“Savage,” a high-pitched voice called as I stepped onto the upper level. I looked up to see the women standing near the back wall. They called these girls Aphrodites around the club, women who had no lives beyond this place.
They were considered whores in the Pit. Nothing less, nothing more. They worked here to please whoever would pay for their services and pleasure the winning fighters as some kind of twisted prize.
Not that any of them seemed to truly care, they were all so fucking high on belladonna and sex I doubted they could even remember their own names or how they got stuck in this hell.
As I stalked closer and closer to the line of women in order to get to the bar, they seemed to gather the energy to straighten into what was meant as an appealing pose. A few seemed desperate to attract my attention, trying to outshine the next faceless, spiritless girl, by pushing out their chest, and cocking their hips.
They were like ghosts, no light could be found in their eyes. No life.
Their skin looked clammy from the heat, and their eyes were zoned in on me, but glazed over. Unfocused.
“You wanna taste, Savage?” one girl asked, her words slurred, her grin tired. “You deserve it after that fight. I can help you relax, I can make you feel good…”
I stared coolly back at her. My beast wanted a taste, wanted the energy that incubi thrived from, but she looked far too weak to handle me.
“Are you going to fucking watch her all night like a pussy, or are you going to fuck her?” Danny said from behind me, wearing his black fitted suit, fixing the cuffs of his shirt. I turned and saw him nodding toward her, hunger and need flashing through his eyes. Danny ran the Pit, but he didn’t own it. Whoever did kept their face hidden.
I gritted my teeth.
Danny was a slimy bastard who had his own reputation around here. And he hated that I overshadowed his precious, little fame.
I pushed past him and made my way to the bar that overlooked the ring below, where a glass of whisky was already waiting for me. I swallowed some of it down, enjoying the burn it left in its wake. Most of the men stayed below, venturing upstairs for a drink during breaks. They wanted to be in the midst of the gore.
I preferred to observe alone, from up here, in my usual spot by the ramp.
The upstairs was a large platform with two separate hallways. One led to the Aphrodites’ rooms and the other to a meeting room and Danny’s office. On the bottom level was the entrance to the fighters’ change rooms and gym. In the center of it all, was the ring, dirty and glorious. The steel and concrete walls made it so that every sound echoed tenfold. Each cry, each sound of bones breaking created the Pit’s soundtrack.
Just as I went to put the glass down on the bar’s shiny surface, something caught my attention below.
A new fight was starting and Tegan, a woman with whom I had spent some time in and out of the bedroom, stepped into the square of dirt. The both of us had shared a few rough, meaningless moments when we’d both needed a release. But it had always been just that, sex. A boost of energy. Being two incubi demons, physical intimacy was fundamental to our survival and strength.
Tegan was walking along the ropes enclosing the ring as she taped her hands. Her dark hair seemed to shine as her thick braid brushed against the sweaty skin of her back.
She looked like a deadly warrior and a sinful lover all wrapped into one dangerous but tempting package.
Judging by the suggestive looks she was getting from the men surrounding the ring, I wasn’t the only one to think so.
But these men were fools to think she was prey.
If they knew her, they’d know she was the real predator.
A predator covered in delicious ink, skin tight black spandex and luscious curves.
A lazy smile tugged at my lips as I gulped down more of my whisky.
Whoever fought against her tonight would no doubt meet defeat.
One of the men in the audience touched her ass as she walked close by, and she stopped instantly. Standing deadly still.
Without even looking back, her hand snaked its way behind her back, gripped the unwanted hand touching her and twisted it until it hung limp from the man’s wrist.
I chuckled darkly, shaking my head at the stupid asshole.
Tegan took the time to scan the crowd, unbothered, calm, focused, and when her gaze caught mine, a slow, wicked smile spread across her lips and she tipped her chin toward me.
An acknowledgment.
A show of respect.
I stuffed a hand into my jean pocket and pulled out a smoke of belladonna. I was lighting it when a second figure caught my eyes.
A girl.
Thin. Breakable.
Entering the ring.
Not a worthy opponent for a woman like Tegan.
That girl’s dying tonight.
I could tell when fresh meat entered the Pit; wide-eyed and trembling, but desperately trying to gulp down their fears as they walked onto the dirt ground.
Some pissed themselves.
Some ended up vomiting.
Others collapsed.
Never had I seen such a tiny girl walk onto the dirt square though.
Fragile, skinny and small.
I could crush her with my thumb.
And it was clear from the way her body moved that she knew nothing about fighting. Tegan would no doubt take her down with one blow.
Stupid fucking child.
Not only did the victor have access to the Aphrodites as a prize, they also took home a good handful of cash. And newbies had the bad habit of thinking it was easy money.
It fucking isn’t.
Not when you were dealing with demons that had grown up in the Pit. Demons that hungered for its deviance. Its gore.
Demons like myself.
Men behind me started slamming their bets down onto a nearby table cracked with age, desolation and despair. I didn’t need to ask to know they were all betting in Tegan’s favor.
The tiny thing moved to face Tegan, half a head shorter than the trained fighter. She let her arms rest on each side of her, cracking her fingers in preparation.
Fergus—an incubus whose every inch of flesh had been pierced—stepped into the ring, raising his arm. Most people around here referred to him as Steel because of the number of piercings he had, it looked almost like an armor of steel atop his skin.
He spoke to the two women, lips moving fast as his eyes moved between the two of them, lingering a few seconds longer onto the shorter of the two.
Then, he shouted, signaling the start of the fight and the crowd roared some more.
There were only one rule fighters had to abide by in the ring; nobody was allowed to use weapons other than their own body.
Tegan lunged with the grace of a starving lion pouncing on its prey.
Skilled, efficient, trained.
My eyes narrowed as I witnessed the girl ducking with surprising swiftness and stability, effectively dodging Tegan’s blow.
Chaos renewed through the crowd, the hunger in the men’s eyes flashing to new heights.
Horny bastards.
I took a slow drag of belladonna, letting it slowly seep into my lungs. I breathed out slowly, creating a thick cloud of smoke around me.
After a few more drags, the shaking in my fingers slowed down and eventually disappeared.
I debated whether to go outside and cool off or stay in the blinding heat to watch a fight that would no doubt end shortly.
The room was humid and stuffy, and I would rather not watch a kid get beaten to oblivion.
I was heartless. Not a sick fuck.
Just as I was about to turn and leave, Tegan flipped the girl over her back and crashed the tiny body onto the dirt floor, dust floating around their bodies.
The girl’s lips seemed to part, and I could have sworn I heard her tiny gasp of pain all the way to where I was standing, despite the roars below.
And it was at the sound coming from the tiny thing that it hit me.
And it hit me fucking hard.
That girl in the ring wasn’t just any girl.
I knew exactly who the hell she was, and she wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near a place like the Pit.
Alexandra Harvey.
Lex.
My brother’s friend.
And the little fucking soul-eating brat was looking for trouble it seemed.