The Strip is the place where past and present is molded into one. There was an array of bars and nightclubs on either side of the cobblestone street. Bright neon signs announcing establishment names on buildings centuries old. The old black street lights, that once held lanterns, lit the way for the young crowd as they walked to the particular bar of their fancy.
Grace stared at the crowd in mild amusement. Mostly the women. Most were wearing ridiculously high heels, trying to cross the uneven cobblestone street. They wobbled back and forth, side to side, holding onto their friends, who wobbled just as much as them, for support. It was almost like a dance. A terrible one, but it was pretty entertaining. There were a few moments where Grace hoped one would fall, just so she could see how the women would react. Though, there were several guys hovering like vultures. They were waiting for the ladies to fall, so they could sweep them off of their feet, literally and figuratively. Might have been a good way to get a date.
“You look like a creep,” Tony told her, walking deeper into the Strip. Coming from a demon, that said a lot. Well, maybe it did. Tony was the first demon she had met, so far, she couldn’t really judge too much. And to be honest, she did come off as a bit of a creep.
Picking up her pace, Grace caught up with the demon. “How much further is this place?” It had felt like they’ve been walking all night. Her feet were actually starting to ache. Not that she blamed them. She was wearing combat style boots, which weren’t really designed for normal street walking. And they were brand new as well.
“Not much,” was all she got from the demon. Thankfully, he was true to his word. Just several feet and they had reached their destination.
Desires was a two-story building made of a dark gray stone that appeared black in the night. All the windows were blacked out making it appear all the darker and lifeless. The only reason why you would know it was in business was the line in front of the stairs leading to the dark red front door. There was a bouncer at the front of the line, allowing people to go on his terms. When he saw Grace and Tony, he rolled his eyes. “I guess you guys want to go in?”
A tight smile formed on Grace’s face. She sized the man up. With her newfound strength, she could take the man. He was big, muscular, and tall, the stereotypical bouncer type. Even had the smooth bald head. It would destroy the man to be beaten by her. He was arrogant, she could tell by the way he held himself, tall and full height, and gladly looking down on her and Tony. More so Tony, than her. The only good thing she could say about the man was he didn’t smell too appetizing. He may have been an asshole, but he wasn’t bad.
“I’m here to see Iblis.” That was who Lucifer told her to ask for, and that was who she was going to speak to. As long as she could get inside, that was. It didn’t seem this guy was going to let her in.
That fact was punctuated when he laughed at her. “There is no way he’s going to want to see you. No offense, but see this girl,” he indicated to an attractive woman in the front of the line, “he wouldn’t want to see her, and she’s a lot hotter than you are.” He started to crack up again. Grace wanted to rip his heart out. Bad guy or no. He was starting to piss her off.
“Lucifer sent me.” That ended his laughter, abruptly. “Oh, so you know who that is.” She stepped closer to him, a wicked smile forming on her face. It didn’t show, but she was relieved Lucifer’s name had some weight with the man. “So, you know that when I say ‘I’ll rip you limb from limb if I don’t get my way’ that I mean it. That’s good. Leaves out a lot of that threat/promise awkwardness.” It really wasn’t necessary for her to threaten him, with how scared he had looked when she mentioned the fallen angel’s name. But he had been an asshole to her and she wanted him to pay for that. Petty, but who wasn’t every now and then?
The man straightened, a professional, polite smile forming on his face. “Please, step inside, ma’am. Our hostess, Ashtat, will take you to Mr. Iblis. Have a nice night.”
Grace’s smile changed to a much friendlier one. “Thank you… what’s your name?”
“Franklin, ma’am.” It was paining him to call her ma’am, and Grace revelled in it. Sometimes you gotta take pleasures in the small things in life.
“Thank you, Franklin. I’ll see you around.” She headed toward the stairs.
Tony followed her up. “You know there’s a chance you’ll be working with him, right?” That had not crossed her mind. All she knew was he had insulted her and she was going to get him back. Now, she might be stuck working with him for a while. Then again, he wouldn’t really fuck with her after what had just happened. A blessing in disguise, maybe? Hopefully.
“Would you stay with me?” she asked, ignoring Tony’s question. He gave her a look that said he would rather eat glass. “I don’t know my way home.” Unfortunately, she was telling the truth. The entire time they had been walking, she had been focused on Tony. She had wanted to make sure she didn’t lose him in the crowd. And then, it focused on not eating Tony. It took a great deal of concentration not to do so.
He rolled his sunset colored eyes. “Fine, but I don’t want to be in that room with you.” He seemed uncomfortable at the thought of being near the djinn. Grace was curious, but she didn’t push it. Just grateful that he had even said yes. He really must have been the nicest demon in the world. Maybe he was really young? No. It couldn’t be that, it didn’t feel right. He was old. Just timid and weak, power wise.
“How did you become a demon?” Grace asked suddenly, still standing in front of the door, blocking people from entering and exiting. It was a good thing her and the demon were close enough no one could overhear their conversation. That would have made for some awkward stares.
“I was born one. We should go in. People are starting to become anxious.” Grace opened the door, chewing on the thought. She hadn’t known demons could be born. She had always believed that they were created in hell from the evil spirits that entered there. Never crossed her mind some could be born. Though it had never crossed her mind that demons existed in the first place or that hell was an actual place.
When Grace opened the inner door to the nightclub, the noise hit her like a train. It bashed against her ears hard enough it felt like her eardrums had burst. Instinctively, her hands went up to her ears to muffle the noise, to no avail. It was just too loud. The flashing lights did nothing to help either. Just hurt her eyes and gave her a headache.
A woman appeared in front of Grace. She was tall, with slender shoulders, and a killer hourglass figure. Beautiful dark skin that was so black is appeared blue accompanied by dark eyes. Hair cut almost to the skull and a smile that said she had a secret. Her long nails were painted bright red, matching her lipstick. The woman was gorgeous enough she could have been a model. “Are you Grace?” Her voice was sweet, like candy. Almost too sweet.
Grace nodded, not being able to verbally respond. It felt as if her ears were about to bleed at any moment, and speaking might be that causes them to do so. The best thing to do was keep quiet, and let everyone else make the noise.
The woman, who had to be Ashtat, grabbed Grace’s arm in a strong grip. Still smiling, she said, “Good, this way.” She started to drag Grace into the crowd. “The demon comes too,” she shouted above the noise. Grace couldn’t see Tony, but she could only guess that he was following behind, though reluctantly.
Before they reached the edge of the dance floor, Ashtat made a right turn. She headed straight for a thick black door. There was a sign above the door that read “Employees Only.” The woman opened the door, practically shoving Grace inside. Tony was shoved in shortly after her. “Up the stairs,” Ashtat commanded, her voice no longer sweet. Grace was just grateful the noise was muffler. The area must have been soundproofed.
Removing her hands from her ears, Grace headed up the stairs, taking her sweet time. She wasn’t really looking forward to meeting the djinn. But a job was a job. Just felt a little sorry for Tony. He didn’t asked to be dragged along with her, but it seemed he was there for the whole ride. For his sake, she hoped nothing terrible happened. That would just be the icing on top of the cake of his shitty day. And it would have been her fault. She should have just let him leave and figured out how to get back home herself. The hounds probably knew how. Or, at the very least, they could have sniffed it out. That made her feel ten times worse already, and nothing had happened yet.
When the group reached the top of the stairs, Ashtat ordered them to make a left. Grace complied. They were in a hallways, carpeted with soft red carpet, matching the front door of the building. There were several rooms on either side of them, but none seemed to be used for anything other than storage; it sounded as if one were possibly a break room, though no one was currently in it. At least, there was no weird sex rooms. That would have been awkward.
Ashtat quickened her pace to move ahead of Grace. She led them straight to the door at the end of the hall and opened it without bothering to knock. “Ash,” a voice called from what Grace guessed was the office, “I’m in the middle of a meeting. What the hell are you doing?” The voice was male, deep, and had a slight accent that Grace could not place. It was Iblis. She didn’t know how she knew, but she knew.
“Grace is here,” was Ashtat’s response, seemingly uncaring of the goings-on of the office. “There’s a demon with her.”
“And you couldn’t have kept them downstairs like I asked you to?” There was a tight smile on that man’s face. Grace knew because her tone sounded similar when she had one. This exchange was starting to get entertaining.
“Nope. I have shit to do. They’re your guests, you deal with them.” Well then, that was one way to speak to your boss. Not that Grace minded. Just happy she wasn’t on the receiving end of that ice. She did feel a little sorry for the djinn. That was who Grace figured she was speaking to. If he owned the place, not many other people would be sitting in the office. Unless it was a manager, then she felt really sorry for that guy.
A scent drifted down the hallway that teased Grace’s hunger. There was a demon in the room with Iblis. A demon more powerful than the one the hound had hunted down. So much more powerful. A demon of this caliber would stave off the hunger for a week, maybe even longer. Oh and how good he would taste. Her mouth was already salivating. After eating this one, she wouldn’t be able to move.
Licking her lips, Grace took a step forward, and then stopped herself. No. She could not feed. Not at that moment. Maybe later, when there wasn’t a job hanging in the balance. If she just went into that office and ate the heart of the demon, she was pretty sure Iblis wouldn’t hire her. And it would cause some kind of trouble. A trouble she wasn’t able to deal with. Her hounds weren’t with her, though on the way, and she just wasn’t a fighter. She had never fought in her life. Been tempted to punch people, but have never done so. She did punch James once or twice, but that was just in the arm and she had been playing around. Nothing serious. If she did get into a series fight, she would lose. She would lose hardcore. Probably die. Again. But this time, a little more permanent than the last time. Not exactly what she wanted at that moment. It wasn’t the most enjoyable of lives, eating hearts and all, but it was her life and she was going to live it to the fullest.
So, she was going to stand there, ignore her hunger, and wait for her turn no matter what happened.
“Ash, please,” pleaded Iblis. “This is really important.”
Ash blinked and then pointed at her face. “You see this.” She paused a moment, waiting for Iblis’ silent response. “Take a good hard look at it, okay?” Another pause. “This is a face that doesn’t give a fuck.”
If Iblis was about to respond, it was cut off by Grace’s burst of laughter. It was just too much for her to handle. She had never heard someone say something like that to anyone, much less their boss. Even Tony coughed to hide his snickers. Grace boldly and gladly laughed aloud to her heart’s content.
This time, she didn’t stop herself from walking forward. She felt she owed Iblis an apology. It wasn’t really the greatest time to be laughing at insubordination, but she couldn’t help it. Not to mention, it was nice. That had been the first time she actually laughed since she died. Because of that, it lasted longer than it should have.
Grace poked her head into the door. “Sorry,” she said to no one in particular. Then her eyes fell on Iblis. Her words almost faltered. The djinn was very attractive. He had short, black hair, dark olive skin, and dark eyes to match. High cheekbones, full lips, and was wearing a dark green shirt that opened enough to show off his body; he leaned back in his chair from behind his desk, gladly showing it off. Eye candy, were the words that came to mind while gazing at him. “I can just wait out here until you’re finished,” she finished quickly. As attractive as the man was, the scent of the demon was even more tantalizing. She needed to get out of the doorway fast.
Movement from the corner of her eye caught Grace’s attention. In the chair on the other side of Iblis’ desk was the demon. He was attractive, but not beautiful like Iblis. His hair was dark, his skin pale, and he wore a nice form-fitting suit, that probably cost more than her entire apartment building. His eyes were a mixture of silver and gray that reminded Grace of the moon. He had a cocky smile on his face that she already wanted to wipe off. She could already tell she was not going to like him, especially with that stare he was giving her. It was as if he were trying to find a potential use for her. Too bad for him she was already being used by something else.
His attention returned to the djinn. “It is fine, Iblis. We can speak at another time.” He stood, straightening his suit. “It would not do well to let the young lady wait.” He had a Southern accent that Grace would have normally thought was nice on the ears, but made her hair stand on end.
“Thank you, Baphomet. I am sorry about all of this.”
“No matter. I’ll take my leave.” He started to head toward the door.
Grace backed up, bumping into Tony. She didn’t really want Bathmat, or whatever his name was, to touch her. As the demon made it to the doorway, she made sure to keep her eyes on him. Mistrust of him would be an understatement. His eyes landed on Tony and there was shock. “Tannin?” he muttered almost under his breath.
Grace turned to the demon behind her. “Tannin?” she asked, but she was ignored. He was staring wide eyed at the demon in front of them. Her attention turned back to Badmeth, and just in time. His face had darkened to a hatred she had never witnessed before.
Then, he charged toward them.
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Thank you all for reading!
I’m going to keep it short down here. I just wanted to let everyone know that I wrote a short story that’s on sale on Amazon. It’s called Dealing With Death, and it’s about a woman that can see Death and her dealings with him. If any of you are interested in reading it, you can buy it here for a whopping $0.99. It’s my first time actually fully completing something. I’m really excited about it and just wanted to share it with everyone!
Thanks again!
Sin Eater 