Chapter Text
It doesn’t seem like any sort of fancy place when you show up. Just some apartment at the top of a building full of apartments, but that’s the address you were given so that’s the address you go to. They told you to write down the date, the time and a handful of things you’d done that week, that day. “For later” was the only instruction on why.
This was all kinds of sketchy, but for all the uneasiness that you felt, it was also very professional. The correspondence had been polite, efficient and punctual. Plus, they had not only asked but insisted you told at least one person where you were going when you left, just in case. In case of what, you didn’t know, but you had done as you were instructed.
You ride the elevator up to the top floor, wrinkling your nose a little at the smell of it and pulling your coat tighter around yourself. This was one of the more miserable parts of town. You hadn’t driven your car here, that was another instruction, but had gotten a ride with one of your friends. Or rather you’d gotten a ride with your sort of descendant-ancestor Cronus while he went out to some party of some assholes he knew.
Thinking back on it, having Cronus be you’re person-who-knew-where-you-were might have been a bad choice, but it was too late to go back on that now, and besides, at least he didn’t insist you give him gas money just for a quick jaunt downtown. The top floor smells a hell of a lot cleaner than the elevator, and looks like it’s been renovated as well. You step out into the hallway, and the moment the elevator doors close you notice something strange.
You can’t hear a single sound. Nothing. Nothing from the world outside, nothing from the apartments below, hell, nothing from any of the rooms up here. Upon closer inspection, you realize that there are only two doors in the very center of the hall way. They are opposite each other. The one on the left has nothing but a number on the front of it. 14.
The one on the left has the number 3 on the front, as well as a sign underneath it that says: Knock. This is the door you were looking for.
You pull open your phone and double check the instructions you were given. This was, in fact, the door you were looking for. So you shove your phone away and knock on the door.
You’re nervous. You’ve never done this before. But they were reviewed as the best, and, after all, the best is what you deserved.
It only takes a minute before the door swings open. A tall human opens it. He has blonde hair trapped under a ball cap and pointed shades covering his eyes. He leans against the door frame with his hip and holds it open with his hand. You can’t help but notice how long his arm is, how strong, for a human, he looks and that smug as fuck look on his face. You lock your knees into place to keep from taking a step back, because he lowers his shades and the look in his eyes is all predatory.
It’s a look you’ve seen plenty of times, on animals you study, on people you meet, on yourself in the reflection of a glass, some water, a mirror, someone’s glasses from time to time, but there’s nothing in this gaze that is soft. Nothing except for, perhaps, the way it says I’m going to fuck you until you forget who you are instead of I am going to tear out your heart and eat it raw.
You’ve done your research of him, of this place, though, so you don’t look away, you don’t back down, and you just wait. You’ve read about how people show weakness and he shuts the door on them. You’ve read about how they turn away and he laughs at them. You’ve read plenty of people who fucked up and can’t get back in, because the thing is about this guy and his friend is that they’re good.
They have a specific set of skills and they are the only people who do what you need done in the way that you need it done.
The judgment period lasts for you don’t know how long, before he pushes his shades up and smiles. He turns and gestures inside, “Welcome.”
The room looks like an upper class waiting room. Fake potted plant in the corner, with a sword sticking up out of the dirt like it’s part of the plant, little couches, little coffee table with magazines on it. They look like gardening ones, or bird watcher magazines, instead of gossip rags you would find at a doctor’s office somewhere. They also look like they’ve been drawn on with magic marker.
He closes the door behind you with enough force to make you jump a little. He locks the door as well, and you’re more than a little surprised to see three separate locks on it. He just gives you a smile when you look from the locks to him, and says, “Take a seat, will you? My buddy will be out with a little something for you to sign and agree to, all right? Want some water or coke?”
“Water,” you say simply. “Thank you.”
He chuckles and is out of the room a hell of a lot faster than you think a grown human should be able to move. You settle down on the couch, looking around at the other curious decorations. There are paintings on the wall, but one is, you swear, a sexy pose of a wizard. It’s a little hard to tell, because it looks like it’s been blown up fifty times larger than it should, so all the edges of the picture are fuzzy as hell. Another picture on the wall is a majestic scene of a beach with horses racing across it, or it would be if the horses were not, in fact, centaurs. The detail on that one is amazing. You swear you can see the individual strands of hair on the lead centaur’s head.
There’s a grandfather clock against one wall that looks like there’s an actual grandfather inside of it, old, wrinkly and stuffed.
What the fuck is up with these humans.
“It was a gift.”
You twist around on the couch and look up to see another human walking in. Blonde like the last one, but with different shades, and instead of wearing a plain white T-shirt and some jeans, he’s wearing a nice button down shirt, slacks and a black tie. He offers a little smile and hands out a clipboard with a paper. “Both of them, actually. One a gift from my sister and another a gift from one of his past boyfriends.”
He takes a seat on the coffee table, crossing his legs at the knees. You see he’s holding a camera in his hands. He fiddles with the settings as he talks. “As you should know already, the cocktail of drugs we’ll be using in your session can be quite powerful. It’s a necessity because of your subspecies inherent immunity to most human drugs. It is that strong because we do not use sopor, at all,” he flashes you a smile with an edge like a knife to it.
You feel your mouth begin to water.
“Since we don’t use sopor, we have to use other things. Because of that there could be certain side effects, such as short term memory loss and slurred speech and whatnot. There shouldn’t be any development of dependency, however, you’re the first violetblood we’ve had actually make it this far so we don’t know for sure.”
In any other circumstance you would snarl at that. You weren’t some guinea pig for some human experiment. But the whole point of this was to, well, be a guinea pig with some people you didn’t have to see every damn day of your life but that you could trust.
“Anyway, so fill out that sheet there, then we’ll get your video recorded testimony that we aren’t doing this against your will and we can begin. Seems simple, doesn’t it?”
You look down to the single page you need to fill out. “Yes,” you remark. “A little too simple.”
He laughs and says, “Some things are complicated enough on their own without a stack of forms to fill out. You made it this far, it’s unlikely you won’t make it all the way into the bedroom.”
Unwillingly, you feel your cheeks flush with blood. Your fins, thankfully, remain close to your face. You chew on the inside of your cheek and turn your attention to the paper. It is deceptively simple, you realize.
The information they request are those things you accomplished this week, as well as the contact information for the person who would be picking you up. And then there were a series of words with unchecked boxes next to them. Words that listed kinks you’ve heard of and ones you’ve never even seen before. You’d ask what they were, but you can feel his smirk and you’d rather not get another chuckle from him at your expense so soon. You check the boxes of what you want and then hand over the paper.
He lifts up the camera and says, “Just say whatever comes to mind, Mr. Ampora, so long as you confirm that this is a consensual meeting.” He pushes a button and then adds, “We’re recording.”
Your gaze turns from his face to the camera. It’s a sleek, sophisticated thing. Or at least you think so. You honestly didn’t know much about them. You take in a deep breath and let it out through your nose to calm yourself down. “I’m Eridan and I arranged this meetin’. What happens to me tonight is somethin’ I want to happen and whatever the consequences a this evenin’ turn out to be, I am prepared to accept them. I was not coerced into this in the least,” you glance down, “I’m actually kinda excited.”
“As you should be,” He says suddenly, “There’s no reason not to be excited. You’ve been waiting for this for a long time, haven’t you been?”
“Ah. Yes.” You look to the man. You nervously rub your hands together, wondering if checking the video recording box was such a good idea after all. You just needed to know everything that happened to you. You needed to know that they didn’t laugh at you while they…they did what they were going to do. “Quite a while.”
He turns the camera suddenly to your right, and there’s the first one, coming in with a glass of water. He lifts his other hand in a little wave and a “Yo.” He stops beside you on the couch, but doesn’t sit. He hands you the glass. “Drink up, buddy.”
You suddenly feel more nervous than before, but you take the water and drink it. You don’t taste anything unnatural in it, though. You wonder exactly how they were going to proceed to the next part, since it seemed your filled out paper satisfied them. You drain the glass and the first one takes it back. You clear your throat and ask, “So, what are your names?”
The man in the suit smiles and says, “Don’t worry about it. You won’t be needing them later. You won’t be able to speak coherently at all.”
You’d be a hell of a lot more against that if it didn’t make your insides clench with a fierce, burning desire. Oh yes. You were definitely going to want video of this.