Chapter 2 #2
I grabbed a duffel bag and shoved in the few clothes I owned—stored in the entertainment unit since I didn’t have my own room—my phone charger, and a selection of wares from the kitchen counter.
Just because I wasn’t going to sell them didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy them.
I’d just have to stay out of my dad’s way for… ever.
It’d be worth it. Fuck knows I didn’t have anything else in my life to enjoy.
* * *
Onslaught was on one of Milton’s worst streets, tucked between a Daimon-owned liquor store and a human-owned barbershop.
The sign above the pulled up roller door was falling off, and the whole place had a general air of desperation about it.
It was exactly the kind of establishment where people went to forget about their lives for a while.
“Riot, you shifty little fucker, you know you’re not allowed in here,” Crow groaned, crossing his tattooed arms over his chest as he guarded the entry to the shittiest club in Milton like it was a fucking Ritz-Carlton.
Except instead of a fancy suit, Onslaught’s bouncer wore a tight buckled up leather vest over a too-small black t-shirt, both of which he’d probably owned since the late ‘80s. Crow’s head was completely shaved, but the gray in his beard gave away his age.
I still wouldn’t want to take him on in a fight, though.
Daimons from the Keres line were not to be fucked with, even if they were old enough to remember the days before TV was in color.
“Looks like you could use the business,” I replied mildly, looking past him at the half empty bar.
Goddess, it really was a dump. The walls were covered in peeling posters and graffiti, barely visible under the dim overhanging lights, and none of the furniture matched.
Basically the only things it had going for it were some decent tunes and a pool table.
“Fuck off,” Crow groused without much heat. “You’re more interested in pushing your own business .”
I raised an eyebrow at him, because Crow had definitely bought from me before.
Daimons only got the highs from drug use, not the lows.
It was the goddess’ way of making it look more appealing to the regular humans she despised, who had no such tolerance.
They didn’t know we weren’t human, they just saw cool-as-fuck people like me getting high and making it look easy.
“Come on, man. You know I don’t make the rules,” he muttered, looking a little sheepish. “I bet if I looked in that duffel bag—not shady at all by the way, bringing that on a night out—that I’d find shit. Wild cares about keeping his establishments above board.”
“No one is coming to investigate this place,” I scoffed. “And anything I have is for personal use. I’m a good boy these days.”
“You’ve never been a good boy a day in your life,” Crow chuckled, not sounding concerned in the least about that.
He looked like he wanted to let me in, but Wild had a way of inspiring loyalty among his staff, so I wasn’t surprised when he didn’t move for me to pass.
I leaned back against the graffitied brick wall next to him, all my worldly possessions slung over my shoulder and crossed my arms, making myself comfortable.
It wasn’t like I had anywhere else to be, and I enjoyed a challenge.
“You’re a pain in the ass, Riot,” Crow groaned, though he was grinning at me.
“You enjoy the company,” I replied with a smirk.
Crow was from the Keres line, like Wild and most of his staff.
They liked violence and destruction. For centuries, their kind had been on the front lines of battlefields, stirring up bloodlust. It must have been boring as fuck being a bouncer most of the time.
“I heard your old man is pissed at you,” he remarked, pulling out a cigarette and patting down his pockets.
“Here,” I offered, pulling out my copper lighter and flicking it to life. “Yeah, he’s not my biggest fan. How’d you hear that?”
“You hear a lot standing here all fucking night,” Crow replied with a shrug before taking a long drag of his cigarette. “Your old man has a big mouth and a bad temper.”
And wasn’t that the truth? Dad was just as inclined to sample the merchandise as I was, and he got chatty when he was high.
“Heyyyyyyy.”
I glanced disinterestedly at the trashed redheaded woman who stumbled up next to me, accompanied by Buck, a younger daimon I didn’t have much to do with. The human woman was totally wasted and reeked of booze, but I knew that wasn’t her poison of choice.
That was the curse of the Moros. We felt doom . We knew just what it would take to send a human down a spiral they couldn’t return from. It was like a dark whisper in my mind that I couldn’t ignore.
“What’s your name? My name is Rae,” she continued, oblivious to my silence and Buck’s grunt of irritation that she was talking to us. “This is my friend, Buck.”
The kid gave us a smug grin while Crow glared at him.
I doubted he was having the same moral crisis as I was, but she did look about five minutes away from vomiting over whoever was in her general vicinity.
I was pretty sure Wild, and therefore Crow, didn’t like those sorts in his glowing establishments either.
“Oh my god, I love your tattoos. You’re so pretty,” she continued, running her hand down my arm in what was possibly meant to be a seductive way. “You should party with us. Buck has some treats to really get things going.”
Fuck my life.
It was fucking twisted that the goddess gave me this ability to sense weakness, encouraged me to exploit it, but also gave me a guilt complex about it.
I could walk away. She wasn’t my responsibility, I didn’t know her.
I fucking couldn’t though. If I left her with Buck, he’d give her the pills she was so desperately craving and she’d be dead before midnight.
My dad never felt guilty about the lives he destroyed. No other daimon seemed to either. It was a curse unique to me.
“My name is Riot. Wanna come chill with me for a bit?” I asked in a low voice, leaning in to speak right in her ear. “We can catch up with Buck later, yeah?”
“Really?” Rae asked excitedly, stumbling against me. One wandering hand moved up to my chest, fondling my pecs through my shirt.
“For sure.” Just saving your life here, handsy lady. You’re fucking welcome.
“Fuck you, Riot,” Buck muttered as I wrapped an arm around the sickly woman’s shoulders and pulled her away from Onslaught.
I rolled my eyes as Crow chuckled at Buck’s misery.
I was sure the kid would find someone else from the meager pickings inside Onslaught.
Humans came to us, whether we wanted them or not.
Impatiently, I led Rae across the street to a grassy lot in the shadows, picking through the empty bottles and trash that covered the ground.
Anyone who’d seen me lead her in here would think we were hooking up, which was a pretty solid cover.
“What do you want to do?” Rae asked in a husky voice, groping my biceps while running her hazel eyes down my body and stopping at my belt.
Not that.
“I want you to call a friend to pick you up,” I replied flatly, extricating myself from her grip. “I’m going to wait here with you until you do.”
“What? Why?” she asked, blinking in confusion. “Do you not have a condom? It’s cool, I’m clean.”
Hard pass . Even if that was true, I wasn’t interested in either her, or potentially creating little Riots. No fucking thank you.
“You’re wasted, you need to sleep it off.”
“Fuck you, dude. I’m going back to see Buck,” she muttered petulantly, turning to leave.
“He was going to sell you fake pills,” I lied, smoothly stepping in front of her. “You’re done for the night. Call a friend.”
“You’re no fun.” She pouted at me for a moment, looking up at me with puppy dog eyes like she thought I might change my mind before sighing dramatically and pulling an old phone out of her jeans pocket.
Were those... buttons ? Did they still make phones with buttons?
Rae stared at me sulkily as she aggressively stabbed the buttons and cocked her hip while the phone rang, looking put out the entire time. Honestly, I had no idea why I bothered helping people when they were such assholes about it. Probably because it made me hate myself one percent less.
Now I just needed to wait for her poor friend to come get her so she could spew in their car and I could go back to annoying Crow.
Once I was comfortably inside the walls of Milton’s worst club and out of my dad’s reach, I could lose myself to oblivion and forget about everything else for a few hours before crashing on Dare’s couch like the leech I was.
At least I’d ruined Buck’s night. That was a nice bonus.