Tantrics Of Old Read Online Free

of red slippers. A huge key, shaped like a leaping frog, hung on a nail next to the door. He picked it up, stepped out of his room, locked his door, and headed down the staircase, out into the street.

    The new Coffee House was nothing like the old one, not that MYTH had tried recreating the environment either. This was more like a New Age fast-food joint—clean, organised, and well-maintained. The charm of untidiness was not something MYTH would understand. Disarray was not to be found here, not even a speck of it. The waiters were strapping young men bouncing about with trays of food, models of efficiency with uniforms to match. The feel was that of the new and the squeaky clean. The damn place was air-conditioned, Adri observed with discomfort as he made his way up the marble staircase. Still, it had throngs of people, which made it a safe place for a meeting. Crowding Coffee House were people of all kinds, people from everywhere—from the young students of Presidency University and wanderers of College Street, to old timers who came from all over Kolkata just to sit and talk about old times. Forgettable middle-classers would be found discussing politics, MYTH’s administration, and the future, while brash film-makers crunched the latest new wave and plans to use actual magic in their films. As Adri wove his way in, overhearing snatches of every conversation conceivable, he wasn’t noticed by anyone except his contact.
    Aurcoe raised a hand. Adri saw him and made his way towards the young man sitting calmly at a table in one corner of Coffee House. This place was just as noisy as the old one, Adri noted as he reached Aurcoe. It helped the secret conversations. Drawing a chair, he sat down. Aurcoe smiled at him.
    Aurcoe looked like any other man in New Kolkata. There was nothing unusual or striking about him. Chubby face, intelligent eyes sparkling from behind a pair of rimless spectacles, thinning dark hair, and a well-fed countenance with belly to match. Very normal, very ordinary. But Adri was a Tantric, and therefore, a bearer of the natural gift of Second Sight, and he could see the creature in his true form—the pearl-white skin and the dry branch-like stumps behind his shoulders.
    ‘Infusion,’ Adri barked, and a nearby waiter nodded and rushed off.
    ‘I take it this is not a pleasure meet?’ Aurcoe enquired in a completely normal, human voice. He was still smiling.
    ‘No,’ Adri replied. ‘With your kind it’s always business, isn’t it?’
    ‘Sen, Sen . . . what could I have possibly ever done to you to earn your disfavour? I am but a humble creature here to answer
your
summons.’ Aurcoe added a little tilt of the head, a mock bow.
    ‘Sure. And I am Harry Houdini, come here to pull rabbits out of my—’
    Aurcoe laughed, interrupting Adri. ‘I did not mean to be sarcastic,’ he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. ‘But if we do not talk about business, my mind does tend to flicker. I might, for instance, begin to ask you how your father is doing, the great adventurer that he is.
He
though, was miraculously quick where his deals with
me
were concerned . . .’ Aurcoe’s voice trailed off.
    ‘Save it,’ Adri muttered. The creature had a habit of bringing up things one would rather shy away from, rattling skeletons in one’s closet. Knowing everyone’s secrets made it an effective blackmailer and an expert manipulator, deceptively innocent at first glance, but sly and deceitful to the core. Yet, Adri thought regretfully, the only one capable of helping him. Hesitation. ‘I need your help,’ he said at length.
    ‘Obviously,’ Aurcoe replied. ‘I’m not an idiot, Sen. Tell me.’
    Adri looked at Aurcoe seriously. A moment of silence. Adri took a deep breath. ‘Have you heard of the Horsemen of Old Kolkata?’
    Aurcoe did not reply immediately. He looked at Adri, his eyes fast, calculating. His smile was gone. CLANK. The waiter had appeared with Adri’s coffee. Adri took a sip and burnt