Even the citizens were more interesting. There were a lot of furred individuals of various species but cat-like aliens seemed to dominate the ratio. They were the same species as the semi helpful cat lady who’d pointed me into the underground. The air smelled richly of warm food and spices, with the undertone of roasting meat here and there as we passed food stalls with big open flame pits where attentive owners turned their wares over the fire. The drippings falling off the meat sizzled into the flames and had my mouth watering but the twins didn’t even twitch an ear at any of the stalls, choosing instead to stalk their way through the crowd like twin daggers through fat. The crowds parted around the twins like they were afraid of being bitten.
I passed the food stalls mournfully, my stomach grumbling loud enough to hear over the buzz of noise produced by this many people crammed on a narrow street.
A burst of laughter from a group of children watching a lizard with a dozen hands juggling glowing beetles that buzzed and chirped every time he tossed them into their air drew myattention, and I nearly lost the twins. The crowd swallowed them up so fast I had to run to catch up, pushing and squeezing my way through until I spotted the iridescent flash of Hassa’s waving green tail as it caught the light of a low hanging lantern before disappearing around a corner.
“Shit. Hassa! Wait up. I got little legs,” I complained. I had to come to a sudden stop, risking falling on my ass when Rixa’s big head appeared out of nowhere right in front of me, her jaws open in a scolding laugh.
Holy hell her teeth were big.
“Your breath smells horrible. You should probably get that checked.”
Rixa snorted before blowing a gust of hot, foul air into my face.
She laughed when I gagged.
“Don’t get lost, Callie. The Dark is for the predators,” she warned before turning to follow her sister down a road lit on both sides by blazing purple torches.
I gagged again, waving at the air before jogging to fill the space between them.
A dense crowd pressed the twins in closer to me until their scaled sides were rubbing against the exposed skin of my arms. They smelled a little like wet stone but one that some idiot had sprayed with an expensive perfume.They were weirdly soft where I figured they’d be rough like maybe a crocodile, but their scales felt closer to snakeskin, though each overlapping piece on the twins were probably closer to palm sized. This close I could see that each scale had blue and purple shimmering in the depths of dark green and the mane of black fur that covered their haunches, neck and chest was more like a purple so dark it only appeared black. Under the purple flame of the torches, the twins nearly sparkled. They were beautiful, well formed predators. Though, the little tuft of fur on the tips of their ears were absolutely begging for bows.
It would probably kill their whole deadly vibe though.
The excited shift in energy from the crowd pulled me from my examination of my escorts and to the front where the street ended at a half domed building and huge steel double doors. A great hulking beast of an alien stood silhouetted against the hazy orange glow obscuring what was beyond the open doorway. He crossed his arms over his massive chest and glared at the crowd like a disapproving father. A cacophony of noise burst from behind him, like a crowd cheering.
The twins pushed their way through to the front with me along for the ride in between them until they reached the male.
We stopped right in front of him. I craned my neck up to his impressive height and whistled. He wasso pretty. Like a four armed, overly muscled drag queen. Nearly eight feet tall and naked from the waist up, with pepto pink skin that had raised darker pink textured swirls over every inch. I couldn’t decide if they were natural or some kind of body modification. He had wildly curly waist length white hair tied half up with an oversized black bow that matched the mini skirt showing off his impressive thighs. Heavy neon green boots completed his outfit and complimented the pink hue of his skin.
I couldn’t help staring at the colorful array of makeup he wore on his face in what I could only describe as 80's roller derby. It highlighted the harsh lines of his brow and cheekbones. The deep blue eyeshadow made the black of his eyes look like shining oil orbs. He’d applied a glossy black lipstick that matched his eyes to his pouty mouth which was currently smirking at my gawking.
“Stare all you like, little human, but I am a happily mated male.”
He winked at Rixa.
She rolled her eyes, but her normal scowl was replaced by a warm, affectionate smile.
I looked back and forth between my draft horse sized body guard and the fancy bouncer, my brain misfiring.
“No way. No. Way!Thisis your mate? This male right here? Seriously?”
The big pink male tossed his white curls over his shoulder and cocked his hip. “What were you expecting? A hideous Horik?” He scoffed, gesturing at Rixa. “She’s far too beautiful and deadly for justanymate?”
I gaped at the preening Rixa. She finally caught my flabbergasted stare and snorted out a laugh. “Surprised, Callisto Ramirez?"
I sputtered, pointing at her. “Surprised? Surprised! Not easy, you said. What’s not easy about this?” I asked, gesturing with both hands at the tall, muscular, pink icon in front of us.
Rixa shrugged. “Lor’ac was the champion of the Pit for twenty orbits. He had a certain reputation.”
I opened my mouth to ask if that reputation was panty dropper but a bigger, more lavender version of Lor’ac strode up behind him and draped a heavy arm across Lor’ac’s shoulders.
Hassa purred at the newcomer.
Purred.
The lavender male grinned with obvious delight at Hassa. He had double fangs.
“Hello, my deadlyDor’as. What brings you here tonight? I thought you were guarding Rathal’s hum—oh. Hello.”
