Chapter 1
For over ten minutes, I stood in front of hotel Invicta. It was a huge baroque building in the middle of the city with six armed men guarding the place like it was some kinda palace.
I looked down at the invitation in my hands, a piece of pearly white paper so smooth that it felt like silk, with golden curly letters on it which said 'Invicta applicant'.
Hotel Invicta only existed for the richest people in the world and was run by other rich people, who also were a little crazy and apparently bored as fuck in their lives, cause the things that happened in that hotel...
At least, if I were to believe all the absurd stories that I heard the day before yesterday when my best friend suddenly called me up and told me about this place. Shana is her name, also known as Bentley in the hotel. She worked here as a rewarder and I was to see her again for the first time after almost a year.
Invicta staff wasn’t allowed to be in touch with people of their “old life”, so ever since she took the job, we never saw or spoke again. The only exception that she could contact me right now, was because they were looking for a new rewarder and Shana had convinced them that I could be a good asset to the hotel.
Honestly, they couldn’t have contacted me at a better time!
So today, it was I that’ll visit Invicta and if things went well, I would possibly stay there too, becoming a Rewarder myself. I felt nauseous thinking about it, but I didn’t have much choice.
It was either this or jail...
My phone started buzzing in my pocket. I picked it up.
“Are you coming in or are you gonna stand there looking like you’re gonna start puking any minute?!” Shana yelled in my ear.
“I’m still debating if I have my nerves under control. I might barf inside and ruin the million-dollar expensive carpet instead of the outside street, so I’m just trying to relax first.”
“Get your shit together, woman. You want me to come down?”
“No. Yeah. Maybe.”
“Choose one out of those three.”
“Ok, yeah...please come down.”
“Ugh, pussy. I’ll be there in five.”
Invicta wasn’t just a “normal” hotel for the rich to stay in for a vacation. Oh no, it was something else...
It was a crazy world within that huge baroque building, where cops had nothing to say or maybe they didn’t even exist. Shana said that there was some sort of unwritten rule that made Invicta untouchable, and all its workers and guests got full immunity in there. Violence wasn’t allowed in there though, and will be handled by Invicta’s own special “police”. There was only one group that could use violence. A group of certain men.
Shana’s job—and possibly my future one too—was to please those certain men, working as a “slave” for them.
They were called The Gladiators. Strong men, who competed against each other in the underground arena of hotel Invicta to deliver a spectacle for rich people to gamble their money on.
Whenever a Gladiator won, he got himself a Rewarder as a prize which he could keep for twenty-four hours and he could do with him/her whatever he wanted. There were only two rules. He couldn’t leave marks unless there was another agreement on that; and, he couldn’t kill his prize. Further, he could do everything and ask for anything he wanted...
If Gladiators wanted a rewarder to lick their feet, they must, or they wouldn’t do their job properly and wouldn’t get paid but punished instead.
And it paid well... A thousand dollars for twenty-four hours work and between working hours a forever free stay at the hotel!
Not everyone could just become a rewarder. You needed to have the brains and the looks. That’s what Shana told me.
I snapped out of my thoughts when the heavy adorned golden door opened up and she waved at me, telling me to come in. It was so good to see her again!
“You’re almost late, get your ass over here!” she shouted with a wide smile and her eyes a little glossed over. I knew she had missed me too.
“Well...here goes nothing...” I whispered before I dragged my feet towards the door of the building where I showed the guards my invitation and was granted access.
I don’t know which rich person ran this place but something told me it was a fishy business...
~
After one huge hug, Shana had brought me straight to the person I had an appointment with and luckily, I was just in time. I couldn’t see much of the hotel because we needed to make haste, but what I did see, looked absolutely spectacular.
I was received by a woman that looked like she had walked straight out of a forties movie.
Madame Gremelda was her name and I guessed she was about forty years old, but still a beautiful woman. I hoped I would look like that at her age.
Her warm auburn hair was waved and combed to one side, like women used to do their hair a few decades ago.
Between her long fingers, she held a long black quellazaire which held a cigarette at the end. She put the black tube between her shiny red lips and took an inhale.
Her office was so quiet that I could hear the cracking of the cigarette before she blew out some smoke. I had to prevent myself from coughing when the grey clouds hit my face.
She observed every inch of my face while she took a few other hoists and blew out a few other puffs.
I’ve never felt so stared at.
“Fery pretty indeed. Bentley vas telling zee truth...” She said pleased, with the heaviest German accent I’d ever heard.
Shana—or Bentley like I should call her in here—told me upfront that I needed to keep my mouth shut until I was asked a question, so I kept quiet.
When Madame Gremelda was done smoking and eyeing me, she stood up and slowly walked towards me, her hips swaying in her tight black dress with every step she took. She stopped just before me, grabbed my hair, and abruptly pulled my head to the back so I looked at her. It felt like she just snapped my neck in half and I let out a loud cry from pain, but mostly because I hadn’t seen this coming.What the actual fuck?!
“Zat is ein fery schpecial moan you have zer,” she whispered against my lips and suddenly stuck her tongue between my lips. She tasted of mint and tobacco as she swirled her wet muscle in and around my mouth. I had no fucking idea what she wanted me to do, and I had never kissed another woman before. I didn’t know what to do so I just went with her and kissed her back. She let go soon enough.
Thank God.
“Kood kisser too. Sehr gut...” She purred and walked back to sit behind her desk again.
I swallowed and tried to catch my breath back. Honestly, this woman was a little scary. What the fuck was going on? What kind of job interview was this?!
Gremelda then looked at some papers, probably the ones I had to deliver to her. An IQ test, my resume, school paperwork, medical certificate (that they had paid for), etc.
She let out a long sigh and put the papers on a need stack again which she then put in the top drawer of her desk.
“I am pleazed to inform you zat you are hired. Velcome to hotel Invicta. Your new name schall be...Tesla,” she said and stretched out her hand, which I shook.
.
