Vampire in Silver by Mia Strange

Author:Mia Strange [Strange, Mia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tsunami Blue Publishing
Published: 2019-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

11

Like a final curtain call, darkness had fallen when we were only halfway to The Neptune Theater. The Seattle streets, silent and black, met us with no working gas lamps to greet us along the way. The route had been painstakingly slow. This was the price we paid for traveling off-map.

But with Annabel in tow, her skin looking more and more iridescent, while her hair glowed an impossible, magical red, we couldn’t risk the direct route. A route often laden with the occasional Gov roadblock. Search and seize and maim and kill tactics were common. Plus, there was more than the occasional band of marauding from the deadly Ignored.

As it was, The Madison pulled into The Neptune Theater parking area a mere hour before Showtime. On this night all the lights, sounds and smells, surrounding the theater had kept the inky darkness we had grown accustomed to, at bay.

The night was alive with color.

Lanterns of every size and hue had been strung around The Neptune Theater for what seemed like miles. Some stretched all the way up to the dirigibles floating above us. Glass jars of all sizes and shapes, filled with aether were carried by nearly everyone. The distinct green hue it gave off lifted shadows and lit the way through the crowds. It killed Eli that we didn’t own and operate the aether booth, there was a small fortune to be made there. But where it came to aether, The Academy was seemingly always broke.

And to keep Pilot safe, we had to keep it that way.

Hundreds of steel barrels, burning with debris and a few illegal zombies, lined the walkway into the theater. Poles, some rising twenty feet or more and bearing flags and pennants of every self-important vendor, were planted between the barrels. Welcome to advertising in the post-apocalyptic age.

For now, what was left of the massive theater doors that remained solidly locked. And they would stay that way until Dr. Dark opened them. Those were Dr. Dark’s rules, and they had never been broken. A magically sealed door is damn hard to open.

This night truly had taken on a life of its own. And it was growing louder and larger and more dangerous by the minute.

As The Madison rolled her way through the impossibly thick crowd, people pounded the railcar with fists. Some smashed empty bottles of absinthe into the iron, others pelted us with rocks. Still, others beat against the iron car with sticks, playing us like a drum. Inside, it sounded like a continuous stream of thunder all around us. Unfortunately, all this sounded normal.

Most of the Academy members who played in the Troupe had made an entrance like this before.

“Seems the party started without us,” Eli said, watching through the periscope.

“It’s always the same party.” I sighed. “We need way better clientele.”

“So true.”

“I can’t believe she can get any rest through this.” I looked down at Annabel who hadn’t stirred. She was still sound asleep. Underwater.

“The porcelain acts as a kind of sound barrier,” Eli said.

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