Chapter 8 Singularity #2
Plin stopped her with a raised hand. Ever since their hours-long trip, he had been needling her with asinine questions; he was determined to get a rise out of her, but this time, he was serious. "I know I’m just the pilot, but if you need backup for the Rogue, let me know."
"I’ll be okay," she repeated, and the coolness to her tone made him give a jerky nod.
"Alright, then, Blackfall." With that, the pilot ambled down the dim hall of the hotel to the sleek elevator door wrapped in black-tinted glass.
Rin shut the door with a sigh, head falling on it.
Just for tonight, she needed to vanish—into neon, into noise, into nothing.
In a place where she could be blissfully ignored.
This had been a bad idea.
The streets were crowded, sweet-smelling smoke drifting from immaculate alleys and oozing from under doors, filling the whole block with shades of purple and blue. It clung to her black silk dress, dulling its pitch-dark singularity.
The hem stopped at her upper thigh. Ever the Hunter—even if still a trainee—she’d tucked a holster against her right thigh, her Echogun snug inside. The weight comforted her.
Sibeth was relatively safe, so long as you stayed far away from the gambling dens and didn’t speak out of turn about the King. There was a law that protected traveling humans from being fed against their will by succubi or incubi. But laws were just words.
"Pretty human, look at you," a tall succubus with flame-red hair and purple eyes purred as she leaned against a metallic black pole. This side of the street was cast in deep, flashing shadows, as overhead, a train screamed past on the floating rails. By the succubus’s side was an incubus with hair dyed a deep green, spiky edges tickling his angular chin as his purple eyes drank Rin in.
"It’s been a while since I fed from a human. I say five minutes tops until I make you forget your name," the green-haired incubus purred.
Rin kept walking, dull shock pounding in her chest. She had taken her medication before she left, so the clamminess in her palms was from…
excitement? She wasn’t sure. All she knew was that it felt wonderful to be on a whole other planet, with no one there to care about her and everyone wanting a piece of her.
On Sibeth, everyone wanted something from someone else.
You would think that would be stifling, but it was freeing.
To be desired so much that you could be replaced so easily.
The fire-haired succubus tutted as Rin walked past, her voice growing distant the further she walked. "Not interested, then. That’s a shame, pretty girl. Come back if you want a taste."
The pair was long forgotten among the throng of others. Propositions were thrown at her as if the words were worthless. Or as if she were worth every price demanded.
She wasn’t sure what she was searching for. Every club was the same. Pulsing, flickering lights, glittering signs, and lines wrapping down the dark streets.
She spotted the occasional human stumble about, drinks in hand, hanging off the arm of some succubi or incubi.
Her bare arms prickled with chill as a club door opened in a waft of frozen, icy smoke, revealing the thud of music and red, flashing lights within, before the double doors slammed shut again.
On the street, amid the crowd, bodies bumping into hers, Rin paused, head tipping back to look at the sign.
Forget You Not.
The twisted callback to the flowers Lucien had pressed into her palms drew her attention with a force unable to be denied.
The double doors of Forget You Not loomed like a mouth waiting to swallow her whole. A lone bouncer was perched against the side of the club, leaning against the black cement wall, one leg propped behind him as he took a deep drag of some drug that made her eyes water.
There was no line. She wasn’t sure if that should drive her away or propel her forward.
Something about this place felt electric and cold, like shocks of ice water poured over her head.
She stepped toward the doors.
The bouncer mumbled around the rolled-up stick in his mouth, purple eyes falling from her red-painted toes peeking from her heels, to the tips of her white hair, the pulsing lights catching in the stray hairs around her head, giving her a strange halo.
"How much for entry?" Rin asked, hoping it would be a price she could pay.
The bouncer smirked. "No price here."
She hid her surprise. The clubs on Sibeth were notorious for asking for strange things instead of money for entry. A wish, a kiss, a treasured item, a buried secret. Incubi and succubi lived off sex, but if pleasure was their main course, other emotions were light snacks.
Perhaps if she had been paying better attention, she would have noticed the flickering, man-shaped shadow along the wall. Too different a shape to be from the incubus before her.
The bouncer stepped to the side, waving a hand to the doors. "Have fun, human. Don’t let time get away from you."
With those foreboding words, Rin placed her hands on the doors and entered Forget You Not.
Cold fog wrapped around Rin’s body, icy vapors curling low over the floors and seeping upward along the walls.
The inside of Forget You Not was encased in black metal, reflecting the pulsing lights.
The far wall was made entirely of glass, and behind it, fire licked up the sides, taunting the inhabitants with the idea of being burned alive, while the frigid smoke nipped at their heels like hungry little teeth.
The air stung her lungs with every inhale, and each exhale puffed before her.
The lights were red and blue. Fire and ice.
Bodies were packed so tightly inside she felt others’ heartbeats thrum inside her very bones, echoed by the thick, heavy pulse of music. It vibrated through invisible speakers, each electronic crescendo mirrored by synced lights.
And Rin was lost.
In the crush of strangers, she disappeared, just as she wanted.
The music was so loud, she forgot about grief and was able to exist in the moment.
She drifted to the bar. The sleek glass countertop held raging fire within it, but as she rested her arms on the counter, she did not feel warmth. A body jostled her back, pushing her further into the counter, digging into her stomach.
The bartender—a tall, muscular incubus with short hair—called out, "What will the human be having? Something sweet… or spicy?" As he spoke, he poured a thin stream of yellow-gold liquid into a glass cup with chunks of ice.
"Something strong," Rin said, raising her voice to be heard. "I want to forget."
The bartender laughed. "Then you’ve come to the right place."
His hands expertly moved along the collection of bottles, mixing up a shot of something green and thick. It slid across the fiery counters and came to a jiggling stop before her. She poked the side, watching the thick liquid within slosh.
"You drink it all at once."
Rin glanced up to an incubus sitting one chair down from her. He gestured to the shot. "It burns like a motherfucker, but if you want to not feel or feel too much, it’s perfect." The incubus’s voice was sultry, and his purple eyes dipped with appreciation toward her chest.
"Thanks," Rin mumbled, lifting the glass and tipping it back before she could think twice. It was like jello, thick and sweet, slightly sour, burning all the way to her stomach. No hint of alcohol. That made it dangerous.
She placed the empty glass down with a soft clatter, finding the incubus still staring at her.
He licked his lips. "Want to dance? I promise I can make it worth your time."
The feel of his eyes on her skin was not unwelcome, but still uncomfortable. She stood, feeling her limbs loosen from the shot. "I dance better alone."
And Rin disappeared into the crowd.
The music made her bones rattle inside her skin, and she found the press of bodies and ice-like temperature enticing.
She danced, she forgot, and most importantly, she lost herself.
The sweat that dripped down her spine was cooled by the icy fog before it even began; her body was warm from what she had drunk. Incubi and succubi pressed into her, hands searching, but she shrugged them off, dancing away, letting the dreamy haze of Forget You Not blur her every thought.
Until—
"Ves…"
The soft sound barely reached her. Her white hair whipped around her face as she turned, searching for the sound of her name. Or had it been? Was she hallucinating?
Hands shot upward all around her as bodies jumped along with the music. Through the gaps, she caught a flicker of red hair catching in flashing lights and a pair of purple eyes that seemed to glow against pale skin. Gems glittered around sharp cheekbones, catching every pulse of crimson light.
And those eyes… They were fixed on her.
Her arm was still raised, lost in the beat. Slowly, she let it fall, ripped from reverie, as she watched the stranger.
"Ves." His voice carried to her, even over the beat of music.
Bodies danced between them, and she moved her head, trying to find a glimpse of him, unobscured.
The stranger took a step forward, flashing red lights catching on the sparkling gems on his cheekbones.
His lashes were thick and dark, too pretty to be natural.
His lips glistened red. A glittering body chain was draped over his chest, his black silken shirt unbuttoned completely.
In one hand, he held a glass of purple liquid, dark smoke curling over the top and seeping along the back of his hand.
He was staring at her like he knew her.
"Ves, you’re here." The music was loud and disjointed, falling into a hypnotic beat, but his eyes sparkled like the gems on his cheeks. The sound of his voice twisted through her chest, sharp and familiar in a way that made no sense.
Rin shook her head softly. "Who are you?"