Sun Broken (The Wild Hunt #11) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,56

and crossing his legs. “I have a few friends who live down in the Catacombs—more than I did when I first went to work for you, thanks to Herne. They looked into Fire & Fang for me. What they found out made them back out of our agreement real fast. They wouldn’t even take the money I offered them for information. Be on the lookout for a vamp named Eldris, he’s the manager of the club. And I did get you these.” He tossed what looked like two gold coins on the table. “These are your tickets in. One for Yutani and Ember, one for Raven.”

I picked up one of the coins, examining it. On one side, it had the logo of Fire & Fang, the name inscribed over a bleeding heart with a dagger through it, and the other side had two words printed on it: Member-Guest.

“What are these?”

“Tokens. One of my informants stole them off of a member some time back. They aren’t tied to any particular member, so you can bluff your way in. I did find out that Mendin was officially a member, so you can use his name. They can’t very well check up on you, since he’s dead.” Charlie smiled, the tips of his fangs showing. He still hadn’t learned how to control them. They were recessive—descending when a vampire was hungry, or when they were new. And Charlie was still considered very new at this.

“So, we show these at the door?” Yutani asked.

“Yes. You tell them that you were invited as a guest and when they ask, tell them Mendin gave you the tokens. They shouldn’t question you further. Those beauties are rare and only are given out a few at a time to established members. They have a magical signature that’s tricky and can’t be easily imitated, so the doorkeeper will be able to tell you aren’t trying to get in with a fake ID, so to speak.” Charlie shook his head, toying with one of the coins. “You need to be careful. If my informants were scared enough to back off from accepting a hefty bribe, you know there’s danger there.”

“Heard loud and clear,” Raven said. She thought for a moment. “They didn’t happen to mention anything about the Spooks, did they?”

Charlie shook his head. “I asked, but the only thing they know is that the necromancers who come looking for the group tend to be chaotic and most consider themselves anarchists.”

That seemed to be about right. “Okay, then, I guess we’re done here. We’d better be on our way. Charlie, thanks. Wish us luck.” I stood, tugging on the bottom of my dress, trying to make it stretch a little longer.

Charlie somberly escorted us to the door. “Be careful. The Catacombs are dangerous for those who haven’t had much experience down there. Don’t forget the tokens.” As we headed toward the elevator I glanced back and smiled, but he just nodded, his expression serious.

Chapter Thirteen

There were a number of entrances to the Catacombs. Viktor and I had gone through one in the Viaduct Market on a search shortly after I had begun working for the Wild Hunt, but Raven offered to take us through one of her routes, which would arouse less interest and seem more natural for someone looking to hang out at Fire & Fang.

“I know where all of the entrances are—at least, most of them,” she said. “Over the years, I’ve picked up quite a bit of information about them.”

The Catacombs had begun life in two separate sections. One was known as Underground Seattle, and it had been born through a fire that destroyed a great deal of the city back when Seattle was new. On rebuilding, the planners raised the street level in order to avoid the continual flooding from Puget Sound. The burned-out areas were still open, with a number of businesses still functioning, and entrance down into the lower level was provided by a series of ladders. But as the businesses relocated, the streets were built over the underground areas until the lower level was abandoned to the homeless. A few underground nightclubs operated down in the Underground, until the city flushed them out.

Meanwhile, the vampires had been living in the Catacombs, a series of tunnels originating from long before Seattle began to flourish. Eventually, the vamps broke into the lower levels of Seattle and absorbed them. Now the entire network of tunnels was known as the Catacombs, and through use of sealants and