Chapter 8 Dark Domain #2
I didn’t know what had stabbed me, but it was thankfully gone a second later.
However, it wouldn’t yet release me. Not until it had gotten its precious blood.
Blood that I could feel dripping down onto the stone beneath my hand, filling the handprint.
Seconds later, it must have had enough, as it finally released me, making me yank my hand out quickly.
“Fuck, that hurt,” I complained, now cradling my injured hand and seeing the mark that had been left behind.
It was a strange symbol, making me realize two things. The first being that, thankfully, the cut wasn’t that deep. And the second, it hadn’t been a single point to stab me, but instead something shaped had cut me, so it now looked as if it had just branded me.
Of course, I ended up ignoring this when the stone niche and the surrounding wall suddenly started to move, now opening up to reveal a doorway, making Bo gasp.
“It… it… accepted your blood,” he gasped, as if half hoping that it wouldn’t.
I decided to ignore that part, focusing on the flames that suddenly ignited to life as if someone had just flipped a switch. Hundreds of old-fashioned lanterns hung above us, their flickering light guiding us into a hexagon-shaped lobby of sorts.
One I was now bleeding on, so I yanked a couple of tissues out of my bag and then used a scrunchy hair tie to hold them in place. I knew what I really needed was a bandage and maybe a tetanus shot, seeing as I didn’t know how many people had been stabbed by that thing before me.
As for my new surroundings, the floor had changed to black-and-gray checkered tiles, with a deep burgundy-red carpet down the middle, leading toward a pair of tall, double mahogany doors.
Doors, that, like in my vision, held decorative panels.
Only this time, it looked as if thousands of tiny souls at the bottom were all reaching up to the top panels, where there was a carving of a demonic figure sat upon a throne.
A figure just like the one I had seen before.
He looked like a demonic king, casting judgment with his arms spread out wide.
But then the image started to split open, and those arms separated until they were out of view as the doors opened, making me gasp at the sight beyond.
It was unlike anything I had ever seen before, and I didn’t know whether to step inside or just stay rooted to the spot, staring at the place.
“We shouldn’t fucking be here,” Bo muttered, and I had to say, his fearful tone didn’t exactly inspire me to continue.
But in the end, I knew that I had no choice, as we had come this far, and I wasn’t giving up my blood for nothing. So, ignoring Bo’s uneasiness, I took my first steps inside, looking around in awe as the place opened up before us.
The room was huge and far bigger than I would have believed capable of fitting inside the old brick building I had seen from the outside.
The ceilings rose four floors high, and the whole place reminded me of a demonic church.
Its walls were all made from black stone that looked porous, like it was built from millions of fist-sized basalt blocks, all cemented together.
The only break in this unusual style was the large black igneous rock that had been carved into giant pillars, as if they had been made out of much bigger pieces found at the bottom of some now dormant volcano.
These pillars were situated around the room like featureless sentinels standing guard.
Each clearly supported the higher levels that I could see, thanks to the wrap-around balconies that framed the main floor of the club.
Of course, I could see people up there, so I knew there must have been a staircase of sorts, but as for where one was, I had no clue.
But stranger still was what separated the upper levels from the one I now stood on.
A sinister decoration of hundreds of antlers that looked more demonic in nature.
Each entwined with gnarled, dead tree branches that twisted between the pale bone of skulls and spiked horns.
It actually made the room look more like some sinister entity had taken over pieces of it, and I half expected to see it start to slither down the walls.
The holy influence came into focus along one side of the room, where an enormous black church organ stood in stark contrast to its pipes, bright white and towering like oversized pillar candles set into the dark, carved frame.
They climbed toward a domed glass ceiling that revealed the depth of the night beyond, more reminiscent of a Victorian greenhouse than any sacred hall.
And in keeping with this aged theme, gothic candelabras hung down from their metal frames like giant glass diamonds were caught within a cage of twisted black spikes.
A yellow glow beamed out of them like a kaleidoscope of light.
They hung from the ceiling in central lines and ran down the middle of the room, leading to another pair of doors directly in front of me.
“I wonder what’s in there?” I questioned as I walked inside and decided to try to mingle in by taking a seat at one of the free tables.
However, the second I turned to face Bo, after having received no response, I sucked back a worried breath as he had disappeared.
I started looking around frantically, hoping to catch sight of him somewhere… but he was gone.
I wondered briefly if he had gone to try to find someone with information on where we may locate this Wyedari Oblivion. But then I doubted that, as it was more likely that he had left me altogether. It was obvious he was afraid of what might happen to him within these walls.
I shifted my focus back to the main floor, which was split into several sections.
A bar sat beneath the left-hand side tucked under the balcony.
It looked capable of serving hundreds of different drinks, with endless rows of bottles in every imaginable shape, size, and color.
None of which carried a single recognizable label.
This section contained most of the seating, where gothic high-backed chairs with spindled frames gleamed in high-gloss black, their deep burgundy leather seats adding a rich contrast. The surrounding tables were crafted from dark, polished wood, supported by wrought-iron legs that ended with demonic, clawed feet.
Along the wall dominated by the gothic organ, the space softened into a lounge of sorts, filled with black leather Chesterfield sofas and narrow side tables.
Each table held a teardrop-shaped wooden surface, little more than a resting place for drinks and a black-and-red Tiffany lamp, its hanging beads forming rows of crimson tears caught in mid-fall.
Now as for the club’s occupants, it had to be said that most of these looked quite normal.
Or at least, they did to a girl who grew up being dragged to witches’ conventions and parties that included a wide array of characters.
People that all believed in the supernatural, as well as looking part of the same cult.
Which meant that I didn’t bat an eyelid at the gothic attire, nor did it faze me to see so many people dressed as if they had just been to a medieval ball or walked straight out of a Renaissance fair.
Shit, it looked more like some fantasy movie set than an actual place for people to come that practiced magic.
However, the moment an actual, real-life demon walked past me, I swear to the Moon Goddess, I was close to crapping my pants! I actually squeaked, and I had no idea I could even make that sound or where it had come from.
Fear, Eliza, that’s where it had fucking come from!
I quickly scurried back in my seat, but the second it tipped back to the floor and made a loud enough bang, I knew my hopes of lying low and fitting in were well and truly over. Especially when the demon stopped walking and turned his head, now sniffing at the air.
He looked half-animal, half-man, with demonic elements thrown in for good measure.
First, the being was huge, with the rust-red cloak he wore only managing to make his form appear bigger.
Two horns peeked out beyond the hood he wore, covering the back of his head, and these were thick and jagged around the bottom.
The tips, however, looked almost worn away, making them blunt and rounded.
As for his face, which was by far the most disturbing aspect of him, it held nothing but threat and lethal malice.
His burning orange eyes were set unnervingly deep into his skull, swallowed by shadow, while the absence of eyebrows left only heavy waves of wrinkles that deepened as he snarled in my direction.
Those same creases gathered at the bridge of his nose as he scented the air, sniffing like a wild beast tracking prey through a forest. His upper lip peeled back completely, exposing long, deadly fangs, saliva coating them before dripping thickly onto his lower lip.
“Human flesh,” he snarled, making me squeak once more… as clearly, squeaking was my thing now.
Then he found what he had been looking for, facing me head-on and telling me without words what was coming next. I quickly scrambled to my feet, and before he could lunge for me, I ducked out of his reach and ran through the chairs and tables.
“Excuse me! Coming through… don’t mind me…
just being chased by a pissed off demon…
fuck my life!” I said all of this as I snaked my way through the busiest section, banging into the backs of chairs as I went by.
I didn’t really know where I was going, but I knew my options at this point were certainly limited.
“Erh… security! Is there any security in here? SECURITY!” I shouted this time in hopes that someone would take pity on me and rush to my aid. However, after seeing most people’s reaction was to just start laughing, I did the only thing I could think left to do.
I ran for the double doors directly ahead.