The Otherworld looks much like New York except without the traffic and the cabs that move around. The streets are occupied with people walking and carriages for those who prefer that. Rachael can only see one or two cars as they walk the streets.
The buildings are very much like that of the human world. Made of bricks and colorful scenes, some with more glass than bricks.
There are a few news paper shops on the end of each street as they walk.
Although it all looks normal there are still obvious differences aside the preferred means of transportation.
The people.
They wear normal clothes like humans, of course they do, but if you look closely one would find creatures of different skin types. Not like the human world that has blacks, yellows, whites and other skin colors.
Here Rachael sees men with skin of scales that seem to glitter under the sunlight, most of these types wear coats like they were cold for hiding here seemed unnatural.
After all, this is their world. There is no need to hide who or what they are.
She passes three women on the street who sing a song in harmonious melody. Their voices are as clear as glass and soft on the ears creating a kind of attraction for passersby.
Their eyes are lit of yellow colors like the sun and their skin is smoother than the finest powders.
Rachael is fascinated by this and almost stops but Samuel pulls her away from the gathering crowd that are attracted by the unwavering beauty of their voice.
"Carriage," a being of green skin calls out and Rachael marvels with curiosity and fear.
"Is that a martian or a goblin?" she asks putting laughter in the bellies of her company.
A bit of laughter is always good, after all, problems are seldom over so one should also appreciate the little things that makes one laugh.
"No, that is a lizard man. A half-breed actually," Amanda says. "A rare species. No one really likes mating with their kind except their kind," she adds.
"Where are we going?" Elma asks.
"We are going to get a ride," Samuel replies, "A ride? What about the carriage?" Rachael asks and Samuel holds in a laugh.
"I know you want to try this old taste of culture but there are slow compared to what we are going for," he says.
"We need something that can sow the skies Rachael. You are about to see a fantastic creature that many have only heard of in ancient tales," Amanda says.
"Not just ancient tales, even pop culture have carried on certain stories of ancient history," Samuel adds.
Elma walks beside them, paying attention to the words of the sphinxes as they pay more attention to the human. Rachael looks like a child who is about to have her first taste of ice cream. Her face brims with enthusiasm as she absorb the surroundings of this new world.
Elma wants to smack her head but her energy is a bit contagious and she finds herself smiling at the human.
They find a cab which takes them on a ten minutes drive to a ranch.
There is a big wooden gate in front of the ranch with a fence that stretches for half a mile before disappearing into a curve on each sides. The name Obadiah's Home is written boldly on the wooden gate.
Samuel pays the driver with two gold coins before departing for the big wooden building in the middle of all the beautiful green lands that stretches for several leagues of earth, about 1300 acres of land.
The immortals walk almost leaving Rachael behind for her astonishment keeps her eyes glued to the creatures that roam the lands.
Stead, the finest she had ever seen but the most captivating thing about these horses are the wings attached to their backs.
The size of these creatures were already something of awe but their wings is a marvel of its own.
Their wings are like those of the birds but its size stretches as long as ten feet.
"Don't let your tongue fall out," Elma taunts the excited woman as she can't help but expose her full set of teeth at the marvelous creatures.
The group enter the building; it is plain and simple with only a few wooden chairs and two tables on both sides of the room. There is a staircase on one end of the room but they pay little attention to it for it bears no significance to their purpose.
A young woman stands at the counter, her long black hair is thick and rough looking but her eyes are filled with delight with their glowings of ember.
She smiles broadly as the group approaches the counter, "Welcome to Obadiah's Home. How can we be of service?" she says.
"Summon Obadiah, let him know that Amanda, daughter of Ra is here," Amanda says. The woman feels a bit uneasy with her request as she smiles weakly.
"Obadiah is not in, ma'am" she says, "I'm not asking again," her eyes briefly exposes their blue glow inspiring fear in the woman, "Right away," she stammers and reaches for a telephone on the counter.
She makes a call and a voice speaks, declining her request but the sphinx will not have it. She is not one to be trifled with. She grabs the phone from the woman, "You better get down here you fat goat or I'm going to release all your stock and set the ranch ablaze, right after I use you to make soup.
What was your favorite soup again?" she drops the telephone and eyes the woman with a threatening smile.
The woman's fears are displayed for all to see as she shivers and her eyes move to different directions without holding anyone's gaze.
Elma smiles, "Wow, you are such a wicked one Amanda. You got the human scared as fuck," she says and they giggle. "Human?" the immortals raise their brows as they realize that Rachael isn't the only human in their presence.
The scent of her blood sings to their ears with the rapid dance of her heart.
Elma smiles broadly as little cracks appear under her eyes and they turn black with hunger. The receptionist sees the fangs in the vampire's mouth and her eyes tell a story of fright.
"You smell nice, even better than this one" she glances at Rachael. The woman plays with her hands frantically as sweat begins to drip down her face.
"Please don't kill me. I've only been here for a month. I'm pregnant, please" she whimpers.
"Stop it you guys," Rachael says, "Shush," Amanda quickly shuts her up. "Even better," she turns her gaze to the woman.
"We can take turns drinking her blood," Elma says. Rachael tries to make a move but Samuel holds her hand tightly and shakes his head to disapprove whatever idea she has in her head.
"You are right, the only problem is we don't know if it will be before or after we remove the baby," Amanda says, "It's been ages since I drank out of a new born," she adds.
"She isn't there yet. She smells like she is just three weeks in," Elma sniffs the air around her, "We may have to groom her into good livestock, raise her children in the way of the sheep," she says.
"Or goat," Amanda says.
"Stop it," a voice shouts from the staircase to the left.
A man about 5'8ft walks down the staircase with a potbelly the size of a pregnant woman in her second trimester. His black hair is curly and long with horns protruding from the sides of his head. His has full beards and a earring in his left ear but what catches Rachael's eyes the most is his lower section.
He has the legs of a goat and sturdy looking hooves making her understand the reason for Amanda's earlier insult.
Amanda places her hands on her waist and looks at this creature strangely, "You get fatter every time I see you," she says, "Business is good," he says, "I can see," she glances at the woman over the counter.
"Can you stop threatening my employee?" he says, "Employee?" Samuel chuckles, "I didn't know you had a thing for humans, Obadiah" he says.
"Care to introduce us?".
The man walks sluggishly towards them, "Arya, this is Samuel and Amanda," he introduces them to the scared woman but her fears are clearly not alleviated.
"Don't be scared darling, we were just toying with you" Amanda says.
"This is Rachael and Elma," she introduces the new faces to Obadiah.
"She is human," Obadiah quickly recognizes the presence of the human with them and a hint of relief sparks in Arya's eyes.
"What do you need because I know the daughter of the great Ra did not threaten to burn the source of my big belly for a little greeting?" Obadiah says, clearly trying to dismiss the company as quickly as he can.
"We need pegasus. Three," Samuel says, "I can't give you three," he says as he begins to walk towards the door.
"We need three," Samuel repeats, "I reckon you are not going to be paying for the rides, are you?" Obadiah asks.
"While business is booming? Hell no, we are friends for a reason," Amanda says but their so-called friendship does not look convincing in the very least.
"I will give you two, that is the best I can do," he says, "You little..." "We will take them but they have to be your fastest. We are in a bit of a hurry," Samuel injects.
"What? You want Asterix and Obelix? People pay top coin for those two," he says.
"I simply cannot give them away for free," Obadiah adds.
"You will be doing us a big favor," Amanda says and he pauses for a while to think.
"I will owe you one," she says, "Deal. So do we shake on it?" he says with a smile like he had just gotten a priceless jewel from this deal.
Obadiah whistles to two men passing in the fields and one of them runs to him, "Sir," "Get Asterix and Obelix. We have top class customers here," he says and the man runs along.
"Now that business is out of the way can someone tell me how a human and a sphinx ended up together because I'm sure it's not the vampire that is screwing this one's brain's out," he says and glances at Rachael.
Rachael moves a bit closer to Samuel as if to dodge the gaze of this creature.
"How do you know? Maybe I'm the one screwing all their brains out," Elma says, folding her hands as if to strike a pose.
Obadiah raises a brow before he bends towards Elma, "We have an orgy coming up by winter. You are invited," he whispers and the vampire glares at him.
"You really have no limits Obadiah," Amanda says, "I know but still, a sphinx and a human. Don't you guys like eat their souls and stuff?" he says, pricking Rachael's interest.
She never heard that before, if anything the twins have always been to good her. Well, at first Gabriel was a dick but in the end he did something she never thought anyone would do.
"You ask too many questions Obadiah," Samuel says, "Well, what can I say? I feel like we are brothers now since we have similar tastes. When she gets pregnant our kids could be friends," he laughs but Samuel isn't amused at all.
Rachael just stares at the strange creature, not really being able to understand his personality.
Obadiah's words actually gets into his head and he glances at Rachael who is behind him.
She isn't pregnant if not I would know but has she and Gabriel done it?
He wonders and stares around hoping to see the ghost of his brother who has been silent for a while but he is nowhere to be seen even by the sphinx.
He bends towards her and their eyes meet.
It is brief but he is tempted to drown himself in her eyes and lock lips with her. It has been a while since his face was so close to hers. He moves her hair away so he can see the smooth skin of her neck, he sniffs her and she stands still with some shock at his sudden action.
"Is something wrong?" she asks as he moves his head away with a frown on his face.
"Nothing. You just need a shower," he says and the two blondes with them giggle as they try to hold their laughter in.
I didn't notice earlier but his scent is all over her. They did it, they fucked.