Doctor Carriage and The Dark Underworld

Book 2 Of The Doctor Carriage Adult Novel Series

Fantasy Murder Mystery Novel

By: Andi Brit (Andrea Britanik)

1/30/2025

Chapter 1

            The bleakness of the underworld was not to be underestimated. This was a world where it was always cold, dark and damp, despite the weather or season. There were heat lamps, of course, as well as heating in buildings and some passageways, but, overall, it was a very dark and a very damp place. There was always water flowing down the walls and off of the floors and dripping down onto the floors like rain. It always remained the same temperature, even in the winter. And it was still winter. It was Friday the 13th in February. It was the year 1890. However, if you look on the calendar, it’s really supposed to be Thursday the 13th, but here, it’s not, isn’t it? How strange that is. Here, there’s an extra day in February and it’s actually Thursday the 12th and a half. So, that proves you wrong, doesn’t it? So, therefore, it is actually Friday the 13th today in this world. There also wasn’t a whole lot of plant life down here, well, in certain places there was. But not in most places underground. No, in most places, there was only rock, rocks of lots of different colors and shades, but only the dark ones. All of the water down here was also dark.

            86th Street, was a major street in the Underworld of Manhattan, more specifically, as a part of the Upper East Side, the Underworld edition. There was nothing quite like it, really. It was a world fully of many dimly lit tunnels and passageways, full of all sorts of traffic of all different moralities. There were the rogues, which weren’t exactly underworld pirates, but they were small groups of people, of all different kinds, who were vagabonds and never stayed in the same place for too long. They traveled in a caravan, no matter if on foot or by their various types of campers. These campers, of course, being their only homes. If one would see a group of campers along the side of the road down here, then they would know to walk away and quite quickly. Because as one would know, these rogues are not afraid to rob people of their belongings or maybe even their life. They weren’t technically homeless in complete fashion, but they were mostly homeless, and they only lived in their mobile vehicles, with smaller mobile vehicles often attached to them. They were the unofficial gangsters of the underworld. Not to mention, the unofficial royals of these dark and moody neighborhoods.

            However, there was one type of rogue that one should really watch out for, because they were in full robbing mode at this current time. And that was, the werewolf rogues or The Lunas. This was a group of rogues that only allowed werewolves in their inner circle. Not only werewolves, but a very specific type of werewolf species, known as the Lycanthians. If you weren’t apart of that specific species, then you were absolutely not allowed into the gang of street toughs. In fact, if anyone was allowed, even in secret, to the group, that wasn’t that specific type of breed, then the consequences were very dire indeed to every individual that was a part of that happening. This was a werewolf breed that looked human in normal times, but can only shapeshift into their werewolf form during a full moon and were forced to do so. So, it was considered a curse to a lot of them. Because, whether they liked it or not, and no matter what they were doing, they would have no choice but to turn into their wolf forms. Sometimes, it would require some planning.

            The Lunas uniform was always to wear ragged clothing and shoes.

            They would often work side by side with and were very much connected with the rich and elite werewolf family mentioned below.

            Then there were the more official royals and gangsters of these neighborhoods. In fact, they were the true royal bloods and the official underworld pirate families.

            One specific family to look out for was the Lycanthian family, The Moonstones, who also lived the rogue lifestyle, as in, they were always living in secret, hidden nooks and crannies of the Underworld. But their current hotspot was the Manhattan underworld, specifically the Upper East side bit, and unlike the rogues, they lived in actual houses and more permanent structures without the underground.

But similarly to the Rogues, they only allow Lycanthian bloods to marry into their family and to produce more Lycanthian children, and on top of that, they had to be blood to, no matter how far down the line. However, being only Lycanthian and blood does not cut it for them either, you also have to be a royal, even if in the unofficial way, but official to them, in order to fit the bill. With only these requirements, are you allowed to either enter into the family or to remain there.

            That is to be said, they were only official royals by their own standards and were not royals of any actual government, at least none of the respectable ones in America.

            But, there was a King and a Queen, the current ones, that was, and they were notorious, at least in recent times, for smuggling. There were also forgeries and robberies still, but in these days, it was smuggling. To be more particular, it was mummy smuggling. The Great Gatsby Style.

            Mummies and mummy trading was very popular in the current time, and traders and tradesmen of every kind were eager to get their hands on all kinds of mummies from different areas around the world, around the universe. Even from within the afterlives. And there were no limits, to some traders, or should say, smugglers, to get their hands on the world’s greatest mummies. But some took their chances and the right way by going to the auction houses in big cities such as Paris or New York City and putting on the highest bid. But sometimes, fist fights had broken out and the auctioneer forced to dive out of the way, the fight only being broken up by the police, by the time they got there.

            Scarlet, in fact, had been a part of many of those auctions. Including, both in Paris and New York City, just to name a few, and she had even won a few bids herself. At a hefty price, including one being at one million dollars. But that had been one of the cheaper ones, in fact. She had witnessed the auctioneer diving out of the way several times, indeed. She herself had helped break up a many of those fist fights. But one of them she had no choice but to be kidnapped by another vampire and she couldn’t do anything to help.

            Speaking of Scarlet, Doctor Carriage, the main lady, was standing on the balcony of the Dark Diamond, a hotel in the Underworld, The Upper East Side. It was the Carnegie Hill Underworld neighborhood.

            She had her brown hair in a tightly pulled back high braid and it was slicked with pomade. Her hands were on black wrought iron railings, holding onto the posts. Her lips were black and her bright green eyes were dramatically outlined with dark eyeliner. She blinked a few times as the “rain” from above fell down onto her eyes, and her face. She looked over the city as she wore her hooded black velvet cloak over her all black ensemble. The outfit consisted of long, black baggy trousers, red and black spectator pointed platforms, black suspenders, a silk black corset, and just a black shirtwaist underneath, as it was only moderately cold in the underworld. She also had on thin black kid leather gloves.

            The hotel looked over Voodoo Market, which was a main traffic circle hub that was a part of the Carnegie Hill Underworld neighborhood or Carnegie Underhill in the Under East Side. The circle however in this case was square and it was sometimes also called Voodoo Square or Voodoo Market Square. This was not the best part of town. In fact, it was just about the worst and hence the name Voodoo. A lot of the underworld in New York City was basically just the bad part of town, with its casinos and its racists taverns and pubs. Here, however, it just so happened to be the most fashionable part of town, or at least one of them. And it had boutique hat shops and perfumeries as well as Jewelry stores. Silver and diamonds were a big thing down here.

            Up ahead, Scarlet could see the sharply slanting black roofs of the square buildings. Some of them were rectangle. The hotel was up on a cliff, so Scarlet could see the entire square. Not like she hadn’t seen it before, but it was a sight to see every time and she hadn’t been down here in a hot minute. Voodoo Square composed of a square within a square. The outer square was composed of buildings and brownstones of all black or very dark gray rusticated ashlar brick. There were towers, too, made of the same materials and with the steeply pitched roofs. Rain drops or the cave water drops, dripped down like rain onto the market square. In this outer square, were the silversmiths as well as the Wolfsbane Gardens and Conservatory which had a black metal atrium that peaked in three different places and had a large spire in the middle. Magical gardens such as these were common in Half-Worlds such as this one, which was the Carriage Universe. And so it wasn’t heaven and not a magical realism scenario, but also not our world either, it was more of a magical world where things were still really quite crazy. In this outer square, there were also book shops, like the Dark and Darker Bookshop, and the Antique stores, the Rustic Rose and the Forgotten Furnishings, as well as the city block’s fueling stations, which had pumps of all sorts, and of all different dark metals.

            The inner square, or city block, consisted of the townhouses or brownstones, these of all dark brick, including black and a very dark gray but of separate buildings. There were also hotels such as the Crimson and the Majestic. There were pet shops such as Shadow Paws, full of all sorts of exotic pets for sale, sometimes not always legal, Scarlet knew that for a fact, including dragons and ravens.

            Ellie came out of the black wooden French doors and stood next to Scarlet. She had her blonde hair in a high half-pony and she wore a long charcoal gray cardigan under a black hooded cloak. This was over black jodhpurs and black combat boots.

            “Hi, there.” said Ellie.

            “Hi, how’s it going?” said Scarlet.

            “Caleb’s almost ready.” said Ellie.

            “Good.” said Scarlet.

            “Wow, the City of Silver. It never really gets old, does it?” said Ellie.

            “No, it really doesn’t.” said Scarlet.

            Just then, Caleb came out and joined the other two ladies.

            He had his light brown hair slicked all the way back and he wore a dark red and black houndstooth sweater vest over a black button up shirt. He had on a very dark red hooded cape and his pants were a very faint pinstripe gray. His shoes were black and silver spats. He was carrying a walking stick. The top of it was a wolf that was carved in moonstone.

            “I guess that I’m home now.” said Caleb.

            “I would say so.” said Scarlet.

            “Well, shall we go?” said Ellie.

            “Yeah, sure why not.” said Caleb.

            Scarlet, Ellie and Caleb were in a black Model A Jeep that had big, round headlights and thicker wheels.

            Scarlet, who was in the driver seat. She put on her small, round black sunglasses.

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            “To Skippy Credge we go.” said Scarlet.

            She shifted the gear into drive.

            She punched it and they took off away from the valet and onto the Gloomy Mood Street. The roads down here were mostly broken up cobblestone, including this one. It wasn’t all broken up, but it was in several places. Scar was glad that they were driving in her Jeep, and it was bigger than most vehicles that were on the road, and she was glad when they turned lanes and generally stayed out of her way.

            They were going to Skippy Credge’s Chateau. He was an ex Wolf-Rogue and he was going to spill some tea on what was going on with the Moonstones and the possible mummy smuggling scheme that they allegedly had going on. Skippy was a werewolf and he often kept in contact with the Rogues, even if were just a few chats here and there, because the current leader was more merciful in the fact that Skippy had left. But of course, Skippy had manipulated himself, in a good way, out of the gang and had been smart enough to do so, thank goodness. Scar (Or Scarlet) was happy for her old friend. And so were Ellie and Caleb, for that matter.

            The Chateau was not far from their hotel, nor was The Moonstone Mansion, and that was the reason for choosing the hotel in the first place. The Moonstone Mansion was a bit further out, but it wasn’t a big deal, and it was nothing that her trusty jeep couldn’t handle.

            They drove amongst tall, dark buildings made out of their dark grays and blacks of rusticated brick. Some with domes, some with pitched roofs. Most of the buildings had pitched roofs. The “sky” consisted of nothing but dark gray limestone. And water continued to drip down from it and it hit the windshield of the Jeep in steady drips just like rain. Scar flipped on the windshield wipers.

            They arrived to Obelisk Circle, which sure enough, had a giant obelisk that stuck out right in the middle. This was made of a lighter gray limestone, but still pretty dark. It had hieroglyphs up at top and on the bottom. At the bottom and around the base of the obelisk, was a deep cistern in which “rain” water was collected and stored. It was dark, obscure black water in which you couldn’t even see the bottom, let alone the sides of the walls that were a foot under it. They were monsters in there, Scarlet knew that for sure, including a Kraken. There was at least one of them and Scar had talked to one of the pest control workers about it. They had said that they had never seen one bigger than this one and in this area. Scar was thrilled by that idea and in a serious way. She loved Krakens.

            Scar pulled the jeep around the circle.

            They reached a great stretch of road, or more of a tunnel this one was, and there was dark limestone on either side of it all the way down, as far as the eye could see. And the road was going upwards in a fairly steep hill.

            Scar drove them up this road and up the hill.

            There were lights every so often, black steel lanterns, that hung intermittently amongst the wall rocks. They were mounted a bit higher above the road, giving the place quite the bit of shine and almost a silvery appearance.

            “You have the guns, right?” said Scar, looking back at Caleb, who sat in the back and then back to the front again.

            “Yes, of course I did.” said Caleb.

            “Oh, thank God. I thought I forgot them.” said Scar.

            “Calm down, it’s okay. You’ll have your guns.” said Ellie.

            “Why are you so worried about it anyway? Skip’s not any threat to us.” said Caleb.

            “No, not currently no. But, I’m worried about some of his ex…comrades, is all.” said Scar.

            “Hmm, interesting.” said Caleb.

            “Why are you worried about them?” said Ellie.

            “Because he still keeps in touch with them. I wonder if they’ll be over there today, even. And one of them knows that I’m a cop. I’m nervous about it.” said Scar, and she shifted in her seat a little.

            “Okay, well, I’m sure it will be fine.” said Ellie.

            “Yeah, but you don’t know that.” said Scar.

            “Why are you worried about it? It’s just another adventure for you.” said Caleb.

            “This is true.” said Scar.

            They continued to climb up the hill until they reached a crossroad. It was either turn left or turn right, unless you wanted to drive right into the limestone that was now the only thing ahead.

            There was a sign that had two dark wooden planks on one stake. There were words written in silver on each sign. To the left it was:

                        Under Park East

            To the right it was:

                        East 97th Street

            Scarlet turned the jeep towards the left, towards Under Park East.

            They drove down a this time downhill tunnel ride, but the tunnel was gradually expanding and getting wider and wider. Then, there was a light at the end of the tunnel and a big center area gradually began to appear as well as a massive cylindrical aquarium that was in the middle of it. Except that it wasn’t an aquarium, but a massive bit of the lake that was up above in Central Park. It was coming all the way down into this cavern area and it was being held in by a massive sheet of glass.

            There were several species of fresh water fish swimming around inside of the tank, including fresh water eels slinking around long grasses and big boulders that were inside of the aquarium. Giant treasure chests were amongst the boulders and the grasses.

            Scarlet pulled the jeep around the aquarium.

            They were off now and going along Under Park East. This was a road that was also wedged between rock on both sides, which again, was a dark limestone. Water was really dripping down in this area and Scarlet had the wipers on full blast.

            They reached a bend in the limestone and they turned left which was a street that led to Under Meer Boulevard. After another tunnel of dark limestone, they entered onto Under Meer.

            Under Meer was a street that circled all the way up to Harlem Beachside, which rode all the way around the Harlem Meer lake. But they were going to turn onto the halfway street, Dark Hollow Street, which went halfway up between Under Meer Boulevard and Harlem Beachside.

            Dark Hollow was a street in which it was a tunnel that went directly around the Under Harlem Meer, which again, was another big glass fish tank that went deep into the underground. This one had much more boulders inside of it and there were lots of Tetras swimming within it. Part of the tunnel was open so travelers could see thru the glass. Scar drove the jeep alongside of it.

            They went downwards now, but in the same tunnel, and this was the street that directly led to Mr. Credge. But now, there was no more glass to look out of and more stone and lanterns for that matter. They drove a further bit down the tunnel until they got to a turn off, a hollow in the cave and it was called Bridgepond Grotto which was actually a group of chateau apartment buildings as well as a few business buildings, also built as chateaus, that were built within one of the underworld cisterns, but in this case it was referred to as a pond.

            Scarlet turned the jeep onto one of the arched bridges that had stone balustrades amongst it. The bridge spanned over the large, dark cistern. Scar punched it over the bridge.

Up ahead, and at the end of the bridge, was a large dark gray chateau building that was spread out in parallel fashion. It had elaborate towers and spires, which were all black. The roofline was broken up in several places and all of the roofs were steeply pitched. However, the roofs on the towers were steeply conical. The spires were sharp and resembled teeth. Scarlet wondered about the defense properties of such objects. The entire chateau complex was built on a very dark gray rhythmic massing, surpassing even the darkest of the limestone surrounding it. There was a massive domed rotunda in the middle. It was made out of a dark gray glass and black metal.

This Chateau was not just one house, but a group of apartment units. Mr. Credge lived in one of the apartments in the chateau, one in one of the uppermost levels. He shared the building, however, with many a strange neighbors and a lot of them were also racists. They also happened to be werewolves. They were oddballs, with a very closed in culture. Something that Scar absolutely hated herself. But even struggled with it in her own family, but with hers, it was vampires.

Scarlet drove through a road that went through a garden that was in front of the Chateau. It was a French formal garden and it had parterres that were rectangular as well as geometric topiaries.

They pulled into a valet roundabout that was in front.

            They all stepped out of the car, Scar stepping into a shallow puddle along the way, making a little splash. She handed the keys over to the valet, who was already all the way over to Scarlet.

            “Your highness.” said the valet, who was wearing a velvet purple bell cap and a matching velvet purple blazer. He had short black hair with silver streaks going throughout it.  

            She nodded towards him and kept walking to the doorman now. Ellie and Caleb were close by.

            The doorman wore a velvet black bell cap and a matching suit and bowtie. He smiled at Scarlet and opened the stained glass door that had red moons all over it for her. She smiled back and said thank you. Ellie and Caleb smirked at each other and followed Scarlet in.

            The lobby was black and white marbled and there was a giant spiral stone staircase that was in the middle. There was a black metal and stained glass Art Nouveau elevator in the middle of the stairwell. The stained glass was decorated with wolves of every color.

This place was not so strict.

            Mr. Skippy Credge was already walking towards them hurriedly. He had on a black and white top hat as well as matching spats. He was wearing a black tuxedo with the coattails. He had on a gray hoodie sweatshirt underneath that. His hair was short and all black. He was smiling and holding out his hands to Scarlet. When he got close to her, he grabbed them, as she too was holding out her hands too. They kissed each other on the cheeks. He nodded towards the other two.

            They got out of the elevator and they followed Mr. Credge down a long hallway that went along the big inner courtyard next to it. There was a huge wolf shaped crystal chandelier that hung from the ceiling in the center. Credge pulled out a bunch of keys that were on a circle and he pulled one that had a maroon tassel and opened the door with that one. They all entered his apartment.

            There was dark gray marble flooring with tasseled rugs all over the place. Everybody went into the tea room alcove otherwise known as the breakfast nook. There were fringe cover lamps that were a dark red and were hanging from every which way in the kitchen, as well as one right above the nook. There was an all-white Samoyed that sat next to Mr. Credge. Scar, Ellie and Caleb all sat together on the other side. But Scar was the one who was the closest to Mr. Credge.

            “Look, all I want to know is what’s going on with the Moonstones.” said Scarlet.

            “You wanna know what’s goin’ on with the Moonstones? They’re up the wazoo, that’s what.” said Mr. Credge.

            “What did they do this time?” said Scarlet.

            “It’s these mummies. The moonstones, everyone, is going crazy on them.” said Credge.

            “Who’s everyone?” said Scarlet.

            “Well, the Moonstones, obviously, and the Lunas. Those are the only ones that I’m aware of so far. Who knows how many people are actually involved, you know how these things go.” said Credge.

            “And what specifically are they doing?” said Scarlet.

            Credge scratched his nose.

            “I don’t know, they’re buying and selling these mummies. They’re from Ancient Egypt. All of them. I don’t know where they’re all going, but I’m sure it’s not all to the museum of natural history.” said Credge.

            “I want names. If you have any. Their clients, and those who are specifically selling to them.” said Scarlet.

            “I can do that for you.” said Credge.

“I fear something.” said Scarlet.

“What’s that now?” said Caleb.

“I fear that these mummies are being used for something nefarious on the grand scale. But I could be wrong.” said Scarlet.

“Well, people have been known for raising vast armies from the dead in order to get what they want.” said Ellie.

“It’s true. But I wonder if that’s the case this time?” said Scarlet.

“If only.” said Credge, with a smirk on his face. This was one of the reasons why he and Scarlet were good friends. They liked to live on the wild side.

Mr. Skippy Credge was a werewolf, and the kind that was forced to turn into a wolf during a full moon. It was a blessing and a curse.

“Anyway, let’s get to those names.” said Scarlet.

Mr. Credge motioned for the dog to get out of the way and he hopped off of the booth chair and onto the marble floor. Then Skippy slid off himself and went out the kitchen door and into the hallway.