Ch. 16
Songs - Havana by Camila Cabello & Young Thug, Let's Get Lost by Beck
CPOV
"Now this is my kind of party" Adrian smacked me on the back as we walked up to the remote bar. The sand was colder at night, but it had been ages since I had been on a beach and I welcomed the feeling of small flecks between my toes. I could hear waves from the high tide crashing against the shore and looked up to see a full moon hanging in the sky. It created a black and white scene from the dark water and white sand to the shadowed figures cast by the cliff sides and tree lines. The only sign of color was a soft glow from the vibrant structure we were walking towards. It gave off the feeling of an oasis, standing out from the rest of the baron beach, but instead of a sanctuary for water, it appeared to house a combination of revelry and bad decisions.
It had been a pain in the ass to get here. Once we arrived at Bodega Bay, Adrian had to go through several connections to find the right place. With its location so well contained, I started to wonder if this hidden bar was compelled to be forgotten by most. It was most likely to keep its location from Strigoi, although his contacts insisted it was well protected. Regardless of our mission, nothing was stopping Adrian from finding it. He would have taken any excuse to get out of Seattle. A day hadn't gone by since we arrived there that he didn't constantly complain. I, on the other hand, didn't mind the somber weather and towering skylines. It allowed us to go out during the day more and keep Adrian out of trouble at night when he was tempted to find, yet another, bar to "ease his trepidations".
When Rose called us with news of a lead in Sonoma County we were on the first flight to California. As we walked closer to the bar I could see an array of colorful lights spilling out from all sides accompanied by a lively Latin beat. I hated to agree with Adrian, but the sight was pretty cool. There were tall, wooden posts around the outer perimeter and one in the middle of the open bar holding up the straw roof. Patio lights hung in random crisscrossed strands along the top creating a golden glow, and brighter, colorful beams of light shot up from different corners of the space towards a sandy floor. The club held somewhere between 60 or 70 people all scattered between the bamboo bar and a designated dance area. I grabbed Adrian's arm and stopped him before we walked all the way in.
"So, you'll definitely be able to tell right? You can see if there are any Spirit users here?" He hadn't had a drink today, which I knew could hinder his abilities, but I still wasn't completely sold on this plan.
"Ozera, when are you finally going to trust me? I knew Lissa wielded Spirit magic when I met her, didn't I? It's in their auras. I'll see it. Now let's go! This place is bumpin!" He charged in with a huge grin on his face and I obligingly followed behind.
I looked around and noticed most of the people here were a mix of Moroi and Dhampir, but there were also some humans here. I didn't see any evidence that they were feeders, which made the scene even more confusing. Before I could think too much more about it, Adrian put his hand on my shoulder and whisper-yelled into my ear over the music.
"I think we should split up, cover more ground. Just try to keep the questions vague and don't give away too many details about yourself. I'll let you know if I see anything." I nodded, and he headed on to the dancefloor in the middle of a group of California Blondes in skimpy bikinis. I shook my head at his first choice of possible suspects.
I walked over to the bar and took a seat, occasionally checking in on Adrian out of the corner of my eye. A waitress walked by him a couple times to offer him a drink, but he politely turned it down. Satisfied he wouldn't be getting into trouble anytime soon I started to look around at the other people here. I could see a few couples dancing and a flash of pale blonde hair whipping around as the girl's partner spun her in circles. I smirked to myself, thinking Lissa would be the only one that could get me out there to do that. I quickly averted my gaze to avoid familiar distraction and began surveying the other side of the room.
"Hey there blue eyes," a voice interrupted my scanning and I turned around to see who it was. There was a pretty brunette girl leaning on the bar next to me with a flirtatious grin on her face. I gave her a tight smile and chin jut in response.
"That your boyfriend over there," she asked, pointing to Adrian who was now shirtless surrounded by five Moroi girls dancing and laughing. I rolled my eyes and ran a hand through my hair in frustration. "No. Not sure if I would even use the term friend right now." I turned back towards the bar and took a sip of water from the glass I had ordered.
"Good. I was hoping you would say that," she placed a hand on my arm and bit her lip. Damn, this girl was a bit desperate. I was about to remove my arm and walk away but remembered I needed to get information. If she wanted to talk to me enough, maybe she could give me something I could use. I tried my best to sound interested and offered her a seat next to me.
"So, how did you hear about this place?" Seeing how hard it was for us to find it, I figured other people here either had a personal invitation or knew the owner.
"I'm Maya," she purred. Not exactly what I asked, but ok.
"Uh, hey Maya," I responded, trying to hide my annoyance. "Do you know the host tonight?" I was hoping the person hosting this party would know a little about his guests or would have a list at the very least.
"You wana dance?" This girl was starting to get on my nerves.
"Not really, no." She looked at the bartender and held up two fingers with a wink. He came back with two slim shot glasses filled with some sort of pink liquid. It looked like the same stuff all the waitresses were carrying around. Maya presented one to me and I shook my head.
"Aw come on. If you're not going to dance, at least have one drink with me," she whined and stuck out a pouty lip. I was almost at my breaking point with this chick and was about ready to give up. I thought about it for a second though. She looked like she had already had a few drinks and I started to think maybe after one or two more she would be more inclined to share some actual information with me. If it would get us one step closer to helping Lissa, I couldn't back down now. I examined the pink liquid in front of me again and figured something that girly looking couldn't really be that strong anyways. I took it from her hand and lifted it to cheers.
"Bottoms up. Here's to you Liss," I toasted. She smiled under the brim of her shot and took a small sip watching me as I downed the whole thing.
The warm liquid slid down my throat and coated my insides with a keen burn. I expected it to taste like some sort of fruity liquor but was left with a floral taste in my mouth; almost what I would assume a rose to taste like. I smacked my tongue and took a sip of my water to try and rid the taste from my mouth.
"What was that," I turned to look at Maya, but her figure was blurred, and my head felt numb.
"Who's Liss? Should I be jealous?"
"Who?" The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. I shook my head, trying to jog my memory.
"Come on blue eyes. Let's dance." Her tan fingers wrapped around my arm and attempted to pull me from my seat. I started to say no again, but the words escaped me. Then my thoughts escaped me. My vision settled, and I looked around at the swaying bodies scattered throughout the room. I tried to remember why I was here. Wasn't there something important I was supposed to do?
I looked over to see a beautiful brunette girl smiling at me, nodding towards the dance floor. I stood up and followed her. Her hair smelled like coconuts and oranges as she whipped it around her shoulders and I smiled back at her. The music pulsed into my chest and through my fingertips. I gave into the relaxing rhythm and let the ambiance of the room surround me, completely foregoing any previous thoughts I might have had.
APOV
Song: Season of the Witch by Donovan
"So how did you hear about this place, I don't think I've seen you around here before," I questioned one of the girls dancing. Three of them were named Lindsey and it was becoming harder to keep track the more they moved around me.
"Well, then you must not have been looking hard enough," she giggled.
"Oh, I think I would have remembered those legs," I winked in return. She laughed and whispered something to Lindsey #2...or was she #3? I had been flinging casual questions at them for the past ten minutes and had yet to receive a direct response from anyone. I looked up to the bar to see Ozera talking to a fine ass brunette and hoped he was having better luck. The blaring music and bright colors were making auras slightly difficult to read, but I could see the gist of some here and there. The waitress came by for what seemed like the fifth time to offer me one of those pink drinks. The only people that seemed to be turning them down were the male Dhampirs casually lining the outer perimeter; poor guys never got to have any fun.
When I told her no thank you, again, she touched my arm and asked, "Are you sure honey? They're a dream." I hadn't noticed before, but when her skin made contact with mine it was easier to read her aura. There was something off about it as she spoke. Something deceptive.
"Oh really? Well, in that case, hand it over." She smiled brightly and took one of the dainty glasses off her tray. I took it from her and smiled. When she walked away to offer another patron one of her dodgy concoctions, I examined the contents of my glass. It didn't smell like alcohol or seem to have any traces of booze at all. It almost smelled like...rose water. Why the hell was she offering me rose water?
I looked around and noticed every waitress was carrying a similar tray filled with only small pink shots. I saw a young Moroi woman grab one of them and focused my energy on her aura. As she gulped it down her entire aura became surrounded by a light pink haze. I could still see the original tells of herself, the light colors indicating she was Moroi and hints of blue and green hinting at her specialization and temperament, but everything seemed to be clouded by that rosy fog. I made my way over to her and placed the pink shot on another waitress' tray before tapping the woman on the shoulder.
"Well hello there. You look far too beautiful to be standing here alone. What's your name sweetheart," I was laying it on thick, but she looked pretty out of it and was enjoying my compliments.
"Name? Hmmm what's in a name," she slurred while swaying side to side and slowly lifting her hands in the air. I grabbed her hands above us and moved along with her to give the impression we were just dancing. I looked deep into her eyes and forced out some compulsion into my next question. "Who are you? How did you get here?"
It took her a second to come up with an answer, but she finally slipped past the haze and responded. "Caroline Drozdov. I came with some friends. They were invited."
"Invited by who?"
"I'm not sure. They said he threw the best parties and had an exclusive invitation," she replied robotically.
"Where are your friends," I smiled to slowly ease her out of my compulsion as she pointed to a small group of Moroi girls standing at the back. "Thanks for the dance sweetheart." The rose haze returned back to her aura and she smiled lazily as she continued her swaying movements. It looked like our generous host was slipping these guests a little earth magic in the form of rose water. Not exactly illegal, but impressive nonetheless. Whoever he was, he either had mass amounts of skill or was very, very rich to afford such a charm.
I turned back to the bar, ready to grab Ozera and head over to our new targets, but he wasn't there. I skimmed the area and started to worry when I didn't see his usual aura stand out. Just before I started to panic, I spotted someone else familiar. That exotic brunette he had been talking to earlier. She was spinning in circles blocking my view from her dance partner. I started to move through the crowd again to get a better look and when I finally saw who she was dancing with I almost had to pick my jaw up off the ground.
Christian had his hands on her hips with a mesmerized look on his face as the couple shuffled to the beat. I knew all the guy ever thought about was Lissa, so I didn't even need to check for that pink cloud to know that he was under some kind of spell. Even though sober, he wouldn't find any part of this amusing, I suddenly found it extremely hard to suppress a laugh.
I walked over to him and cleared my throat. "Sorry to interrupt, but I need to borrow my friend for a moment."
"Why don't you both stay? The more the merrier," the tan beauty flashed me a flirtatious wink.
"As tempting as that sounds. We'll have to take a rain check," I grabbed Christian and led him towards the bar, sparing one last glance over my shoulder at that gorgeous creature. "Damn Chris, you sure do know how to pick 'em umph—" I stumbled into Christian's back and realized we had just walked straight into a Goliath-sized Guardian.
"Sorry about that, man." I shifted to walk around him, and he sidestepped in front of us again.
"You need to come with me. Now," his Russian accent was thick and serious. I started to argue with him but thought better of messing with a guy twice our size and held up my hands in surrender.
"Alright, alright. No need for hostility. We're all friends here." He grunted and grabbed Christian's shoulder to lead him towards the back of the club. Christian's spacey smile and stumbled steps made him appear drunk, but I had a feeling this Guardian knew exactly what was up with him.
When we reached a rear corner, there was a lone Moroi seated at a table with another giant Guardian behind him. I did a quick look over the guy sitting down and had to admit—he had style. His dark hair and beard were neatly trimmed, he wore a white linen suit that was somehow still perfectly ironed despite the material, and a bright orange shirt underneath to accompany it. His gold earrings gave his look a Havana Pirate vibe and I wondered for a second why I never tried out earrings, but the look in the Moroi's eyes suddenly sent chills down my spine. This guy was important. This guy was dangerous.
"So, you must be the two young men asking all the questions about my bar." I nervously scratched the back of my head trying to think of how to explain ourselves when Ozera started busting out laughing. He was laughing so hard that I thought he would keel over any minute.
"I'm sorry sir. It appears my friend has had one too many of your special libations," I hastily replied to ease the tension. I was surprised to see that Christian's hysterics amused this man, rather than annoy him.
"Pavel," the Moroi man looked towards the surly Guardian that brought us here and held up one finger while looking at Christian. Pavel nodded and walked over to the bar. "And you didn't partake in any…'libations'," he asked me.
"Drew the short straw tonight. Someone had to be DD," I lied.
He lifted an eyebrow at my response and said, "That, I find hard to believe." I gulped under his stare until he smiled and looked over to someone approaching behind us. "Ah, Pavel. Thank you." He took a glass of some fizzing liquid and presented it to Christian. "Drink."
Ozera still had that goofy smile plastered on his face but took the bubbling drink and sipped it. After one good gulp, his eyes widened and I could see the rose cloud start to dissipate. He scratched his head and looked at the man in front of us, then over to me, and back to the man again.
"What the hell did you do to me? And why do I smell like a Piña colada?" Ozera was fuming.
The mysterious Moroi threw his head back and let out a loud laugh that caused me to jump. "That would probably be Maya. A feisty one, isn't she?"
Christian was still completely confused and not letting up. "I'm sorry, but who the hell are you?"
"Ah apologies, where are my manners? My name is Ibrahim Mazur, but you can call me Abe." I tried to hide the shock on my face and if my fear wasn't already rising before, it was boiling over now. Abe Mazur, also known as Zmey, was someone you did NOT want to fuck with. I frequented many of his casinos and bars in Europe and had heard the stories of his more...brutal business dealings. If we were on his radar, we were in some serious trouble. He gave me a knowing look, obviously noticing my recognition and offered us a seat at the table.
"So, this is your place," it came out as more of a statement than a question, but I was treading on dangerous waters and wasn't sure where to start.
"Yes, one of many," Zmey smiled proudly. "Patrons come here to rid themselves of their inhibitions and worries—while enjoying the splendid views of course," he added as he leaned around us admiring one of the dancing beauties. "But don't worry Mr. Ivashkov, it's all good clean fun and we make sure everyone leaves here with a clear mind." I sat there dumbfounded, my jaw wordlessly flopping at his reply. "Yes, I know who you are. You as well Mr. Ozera."
Christian sat up a little taller, skeptical of the Turkish mobster. "And how is it you came to find that out?" I kicked Christian under the table at his overzealous tone and he let out a muffled yelp.
"Let's just say we have a certain Russian in common," Zmey replied illusively as he stroked his dark beard. This guy was giving off serious James Bond villain vibes.
"What is it we can do for you, Mr. Mazur?" I tried my best to keep my voice steady even though I felt like my whole body was trembling.
"Abe, please." He smiled at us, trying to appear more friendly, and I nodded in response. "And actually, it's what I can do for you. I understand there is someone you are looking for? I believe I can help you with that." Christian and I simultaneously shot each other a shocked look.
"Eva, dear. Won't you please join us?" He motioned behind us and we both turned to see a Moroi girl walking towards the table. I hadn't seen her at the club before and wasn't sure when she arrived. She had fiery red hair that was a mix of curly and wavy with blue streaks intermingled. It looked impossible to control, which may have been a telltale sign of her personality. Eva was shorter than most Moroi but wore a look that said, 'don't mess with me'. I had to admit, the little fireball kind of reminded me of Rose, but when I took a closer look at her I had to pick my jaw up off the ground for the second time tonight. Away from all the lights, music, and magical hazes, her aura was clear as day. She was a Spirit user.
A/N: Oh boys, what have you gotten yourselves into…It's been way too long since we've heard from them. Hope y'all enjoyed their little adventure to Havana nightlife. "Half of my heart is in Montana-ooh-na-na". Haha okay, I'll stop.
So, as you can tell from previous chapters, I get a kick out of creating renditions of scenes straight out of the original series. We saw the role reversal Tent Scene a couple chapters ago, and I'll be revealing another one of these next chapter. If anyone can guess as to which scene it will be, I may be inclined to send you a little sneak-peek treat 😊. Feel free to leave your guesses in the reviews or PM me!