“What is that?” I asked once I caught my breath.
“You remember how humans used to drink so much beer because it was safer than water? Well, you’ve seen the rivers here…”
“That tastes like liquid fire. How can you drink it?”
Grant shrugged and took a gulp of his own. He grimaced the way one might after their first shot but kept it down. “It’s not so bad after the first few gulps. They sort of burn off all the taste buds.”
Troy pushed his cup away. “Is it really a good idea to drink anything that has alcohol here? We aren’t exactly in friendly territory.”
Grant placed his hand, palm down, then flipped it over to reveal pills that hadn’t been there before. “We need to drink, and water is hard to come by, which is why all ours goes to the fragile one. Ambrosia, the drug added to this, can put an immortal or demon on their ass, but it’ll also kill anything dangerous in the liquid. Don’t worry, though. Just chew one of these and it’ll sober you up instantly.” He handed one to each of us, and I tucked mine in my pocket.
“You can just summon things?” I asked.
Grant took another drink before he shrugged. “Some things.”
“So why not summon fresh water? Or anything else that is way more useful than sobering up pills?”
“To get things, I have to know exactly where they are, and it doesn’t work across realms. That means I can’t do it between the living and dead worlds.”
“So how did you know where these were?”
“I said I’ve been here before. I have a stash of things here so I can have access to them when I need, including the currency we used to pay with.”
I frowned, thinking back to Troy and Kase’s fight. “You summoned popcorn once. Did you happen to know where it was, or do you have popcorn waiting and ready somewhere?”
“I may have a stash there as well.”
The picture of Grant making popcorn every day, so it was ready in case he needed it, struck me as incredibly funny.
He offered a smile when I couldn’t contain a laugh anymore, when I was struck by how absurd the situation was.
I was in hell because the devil wanted to have a chat with me, and to help me I had a vampire who found my blood gross, a werewolf with serious self-confidence issues, a mage who had a stash of stuff somewhere like an anxious squirrel, and some sort of smoke dragon who gave one hell of an orgasm.
I had not seen my life going like this, and if a fortune teller had tried to give me this reading, I’d have called her a hack and demanded a refund.
“Well, at least everyone is in a good mood.” Hunter pulled a chair over, then sat in it backward.
I caught my breath before trying for another drink of whatever it was Grant had ordered. He was right, though this time it didn’t burn nearly as bad, and I managed to actually swallow it.
“Any luck?” Kase asked.
Hunter nodded, then tossed pieces of twine onto the table. “Rooms for the night. I’d say it’ll be better than sleeping on the ground, but they often rent these things by the hour.”
“Let’s just be glad they don’t have black lights here,” Grant said.
I nodded at the twine. “What’s with the rope? Does the bondage come complimentary? Come for the rooms, stay for the rope play?”
“You telling me you want me to tie you up, shadow-girl?” Hunter picked one up and reached across the table to catch my wrist. He tied it on me, the feeling of his strong fingers against me enough to make me wonder if the rooms might give us a second, spider-free, shot at sex. “These are enchanted to get us into the rooms. Think of it like a keycard, hell-style. We have four rooms, and the sigil on the bead matches the one on the door of the room.”
I twisted the string on my wrist. “There isn’t a bead on mine.”
“That’s because you’re approved for all the rooms.”
The statement sounded nice until math caught up with me and fucked me like it always did. “That means I’m not getting my own room, doesn’t it?”
Hunter didn’t even try to look sorry. “It isn’t nearly safe enough for you to sleep alone, shadow-girl. You’ll bunk down with someone else.”
“And let me guess—you’re offering?”
Hunter offered one hell of a grin. “As much as I’d love to offer you up a spot in my bed, I have other, less pleasant obligations to deal with tonight.”
“Then why did you get a room?”
“Because I want it to look like I’m there.” He answered with such an obviously tone, I gave him a glare. So much for spider-free sex for him.
Nothing was obvious here. I didn’t understand the rules, and it made me realize maybe I’d fit in before better than I’d thought.
“So what happens tomorrow?” Troy asked.
Hunter pulled his gaze from me before he reached over and stole Grant’s drink. “We keep moving inward, toward the Court. After this stop, we’ll sleep on the road until we reach Styx. It’s the biggest city in hell and it surrounds the palace, like a large ring. Between Styx and Lucifer is a dead zone.”
I laughed at the term, which I knew wasn’t that funny, but it seemed whatever they’d gotten for me to drink was stronger than I’d realized.
Hunter kept going. “It isn’t much fun to cross, since its entire point is to keep all the shit stuck here in hell from accessing the palace. I’m hoping Lucifer has the bridge over it for us, since he should be expecting us, but you never know with him.”
“If he doesn’t, can we cross it?” Kase asked.
“Sure, but it won’t be much fun. We’ll want to be properly supplied.” At my look, he sighed. “That means weapons, shadow-girl. Think of the dead zone as a big moat,
