Deck of Destiny 1, page 19
“Matt,” Daine said. “Need you downstairs.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“Your friends are back,” he said.
His voice vanished, and I realized with a bolt of adrenaline that the Dragons had come to collect. I hesitated for a second and then hit the shower. Elsie appeared at the doorway as I finished up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
She looked like a million bucks.
Brunette hair tousled its way down her shoulders, and her naked body caught the morning light from the window like a Michelangelo. I devoured her with my eyes as I dried off, catching her with a kiss as she moved to get into the shower. She moaned softly into it, wrapped her arms around my neck, and pulled away with a smile.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “You got friends now?”
“Dragons,” I told her.
Elsie’s eyes narrowed. “They’re here already?”
“Looks like it. Where’d you put my clothes?”
“Closet, silly,” she said. “You want to go down together?”
I shook my head. “Don’t want you anywhere near those bastards.”
Her eyes hardened at that. “You need backup, Matt.”
“Then make an entrance. I’ll get Daine on making us breakfast.”
“Sounds good,” my girlfriend told me. “Gonna wear a shirt this time?”
“I was thinking of heading down in a towel, just to fuck with them,” I told her.
She giggled as I padded over to the closet. Elsie hadn’t just dumped my backpack on the floor. She’d actually gone to the trouble to hang up my shirts, neatly fold my pants, and leave them on shelves above her own clothes. A rush of appreciation for her rolled through me as I pulled on pants and slid a button-down over my arms. I wasn’t exactly dressing to impress, but I wanted to stand out from the biker types amongst the Dragons’ ranks.
I pulled on my boots and pushed outside to the hallway.
Jenna’s healing magic had done its work. I could barely feel my injuries, and I made a mental note to find out how much she charged for her services. Every fight I’d been in had been a close shave, and her ability to patch us up was a damn useful thing to have on retainer. I headed downstairs and heard the swell of conversation wash up to meet me.
The Castledaine Pub was in full swing.
Sharks clustered around the tables. The old guys playing backgammon were back. Jenna’s gorgeous musical pieces rolled up from the grand piano, and the clink of cutlery against plates and the smell of cooking meat were enough to remind me that I was starving. My last meal had been at the Hudsons’, and after an entire day of pure insanity, I was just about ready to eat an entire cow.
I slid down the steps as unobtrusively as I could and found Daine a moment later. He’d taken up his usual position at the bar and was pouring coffee for three guys in leather jackets. Creative stitching had been tooled into the leather, and the dragon designs were enough to tell me that the Guild had arrived to get their pound of flesh.
I didn’t see any sign of the Arbiter or Mayce.
The Dragons zeroed in on me as I strolled over to the bar, pulled out a stool two chairs down from them, and gave Daine a grin.
“Busy morning,” I noted.
“Usually is,” he replied and pushed off the bar. “Get you something?”
“Breakfast for the ladies,” I said, “if it’s not too much trouble.”
Daine spoke quietly into a hidden mic in his ear, gave me a nod, and started making me coffee without another word. I studied the Dragons for a moment. There was no sign of Kyle, and each of the guys beside me had hard faces and better scars than I did. They were veteran Players, no doubt, each with plenty of kills under their belt and the Cards to prove it.
“Morning, fellas,” I said. “Who’s holding the brain today?”
“That’d be me,” the stoutest of the crew said.
He had a bandanna tied around his neck and so many scars on his hands and knuckles that I was surprised he could still use them. He swept the pub again with a look of disgust on his face and leaned in a little.
“We’re here to take you in,” the leader said.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Rig,” he replied.
“Used to work on one?”
“Smart mouth,” he told me. “Shit like that gets you in trouble.”
“Or out of it,” I told him. “Don’t see the Arbiter.”
“He set out the Contract,” Rig told me. “You get your free passage.”
“Hope you won’t take it personal if I ask the exact wording.”
The other Dragons exchanged a glance.
“No harm comes to you between Castledaine Pub and Dragon HQ,” Rig said. “Threw in a little extra insurance on top of it. We’ll protect you if someone comes at you between here and there.”
“What about inside?”
“Same deal,” Rig told me. “No harm to you, no attacks, no duels, nothing.”
“So you really do just want to talk, huh?” I asked.
“You were the one who wanted to negotiate,” Rig pointed out.
I nodded. “What happened to Kyle? Almost miss the guy.”
“Internal business,” the bruiser told me. “None of yours.”
“Fair enough.” I gave Daine another nod of thanks as he set down a steaming mug of black coffee at my elbow, and I blew on it to cool it down. “I was expecting an army.”
“Don’t need one,” Rig said.
I believed him. The guy had to be packing some serious heat.
“Ask you something?”
“Prefer you didn’t,” the other guy said.
Rig waved a hand. “Go for broke, kid.”
“How long have you been in the Game?”
“Long enough,” the third guy told me. “Longer than you will be.”
“Already with the threats,” I observed. “Guess Rig really is holding the brains today.”
“Careful,” Rig warned me. “These are the guys that are going to be keeping you alive.”
I didn’t see any Card or magical document for me to sign. Either Contracts were actually just agreements between Players—like our agreement with Daine—or we were missing something.
Kyle had been scared enough by the Arbiter to not fuck with it, though, and he’d headed back to his HQ to get this particular meeting set up. I didn’t trust the three Players beside me, but I had a good feeling I wasn’t about to go missing anytime soon.
Elsie appeared on the stairs a minute later.
She strolled down the stone steps in the same dress she’d worn last night. People around us stopped eating for a second as her heels clicked down over the stone floor. She pulled her hair up around a pair of chopsticks, and I could see the barest hints of makeup around her face to emphasize her features. The Dragons gaped at her as she stepped across the floor and pulled up a stool beside me.
“Morning, darling,” she said and kissed my cheek.
I couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride and simultaneous triumph in my chest. I’d told her to make an entrance, but I hadn’t expected a Texan Cinderella in heels with smoldering eyes and casual confidence. She’d taken a subtler weapon—her amazing good looks—and used it as a distraction to throw the Dragons off-guard.
I finished my coffee, and Daine appeared a moment later from around the side of the bar. He set down two huge sides of bacon in front of me, loaded up with soft-boiled eggs, a small mountain of hollandaise sauce, and perfectly toasted sourdough. Elsie got the same, and I glanced over at my new would-be entourage.
“You’re happy to wait, right?”
“Fuck you, man—” one of the Dragons began.
Rig shot him a filthy look. “Take your time, kid. We’re not in a hurry.”
Elsie and I started on our breakfast, and I kept my eyes open for any sign of Mayce. I couldn’t see her amongst the crowd, and she was probably taking full advantage of Daine’s heavenly beds upstairs. The girl probably hadn’t seen a comfortable mattress or such a grand shower in weeks.
That, and she didn’t want to face her old comrades.
Rig watched the door as we ate, and I took in small details about the guy. He’d been reasonable, borderline polite, and had all the patience in the world. I’d thought of all the Dragons as marauding street thugs, but there was a deceptive stillness about this one. Rig was treating the job professionally, without letting his emotions get in the way. The other two battle-scarred Players deferred to his authority without question, and part of me wondered if he’d be a good ally in the future.
I dismissed the thought. The Dragons wanted me recruited or dead. The only way I was going to have someone like Rig at my back was if I hopped in on the Guild train. They’d wanted to take off Mayce’s arm, and they’d tried to force her to build her Deck to their own liking.
There was no way I was joining up with guys like that.
I finished my breakfast and turned to Elsie. “Won’t be a minute.”
Her eyes flickered to Rig and the others. “I don’t like this.”
“Trust me, I’d rather not,” I assured her. “Only way to get into the clear, though.”
“Keep your eyes open,” she warned me.
I kissed her. “Always do.”
A ghost of a smile touched Rig’s face as I turned back to face him, and he rose from his seat with the others with a single, easy movement. Daine strolled back around the bar to bid me goodbye, and I leaned in to speak privately with him.
“Any message you want me to pass on to these pricks?” I asked.
Daine’s warm chuckle rolled out of his throat. “You’re my messenger boy now?”
“Thought I’d offer. Don’t know when you’re going to talk to them next.”
The pirate shook his head. “I like my privacy. So do they. Don’t stir up too much shit.”
“Me? Do something like that?”
“Careful,” he advised me. “These aren’t small fry you’re talking to here.”
“Cheers. Look after the girls for me until I get back.”
“They’ll be safe as houses,” he assured me. “Good luck, kid.”
I stepped away from the bar and followed the Dragons out the front door. Jenna tipped me a saucy wink as I passed her, and I fired back a grin in response. The front doors swung open, and we slid down into the front garden.
Bowling Ball—I still hadn’t figured out his name—and Charlie gave me a nod as they stepped aside and revealed an honest-to-god limousine parked on the street. I didn’t recognize the model, but it had six wheels and drank the light in from around it. Red piping lined the edges of the car, and one of the Dragons opened up a door for Rig and the others. The Dragon captain swept the street out of sheer reflex and ducked down into the leather-coated interior. I followed suit and found a seat directly across from the guy. The other two Dragons piled in after us, and a hidden driver pushed the vehicle off and away from the sidewalk.
A long, tense silence settled into the interior of the limo.
I familiarized myself with my surroundings. Red leather seats made the car look like it was straight out of some movie about a billionaire. Armrests and a center console that probably had drinks inside a hidden fridge sat next to my arm. A subtle buzz crept into my mind as we moved away from the Castledaine, and I realized that my Deck was back online again.
I was headed for their lair, and I didn’t know what the hell to expect.
But I had time to kill, questions to ask, and details to round out.
“You guys had trouble with guns on the street?” I asked.
“Guns can’t hurt us,” one of the Dragons sneered.
Rig grunted. “Some new crew’s rolling with them, yeah.”
“You know anything about where they’re coming from?”
The captain looked out through the tinted windows. “You ask a lot of questions, kid.”
“Well, since we’re getting chummy, figured it couldn’t hurt to put our heads together.”
Rig snorted. “Right. Like you’re not going to use that to your advantage the second it benefits you.” He turned to look at me again. “Just to clear the air, I don’t give a shit about you. Or Mayce, for that matter. This is bigger than either of you, and you got away from Kyle on a technicality. Smart move, and well played. But you’re fucking with us. We take that personally.”
“That’s my next question,” I said. “Why are you so gung-ho on getting Mayce back?”
“Would’ve let the bitch die out on the street,” the third Dragon said. “And then she had to go and fucking stab Wilson right in his home. That’s why. And you’re the one who put her up to it. If I had my way—”
“Guess it’s a good thing that you don’t, huh?” I interrupted. “Else they’d be picking your insides up off the sidewalk.”
Rig studied me for a moment longer. “So she means something to you.”
I leaned back in my chair. “Sure does.”
“She suck good dick?” the second Dragon asked.
Something ugly and furious stirred in my gut, and I ignored the jibe.
“Why you asking?” I asked Rig.
“Curiosity,” he said. “She’s a good Player. It’s a shame to lose her, and she’s still family. Even if she doesn’t want to stay with us anymore.”
“Pretty sure you nuked any chance of that working out when you threatened to mutilate her,” I pointed out. “Don’t know about you, but most people take that personally.”
Rig grimaced. “Not my call. Didn’t like it.”
I found myself surprised when I believed the guy.
“She’s not coming back,” I told him.
Rig surprised me again, this time with a dry chuckle. “Wouldn’t want her to.”
The other two Dragons glanced at their leader with sudden interest, and he made a dismissive gesture. “Not our problem. The Leviathans are champing at the bit, trying to use this shit show as a way to claim more territory.”
“Asking for a friend,” I said, “but where is your turf, exactly?”
“Good chunk of the inner city,” Rig said. “Some of the north, although the Giants chewed up a good chunk of the suburbs out that way. Leviathans stick to the southside of Millbank.” Rig watched us drive past the local subway station. “Want some advice, kid?”
“Happy to listen.”
“Get the fuck out of Millbank,” the Dragon captain advised. “Get away from all this. Hell, take Mayce and the other girl with you. You stick around, and you’re just asking for trouble. Maybe think about making that part of your deal.”
The suggestion had some merit, and for a long second, I actually considered it. One Greyhound could get us out of town. Maybe there was safety down in Texas, with Elsie’s family, or somewhere else remote. Players might still come after us, but with the right setup, it’d be easier to see them coming. My dream of a trailer and a truck and the open road washed back over me, and it was so damn beautiful that it almost hurt.
It wouldn’t be so bad, right?
I met Rig’s eyes a moment later, and my heart hardened. The Game would still follow us. The Dragons knew that I had their Divinity Card. It’d be easy to lay an ambush out on the open road, take out our transport, and tear us to pieces where there weren’t any civilians or Arbiters to force the Guilds to pull their punches. The sheer rush of battling other Players, gaining new Cards, and living a day at a time was a drug unlike any other.
And Millbank was my hometown.
My mother and father had died protecting it.
I sure as hell wasn’t about to bug out just because it was safer.
“I’ll field it with the others,” I told him, “but don’t hold your breath.”
Rig gave me a nod, and we lapsed into another tense silence. I watched the suburbs pass us by, one by one, until we arrived in the inner city, just outside of the Commercial Mall. I’d driven enough passengers around this area of the city to know where we were, and the limo pulled up outside a nightclub with a name that I didn’t recognize.
The third Dragon opened the door, stepped out, and waited outside.
Rig gave me a nod. “Keep your nose clean. We’ll be waiting here.”
I ducked out of the limo, found myself in the mid-morning sun, and glanced up at the front face of the Dragons’ HQ. A neon sign blinked over the top of it, and a red carpet had been laid out in front of tinted-black glass doors. A rope created a passage up to the bouncers on the door. The blinking sign told me just about everything I needed to know about what I was getting into.
Goldfire Gentleman’s Club.
What a name for the lair of the Dragons.
Chapter 20
The bouncers were a different breed to the guys I’d seen outside of the Pit.
Each of them wore suits, sure, but they’d traded in ties for open-necked shirts and steel-toed boots. I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself as I strolled up to meet them. I’d never really been a bar or a strip club kind of guy, but I’d run into enough security in the last two days to make up for it. The Dragon guards were lean, hungry-looking motherfuckers, and the three of them watched me with cold eyes as I approached the red doors that led into the Dragon strip club. I half-expected them to wand me and check me for weapons.
But they didn’t need to. My weapons were out of reach and ready at a moment’s notice.
“He’s here,” one of them said into a mic.
“He has a name,” I said.
“Don’t care,” another told me.
They pushed the doors open, and a waft of tobacco and the smell of spilled drinks rolled up out of the interior. A pulsing bass-house beat throbbed in the air as I took a short set of red-carpeted stairs down into the Goldfire. I braced myself as I went. I’d never been inside a titty bar before. I’d seen shit in movies before, of course, but this was a different animal.
Anyone inside could be a Player. Hell, they probably all were.
I paused at the bottom stair to take in the scene ahead.
The place was huge. It had to be almost the size of the Leviathan’s bottling plant. A long, slender catwalk spiked off the far-right wall. Golden poles punched down from the ceiling, and breathtakingly skilled women rolled around them with acrobatic maneuvers that struck me as borderline impossible. They wore nothing or next to nothing, and dragon tattoos snaked their way over their bodies to draw attention to their breasts and—
