I wake up to my first morning in the underworld. Nothing has bitten my head off, and as far as I can tell, all of my limbs are intact. As my eyes open slowly, my heart begins to beat fast. Krom is fast asleep, but he's so close to me that it almost scares me to death. He has an arm under his pillow while the other rests on it. I stare at his claws, wondering how fast he can rip the skin off my bones.

   I shake off the thoughts. Despite the fact that I don't know him, he has proven to be more than just a kind soul in a grisly world. At any point during the night, or even when we first met, he could have killed me, raped me, tortured me, but instead he offers me a safe place to sleep. If it hadn't been for him, I might have woken up cold and alone, missing a leg or two, while two rat boys devoured my flesh like jerky.

   I stare a bit longer, studying his wolf face up close. So far from what I've seen, he's the least scary thing I've come across. But since hell is large and ever expanding, I wonder what actual terrifying things I'll witness.

   His ears twitch and I wonder if he's dreaming. Perhaps it's even a nightmare. I raise a hand, about to brush my hand through his fur, when I stop dead still at the sight of my fingers. My hand looks different, and I can't explain how. It somehow looks . . . smaller.

   Panicking, I sit up and feel a strange weight on my chest. I look down and scream until there's no air in my lungs. I fucking have boobies! This wakes up Krom, and his eyes are big and alarmed as he stares up and down at me.

   We both scream at the same time. I don't know why he's screaming, but I'm screaming because his eyes turn red and that to me just doesn't seem very cash money of him.

   "WHO ARE YOU?" he roars, his voice sending spooky shivers down my spine.

   "WHAT?" I scream back, confused.

   He gets on all four and I try not to giggle at how beastly he looks. He carefully crawls out of bed, keeping an eye on me. This makes me feel as if my life is in jeopardy. This is the first time he's acting like an actual animal.

   "Where is Sinneas?" he growls, almost demonically.

   "I am Sinneas," I tell him.

   He closes his eyes and sniffs the air for a moment. "You smell like him, but you don't look like—wait, no . . . you do look like him."

   I'm curious about the nonsense he's talking about, so I bolt out of bed and run to the bathroom. As I enter, the candles floating on the ceiling magically light up and slowly reveal my new identity.

   A few things like my skin and hair color are the same, but the rest is new. My hair is long now, so long that it floats just below my waist. My body and face structure have all changed and are smaller, more feminine. And then I stare back into my new eyes. They're blue, but a blue so bright it can compete with a star.

   "What is going on?" I ask as I feel my new body. "Did us fucking do this to me?"

   He shakes his head as he stands safely outside of the bathroom door.

   When I look at myself, I wonder how someone can pull a prank like this, but I know it's not the case. It's a strange feeling to see yourself in the mirror and feel like an uncomfortable presence is watching back instead. Physically, it doesn't feel any different than my previous body. There are a few additions, and a few other ones that are gone, but it's not like I'm trapped somewhere I shouldn't be—it feels natural, and that's why my head is about to explode.

   "Your identification card has changed," Krom says, passing me the card.

   "What the fuck?" I say as I read the word Female where once was a question mark. Not only that, but the photo has changed. It's the same pose, the same me, but female. "Hell makes no sense."

   "I think it's your strength," he says, carefully walking closer, acting like I'm a bomb.

   "My strength? Isn't that how much I can lift?"

   "No, strength is like your power."

   "What power?"

   He sighs and drops his shoulders. "Your magical ability."

   "Magical ability? I don't have magical abilities."

   "Not everyone has them, but some do. If you do, it will tell you on your card."

   I look back at my card, but the symbols on the Strength make no sense to me. They're just symbols! Not letters or any kind of language I understand.

   "What kind of power is changing from male to female?"

   He shrugs and rubs the back of his neck. "I don't know."

   "What power do you have?"

   "I don't have one."

   My experience has been confusing, but I did not think it was going to be this bad. At least it can't get worse.

   I go back to the mirror and curiously search my body. My boobs are nice, I think. I don't know what's considered good for booby size. It's easier to tell with a penis, but you can't shove boobs into a hole, so it's a whole different judging category. They're not big, but they're not small. That's all I can say.

   I want to look at something else, I really do. But Krom is staring and I feel embarrassed having a coochie.

   "Can you give me a minute?" I ask kindly, fluttering my lady lashes.

   I have no idea how to be any sex or gender, truly.

   "Uh, yeah. I'll go ask the neighbors if they have any clothes for you. They hire a lot of human hookers, they should have some laying around," he says as he puts on his clothes and basically runs away.

   "Awesome."

   As soon as he's gone, I slam my foot on the sink counter and peek between my legs. I really have a vagina, it's really there. The penis, where did it go? How is that even possible? And is this a nice vagina? How do I know? Will Krom want to fuck it? I wonder how that will feel.

   I touch it, flick it, twist it, and the sensations are there. It's clearly not a fake vagina.

   I wash my hands and my mouth, and splash some water on my face. It's not a dream either, so what the fuck is going on? This cannot be real. It's already taking me some time to adjust to living in hell, but now I have this to add to my plate? And if magical powers are a thing, then why do I have the worst one? Why not some useful power like being able to fly or even summoning an army of monsters at will to help me fight off the other monsters wanting to eat my face?

   When Krom returns, he gives me a few options for clothes, but all of them are revealing beyond imagination. There's one that has panties with a hole in the front. Just why? And don't get me started on the leather top with the open space for the boobs to hang out of. I'm not exactly thinking hell is modest by any means, but it's fucking cold out there! How am I going to protect myself from my definite impending death when the only thing that's covered on my body is my tailbone? Either way, I pick out the one that looks the nicest. It's all leather, but the one outfit I pick has a long coat with shredded ends that I can zip up. It covers most of my body and even has a hood. It's pretty cool and kind of witchy. I pair it with fishnets and hooker boots. I won't be running anytime soon, so if a monster decides it's hungry, at least he'll have a sexy feast.

   "Ready to go?" Krom asks.

   "Go where?"

   "I know someone who might give you the answers you need."

   "Oh, fuck yeah! Now we're talking. How do I look, though?"

   "Like a hooker," he says, tone serious as fuck.

   "Awesome."

   "Here." He hands me a plate of mysterious food.

   "What . . . is that?" I stare at the plate as respectfully as I can, but I have to swallow my vomit back down.

   "Food."

   "I'll starve, thanks."

   The amount of effort I have to put into not tripping is too much. I don't want to put effort into anything, I just want things to be given to me so that I don't have to do anything. Walking is supposed to be easy, not a task.

   "Want me to carry you?" Krom asks when we're walking out of his place.

   I look at him strangely. "No."

   "Hey! Looks like it fits you perfectly," says a human girl who is just walking out of the apartment next door. She has a third eye, and I stare at it.

   "Thanks again, Bae Lyon," Krom tells her.

   "Got any makeup?" she asks me, taking out a cigarette from her purse.

   "No."

   "Here." She opens her mouth and fangs pop out. She bites into her hand, drawing out a good amount of blood. I freeze out of shock as she drags a finger across the blood and smears it over my lips. "I'll give you some other shit next time I see you, alright?"

   She sounds so nice that I can't freak out. I just nod quietly and walk away. I can taste her blood on my lips and I don't know whether to cry or laugh. Krom doesn't say anything and it makes me seem like the odd one out for not accepting this so easily.

   When we're inside the cop car, I check my face through the side mirror. The blood actually looks nice on my lips. Blood lipstick? Might be released with another cancelled social media make-up artist.

   "Who are we seeing?" I ask.

   "A friend."

   "Are they human?"

   "No."

   "Werewolf?"

   "No."

   "Can you give me an actual answer?"

   "Yes."

   I stare at him, hard. He's trying to concentrate on the road, but I see his eyes flicker to me and then back to the road. Then he does it again, to see if I'm still giving him a dirty look. He looks so adorable, but I don't break easily. I give him the death stare until he finally caves in.

   "Everyone calls her Madame Hissandra."

   I straight up ask him. "Why are you being so weird?"

   He swallows, loudly. "Uh, you. Your looks."

   "Wait a minute, so you're gay?" It hits me a little late, but better than never. It makes sense why he's being weird and keeping his distance. Not only do women scare him, but he's not even attracted to them.

   "I am."

   "A gay werewolf."

   He raises a brow at me. "Yeah, anyway. Madame Hissandra is the owner of the most popular club in Monstro City. It's pretty much the center of everything, the heart of the city."

   "Please tell me it isn't called club 666." I close my eyes as I await the cringe response that I know is coming.

   "It's called Deathwish."

   "Very interesting title. I like it. Tell me more about . . . Madame and her deathwish."

   "There's nothing much to say. It's a club that's open all day and night. It's full of deviant monsters looking for excitement, or something much worse."

   I gasp in fake shock. Horrible things? In hell? No, how can it be?

   "Do you know why there are monsters? Or a better question—why do we look the way we do?" I ask in a rather sad tone, pressing my forehead against the glass of the window while pretending I'm in a movie.

   "I don't know. Why do you ask?"

   "It's just weird how I came from a world of humans, to a world of things we thought were just . . . fantasy."

   "I don't think about it. Humans are arrogant little creatures. They think they know everything, but they have no idea how little they actually know. They think they are the only ones that matter, the only ones important enough to exist. If only they knew the truth."

   "Yeah, I guess so. It's like saying that aliens don't exist. Like, how do you even know that? How can you make such a confident statement? Poor aliens, they don't deserve that treatment."

   "Put your seatbelt on," he tells me urgently.

   Judging by the tone of his voice, something is about to happen. I put on the seatbelt, which I should have done when I got in the car in the first place, but being hell changes a girl and her priorities.

   Out of nowhere, the road crumbles in front of us and the car falls through, landing on another road that's hidden underground. I look up the window and watch as the road magically forms back to normal like tetris pieces. How do I remember that useless game but not my own life? Who the fuck knows.

   Krom doesn't stop driving, even now as we go through darkness. My nipples are reacting fast to the drop in temperature. That or the fear rushing through my body. I need to remember to ask other human women about why our nipples get hard.

   "How can you see through this?" I ask.

   "I can see in the dark."

   "Must be nice having a useful ability."

   "There are hundreds of shortcuts throughout the city. Only those with authority have access to them. You're about to see something cool, so pay attention."

   "Pay attention? How can I pay attention when I can't see a damn thing?"

   A loud roar erupts in front of us that startles me, followed by hot fire that burns brightly in the shape of a monster's mouth. We drive through the mouth and into the throat, but it's all fire on the inside. This is the first time I get a taste of a biblical hell—the one where humans burn for all eternity and suffer for their sins. It's a long tunnel, and the fire gets hotter by the second, making me wonder if we're going to die. Krom presses a button on the steering wheel, causing the car to accelerate to full speed. As the pressure pins me down, my body feels like it's melting into the seats. The flames around us start to embrace the car, but then purple sneaks in, and the flames start fighting each other as the colors blend and the heat fades. The fire is now blue and cold, and they're dancing wildly until they begin to freeze up like sharp icicles piercing the ground. There's a massive portal at the end of the tunnel that looks exactly like the one I came through. I don't have time to admire it as the car dives straight through it.

   I'm screaming like a girl—and then realize I am a girl.

   The car struggles to halt and creates a screeching sound as the wheels desperately try to stop our momentum. The car spins a few times until we finally make an abrupt stop.

   "WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN ME?" I shout as I take a peek at the side mirror and see how wild my hair is looking.

   "There's no time to explain it," he says as he checks his car, starting it up again and continuing down the dark road. "For obvious reasons, the tunnel has to be difficult to get through and only certain vehicles can pass through. If you don't travel at the right speed, you either burn to death, or you freeze solid."

   There's only a ramp on the other side of this portal. We drive up fast as the ground shakes and once again crumbles, opening up a passage to let us back outside.

   I try to fix my hair as much as I can, but leave it when there's no hope. I don't think monsters with seven eyes care what my hair looks like. Unless . . . Unless that's exactly why they care. Fuck.

   In a few minutes, we reach the heart of Monstro City. It's nothing like where we just came from. This place, as creepy and dark as it is, looks incredible. It might be the New York City of this place, except a hundred times larger, and provocative.

   There are brothels at every corner, hotels with bat monsters chilling on top of signs, beings my imagination isn't capable of fabricating on its own, shiny advertisements for sex and drugs on every billboard, and it just doesn't stop. My eyes are harassed by black, purple and red colors lighting up the streets and buildings.

   My eyes then go to a group of humans huddling around a green fire. None of them look normal—and I'm not trying to sound offensive. There's something different about each one of them. For starters, there is one girl in the group that has six arms, she's tall as a fuck, her skin is purple, and she has four eyes. And then there's the shirtless dude with tails—plural. Very rarely do I see a human that just looks normal, with normal skin, normal eyes, normal anything.

   I'm starting to consider myself lucky. All I have is grey skin, white hair, and different eye colors. That's not as bad as the guy with two heads—facing each other.

   Now kith.

   I grip my seatbelt as the ground shakes harder than any kind of earthquake I remember. A colossal creature appears outside of the city. It's so massive that no other building can compare to its height. I don't want to look at it much longer than necessary. There's something pure evil about it. When I look at it and all of its parts, my thoughts start shifting to dark places. My curiosity keeps telling me to look, but I force myself not to. I know it's bad, I can feel it like a chill in my bones. That monster is not ordinary, it's something sinister, something not even from this world—a visitor. I catch a glimpse at Krom and he's not looking at it either, despite the difficulty in ignoring such a monstrosity. The creature vanishes eventually and the city stops trembling.

   "There it is," Krom says, pointing up ahead. "Deathwish."

   Deathwish is a gothic-style tower, right in the center of the city, watching over everyone—literally. There's a snake eye floating at the top, moving and rotating like it's keeping an eye on everything. There's also a remarkably realistic snake enveloped around the tower, its body pulsing and breathing, but there's no way it's real, right?

   "It looks like the snake is trying to reach the top to get its eye back," I say.

   "It's a unique tower, that's for sure."

   There's a lot of meaning behind his words. I can sense that this place is more than just the center of the city—it has a history. Whether that history is good or bad is not important, it's a place for important events. And the unknown history is what terrifies me the most.

   What am I walking into?

   Krom finds a place to park his underworld cop car and we hop out like a father and daughter about to walk into Home Depot.

   "You seem like a nice person," Krom starts, pulling me behind the car so we have some privacy. "Actually, if you're here it's because you aren't a nice person, but you are very nice considering the kind of . . . yeah, anyway. Most new souls don't last very long, especially alone. There are things out there that can smell fresh blood and they feed on the thrill, like a game, or a hunt."

   "Where is this going?"

   "Uh . . ."

   "Are you trying to tell me to stay close to you, not talk to anyone or anything in there, and just keep my head down?"

   "Yeah, please."

   Hm. He's begging, like actually begging me to listen to him and stay close. Well, who am I to argue? He's a literal officer of the law, so he knows about everything. I might be the luckiest new soul to arrive in hell. I will not fuck this up by ignoring everything he says and getting myself killed because I see some cool monster and I just really need to take a closer look at it.

   "You have nothing to worry about."

   As we walk across the large street that surrounds the tower, I spot a small car with an abnormally large monster inside. Its limbs, and skin parts, are poking out of windows and doors. I don't understand, and I don't question it.

   The tower is much larger than it seems. The ground level is covered in windows, almost like store windows, but no clothes on mannequins are displayed, only dancers on poles as the exhibits. The weird thing is . . . they're skeletons. Actual skeletons. Living, breath—er, skeletons.

   Skookers.

   The word makes so much sense now! They are skookers! Skeleton hookers! That is madly genius, and a bit sad since the only requirement for being a skooker is most likely that you're already a skeleton. There goes my chance at my dream job.

   We pass by the windows and I stare at each skeleton right in the socket. Their moves are bone-tastic, but above all, bonerific. And as we approach the front entrance, the last skooker by the end of the glass window stops me by poking the glass with her finger.

   "Hello," I say, looking up at her.

   "You want to take me for a ride, beautiful?" he says.

   I'm lost for words. I assumed he was a woman by the slutty skirt, and the slutty bra, and the slutty thong slipping from his thin bones, but his voice is deeper than Corpse Husband.

   "Yes, you majestic being, how may I purchase your services?" I gawk at him as he dances sensually, his bones rattling left and right, his perky tailbone jumping up at the twerk attempt. Gorgeous, simply gorgeous.

   "You get this free preview," he says, turning around and pressing his tailbone against the glass, it makes a clicking sound like tapping two glass bottles together. "Bone appetit."

   "Yes," I say, entranced by his beauty, pressing my whole face against the glass and leaving a wet trail of saliva. "Bone apple teeth."

   "Stop messing around," Krom says, laying a hand on my shoulder and pulling me away.

   "Bone voyage!" I say sadly.

   "Stay close to me and don't talk to anyone," Krom repeats in an assertive tone that makes my coochie start whispering in French.

   I follow him, but he's so freaking tall that I can't see where we're going. He leads me through an archway that leads us through a short tunnel, and at the end there's an opening, like an entrance, but it's pitch black.

   I instantly feel uneasy at the sight of this mysterious entrance. It's illuminated by red light, but there is no source anywhere, it's just magically glowing. The red fills my eyes and makes my stomach twist with nerves and anxiety. It's unbelievably black, but I can hear a crowd right behind it, so why can't I see anything?

   Krom passes through first and disappears in the shadows. I take a brave gulp and follow through, not wanting to be alone a second longer. My ears are quickly attacked by loud club music, but this music is just . . . dark sounding, if that makes any sense. It's truly a gothic horror experience in hell. The thumping of the music makes my heart skip faster, but what truly gets it going are the amount of monsters in this massive club. The ceiling is extra high so all monsters of all shapes and sizes can enter and have a good time.

   Such a nice inclusive hell club.

   I won't lie for a single sinful second, but the music is really fucking good. Better than any I remember. It fits so fucking well and it makes me want to close my eyes, shake my head a little, let the sounds take over my body, but I can't because we're on a serious mission.

   I cling to Krom's coat and try to cover my eyes from the monsters I'm not comfortable looking at. Some are just too terrifying to even imagine in your own brain. I'm still trying to get used to being in hell, some things might take time.

   The dimming lights also makes me nervous. A lot of clubs on earth have cool flashing lights, but these are on a different level. I feel like if it's dark for a second longer, I might get my head bit off. The lights don't try to make everything bright, instead they do the opposite, they fade away to the beat and get replaced by dark colors so you barely see anything but silhouettes.

   I feel freezing cold air and have to peek, although I really don't want to. We're close to the middle of the club and there are less beings here, and for a very good reason. There's something here, I don't know what it is. It's a circular barrier of some sort. It's definitely the elephant in the room. While everything is dark and spooky, this barrier is full of blue luminescent light and mist that pours out like a waterfall. The weirdest part is the people jumping in and out of it. Every time a new body jumps in or out, lightning follows. Familiar vibes, very familiar indeed.

   "Jump in with me," he says as the music gets lower—a massive drop is about to happen, it's making my skin crawl.

   I run with him as the momentary quietness makes me feel safe, and we jump into the light together as the beat drops. We're pulled apart and I lose sight of him. My eyes start watering as the vibe becomes too increasingly familiar. My body flips and turns with way more force than my first time falling into hell. There are a lot of clouds around me and I can only see them when the lightning flashes behind them. The air along with the music make it impossible for me to hear my own voice, so calling for Krom is out of the question as my body flies through the air.

   As if the memory isn't bad enough to repeat, monsters start appearing from the clouds. Their cheshire smiles glow white in the dark as their shadowy figures come closer.

   Before one could grab me, Krom emerges from one of the clouds and grabs me in his arms. We both vanish from this realm and land roughly on a wooden floor, club music and monsters gone.

   I don't even bother getting up, I just stay still laying on Krom's chest, enjoying the warmth and safety his body provides.

   "Krom, what are you doing here?" says a woman with a tiresome tone.

   My mind is still spinning from whatever just happened. It's too fast for me to process. If nobody bothers me, I'll happily lay here with my eyes closed and just forget about everything.

   "Sorry for barging, Madame Hissandra," Krom says.

   My heart starts pounding. This is the woman with all of the answers.

   I accidentally knee Krom in the ribs as I try to roll out from on top of him to get up. Krom makes a noise, but mostly just takes the pain quietly, and we help each other up. We're in a library of some sort, but it's beautiful, it's . . . human. It's all wood and books, it makes me feel peaceful.

   "Well?" says Madame Hissandra, appearing from the corner of the room.

   I . . . scream so fucking loud. Hissandra is a snake woman, a serpent worm creature with a giant snake body. She's a cobra and a bush viper combined, with a long neck, human arms, and a pretty face—for a snake.

   Her tail slithers as she moves closer to us. My skin shivers so badly and I can't hide how rude I'm being, but I can't fucking apologize every time a monster appears out of the blue and scares the heavens out of me.

   "I'm sorry, he's new," Krom says.

   "He?" she says, her snake eyes never moving from me.

   "Er, she at the moment, I guess."

   "What do you want?" she says, finally pulling her eyes away.

   "I was wondering if you could help him—her. I think you'll find her strength quite interesting, and if you want, I'll take a look at the request you put in with the order."

   "Fine, go."

   My nerves jump and I turn to Krom.

   "It's okay," he says, grabbing my hand and squeezing it warmly. "There's no safer place. She will answer all of your questions. I'll be back by the time you're done, okay?"

   "I trust you," I say, nodding. He lets go of my hand and jumps back into the electrifying light.

   I take a brave, deep breath. I'm alone with this creature that makes my skin crawl harder than the thought of stepping on something wet with socks on.

   "When did you arrive?" she starts the conversation.

   I turn back to face her, "Yesterday."

   The more I look at her, the more intrigued I become. Her mere existence is fascinating, and the more I study her features, the more I admire her. She's beautiful. Her outer skin is black and shiny and the center is more grey and soft. Her scales also have a magical purple spark that can only be seen when she moves. I'm starting to not be afraid of her, and fast, which is good for my comfort because it means I'll be able to speak to her about the things that really matter. Like how can Krom fuck me with his massive cock and I don't die from it?

   "What is your strength?" she asks.

   "I don't know. I don't think Krom knows either."

   "Give me your card."

   I go to check my pockets and realize I don't have any. It seems like once I became a woman, all pockets vanished.

   "Uh, I don't remember where I put it."

   "Call it."

   "Call it? Like call my card on the phone? I didn't realize it was a liv—"

   "No, you imbecile, with your mind, call out to your card."

   I'm not gonna cry, that's really stupid. I'm not gonna cry, that's really annoying. Ew.

   I call for my card and it magically appears on my hand. Simple as that.

   "Oh, period."

   "Let me see that," she says, wiggling her fingers. She takes my card and examines it with her yellow eyes, but after a moment of concentration, they turn blue. "Overloaded."

   "What?"

   "Seems like you have multiple," she says, slithering across the room to fetch a book from one of the cases. I swear she has to be like seven feet tall. Actually, how do you even measure a snake-woman's height when she can just stand—nope. Forget the question. "It's an uncommon strength, but not completely rare."

   "So what is it then? What can I do?"

   "You can switch your sex whenever you want and both sides have a different ability."

   "Oh, awesome! I'm like the best of all worlds!"

   "The only problem with this type of strength is that you won't know the abilities until you figure it out yourself. It's always different for every creature."

   "That's disappointing."

   "You're lucky you have multiple, most don't even have one."

   "Yeah, but for now all I can do is switch my biology. How is that useful? How will that protect me?"

   "Protect you? This is hell."

   "Exactly! I don't want to die."

   She begins to organize her books, her eyes still glowing blue. Her tail is long, so I don't move from my spot. The last thing I want to do is step on it and get ten sharp nails thrust through my neck.

   "Everyone dies in hell, it's part of the cycle. You don't actually die permanently."

   "Really? Can you explain it?"

   "When you die, you're resurrected at the fountain of blood. It's faster when your body is eaten, but it usually takes a day or two before you come back."

   "Interesting. What about hell? What exactly is it? And who runs it? Is it—"

   "You want to know if it's Hades or Lucifer?"

   "Yeah."

   "You could say it's a mix of all. Humans are wrong about most things, but they're getting closer to the truth. Hell is not a place to be punished, but it's not paradise either. People who have done bad things come here, it's true, but it's so much more than that."

   "So . . . I did something bad?"

   She looks back at me, and I stare at her tongue as it pokes out like a regular snake.

   Nice.

   "Yes."

   "Is there a way to get my memories back?"

   "No. If everybody had their memories and they knew what they had done on earth, it would be . . . destructive."

   "It's weird . . . I don't see myself as a bad person, but I must have done something really bad."

   "Sometimes there are clues floating around that tell you what you've done, all you have to do is go back to the beginning."

   "You did not just give me a puzzle instead of giving me the straight up answer."

   She shrugs. "Any other questions?"

   "How do I use my powers? How do I change?"

   "Supposedly you can do it at will. If you can't change right away, keep trying, you'll get the hang of it. Make sure that you want to change, too."

   I continue my questions with no break or pause, one after another, and point at the light that we came from. "What's that?"

   She looks at it. "It's a portal, or an elevator if you want it put simply. There are many floors in my tower for many uses, but you can only go up to my library if I've given you access."

   "So I can't come back here?"

   "No, unless Krom takes you with him."

   "What is your tower used for?"

   "Isn't it obvious? Entertainment. Sex. Murder. And work."

   "Work?"

   "Do you want a job?"

   "Yes, please."

   "Go back down and talk to one of my skookers, tell them I sent you."

   "W-Which skooker? They all look the same."

   She looks at me like I'm stupid. "Any."

   "I have so many more questions," I say.

   "If you work for me, you can use my library or you can ask me more questions whenever you're confused." Her eyes suddenly turn red, she slithers up to me and her hood grows wider and threatening. "But just know, I see everything in this tower. If I find out you're working against me, I will devour you before you see it coming."

   "Thank you," I tell her gratefully, bowing like a simp. "I'm just trying not to die and have a good time, I promise I won't go behind your back."

   "Good. Jump along."

   "C-Can I tell you a joke before I go?"

   She stares quietly without moving. It's a little scary, but I keep my smile up.

   "Okay."

   "A snake walks into a bar," I start the joke. I try my best to hold my laughter in. She's still staring silently with predatory eyes. I start whimpering instead of laughing. "T-That's it. That's the joke."

   She still hasn't moved.

   I'm not even fucking scared of the portal anymore, I jump straight into it before she has a chance to eat me. "Ssssee you later!" I scream as I fall into the supernatural ring and see her face vanish in the magic.

   I think of the first floor and the portal quickly takes me there. That's when I realize there are monsters just chilling in the portal with no intentions of leaving it. How cool is that.

   I'm back at the club, but this time I'm alone. I start looking for a skooker, but I don't see one around. I try to go to the display windows but it seems like you can't access them from the inside. I must have circled the tower a dozen times with no sight of a skooker, so I go back to the center and jump back into the portal, thinking of the next floor.

   "Oh," I say as I exit the portal onto the next floor. You can still hear the club music from below, but this floor is very . . . porn-y. Most humans are naked and hot and there are a few orgies happening, but I finally spot the first skooker, so all of the bouncing cocks and tits are gone from my mind as I run towards the skeleton.

   "The fuck you want?!" says the skooker when I enter her personal space.

   "Madame Hissandra sent me, she told me to talk to one of her skookers about a job."

   She sighs. "I can't do this right now. Come back tomorrow, we're extremely busy right now."

   "But . . ."

   "No, bitch." She holds out her hand and walks away.

   That was the only skooker I saw in the last half hour. That was my last chance to get a job. I don't even know if I'll have the courage to come back tomorrow.

   There's a semi-empty seating area close to me so I walk to it, defeated, with shoulders dramatically slouched, and I sit by myself on one of the red sofas.

   "Um, sir? I'm sorry, should I get rid of her?" There's a girl talking, and she's looking straight at me.

   "What?" I say, blinking at her stupidly. "Is there not enough room for everyone? How many sitting places do you guys want?" I ask the group of four people hogging the seven sofas, each having space for like five people each. I cross my arms over my chest and look the other way, completely ignoring them.

   The girl gets up like she's about to jump me, but one of the guys stops her. He's sitting across from me and I can't see him since the other two are between us, blocking him.

   "Leave us," he tells them.

   "What?" she says, a genuine shock on her face.

   "Leave, all three of you."

   "But sir."

   "Now."

   The three walk away, but they stay close enough to eavesdrop. Then it's just me and this mysterious man. I don't know how vaginas work, but I think it's doing more than speaking French when I take a good look at his face.

   This man is gorgeous. His hair is fancy, kind of old-fashion style, and it's pure black. His skin is smooth and if I dare say it, perfect. Everything about him, from his features, to his clothes, is immaculate. And he's fully human looking.

   We're just staring at each other now, and there's a slight smile on his lips as he watches back, but there's confidence in his eyes, while there's just confusion in mine.

   "What are you looking at?" I say, breaking the growing tension.

   "You."

   "Stare harder and I'll have to charge you."

   "What's your name?"

   "Sinn," I answer, deciding on the spot to split my name depending on what biology I'm currently using.

   "How new are you, Sinn?" he says, and I'm trying really hard not to be a little bitch, but his voice is heaven to my ears, and if I match it with his looks, I might start moaning if I don't control myself.

   "A day."

   "Ah, I see. How's your experience so far?"

   "Terrific."

   "It gets . . . well, it gets easier."

   "And what's your name?" I ask, ignoring his attempt to say 'Hell gets better'.

   "Nekro."

   "Nekro, can you please tell your high school clique to stop looking so intensely at my face? I can seriously feel holes burning into my skull."

   He looks back at them and they roll their eyes, walking away completely.

   "Sorry about my guards, they're just doing their job."

   "Guards?"

   "I don't really need them, but the company is nice."

   "I can tell you're dying to tell me who you are, so just get it over with."

   He looks flustered, which is fucking adorable and I don't want to continue fucking him in my head, so I turn my head and look at the orgy happening on the opposite side of this floor. There are monsters, with things, and holes, going out of places, and I . . . I decide to look back at Nekro.

   "I promise I'm not dying to boast."

   "Okay, who are you then? Why do you need guards."

   "He's the son of hell," says the same skooker from earlier. She offers Nekro a drink from her fancy plate and walks off once again.

   "Son of hell?"

   "It's the title I was given," he says, shrugging.

   "So . . . your dad is the king?"

   "That's right."

   "Oh, okay."

   I'm sitting in front of actual royalty? What the fuck is going on. Who is writing my story? Why did you have to make him so fucking hot?

   "I hope it doesn't intimidate you."

   "It doesn't, trust me. I have no idea what anything means, anyway, I just think it's nice to see someone who is completely human."

   "You like what I look like?"

   "It's . . . very nice."

   "I like it as well."

   I blink. "You say that as if it's an outfit you chose this morning."

   "I can change my appearance to whatever I want, but I've kept this one for a long time."

   He can do what I can do, sort of, except I don't really change my appearance to anything I want, my biology just changes, but it's still me.

   "How do you do it? Do you copy what other people look like?"

   "It helps seeing other humans, but I can look like whatever I want, as long as it's human."

   "Are you not human?"

   "The real me is . . . distracting."

   "How so?"

   "It's a little demonic."

   "After everything I've seen so far, a demon is the furthest thing from weird and distracting."

   He smiles at that and my heart does a little skip in my pussy that makes me giggle. This is totally not how a woman works and I know it. I must not fully be a woman. I am a hybrid of some sort mixed with stupidity and idiocy.

   "Do you want to get out of here?"

   "Are you trying to fuck me?" I ask, standing up as I see Krom step out of the portal and start marching towards me.

   "You don't want to?"

   "You're a fucking beautiful Asian man and I'd want nothing more than to have your royal demon cock sliding up places, but I think I'll have to postpone our fuck-date."

   I skip around the couch and accidentally moan as I walk past Nekro. I hop away faster and grab Krom's arm and pull him along with me until we jump into the portal.

   "What's wrong?" he says as we float through the clouds, not landing on a level just yet.

   "I just met the prince!" I say excitedly.

   "Nekro?"

   "Yeah!"

   "Oh."

   "Oh? Oh, what? Is he an asshole? Oh God . . . is he like, racist?"

   "No, no! He's actually nice, compared to the rest of his family."

   "Then what's wrong?"

   "I mean, you've seen him . . . he's irresistible."

   "Yeah, he's gorgeous. Pretty sure he just asked me to have sex with him, but I had to turn him down."

   "Why did you do that?"

   "Why did I turn him down? I don't think I'm ready to whore around just yet. There are a lot of things on my mind and I need a quiet place to think it over."

   "You want to go back to my place?" he asks. "It's usually quiet."

   "Yeah, that would be nice."

   Krom grabs me by the waist and we go back to the main floor. We shuffle through bodies until we manage to escape the club. There's a lot on my mind, and so many questions still float around, but for now I feel much better. Madame Hissandra isn't as intimidating as her name, she's quite nice and helpful, and not to mention I've now also met the actual prince of hell and I've only been here for a day or two, and they're all so nice! I think I'm definitely on the right path.

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Hope you enjoyed this chapter! If anything is every confusing, please let me know so I can edit it and make it more clear or easier to read. I really really really hope you're enjoying this book so far and continue to support it! Not sure when I'll upload the next chapter, I have to do some more editing and writing before I post more, but again it shouldn't be long! <3