Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The best thing about living in a city was that there was never a lack of opportunity, if you knew where to look. And you did.

As long as you played your cards right and had a discarded lack of pride, there were ways to make the cash you needed and quickly, at that. And luckily for you, you checked both of those boxes. Sure, your line of work wasn’t for everyone, but it was all you’d ever known for a career. It was hard sometimes, more often than not, but it also brought you a plethora of rewards that you knew you couldn’t get from an otherwise normal life. You also liked the freedom that came with it, and the fact that it allowed you to live life as you wanted, which was a life full of glamour and excitement, made it more worthwhile for you. 

For the most part, business stayed consistent for you, but after that tree from hell popped out of nowhere in the middle of Red Grave City a year ago, and while you lived in the city over, the tree effectively destroyed a majority of the places you frequented around the heart of the city, which caused you to lose a good amount of your clientele and directly impacted your income. However, you quickly learned that while life was tough, you were tougher and you were able to adapt. Almost a year after the evil tree events, and your life was still slowly in the process of returning to normal. Red Grave City had changed, and you had along with it. Only now was your life starting to once again resemble how it once was prior to the Red Grave Incident. 

But when it came down to it, you liked how your life had turned out. The free stuff was nice: rich, delicious meals from expensive restaurants (where you ordered whatever you wanted because it wasn’t your credit card this was going on), pretty, luxurious clothes and high end lingerie (a gift to show some appreciation or some well deserved gratis? Maybe both), trips at fancy, plush hotels (complete with room service and the most comfortable beds you’d ever had the pleasure of laying on), and plus there was that one time that you got that pair of shoes that you thought you would have only been able to own in a dream (and you didn’t even have to drop a single dime on them!). So things were pretty nice, you knew the tricks of the trade like the back of your hand and got on with your life. Really, there wasn’t much you felt like you had to complain about, especially since it was nice working for yourself instead of being a cog in the machine like you had originally thought life was going to lead you to become. And on a plus side, you even liked some of the people you met through your job- as much as you could at least. The connections aspect was nice, and you always had something to do work wise. 

Tonight was no different.

You’d made your catch, circulating around for a while at a new, higher-end bar in the west side of the city. It wasn’t unsurprising for you to go out of your usual area, after all. You made it your business to go everywhere in the city, lest you miss a throw you should have caught. And it was easy work at that; you’d named your price and the gentleman caller was quick to oblige, almost breaking the subtle, hidden mood of the evening by pulling out his wallet to pay you there and then at the bar. While you loved a man who was quick and lenient with his money, you didn’t exactly appreciate being made to feel cheap and easy. So instead, you directed this man to escort you to the hotel room he was staying at (in a very nice five star hotel!) and you then accepted his money plus a little extra before you got to work.

And as quickly as it started, it was over. Nothing had changed with you really, except you were now about $2000 richer. The man of the evening apologized for his abruptness, as if it mattered to you in the slightest, before getting up and practically running to the bathroom to shower, like you’d been the dirty one in this situation. Before he did that though, he waved a hand carelessly around the room and instructed you to make yourself comfortable and help yourself to whatever. You’d assumed he meant for you to take a look at the mini-fridge bar or order room service, but instead you took this as an open invitation to snoop. 

So you did, of course.

Rising off of the bed where you were lounging, you quickly threw back on the bra and underwear you wore under your dress today (a matching set from a high-end department store- and a gift from a friend you’d made earlier in the month) and began scanning the room, looking for the best place to hide something small and expensive. The plan you followed was simple enough: find something that was small enough to easily go missing but worth something at least so the whole process of stealing it and flipping it to a fence was actually worth the trouble. Luckily, you already had a fence in mind- someone you trusted and worked with whenever you walked away from gigs like this with a little something extra burning a hole in your pocket.

You glided over to the dresser that sat against the wall across from the king sized bed and scanned the flat top of it for anything that caught your eye. No dice though, nothing was laid out that seemed like you’d actually make something off it. A sigh tumbled from your lips before you could stop it, and you could feel the beginning stages of disappointment rush over you. But more than that, you felt annoyed. Annoyed with yourself for wanting more after already making bank today, contributing to that never ending need to hustle you always felt plagued by, but you were also annoyed with your companion for the evening for apparently not being stupid enough to leave something out for you to easily swipe. 

Shifting gears, you decided to continue your search as judging by the noise coming from the bathroom, you still had some time before you had to book it out of this hotel room. You opened the top left-hand side drawer on the dresser, which seemed to be filled with…. Socks? After rummaging around in there for a moment, you quickly realized that there was nothing of interest, unless you wanted a new pair of 100% cotton white ankle socks. You then opened the drawer on the right of the last one, only to see that it was completely empty. Okay. Unwilling to give up quite yet, you pulled open the drawer on the second row, one larger than the last two that had to be combined to equal this drawer’s length. Anticipation was building up inside of you at the potential of finding something good, making your heart beat rapidly and your palms sweat, although that too was shot down as the only thing in this much larger drawer was the standard bible that it seemed like every hotel seemed to throw in- which only made you laugh at this point, and for so many reasons beyond just the irony of the current situation you were in. 

Finally, you were starting to give up. Maybe it was a little greedy of you to keep looking for something to take for your own profit, after all, your friend of the evening seems nice enough. He had agreed with your rates easily, tipped generously, and clearly was fine with buying you room service. Maybe you would do something good now, boost up your good karma, and be rewarded for it later down the road when you truly needed it. 

That line of thinking cemented itself into your head, and you were about to march away from the dresser and instead find your dress where you left it on the hotel armchair to remain wrinkle-free before getting dressed once more and dipping, but before you did any of that, you felt it- That weird, magnetic pull that itched under your skin, something sort of like an unspoken message from your intuition that urged you to heed its command. And in this case, it was urging you to open the dresser drawer on the very bottom right hand side. It was almost like something in it was calling to you, and you wanted so desperately to pick up and answer.

Kneeling down onto the floor, you hesitantly pulled the drawer open. Upon first glance, it seemed to be filled with men’s work slacks, nothing unusual here. You felt your shoulders sag at this discovery, disappointment running through you once more. However, you still felt a weird compulsion to dig around a little and see if you found anything. Lifting up a stack of pants, you stuck your hand underneath it and felt around for anything. You could feel the knotting of something metallic before you realized what exactly you were touching. Once you put it together that it was definitely the chain of a piece of jewelry, you were quick to wrap your fingers around the delicate cable chain and carefully dislodge it from where it was beneath the clothes. When you freed it, you held it up in the low light of the hotel room so that you could see it. And what a score- it seemed like lady luck was on your side after all!

The necklace was striking and seemed to be made of real gold- it would probably fall midway on your sternum if you tried it on. At the lowest point of the chain hung a beautiful, burnt reddish-orange gemstone, one that you weren’t sure exactly what it was but it certainly was beautiful. And old too- maybe something dating to the art deco period or even older based on the almost lace like floral appliqué that surrounded the pendant. Your eyes widened as you stared at the necklace, taking in the beauty it held in the gemstone that was so large it almost seemed larger than your eye. It must’ve been heavy to wear, you wondered absentmindedly, and you had the sudden urge to try it on and see how it felt and looked on you. However, before you could undo the spring ring clasp that held the necklace chain closed, the sound of the shower water turning off from the bathroom made you jolt in place. Looks like you had less time than expected if you were going to make it out of here with this necklace along with you. 

You closed the drawer as quietly as you could before rising back onto your feet. Now that you’d found what you were looking for, you’d have to leave as quickly as you arrived. Throwing your dress back on, you buckled the strap of your heels before tucking away the necklace you’d found into the small purse you brought with you for the evening. You’d take it to your fence tomorrow, when the day was new and you’d washed yourself clean of this evening. Of course, you’d definitely spend at least part of the night ahead of you trying on your new prize. There was no way you were going to deny yourself a chance to try on something so fine and hopefully expensive. Once you were ready and you had both your cash and your new necklace secure in your bag, you tiptoed over to the front door of the room, pulling it open and closed behind you in one solid movement, leaving your poor new friend none the wiser and still in the bathroom, likely about to emerge and expect you to be sat waiting for him any moment. Idiot.

The first thing you did when you got home was shower with water so hot that it felt like it was burning your skin along with any sins it was washing away. Not that you really felt like anything was sinful, nor did you care even if anyone else thought it was. Religion was never really your thing, and if anyone asked you, it was the people who paid for your services who actually had to potentially repent for. The way you saw it, you just worked the world’s oldest profession, like many other people across the globe did- and there was nothing wrong with that.

When you finished drying off and lathering yourself in the luxurious, richly scented lotion you’d started buying in bulk these past months, you felt that nagging tug of an idea that just wouldn’t leave your head pop back up. Throwing your towel to the tile floor of your bathroom, you walked back into your bedroom and towards the edge of your bed, where the necklace was still laying as perfect as it was when you took it out of your purse and placed it there with as much care as you could muster up. The entire time you were showering, all you could think of was the necklace. Nothing even of any specifics about it either, just thoughts of the necklace and how it was laying in the other room and not on your body. The hyper-awareness you were starting to feel towards the jewelry was beginning to make you itch, like a colony of fire ants was marching under your skin. It was strange really, and now there was a pressure in the room now that you were back in it and with the necklace- or maybe the pressure was just in your head. 

Blinking away the train of thought, you came back to your senses and realized that you’d started reaching down towards the necklace without intending to. It was almost like your body was moving on its own regard- and you exhaled, feeling your body fall lax without even discerning why you’d even gotten so tense in the first place. Slowing, and with meaning, your fingers continued their journey until they brushed against the cool metal chain of the necklace. You ran your fingers along it, appreciating the knitting of the knot work that made up the chain. It truly was a beautiful piece of jewelry, and it was rare to see something that looked so wonderfully expensive without crossing the line into gaudy or being costume-like. 

Another idea popped into your head, almost like a thought that wasn’t actually yours and more like a whisper placed directly among your thoughts. Why not try it on? There was no harm in trying it on briefly before putting it aside somewhere in your apartment for safekeeping until you could bring it to your fence. You’d try it on, spend a few minutes to a half hour admiring how it looked on you in the mirror, and then take it off and tuck it away. Easy-peasy. 

Now that your mind was made up, you lifted the necklace up to your face before unlocking the clasp and holding the necklace to your chest. Your hands moved around to the back of your neck as you clicked the clasp closed once more, securing the necklace around your neck. The weight of the jewelry against your skin was instantly noticeable, and despite being made up of so much metal, the gold banding around the gemstone nor was the chain nearly as cold as you thought it would be based on how it felt against your finger tips. Instead, it felt almost slightly warm against your skin, like you’d put it on right after someone had taken it off. But you knew that wasn’t possible, so instead, you figured it was more likely that your own excitement was creating more body heat than usual to wave off of you.

You turned around quickly with eagerness to admire your reflection, almost catching your knee on the corner of your bed frame in your careless haste. Walking back into your bathroom, you stopped when you stood at the large, oval shaped mirror that hung behind your bathroom sink. Then, you took in the full appearance of the necklace on your frame. It suited you- the color of both the jewel hanging below your clavicle and the glimmering golden chain suited your complexion, creating a glow in your skin and a sparkle in your eyes. You struck a variety of poses, and each time you found that no matter how you held your chin, lengthened your neck, or jutted your shoulders, your eyes traveled right back to staring at the necklace wrapped around your neck. It truly looked so striking on you, it was a shame that you’d be flipping it for a profit. 

Sighing, you raised your hands to the back of your neck, searching for the clasp. After you took off the necklace, you’d wrap it in a silk scarf and place it in a box so it would remain unscratched for however long it took you to take it to be sold. Only, there was a problem.

You couldn’t find the clasp.

Instead, it felt like the necklace was a never ending chain of metal. Your fingers danced along the necklace, squeezing it tightly in your efforts to find and undo the lock. A weird surge of claustrophobic panic rose in you as you leaned closer to the mirror in front of you, looking with your eyes to find the clasp. Nothing. Although there had been a clasp when you put it on, it was clearly gone now. And the way that the pendant hung only mid sternum, there was no way you could pull it above over your head without snagging yourself and potentially destroying the necklace. It was stuck. Confusion ran down your spine as you continued turning the necklace around your neck, eyes and fingers desperately searching for what was no longer there.

It was fine, you tried to reason with yourself. You’d just have to take a loss on the potential money and break the chain of the necklace. As long as the pendant was fine, you’d still make some money off of it. And the frenzied anxiety that was starting to build up in your gut was quickly becoming unbearable: you needed to get this necklace off and now. Moving fast, you could feel the sweat pooling on your palms and making your hands slick as you grabbed the chain and pulled in opposite directions with as much strength you could gather. However, that too didn’t work. It seemed like your efforts only made the chain dig into the delicate skin of your neck, leaving a pattern of knots against your skin. The necklace almost felt like it was burning into your skin, and you ceased your pulling before releasing it to fall back against your chest, lest you cause any surface level damage to your neck. 

Panting deeply, you stared at your reflection. You could see the pinpricks of blood start to bead where the metal chain had pulled against your neck, and even though it infuriated you, you had to admit how the red blood against your skin only made the deep red of the jeweled pendant look even more eye-catching and radiant. 

Fuck.

Well, this was just great. But maybe your fence would know how to help when you swung by tomorrow. After all, she had experience with all sorts of things, including weird ones like this. While you didn’t really know how to verbalize what was happening, you also weren’t stupid and knew that something was causing this weirdness. How you were going to wait until morning, you had no idea. There was no way to get your mind off the impending doom you felt the longer you had this necklace around your neck, and you’d go crazy by the time morning came around if you let it fester.

Maybe there was one thing you could do to take your mind off things. Sighing, you left your bathroom to head towards your closet in search of something to wear out tonight. You knew you could count on the game of work to take your mind off things- and maybe you were addicted to it a little, was that such a bad thing? The money sure wasn’t. Either way, once you’d chosen what to wear and thrown it on, you were ready to go out on the prowl, this time in a completely different part of the city.

The bar you’d chosen was dingy, and that was putting it politely. It smelt like stale beer and was almost completely empty, and you were sure that you were the most expensive thing in here so far. You’d almost walked right on past it on your evening stroll, but you’d stopped in front of the staircase that lead downwards towards the front door, the only thing signaling it was a bar was a hanging sign that hung above the door that simply said “bar”, not even listing the name of the joint. Yet, you felt compelled to go in. You weren’t sure why you felt that way, but you decided to listen to that urge and enter. Normally, you had great intuition for things- almost like a sixth sense made up entirely of luck. Of course, that was disregarding the little pickle you’d gotten yourself into with the necklace, but you were sure you’d find a solution to the problem at hand.

So now you were here, sitting at the sticky bar, nursing a watered down drink. Figured that a place this crappy would serve crappy drinks too. You sighed loudly, hunching forward in your seat and resting your elbows against the wet bar so that you could cradle your head in your hands. Today was just so not your day. You were about to throw the towel in and head to somewhere more vibrant in the city when you suddenly felt the presence of a man in the stool next to you. Sitting up straight in your seat, you rolled your shoulders back, pushing out your chest, before turning to look at your new friend for the night with as mischievously coy of an expression on your face as you could muster in this current head space you were in.

“Hello, hand-” the words died in your throat when you were able to actually look at the man next to you. While he was attractive enough, he appeared to not be your usual clientele. And you judged this based on the fact that his hair was shaggy and unkempt, he had a fair amount of stubble which implied that he was in dire need of a good shave, and the flashy red coat he wore was riddled with suspiciously sized holes among the various tears and loose threads it was covered in. You could smell the instantly overbearing scent of cheap cologne mixed with the stale musk caused over the course of the day that lingered on the man next to you. You could tell instantly that this man would not come even close to being able to afford you, not in this lifetime nor the next. 

“Well, hello yourself. Come here often?” The man responded, seemingly not discouraged by the way your voice fell flat when you looked at him. He didn’t even wait for you to respond to his corny, used up line before speaking again, “My name’s Dante. And you are…?”

“Leaving,” You rolled your eyes as you grabbed your bag, opening it up to pull some cash out of it for the bartender. Just because your night sucked didn’t mean you’d pass on your bad luck to some other service worker. 

“Woah now, I know that was a lame start, but come on, it wasn’t that bad…” The man trailed off and you looked over at him once more only to see that he was staring at the necklace hanging off your neck with a dumbfounded expression, eyes open wide and mouth slightly ajar. He spoke again, “Nice necklace you got there, where’d ya get it?”

Fear coursed in your veins like an ice cold shock to your system- did this guy know you had stolen it? Was it more valuable than you originally thought? Did he show up here to find you and take it back? Whatever the answers were, you had to get the fuck out of there, and as fast as you could. 

You stood up quickly, sticking your nose up in the air with a loud, girlish hmph, hoping that putting on your best bitch attitude would be enough to discourage this random guy from trying to make more conversation or, worse, follow you out of the bar. But even if he tried anything, you were ready. You never went anywhere without your taser and pepper spray. 

“Hey, hold on a moment,” The man called after you as you walked towards the bar entrance, standing up but not rushing to follow you. “Do you even know what that stone is?”

But you didn’t wait around to find out. 

Instead, you pulled the heavy wooden door open and practically leapt out of the bar and into the cold night. The air was chilly on your exposed skin, prompting you to walk as fast as you could in your kitten heels down to the corner of the block. When you got there, you pulled your phone out of your purse to check how long it would take for the nearest Uber to pick you up and take you to another location, preferably one where there were actual high rollers with cash to burn and not bums who smelled like pizza grease. Sigh… it looked like it would be a while, maybe you’d give up and just go home. That seemed like the best bet after today’s unpredictability.

You checked once over your shoulder to make sure no one was around, specifically that man in red, before turning and walking up the other side of the block. Living in a big city like this one as long as you have, you knew all the little shortcuts to get wherever you needed to go. Tonight was no different either, and you turned down an alleyway to take the faster route home. The uneven stone under your shoes made you stumble briefly, and the clicking noise your heels created with the pavement seemed to bounce off the tall buildings surrounding you and echo in the otherwise silent cool night air.

Continuing on, when this alleyway spat you out, you turned left before turning right again into another alleyway. This part of the city was large, there was no doubt about it, and while you were in the beating heart of it, it was eerily empty. Maybe it was because you were taking the back roads to get home, but still. You expected to encounter at least one other person on the streets tonight, whether a working gal like you or not. 

The moon was high in the sky, guiding you as you walked over the stone sidewalks and illuminating your path. You were glad it was a full moon too, since it seemed like this particular alley you’d just turned down was almost completely dark and it appeared like the light fixtures on the buildings you walked passed were out. Figures, that was just your luck today. Pausing momentarily, you pulled the mouth of your bag open to fish out your cell phone, planning to use it as a flashlight. However, once you stopped walking, there was a clanging noise that sounded out from behind you, almost like something had come to a violent stop once you also stopped moving. 

Turning sharply, you peered in the blank void behind you. You couldn’t see anything, but it was too dark for you to tell, especially since from where you stood, the building to your right blocked the majority of the moonlight. A shiver ran down your spine, and you took that as a sign from your intuition to forget about finding your phone and just keep moving forward instead. So you did, turning back forwards and picking up the pace once more. It was only once you did so that you realized you could hear a second source of motion, something so frenzied and scattered it sounded almost inhuman entirely. Loud, clapping footsteps picked up chase after you, knocking over a spare trashcan in the rush of movement. The clattering noise was so loud, it echoed in your ears. There was a buzzing in the air that amplified the ringing in your ears you hadn’t even noticed until this moment, undoubtedly exacerbated by the way you had picked up the pace until you were practically running. 

Whatever it was that was following you, it would not catch you. No, there was no way, especially because all you had to do was get back on the main street and you’d most likely be surrounded by people who would, hopefully- assuming the kindness of strangers could extend to someone like you, help you out. And you were almost there too, just a little longer and then you’d be there and-- 

You all but skidded to a complete stop, probably scraping up the bottoms of this very expensive pair of shoes in the process, but you had to in order to stop yourself from running straight into the chain link fence that was at the end of the alley. This didn’t make sense- there was no way you’d taken the wrong path, was there? How could you make such an easy mistake? God, your mojo really was off today. You shook the chain link fence in your desperation, searching in vain for an invisible lock or door or something, anything to get you out of this situation. It was definitely too tall for you to climb, even if you were in the correct shoes for the task you’d still have a problem.

But now your problem was about to get bigger as you could hear the hissing slink of whatever it was following you. You turned around, keeping your back against the fence so you could face what was approaching you head on. Maybe you could scare whoever it was off. You gripped your bag tightly, remembering that you had all you ever needed to deal with someone harassing you tucked safely away in it. But if it wasn’t even a human...? No, now was not the time for silly thoughts like that- this was just your mind playing tricks on you while you succumbed to fear!

Another resounding stomp shook you out of your thoughts. Whatever it was, it was getting closer. Only a bit more until it stepped into the moonlight and revealed itself to your eyes. Fear was coursing through your system, not activating your fight or flight, but instead making you freeze like you were rooted to the ground. And judging by the way this thing seemed to be taking it’s time with approaching you, it knew and was toying with you like you were a sheep separated from the herd. Oh god, an image of tomorrow morning’s newspaper headline after some poor soul found your body flashed in your mind’s eye: Local Whore Found dead; Mutilated in Alleyway with No One Around to Care And Even If There Was, They Wouldn’t. Truly, this whole day was ending up to be a pathetic tragedy. You were becoming a cliché. 

All at once, the thing revealed itself by stepping directly into the moonlight burst on the pavement. You blinked. In your fear, your mind tried to overcompensate by convincing you that the panic was unwarranted, that this must have been someone’s lost lizard thing, or maybe even a komodo dragon escaped from the zoo you’d somehow missed the news alert about. That could have been true too, if the thing wasn’t much larger and moved with a finesse unlike any lizard you’d ever seen. Maybe the shitty, weak drink from the bar you’d just left was stronger than you had realized. It wasn’t until you noticed that it was crouched low, back arched upwards not unlike an animal about to pounce on its prey and devour it. You watched in horror as the thing’s blue tongue flicked out of its mouth, forked and thin like a snake tasting the air. No doubt tasting the fear you were emitting, probably like an endless buffet signaling how delicious you were going to be. 

Your movements became instinctive and you started to curl inwards, sinking towards the ground and covering half of your face with your hand. The urge to close your eyes was too great- you certainly did not want to get a closer look at this thing when it mangled and ate you. Stiffening up, you braced yourself for impact, waiting for the undoubtedly sharp talon/fangs/both that this creature surely had to begin ripping you into shreds. 

Only, it never came. Instead, it seemed like someone else had joined the mix. 

“Ah, man, how’d this sewer gator make it all the way over to this part of town?”

Suddenly, you could hear the sound of something slicing through the air, and a burst of air flew towards you from that direction. The sound of metal clanging mixed with the creature's cries hit your ears, and you weren’t quite sure if they were cries of elation of a fight or noises of the monster getting its ass whooped. It continued for a while longer, and while you cowered in fear, you had your eyes squeezed shut tightly, listening to the sounds of whatever was going on while your overactive mind made up the details.

Eventually, the sounds came to a complete stop, and the ruckus appeared to be over as quickly as it had started. You couldn’t quite tell just from listening who had won the fight, but you could tell that whatever the victor was, it was coming your way. Heavy footsteps grew louder as they approached, and you subconsciously balled yourself up more as a meek form of protection.

The footsteps stopped in front of you. Suddenly, a voice rang out- one that you recognized slightly but couldn’t quite place while under the immense confusion that had overwhelmed you and dulled your senses. 

“Hey, you okay?”

Your head snapped up, looking upwards at the man looming over you while your vision focused and adjusted to the low lighting. Recognition and relief flooded your nervous system as you started to piece everything together- It was the guy in red you met earlier at the bar. Despite your frazzled state, you noted that it seemed like your earlier suspicions were right on the money: he followed you after you left the bar, which was weird even if did somehow come to your rescue. 

He offered you a hand and you took it, gripping it tightly while your knees shook from your nerves as you stood up. The worn leather of the gloves he wore were surprisingly soft against your skin, feeling like a striking contradiction of everything that had just happened.

“I’m fine, I’m…” You trailed off, looking past the man to try to see what remained of the lizard thing that followed you. If anything did remain, that was. It seemed like the man blocking your view wasn’t any worse for wear, and there wasn’t a single drop of blood on him as far as you could tell. While it was shrouded in shadowy darkness, you could tell that the alley beyond where you stood seemed devoid of any life, as if you’d hallucinated the whole thing. “What was that thing?”

The man shrugged nonchalantly and seemingly unbothered, like this exchange was just another Tuesday for him. “A demon.”

“Fuck off,” You spat the words out and yanked your hand out of the tight grasp he had on it before bending over to pick up your discarded purse off of the dirty pavement. It was impossible for you not to scoff at the ridiculous notion he claimed, and you shook your head with disbelief before smoothing out your wrinkled skirt and patting off any dirt that remained.

“No, I’m serious,” Your savior frowned, pursing his lips in a way that was almost boyish despite the age he wore on his face. “And if you stuck around earlier for long enough, you would’ve given me a chance to tell you that.” 

That got your attention. It was true, you had to admit- you flew out of that bar like a bat out of hell. But still, he wasn’t making much sense. Or maybe the alcohol really had addled your brain. “And what’s that supposed to mean?” You crossed your arms defensively over your chest.

The man shrugged once more, sending a new flash of annoyance within you. “Where did you get that necklace, anyway?” He changed the subject, pointing at it with his chin as he nodded his head.

Your fingers flew to your neck protectively, grasping the chain of it where the clasp would have been if it hadn’t disappeared. “I got it from..” You mind raced around in a tizzy, seeking a word that would best describe your client without completely outing your choice in occupation. “A friend.”

“Well, I’d look for better friends if I was you.”

“What do you mean?” You asked again, practically pleading with the man in red at this point, desperate for some kind of information to quell the building confusion and fear that was rapidly building up inside of you. God, this was such a strange day- not one thing had gone how you’d expected in the slightest. Well, that was not including the cash you’d made earlier. That you saw coming.

“I’m pretty sure that thing attracts demons or something,” He said, gesturing to the alley behind where you both stood. “That’s why that thing went after you. It calls out to them.”

Your hands flew to your head, palms pressed to your temples as you took in and processed what he was saying. Demons? Was he on drugs? There was no way- things like that didn’t exist outside of stories and myths. But also part of what he was saying made sense, even if you didn’t fully understand why yet… and you’d heard rumors of other creatures like that lizard creature-thing popping up and other strange, unexplained events happening in the course of time that passed since Red Grave had that incident last year. 

“Demons? You mean like that tree in Red Grave thing that happened last year? And all the weird shit it brought with it? Something left over from it?” 

“Yep, exactly,” the man nodded again.

“Fuck,” You muttered, shifting on your feet before looking over at the man who’d saved you once again. It was undeniable that he was good looking, even in as dingy of lighting as the moonlight provided. You could still make out the chisel of his features, the blue of his eyes, and maybe it was due to the high emotions you were feeling at the situation, but you realized he was quite attractive. He seemed completely unfazed by all of this, like he did it on the regular. You realized as you looked him up and down that whatever tool or weapon he’d used to slay the creature was gone, or maybe it was lost in the haze of confusion you felt. However, your mind was still racing. “What the hell am I going to do?”

“Well, you’re in luck,” the man said as he stretched, raising his thick arms above his head and snapping your attention back to him as your eyes lingered on his form. “It’s sorta my job- I’m a demon hunter.”

You snorted back a laugh before realizing he was probably telling the truth, after all, he had dealt with that evil komodo dragon with a surprising ease that you figured the average 40-something year old man could not do. “My hero,” You said bitterly, annoyed that you were even in this situation to begin with making your tongue thick. “And just what do you propose?” 

“I’ll help you get rid of the necklace and whatever creepy-crawlies it lures to it,” he said, dragging a hand through his overgrown hair. “We can meet tomorrow to discuss details- you can come to my office.”

The mention of an office made you hesitate. Of course- there had to be a catch with this random man you barely knew offering you his help, there always was in situations like this. Hell, this was probably the perfect chance for him to exploit you, especially if he knew what you did for a living. Not on your watch- you’d stay one step ahead of him. No- you’d beat him at his own game, or whatever one he was trying to play at. What was his name again? Homer? Or Plato? Virgil, even? Something equally as outrageous in today’s day and age. 

“And what will this cost me?”  You sighed coyly, pursing your lips as you took a step closer to the man. 

“Ahh,” The man groaned and rubbed the back of his neck, looking surprisingly sheepish for the first time in the short time you’d known him. “We can discuss that later.” 

An idea sparked within you. So that was it- he had a motive. Clearly, he wanted to offer his help with your little so called problem and then he’d find a way to profit from you. Typical man. Your thoughts were snowballing into something much greater than you were consciously aware, and it all made sense to you, since he was following you back from the bar for no apparent reason. But like it or not, you did need to get this necklace off. And he did seem to deal with that lizard with an incredible ease. So maybe you would show up to his office tomorrow and see what he had to offer. But when it came to payment, you had something else in mind. Something that you were sure would satisfy him while bringing no harm to you nor the money you worked hard to earn.

You took a step closer to the man in red. “What if I…” Taking another step forward, you inserted yourself into his personal bubble. “paid you in advance?”

“Getting a little close there, aren’t you?” The man’s eyebrows shot up before he regained his composure, gesturing to the short distance between your bodies with his hand. “Normally, people pay after the job is done,” he said slowly, like he wasn’t sure you’d understand otherwise. 

He clearly wasn’t picking up what you were putting down. Or maybe you weren’t being clear enough with your intention for him to get what you meant.

Throwing caution to the wind, you cast your hand out in front of you, seeking a bit blindly as the darkness in the alleyway made it hard for you to be 100% sure of where you were reaching. But once your fingertips felt the cool leather of your new friend’s pants, you knew you were on track. You moved your hand around, hoping to find what you were looking for quickly, and once you felt an unmistakable hardness under the fabric of his pants, you honed in on it and squeezed it lightly, enough so that he wouldn’t misunderstood what you meant this time. He was already slightly hard it seemed, and packing some serious heat. Whether he was already hard from any remaining adrenaline from the fight he was just in or if he appreciated your appearance despite how flustered you were, you weren’t sure but at the same time you really didn’t care either way.

“Can I pay you in a different way?” You squeezed him again for emphasis, looking up at him from under your eyelashes in a way that usually worked on whatever client you had for the night.

It was a good thing you were looking up at the man as it allowed you to get an eyeful of the way his expression twisted: first with his eyebrows raised and his mouth ajar as you watched the gears in his brain crank to life at your proposition, then you watched as a healthy pink spread across the entirety of his face to the tips of his ears and down his neck, stopping short of the vast amount of hair on his chest. 

“Fuck, yeah, you can,” He exclaimed as a wide smile broke out across his face. “Hell yeah, this must be my lucky day.”

A twinge of annoyance ran through you. You were not amused in the slightest that today, one of the worst days you’d had so far, could be a lucky day for this guy. The urge to roll your eyes was strong, and you almost did until you realized that he was inching closer to you, ducking near as his eyes started to close and you quickly realized he was going to kiss you. There was no way you were going to let that happen- you didn’t even let your favorite clients do something like that. No way: kissing was a sacred act reserved for someone you weren’t having transactional sex with and would be special whenever the time came around that there was someone like that in your life. If that ever happened, that was.

You placed a hand on his chest, stopping him from moving closer. He opened his eyes back up, looking at you with mild confusion. You smiled sweetly, not wanting him to think you were losing your nerve. After all, you never did. 

“Actually, I had something else in mind,” You practically purred before stepping away from him and circling around until you were facing the brick wall of one of the buildings lining the alleyway. Your new friend was standing behind you, and you turned back to throw a sultry look over your shoulder before reaching to grab his arm and guide him to step closer to you. Still holding on to his wrist, you moved his arm so that his hand rested on your hip. Then, you arched your back and slid on to your tiptoes which allowed you to effectively grind your ass back on the firm bulge under his fly. 

Keeping up the motion, you could literally feel him get harder against you as you rotated your hips. He seemed to like what you were doing too, as he took another step closer to you and ground his hips into the plush of your ass with a deeper intensity, his free hand grabbing your other hip and using his hold on you to steer your own movements. His breath came out in warm puffs that you could feel against the back of your neck, and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t get a tingle of pleasure from the muffled, low groans that escaped him with each sway of your hips. 

Judging by what you could feel and from how tall he was, he was probably above average size-wise- maybe even more if he wasn’t fully hard yet. You weren’t really that nervous though, since you were a professional at this sort of thing, you were good at getting your body to adapt when it was needed. And there was the added bonus of all of the adrenaline you still had coursing in your veins from tonight, effectively making you wetter than you probably would have been normally. But at the same time, it did help that this guy was pretty cute.

After a few more moments of just grinding, you felt like enough was enough and it was time to get started. You straightened your back and turned around to face your companion, whose hands released you enough to allow you to move but didn’t let go of you entirely. He watched you with an amused expression as you unzipped his pants, your hand dipping inside of them as well as his boxer briefs to pull his cock out to the night air. Your earlier estimations were a little off- he was definitely well above average and it was obvious to you despite how blurred your vision was in the dark of the night. You must have looked as surprised as you felt because the man laughed. 

“Too much for ya, babe?” He teased, bucking his hips into your touch as you gave him a contemplative stroke. “Don’t think you can handle it?”

You laughed in spite of yourself, finding his cocky attitude both amusing and contagious. “Oh, I can handle it,” You retorted, squeezing your fist tighter as you pumped the length of his cock faster, relishing the way his eyes seemed to glaze over as he watched your hand move. Suddenly, you wanted nothing more than to knock him off of his high horse. “You have no idea what I can and can’t handle…” You trailed off, racking your brain for exactly what his name was- it completely escaped you with the jumble of events today brought.

“Dante,” he confirmed with a nod. Luckily, he didn’t seem annoyed or mad you’d forgotten his name, just entertained.

“Dante,” You repeated, feeling the unfamiliar weight of his name roll off your tongue. 

Before he could continue this otherwise thrilling conversation, you pulled your hand off of his thick cock and instead, turned your attention to your purse where you dug around for something. It didn’t take you very long and you found it quickly, pulling it out of your bag before bringing the little rectangle made of plastic up to your teeth and tearing it open with a practiced ease. You then brought your hand back down to Dante’s cock, giving him one final pump before you guided the condom to the tip of his dick and rolled it down over him. While you always carried condoms with you, and would never be caught without one, you were relieved that you had one that seemed to fit a man of his size.

After the condom was rolled on, you turned back around to face the brick wall, which you reached out and pressed your palms against. The cool, rough scratch of the brick against your palms did little to ground you and you felt like your heart was still pounding with nerves. Using the wall as your support, you once again arched your back and pressed the round of your ass against Dante’s cock, feeling the lube from the condom smear against your dress and sink into the fabric against your skin. One of your hands dropped from the wall and moved to hike the skirt of your dress up and over your ass, revealing your satin panties in an attempt to move things along. You then looked back over your shoulder, mustering up a smoldering look at the man behind you.

“I’m ready,” You stated, moving your ass against his cock again as you shifted your weight onto your toes.

“You sure?” Dante asked as he held the base of his cock, tapping the tip of it against the smooth fabric of your panties like he was knocking for entry. “I don’t mind taking the time to get you ready, hell, I mean I’d like-”

“No,” You exhaled impatiently as you cut him off. “I’m ready. Just fuck me now.”

“If the lady insists,” Dante shrugged before pulling your underwear to the side and lining up with your entrance. 

Slowly, Dante began pushing his cock inside of you. His movements were drawn-out, like he was giving you time to adjust and speak up if you needed to. While you appreciated the gesture, it wasn’t really necessary- you were so slippery wet at this point that you were borderline numb to his endeavors, undoubtedly one of the many ways your job had trained your body to react.

When he finally bottomed out inside of you, you felt near nothing beyond just the general sensation of being filled by something girthy. It was fine, nothing special, and once he started moving his hips and actually thrusting against you, you played your part and supplied the usual moans and airy sighs that you gave to all of your clients. If you were honest, you were ready for this to be over so you could go home and have the rest of that pasta.

However, it seemed like Dante was seeing underneath the act you were putting on as his hips slowed down, burying himself almost entirely to the hilt. “This not working for you?” He squeezed your hip for emphasis as he spoke. While it was sweet he seemed to care about how it was for you, or at least pretend to, it wasn’t necessary.

“No, no, it’s good,” You tried to reassure him with the (fake) breathlessness of your voice.

“Alright…” he trailed off, still seemingly unconvinced of your pleasure. 

His hands that held on to your hips guided you to arch your spine more, sticking out your ass on display for his viewing pleasure even further than you were before. He pulled out briefly before diving back in, this time the angle of your hips had him sliding back in and guiding the tip of his cock into that sensitive, spongey spot within you. The sudden shock of pleasure made you keen, your fingers scraping into the brick wall as your eyes fluttered shut unexpectedly. 

Dante picked up on your reaction fast, and began relentlessly honing in on that spot, pulling back and forth and hitting it over and over and over again. Moans flew from your mouth uncontrollably, and your knees were beginning to feel weak again but this time from the overwhelming pleasure that was flooding your system. Something inside of you shifted, flipping so suddenly that you felt overwhelmed at once. You hadn’t expected it to be like this, not one bit at all. Dante seemed to be enjoying it more now that there was clear evidence you were too, and you could tell this from the way he panted and groaned on a particularly hard thrust.

“So you like it like this, huh?” Dante murmured, his hips ramming into your ass with a reckless speed. It was a miracle no one had discovered the two of you, and it certainly would have been easy to do so with the sounds of your own wetness and the slapping of skin on skin echoing in the empty alley and acting as a cue to anyone curious enough to follow the repetitive beats.

For once, you couldn’t find the words to reply. Too wrapped up in your own pleasure, all you could do was moan in response. All the bite in you was being fucked out, and you were too desperate to fall into orgasm brought by the hands of another to really get your attitude back. Taking advantage of the way you were starting to lean forward limply against the wall, one of Dante’s hands released the hold it had on your hip and moved instead around your body and between your legs. With the confidence of someone who knew what they were doing, he found your clit and began rubbing it with a lax ease that contradicted the eager, hard thrust of his hips. But it was enough, and you could feel the beginning bubbles of an orgasm brewing under your skin. 

You moved one of your hands from where it supported you against the wall and brought it to Dante’s arm, squeezing the red leather of his jacket as you whimpered. “Dante,” You panted, feeling entirely engulfed by the unexpectedness of this encounter, let alone of the entire day. “I’m so close.”

Your words seemed to encourage him, as his hips sped up snapping into your body with a speed that stole the breath from your lungs as stars shot out behind your eyelids. Each time he bottomed out, he bashed into that spot, the pleasure so thick that you could drown in it. His fingers sped up rubbing your clit too, moving so quickly that if they hadn’t gathered up some of the excess of your fluids, it probably would have felt sore quickly. Instead, it just furthered your impending climax, and you could tell that he was determined to get you to come first.

And it wasn’t much longer until you did. The pleasure that you were swimming in dragged you under, and you submitted to it, feeling your body grow limp as that white hot euphoria you rarely felt at the hands of another ran through your body from the top of your head to the soles of your feet, like an electrical current. A loud moan escaped you as you came, something so rough and urgent and not at all like the dainty, delicate moans you’d spend so much time perfecting that you almost didn’t recognize your own voice. 

It seemed like your own resignation to your climax was enough to tip Dante into his own as well, as with one final thrust, he bottomed out so deeply inside of you that the tip of his latex covered cock nestled against your cervix. He came with a loud shout, his hips ebbing with movement as he likely filled the condom you’d supplied him. Dante leaned forward, pressing you onto the brick wall as you both caught your breath. It was sorta nice, you had to admit, and there was a part of you that was almost disappointed it was over so fast. Maybe it had been a while since he got any, which would’ve surprised you for such a good looking guy like he was. 

Slowly, Dante pulled off of your sweaty body before guiding his flagging cock out of you. You winced momentarily at the loss of contact and heat, feeling weirdly self conscious that you were even feeling that way to begin with. But then again, it was rare for you to actually have good sex. You almost believed it couldn’t exist in transactions like this. But maybe this really wasn’t the kind of transactions you’d gotten used to. You pulled your skirt back down after you pulled your underwear back in place. Behind you, you could hear the sound of Dante also getting himself presentable again.

Dante cleared his throat and you turned around. He held the used, tied off condom in his hand. “What should I do with this?”

“I don’t know,” You shrugged. “Toss it on the ground or take it home and throw it away. I don’t care.” God, you had quit smoking a few years ago but now, you really wanted a cigarette. You couldn’t tell if that intrusive craving was from the sex or just the general stress of the day.

Dante frowned but said nothing. Instead, he tucked the used condom into his coat pocket with a grimace. He cleared his throat once more, like he was trying to distract you from the fact he put it into his jacket. “Okay, so come to the office tomorrow and we’ll figure out this necklace thing.” When you said nothing, he spoke again, “It’s called Devil May Cry. In the middle of downtown, you can’t miss it.”

You nodded, feeling a heavy exhaustion start to settle in your bones. Suddenly, you were dying to get home and pass the fuck out, sleep away this nightmare of a day and wake up tomorrow like this was all a bad dream. “Okay, I’ll swing by,” You confirmed, too tired to work out any more details beyond that.

“Sounds good,” Dante nodded, looking at your face directly. He studied your expression for a few moments, looking at you like he was really taking in your features before his gaze dropped back to the necklace and then back to your face again. “See ya tomorrow.” With that, he turned and began to saunter away, holding up a hand casually like a goodbye wave with no movement. He didn’t turn back to get another look at you, and you were thankful for that.

You watched him walk away, still reeling over the events of the day playing back in your mind. Today was so weird, and you still had a few blocks until you were back in the safety of your apartment. But still, it wasn’t all bad you figured if it led to you getting fucked like that. Honestly, that part of your day was pretty nice. Who knew what tomorrow would bring either, you certainly wouldn’t be opposed to another go around at it. Perhaps after you got this stupid necklace off, though. And it seemed like Dante would probably be the guy to help you out. 

Maybe your luck was looking up after all.

Chapter Text

You didn’t sleep at all last night.

It wasn’t from lack of trying, that much was certain. But it seemed like no matter how you laid on your giant, plush bed, you could still feel the weight of the necklace around your neck, tight against your delicate skin like a firmly knotted noose. Every time you rolled over, trying desperately to get comfortable, the necklace moved with you, the heat of it still snug on your skin reminding you it wasn’t going anywhere. When you closed your eyes to try to count sheep, instead you found yourself replaying the day’s events on repeat and just how exactly you managed to get into this mess.

But there was another event that kept popping up in your sleep deprived mind: thoughts about the man you met last night and how he saved you. Even more, you found yourself thinking of how you repaid him for his help, triggering a contented throb to ache between your legs. This wasn’t like you. You didn’t normally spend your nights replaying the sounds of passion the men you spent time with made nor did you think of their own larger, calloused fingers as you ran your own smaller hand across your heated skin. But you also had never found yourself in a situation like this one: cursed by a demon attracting necklace that you couldn’t remove. So maybe there really was a first time for everything.

Sighing, you sat up reluctantly before casting your thick, down-feather comforter off of your body and aside, leaving it over to the side of where you were laying. All this tossing and turning wasn’t serving you any good, and you figured that the sooner you got up and started with your day, the sooner you could go to Devil May Cry and have your new friend help you out like he said he would. So you did just that and threw the satin top sheet off of your body as well and rose out of bed, leaving the sheets as disheveled as you felt. No sense in making the bed- if today’s endeavors were anything like yesterday’s, you’d just be diving back into it to hide from the world.

Once you had a hot, fresh cup of coffee in hand, you took a seat on your favorite side of the lux, expensive couch you had in your living room and thought about the day at hand. Clearly, the first thing you’d do today would be to go to the Devil May Cry and meet up with Dante. What happens next, you weren’t so sure. He’d seemed pretty confident yesterday, so maybe he already had a few ideas on how to solve this problem you’d found yourself in. And if not, there was always your fence- they certainly were dependable. You knew that they at least had the knowledge that came with flipping stolen valuables that maybe there was some intersection of knowledge about demonic artifacts too.

Having made up your mind and finished your cup of coffee, the next thing you’d have to do before heading out was get ready. Usually, getting dolled up was your favorite part of your day. Taking part in your extensively researched 12-step skincare routine before doing your makeup, perfecting your hair, and picking out a killer outfit- it was all a sacred routine that you focused on while your mind went blank and shifted into that blissfully numb autopilot of flow. However, today you were just not feeling it. Maybe it was the anxiety from everything going on getting to you, or maybe it was that no matter what you chose to wear or however you styled yourself, nothing you did was enough to distract from the gigantic stone hanging on your sternum. And what pissed you off even more was the fact that it really did look good on you. Almost too good. Distractingly so.

After some long deliberation, you finally settled on an outfit: a dress that was cute yet casual along with a pair of shoes that were stylish and easy to move in, just in case the situation called for it today. Why you were putting so much effort into your appearance at a moment of crisis like this, you didn’t know. But that was a concern for a later time, one less life threatening at that.

Once you felt like you were adequately ready, you grabbed your bag and headed for the door. When you’d checked it multiple times over the course of your morning, the maps app on your cellphone told you that you’d easily be able to take the city’s public transportation over to Dante’s place. However, now that it was actually time to head over, you weren’t sure if you were up to figuring out the journey of bus rides and wait times you’d have to take. Plus, that really wasn’t your style. So instead, you opened up your reliable ride share app, and promptly called yourself a taxi, and set a destination that was two blocks down the street from the shop to allow yourself that distance to walk and clear your mind in the hopes that it would help you get less antsy from your nerves. Now all you had to do was wait on the street for your ride- Which was a concept that you were more than used to.

Now that you were walking down the block before you stood in front of the Devil May Cry, you felt a lot more confident and ready than you did just a few hours ago. It was a good idea letting yourself have this walking time; it helped remind you that these were your streets and this was your city. There was nothing you couldn’t get out of and you could charm the pants off anyone and into their wallet, if you so chose to. You could do anything if you wanted to, simply just because you were that bitch . And it was that phrase that you repeated internally, letting it echo in your head as you came to a stop in front of the building that Dante told you to meet him at, the Devil May Cry.

You peered up at the building, letting your eyes scan over the worn down brick walls. Clearly, this building has been through a lot, and whether that was a good or bad thing was beyond you. You couldn’t tell if it meant that business was good enough for Dante to have planted stable roots here or if it was a sign things were bad since he couldn’t go anywhere else than this old building on the bad side of town. And that gaudy sign with the shop name! It was lucky that it was still day time so it remained powered off for now- otherwise you probably would have noticed just how many of the bulbs were out and passed judgment on that too. But either way, you were here now and there was no turning back, not if you wanted Dante’s help.

A quick glance at your phone told you that it was only 11:30 am, and it was crazy to you that it was still so early in the day. Maybe you were more anxious than you’d realized. Hopefully, Dante would be ready for you, and he’d have to get over it if he wasn’t. Strolling up the steps to the large double doors, you grabbed the handle of one of them before pressing it in slightly to see if it was unlocked. When the door did as you directed, a wave of relief washed over you. Maybe he was expecting you, or at least, maybe he was ready for something or some other customer. Either way, you hoped this meant he was at least prepared to get started and that you weren’t walking in on anything you shouldn’t be.

You let yourself in, closing the door firmly behind you. Inside, the office looked like nothing you were expecting, although you really didn’t have much in mind, just weren’t expecting it to be like this . For a moment, you almost wondered if you were really in the right place. The man you met last night was a little weird, sure, but he seemed to be dependable in a way that was uncommon in this day and age, and you couldn’t imagine that such a reliable guy, let alone one of his age, could live like this. You couldn’t help but to look around, inspecting the room and taking in the various piles of garbage that seemed to be discarded so haphazardly around the place it almost looked like they had prior planning, but that would make no sense at all. It was as if a tornado had run through here after picking up everything in the dumpster outside a local pizza joint and threw all of that junk around this room. And you didn’t even know where to start with all the bizarre, seemingly related demon artifacts on the walls. But that was a good sign- it helped cement the idea that he knew what he was talking about regarding the necklace still locked around your neck.

Yet, despite the clutter and mess around the room, there was one key thing missing: Dante. He wasn’t here which confirmed in part to you that he was not waiting for you to show up. However, once you had that thought, it was almost like the man himself knew it.

“Come back later,” a deep voice rang out from behind a corner. “The shop's closed.”

Dante then appeared into view, standing up from where he was crouched in front of the open door of the ancient fridge off to the right side of the room, somewhere your eyes glazed over as you scanned the room. No wonder you hadn’t noticed he was literally in the room with you with all this garbage and demonic junk laying around- it was too distracting. However, you certainly noticed him as he rose, wet-haired and shirtless, into your full line of view. He had seemed to find whatever he was looking for in the fridge, and you watched as one of his thick arms pulled a cold bottle of beer out of the fridge to his face before he bit the cap off with his teeth like it was nothing. The sound of the cap hitting the floor after he spat it out was resounding in the otherwise silent room.

Holy fuck - he was ripped. Which made sense you supposed from what you could tell from your interaction last night, both the demon slayage and also the physical exchange shared between the two of you. But seeing it with your own eyes, what little you could see from this angle as he was still partially hidden behind the fridge door, was enough to spark your curiosity. Usually, you were used to being on the receiving end of such lascivious looks and now it was your turn to send one off. You weren’t mad about it in the slightest, not when there was such a delectable display in front of your wandering eyes. Truly, you couldn’t help it, not when you could see the broad expanse of the muscles on his side ripple from just the movement of lifting the beer bottle to his lips. You only hoped you weren’t wearing your desire explicitly on your face.

When you hadn’t listened to his words and hightailed it out of there, Dante closed the fridge door and turned around to look at you with a surprisingly stern look on his face. But you almost didn’t even notice it, not now that he’d given you a full look at his insane body, which nearly seemed like it was sculpted by the Gods rather than made of flesh and muscle. It was like a slow form of torture but you took your time with it, letting your eyes start at the belt buckle that held his pants together before trailing upwards over that delicious path of coarse white hairs that lead you to stare at his incredible six pack. When your eyes finally made their way up to his pecs, you had to gulp slightly just to make sure you weren’t drooling.

Finally, you were looking at his face. The fog of confusion you were under must’ve been clouding your memories of last night- he was even more beautiful than you remembered. It took everything in you not to scowl in acknowledgment that he was good looking- because of course, it was just your luck to get helped by a man who knew what he was doing and also was attractive. In your experience, those kinds of men were the worst, and usually the most annoying too. Hopefully, Dante would prove to be different from what you were used to.

The stern expression on Dante’s face shifted into a mildly confused one, his eyebrows furrowing as he clearly tried to place who you were and why you were standing there in his shop. Then, a flicker of amused realization ran across his face when the puzzle pieces fell into place.

“Oh, you’re the chick from last night,” Dante hummed, walking away from his fridge and over to the desk at the head of the room. He sat on the wooden chair behind it, swinging his feet onto the desk like he didn’t have a care in the world. It took everything in you not to stare with wide eyes at the way the expanse of his amazing body was basically displayed for your viewing pleasure. However, he spoke again which helped snap you out of the lust fueled thoughts beginning to form in your mind. “Came here for more, huh?” He waggled his eyebrows at you for emphasis.

“What? No,” you spat out, feeling a heated annoyance dust across your face. So he had noticed you obviously staring at his physique. “You said you’d help me, so I’m here. For that.” You cleared your throat, “I’m here for you to help me.”

“Okay,” Dante nodded before taking a sip of his beer. “Kinda thought you’d be stopping by later or something.”

“No, I’m beyond ready to get this thing off me,” you reaffirmed, fingers subconsciously rising up your body to stroke the jewel of the heavy necklace sitting on your chest. You watched as Dante’s eyes followed the movement of your fingers before locking onto the gem. His expression shifted into something you had trouble reading, which said a lot since most of your job revolved around your ability to read men. But the look on his face was distant, like looking at the necklace sent him somewhere 1000 miles away from the room you were both in.

Dante shook his head vigorously, as if to break the hold the necklace had on him. You could see small water droplets fly from his damp hair and land on the wooden chair as he shook out. It was weird, the way the necklace seemed to entirely grab his attention once he was reminded of its presence. It didn’t quite do the same to you, but you made the mental note to ask him why that was later. Dante pointed at the necklace hanging from your neck rudely. “Remind me again where you got that thing from?”

Your hand tightened its grasp on the necklace, almost protectively despite how much you were beginning to hate this thing. “From a friend, you could say.”

“So why not go back to this friend and find out what the hell is up with it?”

“I can’t,” you groaned exasperatedly, thinking with dread that this was how the truth of how you received the necklace would come out. “I don’t really know him. He’s a… work friend. Believe me, if I could, I would’ve already.”

Dante seemed unphased by this revelation. Instead, he just sipped his beer nonchalantly. “Okay, well, what do you know about it?”

“What do I know about the necklace?” You repeated slowly, considering his question. “Nothing. Except from what you said about it last night- that it attracts demons, or whatever.”

“Right,” Dante nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking it does at least. I got a friend who helps me with demon arms and stuff, I think she’d probably agree with me.”

“Okay, we can start there.” You nodded, feeling a vigorous relief at the idea of getting an expert involved. “I was thinking of taking it to a friend of mine too, one who has a lot of experience with valuable and... weird things. But I like your idea too.”

At the mention of your friend, Dante’s eyes lit up with interest. He shifted in his seat, removing his feet from the desk so that he sat up straight. Then he placed the now empty beer bottle on the desk, clearly not concerned about the remaining condensation adding to the rings of water damage covering the already busted desk. “Nah, let’s check with your friend first,” he chuckled in amusement, although you really didn’t see anything amusing about the current conversation. “I’m interested in what they’ve got to say about this.”

Rolling your eyes, you exhaled through your nose with impatience. Was this a joke to him? He was the one who said you could be in danger! “Okay, sure, whatever,” you sighed and held your hands up in resignation. “Put a shirt on and let’s go.”

“You sure you want me to?” Dante teased playfully as he stood up. But when you stared daggers at him, he complied quickly. “Okay, okay, fine,” he laughed once more before walking over to the couch that was on the other side of the room. He lifted a crumpled pile of fabric that laid over the back of the couch which you quickly realized was a shirt before he sniffed it, shrugged, and then put it on.

Once he was adequately dressed, Dante grabbed his red jacket that was slung over the back of his desk chair before speaking once more, “One more thing..” After the jacket was on, he began pulling on his gloves. “I never got your name last night.”

A pinprick of panic pinched your lungs, stealing the breath from them and rendering you unable to respond right away. That was true- you’d purposely left out your name in the ruckus of last night, but now that he was asking for it, you knew you’d have to give it and you weren’t exactly sure what to give: your working name or your real one. It was a privilege to know your real name, and you weren’t sure if he was fit to have it bestowed upon him. Plus, you saw this interaction as an unconventional bartering service between two working professionals. He helped you with your demon problem, and you gave him some pussy in repayment. In a career such as yours, letting clients know your true name came with too many safety concerns to list out.. But despite all of that, when your mouth opened to respond to his inquiry, your real name tumbled from your lips much to your own surprise.

Dante said your name once, drawing out the letters slowly like he was testing the weight of your name on his tongue. Hearing him say your name out loud sent butterflies fluttering around rapidly in your lower belly. It suddenly occurred to you that you couldn’t remember the last time you’d given it out, let alone heard a man say it. In a way, it was nice, but it also made you feel much more exposed and vulnerable than the necklace did.

He said your name once more, quicker this time but no less affective to your psyche. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah,” you nodded and pulled out your cell phone, feeling even more overwhelmed than you originally did. “I’ll call us a ride.”

“Wow, real fancy schmancy!” Dante exclaimed, herding you towards the front door. “I could get used to this.”

“By the way,” you paused, ignoring his statement and turning to look at Dante as you stood by the door. “Do you always leave your front door unlocked like that?”

“Only when there’s the chance a bodacious babe is gonna walk through it,” he responded with a grin and a lazy wink flashed in your direction.

Was he flirting with you? And so badly too. This was so not the time for that. Rolling your eyes, you decided not to respond to his bad pickup line. Nothing good would come from getting tangled up with a man like Dante, regardless of the situation you found yourself in.

“Okaaaayyy,” you threw a look at Dante, your face pinched in thinly veiled irritation. “How about we stop talking for a little while.” As you spoke, your phone chimed, signaling that the taxi had already pulled up and was waiting for you both. “Let’s get going.”

Dante nodded, yanking the door open for you. “Ladies first.”

You beat back the urge to roll your eyes again and instead walked through the open door. There were bigger things on your mind than dealing with a new friend who had taken a shine to you, such as getting this necklace off. At this point, all you could do was pray that your fence would have some sort of information to point you towards the relief you needed.

Less than 30 minutes later and your taxi had dropped you off at your requested destination, a bar on the opposite side of town. It was never your choice to meet in these kinds of locations, at bars you really weren’t familiar with. Instead, it was your fence who made the meeting spot requests, since she liked to never stay put in one spot for very long. Must’ve been something about it being harder to track her down if she was always moving. You didn’t question it since your fence had proved her worth, time and time again. Plus you had her cell phone number, so you never had too much trouble finding her when you needed to. You only hoped that she didn’t mind that you were bringing someone extra along with you.

The ride over had been entertaining and almost worth the fee you had to pay for an XL taxi once you realized your companion needed the extra leg space. It was funny, watching Dante hunch over to fit in the tiny Chevrolet. It wasn’t funny, however, once you realized that there was no way he could sit like that for so long without you feeling the slightest amount of pity for him. So you canceled that ride, took the L on the money already lost to the ride share app, and called another, this time in a larger vehicle that could comfortably seat him.

The ride over was easier once you both got settled in the new, more luxurious car, although Dante was so tall that it was almost impossible to sit comfortably in a way that didn’t make your knee pressed against his. You assumed that he’d use this new physical connection between you two as a way to open the door for more awkward attempts at communication or awful flirting, but instead, he just turned away from you and stared out the window, watching the tall buildings outside as they zoomed on by.

Either way, when you got to your destination, you and Dante both hopped out of the car, ready to get this show on the road. You strolled on up to the bar, not waiting for Dante. However, before you could open the door and walk in, Dante stopped you in your tracks.

“Woah, woah, woah, hold on a second,” he said as he caught up with you, the sound of the taxi driving off in the background barely registering to you in your hurry. “What exactly are we walking into?”

You scoffed. What, was he expecting an ambush? Just what kind of life did he think you led? “It’s just a bar,” you shrugged. Admittedly, you’d never been there before but the outside looked nice enough. Definitely better kept than the outside of Dante’s office. “My fence gave me this place as our meeting spot, and I trust her, so…” Shifting on your feet with discomfort, you stalled. You really didn’t want to give away more information than what was needed. It wasn’t like you distrusted Dante or anything, hell you believed that he genuinely wanted to help you, but you didn’t know what or who to trust. Everything was still so confusing and the fact that you were even in this situation to begin with still blew your mind a little.

Dante narrowed his eyes at you, not necessarily with distrust but more like he was assessing the situation internally. He then turned around, scanning the surrounding street and buildings before turning back to the bar’s entrance and looking that up and down too. “Alright, well, I don’t sense anything demonic in there,” He nodded towards the front door. “So let’s get a move on then.”

Your eye twitched in annoyance. If anything, he was the one slowing you both down at the moment. “Okay, sure,” you agreed through gritted teeth as you pulled the bar door open and walked in. The bar was fairly empty, which made sense seeing as it was barely past noon and it had only just opened for the day. You took a few steps into the bar, hearing the noise of your heeled shoes clicking against the old hardwood flooring over the faint jazzy music playing via the speakers. This place was fancier than you had come to expect from the joints you followed your fence to.

You looked around the room quickly to spot your fence, but no luck. She didn’t really stick out in a crowd, despite being strikingly pretty and having a very unique fashion sense, but rather, she was good at blending in. Even in a bar as dead as this one. But then your eyes landed on a hallway, its mouth shrouded with a long, sheer curtain to deter patrons from investigating whatever shady happenings unfolded in that back room. That must’ve been where she was waiting for you, so you didn’t wait for Dante to catch on to your frame of thinking before you took off in that direction.

Dante had no problem keeping up with you, and he followed your lead as you pulled the curtain aside and began to march down the hallway in front of you. No one had stopped you as you did so, which you took as a sign that you were headed the right direction. But it also appeared to you that you didn’t see a single employee besides the bored looking bartender who had been idly wiping down the bar when you walked past them, so there wasn’t really anyone there to stop you in the first place.

The hallway was short but there was a clear shift in mood once you were past the fabric curtain that concealed it. Faux wood paneling lined the walls, and there was almost no overhead lighting which led you to walk without truly knowing where you were going. All you could do was follow the direction towards the shut door that was outlined with light peaking through from the other side. After a few more steps forward, you stood in front of the door, the sound of much louder, scratchier music slipping out from underneath it. A nervous sweat pricked across your body, and you could feel your hands getting clammy. The situation at hand was starting to get to you, that had to be why you were feeling so anxious!

Regardless of the sudden rush of anxiety you felt, you grabbed the sleek door handle and twisted it before pushing the door away and stepping into the room. You glanced around quickly, still feeling your heightened emotions guide your actions and quickly determined that the room looked fine. If anything, it looked even more upscale than the room you were just in. This new room had a higher level of swankiness, almost like it was trying to be an old speakeasy with the velvet lined seats and booths it had around the edges of the floor. And in the middle of the booth tucked away in the far left corner sat your fence. She had pulled one of the curtains loose, mildly obscuring her from view and if you weren’t already on such high alert today, you’d probably miss her- despite the fact that she was the only customer in the room.

You practically ran over to where she sat, with Dante hot on your heels. Coming to a short stop, you narrowly avoided crashing into the table she sat at. “Hi, Lady,” You spoke, loudly enough to gather her attention as she looked away from her phone and over in your direction instead.

However, it wasn’t you she was looking at, but rather the tall demon hunter behind you. You flinched upon instinct, worrying briefly that Dante’s presence would be a hindrance to getting Lady’s opinion on the necklace. As far as you knew from the limited times you’d worked with her, she didn’t take well to sudden surprises or unexpected company, let alone strange men. Unless they somehow made her more money, that was. But instead of reacting with anger or dismissing you both, Lady looked amused. Her eyebrow twitched upwards in a mild bewilderment before you watched it lower as a sly smile spread across her face.

“Hi there,” she said as her eyes finally flickered over to you. Then she looked back at Dante and gave him a nod hello. “Hey, Dante.”

It took everything in you to keep your jaw from dropping. You looked at Dante, who had started to move into the other side of the booth across from Lady. Then you looked at Lady again. Then Dante once more. This just made no sense. “You two… know each other?”

“Sorta-” Lady shrugged.

“We go way back-” Dante said as he leaned back in the booth, clearly making himself comfortable despite the limited space he had to work with.

They both stared at each other blankly, their words contradicting the others, but it didn’t bother you much. If anything, it made perfect sense that of course they knew each other. That was just the way your luck was going lately, it seemed.

“Whatever,” you shook your head like you were clearing the thought from your mind as you scooted in the cramped booth next to Dante. Damn, he really did take up a lot of space. But something would’ve felt weird to you if you didn’t sit with him, since you dragged him here. And while you didn’t know her personally, you knew Lady’s girlfriend wouldn’t appreciate you sitting snugly in a tight booth next to her girl. “Anyways, thanks for meeting us here, Lady.”

“So you’re working as a fence now?” Dante interrupted the flow of your speaking. “First I’m hearing of this.”

“You don’t know everything I get up to, Dante,” Lady retorted nonchalantly, picking up her glass of rum and coke. “Or my various business opportunities.”

“Right, but why are you always getting on my ass about what I owe you then…” Dante grumbled and slouched over in his seat with displeasure.

You took this as an opportunity to speak up and over whatever weird, friendly banter they clearly were setting up to dive into. “So I found this necklace,” your hand trailed on the long chain as you spoke, “and I tried it on and now I can’t take it off. He says it summons demons or something.” You nodded in Dante’s direction as you spoke.

“And where did you find this necklace?” Lady asked, her eyes sizing up the huge jewel that lay below your clavicle.

Why was everyone asking you this damn question?

“Where do you think?” You fired back, shooting Lady a pointed look, in the hopes that she’d get the implication you were telepathically sending her.

She simply laughed in response to your harsh tone, a quick and airy noise. “Okay, okay, I get it.”

Out of the corner of your eye you could see Dante looking back and forth between you and Lady, like he’d parsed out that you were both referring to something he had no idea about but was determined to figure out. But that really wasn’t your problem. He had the details he needed to know and it was better for you that way. What you did for work was none of his business, and Lady only really knew since a friend in the same business had introduced you to her, claiming that she could help you make an extra buck with your special talented sticky fingers.

Lady leaned across the table to allow herself a closer look at the necklace hanging from your neck. “It looks normal enough,” she concluded as she fixed her posture and sat up straight once more. “Did you feel a certain way before you put it on? Or after?”

You pursed your lips in thought. “Not that I recall…” Although it felt like you’d spent the last 16 hours replaying the error in your ways when you put on the stupid necklace, now it was like you forgot it all and couldn’t bring back the memory. “Well, now that I think about it, I felt this weird pull to it before I found it. And then before I tried it on, I had a really strong urge to put it on.”

“Beautiful jewelry can have that effect,” Lady acknowledged.

“No, it was more than that. It was like a thought I couldn’t get out of my head and it wouldn’t go away until I did what it wanted.”

“And after you put the necklace on? How did you feel then?”

“I felt normal,” you shrugged. “I remember thinking the necklace felt warmer than I thought it would.”

“Hmm, okay,” Lady paused. “Anything else you want to tell me?”

You thought once more, raking your brain for any other essential details but nothing else came to mind. “Not that I can think of… You’ve already asked me more questions about it than this guy did.” You gestured as you spoke, pointing at Dante with your thumb casually.

“Oh well, no doubt about that,” Lady smirked. “Unlike him, I’m actually thorough at my job.”

“Hey now, just because I don’t know much about fancy necklaces doesn’t mean I’m useless,” Dante exclaimed, smacking his palm down on the table for emphasis. “Remind me again just who saved your life last night, exactly?”

Flinching slightly at his words, you couldn’t deny the truth behind them. “You did…”

Dante looked smug at the recognition he deservedly got. “Yep, sure did.”

“Way to leave that part out,” Lady rolled her eyes in the direction of her friend. “That wasn’t at all some important information that should’ve been included or anything.”

“I was getting there!” Exaggerated irritation colored Dante’s expression as he shifted in his seat. He looked around the still empty bar. “Wait, so do we gotta go up to the bar to order a drink or will a waiter come by?”

“Dante, get to the point already!”

“Alright, alright, sheesh,” He rubbed the back of his head dejectedly. “I bagged a Riot that was stalking them last night, had to be because of the necklace.”

“Oh?” Lady’s eyes narrowed, and the intrigue she clearly felt at this new information made her look almost cat-like. “What makes you say that?”

Now it was Dante’s turn to throw a pointed look at Lady. “Just do,” he said as his eyes widened and then narrowed for emphasis. “I could tell.”

He was obviously referring to something that only he and Lady were privy to knowing in this conversation, which you were fine with. It wasn’t like you knew him all too well so you weren’t going to demand to know. Much like yourself, he was entitled to his own secrets. Plus he’d already seemed to be proven correct and he had beyond shown that he was a valuable asset to getting this necklace off of you. The fact that Lady seemed to know him and felt comfortable around him only made you feel more sure of that too.

“Must be a talisman, but a cursed one or an item imitating the effects of one,” Lady mused, looking once more at the necklace thoughtfully. “Maybe something for another, bigger demon if it’s drawing other demons to it?”

You sighed, sitting back in the booth. None of this made any sense to you at all, and up until the events of last night, you would have called the both of them crazy and gotten the hell out of here. But now you knew literally anything was possible. “I thought talismans were good?” You questioned, rolling your shoulders slightly in this cramped booth. Your arm brushed against Dante’s much larger one and you were quick to pull yours away again like you’d been burned. “Like something used in prayer or other religious purposes?”

“That’s true, normally,” Lady nodded in agreement to your words, but spoke slowly like you were a child she was trying to explain a complex idea to. “But what a demonic religion would consider good probably isn’t what everyone else on the planet would consider good.”

“Yeah, protective magics and good luck mean nothing when demonology is involved,” Dante cut in. “An item like that could be used for evil purposes, or whatever the creator of it wants to use it for.”

“Maybe it’s for a demon that’s just trying to stir up trouble,” Lady suggested. “Like a mischief demon.”

“Right, like Kelkor or something? I thought the same thing, but it’s not really his style.” Dante was quick to shut that idea down.

“Okay, but what about-”

“Playing guess the demon is fun and all, I’m sure, but how do I get this damn thing off me?” You interrupted, practically yelling in the otherwise near silence of the empty room. Even the music that was previously playing seemed to come to a sudden stop at your outburst.

Lady brought her attention back to you. “I dunno,” She shrugged. “Why not ask whoever you got it from how to remove it?”

“I don’t really know him. Or how to find him.”

“Why not retrace your steps? Maybe you can find him that way?” She suggested, like it would be the easiest thing in the world.

But her idea did make sense in a way. It probably would be easier if you went back to the hotel to see if they could provide you some information on your client from yesterday, maybe something like his name or even how to find him. And then you and Dante could go find him and make him pay for the complete and utter torment these last 24 hours had been.

“That’s honestly not a bad idea,” you turned to Dante. “Up for a ride somewhere else?”

He shrugged noncommittally. “Got nothing else to do today. But you’re paying for the taxi.”

That was a given, obviously . Rolling your eyes, you turned back to Lady. “Thanks again for the help. Sorry I don’t have anything for you to flip quite yet.”

“That’s fine,” She said, looking down at your necklace before glancing between you and Dante again. “But let me know how this all plays out.

You nodded in affirmative before scooting out of the booth and making your way towards the front of the room, not pausing to wait for Dante to follow.

“This is where you, uhhh, met your friend yesterday?”

“Yep, it sure was.”

The two of you stood outside the hotel you had left not even 24 hours ago. The gray concrete of the tall building walls looked completely different to you now, knowing what this hotel had in store for you then. It felt eerily ominous, even though you’d already gotten the necklace and the string of fate that tied you to it had started to unravel.

It took a moment for you to gather up your nerve before walking up to the spacious revolving door and pushing it inwards. Dante was close at your heels, but opted to take a different compartment than the one you were in. It seemed to you like he preferred to keep a certain amount of healthy space between the two of you, which was more than fine with you. You didn’t really care for the way his eyes would shift down to your necklace whenever he was looking at you, and while you were used to men staring at your chest, Dante doing it only made the necklace’s presence feel more overbearing and strangling.

You waltzed into the lobby, gliding over to the check in desk like you owned the place. Confidence was easy for you, even if it was 95% fake like it was now. Not like anyone besides you could tell the difference. The hotel lobby was huge, and just as clean as it was yesterday. There was a large, multi-tiered fountain that sat in the middle of the room, and you thought back to yesterday when you were here and threw a penny into the bottom of the fountain, wishing for something to shift your luck and change your life. It wasn’t nearly as amusing of a memory to you now.

There was no one in line at the desk, so you hopped right in front of it, leaning on it slightly as you set your bag down on the top of your half of the desk. You could feel Dante’s presence looming over you from behind, like some sort of guard dog on high alert- and you appreciated the sentiment although now you felt much more in your element than before. Hotels, you knew. This was your battle field. The front desk attendant that you stood in front of was the same girl from yesterday, you realized. Maybe this would be easier than you thought.

“Um, hi," You started to voice your question, but failed to gather the desk attendant’s full attention. She continued typing away on her keyboard, eyes focused on the monitor below her, but she raised her eyebrows in response to the sound of your voice.

You continued speaking, “I am so sorry to bother you, but I’m trying to get in contact with my friend who is staying here, in room 926. I was hoping you could tell me if he’s checked out yet or not.”

At your request, the typing stopped. “I’m sorry, ma’am , but that information is confidential,” the desk attendee looked away from the monitor to focus on you, her eyes widening in recognition. She then looked you up and down with an expression on her face that reeked of judgment, reminding you to stand up straight with pride and roll your shoulders back. “Have you tried to contact your friend to ask him yourself?”

“Well, could you tell me if it’s possible for me to rent that room now at least?” You ignored her question, shifting gears as best as you could to try to steamroll your way into the room. Maybe you and Dante should have come up with a better, more thought out plan before coming over here and rolling with it. Throwing a quick look over your shoulder at the man, you realized that he was just standing behind you with his arms crossed, an amused look on his face as he watched you take the reins and fail at this attempt to be casually sneaky.

The front desk attendant had caught on to the look you threw at Dante, and was now looking back and forth between the two of you with a bewildered expression, both eyebrows raised in shock over whatever she was cooking up in her brain to explain what was going on here. “You want…” She spoke slowly, and this time you could hear clearly how she disapproved of your lifestyle in her voice. “To rent the same room you were in yesterday?”

“Yes.” You nodded with impatience. “Is that possible?”

Tearing her eyes away from staring at you, the attendant looked back at her computer before typing quickly. “Well, technically it is available, but I’m not even sure if the cleaning service has gotten to it yet.”

Without realizing it, she inadvertently gave away a piece of information you were seeking: so the man had checked out. At least you knew he was on the move, even if you didn’t know where yet. And this girl didn’t even realize she’d broken the policy she claimed to follow since she was too busy being pseudo-scandalized by the implication of you showing up here yet again with another random man for a one night stay. Oh well, a win is a win in your book.

“That’s fine, we don’t mind,” you reassured, hoping to move this along quick enough before she could back out and attempt to assign you a different room. “I’ll pay in cash.”

Unzipping your bag, you began to dig around for your wallet. The fact that you had to dip into last night’s paycheck stung you a little, but it would be worth it to get this necklace off. Once you found your wallet, you began fishing it out only to be struck with an idea.

You leaned over the desk, close enough that the desk attendee could hear your whisper. “And there’s extra for you too if you write down the name and contact info for the guy who rented it yesterday.”

Without missing a beat, she responded, “Sure, for $300.”

Oh, so she had no problem taking money from a whore, it was just the whore’s lifestyle she disapproved of. Go figure.

Wincing at the price you were being extorted, you glanced back at Dante again only to see that he was now pretending not to listen in on the conversation at all, instead opting to whistle as he looked around and twiddled his thumbs. You turned back to the desk attendant once more as you rolled your eyes. Looks like you were handling this too. “Sure, that’s fine.”

The attendant nodded before scribbling something down on the hotel notepad, checking the monitor once again before confirming that what she wrote was correct and ripping the sheet from the pad. “The room rate will be $549 per night. Did you want it just for tonight?”

A flash of pain hit your wallet at her words. You’d already spent so much money on the taxi rides from earlier today, and now there was this. But nevertheless, you nodded in confirmation, “Yes, just this one night.” You counted out the money owed plus the amount going directly in her pocket with a heavy heart before putting the cash on the desk and sliding it over.

The hotel attendant in return got the key cards ready before taking the money you laid out for her. She then slid you the key cards as well as the note she had folded up. “Here you go, all set. Thank you very much for choosing us for your stay. I’m sure I don’t need to go over the rules again since you were just here yesterday.”

A vein twitched in your forehead at the hidden meaning behind her words. Forgoing the calm demeanor you were trying to keep up during this exchange, you quickly snatched both the note and the two keys from where the attendant had placed them on the desk. The tone of contempt in her voice made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up in annoyance- you were entirely positive that there was no way she’d never encountered other hotel guests who were in the same occupational field as you whilst at her job. But however annoying her thinly veiled distaste for you and your line of work was, you bit your tongue and swallowed back any remarks that would only hinder your desperate investigation for now.

“Thank you very much.” You flashed the desk attendant your award winning, best in customer service smile, one reserved for placating the fussiest of clients that you occasionally had the displeasure of encountering. “If we need anything, we’ll call the front desk.”

Without waiting for the attendant to respond, you turned back around towards Dante. “Let’s go.”

Dante nodded affirmatively, “Lead the way.” He glanced around the lobby as if looking for the elevator, but there was a muted awkwardness on his face that gave away his own discomfort at being in such a highfalutin room as the grand lobby of the hotel. His eyes lingered on a few of the other clients within the lobby before drifting over the various decorations that either hung from the walls or decorated the perimeter of the room and then focusing back on you, still waiting for you to guide him to the elevators.

There was a part of you that understood how he felt in a way- some part of you would never truly get used to being here, among the glitz, glamour, and money of the city. While you welcomed it and all that money could bring, you also could empathize with how jarring it could be for someone like Dante. And judging by how he appeared to live, from what you saw earlier at his place, this was clearly very much not within his element. Plus, it probably didn’t help that he stuck out like a sore thumb and was most likely at risk of breaking something by knocking it over or bumping into someone and offending them just by how much he physically didn’t fit in.

However sympathetic you felt, time was starting to feel like it was running out for you the longer you had the necklace wrapped around your neck and weighing you down. You took a step towards Dante before linking your arm with his and leading him away from the front desk. It occurred to you that this might be the most effective way to get him to the elevator without raising any more questions or catching any more unwanted attention from anyone else who was nosy. Clearly, the staff at this hotel already thought you were some kind of whore, so what was the harm in giving them another piece of evidence to support that idea? Nothing, you thought to yourself as you held your head high and yanked Dante’s arm along with you as you walked away.

“Woah, there, what’s the hurry, babe?” Dante exclaimed as you picked up the pace and dragged him along.

You chose not to dignify that pointless question with a response, assuming that his urge to chatter must have been some sort of defensive mechanism he used when he felt uncomfortable. Instead, you looked at him briefly. It occurred to you as you looked at him that he didn’t appear to have that massive sword he’d saved you with last night anywhere on his body now, which only made you nervous since it had been so helpful last night and you didn’t know what to expect now. Sure, the hotel room could be as empty as it was when you left it yesterday, but at the same time, it also could have some sort of evil, hidden beasty waiting for you in it. And now that you were positive this necklace attracted demons, you really didn’t know what to expect in the slightest.

After a brief but hurried walk, the two of you stood in the secluded hallway where the elevators were located. You pressed the up button with your free hand before you realized you were still entangled with Dante and quickly released him, a pang of embarrassment that you held on to him for so long hitting you. And to your horror, Dante shifted on his feet and took a step farther away from you. There was always the chance that he was giving you back your personal space, but you felt weirdly rejected by his distance nonetheless- and it really wasn’t your style to get so worked up over the actions of a man you hardly knew. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see that he had fit his hands into the pockets of his jacket casually before shifting back and forth on his toes and heels, looking up at the floor number lights above the elevator illuminate to life up as the elevator made its slow descent to the lobby level.

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity had passed, the elevator doors came to a halt in front of you and slowly opened. Glancing at Dante, you waited for him to enter it first but he only held his arm up to keep the elevator door open for you to cross first. You did as he suggested, and Dante was quick to follow you inside. He kept a respectful distance from you within the elevator, but once those doors shut, he let out a loud, labored sigh.

“Whew, what a relief to not be in there anymore.” Dante scratched the back of his head in relief, his shoulders slumping slightly as he did so. “How the hell do you put up with that kind of bullshit?”

Shrugging, you didn’t really know if his question was rhetorical or actually for you, but you decided you’d answer it anyways. “You get used to it.”

“Still,” he hummed thoughtfully, the noise loud enough to be heard over the annoying, repetitive elevator music. “I felt like I had to hold my breath the whole time.”

His honest admission pulled a laugh from you and made you remember vividly the times when you had felt the same and assumed yourself to be way out of your depth. But by now, you’d learned there was nothing life wasn’t going to throw at you, so there was nothing in this world you couldn’t handle. But also, that was more aligned with how you felt before you’d stumbled upon an irremovable necklace that attracted demons. You started to move your hand upwards again to touch the necklace, a movement that had become so default for you at this point as if by some chance it would have disappeared from your body, but instead you remembered that you were still tightly gripping the note and keys from the desk attendant.

“Here, take this.” You thrust the key cards in Dante’s direction, almost dropping them before he was able to actually grab them out of your fist. The elevator buttons were closer to where you were standing, so you pressed the button with the huge nine on it- not quite the penthouse suite but pretty close to it. The elevator groaned back to life at the sudden command to move once more, but it didn’t concern you. All you cared about in this moment was the note that potentially held the key to getting this damn necklace off.

“You gonna open that thing or what?”

Dante’s voice interrupted your thoughts. “I’m literally about to right now,” you pursed your lips in annoyance after the words left your mouth, finally unfolding the note in your hands. Your eyes scanned over the sheet of paper in search of something recognizable, but no dice. There was a name listed as well as an address, but nothing that stood out to you as immediately useful. The address listed looked somewhat familiar upon a glance, and you placed the zip code as a more rural area that was technically outside of the city zip code, hence why it had a different mailing code. But still, it wasn’t that far away if it came down to you having to make a surprise appearance. Hell, you’d rent a car and drive over there yourself if you had to. Preferably one big enough to accommodate Dante since there was no way in hell you’d go alone.

It was the name on the note that made you feel a weird tinge of confusion, not the address. The name looked even less familiar to you than the address did, and while you weren’t 100% sure that you had successfully caught your friend from yesterday’s name, you didn’t think that what was written down on the note was actually his name. Maybe he was using a fake name when you met him, after all it was what you did too so it could go both ways- there really would not be a sure way of knowing until you finally caught up with him and found out. Despite your reservations, you tested out the name, letting it roll off your tongue in the hopes that maybe saying it out loud would make it more familiar to you.

“Mike Hunt,” you repeated. “Mike Hunt, Mike Hunt, Mike Hunt.” It still didn’t feel right coming from your lips. You turned to Dante. “Do you know Mike Hunt?”

Dante recoiled slightly from your question, a flustered look on his face as his eyebrows hiked up in surprise. His cheeks flushed a light pink, catching you off guard momentarily by how cute he looked blushing at his big age. He blinked once, twice, before finally his brain caught up with what you were asking.

“Uhhh, I wouldn’t really use that word personally, but yeah, we’ve met.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, and you took in the way that area of skin seemed to be red from embarrassment too. However, he didn’t look away from you when he spoke.

His answer only made you feel more confused. What did he mean by that? And was he saying he did know your friend from yesterday then? Or was he just teasing you? You didn’t know. Tearing your eyes away from Dante’s awkward form, you looked at the name written on the paper once more, repeating it silently in your head again. Determination to understand set a fire under you and you murmured the name out loud for yourself, this time much slowly and with your voice barely above a whisper.

Then it hit you.

An overwhelming amount of embarrassment crashed down on you as you realized the double entendre of the name the hotel desk attendant had given you. And then it roared and bubbled within you when you realized you had basically asked Dante if he knew your cunt . Ugh, how humiliating! The fact that he had clearly realized it before you too made the blow even worse. You looked over at Dante, your eyes narrowed in mortification.

“So it’s a fake name…” Dante started.

“Yes, obviously ,” you quickly cut him off as bluntly as you could, still feeling the heated embarrassment at how slow you were to catch on to the joke. “But I think the address is a real place, at least I can recognize the-”

In turn, you were cut off by the elevator slowly coming to a lagging stop, making you sway in place in an effort to keep your balance steady. You’d been so focused on the note that you hadn’t even realized where the elevator was in its climb to the floor you were heading to. But when you looked up at the lights that signaled what floor the elevator was on above the door, it showed that the fourth floor light was illuminated. You were borderline confused before you remembered from the time and small talk you’d spent yesterday with the mysterious client that the fourth floor of this hotel was reserved for large meetings and events since it was majority conference rooms. That memory was confirmed when the elevator doors abruptly opened, and a rush of business people came pouring into the enclosed space.

A new wave of panic overtook you, partially due to the humanly baseline claustrophobia that rose in you at feeling like a sardine in a can with all of those strangers suddenly packed around you and also at the idea of being separated from Dante while in such an unfamiliar setting. However, Dante was quick to move as one of his much larger hands came to rest at your hip, steadying you in place and holding you firm. The heat was radiating from his palm, and his fingers dug into the fabric of your dress with a slight protective quality that you weren’t sure how to feel about. You could, however, feel your heart racing beneath your chest, and you silently prayed to any god that would listen in the hopes that Dante couldn’t sense how antsy being touched like this made you feel. It didn’t seem like he did, and thankfully no one else in the elevator paid any attention to the two of you either.

Now all you could focus on now was Dante. The tightness of the elevator and the grip he had on you meant you really weren’t moving anywhere, even if you wanted to. You stood snugly against him, your backside firmly pressed up against his front. You could feel the imprint of his belt buckle through the thin, silky material of your dress over your ass, and you were sure that if you swayed your hips even in the slightest movement, you would eventually start to feel something else pressing against your ass too. It felt certain to you that no one in this elevator beyond the two of you would even notice, since they seemed to be all too busy in matters of business, contently chattering away among themselves about some business matters you couldn’t even begin to pretend to understand nor care about. But now really wasn’t the time for such licentious thoughts about Dante, however tempting they might have been. And confusing too- what the hell was going on in your mind, you had sex with the guy once and now you were already urgently wanting more from him? How unlike you. It had to be the overwhelming pressure of the situation you were in, sending confusing endorphins to your brain and forcing your wires to get crossed.

You almost wanted to look back at Dante to try to gauge the look on his face as if it would give you a deeper understanding into his own feelings on the situation, but you stopped yourself before you could give in to the urge. The elevator continued to ascend, stopping occasionally to let people out but it seemed like the majority of the people riding along with you were also staying on the higher floors. The noise of the business people was easy enough to drone out since you were focused on other, more important Dante related things. Eventually, one of them took a step backwards and into your personal bubble, which led Dante to react by pulling you tighter against the broad expanse of his chest.

If you thought your heart was pounding rapidly before, now you were worried that it was going to burst out of your chest from how hard it was beating like an alien or something else from a cheap horror flick. There was really no telling what he was thinking, and it wasn’t like you could break the hold he had on you to turn around and find out. When the space had finally thinned out enough that there was really no reason for him to still be holding on to you, he still hadn’t released you. Instead, his hand tensed against your hip momentarily which only made you all the more stiff in response. Then, you could feel him lean down closer to you before his nose brushed against the top of your head and he inhaled deeply, but slowly enough that you probably wouldn’t have heard it if the elevator was still packed. But since it was starting to empty out, you heard it loud and clear. It was unmistakable, and part of you liked it even if you weren’t sure why. The idea that he was using this closeness to sniff you sparked something in you- it was weirdly flattering in a way you really couldn’t put to words.

After what felt like ages, the elevator came to a heaving stop on the ninth floor. The doors sprung to life and opened widely, prompting Dante to finally drop the hold he had on you so you could both exit. A few stragglers followed you out, but they still paid no mind to the interesting pair you knew you and Dante made together. They seemed to have rooms down the opposite way of the long hallway, as once you started following the signs pointing you in the direction of the room, they tapered off.

Making your way towards the room, Dante was hot on your heels. In fact, he was walking so closely behind you that if he was any closer, he’d step on the back of your shoe and take it with him. “What was up with that?” You asked, not bothering to turn back to address him since it was just the two of you now.

“Huh?” The confusion was thick in Dante’s voice, like he’d just woken up from a very long cat nap. “Oh, I was keeping you close in case any of those guys back there were demons in disguise.”

“Right, suuuuure you were.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know it happens more than you’d probably like to think!”

You huffed, feeling annoyed yet again by what he was saying. “Oh, so what, you planned on using me as a human shield or something?”

“What? No, I….” Dante trailed off. “Ugh, just, never mind.”

The conversation came to a stop as quickly as it started, but now you were standing in front of the door for Room 926. Anticipation pricked across your skin, making the hairs on your body stand on end. You turned to Dante, holding your hand out expectantly. “The key, please.”

Dante patted down his coat, searching the various pockets it had until he finally pulled out one of the keycards and placed it in your awaiting hand. “Here ya go, babe.”

You ignored the pet name, instead opting to turn back around and scan the key on the electronic lock of the door, which unlocked with a loud clicking noise. Slowly, you pushed the door in, but before you could start to enter, Dante stopped you.

“I’ll go first, age before beauty or whatever the expression is.” His tone was light and airy, but there was a serious look in his eye that gave away the seriousness of the situation. There was truth in his caution, as much as you didn’t like to admit it- there could be a demon laying in wait for you in there, maybe drawn due to the necklace’s effect or one left in wait as a gift from yesterday’s companion. The anxiety you felt earlier in the day was starting to return to haunt you all over again.

You gulped at the idea that you could have been walking into your own demise if Dante wasn’t here with you, if you’d even be able to make it this far without him in the first place. Nodding, you stepped wordlessly to the side so he could walk in first. Anxiety made you stand rigid in wait, and you weren’t sure if it was a better idea to wait in the hall until you got confirmation from Dante that it was fine to enter or if you should follow him inside and stick close to him. For now, you decided to stand awkwardly in the doorway, keeping the door ajar in case you both had to make a quick getaway.

Dante entered the room, his hands hovering over where he kept the twin guns you hadn’t noticed were on him until that very moment. He turned around the corner within the room so you couldn’t see him or what he was doing. Your heartbeat was the only thing you could hear, and it was beating so rapidly that you thought you were going to pass out.

“Nothing is in here,” Dante called out. “Looks like the cleaners came through here too.”

“What? Are you sure?” You couldn’t help but to ask, not like you didn’t believe him. You were just confused since the hotel attendant said she didn’t think the room had yet been cleaned, but now you guessed that she was just giving you a hard time with that too.

Rushing into the room, the heavy door slipped from your grasp and slammed closed, locked behind you like it was echoing your arrival. You scanned the room quickly. It looked fine, like a fancy hotel room that had been recently cleaned- nothing out of the ordinary as far as you could tell. When you delved deeper into the room, you realized that it was, in fact, spotless. The room had already been fixed up for the next guest, and the turn down service had been through too. It was as if your friend from yesterday, Mr. Mike Hunt or whatever his name was, had never been there- which meant it was almost like you’d never really been there either.

Still, you were not quite ready to admit defeat yet. Instead, you walked over to the dresser across from the bed and squatted down on the floor so you could open the drawer where you had originally found the necklace. Empty. Just to check, you opened another drawer, and then another. All empty, like yesterday really was a bad dream you had. A loud deep sigh conveyed the depths of the disappointment and sadness you were feeling as once again your prospects of getting this necklace off of you dried up.

“Well, shit.” You stood back up, dusting off the bottom of your dress in more of an effort to calm your nerves than actually clean yourself off. “I found the necklace in this dresser but it’s empty now. Guess we are back to square one.”

“Yep,” Dante agreed, popping his lip with emphasis, and you were grateful he had nothing to say about how you let it slip you found the necklace rather than were given it like you previously claimed. He stood next to the large bed in the middle of the room, leaning with his back against the wall. His arms were crossed over his chest. “Maybe we should switch gears and focus on that address you got instead.”

You thought about it for a moment. It wasn’t a bad idea, since you could somewhat recognize at least part of the address. And it would probably help keep you from embarking on a wild goose chase like you would’ve if you tried to follow the lead of the fake name you were given. Plus, you had one more trick up your sleeve you had in mind to help you out.

“Yeah, sure,” you sighed, crossing your arms over your chest without realizing that you were mimicking Dante’s pose. “I have a friend who might help us figure out what’s at this address so we don’t have to go over there blind. We can visit her tomorrow.”

“You got a lot of friends.”

“I’m popular.”

“Oh, I’m sure you are.” There was a sly look on Dante’s face you weren’t sure how to interpret. You weren’t sure if he was actually paying you a compliment or if it was a dig at your occupation of choice.

But either way, you could feel the shift in the mood between the two of you and the way he was looking at you up and down proved to you that he was feeling the same. Oh well, it was fine with you- you figured it was probably time for you to pay Dante for basically wasting this entire day on your endeavors. Pushing yourself off from where you leaned against the dresser, you sat your bag down on it before you began to walk over to the large bed instead. When your knees touched the edge of the bed, you reached around yourself and unzipped the back of your dress, letting it fall carelessly to the floor. Then you crawled on to the bed, propping yourself up on your hands and knees before throwing as smoldering a look as you could to Dante.

“Come collect your payment,” you practically purred, letting your hips sway slightly as you arched your back to entice him. The pose made you feel almost like you were presenting yourself to him in an offering, and as soon as the words left your mouth you looked away from him, choosing instead to stare straight ahead at the bed’s headboard. 

But it really wasn’t needed- Dante was off the wall he was leaning against before the words had even left your mouth.

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Dante chuckled to himself as he came to stand behind you. He stood planted to the ground next to the bed, but leaned over and grabbed onto your hips with his large hands.

You leaned into his touch, letting him manhandle you as he liked, and you were suddenly very grateful you’d worn a matching underwear set today like you felt your instinct called for when you got dressed earlier. The tactile sensation of his worn leather gloves against your smooth skin was interesting, but you didn’t mind it. Rather, it felt good- giving up the control somewhat and allowing Dante to move your body however he wanted. Each time he directed your hips to sway and press against the front of his leather pants, an unusual, satisfying tingle ran down your spine and settled at the base. You could feel yourself beginning to soak through the gusset of your panties, getting surprisingly worked up over almost nothing at all. And what was even more surprising was how it didn’t even feel like much of an act, instead this felt entirely natural to you.

It seemed like Dante was enjoying the grind too, as you could feel the beginning swell of hardness start to press against your ass each time you ground yourself against him. Yet he kept his cool, continuing moving your body against his own rather than impatiently moving onto the main event. You weren’t nearly as patient, instead you felt more than ready to get him out of those squeaky leather pants and into you instead.

Although it was awkward, you tucked your chin into your shoulder so you could throw a look back at Dante, eyelashes fluttering demurely as an attempt at seducing him to move it along already. “Having fun back there?”

“Oh yeah, sure am.” He thrust his hips into the meat of your ass for emphasis.

He kept up the motion, using the hold he had on your hips to guide your body backwards to meet those tentative, almost practice-like thrusts. You could feel his erection growing each time your bodies met, and knowing that you were having an effect on him without doing anything at all had an equal level effect on you too. Each time you let him move your body as he liked, you could feel the starting waves of pleasure buzzing in your limbs, making you sigh and moan under your breath.

Slowly, you parted your knees further on the bed, allowing for Dante to hone in his grinding on the rapidly growing wet patch in the center of your panties. It was mildly uncomfortable, the way you were so wet that your panties had started to stick to your skin, but also it was a testament to just how quickly he worked you up. His hardness dragged deliciously along where you were wanting it most, the feeling just slightly different from before but enough of a switch that it was making you almost light headed with pleasure. If he kept up this motion, or maybe sped up slightly and focused on a specific area at the lower end of your wet spot, you were certain that you could find it in yourself to finish, just like this.

While the idea of dry humping with Dante was more enticing to you than you would’ve thought, there was a part of you that was dying for something more satisfying. You reached into your bra, shifting your weight on to one arm to hold you up, and easily found the condom you’d tucked against the cup earlier in the day before pulling it out. Then, you clumsily passed it over your opposite shoulder so Dante could take it from your hand.

“Let’s fuck now.” Any eloquence had left you at this point- you were all too ready to take whatever he wanted to give you. You shifted back onto both of your hands, now in wait. Feeling this impatient for sex was a new feeling to you, but you kind of liked it. It was a lot more fun than putting on an act that was expected of you to perform like you were more accustomed to doing.

Dante’s hands had moved off of your waist and you could hear him rustling around as he undid his belt and the fly of his pants. But then he paused and you braced yourself for whatever dumb thing he was about to say.

“Wait a moment, was that in there the whole time today?”

“Yes,” you deadpanned, feeling a certain annoyance you were beginning to associate with the red devil hunter flare within you. “Now focus.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Dante confirmed, and although you couldn’t see him, you had the suspicious feeling that he saluted you as he spoke from the tone of his voice.

However, he got back to moving at least, and for that you were grateful. The sound of what must have been Dante pulling himself out of his pants hit your ears, and you could feel the motion of movement from behind you. He tossed the now empty wrapper of the condom so that it fell to the bed beside you. One of his knuckles grazed the wet spot in your panties and the motion had you reeling, holding back a harsh moan that threatened to spill from your lips at the contact. His hands crept back over the full of your ass, but stopped there. You swayed your hips expectantly, waiting for Dante to do more than just touch you at this point but he didn’t move. Clearly, he was ready to go but there was still something holding him back from giving you what you wanted. What, was he waiting for a written invitation?

“You sure you don’t want me to do something else?” Dante asked, the question briefly taking you out of the moment. “Like, before, ya know…” He tapped the head of his cock against your ass in an effort to get his point across.

The idea was, once again, a sweet one. Just not really your style, at least not in a situation like this, where you were not exactly sleeping with Dante for fun, but as a form of payment- or perhaps it was becoming a weird mix of the two. But it was a nice idea, and maybe one day you’d let him do what he’d asked for twice now, once now and once last night, but that was a maybe depending on two major things: if you got to know him better, in a different situation, but also if you even survived the one you were currently in. So for now, what you really wanted was for him to fuck you, just like he did last night, in a way that was simple but mind-blowing.

“No.” You flinched from how harsh you sounded without intending to. “Thanks, but no. I want you to fuck me.”

“Alright, babe, whatever you want. You call the shots.” Dante was surprisingly agreeable for a man who was just told no foreplay two times in a row. You just hoped it didn’t discourage him from asking again in the future, perhaps at a time when you felt more agreeable to the notion.

Now that the conversation of potential foreplay was settled, Dante wasted no time peeling your panties to the side and lining himself up with your opening. You held your breath in anticipation, waiting for the sign that Dante was ready, but you began to feel him push into you instead. He drove into you slowly, like he was hellbent on taking his time, and you appreciated that. The sensation of his well above average cock pushing into you made you burn from the stretch, something so deliciously exquisite in the pain ridden pleasure he was delivering to you. The both of you were panting now at this point, all cool casualness from the conversation prior to him actually entering you long gone and forgotten.

“Fuck,” Dante panted as he finally bottomed out inside of you and his hips pressed flush against your backside. “Been thinking about this nonstop since last night.”

His confession sent a shiver of pride down your spine, and for a moment, you had half a mind to admit that you were feeling the exact same way. But you couldn’t bring yourself to say the words. Instead, you decided to try to flatter him in a different way.

“God, yeah,” you agreed, sounding somewhat half-hearted despite meaning it entirely. “You feel so good-” the words trailed off into an almost shrill moan, one that you hoped would entice Dante into moving.

“Yeah? Just good?” Each word was empathized with a hard thrust of his hips, sending stars behind your eyelids.

You almost couldn’t find the words to respond, as your hands balled up and held fast on to the hotel bed comforter in a measly form of support. Each movement of Dante’s hips caused the tip of his dick to bash into that spongy place within you, sending you closer and closer to the edge at a nearly shocking speed. There was no way you were going to last, you realized with slight embarrassment, but maybe that spoke more than you could ever say about just how good the sex between you two was.

“Mhmph , feels fucking fantastic,” you admitted in between moans that you just couldn’t hold back. “You feel fucking perfect.”

“I feel fucking deep in you, goddamn,” his hips stuttered as he spoke like he was trying to push harder. The head of his cock pressed urgently against your cervix, ramming against the one part of you that couldn’t open up further for him. One of his hands swept under your body, pressing against your lower stomach in an attempt to make you feel things even deeper. “You feel that too?”

You couldn’t even muster the words to respond. It was working though- the pressure the force of his hand created against each time he drove his cock deeper inside of you had you reeling, singing your praises for his efforts in the form of the moans that fled your mouth. You let your arms shoot out further on the bed, lowering your torso towards them and arching your back as much as you could, giving Dante full control. The time for talking was over for now- at least while you gave yourself to his specific brand of pleasure that made your mind all but whiteout entirely.

Dante definitely got what you were putting down and picked up speed, and he moved both of his hands to grab your hips to keep you positioned as he liked it. You could hear how harshly he was breathing along with the low groans that were emitted under his breath. A surge of self-satisfied pleasure rose within you at the knowledge that you were making him feel this way without doing anything at all, but at the same time, you felt the same.

You shifted how you were laying on the bed and parted your legs just a bit more, snaking your arm in between your body and the bed so you could rub your clit just below where you and Dante were joined. The extra stimulation was electrifying, and just what you needed to get closer to your climax which was already rushing towards you with a clarity that had your toes curling.

Dante kept up his movements, not faltering in the slightest. The only sound in the room was the combined noises you both made mixed with the sounds of his skin slapping into your own. Eventually, he began to grow sloppy in his thrusts, the rhythm growing slightly out of pace but not losing the way it was making your toes curl in the slightest. Maybe it was the change in angle that had him feeling like it was different, or maybe it was the way you sought out your own pleasure that drove him crazy, but either way, you could tell from the way he moved that he was not that far behind you.

It felt overwhelmingly good- so good that you found the anxiety that had been brewing inside of you the last 24 hours beginning to dissipate. You continued rubbing circles along your clit, feeling like your entire body was drawing up tighter and tighter the closer your orgasm approached, like you were going to explode when it hit you. One of Dante’s hands released its near crushing grip on your hip, and the skin he held throbbed- you hadn’t even realized he was holding you so tightly, not that you minded. But then his hand glided up the smooth skin of your back, pressing lightly but firmly enough that you couldn’t mistake the feeling of his skin against yours. The sensation sent goosebumps in its wake, the glide of his skin against your own was easy from the amount of sweat that covered both of you.

After a short journey, Dante’s hand came to a stop at the base of the back of your neck, squeezing firmly as if a demonstration of only a fraction of his full strength, but it was enough to drive you absolutely wild. His hand slid back downwards a bit, running along your back as he guided you to arch further against him. You did as he wordlessly instructed, sticking your ass up as far into the air as you could while burying your face into the bed below. The mattress was soft against your face, no doubt the hotel had paid in full for the softest duvet they could afford, and the added effect it had to muffle your cries of elation- of which there were many since you were letting the onslaught of increasingly high pitched moans that left you as an effort to let Dante know you were close to finishing. You just couldn’t find the words to let him know otherwise.

The minuscule change in position was enough to tip your scale, sending you into a scorching orgasm that would’ve had your eyes rolling back into your head if they weren’t already squeezed shut as tightly as you could. Waves of pleasure washed over you, no doubt more intense than normal due to the relief of the overwhelming anxiety and dread that had been plaguing you, but this orgasm nullified it all. You came with a loud cry, one that was only slightly muffled by the duvet below you, and you found yourself biting deeply into it to silence your sharp, drawn out moan. You could hear your blood boiling in your veins, roaring in your ears as the noise turned into a high pitched sound.

As you had expected, Dante was close to follow you down the path of bliss. While you had almost fallen entirely lax against the bed, so pliable and easy for him, he’d picked up speed and was thrusting with an almost reckless abandon, chasing his own end. Groans were leaving him at an incredible pace, and all the more, he was making no efforts to conceal them. It was almost like his earlier confession really was the truth, judging by how hard he was working for it now.

Eventually, and on a particularly hard thrust, Dante’s hips came to a stop and he buried himself to the hilt within you. While he didn’t announce it, you could tell he finished by the shamelessly loud moan that fled his lips, and you found yourself uncharacteristically wondering what his face looked like to accompany the cry. His hips jolted against your ass as he rode out the orgasm, both of his hands tightening before releasing the different spots on your body.

The two of you crashed back to earth together in a strained silence, the both of you fighting to catch your breaths in a weirdly familiar unison. Dante pulled his hands away from you and instead pulled out of you slowly. You found yourself wincing at the unpleasant sensation, your face still buried in the plush duvet. It was going to be streaked with makeup, you could feel it but couldn’t bring yourself to be concerned about the potential cleaning fee the hotel was probably going to stick you with.

Regardless, once Dante had pulled out of you and taken a step back to collect himself and get back in his pants, you sat up and realigned your underwear correctly. You suddenly felt so sleepy, like you’d been awake for days without realizing it. Sluggishly, you scooted up the bed until you sat at the head of it and got comfy. While you weren’t planning on it originally, the idea of staying here for the night was alluring. You did pay for the night, after all. Why not stay here, order room service, get a massage at the in-house spa, and then settle down for the night watching a movie on one of the 300 television channels they advertised? You genuinely could not think of a better way to spend your evening.

Dante coughed into his fist awkwardly, taking you out of your thoughts. Was he still here? Oops. You opened your eyes, not even realizing you had closed them. By the time you focused your attention on Dante again, he had moved to stand over by the trashcan near the bed, presumably to toss the used condom.

“Um, so, about tomorrow-” Dante started, his eyes glued to the sight of you relaxing, still so scantily dressed- this time the front half of your body displayed for his viewing pleasure. Oops again.

“Meet me back here tomorrow morning and we can head to my friend’s place. She’s lived in this city for over 50 years; she’ll know that address without fail,” you interrupted bluntly, any need to be accommodating dissipated alongside the stress of the day. You could feel your eyes getting heavy with sleep- maybe post-nut clarity was all you needed to be lulled into a sense of safety strong enough to lead you to the sleep that had evaded you all night. New plan: you’d nap first, then do all of that other stuff.

“Oh, are you staying here?” Dante’s blue eyes conveyed nothing of what he was feeling, but his tone of surprise gave it away. What, was he expecting you to make the trip back to his office before you went home? No way.

“Yeah.”

Dante didn’t say anything but scanned the room like he was taking it all in, or like he was waiting for you to say something else. But when you didn’t say anything else, he nodded and looked away from you and back towards the door. “Alright, see you tomorrow.”

“Bye.” You yawned into your palm, unable to hide how sleepy you were getting.

He began walking towards the door, not breaking stride to turn back to look at you once, even when he closed the door behind him, and you found yourself wishing he would’ve. It wasn’t like you were going to invite him to stay, hell, you didn’t even know if that was something he would’ve wanted. But it wasn’t like that was an entirely awful idea. You certainly didn’t want him to feel like he had to leave immediately after you finished- if anyone knew how awful of a feeling that was, it was you. But he’d left before you’d gotten a chance to explain any of that to him.

It was just you alone in the hotel room where it all started now, with the heavy, warm chain of the necklace still laying on your sternum like a snake coiled in wait. You absently wondered about what tomorrow had in store for you and about the friend you would be visiting with Dante. One thing was for certain: if he still hadn’t completely caught on to what you did for work by now, he definitely would tomorrow. But that was a problem for the you of tomorrow, you figured, and this large, plush bed was luring you to a deep sleep.

But for once, you felt like it was just a shame that you were in it all alone.

Chapter Text

The bright light of morning floated into your hotel room through a window adjacent to the plush bed you were snuggled up in. Even though it was sparse, the tiny amount of light on your face was enough to rouse you out of the deep sleep you were in. There would be no going back to sleep for you now, at least at the moment, since once you were up, you were up.

You had slept well last night, a stark contrast from how miserably you slept the night before when thoughts of the necklace still stuck around your neck clouded your brain and kept you awake in complete fear. Maybe you slept so good due to the amount of back and forth traveling you did within the last 48, or the way Dante had fucked you so thoroughly before you’d kicked him out to sleep. Or maybe it was a third option, one undeniable in its powerful influence over you: the comfort of a nice, comfortable bed within an overpriced yet luxurious hotel room. Either way, it wasn’t like you to look a gift horse in the mouth, and a good night’s rest was a gift so rarely given.

Throwing back the thick comforter, you quickly hopped out of bed, beyond ready to get the day started. You hadn’t planned on sleeping here since you were more determined to find the true owner of the necklace rather than relax at a nice hotel. But again, when you came up basically empty handed, you figured there was no harm in allowing yourself the luxury of indulging in resting in the room. Because of that, however, you hadn’t had anything proper to sleep in, so you settled on sleeping in the underwear you’d worn during the day. And now, you felt stale in the morning air. You’d forgone showering after Dante left, choosing instead to go straight to bed, so now it seemed the first thing you’d do this morning was freshen up in the large shower. The shower was large, clearly made to fit more than one under. It was almost a shame it was just you here, all alone.

After you finished showering, you threw yesterday’s dress back on, this time sans underwear or bra. When you got home later that day, you’d change into something much more comfortable and clean, you decided while you tucked your undergarments into your purse. You made a mental note to remember that the items were loose in your bag- you didn’t want to be blindly fishing in it later only to accidentally pull out your panties and shock whoever was around you.

You walked back over to the side of the bed you slept in before grabbing your phone and checking the time. It was still early-ish in the morning, and you quickly realized that you hadn’t told Dante a time for him to come and meet you at the hotel before you could head off and take care of business. Now you were really kicking yourself not exchanging numbers earlier when you had a chance- you’d have to make sure to do that today. It was probably a smart idea, in case you ran into another demon or something and he wasn’t around to help you out. That was the only reason, surely.

A deep grumbling noise caught you off guard, and for a moment you were startled before you realized the noise came from you. Or from your stomach, rather. It made sense you’d be hungrier this morning than usual since you skipped a proper dinner last night, too busy sleeping to order room service like you’d thought about before exhaustion rendered you useless. Might as well help yourself to the free brunch for hotel guests, you figured since you didn’t get to try it last time you were here as your visit was much too short and you didn’t have a room card. Dante would have to wait for now- assuming he was already up and on his way over. Which you didn’t think would likely be the case, since he hadn’t been ready for you yesterday despite your agreement. Wasting not a moment longer, you packed your remaining items up and into your bag before heading out the door and walking over to wait for the elevator to arrive and ferry you down to the lobby.

Once you finished your decadent (and free) breakfast, you threw your room card on the table and sauntered over to the grandiose entrance of the hotel lobby. Fuck checking out properly- it wasn’t going to cost you anything just to dip out of here and you didn’t want to allow your good mood to be brought down by any more judgmental front desk staff the hotel may or may not have hired just to shame you. Walking through the revolving door, you paused once you came to the street and pulled your phone out. This would’ve been so much easier if you’d gotten Dante’s number before splitting up. Guess you’d have to take a taxi to Devil May Cry to meet Dante, how typical of a man to both keep you waiting and not show up, and now you’d--

“Hey.”

The surprise of someone suddenly speaking made you jump, your phone almost flying from your grasp. The voice was gruff and familiar, and it took you a moment to quell your beating heart as you placed who its owner was. You turned around slowly to face the source only to be pleasantly surprised when your hunch was confirmed. Dante leaned against the brick wall next to the revolving door you literally just walked out of. How you didn’t even notice him standing there was beyond you, but he was a sight for sore eyes. Plus, this meant he had upheld his half of the agreement by meeting you here- maybe he really was a dependable guy!

“Hi,” you cleared your throat, hoping to give yourself a moment to calm down in the process. “Been waiting long?”

“Nah,” Dante shook his head but didn’t make an effort to move away from the wall. His arms were crossed over his chest, making him look a lot more intimidating than you knew him to be. “Made me realize though, we probably should exchange digits.”

An unfamiliar, embarrassed heat flushed across your chest and up your neck at his request. It was embarrassing how quickly he could fluster you, especially when he was using such outdated slang and really showing his age.

 “Sure,” you took a few steps closer to Dante before thrusting your phone out for him to grab and set up his contact information in. You watched as he typed in his info before seeming to send himself a message from your phone to his. A pinging noise confirmed your suspicions as he handed you back your phone and pulled out his own from one of his coat pockets. The sun reflected off his phone and into your eyes, making you look away from the glare bouncing from his cracked phone screen. It looked like it had fallen down a flight of stairs only to land face down before getting run over by a monster truck. “Damn, what happened to your phone?” You had to keep yourself from recoiling as you asked, albeit it was nosier than you were used to acting.

“Oh, this old thing?” Dante shrugged before waving his arm dismissively in an attempt to wave away your shock. “Took it on one too many demon hunts. Sorta comes with the territory.”

His ability to act like his demon hunting was an everyday, run of the mill thing never failed to amaze you.

“Alright, whatever,” you conceded, happy to change the subject back to the day at hand. “Let’s get going. I already let my friend know we’d be stopping by.”

“Who’s this friend again? Feels like all we’ve done is chase down friends of yours.”

He had a point. But you saw it more as using the resources that you’d picked up during the course of your life and career. As to Dante’s question, you saw no harm in telling him the truth. He was going to figure it out when you arrived at your destination anyway. “She’s an old friend of mine, someone I used to work for. Her name is Belle.”

You kept your eyes level on Dante, watching his reaction. If he recognized the name in the slightest, he didn’t reveal it.

“Lead the way, babe.”

The taxi dropped you off a short 20 minute car ride later. Gazing around the street, everything looked the same as it did the last time you were on this side of town. And admittedly, it had been a while since you last were here. Too many memories, both good and bad, but it was the painful, rotten ones that played in your mind on repeat as you spun around to stare at the building you had once lived and worked in. Dante’s staggering presence next to you helped ground you, as much as it perplexed you.

Even the worn entryway of the building looked the exact same as it did in your memory. The entire building was in terrible shape, and you figured it should’ve come tumbling down already with everything going on in the city. Yet, there was a warm comfort in the fact that the building stayed the same despite how much time had passed. In a weird way, this was like coming home, and it brought along a wave of tender emotions with it. You began walking up the shabby stairs with Dante close behind you. Even those stairs were as cracked as you had remembered, the instinctual knowledge of where to step so your heel didn’t get stuck came out of the depths of your brain as if you hadn’t been away for a long time.

Pushing the large wooden double door open, you thanked your lucky stars Belle never kept the place locked. Back in the day, it was the bane of your existence and always in movement, effectively keeping the door revolving for the clients that would come through whenever they wanted. Thinking about that only made you more grateful that your life was not like that anymore and on your own terms, finally.

The two of you entered the building and let the door slam behind you, an unsubtle way to let Belle know she had company downstairs. The foyer of the building was composed of a large room, a one time lobby but this building had long stopped being used as an apartment building once Belle bought it some 40 years ago. Now, the spare rooms held only working girls and the meager items they could afford to buy if they didn’t get them as presents or steal them. It was hard to believe that you were once one of those girls when now you felt completely separated from that stage of your life. Time flew by so quickly once you had graduated from this job, it was all too easy to cast it out of your mind and forget.

Dante coughed into his fist, bringing you back from this trip down memory lane. You turned towards him, eyebrow raised inquisitively as you braced yourself for whatever nonsense was about to leave his pretty mouth.

“This is a brothel, isn’t it?”

“Sure is,” you nodded. It was no surprise to you that Dante knew about this place: it was old, infamous, and if you worked any side of the underworld here in this city, you’d know about it. You briefly wondered if he knew this place not just by word of mouth, but if he’d been here before. The thought bothered you slightly, despite how much you knew that wasn’t fair. Not necessarily because of the idea that he’d seek out the transaction of pleasures, but more because you couldn’t stomach the idea of him coming here to your old haunt, like two ships passing in the night, and narrowly missing each other. A weird, almost connection that if it had happened, you might not be where you were standing now, cursed necklace still heavy like a noose around your throat. A follow up question escaped you before you could reel it back in. “Have you been here before?”

“Nah, not my scene.” Well, that settled that. “Strip clubs, sure. But a brothel…” Dante trailed off before continuing again. “Don’t really got the funds for that.”

You scoffed lightly. That tracked, based on what you’d learned about Dante over the past few days where you shelled out money for basically everything. Sure, it was your problem he was helping with but would it kill the guy to chip in for at least part of a taxi? Or at least offer to pay for something. But maybe he was broker than you realized, which would certainly make sense. Ultimately, the knowledge that Dante had never been here before lifted a weight off your shoulders you didn’t even notice was weighing you down.

When you didn’t respond to the answer he gave to your question, Dante kept the conversation going. “What about you? You been here before?”

It wasn’t immediately clear to you if he was messing with you or not. It was a fair enough question, since you’d asked him the same. However, there was also no way for you to honestly answer this question without being either incredibly transparent about your past or by being vague and deflecting. But since Dante was so honest in his answer, it seemed only appropriate you did the same.

“Yeah, actually I have.” You stood up straighter, refusing to look away from Dante’s own baby blues. Despite how you felt no regrets when it came to your life and choices, you couldn’t stop your heart from pounding away. “I used to work here.”

You watched in the field of your vision as Dante’s lips parted into a perfect O of surprise. Surely he was gearing up to ask a followup question or make some ill-humored comment, or maybe he finally started to piece together what you did for work and why you were so quick and easy to offer sex as a form of payment. But before he could do anything, a loud, clacking noise interrupted the moment and you both turned towards the stairs where the loud source of the noise was coming from.

“Hello, yes,” Belle descended the stairs quickly, staring down at her shoes to make sure she didn’t slip and fall. “Go upstairs, pick a room, and a true beauty will be with you soon.” She looked the exact same as she did the day you left this hole- short and all angles, with not a bit of softness around the edges. Her age was certainly showing now, and it gave you a sly glimmer of satisfaction to know she’d be furious to know you saw it.

When she finally stepped off at the bottom stair, she looked up at you both. Her face was twisted in confusion as to why you hadn’t done as she commanded, but once her eyes landed on you, her expression shifted into something much warmer. “Oh, well, look who the cat dragged in,” she purred as her eyes raked up and down where you stood. They froze on your bag. “Is that bag new or used?”

Ignoring her question, you put on your best customer service smile. “Hi, Belle. It’s nice to see you too.”

Belle’s eyes moved from your purse to Dante, who was still standing next to you, and then back to you again. “You too. Why are you here?” Her eyes were moving rapidly between you and Dante, like she was trying to piece it all together. “Don’t tell me you need a place to… stay.”

The implication of her question made your stomach turn. “No!” The word left your mouth sharper than you’d meant. “Actually, we were swinging by because there’s been a recent turn of events in my life. And I was hoping to get your help with something.” You knew you were being vague, partially as a defense mechanism you’d picked up years ago, but also because you were hoping the lack of actual information you provided would be enough of a bait to get her interest and entice her into helping. Subconsciously, your fingers stroked the heavy chain of the necklace around your neck. “Is now a good time?”

Belle’s stare flickered to the necklace, ogling the jewel that rested on your clavicle. If she recognized the necklace, she wasn’t showing any signs. “There’s never a good time in this business,” she sighed before moving around and heading to the right of the staircase. You remembered the layout of this building like the back of your hand and recalled that this hallway led to her office. Belle quickly threw a look over her shoulder. “Is he your muscle?”

Clearly, she was questioning why you had a man with you when in the entire time you knew each other, you were never the type to keep the company of a man unless you were getting something out of it. You and Dante exchanged a quick look before he shrugged. You turned back to Belle as you started to follow her lead towards her office. “Something like that,” you confirmed. It had never occurred to you that Dante could be anything but transactional to you. The thought made your stomach nosedive with uncertainty.

Once you were inside of Belle’s office, you took the sagging wooden chair that was seated across from her desk. You had to resist the urge to look around and check if everything remained the same as you recalled. Instead, you stared across the desk at Belle. She’d taken her seat and put on her glasses, a sign that she was locking in to hear what you had to say. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Dante take the seat next to your own. The wood creaked when he sat and for a moment you had to stifle back a laugh at the mental image of the ancient chair collapsing under his weight.

“So what’s up?” Belle’s voice snapped you back into focus. “I don’t see you for years and now you suddenly show up. Don’t tell me it’s money problems.” She began rummaging in a draw behind the desk before she pulled out a long cigarette holder already secured with her usual menthol. She lit it and inhaled, blowing out the smoke thoughtfully. “Or man problems. I taught you better than that.”

Shaking your head, you waved your hand in front of your face to try to air out the already overwhelming scent of her cigarette. The smell only enhanced the feeling that you’d stepped into the past. You reached into your bag and pulled out the now crumbled note that the hotel attendant had passed you yesterday before smoothing it out and sliding it across Belle’s desk. “Do you recognize this address?”

Belle lifted the note with her free hand and held it up to read. Her eyes squinted behind her glasses, and once again you found yourself thinking about how much older she looked now. “Sure I do,” she set the paper back down on the desk. “It’s the old mansion outside of town.” She took another drag from the cigarette, letting you sit in anxious anticipation as she savored it before exhaling. “It’s the Ziegler Mansion.”

That name rang a bell in your memory, and you chased it only to become more confused. “I thought that place was abandoned?”

“Oh, honey, no,” Belle waved her dainty hand at you dismissively. “It’s not if you know the right people.”

“I have no idea what either of you are talking about,” Dante interjected, making both you and Belle jump. He’d been so silent up until now that you’d almost forgotten entirely that he was even here. “And I’m not sure if I want to know, judging by the look on your face,” Dante tipped his head in your direction. “But speak plainly. I’m starting to feel like I’m not a part of the club.”

Belle took another drag of her cigarette, exhaling the smoke through her nostrils like a dragon. A smirk grew across her face, making her matte, dry lipstick crack on her lips. “Ah, he speaks.” She shifted in her seat, turning her body and its language towards Dante now. “I was wondering when you’d chime in. Knew you had more in you than just that flashy jacket.” Her smile grew wider, more charming, and you knew she was trying to calculate if she could work any money you already knew did not exist in Dante’s pockets. Old habits die hard, you supposed.

“The Ziegler Mansion is that old mansion outside of town,” you cut in as you picked up the slip of paper that had the address written on it before waving it around in Dante’s face. “It used to be used for all kinds of parties back in the day.” Sending Dante a pointed look, you hoped he was picking up the implication of your words. “Although, I thought that sort of thing went out of style in the late 90’s.”

“Honey, sex parties never go out of style,” Belle shrugged, ashing her cigarette into the yellowed circular ashtray she had even when you lived here. “The stakes are just higher now, things are strictly invite only.”

An idea popped into your mind. “Are you invited to these parties, Belle?”

“No,” Belle responded quickly, her eyebrow arched in amusement. “But my girls often are.”

Bingo- this was your way in. Clearly the place had some sort of meaning to your friend from the other day if he used it as a fake address at the hotel. Maybe he’d be there at the next party, maybe even waiting for you to figure it out and get there. Oh you’d get there all right, and when you did, you were totally gonna have Dante kick his ass for you, preferably while shirtless so you could appreciate the ripples of his muscles in more detail this time, and also-

You shook your head, bringing yourself back to the present conversation and away from your overactive imagination. “Can you get me a gig at the next party?”

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Dante’s head snap around to look at you in shock. “Hold on a moment-” he started to say, but the sentence went nowhere. While you weren’t looking at him directly, the foul vibes that were radiating off of him was more than enough to tell you how he was feeling about your suggestion. “Are you sure that’s such a great idea?”

Turning towards Dante, you found yourself almost touched by how against the idea he seemed to be. In such a few short moments, he’d gone from slouching lazily in the chair to almost sitting on the very edge of his seat. If he was a cat, surely his hackles would be raised.

“Yeah, because how else will we get in there? This is probably our best bet into getting into this party and finding the guy.” You shrugged, playing it as cool as you could. “I’ll go in as a hostess or whatever, help you sneak in, we investigate some stuff, blah blah,” you trailed off as you gestured with your hand. “Then we find the guy and whoop his ass and get this necklace off of me.”

There was a part of you that expected Dante to jump in, turn down your idea and attempt to come up with something he deemed better. Instead, he listened. After a few short seconds of him working the details of the plan out in his mind, he seemed calmer. “Alright, fine. But I don’t want you doing anything you don’t have to.” It didn’t escape you that his eyes dropped to look at the jewel hanging in the center of your chest as he spoke.

“Me neither,” you nodded. It was a cliché, that much was certain, but there was a weird softness to Dante’s words that tugged at your heartstrings. And it was mutual; you did not want him looking at any other girls that could be at the party. Just the thought of it made your stomach do flips, and not in the good way. You readjusted in your seat so that you were facing Belle once more, not even realizing initially that you’d turned your body towards Dante. “So can you get me a job or what?”

“Sure, the next party I’ve been asked to supply girls for is in a week from now,” Belle’s eyes floated from between looking at you and Dante and back again. Clearly, she was amused to see you in some sort of relationship with a man, even if she couldn’t quite determine what the nature of it was. “I’m sure you remember how it works, but since you don’t live here anymore, your cut will be different. It’ll depend on how many gentlemen you meet at the party.”

“I’m not-”

Belle held up her hand. “And that’s fine. I don’t need to know the details, but since I’ll be technically netting a loss by supplying you instead of one of my fine, young ladies…”

Although her words trailed off and the sentence was unfinished, you knew what she was implying. “You want me to pay the difference.”

“You always were a clever girl,” Belle puffed from her menthol as she leaned back in her chair, her eyes narrowing at you mischievously, like a cat that was about to catch a canary. “Cash up front please. You remember the going rate, right?”

Great. So that was even more money coming out of your pocket. This week kept on getting worse for you and your wallet, and it was starting to really piss you off. For the billionth time, you found yourself agonizing over all this damn necklace had cost you. If only you had minded your business and left that hotel room after the exchange was over like you should have!

“Yeah, okay, fine, can do,” you grumbled before you began the process of digging through your bag for your wallet. There was so much junk in there- you needed to make sure to clean at least some of the junk out of it when you got home later. Your fingers brushed against something soft, and in your haste you yanked the source out of your bag, so sure that you were feeling the worn fabric of your wallet.

Nope.

Instead, you now were triumphantly holding in your fist the underwear you’d passed on wearing this morning and promised yourself that you’d remember was floating loosely in your bag. The lacy fabric peeked through your clenched fingers. A flash of embarrassment ran down your spine and you could feel the prickles of sweat form across your body. Moving as quickly as you could in your almost inebriated-like state from just how mortified you felt, you stuffed your fistful of panties back into your bag. The sound of Dante snickering from the seat next to you almost escaped you, and you had to stop yourself from sending him an ugly look. You weren’t quite sure if you could fight off the embarrassment in a way that wouldn’t only make things worse for you.

Reaching back into your bag, this time you were successful at finding your wallet. You pulled it out before taking the cash out of your wallet and counting them. Since you’d been forced to blow through money lately, you just barely had enough cash to meet Belle’s rate. Although it pained you deeply, it had to be done. You dropped the folded bills on her desk and Belle was quick to lean over and snatch them up.

Belle wasted no time in counting out the money, licking her fingers between each bill. “Yep, looks good,” she nodded in appreciation, and you could basically see the hearts in her eyes as she examined each dollar. “I’ll get you that job, but in the meantime,” she pointed a long, red nail in Dante’s direction. “Make sure this one gets a mask to wear to the party. Something real Venetian-like.”

“A mask? Oh c’mon, that’s not really my style,” Dante started to object. “Plus, why would I want to hide these dashing good looks?”

Rolling your eyes, you sighed. “Don’t worry, I’m sure I have one laying around somewhere in my apartment.” When he didn’t reply, you shrugged. “You never know when you’re gonna need one in this line of work.”

“Now isn’t that the honest truth?” Belle laughed. “Now remember, you are using my name when you take this job. So be on your best behavior.” She pointed that manicured finger at the both of you.

“We will be!” You and Dante spoke in complete unison, turning to stare at each other with confusion written on both of your faces. The synchronicity only made Belle laugh harder. However, it made you feel weird in ways you couldn’t express. It had been so long since you’d allowed yourself to know someone, let alone be known by someone. Was this what it was like?

Clearing your throat, you faced Belle once more. “Thanks again, and I promise that this is for something impor-”

Belle cut you off with a raise of her hand. “I don’t know what you are up to, and I don’t want to.”

That much was fair, you supposed. She was helping you out immensely. You started to rise out of your seat, and Dante did the same.

“Just remember to come back and visit me once all of this is over.” Belle started the process of clearing her cigarette holder of the leftover filter so she could get a fresh cigarette burning. “And make sure to bring him back too.”

When you turned back with a witty retort in mind, she had a sly smile across her face. She wiggled her eyebrows at you for emphasis, something that made that familiar feeling of humiliation you’d just beat down crawl back up. “Yeah, yeah, sure,” you sighed as you started to walk towards the door. “Will do.” All you wanted at this point was to get out of here and leave your memories in the past where they belonged.

“Oh, one more thing,” Belle called out, prompting you and Dante to both stall mid step. “The password is Fidelio. In case anyone asks, and I’m sure they will.”

After that grueling trip down memory lane was over, you and Dante parted ways with Belle and went back to the Devil May Cry office. The taxi ride was quick and painless although you certainly still felt the burning pain that spending even more of your hard earned money caused you. Even Dante was quiet on the car ride back, although he might have just been ruminating over the conversation that took place over the last hour. Plans of sneaking into a high class sex party aside, he had just learned a lot about you and you weren’t entirely sure how he was taking all of the particulars about your life and line of work. The idea that he could take to the information poorly made you feel queasy, and feeling that way over a man was something you weren’t used to and it only served to make you feel more ill.

Either way, you were currently standing in the middle of his office once more. A quick look around the place revealed that it was just as messy as it was when you stood in here yesterday morning, confirming to you that Dante did indeed just live like this. Yet that wasn’t enough to completely deter your warm feelings towards the man that seemed to have sprouted out of nowhere. Well, maybe not completely out of nowhere- he had saved your life and continued to help you out. And of course there was the absolutely amazing way he laid pipe thus far in the time you knew him. So maybe you had more than a few reasons to be feeling this way.

When you got back to the office, Dante strolled in like nothing had happened and proceeded to sit at his desk, dirty boots on the tabletop like it was nothing. You followed him in, feeling an abnormal sense of awkwardness overwhelm you. As you stood next to the desk, it was like you didn’t know exactly what to do. No matter where you put your hands or however you tried to stand, you felt stiff and unnatural, like you were posing in wait for someone to take your photo but the flash never came.

“So,” Dante spoke up so unexpectedly that it snapped you out of your thoughts and back into the present. “Let’s go over the plan one more time.”

“Like Belle said, the next party is in a week from now. I’ll follow up with her for more details on my part later.” You were, of course, referring to the rules of the job you requested: what to expect, where to go, what you needed to do to make sure you looked and acted like every other girl who’d be working that night. “You should get there once the party has already started, but not too late. Don’t want to drag any unnecessary attention to us.” You looked Dante up and down, letting your eyes linger over the worn leather of his crimson coat with implication.

“Hey, the coat is going nowhere.”

“Whatever, that’s fine,” you groaned, scrunching your brow in exasperation. “But you’ll have to wait outside a window. I’ll text you which one once I get the layout of the building figured out.”

Dante nodded. “No problemo. Jumping through windows is one of my specialties.”

“Jump in to the open window, not through it,” you muttered through gritted teeth. Oh, he was going to be the death of you. “I’ll find a way to open it. We really can’t afford to attract too much attention.”

“You worry too much,” Dante waved his hand dismissively as the old wooden chair he sat on creaked. “These rich old bastards are gonna be too busy chasing tail to even notice us poking around.”

He had a point- the guests of the party would probably be too distracted being attended to by the women who were working the party, which you were supposed to be one of. It seemed like Dante remembered that fact the same exact time you did, judging by the way the previously playful smirk on his face vanished. All at once it felt like the good-natured mood in the room evaporated and left you standing in blank nothingness.

It had never bothered you before what anyone thought about your choice in career path. But that had mostly been due to the fact that you didn’t have many people close enough to you to actually voice an opinion, let alone have one. When you started in this line of work, you’d made a promise to yourself in efforts of protecting your heart that you wouldn’t care if anyone thought less of you because of it. But now, standing here in this room, you felt bothered by it. More than that, you felt bothered that Dante might’ve felt some sort of way, which made you feel even more upset that you actually gave a fuck about what he thought. But there was also a part of you that didn’t want to admit that this was as close to a real friendship you’d been to in years.

Dante was smart, as much as that goofball act he put on at times wanted to convince you otherwise. Surely he’d put together what you did for work by now. The way he was looking at you made you nervous. His lips parted, and you watched as his pink tongue jolted out and ran across his bottom lip. It dawned on you that he was gearing up to say something and the suspense of what it could possibly be was making you sweat from the tension.

Rejection was something that never came natural to you: you were never one to deprive yourself of the things in life that caught your eye or whatever whims you wanted to chase. But on the same coin of that philosophy, you were rarely rejected. Even when scoping out a new client, you never took the ones who turned down your offers as a rejection since you clearly weren’t offering anything they’d want to begin with, so there was no actual rejection happening. And rarely did the ones who were looking to spend their lonely evenings with a lady of your career choice ever turn you down.

But now it felt like you were staring down the barrel at an impending rejection that was going to hurt, and badly. Just what was it about this situation that made you feel so uncharacteristically insecure? It wasn’t like you liked Dante or anything. Hell, you certainly didn’t dislike him, you just hardly knew him at this point. But you weren’t opposed to getting to know him once this was all over and seeing if there was room for a real friendship outside of all this necklace drama. Plus, you liked having sex with him. It was a nice change of pace for you.

The sound of your heartbeat pounding away rapidly was all you could hear as the blood rushed in your ears. You were working yourself up into total hysteria, and quickly. If you didn’t calm down soon, it would transform into a full panic attack. In an effort to factory reset your mind and go back to the baseline of cool, calm, and collected you always tried to be, you found yourself reverting back to the mindset that you knew best.

“So, do you-” Dante started to ask you a question. However, you couldn’t bring yourself to wait it out and see exactly what it was.

“Wanna fuck?”

You blurted out the words before you could reign them back in. It evidently was the last thing Dante had been expecting you to say, as his eyes nearly bulged out of his head while he physically recoiled before regaining his composure.

He didn’t respond right away, and you found yourself bracing yet again for the incoming rejection. Instead, he ran a hand through his hair and sighed before sitting up much straighter than he had this entire time you were standing there.

“You know you don’t have to, right?” Dante’s hand stayed woven into his hair as he glanced at you out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t expect it or anything. Seriously.”

There was something about his words that made you feel guilty, although you couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was or why. “Well,” you started, stepping around the corner of the desk so you could lean your ass against the side that Dante sat behind. “Think of it like an early payment for what’s to come.”

“Forget about payment.” Dante was looking at you directly now, with such a serious look in his eyes you felt like he was going to burn a hole into you just by looking at you. “I mean it, I don’t want you doing anything you don’t want to be doing.”

You gulped. The conversation at hand had certainly taken a different route than you’d expected it to go. Vulnerability was never your strong suit but the way he spoke to you like you were something delicate and innocent and not at all any of the things you actually were made you feel like now was as good as a time as ever.

“I know I don’t,” you scooted backwards and lifted yourself up slightly so that you were actually sitting on the edge of the desk now. “But I want to. I… I like it.” God, you felt like such a freak for admitting it, despite literally all you were admitting to liking was just plain old sex with Dante. You really were screwed up.

However, your admission seemed to be the exact kind of thing Dante was looking for. His hand moved to touch your knee, just resting on your heated skin. The worn leather of his glove was soft, and it made you squirm slightly. “Yeah?” he asked, his voice dropping lower. “What do you like about it exactly?” His hand started to slide upwards your thigh until just the tips of his fingers disappeared under the short skirt of your dress.

Just the contact alone of his fingers on the sensitive skin of your thigh was enough for your stomach to swoop with excitement. It started to feel like your nerves were standing on end with a feverish thrill from the situation, and the mood shift in the conversation’s tone was trapping you under its spell. “I like how you feel inside of me,” you scrambled to think of things to say- really, there were so many things you could have listed at his request but now you struggled thinking of anything of real substance. “The noises you make, how you fuck me… it’s all really good.”

Part of you cringed at how lame you felt saying all of that, but Dante seemed really into it. His bulky hand crept further up your thigh until it started to bunch the fabric of your dress. “Yeah… Me too.” He agreed while his hand relaxed its grip on your thigh and his finger started tracing along your skin, dipping down to run along your inner thigh. You felt so wound up that the movement was making you almost ticklish.

“I like the way you feel too, always so damn tight it’s like you’re gonna strangle my dick.” Dante continued. “And the noises you make… makes me wish I could see your face. Bet you look as pretty as you sound.”

“You can see my face now, can’t you?” You threw back the challenge, hoping that Dante would take the bait. To accompany your words, you shifted on the desk slightly, letting your legs part just the teeniest bit but enough so Dante could slide his hand between your thighs entirely if he so wanted to. And you hoped so desperately that he did.

“Sure can. But are you gonna let me keep it that way?” His hand didn’t continue its journey upwards. It stayed put, resting on your thigh and drawing tender circles on your flesh as he waited for you to confirm where this was going.

“Yeah,” you nodded slowly, hazily. “I’ll let you watch me this time.”

“Good.” Dante hummed, seemingly satisfied with your answer. His hand squeezed your thigh affectionately, sending a flood of warmth through your system. You had half a mind to ask him if he was ready to speed this up, but he kept talking before you could. “Y’know, I thought I saw something interesting when we were talking with your friend earlier.”

“And what’s that?” You felt breathless, although nothing substantial had even happened yet.

“Something that looked real familiar,” he prodded, waiting for you to catch on. When you didn’t, he kept going. “Something lacy that I seem to remember you wearing yesterday.”

The light bulb went off in your head. He was referring to the underwear still in your purse that you’d accidentally whipped out mid conversation. Oops. So he had seen it. You could feel your face start to heat up with the recall of how embarrassed you felt when it happened.

“But I thought to myself, that couldn’t be it,” Dante continued. “Because that would mean you weren’t wearing anything under this dress now. Right?”

If you felt embarrassed before, now you felt completely mortified. But still- he was correct.

“Yeah,” you shrugged, looking away from the heat in Dante’s expression briefly before meeting it once more. No sense in being embarrassed any longer, you supposed. “I don’t have panties on right now.”

Dante exhaled slowly, almost like he was trying to steady himself. His eyes flickered shut before opening back up, and you swore that there was something about them that made him look more intense than normal. Was there always a ring of red in his blue eyes, and if so, how had you never noticed before?

“Show me.”

Slowly, you planted your hands on either side of where you sat on the desk and shifted your weight so your ass was lifted off the tabletop momentarily. Dante then guided the skirt of your dress up over your thighs until it bunched around your waist. You let yourself move back down onto the desk, and the wood was cool against your ass. Since all bets were now off and there was no point in either of you hiding your lust any longer, you spread your knees even further, letting Dante get more than an eyeful of you.

“Goddamn,” Dante whistled in appreciation. “This is a sight I could get used to.”

A flicker of realization ran across his face, and he reached behind you. Looking over your shoulder briefly, you followed his movement to see he had turned a photo frame so that it now laid face down. Dammit- sure, you were turned on beyond belief at the moment, but that didn’t override your urge to be nosy. You’d have to make sure to ask him about who that was later, at a less pressing moment.

Once the photo was face down, Dante shifted his attention back to you. His hand started to linger on your thigh again, and began diving between your legs before it stopped. “Can I touch you?”

It was such a simple question, but one that made you feel a warm rush of admiration towards Dante for asking. “Duh,” you started to roll your eyes, in somewhat of an effort to dull the growing intensity of the situation, but you stopped yourself. It was clear to you that Dante was trying to make you feel comfortable, despite how it felt unnatural to let yourself feel that way. So you felt it was only right for you to match the sensitivity of the energy he was putting forth. “Yeah,” you cleared your throat awkwardly. “You can.”

Rarely did you allow someone else to take the reins and be the one to guide you through an encounter. Yet in this case, it felt right, like the natural progression of everything that had happened between you two over these last few days. Dante seemed content with your response, and his hand that was resting on your thigh finally delved between your legs. Despite how none of this was really new to you, you still found yourself holding your breath in anticipation.

Dante’s fingers traced from your inner thigh to the delicate skin of your labia. He started slowly, dragging a finger upwards on your sex before lifting it away from your clit and examining his finger tip in the dim overhead lighting of the office. “You’re so wet,” he murmured with amusement. “I haven’t even done anything yet.” Once again those blue eyes were peering up at you, waiting to gauge your reaction. “Why is that?”

There was a mild irritation that flared in you over how chatty he was- couldn’t he tell that the last thing you wanted to do right now was talk? Wasn’t that obvious at the very least? Regardless, you indulged him. “I already told you I like this,” you responded as you exhaled, finally letting that breath you were holding go. Maybe you were more nervous than you realized, and maybe Dante himself had known it before you did.

“I can tell.” His finger went back to stroking over your folds, never once dipping actually inside of you but rather resting at your entrance. That tease. Your body screamed at you for more, urging you to move your hips to gain more than just the friction of being touched, but you remained still for the time being. “Been thinking about this all day?” He prompted as his finger rubbed back and forth over your clit.

The sensation was nice, but not nearly enough to satisfy the want that was growing so quickly inside of you. A sigh escaped your lips as your head fell back, but you kept your eyes as open and focused on Dante. Watching him was half of the fun, after all. “Yeah,” you sighed. “Why do you think I skipped wearing underwear today?”

“’Cause you’re a damn tease, that’s why.” As if to emphasize his words, his finger switched from rubbing back and forth to drawing tight, small circles over your swollen flesh.

Changing up the sway of motion was the right call, and you could not stop the much higher pitched moan that left your mouth as your eyes fluttered shut. You’d slightly suspected that Dante would be talented with his fingers, given everything you’d known about him and the nature of his career, it just made sense to you. And now he was really proving you correct. The want that was flowing in your veins grew in intensity, making you feel like liquid heat was running through your veins instead of blood. Without realizing it, you started squirming on the desk, moving your hips with the same rhythm as his finger against you.

“Does it feel good? It sure looks like you feel good.”

You were starting to understand the point he was attempting to drive home. Opening one eye slowly, you peered down at Dante only to see that his eyes had never left your face. It made you feel hot and embarrassed, being studied this closely while driven into the arms of pleasure. But at the same time, it also made you more turned on than you could ever recall being. You had come to expect that every encounter you had with Dante would likely end with you getting railed, and hopefully this one would prove no different. But the concentration he was placing on your pleasure now was something you hadn’t expected, although it wasn’t at all unwelcome in the slightest.

“Yes, it feels good.” You could barely find the words to speak, not when you could feel each circle of his finger rapidly bringing you closer to orgasm. Oh god, you were going to finish embarrassingly quick- but that just meant you could start the next round even sooner. “It feels really fucking good.”

“Can I put a finger in?” Dante didn’t stop the motion of his finger still rubbing circles onto your clit, but there was a different kind of desire shown in his eyes as he waited for your response.

You nodded your head slowly. “Yeah.” When Dante made no efforts to do what he offered, you started to feel an impatient urge flare up your spine. Licking your dry lips, your mouth parted again. “Please,” you all but begged. The word sounded pitiful coming from you, and it tumbled from your lips so quickly before you had the better sense to reel it back. It felt like a blow to your pride for you to practically plead for something from a man, but you’d asked for so much from Dante so far and been rewarded, so what was once more?

However, your earnest response was enough to encourage Dante to give you what you wanted. His hand ceased its motion and readjusted, pulling away from your wet heat for a moment. The loss of stimulation made you whimper dejectedly, hips chasing the movement of his hand. But then you were rewarded by one of Dante’s long fingers driving into you, the sensation so sharp that it made your back arch and ripped a moan from your lungs. He started slowly, moving his finger in and out of you as his eyes never left your face, taking in every single shift in your expression despite how minuscule it may be. And in return, you kept your eyes locked onto him, at least as much as you could whenever they were open.

“Do you like this?” Dante asked, sounding as breathless as you did despite the fact that you hadn’t even touched him.

“Yes,” you cooed, feeling that familiar ebb of pleasure start to build once more behind your pelvis. Each thrust of his finger felt so increasingly good, like it was sending your nerves on fire and lighting up your entire body. “Add another one.”

You had expected Dante to respond with a witty comeback, something to tease you and further the burning embarrassment you’d been feeling all day, but instead he just chuckled to himself with a smug smile on his face before pressing another finger into you. The intrusion made you moan, and although it was welcomed, you could still feel the sting of being stretched slightly as his fingers started pumping in and out of you at a steady pace. He still had his gloves on, and the leather was a distinctively odd sensation each time his fingers would drive in as deep as they could. The squelching noises your body made were the only sound in the room beyond the sighs and moans leaving you, and you were positively sure that your fluids were dripping down Dante’s wrist at this point- something that surely could not have been good for the worn leather gloves.

If that bothered Dante in the slightest, he did not make it known. Rather it seemed the opposite now as you watched his eyes flicker from between looking at your face and watching as he sunk his fingers into your pussy. He looked entirely memorized, like he couldn’t decide exactly which view he wanted to focus on. A wave of emotion flooded you, and suddenly you felt overwhelmed by the urgent need to get fucked, truly and earnestly. Throwing your pride aside, you were about to give in to the needful want and just beg for Dante to move past this foreplay, despite how utterly heavenly it felt, and fuck you hard like he had before. But before you could, Dante’s thumb found your clit and started rubbing it again, sending unending jolts of pleasure across your body.

It was way too much. It was not nearly enough. You were now so close to the edge, threatening to tip over and send you cascading into orgasm. And you knew that Dante knew it too.

“Fuck, you just got so tight around my fingers,” he panted. “Squeezin’ the fuck out of them.”

You couldn’t find it in you to respond, not when he was fucking you like this with his fingers alone. Instead, you let your body speak for you as your hips rose to meet each twist of his wrist. You were practically humping his hand at this point, any leftover shame from how bad you wanted him had flown out of the window. It enthralled you how it seemed like Dante would develop a dirty tongue whenever things got more heated between you two, and it made you wonder just how dirty that tongue could get. But maybe that was an idea for another time.

“Are you gonna come?”

Dante’s question made you realize just how close you were to coming all over his hand. Each time his fingers pushed inside of you combined with his thumb circling your clit, you were pushed closer and closer to the edge- and there really was no point in fighting the urge to succumb any longer. “Yeah,” you gasped, your voice so shrill that it almost didn’t sound like you. “I want you to watch me.” Your hips were moving against Dante’s hand with a desperation that only furthered your need to finish. You wanted him to see your face, wanted him to know the way your brow scrunched up and your lips parted in orgasmic bliss. And there was a part of you that wanted so terribly to know what he looked like as he watched you too in turn.

“There’s no way in hell I’d look anywhere else, baby,” Dante responded as his eyes poured into your own. “Show me how pretty you look when you come.”

His words were the final thing you needed to tip you over into an electrifying orgasm, one that had you gasping for breath as you rode out the waves of pleasure. Your body moved upon its own will, making your hips snap as your arms and legs shook. While you had been determined to keep your eyes open and focused on watching Dante watch you, instead they squeezed shut while fireworks erupted behind your eyelids. It all felt so overwhelmingly good, and you must’ve been a lot more into giving up the control you thought you held than you realized.

Dante’s fingers didn’t stop their movement even after you finished. Instead, he seemed to want to draw your orgasm out as long as he could by continuing after your body had stopped quaking. It was overwhelming since you were so sensitive from having just finished, but you knew that he’d stop if you asked him to. However, that wasn’t the case as the last thing you wanted was for him to stop. Sluggishly, you opened your eyes back open to look at Dante, who was still peering up at you. You nodded your head once, trying your best to signal to Dante your okay for him to continue going,

He got the message. Dante’s fingers dove deeper into you until his hand was flush between your legs, allowing you to grind against his palm. The worn leather of the glove he wore was strange against your sensitive, overworked clit but regardless you kept up the swaying of your hips. While you had literally just come, you could tell that it wasn’t going to be long until you did again. The leather was working to your advantage as it was something new and stimulating to get the sparks of lust begin building within your core again.

While you continued humping Dante’s hand, his fingers started moving inside of you by curving upwards repeatedly. They moved up and down, wiggling against your fluttering walls until they pressed against the sweet spot inside of you that he was apparently searching for. You let him know he hit the bullseye with a loud keen, one of your hands flying to grasp the wrist of his hand tightly like you needed the support. He didn’t let up however, and his fingers continued the motion, driving into that spot over and over again. Each time he pressed against the spot, you saw stars dancing in your vision, making black spots appear from the pleasure.

Once again, it was not going to be long until you came. But this time, you felt determined to keep your eyes focused on Dante. He was still watching you, drinking in the desperate way you shamelessly found your pleasure in his hand. And surprisingly, the fact that he was so focused on you only got you going harder. His fingers felt so deep inside of you, like they’d explored every inch you could possibly offer him. Another time, one not too far in the future, you wanted to find out what his face could add to the mix. Or maybe even another one of his fingers. You felt nearly drunk of the fantasy of the ecstasy he could bring to you, let alone what he was already giving you.

“Oh fuck, I’m so- Fuck,” you groaned, your voice weak from the amount of moaning you’d already done today. There was an ache within you that made you feel utterly wrecked beyond the point of no return. “I’m so fucking close.”

“Then come,” Dante pleaded, voice low and rough with arousal. “I want to see you come for me one more time.”

His fingers pressed firmly on that sensitive place within you firmly as he spoke, and that combined with the press of the soft leather against your clit was enough to send you hurtling into another mindnumbingly powerful orgasm. You could feel your face twist into almost a grimace as the pleasure brought along pain with it due to how hard you were working your body beyond the point of over-stimulation. Regardless, this orgasm was even stronger than the last as your body worked overtime to keep you from floating adrift in the surf of euphoria crashing along your system.

You tried to the best of your ability to keep your eyes open and locked onto Dante’s face. And it was worth it too- he watched your every move and expression with a reverence like you were enacting a sacred ritual of devotion. And on your end, the sight of Dante’s enraptured demeanor was almost too much for you to handle.

Slowly, you came back to your body and regained control of your senses. As your breathing returned to normal, you realized that you felt beyond exhausted. Good thing you were going home after this- you needed a nap urgently. Blinking sleepily, you released the grip you had on Dante’s wrist, allowing him to pull his fingers out of you. He then leaned back in his chair before lifting his hand to his face and sticking those fingers into his mouth. You watched slack-jawed as he proceeded to lick his fingers clean, moaning while he did it.

Fuck, you were not expecting that. And it would be a lie if you said it didn’t instantly re-spark your interest. Maybe you could stick around for another round, since he was sitting on that chair and looking like the perfect seat entirely just for you. And if he wanted to see your face so badly, then you’d let him when you rode him right here and now. Your eyes raked over Dante’s lounging form, but stopped once you noticed the sizable tent sitting right under his belt. Oh. So it turns out that blowing your mind with just his fingers was not just for his benefit.

“Want some help with that?” You nodded in his direction, hoping that he didn’t notice the way your voice wobbled.

Dante pulled his fingers from his mouth. “Nah,” he wiped his fingers on the hem of his shirt. “I told ya, this wasn’t about payment or you owing me anything. I just wanted to do that.”

It was impressive, you had to admit it. Not every man would have the dedication to devote himself to getting you off with no expectations of also getting off. It made your heart feel warm and fuzzy and you had to get out of here as quickly as you could before the feeling continued, or worse, grew into something you didn’t even know what to name.

Hopping off of the desk, your arms lifted high in the air as you stretched, noting the way Dante watched the bottom of your skirt trail up your thighs. “Sooooo,” you started, letting your arms drop as casually as you could. “See you in a week then.”

“Yep,” Dante nodded before pulling a magazine out of some mysterious place on his desk. You hadn’t even noticed it was there when you were sitting. He opened the magazine before flipping through it nonchalantly. Seems like you weren’t the only one trying to play it cool. “Think you can stay out of trouble until then?”

“I’ll try,” you teased, a smile spreading across your face. However, the smile fizzled out quickly as you realized that you actually would have to stay out of trouble for the sake of your life, meaning no jobs which meant no money. And no trouble meant Dante wouldn’t have a reason to help you out. Which meant no amazing, earth shattering, incredible sex. Oh well, it was only a week until you saw him again, you could wait that long.

After you gathered your bag, you turned back to Dante to say goodbye. He was still pretending to flip through the magazine, but he looked up when you said your parting words.

“See ya,” he flashed you a toothy grin before wagging his eyebrows suggestively. His hand dropped to his lap and squeezed the still prominent bulge there. “I’ll be thinking of ya all week.”

Yeah, you were so going to have to figure out a way to see him again before the party. There was no way in hell you could wait a whole week without seeing him.