“Thank you,” I told him, entering the room. “Er…I might be a while so there’s no need for you to wait.”
“Quite all right,” the servant assured me. He gestured down the hallway. “When you finish attending to your, er,personal business, simply follow the hallway this way and make a right to find the living area. I shall have some liquor poured and ready for you.”
“Thank you.” I said, nodding and smiling. At least the servants had some manners around here, though it was clear Naggians in general didn’t care for outsiders.
The servant smiled and bowed and shut the door behind me.
I waited, my heart pounding as I listened to his muffled footfalls retreat down the long red carpet. Now that I was actually in the bathroom, a new plan was percolating in my head. It was a plan that was going to get me into a lot of trouble, but I didn’t know that then.
I just knew it seemed like a wonderful idea and I was aching to try it…
THIRTY-ONE
ELLI
Iheld my breath, waiting for the servant’s steps to die away completely. The bathroom I was in was right beside the coats and the entrance to the elevator that led downward. What if, instead of hiding the whole time Sir talked to the Baron, I snuck down in the elevator and went to find the human girl I had seen earlier?
I knew it was a risky plan, but I also knew this might be my only chance to see her and find out if she needed help—which I strongly felt that she did. Plus, maybe I could get some of those yummy snacks I had seen the merchants selling. I didn’t have any Naggian coins, but I could pay for them with blood. I had already pricked my finger once tonight—I was more than willing to do it again to get my hands on that bacon-on-a-stick.
I stuck my head tentatively out the bathroom door and looked up and down the long hallway—it was totally empty. After I was sure the coast was clear, I came all the way out and closed the door quietly behind me.
I pressed the button to call the ice elevator and was waiting impatiently for it to come, when my eyes happened to fall on the thick fur coat Sir had synthesized for me. It was made of long, luxurious brown fur that made me think of mink and I still had the Baron’s sigil in the pocket, which might come in handy.
I had almost thawed out completely, sitting so close to the fire in the dining room, but now I remembered how cold it was downstairs. I snagged the coat off its hook and pulled it on. I was only planning to go down briefly and come right back up again but it was better to be prepared for everything, I told myself.
The elevator arrived with ading!and for a moment, I froze. Had anyone heard? What would I say if Sir came out and asked what the hell I thought I was doing?
But no one came. I was able to slip quietly into the elevator and push the button for the bottom floor without attracting any attention. After a moment, the doors closed and the ice elevator began to descend.
Since the elevator was made of see-through ice, I could see what was happening as I descended. The floors below the Baron’s living quarters seemed to be devoted to businesses. On my way up with Sir, there had been a bee-hive of activity on every floor we had passed. But it must be getting near the end of the workday because I saw hardly anyone as the lift went slowly down.
At last I reached the bottom floor and found myself in the central area that led to the various tunnels. I stepped out and looked around, noting that there were far fewer people down here than there had been earlier as well.
To my disappointment, the merchant selling the bacon on a stick had apparently closed up shop, because his stall was vacant. But the stand with the multicolored pies was still open and so was the one selling the hot, steaming drink that smelled like mocha.
I was trying to decide which one I ought to approach first, when I saw her again—the human girl with warm brown skin and big, brown eyes. She was talking with a Naggian man—possibly a potential customer—and I saw her shaking her head adamantly.
Drifting closer, I caught their conversation.
“No—Ionlysell my blood—that’sit,”the girl was saying. “Talk to R’xs if you want a girl who’ll give you a fuck and suck—I only do thesuckpart.”
“It was R’xs who sent me here!” the Naggian man protested. “He said I could get a bit ofhsh’fruxpussyin front of the love tunnel from one of his girls. Now, I don’t see any otherhsh’fruxgirls here, so he must be talking aboutyou.”
“You’re mistaken,” the girl insisted, backing away, an uneasy look on her face. “R’xs knows I only offer exotic blood.” She extended her arm and pulled back the sleeve of her ratty, bright green fur coat. “If you want some blood, I’m your girl. But I can’t do anything else for you—Ionlysell blood and only from the wrist—not the neck or the thigh or anywhere else.”
“That’s not true!” The Naggian man was getting angry now. He came at her and grabbed her extended wrist—which was covered in old bite marks and bruises, I now saw. “You’re a Blood Whore, soactlike one!” he shouted in her face. “I want thehsh’fruxpussy I was promised!”
She was in trouble—I had to do something, but I wasn’t sure what to do! I ran forward anyway, coming to a stop beside the startled girl and the would-be customer.
“Oh my God, girl—I haven’t seen you in solong!”I exclaimed, putting an arm around her. “What are you doing here? We need to catch up!”
“I…uh…” The girl looked at me uncertainly.
“Can you let my friend go, please?” I asked the Naggian man politely. “We haven’t seen each other in ages and I have so much to tell her.”
But the Naggian man refused to let go of her wrist. He looked down at me, an angry frown twisting his pale face.
“I don’t know who you are,hsh’frux,but I’m a paying customer so get the hell out of my way,” he growled.