The Detective And The Villain In Love (The Poe Detective Agency Book 2) by Brian Yansky

Author:Brian Yansky [Yansky, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Keeping It Weird Press
Published: 2020-12-17T22:00:00+00:00

19

Demon’s Dance

“Into the coach again,” Deadeye ordered.

They jumped in. The gargoyle yelled at the horses. Romeo didn’t recognize the language. He guessed it was Eastern European. When Romeo stuck his head out the window, he saw Varcan up ahead, a stream of black smoke that was soaring along the streets. Somehow they were following Varcan, but it was the Varcan of the past who had escaped Romeo and Carlos. They kept after him all the way down to the Mississippi River, then lost him in the dock area.

“How did you do that?” Romeo asked.

“I’m what they call a tracker necromancer,” Deadeye said, head out the window, much like a dog. “Varcan is not on this plane. He’s close, though—a plane away. Within a couple of hundred yards, I think.”

“You smell him?”

“Harvey, stop the horses.”

“I can tell you what he ate for breakfast and what soap he used when he took a shower—Irish Spring. A fine selection. I use it myself.”

“Demons take showers?” Romeo said.

“Of course not.”

“But you just said—”

“I smell rats for breakfast. Demons love rats for breakfast.”

The coach came to a stop. They were in the warehouse district, the old one.

“This is close to the Fates’ palace,” Romeo said.

“The river is old. It’s easier to travel the planes close to the river. The old gals likely don’t have the strength they once did,” Deadeye said.

“It looks a lot better on higher planes of existence,” Romeo said.

“A lot of demons are with your friend.”

“He’s not our friend,” Carlos said.

“Trap?” Romeo said.

“It’s possible,” Deadeye said.

“Maybe they’re having a meeting.”

“Doubtful,” Deadeye said. “Demons hate meetings. More likely it’s a demon bar.”

“How do we get there?” Carlos asked.

“Elevator,” both Romeo and Deadeye said at the same time.

“There’s an elevator between cosmic planes of existence?” Carlos said.

“There are stairs, but no one takes them,” Deadeye said. “You’d need sixty years. Everyone is in a hurry these days.”

Deadeye called the elevator and it appeared right in front of them. A spotless set of brass doors slid open to freshly painted walls. The floor was a thick red carpet. The attendant was a monkey with one of those red elevator attendant hats. In fact, Romeo was pretty sure that it was the same monkey and the same elevator that he’d taken with Calypso, but spruced up somehow.

“Two,” Deadeye said, stepping in.

“Three is better,” the monkey said.

Deadeye treated the monkey to a Deadeye stare. “Two.”

“Two it is, sir.”

The elevator took off. It was more like a rocket than an elevator. The floor beneath Romeo seemed to disappear. For a second, Romeo felt the emptiness of the universe course through him. There was so much emptiness.

It took all of a second, and when the elevator opened they were in a darker night than they’d just been in. They stepped out of the elevator.

“No tip required,” the monkey said, looking irritated that no one was offering.

“Bloodrider in the fourth race this afternoon at the Downs,” Deadeye said.

“Most amusing,” the monkey said.

The elevator disappeared.

They were standing in front of a tavern that looked like it belonged in an earlier century.

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