Prisoner

Chapter Twenty-Five

"Try to be friendly," Six chided me, making me roll my eyes, "They're good people, Four. If it wasn't for them, we'd probably still be stuck with the Mother." I didn't say anything to that. I didn't know what to say considering I mostly thanked Bait this whole time for keeping me alive.

"They came for us?" I asked. Six glanced at Three, who raised an eyebrow at him. Six cleared his throat and looked at me, giving me a firm nod. I frowned and glanced back over at Hadrian, who was frowning at his phone for a moment, then blinked and looked up to meet my stare. I stared back at him for the longest time before he smiled faintly and gave me a little wave before he pocketed his phone and approached.

"They said they'll meet us for drinks at the restaurant," Hadrian said, "That gives us about two hours to shop around."

"Cool," Three said, chewing on the stick that was leftover from his treat, "So where to first?"

"The mall is a couple blocks away," Six said, looking at his pamphlet again, "We could hit some shops there, then make our way down main street until we get to the restaurant, cuz it's right here, right?" He leaned over to Hadrian, who nodded.

"That sounds like a good plan," he agreed. I glanced at them as they chatted about which shop to go to first, then went back to sightseeing.

Inferi was cool during the day in the sunlight. I had only ever seen it dark and rainy. Even though it was still rainy, at least it was sunny now. All the buildings were kind of neat, a combination of new and old. Some had creeping vines up the discolored bricks, others were sleek and modern with tinted windows and neon signs. We passed a fuck ton of restaurants with all kinds of smells, all kinds of foods, and I had never thought there could be so many different kinds of food.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing at a little kiosk where a male demon was passing out some kind of finger food.

"It's dragon meat," Six said, making me look at him in surprise, "Don't worry, they're a special type of dragon that's been domesticated and used for food for centuries. It's not like a dragon shifter or anything. In fact, dragon shifters really like the winky dragon meat."

"Winky dragon meat?" I asked. Six nodded.

"The main breed of dragon meat comes from the winky dragon. They're tiny dragons, about the size of a rabbit, and tend to come in red, gray, and black. Their meat is really tender and perfect for street food dishes, like pulled sandwiches and tacos."

"I have no idea what any of that shit is," I deadpanned. Six rolled his eyes, then came forward to take a couple toothpicks from the guy, spearing small balls of meat coated in some kind of sauce. He handed me one and took it hesitantly as Six gave one to Three, who also eyed it warily. Hadrian took his and popped it in his mouth without hesitation and gave a nod.

"Very good. I like the sauce on it. It's sweet and spicy," he said, licking his lips, then pulling out a compact mirror to double check his lipgloss. I looked down at the meat on the stick. It looked pretty good and it smelled even better. I glanced at Six, who was encouraging Three to take a bite, even though Three was making faces and whining. I rolled my eyes and stuck the meat in my mouth, tearing it off the toothpick, which I tossed in the little bin by the kiosk.

Immediately I had to stop everything I was doing to focus on what the hell was going on in my mouth. The meat was absolutely amazing. Sweet and juicy and tender, so it practically melted in my mouth and the sauce was so sweet and spicy and salty. It was so many good things rolled into one.

"That's so fucking good," I managed, looking at Six, who beamed proudly. Three glared at him, then at me, then groaned and stuck it in his mouth. He chewed a few times, then shook his head.