A steady thump pulsed through the warehouse turned night club. A bone rattling bass line that kept the sea of people dancing. Multiple colored lights flashed overhead in the smoky darkness, giving a dream-like aesthetic to the entire evening.
Hunter and normal person alike mingled on the sweaty dance floor, their bodies grinding and dancing to the beat.
But the true allure of the Midnight Desire Guild wasn't celebrity sightings or beautiful people, endless alcohol, or even the party 'enhancers' that flowed freely.
It was the exotic 'pets'.
Midnight Desires was a hunter guild that specialized in the seedier side of the trade. In another era they would be considered pirates, traffickers; now in the era of Hunters it was a day job. They were already harvesting all the profitable goods of a dungeon, what did it matter if they took sentient monsters with them? For that was all these trafficked people were; monsters.
Another steady pulse of bass sent ripples through the dark drapery that separated the passion fueled dance floor from the more profitable part of the club. Multiple bouncers stood in tight uniforms, muscles threatening to rip through the thin cotton shirts. It took three checks to allow even a top ranking Hunter past the drapes, no amount of bribery would make the bouncers sway.
Lincoln Winscot sat at one of the coveted sofas, a whisky sour resting on his knee. With his expensive suit, he was completely out of sorts compared to the barely dressed party girls. Showing more skin than morals as they cooed and stroked his ego. Tucked up close either side of him, bodies pressed into his arms.
He needed the ego stroke. His long fingers cradled his aching head, even fifteen glasses hadn't eased the headache.
"Lighten up Lincoln." Demanded the man across from his sofa, a knuckle dragging muscle head in an ill fitting polo and khakis. His bulging arm was tossed over a petite beast woman, dragging her tight into his body. Her silky white fur shaved down to purposely show off a curvaceous figure. The beast woman barely wore much more than a simple band around her chest and a split side mini skirt. The only other decoration was the heavy collar on her neck and shackles that bit into her wrists. A short length of an inky black chain allowed her the smallest amount of movement.
But the chains were useless, for the beast woman's eyes were lifeless while the human male pawed at her shamelessly.
Lincoln sneered, "Easy for you to say when your reputation isn't on the line Leo."
"Oh problems with the Winscot Mistake?" Leo flashed a smile, a sparkling gold tooth glitter in the flickering club light. He purposely tugged the young man on his other side closer, another cat beastman shaven down to expose his body.
The glass nearly shattered under Lincoln's tightened grip. One of the girl's cuddled into his side quickly to slide a napkin between his trousers and the glass as she took the glass away. At close inspection the girl had deep green skin, with tree bark like texture, her hair more like flower petals then the keratin based hair humans were used to. In the dim light, her skin gave off a gentle natural bio luminosity.
"Don't remind me." Lincoln hissed, the air around him charged with electricity. "No one is shutting up about her."
Leo snorted, slapping the cat woman upside the head when she refused to move fast enough to allow him to stand up. She flinched for only a moment before kneeling down on the floor, his hand knotted into her hair.
"You need to do something about that bitch, she's ruining everything. Getting people asking questions about my business."
"What am I supposed to do?" Lincoln sent the girls away with a hateful glare. "And why are we here in this disgusting place? You know how I feel about these alien freaks."
"They don't talk." Leo chuckled darkly, "Materials and ores are nice from dungeons, but real money comes from these alien freaks." The large man then frowned, turning a hateful glare at the slender man.
"But I can't make money if there are whispers of a 'White Devil' going around. That bitch step-sister of yours wiped out the entire front Black Tiger squad while they were gathering a nice harvest for me. A nice young harvest. Only two survivors came back, one hasn't stopped screaming since he got back. Cat bitches and plant whores are interesting enough, but people want fantasy. They want familiarity."
Leo snapped his fingers, the cloaked man by the back wall dragged over a tall elf. They crumbled on the floor, gasping and breathing heavily. Their deep purple skin was at odds with the pure snowy white hair that fell in long waves around their nearly naked body. Golden jewelry jingled on the long ears that nearly reached the edge of their shoulders. A sheen of sweat clung to their skin, feverish as they turned to glare at Leo's cruel smirk.
To the humans the room was moderately uncomfortable and humid, to the ice elf it was impossibly hot. Each gasp felt like breathing in the hot steam of a sauna on full blast.
Leo grabbed the chain that tangled into the long white hair, and gave it a yank. Causing the elf to fall to their feet. Hair fell to the side exposing a muscular chest covered in decorative tattoos. The elf glared up at Leo with a regal indifference, to which he only received a kick to the side. Leo clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"A male? Where are the bitches you promised me?"
Lincoln had seen many of the trafficked victims from the dungeons, but seeing an elf was new. The male elf's eyes locked with his, a pure unadulterated hate burning in those silvery eyes. He could ignore the suffering of the other monsters because they weren't 'human' enough.
But this was different.
Even more so as Lincoln started to sweat, this elf had a remarkable resemblance to the purple skinned freaks that came in and out of his step-sister's apartment. The very apartment his aunt coveted so much. It took plenty of bribes to get the CC footage from both the Black Lotus Guild and the apartment complex across from her apartment.
But he did it, just to see what the hell Ozel was doing. Only to see she was inviting more of these alien weirdos not only into the apartment that should be HIS, but into this very WORLD!
And this elf looked just like those two monsterous devils. Only older.
"Who does this one claim to be?" Leo demanded, his fingers digging into the soft cheeks of the beast-man on his lap. Tears welled up in the young man's eyes as he looked away from the elf on the floor. At the threat of another slap the young man couldn't help but whisper, his eyes pleading with the proud elf who dared to try and rebel against Leo's cruelty.
The cloaked stranger dusted off their hands, a cruel chuckle to their voice.
"This is His Majesty Lord Thearen, the rightful king of Ice'nfur. A gift."