“No,” Mia offered. “It’s just… She called me a spirit seer.”
She can see ghosts. Fuck, that’s a cool skill.
I would kill to talk to the ghosts of my clients’ dead relatives. The money I could get with that made my mouth water.
Being able to tell if someone was lying had its advantages in my line of work, but I could think of so many more things I could do if I had her power.
I relaxed into the bed, allowing an easy smile to spread across my face.I guess she was just nervous to share.“Well, then maybe you can spot the one that comes into our room to deliver food.”
Iris seemed hesitant to interact with the girl after her admission.
She knows something I don’t.
“Food?” Mia asked. “How long have you been here?”
“Almost a week,” I said. “Iris is on day three.”
As if on cue, the door slammed open.
Iris was always super affected by the thing that skulked into our room, but not me. It was invisible, but it held an aura to it. I had once seen it lift a girl up and over what I guessed was its shoulder and haul her out. She had been one of the ones who couldn't quite handle the news that she had been kidnapped by demons and was likely going to die within days. She threw up. Yelled and screamed at the wall. Everything that we wanted to do but didn't.
That was my first interaction with the creature. Its invisibility was off-putting the first few times, but I had been kidnapped by fucking demons, so I had to be open to whatever the universe wanted to throw at me. I had learned my lesson by watching what happened to the other girls.
That's why I knew we could never escape. How were we supposed to go up against a crazy monster no one could see?
“Oh, it’s the food,” I said dryly. “Don’t try to run. That’s how the last one disappeared.”
I looked at Mia, her eyes narrowed in on the invisible entity.She can see it.Her power had to be stronger than any of ours.
“So… did you see it?” I asked, trying to hide the hesitancy in my voice.
She did.I didn’t need her answer to know, but I wanted it. I wanted to see if the new girl would lie to me.
“That wasn’t a ghost,” she murmured. “Whatever it was…”
She shuddered, unable to continue. There was no bitterness coating my tongue.
She’s telling the truth.
“It’s angry, and in pain,” Iris whispered. “Maybe another type of demon?”
I shook my head. “If that was the case, we would see it.”
The girls didn’t speak for a long while after that. Neither did I.
Fine by me.If we were going to die in this hellhole, I would appreciate some time to decompress.
4
OROS
Eros loved the auctions. There was an air of excitement to them that had her vibrating. Something about being able to see the nature of the demons we ruled over.
The auction had things—illegal things—and it was interesting to see who bought what. It gave us a good idea of what was actually happening in the realms beyond what our spies and informants told us.
I liked seeing her happy. And it didn’t hurt to get a good whiff of fear every now and then.
The bloodlust we were allowed in the court was controlled. They brought humans in, played with them a little, put on a show, and let the court take a good strong whiff of their fear. Never enough to lose themselves in the craze, but enough to get a little bit high off it. It got boring at times because it was so choreographed.
