“Vodka double, neat,” Mordred said to the barman in Russian. “Sorry, go on.”
“She killed her commanding officer over a disagreement. Escaped from jail, and at some point met Alexi, who turned her into a werewolf. That was in the nineteen sixties. She’s said to be the one who skinned the werebear. She likes her knives.”
“Sounds like my dream date,” Mordred said, and thanked the barman for the vodka. He knocked it back in one shot and made a slight sigh of contentment. “They might be evil, but they serve good vodka.” He placed the glass on the counter and walked over to the stairs the farthest from the dance floor while the bouncer there watched him with a cool detachment.
“Fuck off,” the bouncer said when Mordred was close enough.
“I’d like to see Alexi.”
“Fuck off.”
“Oh, come on, I just want to go upstairs and talk to your boss.”
“And I want you to fuck off.” The bouncer placed his hand inside his jacket.
Mordred stepped forward, grabbing the bouncer’s arm at the elbow with one hand and whispering into his ear. “I know I can’t use my magic in here, but I can really hurt you. So, you either tell Alexi that Mordred is here, or I cut off your arm and bludgeon you with the wet end.”
The bouncer held Mordred’s gaze for several seconds.
“You’ve heard of me, I assume.”
The bouncer nodded, and Mordred saw the fear in his eyes.
“Then you know I’m not screwing around here. I will really fuck your day up. I suggest not making me do that, by letting me see Alexi.”
He nodded slightly and stepped aside. “Alexi is waiting for you.”
Mordred walked up the first two stairs and paused. He turned back to the bouncer. “Just then, when you were scared. That wasn’t because of me, was it? That was because Alexi was talking to you in your earpiece?”
The bouncer nodded.
“You a werewolf?”
He shook his head.
“You like working here?”
He shook his head again.
“Alexi really that scary?”
He nodded.
Mordred turned without another word and walked up the flight of stairs, where once he was at the top a second bouncer, this one female, met him and led him toward a nearby door. She punched in a number on a keypad and pushed the door open, motioning for him to go up the stairs.
He thanked the bouncer and began his ascension to the office above. Once the door behind him closed and locked, he was glad for the relative quiet the stairwell offered him. He reached the small landing at the top of the stairs and opened the door, revealing a spacious office.
Mordred stepped into the office, closing the door behind him. There was a large desk adjacent to him, opposite a row of windows that looked down on the main dance floor. A large leather couch sat near the window, with a drinks cabinet close by, its top made of glass, revealing several bottles of spirits behind it, while the bottom half of the cabinet was wooden. The two doors on the far wall across from the entrance that Mordred had used were closed, and in between them was a glass cabinet with several pistols and rifles.
The first door on the far wall opened, and a short, stocky man exited. He had blond hair tied back in a ponytail and wore an elegant black suit with a deep-red shirt, which Mordred guessed to be silk.
“You must be Mordred,” the man said, walking over to him and offering his hand.
Mordred took it and was surprised to discover that the man didn’t try to crush his hand. “You must be Alexi.”
“That I am. Please take a seat.” He motioned toward the leather couch, which Mordred thanked him for and took a seat.
“Drink?” Alexi asked.
“Vodka, neat.”
“Good man,” Alexi said, opening the drinks cabinet and revealing a small fridge-freezer in the bottom. Alexi removed the bottle of vodka and poured two glasses, passing one to Mordred. “I have this stuff shipped in from a small distillery in eastern Siberia. No one knows about it but a select few.”
Mordred tasted the vodka. It was excellent. “Always nice to know of a good place to get vodka.”
Alexi laughed. “Indeed it is.”
“Nice office, too. I assume you have your own bathroom.”
Alexi pushed open the closest door, revealing a spacious bathroom. “Only the best.”
“What’s the other door for?”
“I keep some important things in there. It’s sort of my get-away-from-everything room.”
“Sounds nice. I should really get me one of them.”
“Viktor told me you were coming.”
“Yes, I figured as much.” Mordred knocked back the rest of the vodka and placed the glass on a coaster on the glass coffee table in front of him. “Good stuff. So, yes, I knew he would; it’s why I didn’t bother chasing after him. People like Viktor think of their own skin before anything else.”
Alexi smiled. “We all know people like that. They put their own needs above the needs of anyone else. Capitalism at its finest.”
“You’re anticapitalist?”
“Not at all, I love money. I love the things it can buy, including power. No, I just don’t like the desperation of those people who pretend to have my kind of wealth. It’s unseemly.”
“So, I assume you’re going to try to kill me soon.”
Alexi knocked back the rest of his vodka. “I was hoping you’d be persuaded to join our side.”
“Your side? And what side is that?”
The smile on Alexi’s face melted, revealing the true man behind it. “The side that’ll win.”
If Alexi thought that a slight sneer was going to scare Mordred, he clearly had no idea of the kinds of things Mordred had seen in his life. “So, if I say no, you’ll kill me?”
“Eventually. First Daria will peel your skin from your body. She does so enjoy her work. You’ll have to excuse her absence from this meeting—she’s on the lower levels enjoying her time with a young man who tried to help Elaine Garlot. He’s probably wishing she’d just kill him by this point. He’s presumably feeling pain the likes of which you’ve never imagined. You come into my club with confidence and a swagger, but if you cross me, I assure you, we will teach you to be afraid.”
Mordred stared at Alexi for several seconds before bursting out laughing. “Holy shit, you’re an idiot.”
Alexi’s expression darkened.