The door became a gate-way to the large corridors and as majestic as they were they caused an eerie chill to settle its way into my bones. The high ceilings and wide setting of the old government building gave the air an almost archaic fell, gone were the days of democracy and the land of the free where man ruled the world with animals in between. Anarchy was the demonic way forward, lawless the humans fled to live in the wild where we became the animals and the demons became the men. It was twisted to think how quickly life had changed for me, from living in a beautiful house with my family to surviving day to day in the dirt with the old man who took me in. If I dared to make a sound I would laugh.

The demon refused to slowed down as a fumbled and fell over my own feet in an attempt to keep up with his brisk pace. He would nod to other, what I assume are demons, as we made our way through the great halls, first a right then a few lefts, I lost count eventually. I’d never be able to escape this place, it was a maze and I was a mouse.

We must have walked for a good fifteen minutes before we arrived at a tall dark wood door; the exterior screamed danger and mystery as a plaque read “Leader of the Rising Sun”. I chuckled quietly to myself as joked with myself. The beast, I thought if I didn't use it’s name I would not feel towards it, looked at me as if I deserved a strait-jacket, lifting one eyebrow to question me. I continued to smile.

“The Rising Sun? So this must be the House of the Rising Sun?” He looked puzzled for a moment, before he shook his head laughing and squeezing my wrist as he knocked on the door, the smile soon slipped of my lips as I realized the gravity of the situation. I was about to become his property, his pet. Suddenly the walls seemed to close in, the ceiling shrinking to trap me in a cage. To incarcerate me in a brick prison, surrounded by supernatural guards and deadly wardens.

My steps into the office faltered for a moment, my hands still in a vice like grip were suddenly dropped as we approach a desk. A man in a spotless black sat behind the impeccably tidy stained oak desk, to chairs were placed in front of it, the man held in his hand a glass of amber liquid, whisky, his smile held deviance and death as he looked me over with piercing eyes I felt like nothing more that the meat that the man would soon have between his teeth. His accent was thick and heavy, graveled as he spoken with the demon beside me.

“Jack.” He seemed to hold fondness towards the creature, his eyes light and his smirk bright as he look at the other.

“Boss,” This man, Boss, sat up at this, he placed his crystal glass onto the table and interlinked his fingers whilst leaning forward on his elbows to gesture to me.

“And who is this?” I was about to answer for myself, I have vocal cords after, however an sharp pain to my side inadvertently told me to keep my lips firmly together.

“This is Alex.” I could see Boss’s eyebrows draw together to which the other answered, “Yes that is all he has told me.” The man behind the desk nodded before returning his gaze to me.

“Age?”

I thought for a moment about subject this man to the same level of defiance that I had to the monster that brought me here, to show him the same level of disrespect and rebellion that I promised I would always hold safety within my bones, though something in lose sharp black eyes kept me from doing so, made me feel as if I should slowly back myself into a corner to hide myself away from the being.

"Twenty-One." I answered, hoping my voice sounded more assured than I felt. I'm a fledgling in society, barely as old as I said I was, my birthday was just days before the destruction that lead us to this moment. Boss nodded.

"Previous occupation?"

"Student."

And so the question carried on like this, where I lived before, what I had been studying for and it was all to gauge how useful I was going to be to them. All these question just to work out my value to their kind and all the will all three of us knew the end game.

So really what was the point?

I had been silent after the onslaught of questions had finished thought I lifted my head when the two demon stopped whispering whilst I was still in the room.

"Seems you've got your hands full with this one, Jacky-Boy." I would have laughed had I not feared for my life whilst I stood in this office.

"Really? How so?" Was it possible for someone to look cocky and confused in the same moment, either way he managed to pull it off.

"Well the hickeys covering the boy like a tramp suggest to me you've already had your way with him, the hand shaped bruise on his neck suggest that he is either extremely kinky or you've already lost your short temper with him though the small lump that has formed prove to me the latter. Seems you have a little rebel to deal with. Good luck." Smirking must run in the species because that's all the lead demon seemed to be doing as he picked up his discarded glass, swirling the liquid before downing it in one.

Jack nodded before taking that as his cue to leave, he spoke a quick good-bye before pulling open the heavy door and shackling my hands once again with his own. Yet one word echos in my ears. Tramp, a common street rat. That's all I am to these things, a whore, I felt dirty and used. Just the sound of that word reverberating around my skull made me want to take another shower.

The walk back to my prison cell didn't feel as long as the walk to that grand office, maybe it's because I was lost in my own thoughts or maybe it was because I felt numb inside.