10. Aeri

P urgatory.

Who the hell names a club Purgatory? I don't know much about the Bible, but I've never heard that word and thought of a good time.

I've also never heard of this club, not that I've been around long, but I have been looking all over for a better-paying job, and this has never come up.

It's not until we reach the door that I realize why that might be.

Lea raps her knuckles on it hard three times before she steps back. For a second, I don't think anything is going to happen, but just before I can say as much, the door swings open, and a fucking giant of a man stands before us. He's bigger than anyone I've ever seen before and not just tall; he easily takes up the whole doorway. His chest is bare; every inch of it is muscle, covered in tattoos. If this is their bouncer, I can imagine nobody gets through who isn't supposed to.

As if he's not intimidating enough with his size, his face is covered by a bone mask with horns and sharp edges. The only visible part of his face is his eyes, which are covered in shadow as he looks down at Lea.

I guess they really play up the demon aspect here.

"Back again, Lea?" he asks her with a gruff chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah," she says with a smile, waving him off before pointing to me. "But I've got fresh meat."

The guy's head snaps to me as if just noticing I'm here, and I watch as he takes me in. With his attention on me, I can see the color of his eyes, and they look fucking crazy.

Black with large orange pupils that are slits, like a cat.

No, the mask definitely doesn't look like a cat, maybe a dog?

Those have to be contacts. Nobody's eyes look like that. The dress code here must be pretty relaxed.

"Not that kind of meat, big guy," she says with a laugh, patting his chest almost affectionately as she moves past him. "Come on, Aeri," she calls back, disappearing from view and leaving me alone with him.

Damn it, Lea.

His gaze burns into me, and I feel like my skin is crawling. Swallowing down the creeping feeling, I force myself to follow her. He makes no move to let me pass, and I'm forced to get much closer than I would have liked. I feel his eyes as they follow me, but he stays where he is.

The second my back is to him, I rush down the long hall until I all but run into Lea. "Fuck, why is it so dark in here?" I mumble, blinking hard in an attempt to get my eyes to adjust. "And why did you leave me with him? I felt like he wanted to eat me," I hiss at her, and her answering laugh bounces off the walls around us.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic."

Funny thing is, I don't feel like I was being dramatic.

"What are we doing, Lea?" I ask as we continue down the never-ending hallway.

She ignores me, humming as she goes, and I groan but keep following her. What else am I going to do? No way am I going back out there with tall, ripped, and wants to eat me.

We turn the corner at the end of the hall, and I stop dead in my tracks.

"Holy shit…"

I'm not sure what I thought this place would be, but this is kind of crazy. First of all, it's huge, bigger than seems possible considering where it is nestled on the street. The ceilings are high, the lights low, and everything has a red glow. Red circular couches are randomly scattered around the large open area with tables and lights. A high bar lines the far walls with stools and a stage to the far left with smoke and… cages?

It's a strange vibe, but it is a vibe, and I can see why people might like it. There's a hint of danger with an edge of sex.

Which must be appealing because it's packed.

There are people everywhere. Women are in random states of undress; some are in short skirts, and others shirtless, while some are dressed up to the nines. Most of the men dress in suits, but there are a few who are shirtless, and one guy catches my eye from across the room. He's dressed up much more than anyone else, in a tight corset that seems almost painted on. From what I can see, it looks great, but it's hard to look at him with the way the light reflects off the shiny material.

Beyond everything else, though, the one thing I notice is that everyone has some kind of costume on, from horns to masks and everything in between.

"Welcome to Purgatory," Lea shouts over the music, which is loud but not deafening. "Where your sins roam free."

Well, I guess this explains why she had so much cash on her. If this is where she works, I can imagine she's raking it in. Everything about this place screams money, from the couches to the people in it, and of course, the security.

Lea makes her way through the crowd with ease, and I scramble to keep up with her, muttering apologies and excuses as I attempt to follow her.

Finally, making it out on the other side, I find Lea behind the bar already.

"Not too bad," she says with a smile as I glare at her.

"What do you mean, not too bad? What is this, a test?" I grumble, frustrated with how damn vague she's being, but she remains unfazed, her smile never leaving her face.

"Yeah, now for the last part," she says, and I'm honestly not sure if she's joking or not. "Come on." She walks down the bar, on the side that's not packed with people and waves for me to follow. With a quick turn at the end of the bar, she disappears through a door I wouldn't have noticed was there if not for her.

This time I'm less polite, pushing past people without a second glance as I make my way to the far side of the bar.

Pushing the door open, I find Lea waiting, standing next to a lone chair in the center of the room. The door falls closed behind me, and with it, most of the noise cuts off, leaving only the soft vibrations of the bass in the background.

"Have a seat," Lea says, gesturing to the chair before she turns to a rack of clothes that look out of place with the rest of the decor.

This is definitely a sex room, or whatever it might be called. I'm sure they don't call it that, but that's obviously what it is if the giant bed is anything to go by.

"Lea…" I trail off, unsure what to say. When she showed up for coffee today, this isn't how I thought the rest of my day would be going.

"Don't Lea me, and get over here. You want to make more money, and I want to work with my bestie, so let's get you looking the part, and I'll teach you the ropes."

Woah, wait… what?

Lea throws her head back and laughs, and I realize I must have said that out loud.

"Are you always this resistant to help?" she asks, cocking a brow at me in question, and yeah, I am. Actually, I'm not sure the last time I got help outside of Ruin and, well, Asta. But that doesn't seem like something I should tell her if I don't want her to ask questions about my past.

She taps the back of the chair again, eyeing me in a way that tells me it's only a matter of time before she gets her way, and I cave.

Stomping across the room, I drop into the chair with a huff and hear her clap her hands in excitement.

"This is going to be so much fun!"

Somehow, I don't know if I agree with that statement, but I stay quiet as she pulls my hair out from its messy little bun and starts brushing it with her fingers.

"How can you just give me a job?" I ask, only now realizing what she said before. "Don't I need to do, like, an interview or something?"

"No, I run the bar for the boss. He told me to get someone to replace Cassandra, and that's you," she tells me, and I can hear the smile on her face.

I open my mouth to ask for more information, but she cuts me off with a question of her own. "So, are you partial to this color?"

"Um, kind of…" My answer comes out sounding more like a question. How do I explain that I'm not actually, but I needed to conceal my natural color, and this was all I had at the time. I should definitely redo my roots. They've grown a bit since I left a few months ago, but I hadn't had the time.

"Do you trust me?"

Those four words shouldn't shake me the way they do, but I can't help it. They wash over me like a cold bucket of water, and I freeze.

I shouldn't.

I know I shouldn't. I'm lying to everyone here, running from my past and a future I never wanted. I shouldn't trust anyone because they don't know me, don't owe me a damn thing, and if he came looking for me tomorrow, they could sell me out.

Despite that, and knowing what a problem it could be, I can't stop my answer from slipping out.

"Yes." Hardly more than a whisper. My voice shakes, but it's there all the same. If she hears my hesitation, she doesn't say anything about it. "Just not light brown," I say in a rush, trying to cover my ass at least a little.

"Deal!"

If only I'd known what I was agreeing to.

Hours.

I sit in that chair for HOURS.

How many, I'm not exactly sure, but judging by how numb my ass is when she has me get up to rinse my hair in the bathroom, I'd say at least three or four.

Lea chats and hums, and just seems to be having the best time through the whole thing, but near the end my eyes are drooping after working all day and then this. Not to mention I hadn't been sleeping well as is. I've finally gotten used to the idea of sharing the space with everyone at the apartment, just in time for my dreams to start taking a dark turn.

Somehow, Lea also has a fix for my drowsiness: freezing cold water on my scalp.

"Fu-fuck, that's so cold!" I shriek when the water hits me, and try to move away, but she doesn't let up. Instead, laughing at my complaints as she continues to rinse and scrub at my head.

"Beauty is pain," she says, sounding way too happy.

By the time she's finished, my teeth are chattering, and I'm rethinking this whole friendship.

She doesn't even let me look in the mirror before she's ushering me back to the damn chair to style my hair.

I've never gotten my hair done professionally, but if this is what it's like, I'll never do it again.

"Oh! My best friend is hot!" she says, taking a step back to look at me after insisting on doing my makeup as well. I'd tried to tell her I would be going to sleep, and it was pointless, but I'm starting to see that telling her no is also kind of futile.

I roll my eyes at her obvious attempt to flatter me. I'm not hot, but also, what a way to tell me I wasn't before.

She throws a stack of clothes in my hands with a smile before yanking me to my feet.

"Your shoes can stay."

"Gee, thanks," I say, rolling my eyes but stripping down before pulling on the dark skinny jeans, black long-sleeve shirt, and denim half jacket she'd given me.

I'll give it to her. This is pretty cute and somehow fits me perfectly.

"Okay, time for the big reveal!" Grabbing my hand, she damn near yanks my arm out of its socket as she pulls me into the bathroom with her.

No fucking way! That's not me…

I have no idea how she did it, but my hair is damn near white, while my roots are still dark, and the contrast looks crazy. I usually wear my hair up because of work, and damn, I didn't even realize how long it had gotten. It's almost back to the length it was before I cut it.

My makeup is dark and smokey, with the wing eyeliner I've seen on social media but never had the guts to try, and my lips are painted black.

I never would have suggested any of this for myself or had the balls to try it, but I can't deny it looks great. I turn in the mirror, admiring myself, unable to look away. What kind of magic does Lea have? This can't be real. But here I am, staring back at myself.

"So? What do you think?" she asks, sounding uncertain for the first time, probably ever.

"Lea.. I don't know what to say…" I tell her, honestly, at a loss for words.

"Do you hate it?" she asks, and I bark a laugh, turning to find her standing nervously at the door.

"No! I love it! I'm just wondering what kind of dark magic you must have to make me look like this. Like seriously, it doesn't feel like it should be possible."

Lea laughs, and it sounds a bit forced, but before I can say anything about it, she reaches out and grabs my hand, pulling me back out into the sex room.

"Okay, now for the finishing touches." She pulls me through the room to a stand full of drawers and yanks open the top one.

Of all the things I thought might be inside—horns, fangs, and tails were not on my list.

My confusion must be obvious because Lea laughs and bumps her shoulder into mine. "Don't tell me you didn't notice the theme."

That's right, the masks. Thinking about it now, I realize that a lot of people also had horns and even wings.

"It's fun, but whatever you pick is yours, so pick wisely. Oh, and I almost forgot, don't move." Reaching into one of the drawers, she quickly pulls out something I can't see before damn near attacking me. The cool metal hits my nose a second before I feel the pain, and the only thing that keeps me still is her warning, but even then, just barely. "Perfect!" she yells me, moving back toward the door that leads to the club. "I need to check in with my boss and tell him I found someone. I'll be back in a few minutes, and we'll get ya on the floor for training!"

The door falls closed behind her before I can say anything to stop her, and I stand frozen, staring at it.

What the fuck…did she just? No, no way.

But sure as hell, I can feel the hoop in my nose, and when I go to the bathroom, there it is. A nice shiny nose ring sits in my nose.

She's good, I'll give her that, but also, again, what the fuck.

I guess I'll pick some accessories. What else am I supposed to do?

Lea only opened the top drawer, but I close it and check the rest of them, only to find tons of other stuff.

Shit, who knew there were so many options?

There are horns in every color imaginable, in all different lengths; some have curves, some have other small nubs, and all in all, I'm completely overwhelmed. But even with all the choices, one pair sticks out above the rest. They're purple and white, swirled like a candy cane. The bottom is thick, and they curve like ram's horns, slowly getting thinner as they go.

I'm not sure what about them makes me pick them, but I know I want them. I look through some tails and decide against one, and I don't see any wings, so that just leaves fangs.

In the top drawer are hundreds of tiny containers with color, length, and other things scribbled on them. I have no idea what length they are based on the number. I've never been good at measurements. Instead, I open a few until I find a short pair that are just plain white. Not that the ones with diamonds or blood tips aren't cool; they just seem like a lot.

I mean, it's all a lot, but I don't really want to draw even more attention to myself if I don't have to.

By the time Lea comes back, I have my horns on and my little fangs glued in. It took a second to figure both out, but I'd stolen a quick peek in the mirror before she came back, and overall, I was pretty happy with them.

Judging by Lea's squeal, I'm going to say she likes them, too.

"Fuck, Aeri, are you into women because god damn, girl!" She gushes, fanning herself. I know she's joking, but my cheeks heat regardless.

"Shut up," I mumble, shoving her as she cracks up. She'd also gotten into her ‘costume' while she was gone. Her horns are a lot like the classic devil horns you see in Halloween costumes. The base of them is red, and they get darker as they go, fading to black at the tip. I see the hint of her fangs when she smiles, and it looks like she picked shorter ones like me. How someone could stand the longer ones, I'm unsure. I swear some of those containers had fangs that were longer than my damn pinky.

She doesn't have wings either, but she does have a tail. I'd expected it to be like the typical devil one to match her horns, but when she turns around to head back out and show me around, I see it looks more like an animal tail with the end having a little knot of hair instead of the points I expected.

It also appears as though she put contacts in, which I didn't see in the drawers. Not that I'm complaining because I probably couldn't get them in my eyes anyway, but there's no missing the bright red glow of her eyes now.

The rest of the night passes in a blur of colors, music, and drinks. She showed me around or tried to. The place is packed, and every few steps someone stops her to talk. Eventually, she gave up, and we went back to the bar. She promised to show me around before my next shift when it's a little less crowded.

By the time she tells me to call it a night, I'm dead on my feet, but I can't say I'm not excited.

"So what do you say? Ready to make some real money with your bestie?" she asks me as we stand outside waiting for our Uber. I'd been reluctant to call one and waste money, but I'm not familiar with this half of the city and wasn't sure how long it would take me to walk home, or if I could even find it. So when she suggested we split one, it seemed like the perfect solution.

"I'm not sure if I'm cut out for this or not, but I'm willing to try," I tell her honestly. I'd never even been to a club before tonight, and from what I saw, Purgatory isn't just any club; it seems to be very high-class. "I kind of feel like I have to. How else would I repay you for this makeover?" I say, only half joking.

She laughs, shaking her head as we pull up in front of my building.

"You'll be great. Don't worry about it. You have the best teacher, after all. But seriously, if you hate it, let me know. The makeover wasn't meant to buy you. It was fun. Besides, you're a bad bitch. It's time you start acting like it. Maybe this will help."