Beauty Is The Beast

"You're joking, right?" I glanced around the sketchy alley, then back down to the manhole. "You live in there?" I asked dumbfounded, Jacob snickered from behind me.

Enzo rolled his eyes, crouching down to remove the lid. I glanced around uneasily again. We left at midnight, to avoid as many people as possible. I thought it was for safety, but now I see the real reason. "I don't live in the sewer."

I never took him as the kind of guy to willingly jump into a sewer, especially not in the expensive suits he's always wearing. Even now he was dressed an all black one. But his face told me he meant business, and that we were indeed going down there.

He finally got the lid off, and I had to cover my nose to keep from vomiting. The smell was horrible. I checked my choice of attire again, regretting wearing sneakers instead of steel toe boots.

Vince, bless his heart, lowered himself in first. Then Enzo beckoned me forward. "We don't have time to waste."

I shook my head, "I don't think I can do it."

He sighed,"Valentina, you either climb down or I'll throw you down."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "You wouldn't dare."

"Vince will catch you."

Jacob shoved me from behind, "Don't be such a girl."

I glared at him over my shoulder. "I don't see you going down."

"Ladies first."

"Then go down."

Enzo let out a loud dramatic sigh. "Get in the damn sewer Valentina!" Never did I expect to hear those words in the same sentence.

Walking over I placed one foot on the railing, then turned putting the other one. Slowly I started climbing down, trying to ignore all the mystery substance my hands were now sliding over. I'm gonna need to sanitize and burn them after this.

I was consumed in darkness by the time my feet stepped off the ladder. I stained my eyes trying to locate Vince. "Vince?" I whispered, taking a step forward, my foot splashing in something I tried not to think about.

A figure dropped down behind me. "Vince went ahead, not everyone has the patience to wait for you." He was standing directly behind me, every word he spoke making the hair on my neck ruffle.

Seconds later I heard a crash. "Dammit! I slipped." I giggled at the splashing sounds Jacob was making. I can only imagine what he's rolling around in.

I jumped when I felt a light touch on my arm. The tips of his fingers traveled down the side of my arm, as light as a lovers touch, reaching for my hand. He entwined our fingers, making my heart skip a beat. "Wouldn't want you to get lost down here." I had a feeling he was smirking.

After twenty minutes of walking blindly through the darkness, I needed answers. "Where are we going? How long until we get there? I think something is in my shoe!"

His hand tightened around mine. "Somewhere safe, a few more steps, and something definitely crawled in your shoe. It was black and very fuzzy." I shuddered, really hope he's joking.

"You know, you kind of get used to the smell after a while." Jacob commented trailing behind us.

"No you don't." I said dryly. Enzo suddenly pulled us to a stop. "What happened? Why'd we stop?" I peered around us but still couldn't see.

"This is it." His hand slipped from mine, taking the warmth with it. There was the sound of knocking, then a blinding white light. I covered my eyes. After being in the dark for so long my eyes needed time to adjust. When they finally did, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. "New York? That's not possible."

"This is not actually New York, just my version of it." He stepped through the door, then held his hand out to help me through. I was no longer standing in a smelly sewer, I was now smack in the middle of Times Square. There was people everywhere! But no one gave us a second glance. I looked behind me wondering if I'd still see the door we just came through, but it was gone. Jacob was standing behind me looking as amazed as I was.

"What do you mean?" His version? Is he saying that he created this?

"You'll see." Grabbing my hand once again he started guiding us through the throngs of people. Enzo snickered, and I wondered if he was listening to my thoughts.

We stepped into a pizza place. The sign read 'Benny's Pizzaeria' my stomach grumbled at the smell. When was the last time I ate?

But Enzo wasn't stopping to put in a order and I stared longingly at all the different toppings. "Later." He promised.

There was a door around the side that read EXIT and Enzo pushed it open. But where I expected it to lead us to an alley, it was a flight of stairs going down. "That's not strange at all."

Enzo looked back at me over his shoulder. "Only I have access to these stairs, anyone else would walk into a normal alley."

"How is that possible?"

He nodded towards the knob. "It's enchanted to recognize my blood."

"Wow." Jacob mumbled from behind me. Wow indeed.

We headed down the stairs that was fortunately lit by torches. We stopped at a red door which he knocked on twice.

"What the hell is that!?" I spun around seeing what Jacob noticed. A red beam was heading down the steps, right towards us. It was horizontal, like it meant to slice us in half.

I shrieked throwing myself back, right into Enzo. "We're going to die!"

"It's fine it's just extra precaution, you're not going to die." As he spoke the laser went through Jacob, who was closests, then us. "See? Nothing to fear."

"If only you can get down here then why do you need that?"

"I said it recognizes my blood. Not an easy thing to get ahold of, but also not impossible." He explained.

The door creaked open behind him, and I had to hold in my scream. The figure was hunched over, but there was no mistaking the spikes protruding from his back. Or the claws where his feet should've been. "Master Lucifer, welcome back." The voice was raspy, but sounded male.

Wait, did he just say.."Holy shit!" Jacob exclaimed from behind me.

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