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“There, let’s keep that face and hair hidden,” he said quietly. “Zip up my coat for now. I’m sorry about your shirt. You need to keep a low profile.”
“Why?” I countered, though I listened and kept my voice down this time. “You keep saying that.”
“Remember the three out front?” he said. “You don’t belong here. Just… here, let me show you something.”
We left the alley, keeping our heads down as we did, and we quickly darted behind food stalls and other buildings as we made our way farther down the street. Gabe moved quickly, and my bare feet ached against the stones. After a very brisk, fast five minutes, we tucked into another alleyway. Gabe’s eyes were trained forward. I didn’t have to follow his gaze. It was clear what he wanted me to see.
There was a demon, or what I assumed was a demon, standing in front of a platform. The platform was wood, and its back end seemed to double as a gallows. The front of it featured stocks and then pedestals with large silver hoops on top of them. Chains were hooked into the hoops. Those chains were clamped firmly around ghostly, pale humans. They were both incorporeal and not, as if wavering between their physical and spiritual forms. They varied in race, gender, and age, but they all looked equally miserable. Manacles were around their wrists and necks. Some of them were clamped in the stocks.
“A slave market,” Gabriel said roughly. “For souls.”
“Is that… is that their punishment?” I said softly. “Were they bad people?”
“Hell isn’t as cut and dry as you were made to believe.” Gabriel sighed. “Good and bad is subjective. Money, however, is always the language around here. Some of these souls were meant to be here. Some of them bought their way out.”
“So… if you were rich in life, you’re rich here?” I asked wondrously. “You’re kind of turning the whole notion of a Christian afterlife on its head.”
“Who said it’s just Christian? And who said money had to be coins?” he pointed out grimly. “There are other kinds of currency in this world. Years, souls, sex… vices in Hell are plenty.”
“Do I hear a bid for this miserable creature here?” the demon purred. His voice sounded greasy in my ears. A plain-looking man in a wrinkled suit stood front and center on the stage, looking terrified.
“Please,” the man said. “There’s been some kind of mistake.”
“I’ll bid!” a demon in the crowd yelled with a clotted, wet voice. Another demon murmured out his own bid as well.
“Please!” the rumpled businessman yelled. “I—I don’t know why I’m here.”
“Oh, really?” the auctioneer demon wheedled. “Your internet search history says otherwise. Not exactly the sort of images a nice man would look up.”
Gabe leaned close. “I know it seems unfair, but don’t feel bad for him. Most people who end up here deserve to be here in some way. Like I said, good or bad is subjective, but the truly, truly good make it where they should. Unless a reap—” He bit his lip as if he wanted to say more, but he cleared his throat and shook his head.
“Why are you showing me this?” I asked shrewdly, narrowing my eyes at him. There was something more, something he wasn’t saying.
“If a dead soul is this hot of a commodity, how much do you think you would go for?” he asked bluntly.
Oh.
“I’d be… I’d be prime rib,” I said, swallowing thickly. “Those demons, the things they wanted to do… I’m not safe here.”
We sat in silence for a moment, each of us processing the weight of the situation.
“Listen, I need to go get some things,” Gabe said coolly, chewing on his lip as he stared off at some unknown point. It was clear whatever emotion he’d felt a moment ago, whatever words he’d wanted to say, were back behind a wall inside of him. He was shutting me out.
“Things?” I said curiously.
“Things that will help us lie low for a bit. I meant what I said—I’ll get you home. Just… give me some time,” he replied.
“Wait, you’re going alone? What am I supposed to do?” I said. I hated how small my voice sounded. I wasn’t normally someone without direction. Even if it just meant running the diner or paying my bills, I handled my own fairly well. But this? I wasn’t just out of my element. I was three thousand light-years away from it. I swallowed thickly and repeated the question, this time trying to sound a little tougher. “What am I supposed to do while you’re gone?
Gabe leaned in close. He carried with it the smell of his clean, spicy cologne, as well as the smell of smoke and leather. Even without his coat, it clung to him. I squeezed my arms around myself, and the leather jacket he’d given me creaked.
“Hide,” he said, his voice like a blade in my ear. That simple, single syllable was said with enough of a command to make my skin crawl, and it made it clear he was not to be argued with.
I shuddered and closed my eyes, both from the sound of his voice and his command.
Gabe’s form blurred as he moved faster than I could process, and then I was left terrifyingly, overwhelmingly alone in the dark alley. I pulled the veil he’d made further over my forehead, then put my back to one wall and sat. Some crates offered a bit of protection, and I folded my legs into my chest and tried to make myself as small as possible. Every sound, every creature that scrabbled close to the mouth of the alley, kept my entire body on edge. I was almost sick with adrenaline and further sickened by the sounds of the nearby auction. I wanted to squeeze my eyes shut and cover my ears, but I didn’t want to risk it. I needed to be vigilant.
After what felt like five hours or five years, Gabe appeared in the mouth of the alley. In reality, it had probably been maybe fifteen minutes, but I was shaky and cramped, and it felt like I’d been in Hell for an eternity. Time seemed to move differently here, or maybe the fear and constant stress were fraying my edges more than a little.
