Page 68 of Demon Demands

“Why do they keep asking ya how much ye charge by the hour?” Palmer mused aloud.

The girls didn’t pay the assholes any attention as they trekked forward on their mission to locate Satan.

“I don’t understand why demons here in Hell think…” I groaned, tugging at my hair. “Please tell me you weren’t a sex worker before we met you.”

Hyde sighed wistfully, glancing at us over her shoulder as she bragged theatrically, “Lo was the most expensive broad on the block.”

Barbie propped her hand on the backside of her hip, hobbling along as she dreamily spun a backstory.

“Back in my day… a blow job was worth twelve precious gems, and a sex worker only got to keep three of them. Those pimps had nasty backhands when the girls didn’t offer all the services our customers wanted. I once had a demon pay me to lick between my t—”

Dolyn gagged. “Don’t finish that.”

“Are you drunk, Trouble?” Novak laughed as he turned to York and Jack. “Is she drunk?”

Grinning, Jack shook his head. “Not even close.”

“The year was 1902,” Barbie continued, tucking her arm in Hyde’s as they ignored the rest of us.

She waved her hand out in front of her, painting the picture from her warped imagination.

“And it was a bitter, cold winter. I’d broken a heel, standing right on this very street corner, when a dapper young demon strolled up with a cane in his hand.”

“Oh, was it Maverick? He was so charming in his youth,” Hyde gushed.

Vaughn quirked a brow, cocking his head to the right. “Are they always like this when they drink?”

“Yep,” Dolyn answered, popping the word out in amusement.

“It was,” Barbie simpered, “and he told me he’d pave all the roads in gold so that I never broke another heel, if only I’d let him rob me of my virtue. He was such a romantic.”

Hyde gasped. “What did you tell him, Lo? Of all the things to ask for from a proper lady, I never imagined he’d be so vulgar.”

“I told him that I was promised to another, my virtue wasn’t mine to barter with, but,” she paused to collect herself.

“But what?” Hyde urged, tugging at Barbie’s arm.

“But I’d give him a blowjob in the alley for twenty diamonds.”

Hyde snorted, struggling to stay in character. “What happened after that?”

“Well, his betrothed caught us, you see. She was so ashamed of his actions, thinking he must have forced his way on me. Such a regal gentleman being found with a hooker kneeling in front of him was newsworthy at the time.”

“And what did you do to get yourself out of that situation?” Dolyn questioned, rolling his eyes as Sloane acted like she was fainting.

“Why, I stole his waiting lady’s virtue, of course.” She dismissed him with a flick of her fingers. “I fainted, and she took me to her home, where I showed her the finer side of the forbidden fruit. Taught her to eat the apples correctly.”

Waggling her brows, she dropped her charade, all business at the end. “And then I put her on that same corner, working the crowds for twenty-two gems a blowjob, but I let her keep six.”

Leaning their heads together, Sloane and Hyde cackled manically.

“Made a ton of money off that one, didn’t you?” Hyde wheezed through her laughter.

I groaned, scrubbing my hand through my beard. “That was an awful story.”

Grim chuckled. “They get worse.”

“Sometimes they’re better,” Jack acknowledged, bouncing his head left and right before calling out, “Five out of ten. You would have scored higher if you’d have told a more modern story and not coerced the lady into cheating.”