Azazel               My head throbs painfully as the light of day burns through my retinas. I sit up with a groan and come face to face with Mathias, Mikhail, and Fallon. “This better be a nightmare because if it’s a sex dream, I’d rather be set upon by the hounds of hell.”              Mikhail crosses his arms over his chest and snorts. “It’s not a sex dream or a nightmare Azazel.” He says with a sneer. Fallon and Mathias remain standing there quietly.                   I rise from my couch with a disconcerted frown. The place is in shambles. The tables are torn and turned over. One of the chairs is in pieces, and the television is cracked. “What the bloody hell happened to this place? A

Chapter 13: Pride is all I haveZoe              Bree and I ready ourselves to go to work in a couple of hours. After Sahara and Marina had left, Bree left soon after, leaving me to my thoughts. I roll on some lip gloss as I try not to dread the thought of seeing Azazel again. Every time the thought occurs, my body washes in shame. How could I have been so stupid? I think for the nth time.              The bus ride to the club is too short. Everyone is preparing for the night’s events as soon as I get there. Christoph is talking to the club staff, and a few of the waitresses are cleaning tables. Thankfully, none of the gladiators are there yet. They usually don’t come until late into the night. I head towards the locker room and find another short, sheer, toga dress waiting for me. This one is blue with a gold pendant on

 Zoe              “Who are you?” I ask the good-looking dark man standing before me. Something about the way he gazes at me makes my skin crawl. It feels like he could see deep inside my soul. It’s a wet and dreary night out. I was just walking home from working at the fabric factory when I ran into this man. My best girl, Clara, and I planned on visiting the new speakeasy in town. Apparently, the proprietor is very handsome. The man steps in front of me, snapping me out of my thoughts. This is not the first time I’ve seen him, though. I saw him several days ago when I was at the juice joint near Lexington. He was drinking hooch and talking to that Milquetoast Lenny. My friend Clara spotted him right away. The gent is quite handsome if you can overlook his sinister appearance. He has pitch black hair and dark as sin eyes. He’s tall with pale skin and a toned body u

Zoe              I straighten my dress as I step out of the locker room and leave Azazel behind. My body is still quaking from the encounter. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and walk back to the bar. Two of the waitresses that I was speaking to earlier spot me as soon as I reach the bar. Kat, a brash redhead with a mane of wild red hair and a bust that is too large to be real, raises her eyebrows with an inquiring look. “So…” She says with a snicker. “…you and that really hot gladiator, Azazel. Do tell?” The other girl, Sadie, moves closer with an interested smile. I roll my eyes and look around nervously, then shake my head. “It’s…complicated,” I answer with a grimace. She clucks her tongue and wags her index finger near my face. “No, honey. We want to know everything. And with the way he carried you out of here, I’m sure

Chapter 19: Things just get weirder and weirderZoe              I can’t believe what I’m hearing. My life has taken so many turns, but I never expected it to get this bizarre. I feel like Alice down the rabbit hole. There’s no other explanation, though. It’s beyond coincidental that I’ve seen this man before. He’s the man from my nightmares. The one who has killed me. I struggle in his arms, feeling some kind of electricity vibrating around us. My stomach flips as I become weightless. I feel like when I used to ride the Splash Mountain ride at Disney. I remember the excitement of going up the mountain and the way my body would float before it would plunge down. That’s how I feel right now, weightless.              My eyes burn as a sharp beam of light burns through my retinas. My h