Page 66 of Hades' Shadow
Raven and I share a glance and shrug simultaneously even as Adrian tries to hide his smile. He knows something. That damned seer always knows something the rest of us don’t.
This time, I’m not so sure I want to know.
We follow Jayden into the only building that isn’t completely destroyed. The bright neon lights are the only light in the darkness of the street.
Another woman in nothing but underwear bumps into me as she runs away screaming. There’s a group of demons chasing her but when I stop, indecision warring within me, Jayden makes the choice for me, grabbing my hand and pulling me forward.
“We can’t help them right now,” he says softly, pulling me along behind him to the brightly lit club.
The neon sign above the building says Narcissus’ Playhouse and I groan at the dumb name of the man who could only look at his reflection.
“This place better not be full of mirrors,” I grumble.
Jayden chuckles, shaking his head, and I’m not sure whether he is saying no, it’s not or if his head shake means that it is and he can’t believe it either. This is going to be an experience.
Raven grumbles beside me, “That’s just great.”
Jayden opens the door for us, and the first thing I see is a giant mirror standing in the lobby and roll my eyes.
“Lucky guess.” I groan, peering around at the chaos. “The inside did not fare as well as the outside, I guess.”
Tables are overturned and my boots squelch across the sticky tiled floor. Raven raises her eyebrows at me as we continue through the space.
“Do I want to know why the floor is sticky?” She shudders.
“Eww, that didn’t even cross my mind. Remind me to burn these boots when we get back,” I say on a groan.
“It’s red, Raven.” Jayden frowns. “It’s probably some kind of cocktail that got spilled.”
“Well, we are in a strip club,” Raven huffs.
“Have you ever been to a strip club?” he asks, and Raven shakes her head. “Okay then, weird shit like that doesn’t happen in strip clubs. It’s illegal.”
The farther into the club we get, the worse the destruction. There are shouts from the back and a stripper pole that looks like it was used as a javelin to kill a human woman who’s lying on the ground with the pole sticking out of her chest.
“What the fuck? How is the inside so trashed but the outside still looks open for business?” I ask, stepping over a broken chair leg and tripping into Jayden’s broad back.
My hands reach out to steady myself and land on hot skin. His muscles bunch beneath my hands and I internally groan at how good it feels.
This is so not the time.
“Sorry,” I say, moving my hands reluctantly, and he turns his head, winking at me.
“You can grope me anytime you want, Beth,” he says softly.
My cheeks heat and a blush stains my cheeks when I peer into the mirror. “I wasn’t groping you. I tripped.”
“Whatever you say but the invitation is still open.” He shrugs.
What the hell has gotten into him? Just this morning he would barely talk to me and now he’s flirting with me? Is this about the vision that Adrian had but didn’t share?
He reaches out to me, holding my arm as we come across more debris that we can’t get around and rush to a back door.
Women huddle on the floor behind a table right outside the bolted door.
“What are you doing? Get out of here,” I shout at them.
“Wait,” Jayden barks as he tries to push open the door. “It’s bolted shut. Who locked the door?”
