Downtown Druid

Book 3 Chapter 1: A Drink on the House? Maybe a Whore?

Dantes leaned on the railing of the private upper floor booth of his club, Viridian Vixen, and listened to the singing coming from below. It was a slow, sultry number, Alessa’s vocals were smooth, and he found his heart rising and falling along with the notes she hit. He sipped slowly from his wine glass as he watched her. She’d put on a bit of weight, but it suited her. Honestly it was strange that she was so thin for an orc to begin with.

The club was busy. The area directly in front of Alessa’s stage was full of admirers, a few even from Uptown. The other tables were busy as well, with people eating, drinking, or gambling at the card tables in the back. Zak and his bouncers were keeping an eye on things from the bottom and top floors. Zilly and her staff were handling the busy crowd gracefully, with wine and food making their way quickly and efficiently to anyone who requested it.

Vera’s girls walked the floors or manned the bars. He saw Sera sitting in the lap of a large well dressed man giggling, Tieara smoking at the bar in a low cut dress, and Priss slow dancing with a halfling man that looked so nervous he might faint. He didn’t recognize the other girls, most of them weren’t veterans of the old Vivacious Vixen, but they were good too, Dantes knew that from personal experience. Vera had a good eye for talent.

He allowed his focus to flip through the various vermin he had watching the club, and noticed a group of five guards led by Dulles, Pacha’s right hand man, heading toward it from across the street. He sighed and finished his wine as he began to head downstairs to meet them. He didn’t need to signal anyone, those safeguards were already in place for those times when he was otherwise occupied. He shook a few hands on the way down, flashed a few smiles, and even shot a wink to a young noblewoman out ‘slumming it up’ even though the club was nicer than most of those that existed in Uptown.

He placed his glass on the edge of the bar for Zilly who took it wordlessly, and then moved over to the front door.

The bouncer at the front door pushed it open and held it for the guards who all looked at Dantes with surprise on their faces as he smiled at them.

The guards all wore the breastplate and shortsword that acted as their symbols of office, though Dulles also had a pistol on his waist and one of the men had a spear handy instead of a sword.

“Good evening. You gentlemen here for a drink? Hard day of cracking skulls?”

That drew a few snickers from those nearby.

Dulles ignored that and took a few steps toward him. He had a strong jaw and short curly hair, he looked younger than Dantes, but that was probably because quarter elves tended to look a bit younger than more mixed mutts like Dantes.

“We are here investigating Dust Dealing and Illegal gambling. Stand aside so we can search.”

Dantes slid casually to the side to let them through. They began moving through the club quickly, searching the legal gambling tables, behind the bar, and the kitchen. One of the younger guards was tripped by a patron which drew a hearty laugh from everyone.

Dantes went up to the stage where Alessa was about to start another song.

“How about we let the lovely Alessa take a short rest? Since the guard’s so generously provided the entertainment for the evening?” The magically enhanced stage carried his voice around the room.

There was a bit of laughter, and some applause.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer to take my place some nights?” asked Alessa with a smirk.

“I have always had a lot of fun on stages, but I’d much rather hear you sing.”

She blew a kiss to the audience and went backstage to sit and have a drink.

The guards didn’t find anything until they finally reached a door in the corner and opened it. Dantes slipped in quietly behind them. It was a short hallway that ended in a second door with a single bouncer in front of it, a large orc.

“And what’s in here?” asked Dulles.

“Nothing,” said Dantes nervously.

“Nothing needs someone protecting it?”

“Sometimes,” said Dantes, tugging on his collar a bit.

Dulles looked at the orcish bouncer. “Stand aside.”

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The bouncer looked at Dantes.

“Go ahead, not like we have much of a choice,” he said tensely.

The orc nodded and stood aside.

Dulles went to the door and tried to pull it open, but found it locked.

“Oh yeah, Fend, go ahead and unlock it for them.”

Fend pulled a key from his jacket and turned it, unlocking the room.

Dulles smiled as he walked inside, and dropping that smile when he found nothing but a storeroom with some casks. He went to one of them, and popped it, finding only wine. He checked all of them along with his men, then he searched for hidden switches or doors. He found nothing.

Dantes watched everything with an easygoing smile.

“Is that all for you, or would you like to search the upstairs rooms as well? I know for a fact some of Vera’s clients like to be watched.”

Dulles frowned at him, his eye twitching just a bit. Dantes could see the faintest signs of redness around his nose, as well as a twitch in his left hand. He was a dust addict, which Dantes already knew, but he was hiding it well. Still, he was about to hit that point where the desire for his next hit would become more important than any of his other obligations.

“No. I think we’re done here.”

“You sure? You’re welcome to have a drink on the house, maybe a whore?”

Two of the younger guards exchanged a glance, but Dulles spoke before they could make themselves look foolish in front of him.

“No. We’ll be seeing you though.”

Dantes smiled. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”

The guards shuffled out to a few hoots and hollers from the customers. Dantes walked through the crowd, which parted for him, to a young man sitting at a table with some friends. He was from the guild district, still had some sawdust under his fingernails.

He grabbed the boy's shoulder and leaned in close.

The boy looked as if he was going to protest before he realized who was touching him.

“Tripping a guard is a good way for you to get beaten half to death and cause a scene in my bar. I can provoke them, but if someone like you starts something it’ll cost me money and you your life. Get the fuck out, now.”

The boy swallowed, stood up, and quickly walked out.

Dantes would’ve done the same thing at his age, but his empathy ended when it came to fucking with his business. Besides, if that kid had messed with any other part of the guard, he would’ve found himself in a cell getting beaten to death for it. Only Pacha and his men showed any restraint, and that was largely because a large part of them were younger and not yet used to the power that came with their authority.

He watched the squad of guardsmen until they were a good distance aways then he walked back into the side hall. Fend nodded to him and stepped to the side as he approached. Dantes took his personal key from his pocket, and slid it into the lock. He turned up instead of down, waited three seconds, then turned it the rest of the way.

He pushed his way inside, but instead of the storeroom it had been only moments ago, now it was a stairway. He walked carefully down, hearing shouts of encouragement and smelling tobacco and weed smoke thick in the air. At the bottom of the steps was a large chamber with a pit in the center of it and a number of tables scattered throughout. There was a bookie at the far end taking bets and declaring odds. Jayson sat behind the small smoke bar watching everything as it unfolded and selling cigars and drinks to anyone who needed something to wave excitedly as they watched the games unfold.

Dantes gave him a nod, and Jayson returned it with a wave and a smile. He walked down toward the pit, where small bits of flame and lightning were occasionally peeking over the top. Dantes pushed his way gently through the crowd at first, but when they recognized him, they gave him a few feet of space.

There were two drakes in the pit, one silver and blue, and the other green and red. Both were covered in cuts and burns, but he figured that the green one had the edge. The drake fights had been Felix and Jayson’s idea. Initially they’d wanted to host cockfights and dogfights as well, but Dantes hadn’t allowed it, not wanting to hurt his relationship with the Mother. Drakes were magical creations not connected to her. They’d been created by mages trying to approximate dragons using spells, but a number of them had escaped and slowly spread across the mortal plane. Now it was mostly non-mages that selectively bred them to fight one another. There were apparently some fights in other countries where the drakes were as large as horses, but in his experience they tended to be the size of dogs at their largest.

Dantes watched as the green drake lunged onto the silver one. The silver one attempted to shoot some lightning from its maw, but it went wide and the green drake wrapped its powerful jaws around its throat. There was some struggle after that, and some cries of encouragement from the crowd, but it was basically over. Once it was dead, the handlers fed the green one to help it calm down, while the dead drake was dragged off to the side to be butchered for parts. The fights didn’t always end in deaths, but the possibility of it was half the reason people liked to watch. The other half was the gambling.

Dantes didn’t care for it, but he did like being able to spend the money from it on other projects. He saw Felix leaning over the side of the pit looking despondent.

“Bad luck today?” asked Dantes.

Felix jumped a bit at his voice, but recovered quickly, his lanky limbs finding a less defensive stance. “Yeah, I was sure the Silver one had the edge. I watched him demolish a smaller yellow variant only a week ago.”

Dantes shrugged. “Bad luck happens. Tell you what, I need some help with another project. This room was great work, so I’d be willing to give you an advance if you’d like.”

Felix perked up a bit at the word ‘advance’, but he hesitated. “Depends on the work.”

Dantes smiled. “I’ll tell you what, Jayk is probably looking for me, but I’ll meet with you after I talk with him. I’ll let Jayson know to cover your losses on this last fight,” he pointed to the drake pit.

“Well… thanks.” Felix smiled and, instead of walking out with a bit of money still in his pocket, immediately walked over to the bookie to place another bet.

Dantes smiled, he’d definitely be seeing him later. He’d see almost everyone down there later. No one ever seemed to be able to stay away for long.

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