I followed his gaze, but saw nothing except an expanse of grass between the parking lot and the road. Or did he mean one of those smaller buildings to the right of the grassy expanse?
“Which one is it?” I said.
Ian pulled something grainy out of his pocket, then blew the glittering dust it contained right into my face. The sparkling cloud went right into my nose and mouth, burning as it made its way inside me.
Vlad grabbed Ian, snapping, “What was that?” at the same time that I sputtered out, “What the hell?”
“That’s me pretending to be a gentleman,” Ian said, winking at me. “Ladies first, isn’t that the way it’s done?”
“First for what?” I began, then stopped. “Oh,” I breathed.
Chapter 10
Right in the middle of the grassy expanse, a building seemed to form out of mists that hadn’t been there a moment ago. It had to be at least seven stories high and the exterior looked black and shiny, as if covered by layers of the finest obsidian. The top came together like an obelisk, and an infinity waterfall spilled from the roof down to its mist-covered base. Through that thick, misty haze at the bottom, I glimpsed what appeared to be irregularly shaped, smoked-glass doors, and I couldn’t be sure, but I thought I saw a bellman dressed in Merlin-esque robes waiting by the entrance.
“What are you staring at?” Vlad asked, sounding impatient.
“That,” I said, gesturing to the mystical building.
He looked right at it, and annoyance brushed over my emotions. “The shacks next to the empty lot? What of them?”
“He still can’t see it?” I asked Ian. “Or it’s not real and I only think I see it because you just dosed me with a magical version of an acid trip?”
“The former,” Ian said with a laugh. “Although the latter does exist, and I highly recommend it.”
“Well, dose him so he can see it, too,” I said, feeling Vlad’s increasing annoyance brush over my emotions.
Ian held out his hand. Some sparkly, grainy bits were still in his palm. I nodded at Vlad, and he didn’t move as Ian blew the magical sand into his face.
“Incredible,” Vlad said moments later, staring at the mist-draped black building. “I sensed nothing there before.”
Ian grunted. “That’s why it’s called magic, mate.”
I’d thought I had some experience with magic, what with being killed by it twice and currently being infected by an unbreakable spell. Still, staring at the magnificent tall structure, I was stunned as I absorbed the fact that something this big could be right out in the open, yet because it had been cloaked, no one—even a vampire as old and powerful as Vlad—had known that it was there.
Of course, that begged an obvious question. “What’s to keep people from accidentally bumping into this?”
“The same spell that prevents most people from seeing it,” Ian replied. “It compels everyone else to stay away from the area. Without that dust I blew into your face, you could run right toward that building, yet you’d stop yourself every time before you got close enough to touch it.”
It sounded impossible, but I was redefining my definition of that by the minute. “What’s in the dust you dosed us with?”
Ian shrugged. “The magical version of performance-enhancing drugs. It mimics abilities you don’t have, fooling the spell around the building into believing that you’re at least a mid-level practitioner.”
“Did you know any of this was possible?” I asked Vlad.
He shook his head. “I’d heard stories, but I dismissed them as nonsense.”
Ian let out a derisive snort. “Denial is half the reason our race remains ignorant of magic.”
“What’s the other half?” I muttered, still grappling with everything I’d learned in the past five minutes.
“Fear,” Ian said, his tone implying that it was obvious. “Same reason most humans refuse to acknowledge that vampires, ghouls, ghosts, and demons exist, even though we’ve done a poor job covering our tracks at times. Yet if humans pretend they’re at the top of the food chain, they feel safer. And if vampires pretend that magic is mere smoke, mirrors, and the occasional minor spell, then we can pretend there’s nothing greater than us, even if that’s not true.”
From Vlad’s emotions, he was wrestling with this explanation. “Some believed otherwise,” he said at last. “Or magic wouldn’t have been outlawed thousands of years ago.”
Another oblique shrug from Ian. “Population control. Vampires couldn’t be subjugated by powerful sorcerers, wizards, mages, or witches if magic were illegal and any vampire caught practicing it was sentenced to death.”
It sounded barbaric, but it certainly wouldn’t be the first time a society had criminalized something it was afraid of. “Why only vampires?” I asked. “If the Law Guardians were so concerned about magic, why not go after human practitioners, too?”
“They did,” Ian said, arching a brow. “But they recruited others to do their work for them.”
Vlad let out a jaded grunt. “All the witch trials over the ages. That was our people manipulating the Church and fanatics?”
“So claim the survivors,” Ian replied lightly. “And many of them still hold a grudge.”
I cast another look at the mist-shrouded, gleaming black building. With that brutal history, we wouldn’t only have to worry about the Law Guardians or the sorcerers holding Mircea finding out about our intrusion into the magical underworld. We’d also have to watch out for the understandable prejudice our lack of heartbeats would elicit. No wonder Elena had said that they normally didn’t allow “our kind” in her place. Vampires were to witches what Cortés had been to the Aztecs.
“Second thoughts?” Ian asked, still in that light tone.
“Not from me,” Vlad said at once. Then his voice softened. “Though perhaps you should remain here, Leila—”
“Are you serious?” I interrupted. “No way, Vlad. Bad things happen when we try to go it alone, remember?” Then I moved closer, putting my arms around him. “For better or for worse, it’s you and me together, just like in our vows.”
He caressed my back as he drew me nearer. His hands felt different due to the appearance-altering aspect of Ian’s spell, but the warmth they radiated was singularly Vlad. So was the look in his eyes. I’d recognize the unyielding determination and relentless love no matter what gaze it stared out at me from.
“Reminds me,” Ian muttered, shattering the moment. “One of you will slip and call the other by their real name, I just know it. Luckily, I have a spell for that, too.”
I glanced at the mystical hotel. It was only about twenty yards away, and patrons were still coming and going from the nearby Pirate’s House restaurant. “You want to do it here?”
Ian waved at the hotel. “They can’t see us until we cross the warding line, and no one on this side of the line will understand what they see. Besides, this will be quick. Now, stick out your tongue.”
I did, feeling a bit foolish at the strange looks a couple walking to their car gave us. Ian touched my tongue with his finger, said a few strange-sounding words, and then nodded.
“Try saying Vlad’s name now.”
“Angel,” I said, then frowned, trying again. “Angel. Angel. ANGEL.” It made no sense. My mind was saying Vlad, but my mouth wasn’t listening to my commands.
Ian nodded, satisfied. “Until I lift this spell, that’s the only word that will come out of your mouth when you attempt to say ‘Vlad.’”
Vlad gave Ian a sardonic look. “An endearment? How unexpectedly sentimental of you.”
Ian’s smile slid into a grin. “Angel was a TV vampire whose endless angst was only outweighed by his devotion to his one true love.” As Vlad’s expression grew murderous, Ian added, “He did have a magnificently violent dark side, if that helps.”
Vlad’s hands erupted into flames, and I was afraid that he was about to show off his own magnificently violent dark side right now. Good thing Ian’s spell hadn’t res
ulted in me calling Vlad “Dracula.” I don’t think Ian would have survived that.
Then Vlad doused his flames and flashed Ian a decidedly tight smile. “I don’t have to break my promise to repay you for that.”
“True, but life’s not worth living if it’s dull,” Ian replied, wagging his brows as if to say, Bring it, Impaler!
I rolled my eyes. Ian either had a death wish or he was the most reckless person I’d ever met. Vlad would pay him back, guaranteed. Ian had to know that. Why did he keep baiting him?
“Let’s get my part of this over with,” Vlad said shortly. “And if the name ‘Buffy’ comes out of my mouth, it will be the last word you ever hear.”
Ian sighed as if disappointed, but touched Vlad’s tongue and said those same strange words. When Vlad tried to say my name afterward, all that came out was “Mia.”
“Shall we?” Ian said, extending both his arms.
I took one of his arms and Vlad, after a loaded glance at Ian, took the other. As we started toward the mist-laden perimeter, I fought the urge to chirp, “We’re off to see the Wizard!” But this was no yellow brick road, and our destination wouldn’t end with a fake wizard behind a mechanical mask. No, the wizards we were about to meet were all frighteningly real.
“Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo,” Ian said in a singsong voice as we walked into the thick mist.
I could feel a thrum of power when we crossed the barrier that separated the magical territory from the normal world. When I looked back, I could no longer see the parking lot, the restaurant, or the highway. All I could see was mist behind us, and the gleaming black building in front of us.
Now that we were closer, I noticed flashes of color appearing and disappearing within the waterfall. It was as if someone was periodically squirting huge gobs of food coloring into the roaring falls. I looked up toward the roof, but couldn’t figure out where the waterfall’s source was. Then I frowned. Either the stars had disappeared, or the mists rose high enough to cover the sky with their thick, dark haze.
I looked down when the mists around us parted, revealing the entranceway of the building. I stared, realizing I had been wrong about the bellman dressed in stereotypical wizard garb. There was no bellman. Just a bunch of skeletons tightly grouped together, their rotting clothes billowing in the wind.
That wasn’t the only thing I’d been mistaken about. The oddly shaped “doors” weren’t doors at all. They were row upon row of crystalline teeth, and as we approached the building, they drew back to reveal a huge, obsidian-lined open mouth.
“We’re supposed to go into that?” I asked, aghast.
Ian glanced at us and grinned. “Puts a whole new spin on entering freely and of your own free will, doesn’t it?”
Chapter 11
I barely registered that Ian had just quoted a line from Bram Stoker’s most famous novel. Instead, I continued to stare at the huge mouth at the bottom of the building.
Go on, walk into the maw from Hell, my inner voice mocked, breaking its weeks-long silence. What could possibly go wrong?
For once, I had to agree with my hated internal voice. Facing a bunch of sorcerers was one thing, but doing so in a structure that was designed to literally eat us was another. I found myself digging my heels in when Ian attempted to propel me into the macabre entrance.
Vlad either felt my resistance or saw the look on my face because he stopped, too. “What is this building made of, Mia?” he asked, somehow managing to sound unconcerned.
“Teeth,” I responded promptly. Okay, not the entire building, but the entrance was, and those teeth were almost twice as long as I was tall!
“Glass,” Vlad countered, and his smooth tone deepened. “What can I do to glass, Mia?”
It was so strange to hear him call me by another name; it took a moment for his meaning to penetrate. Right, Vlad could burn glass into a molten puddle. Failing that, he could blow a hole right through the center of the building. Granted, either would out him as Vlad the Impaler, but he was right. As frightening as this toothy entrance was, it was nothing he couldn’t handle.
For that matter, it was nothing I couldn’t handle, either, even if some childish fear of monsters had come roaring to the surface at the sight of that cavernous magical mouth. I pushed that fear back and gave the shiny black exterior a more calculated look. What happens when thousands of volts of electricity shoot into glass? I reminded myself. It shatters.
“Let’s do this,” I said in a far more confident tone.
Ian, Vlad, and I walked into that fanged, gaping maw. I even managed not to flinch when I heard it snap shut behind us. For a moment, the tunnel—or throat?—was bathed in the kind of darkness I hadn’t seen since before I became a vampire. Vlad’s emotions were locked behind the same impenetrable shields that tamped his aura down to barely detectable levels, but his hand snaked around Ian’s back to brush mine. Then that disorienting darkness was broken when orbs of light began to appear at the end of the tunnel, their glow beckoning us forward.
We crossed another invisible barrier before we reached the end of the tunnel. The magic we passed through was a sharp crackle that thrummed along my nerves before dissipating, leaving only a faint tingle behind. It reminded me of electricity, and I found myself fighting a sudden urge to empty the nearest light socket of all its voltage. That would amp up the power in my right hand to its maximum level; a benefit if we needed to fight our way out of here, but plunging the entire structure into darkness wasn’t any way to blend in.
We took a right at the end of the tunnel, then stepped into a . . . well, I didn’t know what to call it. Room was too paltry a word. Wonderland was closer, but still didn’t seem sufficient.
Water shot out from the base perimeter of the room with such force, it covered all the walls and the ceiling. Walking inside felt like being in the underbelly of an enormous tidal wave. Due to the flow’s incredible power, we weren’t getting wet. Instead, only a faint mist came down from the whirring canopy. In the center of the ceiling, the geyserlike flow disappeared into a large hole as if being sucked up by a vortex.
If the amazing aquatic walls weren’t enough, lots of people lounged in pools that dotted the expansive space. For those who wanted to stay dry, there were also chairs and couches that looked to be made out of flowering trees. A long, curved bar drew my attention when what I thought were butterfly decorations suddenly flew away. The butterflies circled in the air a few times, resembling a cloud of brightly colored petals, before they returned to the bar and covered it with the living tapestry of their bodies again.
“This section of the hotel is called Atlantis,” Ian said. “Too whimsical for my taste, though newcomers seem to love it.”
I stared at the people frolicking in one of pools that towered at least thirty feet above us. The bottom was clear glass, revealing the unusual-looking swimmers inside.
“Are those real mermaids?” I asked, trying to sound casual.
Ian snorted. “No. That’s merely glamour, but now you know how rumors of those creatures got started.”
“Let’s get to what we came for,” Vlad said, his brusque tone reminding Ian that he wasn’t a fan of sightseeing.
Ian sighed. “Always straight to business. How you stand it, poppet, I’ll never know, but I suspect that fiery tongue has something to do with it. Ah, he’s giving me that I’ll-kill-you glare again. How many times must I tell you not to kill anyone tonight? It’s like a sickness with you, isn’t it? Have you ever gone a whole day without committing murder?”
“Has anyone who’s spent their whole day with you?” I muttered.
Ian clucked his tongue. “You’ll come to love me before this is over, promise. Now, let’s get our drinks and start the search, before your adoring husband combusts on the spot.”
We went over to the butterfly bar, and I tried not to notice how dozens of wings tickled my legs as we sat down. Ian ordered a round of drinks from the bartender, who was wearing nothing except glitter and her own strategically
placed waist-length blond hair. She placed empty glasses in front of us, and I wasn’t surprised when they filled all on their own.
Ian took our glasses and brought them over to one of the tree-styled chaise longues. I gladly followed him. One of those butterflies was going to fly up my dress, I just knew it.
“Cheers,” Ian said, holding out our glasses to us.
Vlad eyed him warily. I also waited before taking mine. Ian waved his hand, spilling some of his drink with the gesture.
“These are harmless, though you’re right to be cautious. In a place like this, never order an Orgasm, Mind Eraser, or Sex on the Beach unless you want exactly those things to happen.”
“Good to know,” I said under my breath. Then I took a cautious sip, surprised at the flavors that burst over my tongue. The golden liquid tasted like honey-covered sunshine mixed with spring rain.
“What is this?” I asked, finishing the rest in one swallow.
Ian gave me an amused look. “It’s called Faery’s Brew. Very potent despite its taste, so if you drink a few more that quickly, vampire or no, you’ll soon be so drunk you’ll believe that you can actually see faeries.” Then Ian raised his own glass. “Ashael, this is Ian and I need to see you,” he said before swallowing the contents in one gulp.
Vlad set his glass down without touching it. “That’s either a very peculiar toast, or something else is going on.”
“Something else,” Ian affirmed, taking Vlad’s glass from him. “Ashael, come as quickly as you can,” he said before hoisting Vlad’s glass and draining its contents, too.
“Who is Ashael?” Vlad said in a deceptively mild tone.
Ian signaled the bartender. “Another round!” he called out. Our glasses refilled on their own in the next few moments. Ian hoisted one, said “Ashael!” and downed it.
“You’re trying to summon him,” I said, figuring it out. “I didn’t know we were looking for a particular person.”
“Why didn’t we know before?” Vlad said, the edge in his voice making it clear that he didn’t appreciate being kept in the dark.