Otherworld Renegade

“Is La Casa Oscura one of these brothels?” Iago asked.

Lorcan shook his head. “No. La Casa Oscura is unique. The darkest of the dark houses.”

“I don’t understand.”

“La Casa Oscura was designed to be a well-disguised portal to Otherworld.”

“Until Moncoya made it into something more.” Aydan’s pleasant features hardened.

“Yes.” Lorcan continued his explanation. “I’m not going to pretend that before Moncoya there were never those who exploited the border between Otherworld and the mortal realm for nefarious purposes. Of course it happened. But until Moncoya, it was never done on this scale. This is organized crime that would make the gangs of Eastern Europe gnash their teeth with envy. This is people trafficking to an extent that the mortal realm cannot conceive. Yet, because it takes place between worlds, the law enforcement agencies of this world have no idea it even goes on. The Alliance has sworn to stamp it out, but they have enough problems at present bringing the dynasties around the table, and Moncoya is flexing his muscles from his hiding place. In the last few days, there have been faerie terrorist attacks in some of the major Alliance strongholds.” This was the first Tanzi had heard of this, and she sat up straighter. Lorcan, noticing her movement, threw her an apologetic glance.

“You said La Casa Oscura is more than just a portal.” Iago drew Lorcan’s attention away from Tanzi and back into the conversation.

“In addition to the day-to-day portals, there are other ways of gaining entry into Otherworld. These are the dark houses. They are a very specific portal, leading to the darkest reaches of Otherworld. Those who wish to gain entry without attracting attention do so by using a dark house. Smuggling, trafficking, anything illegal is done through the dark houses.”

“Were the dark houses created by Moncoya?” someone else asked and Tanzi closed her eyes, leaning back in her chair. Even though, since the battle, she had seen concrete evidence of her father’s vile deeds for herself, it still hurt her to hear of more.

“No. They have always existed. For as long as mortals have spoken of heaven and hell or of Otherworld and Underworld. Moncoya was not even the first to exploit their unique properties.” Lorcan looked tired. Tanzi wanted to go to him and brush back the errant lock of hair that flopped onto his forehead. When did these odd, protective feelings toward him start developing? And, more important, how was she going to get rid of them? “What Moncoya brought to the equation,” Lorcan continued, “was his organizational skills and his manpower. The dark houses are now used systematically and efficiently as a means of transporting—well, anything really—between Otherworld and the mortal realm. La Casa Oscura has been Moncoya’s greatest and darkest accomplishment.”

“How so?”

“It has served him well in many ways. Firstly, Moncoya is one of the few Otherworld leaders to develop a fully fledged mortal persona. He has been forced to abandon that guise since his defeat, of course, a fact that has led to intense press speculation here in the mortal realm. Just what has happened to celebrated electronics billionaire Ezra Moncoya? His disappearance is the news story of the decade. La Casa Oscura was his mortal base. Its next purpose was as a genuine portal to Otherworld. Enter La Casa Oscura and you may also, if you so choose and if you believe it to be true, enter Moncoya’s royal Otherworld palace. Finally, it is the ultimate dark house. The treasury of Otherworld’s grim secrets.” Lorcan’s beautiful mouth turned down slightly at the corners. “Moncoya may not be at home anymore, but his legacy lingers on in the very bricks and mortar.”

“So why don’t we destroy La Casa Oscura?” Aydan spoke up suddenly, his voice excited and eager. “Just blow the place sky-high?”

Without thinking, Tanzi jumped to her feet. The cat’s howl of rage drew everyone’s attention in her direction. “No...” She thought of her beautiful childhood home. Of her sister. Of the servants who had served her so loyally and who played no role in Moncoya’s dark deeds. Words bubbled up to her lips, but Lorcan was at her side in an instant, sensing her distress and calming her before she could give herself away. His arm around her shoulders steadied her, and she leaned gratefully against his side. Tanzi held out her hand, showing him blood welling in the lacerations where the cat had scratched her when she disturbed its slumber. It was a feeble excuse, but it was for the benefit of the others. She knew Lorcan already understood the real reason for her distress.

“It’s okay.” How was it, that as soon as he said the words, she was soothed by them? “If that was an option, sure, wouldn’t we have done it long ago? For the reasons I’ve already outlined, it can’t be done. La Casa Oscura is the cover for Moncoya’s mortal enterprise. Blow it up and we destroy the home of the world’s leading electronics firm, we kill Moncoya’s mortal employees. We draw the wrong kind of publicity to ourselves. It is also the portal to the royal palace, now the headquarters of the new Otherworld Alliance. Innocent staff work in the palace itself but, most important of all, it is now the meeting place of the peacekeeping council. Are you willing to risk the lives of the dynasty leaders? To risk Cal and Stella on the chance that we might succeed in destroying the dark house?”

Shamefaced, Aydan begged pardon for his foolishness. “But we can close down this latest vile brothel?”

“Of course we can. In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t done it before now.” Lorcan scanned Tanzi’s face as if assuring himself that she was really okay. In response, she nodded slightly. He seemed satisfied at what he saw and released her. She felt oddly bereft as he returned to table. How foolish! Is it your goal to keep him at your side for all time?

“We were waiting for you, Lorcan. We need your necromancer prowess.”

Lorcan sighed. “Why do all the worst jobs always start off with that sentence?”

Chapter 5 (#ulink_86828b95-d608-5844-87f6-720e8b7776e9)

“I don’t see why Lorcan has to bring her along.” Lisbet made no attempt to lower her voice, and Tanzi stiffened slightly as the words reached her through the open kitchen door. “Her only use seems to be decorative.”

“Hush.” Aydan’s quieter tones carried into the hall, where Tanzi was sitting on the bottom stair, waiting for Lorcan to lead them all to the brothel. “She will hear you. We may not know who she is, but we know she has been through a great trauma.”

“For that reason alone she shouldn’t come. What possible good will she be to us if there is any fighting?”

“We must trust Lorcan. If he wants her with us, then she comes.”

There was a definite huffing noise from Lisbet, but no further argument. Pedro was hovering near the front door and, when there was a knock, he hurried to see who it was. Once the sidhe caretaker had satisfied himself that there was no threat, he opened the door and Lorcan strolled in. He was accompanied by Iago.

“Don’t we need to wait for dark?” Lisbet asked as the five of them prepared to depart. It was late afternoon.

“The ideal time for a surprise attack is under cover of darkness, when the brothel’s activities will be in full swing. That’s when we’ll take the place. But for now we want to reconnoiter and get an idea of what we’re up against. This is the best time to do it. They won’t be on their guard and we can get an idea of what sort of security they have in place.”

The site of the brothel was in the medieval Gothic quarter of the city in a cloistered placa, or square, dating back to the days of the Inquisition. It was like stepping back in time. Once they were within the decorative tiled walls, it had the feel of a country village with geese and ducks wandering freely and vines rambling wild. The vast city might have been a million miles away. Tanzi, still adjusting to the difference between her mystical Otherworld home and the harsh realities of the mortal realm, was thrust slightly off balance by another change of scene. They hung back in a side alley, surveying the placa.

“They chose this for the location of such debauchery?” Iago cast a disbelieving glance around at the peaceful setting.

“That building was an Inquisition torture chamber.” Lorcan’s face was grim as he pointed to a Gothic structure with curved walls and high, arched slits in place of windows. “Many of the original features have been preserved.”

Everyone fell silent as they contemplated the building and the implication of Lorcan’s words. It was Aydan who broke the silence. “What do we do now? We can’t go and knock on the door, can we?”

“There isn’t a door,” Tanzi pointed out. It was only when they all turned to stare at her that she realized she had spoken aloud.

“Found your voice?” Lisbet’s eyes narrowed into suspicious slits.

“Pedro has plans of most of the old areas of the city. There are two underground entrances to this building. One is through another placa to the rear of the building. That is the one the sidhes currently use. The other is through an underground crypt in the cloisters over there.” Lorcan pointed. “The inquisitors took their victims straight from the altar to the torture chamber.”

“It strikes me as odd.” Iago viewed the strange structure again. “Surely the point of running a brothel is to make money? Isn’t the fact that there is no obvious way of getting into it something of a disadvantage from a business point of view?”

“On the contrary,” Lorcan responded. “The exclusivity of this place is its selling point. Passing trade would be a hazard. And let’s not forget Moncoya’s human guise. He is the mortal realm’s electronics virtuoso, internet supremo, master of the dark web. Those mortals who want to know what is offered here—so long as they can pay the going rate, of course—will learn of it. There is no need to tout for trade.”

Tanzi shuddered. How little she had known of the man whose genes she shared. And yet she never doubted that Lorcan was speaking the truth about her father. She accepted Moncoya’s ability to lead a double life as readily as she accepted his evil tendencies. Perhaps she was more like him than she cared to believe. She was hiding her true personality from these people, after all, and doing it very effectively. I am not evil. Please let me not have inherited his destructive traits. She shivered again at the thought.

Lorcan, sensing the movement, glanced down at her. “You okay with this?” His voice was low enough for her ears alone. “You don’t have to do it.”

“You will never know how much I do.”

He studied her face, then nodded decisively. “Very well. Aydan, wait here with Iago and Lisbet. Watch out for any activity. Searc, come with me.”

They followed the shadowy outer edge of the placa, following in the footsteps of ancient cruel inquisitors. When they were at a right angle to the building that housed the brothel, Lorcan paused. “According to the plans Pedro showed me, the entrance to the crypt should be around here.”

The marble wall that marked the outer edge of the placa was smooth, with decorative arches set at regular intervals along its length. Tanzi pointed to one of these.

“There.”

Camouflaged within the dappled gray surface of the marble there was a small iron ring, slightly rusted with age. Lorcan lifted it and, with a groan of protest, the marble panel slid inward, revealing gaping darkness beyond. A scurrying sound indicated that they had disturbed the creatures lurking within.

Lorcan raised a hand and the darkness vanished. The light he cast revealed a narrow corridor and the disappearing shapes of several large rats. “The entrance to our crypt, I believe. Can you cope with the rodents?”

“Have you forgotten my preferred choice of shift?” Taking the hand he held out to her, Tanzi followed him into the narrow space.

“Hadn’t I just? Don’t you be off chasing rats and leaving me to fend for myself, will you now?” Lorcan pulled the marble panel closed behind them.

They were in a narrow corridor just wide enough for Lorcan to walk along and lead Tanzi behind him. It smelled of damp and decay, and thick dusty cobwebs brushed their faces. Nature had made an attempt to reclaim it, and dark moss covered the walls, while green tendrils stretched down through cracks in the roof. As they followed the twists of the passage, it led them sharply downward until it opened out into a cavernous space. Here the rocky walls were lined with shelves. Lorcan kept Tanzi’s hand in one of his, but he held his other hand high to illuminate the scene. Each shelf was stacked high with coffins in varying states of repair.

“The crypt.”

There was something different about Lorcan’s voice when he said the word. Tanzi studied his face. His expression was serene, almost dreamy, as his eyes scanned the coffins. It was as though an inner peace had descended upon him. Should it surprise her that he was at home here among the dead? He was a necromancer, after all, one of those rare and magical beings who were born with the ability to communicate with those who had gone beyond life. She just hoped he wasn’t going to start doing it now.