A heavy-sounding door creaked. Raya stumbled over the threshold. The door closed behind her and muffled the sounds of the street.
“Stairs,” said Phoenix.
“You have to be kidding.” She reached her foot out and bumped a stair.
“One foot in front of the other.”
She took a hesitant step. “Is this where I get murdered?”
“Now would be a good time to practice rule three.”
They made it up the stairs. Another door creaked open, allowing the sounds of clinking glass and laughter to filter out to the landing where they stood. They crossed a second threshold and the room, whatever it was, fell completely silent.
Phoenix removed the blindfold. “Remember the rules,” he whispered.
Raya opened her eyes.
Demons.
Demons everywhere.
Some had tiny, delicate horns protruding from their heads. Others displayed massive feathered wings in a range of colors. Most were human-like demons with the appearance of male, female, or non-binary gender, but a few demons chose to look more traditionally demonic than human.
One demon looked like a combination of every nightmarish demonic trait humans had ever imagined: fangs, yellow eyes, ram’s horns, and muscles like oversized ropes.
All of them stared at her without speaking.
Raya’s mouth went dry.
Phoenix’s wings, the color of red velvet cake, unfurled behind him with a sound like two umbrellas opening. “Just play it cool.” He took her arm and led her toward the marble-topped bar.
The largest and scariest-looking demon blocked their path and addressed Phoenix with a rumbling growl. “Who said you could bring one of them here?”
“Back off, George,” said Phoenix. “Cosmo says it’s okay. Isn’t that right, Cosmo?”
A petite demon in a midriff-baring top and a tiny pair of shorts leaned over the bar. “That’s right. You got a problem with that, George?”
George hunched, making himself look smaller. “No problem, Cosmo.”
“Why don’t you buy the lady a drink and make up for your rudeness?” Her blunt-cut bob swayed as she tilted her head.
He shambled over to the bar and laid down some ancient-looking coins. “Pardon me, miss,” he said to Raya.
“No problem,” croaked Raya, before remembering she wasn’t supposed to speak and clapping a hand over her mouth.
Cosmo glanced at her and began polishing a glass. “I bet he gave you a whole speech before he brought you here.”
Raya, unsure of whether to respond, looked back and forth between Phoenix and Cosmo.
“Let me guess,” Cosmo said, setting the glass down. “Don’t talk, don’t move, don’t even breathe unless he says so.”
“Cosmo—”
“Shut up, Phoenix.”
Raya liked Cosmo more every second.
“He thinks he’s so funny, scaring the daylights out of people. Like we’re going to eat you.” She poured a small amount of emerald-green liquid into two glasses and topped each one with a slotted spoon and a sugar cube.
