“You’re right, it’s none of your business. And everything’s fine,” Luc grumbled in reply.
“Sure it is,” Amir muttered. Stopping suddenly he pointed to a doorway. “We’re here.” Reaching forward, he grasped the knob and turned. The door opened to reveal the back entrance to a brick building. They stepped into the alley. Amir opened the door to the building, ushering Katia and Luc in. Katia was struck by how much this looked like a normal bar, a place she’d hang out in with Sergei drinking a few beers and playing pool. “This is a demon bar?” she asked.
Amir laughed. “What did you expect? Body parts lying around? Blood dripping from the walls?”
“Something like that,” she replied with a wry smile.
Sam and B were sitting together at a table in the corner, both men looked subdued. Panic started to bubble up inside her. Picking up speed, Katia made her way directly over to their table. The men looked up at her with matching pained expressions that did nothing to calm the rising tide of fear. “What happened? Where’s Sergei?”
Sam and B exchanged a look. Sam picked up his cup of coffee and shook his head. “You tell her. You found him.”
Heaving a huge sigh, B motioned for Katia to sit down. “You’ll want to sit down for this,” he said.
Pulling out the chair with a shaky hand, Katia sat, never taking her eyes off of B. “Okay, I’m sitting.”
“First off, let me say that Sergei is here right now. In the basement to be specific.”
“All right…” Katia replied.
Running his tongue over his teeth, B looked back over at Sam who waved his hand indicating that he should continue.
“Okay. Sergei summoned me last night. It looked like he’d gotten a visit from Voss.” B looked up at Luc as he said this. Twisting to look back at Luc, Katia watched as his eyes went wide and all the color drained from his face. Terror began to inch up her spine. “Who’s Voss?” Katia asked Luc with trepidation.
“One of Satan’s minions. He usually handles…interrogations,” Luc replied as he looked down at her, pain in his eyes.
“So...you mean torture,” Katia replied quietly. “Sergei was tortured?” She turned back to B. “What was done to him?”
“Are you sure you want to know?” B asked equally quietly.
“I have to. It happened because of me.”
B nodded and replied, “His throat had been ripped out, his legs and an arm were broken in multiple places, there wasn’t an inch of him that hadn’t been cut or burned, and he was eviscerated.”
Katia made a gagging noise before she choked out, “Oh god. Oh my god. This is all my fault. Is he…is he dead? I mean, how could he survive that?”
“He managed to contact me before he bled out. Katia, I don’t want you to be angry with me. We didn’t have time to contact you to ask you what he would want. I had to make a decision…”
“What do you mean?” Katia asked.
“There are always vampires here, Katia. It is a demon bar after all. I asked one of them to turn him. He’s in the basement right now. We’re not sure if this is going to work because he’d already lost so much blood, but if it does, he’ll wake up at nightfall as a vampire. I just hope I made the right call.” B looked at her hopefully.
Katia let out a shaky breath and launched herself across the table to hug B hard. “Yes, you made the right call.” She gave him a hard squeeze and let go. “Can I see him?”
B looked up at Luc and shrugged. “I see no reason why not. Mara's down there watching over him."
“Yeah, go ahead. The four of us need to make some plans. We won’t be able to stay here long though,” Luc said, looking down at Katia.
She stood. "Fair enough. How do I get to the basement?”
Pointing to the stone doorway, Luc replied, “Through the door and down the stairs. Whatever you do, stay away from the portal. You’ll know it when you see it.”
Nodding her thanks, Katia made her way toward the doorway. The bartender tossed out a quick hello as she passed the bar. Stopping, Katia turned toward him. In a true sign that she was getting used to this world, the man standing before her with his nondescript blue eyes, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, sandy hair swept over his forehead disguising a small pair of horns didn’t seem the least bit strange to her.
“Get a lot of day drinkers among the demon crowd?” Katia asked.
The bartender laughed and smiled at her. “Depends on what kind of drinking you’re referring to,” he said with a wink. “We’re always open, and we cater to a variety of thirsts.”
“Oh, I see.”
The bartender waved toward the doorway. “I’m guessing you’re looking for our unexpected guest. He’s in the basement with Mara.”
“Thanks.” Katia replied.
“Anytime. The name’s Theo by the way…in case we meet again.” He gave her another smile and a wink and headed toward Luc’s group that were now huddled together at their table, arguing back and forth.
Continuing on her path toward the basement, Katia passed through the stone doorway and headed down the well-worn steps. As she entered the basement, she was bathed in the soft flickering light cast by the candles illuminating the room. Katia glanced around the large open space and saw a young woman sitting on the floor, her back against the wall. In one hand she held a book she was reading, in the other she held a medical blood bag. As Katia watched, the young woman brought the bag up to her mouth and sucked the red fluid into her mouth
