Page 34 of A Velvet Kiss After Dark

"What's got you so glum?" Tabitha was looking up at him, her brow furrowed with interest.

"Nothing," he said.

They made their way at a quick pace. Tabitha surprised him by keeping up, though her breathing was hard and her hair was beginning to look like she'd just hopped out of the shower from the all the sweat. They waded through the dense sand so vividly orange it was stunning to gaze upon. It seemed to go on endlessly for as far as the eye could see. Mountains carved of sand dunes, untouched by footprints or animals created beautiful desert mosaics touched only by the wind which occasionally swept up the tiny particles and swung them around in a tornado storm.

"Did you know that the word 'nothing' is universal word for 'something is terribly wrong', right?" Tabitha quipped.

He didn't laugh, only scowled, hoping his reaction would stave off any more prods into topic.

"I want you to stay close to me when we get to the city. We'll reconnoiter the site first. If I tell you to duck, duck. If I tell you to jump . . . "

"Then, I jump. Yes, Kane. I understand. I also don't wish to die here." She harrumphed at him, and he stole a glance at her, admiring her gumption, albeit only a little. How many humans, females at that, would relish an exploration of Hell? Not many. A tug of satisfaction filled him. Fate had blessed him kindly with such a woman.

8

"New arrivals in town, Sirrah."

Infernas demon, Jkakob didn't move from his intoxicated slumped over form. "So what?" he grumbled.

"You may wish to see this."

Jkakob swiped the drool from the corner of his mouth and blinked open his bleary eyes. "Leave me be, Torpence. I have a long evening ahead of me. I don’t care for the festival newcomers in Midtown this week."

Torpence, with his bright orange hair, peeked out window of Jkakob's rundown flat and let in a stream of blinding light. "It's not just any newcomers, Sirrah. We have vampires and werewolves afoot."

Jkakob sat upright and forced his mind to awaken from the drunken intoxication that lingered from his previous night's festivities.

"Well, who are they then?" Jkakob asked.

"Earthlanders, it appears, Sirrah."

Jkakob cackled and hocked up phlegm which he spat into a jug he used for spittle collection. Rubbish, he thought. Outsiders never breeched the inner-realm of demon land, they simply couldn't. "Go away, Torpence. I have more sleep to be had before tonight's events."

Torpence sighed heavily, aggrieved at his master's lazy attitude. "They have yet to cause a stir, for their disguises are masking much of their disheveled appearance, but I've a nose for trouble and these folks are troublesome much, and dangerous most."

Jkakob closed his eyes and slumped back against his grungy bed of dirty unwashed linens and felt the slumber of sleep call him back into the dreamworld instantly. He was awoken almost immediately by Torpence's rough shaking of his shoulder.

"Sirrah, they're passing by our street corner. Come, look for yourselves. A werewolf, perhaps two, and judging from the pale flesh of the other two, perhaps some vampires in our midst. Quite a catch, don't ye think?"

Jkakob's eyes flew open. Vampires and werewolves, in their realm? It was unheard of, neigh impossible.

"Pish posh, let me be."

Torpence, seeing as he was getting nowhere with his owner, as he was merely a slave to Jkakob, bobbed his head in a curtsy. "Then, I shall go a-sightseeing and discover what I can of these Earthlanders. For Earthlanders they be, I tell ye, and a worthy prize for our business."

A gruff grunt of disagreement was all Jkakob could manage as sleep stole over him and his drunkenness resumed.

Torpence knew a catch when he spotted one, and this looked outrageous. A group of five travelers in their midst. They might have fit in if not for Torpence's unique sense of smell and his rare ability to uncover unique specimens whether it was a treasure or a future slave. He deftly slipped outside his master's hovel and was greeted by the radiant sun which scorched the inner-earth

Amidst the shopkeepers and lyrical tunes playing at midtown, the group of five stood out like a beacon of gold. And gold coin was exactly what a rare soul was worth in these parts, especially traded at a fair cost.

He'd spotted the odd entourage with their black hooded cloaks immediately upon entering Midtown. Infernas demons, the common breed around these parts bustled around with trivial activity: shopping, trading, debauching and the like. Yet, this sequestered group smelled different and acted even more impartial to the normalcy of life around these parts, like sensing a thief in church, they stuck out.

Torpence could foresee fair and maybe even a lavish price for the right quality werewolf or vampire, if sold at auction. Now, he only had to discover who they really were, and convince his master to wake up and make the grab. With a hand flat over his pocketed knife, Torpence followed the Earthlanders at a sedate pace, and meanwhile plotted which would be easiest to entrap or lure away.

Gold—that's what a living slave was worth in these parts, and for a high enough price, Torpence wouldn't have to be enslaved to the despicable debt trader Jkakob anymore. He could pay off his own slave debt and be free. This was looking to be the best festival of the year in Midtown.

9

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