When Jackal arrived, the light was dimming to a sunset red, casting an apocalyptic shade over the furniture. From my bedroom, I heard Alek answer the door and the two of them engage in conversation. I stared at my reflection in the full-length mirror, proud of myself. The black wig ended just above my shoulders and grazed my collarbone. With the black dress and a pair of strappy heels, I could almost convince myself I was a regular teenage girl sneaking into a club.
Or in my case, a pub in Hell.
How different could they be, really?
When I exited my room, Jackal and Alek were standing just inside the door, smiling at something one of them had said. Alek was dressed in black dress pants with a dark navy untucked shirt. I hated to admit it, but he looked good. On the table beside him was a pile of his weapons.
Alek followed my gaze and shrugged. "Jackal doesn't allow weapons downstairs," he explained blandly, looking like he very much disagreed on the matter.
"You're coming?" I asked, failing to keep the surprise from my tone.
He quirked an eyebrow, challenging me. I took a deep breath and averted my gaze, refusing to acknowledge him any longer than required.
Jackal grinned, holding his hands out widely. "Sabrina, you look lovely. The dress fits perfectly," Jackal said.
"Thanks," I replied with a tight smile, feeling vaguely self-conscious. "It's nice to be in some clean clothes again."
"I'll get some of my maids to send up some more clothes to your apartment in the morning so you can take them on your...journey," he replied, glancing back at Alek.
"That would be amazing, thank you."
I expected Alek to break back into the conversation, but he remained silent, instead staring at the floor like it could bring forth some momentarily relief.
Jackal seemed to notice the tension between us, and cleared his throat.
"Well," he exclaimed, clapping his hands together and breaking the silence. "Let's head downstairs, shall we?"
I nodded eagerly, desperate to get away from this apartment and put as many distractions as possible between Alek and me.
Downstairs, the bar was even busier than the night before. Now that I was dressed in formal attire, I let myself blend in with my surroundings and soaked up the vibrant atmosphere – the normalcy. With no one watching me, I let loose some of the tension from my shoulders and smiled.
Jackal headed towards the bar, which to my disappointment, was surrounded by customers crying out for attention.
"It's packed," I voiced. The bar was so busy I couldn't even see the bartenders.
"Don't worry," Jackal said with an air of confidence. "You're with me. Besides, we have finer dining."
Curious by what he meant, I followed him past the bar towards a glossy black archway on the far side of the room. Two men in black suits stood at its entrance, in front of a line of guests waiting behind long, luxurious drapes. The guards seemed to be checking everyone's wrists as they entered, although I couldn't see any wristbands.
"Tattoos," Jackal explained. "For our special guests."
Soon enough, we were at the entrance of the archway and I could see small black crosses on the guests' wrists. I felt paranoid to be walking past the guards despite not having one, but they didn't give Alek or I a second glance once they saw we were with Jackal.
A waiter materialised in front of us, leading us past a dozen tables draped in smooth red fabric. At the centre of every table, a candle or two cast a soft, romantic light upon its company.
"Look up," Alek said softly, watching the roof.
I followed his gaze and saw that we were nestled under a sea of infinite glass chandeliers adorned with smaller candles. The light from the flames reflected on the glass and made the ceiling sparkle, reminiscent of stars in the night sky.
God, I missed Earth.
The waiter seated us in the most private table in the corner of the room, placing a lengthy menu in front of us. Before I knew it, red wine was being poured into our glasses, although I noted Alek pushing his away.
When I gave him a questioning look, he shrugged. "Like I said, I'm on business," he mumbled, taking cover behind the menu.
To hell with business, I thought, taking a sip of my own wine. I'd expected it to be bitter, but it was surprisingly sweet – and a lot more delicious than I'd expected.
After the waiter took our orders, I listened quietly as Alek and Jackal caught up on the latest news, naming people I didn't know. They tried to give me a brief rundown of who they were talking about, but I was mostly content on admiring the room's decorations and sipping on my wine.
When our food arrived, I was sure I was in heaven. The waiters placed the napkins on our laps and left us in peace. Glancing it Alek, I couldn't help but let out a laugh. It was amusing to see him in such a formal setting, having momentarily forgotten about our argument. Perhaps it was the wine, or the anticipation of good food, but I was in a much better mood.
Definitely the wine.
Jackal cleared his throat and began to slice through his food, lifting it to his lips with expensive cutlery.
"So, are you two going to tell me what has brought you to Greed City? Or are we just going to ignore how unusual and unexpected this is?" he asked.
I bit my lip, berating myself for not having come up with a backup story considering I'd had the entire day off to concoct one. Jackal was staring at me, waiting for me to answer. Luckily, I didn't need to.
Alek placed his knife and fork down, staring steadily into Jackal's eyes.
"Sabrina's from Sloth City and has worked as a servant for Aergia. She has some long-lost relatives in Lust City she needs to find and, of course, I was the perfect person to take her. Luck kind of just meant I happened to be there at the right time."
Jackal raised his glass in agreement.
"Paid well, I assume?" he teased, smiling at Alek over the rim of his glass.
"Very," Alek drawled, using his best acting skills. "Although her temper wasn't a part of our contract."
My jaw dropped and I whipped my head around to find Alek smiling brightly.
"And her snoring," he added with a smirk, eyes sparkling.
"Hey," I said, pinning him with a playful glare. "I don't snore that badly."
"Said every snorer. Ever."
We all laughed. I could feel Jackal's gaze on me as he took another sip of his drink. He was curious, I realised. He probably didn't see many women move from city to city.
"What was being a servant for Aergia like?" he asked, his gaze intense.
The wine had made its way to my head, making me feel light-headed. I pushed the glass away from me, knowing Jackal's questions caused for serious answers.
"It had its up and downs. Mostly downs, though." I tried to imagine how Raven would describe the job. Thinking of her was like reopening an old wound, almost knocking me from the feeling of bliss provided by the wine. "The guards and other servants were all very nice, but Aergia was a bit of a pain."
'A bit of a pain' was an understatement.
"Aergia's my father's friend," Jackal said bluntly, monitoring my reaction. "I've known her since I was born."
Oh. I sat there, frozen to my seat.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean–"
"–Don't be," he interrupted, leaning back into his seat with a nonchalant grin. "She's a bitch."
My eyebrows shot to the roof. As if to add to my surprise, the piece of food I'd had on the fork slipped and fell onto my plate.
"W-what?" I stuttered.
Jackal shrugged. "I don't mean to offend your old master, but over the past couple of years I've learned just how lazy and careless she can be. It's quite suiting to her title, really."
"How does your father know her?" I asked, picking up the offending piece of food and popping it back in my mouth.
"My father is Plutus," he said casually, picking at his food. "They have council meetings together all the time. Well, only when Aergia has the energy to make it."
I choked on my food, dropping my fork onto the table. A loud clang sounded as it hit my plate and the few tables around us stared in curiosity. My throat tingled and my eyes started to water.
"Se-Sabrina–" Alek started, poised to pounce if need be.
I held up a hand to wave him away, knowing I'd be fine. I took a sip of water and my choking receded. When I was sure I was out of the worst, I took a deep breath and tried to ignore the stares from our neighbours. Jackal was still slicing away at his food with his knife, completely unfazed by my choking incident.
"You're Plutus' son? The God of Greed?" I asked.
He nodded. "Born and bred. Without his guidance or fortune, I never would have been able to build the bar or hotel I have today. My empire is his."
My thoughts went back to Alek, how he'd known Jackal for years but hadn't thought to tell me this. Out of all people, he should have known how risky it would be for me to interact with anyone of demigod blood. I whipped around to demand a generalised answer, but he beat me to it, looking downcast.
"I was going to tell you this afternoon when I got back, but then..."
He didn't need to finish his sentence. But then we had that huge fight.
"Right," I mumbled, leaning back in my seat.
Alek's gaze was unwavering, and I knew that he believed we could trust Jackal. The difficulty was making myself trust him. It would take a leap of faith to do so, and I wasn't sure where Alek could be placed on the honesty scale, either.
"So that means Cleo is a demigod, too?" I asked.
Jackal nodded.
In my peripheral vision, Alek shifted forwards in his seat and leaned with his elbows on the table, having finished eating his food.
"Speaking of which, I need to know where Cleo has been hanging out lately," Alek said, back to business. "It looks like there was no sign of a struggle at her house, which leads me to believe the Aplistia has taken her. Did she have any enemies?"
Jackal rubbed a hand over his jaw, a weary expression on his face. "You know Cleo. She likes to do things on her own terms and damn the consequences. She could have a hundred enemies I don't know about."
"Have you heard any rumours about where their base could be?"
Jackal nodded. "Rumours say it's on the eastern side of Greed City, but I don't know its exact location. I'll get my men to do some research tonight and get back to you as soon as possible."
Jackal lifted two fingers in the air and a waiter appeared over his shoulder almost suddenly. The man leaned down far enough for Jackal to speak quietly into his ear, but not loudly enough for me to hear. When I glanced at Alek, he winked at me with a small smirk on his lips.
The guard disappeared. Soon later, Alek excused himself from the table, saying he wanted to do a perimeter check around the room. He promised me he'd be back soon and would keep an eye on our table, then darted off into the crowd, blending in with the multitude of waiters and guests.
Now that he was gone, I wished desperately that he would come back. I could feel Jackal's heavy gaze on me, one that wasn't entirely comfortable.
I tucked my hair behind my ear and then fiddled with the end of my dress under his scrutiny. "So, Alek said you lost to him in a bet and that's why you owed him a favour. What did he mean by that?"
Jackal looked a bit sheepish. "He says it was a bet, but it wasn't really."
"What do you mean?"
"The first and last time I saw Alek was when he spent a couple of months in Greed City after travelling here from abroad. He was a frequent visitor to my pub, but he wasn't in a good mindset at the time and so I took the chance to let him stay in one of my apartments."
I couldn't help but wonder what he meant by a poor mindset, but I was interested in where this story was going and so made a mental note to ask about it later.
"He and Cleo became–" Jackal searched for a word, "–close and she begged me to let him stay. My business had just started to take off and I was getting lots of bookings, so I told him that if he wanted to stay, he had to prove himself."
I learned forwards in my seat.
"One night I was locking up the bar when one of the Aplista walked in. The room was empty, but the man who had entered looked like trouble and said he knew who I was; knew that I was Plutus' son. He made it clear he wanted to hold me for ransom."
Jackal grimaced. "Just let me make it clear that I am by far not the strongest person in the Underworld, and this man certainly seemed like he was. He gave me a head injury and tied me in rope before I could even make it two steps."
"What happened?" I asked when he hesitated. "How did you escape?"
"Alek happened. He'd come in from a night out and had that damn crossbow of his on him. He told that man to freeze, but the bastard didn't take him seriously. Alek said he'd give him ten seconds to leave the bar and never come back, or he'd shoot."
"Did he leave?"
"Definitely not. But then Alek told him just how great his aim was and fired at him." Jackal laughed deeply at the memory.
"He was holding one of my bottles of wine at the time and Alek's arrow hit the bottom of it, smashing it to pieces. The bastard disappeared and never came back."
"Wow," I murmured, leaning back in my seat. Alek really was unstoppable.
"I know, Alek's lucky I have hardwood floors, otherwise I would've put him on clean-up duty for weeks."
I'd been sipping my wine subconsciously and placed it back on the table, now paranoid I would spill it.
"After then we became friends, and I kept challenging him to hitting targets. If his aim was true, I'd do a dare. If not, I'd make him do one." A sour look appeared on his face. "No matter how far I made him aim, he always won. This one time, he dared me to ask out this woman who'd been hanging around the bar often, so I did. I invited her over for dinner and then we went back to hers. We, well, you know..." he shot me a pointed look.
I rolled my eyes. "You can avoid the details. For both our sakes."
His eyes widened and he flinched. "Oh no, we didn't get that far, I wasn't wearing any clothes, though. Turns out the woman was crushing on the man who'd tied me in rope, and man was she pissed. I only had two options – let her knock me out with the club she was holding, or make a nuddy run for it through Greed City. I chose the latter and had to sprint back to the bar, all the while with strangers watching me. I was headed straight for my apartment when Alek appeared in front of me, telling me my dad was waiting for me upstairs."
I couldn't hold in my laugh and ended up clutching my stomach. "Oh God, Plutus saw you naked, didn't he?"
He snickered. "Luckily not, thanks to Alek, who swapped me for his clothes."
By the end of the story, we were both smiling from ear to ear.
The waiters came by and refilled our glasses, although I already knew I'd had enough to drink. Despite any of my previous concerns, Jackal was surprisingly easy to talk to and I could see why Alek was friends with him.
But my smile died down when I remembered what Jackal had first said about Alek.
"What did you mean when you said Alek wasn't in a good place?" I blurted, my curiosity winning out.
Jackal's smile vanished and he glanced around the room. "You'll have to ask him yourself. It's not my place to say." His tone was protective; guarded.
I shrunk inwards. "Sorry, I didn't mean to overstep," I said, glancing up at him nervously.
"You didn't, but I've known Alek for a while and that it takes a while for him to trust anyone." His eyes glinted with amusement. "Which is why I find it very intriguing that he would let you travel with him," he continued with curled lips.
I shrugged, self-conscious and not liking the change of conversation. Jackal was back to looking at me with narrowed eyes.
"While I may not be strong, I consider myself to be fairly intelligent," he continued, his voice slow; predatory. "I know how people work, what they want and how they think."
I looked around the restaurant, my breathing shallower and the room feeling a lot warmer. Jackal's change in tone was putting me on edge.
"It certainly helps being the son of Plutus," he added. "I'm privy to a lot of information, and it doesn't take much for me to put two and two together," he drawled, holding up a piece of meat to inspect it on his fork with an air of authority. His eyes zeroed in on me, darkening.
I looked around the room wildly, searching for Alek, and started to mumble an excuse to use the bathroom when Jackal's next words sent a shiver through me.
"Tell me, Serena, is Earth as grand as the rumours make it out to be?"