The One We Feed (22 page)

“The ones out
front are being punished,” he said cautiously, “or are paying him back for
help. The girl at the desk has been at the desk every night since she took one
of the patrons home and accidentally ate him. That was almost eight years ago. She’s
worn black ever since.”

My mouth fell
open, and
not
because I couldn’t imagine her wearing anything
but
black. “
Ate
him?” Rage tickled my throat. I had already slain one
monster for such crimes. How easy would it be to do it again? “So they’re all
murderers?”

“A few of
them, but that’s just it; Devlin keeps a close eye on it. It’s like he’s trying
to control their vices so they see him as their supplier. It’s cult-leader 101.”

“Wow.”

Inside one of
the many rooms along the hall, I heard the distinct moans of sexual pleasure
mingled with a few cries of pain. My hackles rose. Goosebumps lifted on my
skin, and even though I was surrounded by color, light, and song I already felt
drained.

“Jinx, is this
a whorehouse for vamps?”

“Lily!” he said,
looking sharply at the backs of the escorts. “No, it’s...well, see...they come
here to have fun.”

“Who does?”

“The vamps and...the
humans...well, mutually beneficial. Tonight’s punch night, which means they’re
being drugged so that….” His voice trailed off.

“Drugged? Do
they know what they’re getting into?” I was suddenly pissed off that Jinx had
ever set foot in the place before.

“If they find
out while they’re here, they don’t remember by tomorrow, but trust me, they
have fun. These guys are good at knowing exactly what people want and giving it
to them, regardless of whether or not they’ll appreciate it. It’s their gift.”

Shocked, I was
quiet for a time. I didn’t want to believe that
my
Jinx could have
earned his keep from such people, but the longer I thought about it, the less
content I was to judge him. He wasn’t exactly someone that struck fear in the
hearts of evildoers. Perhaps he had had no choice.

“So…,” I said
finally, “you have to sign in to the area you want to...uh...experience? Why?”

“Because the
rules are different for each area,” he responded dully. “Rates are different,
expectations are different. And trust me, in the Circle, you
want
to
know
exactly
what you’re getting into.”

I put out a
hand and ran my fingers over the gaudy wallpaper of pale violet embossed with a
black velvet pattern. “What happens if you come in not knowing the rules?”

“You end up
talking to Devlin.” He shook his head, “Last year, this big businessman came in
and beat up one of the female guests. Devlin met with him in private after the
bouncers got to him. Let’s just say, when he left, he was pale as a sheet and
looked over his shoulder a lot. To this day, he pays a monthly stipend that
gets laundered through a fake charity. Every time he comes back, he looks like
he’s gonna hurl. But he still comes back. He can’t ever escape, because Devlin
doesn’t fuck around with horse heads or cement shoes. Mess with him, and your
family takes the hit. He’d take out everyone you know, just to get to you.”

“You’re making
him sound like a cross between a Sith lord and Hannibal Lector. Does he have a
fluffy white cat or a hook hand?”

Jinx glanced
over his shoulder but said nothing. My humor was not being well-received, but
that was how I dealt with things. I couldn’t help it. Times were tough.

At the end of
the hallway, there was yet another door but no guard. Our escort tossed it open,
and instantly a tidal wave of sound crashed over us. It was a slow song with a
deep rhythm, pulsing like a heartbeat, and it carried to the rafters on the
voice of a young soprano. An enormous dance floor was crowded with people in
various states of undress, all moving as if they were doing Tai Chi. On the
opposite side, a metal staircase led up to a balcony level roped off as a VIP
area. To the left, there was a stage, and to the right, a bar. Platforms were
scattered about, wrapping around support pillars, and everything from dancing,
to drug use, to sex acts was being carried out atop them in full view.

“Oh...my...
god
!”
I grabbed Jinx’s shoulder and turned him toward one of the platforms at our
right. A woman was stark naked, on her knees. “Is she doing what I think . . .?”

He looked away
and fixed his eyes on the staircase. “It’s best
not
to look.”

But I was
transfixed. I had never, in all my life, imagined the things I was witnessing. I
knew there were places where things like this
had
to happen, but I never
thought I’d be in one
.
I had been tempted to bring Ananda along with me,
but standing there now, I was absolutely appalled, and
not
for the
reasons I expected.

I had gone far
enough into the
jhana
, searched the minds of wounded souls thoroughly
enough to know that judging was not something I could accomplish. It took a
great deal of self-awareness to see how even pleasure could be terrifying and
dangerous, that it could be the sugar in the poison, and that self-awareness
was not easily acquired. I blinked and shook my head slowly, feeling sorry for
all of them.

Our guides cut
a path through the dance floor and left us at the foot of the stairs. As he put
his hand on the banister, Jinx took a deep breath, set his tiny shoulders, and
began his mirthless trudge.

More than a
few people seemed to be sitting or lying on couches and ottomans above us, all
with the same flawless complexions, shimmering eyes, and stillness. It was
almost like a contest for statuesquery. One man, though, was leaning against
the railing, watching us.

He was thin
and what the “antiques” might have called tall, though I knew he was only as
tall as me. He wore a soft black sweater and grey hound’s-tooth slacks. Auburn
hair with a subtle wave rested against his temples as if it had been long until
it was hacked off with a dull sword. Deep, brown eyes that seemed eerily
intense peered out of faintly olive skin over a long, aquiline nose. One hand
was holding what looked like a Bloody Mary, though I was certain it’s only
similarity to the
actual
drink came from the fact that the girl who
donated it was probably named Mary.

I stared at
him and felt a strange recognition. I was sure I had seen him before, but
damned if I could remember where. It wasn’t since Eva died, because if it had
been, I’d recall it perfectly. So it had to be from much earlier on. I was just
about to lean in and ask Jinx if I should recognize him, when the man looked
away apathetically and turned his focus to the people fornicating below. I
pulled my gaze away from him too, until I saw that Jinx was also looking his
way.

At the top of
the stairs, we were allowed past the rope. Jinx shoved some female vamps over
with a look and plopped down on a leather sofa. Almost as if they’d been
prepared for him, a server leaned over the back of the sofa and placed a
Redbull into his waiting hand, though his eyes never left the aristocrat at the
rail.

No one spoke. The
music pounded and changed. A lower thumping began, perforated by the haunting
nasally voice of a very sorrowful young man. As if they were listening to the
lyrics about making deals with a merciless deity, the silence on the balcony
dragged on for some time, finally prompting me to sit on the arm of the sofa
and dip my mouth to the boy’s ear.

“We just gonna
hang out or what?”

“We speak when
spoken to,” he replied, slurping at the can.

I blinked and
rolled my eyes. “He’s not the effing pope!”

Instantly, the
people sitting beside Jinx seemed to slide away from him, get up, and
reposition themselves artfully on the opposite side of the balcony, where they
could apparently watch me receive my comeuppance. The only person who did not
react was the man at the rail. In fact, he appeared not to have heard. He was
gazing out over the floor and seemed content to do that for hours.

Perturbed,
disgusted by all that I had seen, and disgruntled that anyone had the audacity
to build such preposterous fortresses with such ridiculous security when they
were
not
the effing pope, I crossed my arms and walked over to the man.

“Look, all
this is really great. I mean, really, it isn’t every day I get to see so many
people down with the sickness, but I’m on a tight schedule, and I happen to
feel that being made to wait is rude.”

Devlin’s eyes
slid to me, but there was no anger in them. In fact, there was no
humanity
in them. I expected a glare through lowered eyebrows at least, like any
self-respecting villain, but he looked about as emotional as a Komodo dragon. He
turned slowly to Jinx and leaned against the rail on his elbows, drink
untouched in his hand.

“Jinx, you do
not have an appointment with me. I know you know how highly I prize my free
time.”

I let out a
huff and tossed my hands in the air. “What is it with you people? What, you don’t
think the last five people that saw us didn’t remind us of the same damn thing?”

I turned and
looked to Jinx for support, but he was avoiding my eye as strenuously as he was
able. “I know, and I do apologize, Devlin, but please consider, I am a neutral
party here. I brought her here because I owe her a debt.”

Devlin gave a
cool smile that was as long-lived as a snowball in hell. “Ah, those pesky
debts. How they do pile up.” There was no tone to his even voice, but that was
what made it so ominous. “Fear not, my friend. I was actually expecting you,
though I must admit I was somewhat surprised to learn that I should. Now I
understand.”

So he had been
watching us, or Jinx.

“If I hadn’t
come with her, she might have done more damage,” Jinx said. “She’s a bit of a
handful.” I was prepared to denounce him right there, until he smiled pointedly
at me. “But that’s why we love her.”

“Then you are
working for her?”

This time,
when I looked his way, I found Jinx staring at his hands. “No, I work
with
her.”

I wanted to
hug him and felt terrible for ever doubting his loyalty to me. I told him so
with a glance and then returned my attention to the creature in front of me. He
was staring at me, or rather, was
considering
me like any good iguana.

“Lilith
Pierce,” he said quietly, “one of three.”

My mouth fell
open, “How do you know that?” How could he possibly have seen anything to do
with me? Did it have something to do with my weird sense of recognition?

His smile
looked more like a snarl, the lips curling away from incisors that were much
too long. It was clear then that Devlin needed no scarificators to draw blood
from others. He had crafted himself into a predator by sheer will alone or by
some
will and a talented dentist.

“It is
deductive reasoning. You cross the path of my dear friend Ursula, and she ends
up...well,” he sighed, “then you fall into Moksha’s hands and he becomes as mad
as a pancake. Next is Karl, and the Vihara falls to a mysterious
act of god.
”
He enunciated each word with perfection, dividing it from its fellows with
sharp little bites. “And you disappear. Then, last night...my colleague Hal
also vanishes. It isn’t very hard to trace your invisible steps when one knows
your methods.”

I licked my
lips and glanced out over the floor. It was a bit terrifying to discover Devlin
had the upper hand already. How did he know about the three Buddhas, how did he
know I was one of them, and most importantly, how did he know all those things
were because of me?

“All right, so
you know who I am and what I do. So you probably know I need your help. I don’t
like it, but since I don’t believe in the Devil, I have no problems making
deals with snakes.”

The leer grew
on his immaculate face, punctuated perfectly by his hawkish nose. The eyes
seemed to chill me through and through.

“Unfortunately,
Lilith, there is nothing you have that I require. I know it is difficult, but
do try to be less self-absorbed.”

I have to
admit it, I was surprised. From the moment the changes started happening, I was
plagued by deranged monsters clamoring for the medicine that supposedly ran through
my veins. To find that the blood drinker of all blood drinkers did not want it
amazed and, quite frankly, offended me.

I opened my
mouth to speak but found that no words came out.

“It
is
the only thing those fallen comrades had in common. They all wanted your blood,
and they are all paying the price. I would actually prefer that you stay as far
away from me as possible, for the present. You understand.” He turned away
slowly and went back to admiring his domain.

“Self-absorbed?”
I asked finally. “Oh puh-lease!” Shaking my head in a bit of the arrogance of which
I had been accused, I turned to Jinx and dragged him to his feet. “We’re going!
Now! Let this freak have his stupid, immature fantasy about what really exists
in the world. We’re not going to cater to him anymore!”