The Blood Bracelets #3: Soul Scarred

Chapter Seven

Ace was immediately glad he chose not to let Eljae join him.

One side of the room was aglow with an effervescent blue, shed from the aquarium that ran the length of the wall at an impressive height of about three metres. It contained the usual paraphernalia an aquarium had, like little treasure chests and sunken ships and patches of billowing seaweed, as well as several exotic-looking fish. This was all relatively normal, if not slightly extravagant, but what made the aquarium incredibly abnormal was the woman swimming inside it, her hair like steel reflecting fire, and a dolphin-like tail in the exact same colour. She wore nothing on her top half, but her modesty was protected by silver scales that covered her chest.

Ace, led by his curiosity, approached the woman in the aquarium. She shirked away from him, her shoulder bumping the back of the aquarium, and her expression showed true fear. She wasn't some underwater performer as a part of the club's entertainment; no, she was on display.

There was a plaque on the edge of the aquarium, calling her the "mermaid of mortal fantasy" but, in reality, she was a half-breed.

'Beautiful, isn't she?'

Ace turned, finding an older man staring at the mermaid with appreciation. He was dressed in a fitted suit, like every other man in the room, and it reminded Ace that he was very out of place. He saw, however, on the man's lapel that the symbol of the golden cufflink was stitched in gold and red, with the words Club Limbus included in curling script.

'Ah, I should introduce myself,' the man said, turning to Ace as he held out his hand. 'My name is Lucius de Braiosa, I'm the president of Club Limbus. I don't seem to recall seeing you here before.'

'I—'

'Excuse me, sir!' a sudden exclamation cut Ace off, much to his relief. They both turned to see another man storm into the room, followed by the shocked doorman. 'Without a pin, you cannot enter the—'

'It's fine,' Lucius interjected, and the man who had forced his way into the room turned to the club president in both thanks and irritation. 'This is Tiberius, he is a well-respected member of Club Limbus.'

Tiberius, Ace realised, was the same man who Eljae had stolen the golden cufflink from. What was worse – Tiberius was an Immortal, or at least an exiled one. He had one amber eye and one green eye, as if his banishment hadn't completely changed his eyes like they had with Ace's, and Ace caught the blackened, burned flesh peeking out from above Tiberius' collar at his neck.

Lucius shooed the doorman back outside, and then guided Tiberius over to a circle of couches near a small stage that was set up at the front of the room. Ace took the opportunity to sweep his gaze across the other half-breeds.

There was another young woman suspended in a faint blue spotlight, frozen like a statue of a dancer performing a delicate leap. She had translucent wings though, veined in a multitude of colours, and her hair was braided right down her back. Some sort of half-breed fae, Ace assumed. He didn't know if she was unconscious and held up by some sort of magic, or awake but forced into that position.

The female patrons of Club Limbus were hovering around a half-breed in the corner of the room, stuck within a cage. The half-breed was male, and looked as if he had been carved of bronze with life breathed into him, while his eyes were a deep, smouldering orange like the heart of a volcano. Ace wasn't surprised the women were fawning over him.

The last half-breed made Ace's brow lift in shock, because the girl seemed about the same age as Eljae and had the exact same feline eyes. Though her hair was brown, her skin a darker shade than Eljae's, she was quite obviously a half-breed feraii. She had more cat-like features than Eljae did, with natural claws, pointed ears, and a tail that had a steel-tipped end like Eljae's own claws had when she unsheathed them.