Midnight CEO After Dark

42.

"Why are we here?" I sneered at Ebony as we stood at the pier we had arrived on only nights before and shivered with anticipation of what would await us tonight. "It's wet and freezing out here."

"I thought it might be nice for Claudia to see and smell the ocean for the last time ever." She glared up at me like I was the worst creature she had ever meet. "I feel bad about this. Really bad." She sighed as a puff of smoke left her mouth on the cold wind. "It's kind of nice though right?" She pointed to the waves as they lapped against the dock, the cold night air blew around us violently and light rain started to fall with a steady flow.

"Yeah, it's lovely." I grumbled pushing my now damp hair out of my eyes. "Just peachy." The clock struck midnight as a dark portal suddenly swirled in front of us like a vortex of pure horror. Screams of terror followed by ear bursting cries for help filled the night air from the souls dammed to an eternity in Hell. "Oh, that's nice." I smiled sarcastically, shaking my head and shielded myself from heat the intense flames inside the portal. "Really sets the mood against the cold waves. Mmmm, nice." I rolled my eyes and sighed dramatically.

"Shut up." Ebony grumbled, taking a step back from the heat of the portal.

"Sounds nice in there." Callan smiled and patted my back. "I'm SO glad I volunteered to go with you." He rolled his eyes in disgust at his previous suggestion to help.

"Me too." I looked over at him as a blood-curdling scream of horror filled the air, making both of us jump a little. "I'm guessing whatever happened in there hurt a little bit." I made a face and shivered and scream started up again.

"Wwhhaatt is that noise?" Claudia gasped as she looked around the pier in complete panic.

"That is your new home." Callan smiled at her. "Sounds lovely. I'm sure you will get used to the sound of blood-curdling screams and the smell of decay. I hear brimstone smells lovely in the afternoon." He smiled at her sweetly as the heat from the portal became more intense. "Damn." He whispered, shielding his face with his arm.

"Yeah, real mood setter for the honeymoon." I snickered with Callan as Ebony hit my arm.

"Stop it. You will scare her, and that means your eternity up here ends." She said through gritted teeth. "Just ignore them, Claudia. They are scared of their own shadow." Ebony held Claudia's hand and reassured her everything was fine.

"It's not fine." Claudia shivered as the rain fell a little harder. "This doesn't feel right. I was promised a world with oceans and sun, just like my home. I'm not going down to whatever that is. No way."

"Aww, that's cute that you think you have an opinion here." Callan battered his eyelashes at her innocently. "Bless."

"Stop it." Ebony scolded him. "Claudia, listen." She took a deep breath. "I'll be honest with you here. The devil may not be what you think he...."

I cleared my throat and shook my head. "What are you doing?" I tried to be subtle and speak through my teeth.

"I'm telling her the truth." Ebony snapped back at me. "I can't stand this anymore."

"No, you're fucking not." I nudged Ebony and glared at her. "You told me not to do that. You yelled at me."

"Im sorry but I'm feeling bad about all the lying." She snapped again, glaring back at me. "Shut up!"

I looked over at Callan, who just shrugged at me and turned his back. "That's definitely a you problem." He said over his shoulder as I sighed and rubbed my head. "Look, Claudia. I'll be real with you here." I took her hand in mine and tried to remain calm as screams of horror filled the room again. "That was a loud one. Kind of makes the skin crawl a little." I tried to laugh and lighten the mood. "Yeah, let's just move on and ignore that." I cleared my throat before continuing as Ebony and Callan silently watched me. "Hell has a lot of layers, and by layers, I mean a lot of..."