A darkened hall funneled them into a small room where black velvet curtains hung from the ceiling. Two more club lackeys stood on either side and pulled the curtains open as they approached. Nyx covered her eyes as light poured into the small holding room. Smells of roasted meat and sweet ambrosia assaulted her nose as music blared from all sides. She struggled to overcome the attack on her senses. She’d come too far to fuck up now.
The inside of Club Hel was luxurious. Gilded metal adornments, plush carpet runways, and uniformed staff buzzing about to see to your every whim. The first Level of Hel was tame compared to the stories of the rest. Full length obsidian counters lined the outside of the room with bottles of liquor and assorted pills displayed behind it. At least twenty Club Hel employees were stationed behind the bar pouring amber liquid into glasses while others shook mixers in tin containers.
An enormous buffet stacked with savory dishes was placed toward the middle of the room, and in its center stood a fondue fountain flowing with ambrosia. It was one of the most potent intoxicants a daemon could consume. The chaos in their blood brought them immortality. In its battle to sustain life, any disease or drug was cleared hastily from their system. Ambrosia, however, was fermented by the Olympian, Dionysus, and he lived for creating substances that even chaos couldn’t filter. The effects of ambrosia were immediate, lowering inhibitions and boosting confidence in euphoric bliss.
Nyx swept the room with an assessing stare. Daemon reclined on couches glutting themselves on food and drink– the perfect beginning to any night reveling in sin. With Cupid on her left, Teddy on her right, and the two others covering the rear, they walked into Club Hel like they held the fucking keys to the place.
Nyx made to move toward the bar but a hand caught hers and tugged. “No fucking way we’re getting stuck in Gluttony,” Cupid chided.
“Come on, sweetness,” Teddy tsked as he wrapped a burly hand around her waist. “Bring your cute little ass along.”
Nyx bit her lip to hold back her quip, inhaling a breath of patience and counting to three. The plan had been to ditch their loser asses just after they got her through security, but it seemed the boys weren’t ready to throw away their plaything. She pulled the reins on her attitude and turned to face them.
“I wasn’t aware ‘fun’ had a schedule.” She smiled, trying to stop the quirk of her brow and annoyance in her tone. Teddy just winked as the others caged her in.
Great, now she was being herded by a bunch of animals.
“Okay,” Nyx resigned. “To the elevators. After you, gentlemen.” Nyx had been scoping this place out for weeks. There were eight levels in Club Hel and if she didn’t ditch these losers quickly, she would never make it to the gold. A child’s laugh chimed like tinkling bells through her mind, reminding her why she was doing this, and a ball of unease grew in her stomach.
Nyx had to make it to Level Pride.
The group started toward the elevators on the far wall of the room, making sure to keep her in the middle. Not for the first time tonight, she fought an eye roll.
Cupid grabbed a couple flutes of sweet champagne from a passing employee and handed one over. She didn’t care for the bubbly liquid but sipped on it slowly for appearance. For all Nyx knew the fucker slipped datura into the fizzing amber liquid. The thought made her spine straighten. Datura was another substance brewed by Dionysus that affected daemonkind. It was often slipped into female’s drinks by sleazeballs like Cupid when their dick wasn’t big enough to fuck her with consent.
Once at the glass elevator, Teddy pushed the ‘up’ button and the doors opened with ading.Nyx stole a glance at the control panel as she was ushered inside and took note. Gluttony, Wrath, Greed, and Lust were the only floors listed. Her brow furrowed as she recalled information gathered from the whispers surrounding Club Hel. She knew there were eight floors because you could see it clearly from the rows of windows on the outside. So why, then, were there only four Level’s listed in the elevator?
She needed to learn what lay beyond Lust and figure out how to get there if it wasn’t the elevator. Surely to Zeus you didn’t have to walk up the fucking stairs. That had to be an activity below the rich.
They may break a sweat.
It would be unlawful, really.
Cupid pressed the button to Lust and Nyx had to fight the itch to run. Out of all her personality traits, nympho was not one of them. Sure, she was cunning and kind of an asshole, but she’d be damned if she exited the elevator on Level Lust with a group of Chads. She’d stolen enough human books to know how that would end, and the men who herded her were much more dangerous than the swine on those pages.
The elevator jerked to a start and the air became too heavy for comfort. The space darkened as they rose through the ceiling of Gluttony and arrived at the next floor. If the panel were to be believed, Level Wrath was next. The cable pulled them up slowly as if to showcase every floor they were passing.
“Are you sure you want to miss this?” It seemed to say.
A few seconds later the rumble of utter chaos breached the quiet glass box. Nyx stepped forward through the hulking group of men to peer out. What she saw shouldn’t have surprised her, but the sheer brutality of Level Wrath made her swallow.
A fighting ring was in the center of the room surrounded by screaming daemon.
No, not screaming,she thought.Cheering.
They were in various states of undress, but all of them wore fighting garments. Some were in tights, others in leathers, but all held a dangerous gleam in their eyes. They were mad with wrath and chomping at the bit to get into the ring.
The two daemons fighting in the center were brutal. One was a tall, bulky man in white shorts with his torso bare. He looked mean as fuck and was scowling like he’d never seen the sunshine. His opponent was a small female who, if possible, looked even meaner than he did.
Nyx didn’t need a rule sheet to know that in Club Hel, anything goes. Eye gouging, groin punching, biting… it would all be fair game here. Her kind were brutal and she expected no less from a club of sin hidden in the darkest and most ruthless of oceans, on the furthest island from Mount Olympus.
The ceiling to Level Wrath was much taller than Gluttony, and it wasn’t long until the reason was obvious. As the elevator continued its journey up, a dimly lit balcony circled the perimeter far above the ring. There in the shadows, reclined in leather chairs with sophisticated glasses and computers, were the beginnings of the daemon elite. They were dressed in business casual, every pleated pair of pants and combed over strand of hair perfectly in place. Some sat alone while others stood, glasses in hand, pointing to the ring and whispering.
Level Greed.
A roar erupted from below and Nyx caught a quick glance of the female daemon on the back of the male. Blood trickled down his torso and stained his ruined pants. She held a victorious fist in the air, chin covered in the gore from his open neck. Nyx’s heart leapt in her chest.
Evidently ‘anything goes’ includes murder.
