any clue what we’re doing?” I eyed him, trying to ascertain how much he knew.

He grinned. “Only enough to know I don’t want to be around when the heavy artillery comes out. I saw the blast marks upstairs. And while I’m still clueless enough to keep me out of trouble, I’ll leave you to your work. Just give me a call and let me know you all emerged in one piece.”

Smoky was gazing at him, and it was impossible to read what the dragon was thinking by the look on his face. All he said was, “Let me make certain you get out safe.” He turned back to us. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

“You do realize that when I flip this lever, if anybody is right inside the door, they’re going to know someone is coming in.”

“We’ll take that chance. Flip it, and then hightail it out of here with Smoky as we head through.” I motioned for him to go through with it.

Daniel lightly reached out and clicked a small lever. A few seconds later, there was a light click from the door and Camille opened it. We were all steeled for whatever might be on the other side, but again, for a change, we lucked out. An empty hall awaited us.

Smoky tapped Daniel on the shoulder and they headed upstairs as I slipped through the open door, followed by Tanne, Delilah, and Roz. We didn’t know if the door would lock again or sound an alarm if it was closed and reopened, so Camille held it ajar and we waited for Smoky to reappear. Hopefully keeping it open wouldn’t cause problems either. Morio waited with her. But it was only a moment and Smoky returned, and the three of them hustled into the hall. We let the door quietly close behind us. I listened, waiting for the latch to catch, but heard nothing. Maybe we were catching a bit of a break after all.

The hallway was short, and it was brick. Old brick. Near the end of it, on the right side, was a crude archway that looked like it had been formed out of a large hole in the wall.

“It looks like somebody blasted through here and then tried to repair it in order to shore it up.” Roz moved to the front. “Let me take a look at it.”

I motioned to the others. “Stay here while we check it out.”

As we approached the opening, I saw that he was right. The actual stone arch wasn’t really smooth—it was jagged. A wooden trestle, looking to be of polished hardwood, had been fitted into the opening for support. While it was snug, there were plenty of gaps around the edges where the bricks had been shattered in a nonuniform manner.

“Looks like something blasted that hole, and then whoever built this decided to leave the opening but make it safer.” Roz reached out, his fingers sliding along the polished beam. “That’s hornbeam. Also known as ironwood. It will hold up a lot of weight, and with the opening being only three feet wide, it should last a good long time. I’d surmise the wood has been treated, as well.”

“So it seems the actual hole may have been an accident, but the resulting arch keeping it open is deliberate.” I pondered this for a moment. “It makes me wonder just who blasted this open in the first place. Goblins are known for coming through these tunnels—remember the ones near Pioneer Square? Somehow they managed to find a rogue portal down in Underground Seattle, and I don’t know if that thing is still there or not.”

It occurred to me that, in all the chaos of the past couple years, a few things had slipped by the wayside and we really should attend to them. Like rogue portals and who was watching them, and other such little goodies. Knowing we were spacing on things wasn’t really conducive to feeling secure, and I wondered what else we’d forgotten along the way.

“Could be. Goblins like brute force; that’s for certain. The hole has been around far too long to ascertain what kind of explosives ripped it open. But we should get moving. The longer we loiter here, the more chance we have of being caught.” Roz’s jaw was set, and he looked unsettled. “There are bound to be bigger and badder things down here than the daeflier. And I’d rather take them by surprise than the other way around.”

“Good point.” I peeked through the opening.

Sure enough, it led into Underground Seattle; that much was obvious. The tunnel led to the right and left, although to the right was bricked up after about ten yards. To the left, faint lights were affixed to the sides of the walls. I wasn’t sure if they were electric, or battery operated. I doubted they were magical. Though down in the underground, it was hard to tell.

There was no one in sight, so I motioned for the others to join us, and Tanne retook the lead beside me, with Delilah and Roz next, then Camille and Morio, and lastly—Smoky. With a dragon holding our guard, we all felt more comfortable.

There was a special feel to Underground Seattle, no matter where you were in it. Passing what had been discarded shops, with their faded signs from the past, served as a stark reminder of how time put to rest all things. People who had lived here were dead, and many—forgotten.

While the city authorities had done their best to block off large portions of the area, both the humans and the Supes who inhabited the underground had opened them right back up, as well as adding new tunnels.

And, of course, the Demon Underground had its own niche beneath the city. I dreaded the thought of a major quake striking the area, which it could easily do, seeing how Seattle was built over a major fault zone. A lot of lives could be lost, as well as an entire subculture of the city.

The passage we were in was narrow. It might have been an alley for the way it looked. The floor here was brick, but there were signs that, once, there had been planking over the brick till somebody had gotten the idea to rip it up. I wasn’t sure why, but chances were the wood had eroded away in the dampness.

I looked over my shoulder at Delilah. “Which direction was Pete’s Barbershop? I hope it’s to the left or we’re going to have problems.”

She nodded. “Left, it is. About two blocks.”

We headed out, as quietly as we could. The bricks seemed to muffle the sounds of our footsteps, but coughs and words reverberated in the silence, and somewhere ahead, the echo of dripping water steadily beat out a cadence. Must have been either a leak in a pipe, or something of the sort.

Along the way, I examined the lights that were affixed to the walls in regular intervals. They were, indeed, electric. Power had been run down through the Underground for years. The soft glow of the forty-watt bulbs was enough to see by, but not so bright that they illuminated every nook and cranny.

“Do you notice something?” Delilah asked after a moment.

“What?”

She motioned to the sides. “No intersecting tunnels. This passage seems to be blocked off from the rest of Underground Seattle. First the brick wall back on the other side of the entrance, then no other exits.”

She was right. This did seem to be its own little corner of the world.

“I hadn’t noticed, but now that you mention it, you’re right. You say we have about another block to go? There should have been other tunnels leading off here—for the alleyways, etc. In fact, I thought we were already in an alleyway.”

She shook her head. “No. It just feels narrower than usual because it was a side street. However, again—yes. There should be tunnels branching off, with the amount of building and expansion that has gone on down here. But nothing.”

By the looks of the tunnel, there had been more than cosmetic work done down here in the past ten years.

“I’ll bet you anything, Lowestar had some renovation done down here to give him more privacy. It would make sense when you consider the scope of the operation that he’s running. It’s probably a multimillion-dollar business. He’s not going to jeopardize that—nor is he going to risk being found out. Even if the FBH courts wouldn’t know what to do with him, you can bet some angry Supe would do their best to take him out.”

Delilah laughed. “I know somebody who would probably love to get his hands on this knowledge. He could make book with it so big.”

Camille chimed in from behind. “Are you talking about Daniel?”

“Daniel? No. I’m talking about Alex—someone I met not long ago at the Supe-Urban Café. He owns the Fly by Night Investigations Agency. He and his crew are bounty hunters in a sense. They not only take on paranormal cases, but go after rogue Supes. I’m surprised you haven’t met the guy, Menolly. He’s a vampire and his IT guy is a werewolf.”

I frowned. The name of the agency sounded vaguely familiar. “They’re in Seattle?”

“Yeah. I thought of him because his last name is the same as our villain’s. Radcliffe. But without the e on the end. And there’s no connection; that much I can tell you. I checked into it. Alex was originally from Australia.” She let out a chuckle. “Not your usual vamp either.”

I wanted to ask what she meant by that, but just then, we reached the end of the road. Literally. The tunnel ended at another brick wall. But to the right, we saw a sign. PETE’S BARBERSHOP. And against the brick façade built over the mouth of the passageway were two sconces.

Tanne pointed. “That’s what I saw. We’re here.”

“Then we’re close to Lowestar’s cells. Did you notice any sort of trap, any other action he took when he came through here?” I gazed at the Fae, hoping to hell he was remembering correctly.

He shook his head. “No, he just fiddled with the sconce and the passageway opened. There’s a knob back there, I can see it. That’s what he was turning. I’ll do it. I just hope to hell we find her in one piece.” He moved forward, his lips set.

There wasn’t much I could say to that. A woman he loved had been kidnapped and was slated to be sold to the highest bidder. The only thing we could do was pray she was still here, and hadn’t been farmed out yet. If she’d been auctioned off, we might never be able to find out where she was.

Behind me, Delilah readied her dagger as Roz pulled out a silver short sword. I could hear Camille and Morio ramping up some sort of spell, and Smoky was, as ever, poised for action. I gave Tanne a silent nod.

He moved to the sconce and reached up, hesitating just a single heartbeat before he twisted the knob. Another heartbeat—I could hear his heart pounding in his chest—and a brick panel slid back.

On the other side, waiting to greet us, stood four armed guards. They weren’t Tregarts—think burly biker-demons—but they reminded me of them. And they were fully armed with coldset iron blades—close enough to unalloyed iron in nature that they could do nasty damage to the Fae—and heavy-duty bullwhips. I shuddered. Demons or daemons, there were subsets of both who were so fucking good with whips they could behead a man with a single flick of the wrist.

Then, as they parted slightly, we could see behind them. There, lumbering like a giant three-headed Rottweiler, was a hellhound. He was almost shoulder high to me, huge and with eyes as fiery as his nature.

“Crap! Not hellhounds.” Behind me, Camille groaned and I could hear her heart pounding. The monsters had acid in their blood, and, in one battle, Camille had been on the wrong end of it. She still bore the scar.

As the guards pushed forward into the hallway, we fell back, making room for the looming battle. Then, before they could make the first move to attack, I took the initiative and launched myself forward. And once again, the fight was on.