MHOS Part 10: Enter Lust

The woman in my backseat directs me to a tavern just before the township of Lust on the intersection of Chaos Crescent & Predator Alley. Despite the unfortunate intersection it is located on, it's beautiful, the architecture is exquisite, and I can hear jazz music softly playing inside. We get out of the car she goes to head inside and she hugs me, just once and says "I recommend the burgers" stands back and looks at me with one last thankful look, before disappearing into the tavern herself, leaving me alone on the street.

I examine the neighborhood for landmarks as I make my way into the tavern myself when I notice a man who looks like he's looking for trouble as he enters the establishment ahead of me. Fantastic. I can watch him over dinner and introduce myself for dessert if need be.

I enter the tavern and it is absolutely gorgeous. Velvet drapes, leather booths, gold trim, and a stunning set of mirror shelves behind the bar. Perfect for keeping an eye on the crowd as I eat. I think I'll make my way over and have a seat. As I sat down the bartender grabbed a menu and approached me. "What'll you have to drink?" he asked as he offered me the menu.

"A burger platter and a whiskey sour" I replied waving the menu away. The bartender smiled and said "I like a woman who knows what she wants" as he put the menu away. He turned away to put my order in I stopped to admire him. Not every hell spawn I've met have had wings, I'm wondering if they mean anything. They oddly don't look out of place on the cat man standing in front of me making me a drink. He makes eye contact with me as he hands me my whiskey sour and lets me know my food will be ready shortly. I thank him as I flash him one of my more charming smiles. He matches my smile & says "My name is Husk. If you need anything at all, just wave me down."

I cock my eyebrow and say "I'll keep that in mind" as I grab a straw and put it in my drink and watch him as I take my first sip.

Husk smiles, tosses a towel over his shoulder and walks down to the other end of the bar to take another order. And as he does I begin searching in the mirror behind the bar in the crowd for the man I followed in.

As I scan the crowd I see no signs of him, but I notice the girl that I came here with sitting in a booth, staring directly into my eyes waiting for me to notice her. I smile and wave in the mirror at her and she looks to her left, with just her eyes and then looks back at me. I start scanning the crowd in the area that she was looking in when I spot him. Not the man I followed in, but the third man that was chasing her down, the coward that ran away.

I look back at her and nod, letting her know I recognized him as I drank my drink down quickly. I lifted my glass and looked Husks way and he walked back over towards me to grab my empty glass. "Could you make me another one of these to go with my food handsome? I will be right back." Husk nods as I stand up and walk into the crowd.

It's not long before I find the man I'm looking for. I take him by the hand and bring him out onto the dance floor. He doesn't seem to recognize me, but he's grateful for the attention. I dance with him until he starts to get handsy with me, which doesn't take long, and I whisper in his ear that we should get out of there to which he eagerly agrees. I keep my grip on his hand as I pull him through the crowd and out of the building. We run around to the side of the building between the fence and the fire escape and he slams me up against the side of the building with a creepy grin across his face.

It quickly fades when my smiles grows to match his. I grab his face and kiss him deeply, and in his confusion he returns my kiss with an equal parts passion & confusion. As he puts his hands on my waist I slide one hand down his torso and gently lift his shirt. He let's out a soft moan and as he does, I dig my talons into his soft flesh, listening to the squelching as I watch his face change from evil to confused, to passionate and finally surprise, blended with terror..

He returns my eye contact as I slide my hand further inside of him, searching for his heart, I want to show it to him in his final moments. Sadly, he died too fast for that to happen. I let his body slide to the ground with a most unsatisfying *thump* as I walked back into the tavern to wash my hands before dinner.

As I make my way to the bathroom I walk past the booths to find the woman I showed up with. I made eye contact with her and smiled. She looked at my blood soaked hand and she smiled too.

Once I'm done in the bathroom I return to my seat to see the food arriving. Perfect, I've really worked up an appetite. Husk smiles at me as he sets down my plate. I wink back as I settle in to enjoy my meal. We continue to flirt back and forth between customers and my scanning the crowd as I eat.

I spot another sketchy dude cruising the crowd for unsuspecting women. I slide past him, "accidentally" brushing against him as I make my way to the bathroom and he begins to follow me down the hall. I give him a look and walk out of the rear exit instead of the bathroom looking back to ensure that he's following me and when he does. His death is swift. I grab him by the throat, pull his lips into mine and as they do, I remove his Adams apple. I get showered in red this time, I should have thought ahead, but I'm in the back, I am by the bathroom, and it's Hell.. Who's really going to notice?

I get into the bathroom and start washing the blood off my skin and dabbing it out of the lace on my dress.. just enough to stop it from looking soaked, my dress is dark enough to hide the blood itself. I take one last look in the mirror, run my hands through my hair & as I do, it occurs to me that the only roof I have is way back where I spawned yesterday. And the night is nearly done. I need a place to stay.

I head back to the bar and grab one more drink when I look at the bartender who has been flirting with me all night.. I could totally sleep with him and have a roof over my head for tonight then worry about finding a new home in the morning. I sit back down at the bar eyes still set on him and flag Husk down for my last drink of the night. This time when he hands me my drink I grab the tie hanging around his collar and gently tug it off from around his neck and I tell him "I'll give it back at closing time" as I tie my hair up with it.

Husk looks at the bow in my hair, his eyes follow the black fabric through the messy bun I threw my hair into, down to the nape of my neck, his eyes drift down to my collarbone and then back into my eyes and he says "You keep it, it looks better on you."

I nurse my drink for the remainder of the evening as Husk closes up for the night and we walk out together. The moment we exit the bar I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him deeply. I feel his hands slide around my waist, making their way up my back and I pull back, gently ending the kiss as I slide my hands down his arms and begin pulling Husk to my car sitting in the parking lot.

We reach my car and I go to open the door as electricity crackles in the air. A figure with glowing red eyes and sharp yellow teeth comes out of the shadows "If anything happens to him, you will answer to me." the figure says as it moves between Husk and I. As his form comes together I recognize him as Alastor, the man who was with Rosie in Cannibal town & despite the smile on his face, I can't help but feel like my life is in danger.