"Name?" The man in the robe asked in a baritone voice that surprised Evan.
"Evan Hashgoode." Her escort rasped before Evan could open her mouth.
"From?"
"Toronto, Canada."
"Age? Occupation? Health?"
"23. Administrative Assistant at Haltam & Co. Accounting Firm. In good health."
Evan furrowed her eyebrows. "What is this? Some kind of interrogation?" She stepped away from both her escort and the man, a hard task in a round room. Her situation was finally sinking in. Owner? OWNER? Who was to own her? She wasn't going to be anybody's property!
"What's going on?" Evan demanded, her voice raising, as her hands fumbled against the wall of books, looking for an exit. "You can't do this to me, I know my rights!"
The two men simply looked at her, unmoving. Slowly, the man in the robe turned his head to the escort.
"Behaviour?" He inquired, as if there wasn't a woman about to go into hysteria in the room.
There was a pause from the escort, then came the raspy reply.
"Spirited."
The man in the robe smirked, gave a quick nod to her escort, who took the signal and promptly vanished.
The robed man looked at Evan from across the room, then suddenly appeared before her. Evan let out a yelp at the sudden change in distance and backed into the shelf behind her with a thud. The man stared at her for a while, then smirked.
"Greetings, I'm Astaroth." He stated, reaching out with his right hand. "I believe this is how you humans greet one another?"
Evan stared at his hand for a while and then back to his face. She did not accept the handshake.
"Well, that's rather rude of you." Astaroth stated, withdrawing his hand and placing both behind his back, as seems to be his natural position. "I gather you are rather confused to your situation here. Let me make it simple for you by way of explanation." He paused for a moment, as if to exaggerate dramatically. He looked her in the eyes. "You have arrived in what you humans call the Underworld." He smirked, "Welcome."