Night Lurks (9 page)

We make our way into an empty hallway. I still feel like I am being watched, but it isn't anywhere near as bad. I don't know if there are cameras on us right now or if it is just an invisible demon in the hall with us, but there is something keeping watch.

“What was she?” Jake asks. “I wouldn't mind getting to know her a little better. Is she really in to whips and such or can she be persuaded to do things a little bit more normal?”

“Normal is a very relative word. To answer your first question, she is an Underworld Nymph. They can be rather annoying, but are really great in the sack. Unless you have another female you are ready to play with, you are barking up the wrong tree. Sherry likes girls and very seldom does she play with just a boy. At this moment, unless you got Nyx involved, I think you would be out of luck,” Ben explains. “And she is into a whole lot more than just the whips, as are most demons, so you would be a lot safer keeping your love interests above ground.”

“Do all of these Nymphs follow her gender leanings? She was cute, but I am open to introducing myself to others of her species.”

“He doesn't fully understand where we are yet, right? I thought I explained things to him,” Ben says and I hear everyone except for Jake sigh.

“It wouldn't matter. He likes girls a whole lot. There was a time I thought we were turning over a new leaf, but it didn't work out,” I say and try to ignore Jake all together. “Do I want to know what is behind all of these doors?”

The hallway we are in seems to never end and every five, or so, feet there is a door on each side. We must have past at least fifty already.

“I doubt it. We are in Hell if you need reminding as well. You are lucky they are soundproofed or you would probably be hearing a lot of screaming. Think of Sins on steroids and you will have a good idea. Make sure to keep horny wolf from getting too close to any of them. He would be eagerly welcomed,” Ben warns.

“Just how much farther is the door we are looking for?” Marcus asks from behind me somewhere.

“We are here,” Ben announces and turns towards a door on the left. I don't see anything special about the red door. It looks like every other one we have walked by. “I will be polite and knock. I wouldn’t want you innocents getting too corrupted.” He laughs and then proceeds to start knocking.

Chapter 11

Blueberries are now on my list of foods to avoid like the plague

“What do you want?” a voice booms from the room. Shouldn't that be impossible if the room is soundproofed? The voice didn't sound too welcoming. If the person behind the door didn't have information I needed, I would suggest we come back later.

“Hey, Gore, it's me. I would like to have a quick chat. Is everyone decent?” Ben calls back.

“Sure. Come on in.”

Ben opens the door and walks on in. The rest of the group follows close behind. I hope someone has a hold of Jake and he doesn't run off to take a peek in another one of the rooms. I know it is a silly thought, but I bet most of the other people in our group thought it as well. When we are all safely in, Ben closes the door and I get a chance to look around.

I think Ben should have clarified just what we were expecting when he said decent. There is a male demon propped up in bed smoking from some sort of pipe. The air in the room is heavy with the smoke and I can tell it isn't just some tobacco. It is giving me a little fuzzy feeling and it is making my lady bits start to sweat just a tad. If this is the effect I get from just the smoke in the air, I am going to need to get out of this room quick. Because the tad I just mentioned was putting it lightly. If I don't get out of here soon, I am afraid the dam is going to burst down below.

Speaking of lady bits, the female lying next to the guy is passed out with hers open for all to see. There is some weird looking blue fluid covering that region of her body that has me cursing my inquisitive nature. I can guess what it is and the amount of it is really alarming. She looks to be one of the weird banana boobed women judging from the general shape of hers.

I feel Alex move to stand behind me and judging by the tool rubbing my back, either the fog in the room or the scene in front of us is giving him a similar experience to what I feel. It is good to know I am not alone.

“It's the drug combined with your reaction to it,”
he informs me.
“We should probably make Ben hurry this along.”

I agree with that notion. Ben should be able to pick up on the communication and figure out that we want to get out of here as fast as possible. I look over at the man, who must be Gore, and realize he too is naked. The girl might be spent, but his serpent like appendage looks to be putting on a show. Literally. There is a somewhat thin, foot long fleshy thing, swaying to a beat only it hears, coming up from in between his legs. All of a sudden it thickens to about the size of my fist in diameter. I have a small fist, but dang that is weird and big. I look up at his face and see him looking back.

“I still have plenty of loving to go around, cutie. Want to come over here and have a go? I hear it tastes like blueberries if you like that sort of thing. Otherwise, we can just fill you up like I did Phreddie.”

With him I am not really feeling a draw, but if he doesn't mind vacating the bed and taking banana boobs with him, I think me and Alex could put on a five-star show. My clothes are already itching to come off.

“Ben, would you care to move things along a little quicker. Nyx is out past her bedtime and should really be getting home,” Alex says and I am good with letting him talk for the two of us right now. Any words that are able to form from my lips would more than likely be way inappropriate for the situation. As it is, I have found a nice portion of the wall to fixate my eyes.

“10-4. Gore is an incubus in case any of you were wondering, so even though his usual tricks won't work on our girl, I think moving on quickly is the way to go,” Ben says repositioning himself to stand in front of me. Dang it. Now he is blocking my great view of the wall. “Gore, I heard you were talking to Candy recently. Would you mind sharing what your sister had to say?”

“Sure. If you let me spend a few minutes alone with the girl, I will tell you anything you want to know. She looked intrigued by what I have to offer. I don't think she has been getting enough at home. Her need is very clear in her eyes.”

That makes Alex growl. He didn't seem to mind Sherry hitting on me and the earlier offer from the incubus didn't really faze him, but I think there was a change in the dude's voice that hit his protect my mate bone. Okay, I know it was the implication that Alex wasn't satisfying me, but Ben doesn't seem to like it either and sprouts large bird wings from his back.

“Gore, this isn't a negotiation, maybe I forgot to mention that. Nyx is off limits to anyone in Hell other than me and she is not something that I am going to share. Now, tell me where your sister is hiding or you will be figuring out a new way to use the toilet because I will shove a rusty, quarter inch nail up your pee hole.”

Wow. I didn't know demons even used the facilities like normal people. Even if he doesn't, that sounds a tad bit painful. I don't expect Ben would be gentle about it either.

“Is that a command, my evil warlord?” Gore's tone has changed from flirtatious to annoyed. Ben does tend to have that effect on people.

“Yes, now where is she?” Ben's voice echoes through the small room. I think the walls even shake a little from the force.

“I hate when you do that. I wish you would give me the same freedoms you give Candy. You recruited us at the same time; we should be given the same privileges. It isn't my fault she lets you dominate her in the bedroom and you enjoy it.” I won't say Gore whines out these words, but it is pretty close. “Ow. Dang it, Ben. That was really uncalled for.”

I cannot see what happened because of my wall of Ben, but I hope someone gives me a full report later. I didn't even see or feel Ben move.

“Gore, I think you will come to realize I have very little patience today. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure that much out.” I am glad to say that I haven't seen Ben in this mood before. I don't know what has changed to make him so mad, but I am finding it all very interesting.

“She is in Night Owl; at least that is what she said. She had some score to settle and said if I needed her, to stake out a bar called Gulliver. She was planning to pick up her nightly meals from there. That is all I know, so please can you take the vice off my balls. That is so not cool.”

I guess I don't have to ask what Ben ended up doing to make Gore scream like a girl. Ouch. As far as the information he has handed out goes, what is up with having to venture to bars all of the time? Can't a bad guy or informant hang out at the laundry mat or something?

“See, that was all you had to do. Nice doing business with you. If I find that you somehow warn Candy of our impending arrival, you will not like the outcome at all. We will leave you to play with Winifred some more as she looks to be waking up. I am sure she can help remove the vice. I didn't put any special locks on it or anything,” Ben says and then spins around to face me. “Buttercup, it is time to go. I think it is probably too late tonight to try to meet up with Candy, but we can meet at that bar first thing tomorrow.”

It sounds like he wants to have us on our way so he can see to something else. I am all for that, but I think we need his help to get back up to our world. I go to open my mouth to articulate the situation, but he puts his finger up to my lips.

“Clyde can show you the way out. He knows what to do. I will see you tomorrow.” Me talking is evidently frowned upon, so I nod and turn around. “This is for your protection.” I hear whispered very softly in my right ear. I have really good hearing and I barely hear it.

“Let's get the troops moving. I could really use a steak and one of the stuffed toys that I hid from you because I like to do the nasty with them, or maybe Alex's pillow. I cannot remember if it is one of those super fluffy ones or if it has some firmness to it. Firmness would be good. The fluffy ones don't rub me the right way.”
There were reasons I never wanted to know the thoughts going through Clyde's mind and I think I just experienced the item at the top of the list.

I believe I am going to need to pick up some new pillows on the way home. I am afraid to sleep on mine now.

Alex turns me around and pulls me into his side as we shuffle out of the room. Ben firmly closes the door with him still in the room as soon as my feet are on the other side. Okay, I thought he had somewhere else to be, not that he was staying behind to play with the incubus and his friend.

Oh well, not my problem. The eyes in the empty hallway seem to be following us again. I hope I don't have to ever make a trip down here again. It is bad enough I have the new tattoo on my back taunting me with the fact that I could very easily become one of the things that dwell down in this heat. To actually be here experiencing it, is another story.

“I am just happy that Ben somehow blocked the smoke in the room from making your hormones do the happy dance. A minute of it was about as much as I could take,” Alex says dragging me along. I didn't realize it, but he is right. After Ben stood in front of me, I don't remember the out of control need to rough Alex up. I will have to remember to thank the demon for that. I already have something a little odd going on with my system. I don't need the extra help in that department.

Back in the main room of the bar, it looks like most of the inhabitants have cleared out. Less people makes me feel slightly better, but without Ben around to scare demons away, I don't want to be pulled into any conversations.

“Off so soon? What a shame. Do come back for a visit soon, cupcake,” Sherry hollers from up on the bar where she is taking her turn doing a strip tease. We have to start pushing Jake along when he notices. “Convince her to join and you can have all of this you want.” I don't look over to see what she is offering, but Jake starts nodding his head.

“Big brain now, Jake. You are such a moron sometimes,” I say and stomp down on his toes to get his attention. “Alex, I seriously don't know why you put up with him. We need to just castrate him and get it over with.”

“Hey, that is just wrong. I am going. I cannot believe none of the other guys want to stop to check out the merchandise.” He starts moving, but offers a quick air kiss to Sherry before we reach the doors.

“The other guys know they are on duty. You can play Romeo on your own time and Clyde will be grounded if he ever helps you get back down here.”

“No worries there. I know you kind of like the idiot and they would eat him alive down here. He would come back as a hundred-year-old man on life support,”
Clyde reports.
“Okay, now I don't do the whole arm waving thing like Ben, so you guys might want to step back.”

Alex and I take a step back immediately and I motion for everyone else to follow. Clyde takes in a deep breath and then lets out a loud, echoing bark. The walls and ground shake and I grab on to Alex to keep from falling.

“You could have warned us to cover our ears,” I say and shake my head a little to try to stop the ringing.

“Just get in the hole. I don't know how long it stays open.”
Clyde says and then jumps in.

To jump or not to jump? It is a very important question. Sadly, it only has one answer. The portal looks about the same as the one Ben made, so I go ahead and follow. I really hope that this will be the last portal I have to jump in for a while. I am just not meant for traveling between worlds.

Chapter 12

The angel made me do it

When I come out of the portal on the other end, many things alert me to something being wrong. The first being that I am in some kind of meadow, followed closely by the fact that the guys aren't with me.

This is just great. I have no idea where a meadow is within about a five state radius from Night Owl City. I have never seen as many flowers as are currently blooming around me.