it is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves

08/20/2004 -- Mezzanine

Evelina leisurely continued to wander down the snaking passage, wading through faint, hazy scarves of smoke that seemed variably strewn in the air and suspended indefinitely. The air tasted of cigarettes, liquor, and sex – the nicotine-mist visibly parting around her and wafting through her locks of dark hair that spilled over the tops of her shoulders and caressing her cheeks with each step. The area was dim and felt slightly cluttered – not to mention warm. The right hand side was followed by a pair of glowing, tubular neon lights that stretched down along the curving hall and spilled an erotic crimson across to the expansive sheet of velvet that was the opposite wall. Her leather shared this same unnatural glow; maroon now, and she did not need to look at herself to realize this fact, for unfortunately, as many of the other occupants of the corridor shared similar tastes.

It was an indoor alley of prostitution, drinking, and making out between men with women, women with women, and men with men. Droves of others seeking semi-privacy had sought refuge against the walls, either standing or sitting, completely aware of everyone else either doing the same or just passing by and they hardly cared. Evelina noted that the noises the passageway’s patrons were creating were minimal at the most. The few sounds that did exceed calm whispers and fervent kissing were muffled by the techno-funk rhythms blaring throughout the above section of The Mezzanine, which she had recently learned was the name of the London club, overhead. While the music was not being projected directly into the hall itself, the bass was vibrating stoutly and intermittently through the walls.

The scenery was interesting, and in actuality, she wasn’t even that sure where she was headed. Eve had been lucky enough to stumble upon the channel after wandering through the innards of The Mezzanine, quickly having become bored with the club and wanting to temporarily ditch Kaori and the others on impulse. After all, she wasn’t much of a dancer, and standing amongst the crowd unmoving and attempting to look alluring wasn’t exactly what it used to be.

As she curiously ventured onward down the zigzag, scarlet tunnel, Eve noted the volume of the music had lessened, as if she was slowly distancing from the club, and by the time this understanding had struck her, she came to what could only be the exit.

A Caucasian woman stationed at the end of the hall casually yanked the steel handle of the metal gate downward, and with metallic snap that sounded of a heavy lock snapping shut, the exit was closed. The attire of the female was interesting indeed; though the lighting had thrown her off for a moment, the young woman wore an unmistakably bright green tank top that seemed to complement her short hair, which was an equally bright emerald, with wicked long, jet-black bangs. Her short skirt was a strange combination of leather, metal sheeting, heavy steel clips, and straps that hung high and low all around her waist. Combined with the fishnet stockings and knee-high leather boots, she was definitely something. For a moment, Evelina couldn’t quite put her finger on that ‘something’. Instead of browsing her vocabulary for a suitable, cliché term such as ‘cyber-punk’ and its many variants, she eventually just settled on the assumption that the woman was an American.

The stranger at the gate met Eve’s glance and stood back straight, adjusting her bra and watching the dark-haired motorcyclist with slight ambiguity. “I haven’t seen your face before.”

Evelina looked at the woman blankly, and then fixed her eyes on the heavy steel gate, which seemed to show nothing of what lie behind it, aside from a small, rectangular slot at the eyelevel of the woman with the prevailing style of jade. Her long, sickle-like bangs swung from side to side as she tilted her head and stared at Eve, as if expecting some kind of response. Eve’s initial reply changed the subject entirely.

“This must be the ‘London Underground’, right? I’ve heard about it.” Her eyes darted about, curiously. The woman soon interjected.

“You’re kidding, right? Listen, no one calls it that.” She practically laughed at Evelina’s comment and leaned back against the door, looking bored. “You some kind of tourist? You must be.”

She sounded American, but oddly enough, Evelina was the tourist here. The Nightrider commended herself for being half-right.

Evelina shot her an intensely negative look and rolled her eyes, semi-indifferent as always. “I just want to know if I’m at the right place.”

“Oh, you are. This is the only place.” The young woman said, eyeing her intensely and with a smile – as if she had been waiting for an opportunity to say that, or just liked the shirt Eve was wearing.

Evelina raised in eyebrow in slight confusion. The nameless girl took a glance at her own fingernails before speaking again, this time, her voice just as indifferent as Eve’s, as if she had to say this all the time and it was beginning to be redundant. “So you’re goin’ down? Alright,” She reached down and lifted a small lever at the base of the floor. There was a loud snap, and she yanked at the handle upwards, sliding the gate vertically as she spoke. “You should know, though: If you decide to come back up this way, you had best not bring anything too-illegal with you.”

“Steven wouldn’t like that, right?” Evelina said cynically, saying his name slowly and deliberately, as the gate began to rise. Seeing as how this was still part of the Mezzanine, Evelina assumed she worked for him just like everyone else. She mentally crossed her fingers, hoping not to seem like a foolish tourist again, as brilliant, shining neon lights spilled onto Eve’s apparel, no longer shielded by the steel barrier.

“You’re right, he sure wouldn’t.” The jade-bathed girl extended her arm and the gate high above her head and locked it back into place, and glanced sideways at Evelina, one of her bangs veiling the better part of her face. “So, d’ya got a name?”

There was a slight pause. “Evelina,” She answered far too lethargically, with a detached look on her face. Apparently, it was humorous for the young woman, who began to smirk.

The girl nodded, and slowly slid out of the way. Eve started to walk past her, only to have the stranger’s hand come up to her shoulder, pausing her for a moment. She grinned, and looked at her coyly as she spoke, putting the same emphasis on her name that the Nightrider had on the owner of the Mezzanine.

“Well then, Evelina… Welcome to the Subterranean.”

* * *

Marena stared vacantly across the bar, swaying slightly to the music as she had been. She had taken to shots instead of mixed drinks now, out of impatience, and was on her fourth by the time the pause broke and Dante began questioning her again.

“Did you even hear the question?” he asked.

“Of course I heard the question. I‘m not deaf.” Marena answered angrily. Arrogant little prick thought he had the right to do whatever the hell he wanted. He was probably used to getting everything, living off his daddy’s money while decent, hardworking people like herself were in fucking gutters trying to make a little money so they could have a place to stay. Nothing was ever fair.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Dante yelled at Marena, even though he was only a few inches away.

Marena turned and faced him, only then realizing that the better part of her internal monologue had been more of a mumbling, external monologue, and that she was slightly more drunk than she thought she was, or wanted to be. She simply stared at Dante for a few moments, before replying, calmly, “What are you talking about?”

Dante returned her stare with equal confusion, but rather than respond, he simply rephrased his question. “Would you like to dance, then? Seeing as the last question threw you off a little.”

“Nothing threw me off, Mr. Lamoroch. I just suppose you’re just not used to people questioning things you ask of them.” Marena said, staring into his privileged eyes with contempt.

“No, I’m not.” He said, and with that forcefully grabbed her arm and pulled her down into the mob. The music once again surrounded her and pounded in her ears, yet now it seemed even louder, even richer, even more brilliant than before. She found herself caught in the rhythm, the noise, the heat of it all. She could feel Dante in front of her, just there, and then again as he began touching her, with his golden fingertips and diamond lips.

Lips. It had finally registered that he, in fact, was now kissing her neck and her shoulders, lightly, as if to show some restraint. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought they actually knew each other, or at planned on sleeping together, neither of which were true, not on her part anyways. She was, however, too intoxicated to truly care enough to protest.

This...whatever it was, continued on for a while (Marena simply assumed it had been a while, as her feel for time had gone straight out the window). Suddenly, Dante raised his head, startling Marena. Now instead of being everywhere, Dante was right there, staring at her. His face was now only a few inches from hers, and she could smell the alcohol on his breath. She may not have heard what he had ordered earlier, in that plain little shot glass, but she certainly knew what it was now: vodka. Of course, it had to have been better than anything she had ever had; rich little fuck and his expensive liquor that, when you really got down to it, was technically the same rubbing alcohol shit you could buy in Prague, but better made, in a prettier package. The rich kid of the hard liquor world.

Dante shifted unexpectedly and moved his face in closer to Marena’s, foreheads touching, and made like he was about to kiss her, but hesitated. Marena realized that he was waiting for her to move, waiting for her to answer whether she wanted him to kiss her. She paused, because she knew in her mind that she did not like Dante. And not even him, really, but what he stood for, and what he had. An impersonal hate.

However, despite all of this, she still felt an urge to kiss him anyways, for all she could think about was the €200 shot on his lips, and how the smell was making her even more intoxicated. She moved her face in closer to his, breathing in the scent on his lips. She then ran her lips over his; not kissing him, just a gentle brush. But it was enough to cause Dante to inhale sharply and make an audible moan, as if he was doing all he could not to just take her right then and there. Marena smiled; she was pleased with his reaction, but not surprised. After all, she had done this for a living.

“What are you smiling about?” Dante asked Marena, but with no malice in his tone; it was too saturated in lust to convey anything else.

Marena was going to say something, but instead closed the gap between herself and Dante, throwing him slightly off guard. He didn’t even hesitate in kissing her back though, running his hands through her hair and grabbing a fistful of it in one hand while the other ran along her body wherever it pleased, and Marena did nothing to stop it.

The smooth transition from the previous song into the next prompted a change in Dante as well, as he broke from Marena and began kissing her neck once again, biting softly at it. Marena let out an involuntary moan and closed her eyes as she pushed back his suit jacket and untucked the back of his dress shirt, running her nails across his lower back. She felt him shudder.

The music boomed as their moves became more frantic and their clothes became more annoying. Marena couldn’t tell who was kissing who anymore, or where; she was too caught up in the moment. Her ears were ringing with the music, or something - they were ringing at any rate. Well, something was ringing, she knew. Maybe in the music? But it wasn’t with the music. It was more like...

A cell phone.

Her eyes snapped open and she saw Dante in front of her, yelling into his headset, looking every bit the same as he had at the bar, and most definitely not all over her. She wasn’t even sure he had ever been kissing her at all; not like that anyways. In fact, she wasn’t sure if most of the past 10 minutes of her life had really happened at all.

God, she was so drunk. And she absolutely loved it.

* * *

“What the fuck are you talking about? Steven, seriously do not fuck me here, I can’t afford to be fucked over tonight.” Dante snapped, swiftly looking over his shoulder. The now intensely pissed blonde began peering over the sea of men and women clamored together, rocking in unison to the blaring techno. The dimly lit, turquoise tinted exterior did not lend much to his vision, but he was able to make out the sleek, jet black uniforms and distinct helmets of the London police, if only for a second. All Dante got was a mere glimpse, however, as two dancing girls in front of him raised their slender arms in response to the heavy bass. A cool, almost amorous female voice began moaning with the electronic music, her enigmatic pleas thundering through the speakers, and making it that more difficult for Dante to understand the Mezzanine’s owner clearly.

Clasping his hands over his ears, he ‘politely’ shouted at Steven to repeat what he was saying while Dante was momentarily distracted by the presence of law enforcement.

“Dante, I’m buying you a little time. The police have been going around to all the hot spots and they have an ID on you and the women and they know you were a part of what went down in Wonderland. I had no idea you had half the fucking syndicate after you, Lamoroch! You think you’re going to pull that kind of shit in my club? ‘Cause I’m not having it.” The owner continued; his voice stern and his point clear. It was turning out to be another one of those days for Dante, and he sighed deeply in frustration and almost anger, not quite sure at what. Marena, still dancing in front of him (whereas he had ceased), began to look at him slightly worried. Though only slightly – the woman was smashed like she just got into an accident with a steamroller.

“I didn’t tell anyone I was coming here, Steven,” Dante finally said, collecting himself. “I’ll be out of here as soon as you tell me where the hell to go. Is my car still outside? Is it fine?” He inquired, while the understandably buzzed Marena started slowly moving back against him, an indiscernible look in her eyes. They seem transfixed on him, on his… lips? He shook his head gently, her arms moving up and down his shoulders. Either she was too hammered to give a damn about whatever was happening, or she hadn’t gotten her fill of fun yet.

“Your car is fine – all they got were your faces on camera.” That sentence provoked a groan out of Dante almost instantly. “But there’s no way in hell you’re getting to it. They’re coming in from every entrance now, as far as I can tell. They asked me a few questions; I told them I haven’t seen you, so they decided to scan around. Now, get your friends and go through the Subterranean and be a little hasty about it, before you make a scene in my goddamn club. You do know where the Subterranean is, right?” Steven said, impassionedly. It was obvious he was through giving favors for the night. The tone didn’t surprise Dante, since he heard it a lot.

“Yeah, I know... Thanks for helping me out Steven, I owe you one.” It wasn’t the best thing the blonde could have said, but it didn’t much matter to him.

“You owe everyone one.” Steven replied quickly, before hanging up, and Dante could have sworn he heard the sound of eyes rolling in the background. The call over, he glanced back at the newly arriving cops, before shifting his focus back to the tanned beauty, his eyes looking concerned.

‘Okay, think fast… Shit, I seriously don’t need this right now,’ He groaned once more, and Marena responded with a tug at his collar.

“What’s wrong, I was starting to have a good time.”

“Well… Sorry. We need to go. C’mon, hurry, we have to find the others.” He took her by the wrist quickly and started into a brisk walk past her.

“Hey, what the- wait a second…!” She protested, as the sudden motion almost caused her to fall, though what would have been a shout instead seemed more like a meek whine. She trailed after him, almost stumbling and caught at the hand, but doing her best to keep up.

His first priority was to get her, the others, and the suitcase out of the lounge room they had been allowed to stay in for the night. Dante figured that as long as they kept their heads low, weaving through the crowd without getting found would be no problem – and he turned out to be right. Within no time, he had leaded the younger women to the thin, staircase hallway, and the two quickly rushed into the VIP lounge. Closing the door behind them, Marena stared at him, puzzled at his behavior. “What’s the deal, rich boy?”

Already, Dante was shaking Kaori from her sleep; the young girl coming to with a startled, perhaps even angry, look on her face, and the blonde directed his answer at the both of them. “I got a call from Steven. We need to leave now, they found us, so we have to head to a place of mine really fast. It’s not as nice as this, but it’ll do.”

“Oh.” Marena replied, slightly dumbfounded. “I really don’t think we want to get arrested.” She continued, her voice much more bubbly than usual. Dante flashed her a smile.

“We’re leaving now? Fucking hell…” Kaori cursed at the air, sitting up swiftly and rubbing her eyes.

“If we don’t leave now, it’s going to be Wonderland all over again--” he muttered, snatching up the suitcase he had wisely brought in with him, freezing in his tracks as a realization suddenly struck him. “Wait. Where’s Eve?”

The two oldest people in the room looked at Kaori silently. Her shrug suggested both a ‘fuck-you’ attitude and having absolutely no clue where she went.

‘How the hell are we going to find her here?

Dante didn’t have time to play hide and seek – he was already doing that with the police. Gritting his teeth, he quickly came to a conclusion to the question he had asked himself. “Evelina can take care of herself. We have to hurry.”

“What?! We can’t just leave her here alone; you’ve got to be kidding. The woman brought me here. I’m not just going to ditch her, even if she isn’t the liveliest company.” Marena said firmly, glaring at him with a not-so-friendly expression. The idea of leaving Evelina seemed to have sobered her up rather quickly. Dante was quick to retort, however.

“Do you have a better idea?” He said, knowing there wasn’t much of an alternative, even if the only choice was a rather fucked one, at that. Still, Marena remained silent, and Kaori continued rubbing her eyes. In an instant, the two who had just previously been coming on to each other were now exchanging very serious looks at one another.

And it was pissing Dante off. In his mind, a clock was ticking. If he wasn’t quick about things, he was going to get arrested. Or rather, since Dante didn’t like the thought of getting arrested, he’d be forced to shoot people instead and make another rowdy escape and get into even more trouble - and he really didn’t want that.

“No… but…” Marena stammered a bit under her breath. She was still looking at him, but her expression was now suddenly fading into wary agreement. Looking off to the side and letting out a sigh that suggested she had serious regrets about what she was going to say, Marena finally spoke. “You’re right. We should… Go.”

Dante seemed out of reassuring smiles; nodding only slightly in response before turning to Kaori, who was coming to her feet and watching them both indolently. “I left my stuff on her bike.” She said, moving her eyes back and forth between them.

After a few seconds of thought, Dante reached into his coat pocket and tossed her his keys suddenly, and she caught them in a single hand, looking slightly confused. “All right, then. Go out and get it, see if you can find Evelina, and put it in my car.” He said, moving past Marena and to the door, suitcase in hand.

“Evelina— you want me to go outside? Wait, you said the police are looking for us--” Kaori interjected, only to have the well dressed blonde cut her off.

“No, they’re looking for us, but not you. You were never ID’d at the casino, so there’s no reason for them to be after you.” As he turned back to look at her, his teal eyes seemed confident he was right. Well… pretty confident, anyway.

Kaori quickly found another excuse, glancing at Marena as if she’d help. Marena was giving her a rude stare, as if to suggest it was her fault Eve had separated from them to begin with. “I… I was in the same room as Evelina. I passed all the cameras, they had to see me.”

Dante flashed her reassuring a smile. “You’re right. But judging by the mess the Agency made over there, they probably haven’t figured that out. Now if you hurry, they won’t.” He opened the door, letting a familiar rush of cool air and thundering techno spill into the lounge. “Take my car and meet us at Tower Bridge Road, about five blocks north of here. We’ll be at the station there in fifteen minutes.”

“How are you going to get there?” She said, puzzled, heading for the door as well. Marena, though still noticeably buzzed, seemed to be concerned about the same thing herself by the looks of her eyes.

“I know a shortcut…” Dante answered, looking at the leather case in his hand in thought. Watching Marena for a second, he continued. “And I think I know where to find Eve.”

-------

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