“Well, no…” The man’s forehead furrowed, as if he wasn’t quite sure how to explain. “I mean, it’s just that this isn’t the type of betting ring you usually buy tickets as gifts for, at least not for a woman.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not the average woman,” Annia drawled, looping an arm around my shoulders and drawing me close. I smiled vapidly and pressed a hand to her chest, and the other man grinned.
“No, that you’re not,” he agreed. “I can tell you’re a woman who can handle herself, so I guess you’d enjoy this kind of thing.” He glanced around the room, then lowered his voice. “These betting tickets are for the Shifter Royale.”
“The Shifter Royale?” Annia echoed. “What’s that?”
“It’s an underground fight club where different types of shifters are pitted against each other,” the man murmured. “I’ve only been to a fight once myself, and I have to say it’s pretty brutal. Definitely not for the faint of heart.”
I stiffened at that, and Annia gave my shoulder a warning squeeze. “Well that sounds exciting. Where do I get seats?”
“Silon can help you out with that.” The man nodded toward the back corner of the room, and I stifled a groan, knowing he was referring to the table of smokers. Figures. “He’s the one who sells the admission tickets. There are bookies at the event itself to take your bets, of course.”
“Good to know.” Annia turned her head in my direction and gave me another squeeze. “Hey Nadia, I’m gonna go over there and talk to Silon. Why don’t you hang out at the bar for a second? I’ll be right back.”
“Sure thing sweetheart,” I purred as she kissed me on the cheek, relieved that Annia was giving me an out. Much as I would have liked to go with her, I would be useless standing next to her just hacking and coughing, and my shifter hearing would allow me to overhear the conversation anyway.
“Buy three tickets,” I murmured in her ear as I stood up, and then I went to sit at the bar again as she’d told me to. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Annia approached Silon, a stocky, bald guy with a bushy red beard and a cigar shoved between the corners of his lips. He didn’t look too friendly as Annia approached, and when one of the men at the table stood up to frisk Annia for recording devices or any other suspicious items, I was glad that she’d left her Enforcer bracelet at home. Once that was out of the way, Silon relaxed and sold her the tickets without further fuss. He told her that the show was for tomorrow night, then gave her an address. It was all pretty straightforward, almost ridiculously so.
“Well tomorrow night should be interesting,” Annia commented once we were outside the club.
“No kidding,” I spat as we rounded the block, heading for my bike. “Underground shifter fights? There’s no way in hell that’s legal.”
“I doubt the shifters are being hurt too badly,” Annia said, but her voice was heavy with disapproval. “I mean, whoever’s running this thing is clearly making money off the fights, so they’ll want to keep the shifters alive for repeat performances.”
“By Magorah,” I hissed, outrage sizzling in my gut. “I can’t believe there are humans using shifters for sport! It's slavery all over again, except this time it’s not the mages who are responsible.”
“You don’t know that,” Annia said darkly as she settled herself behind me on the bike. “There are rogue mages out there who consider themselves above the law, and one could be pulling the strings here.”
“Well regardless if they’re human or mage, they’re going to pay,” I growled, tightening my grip around the handlebars. I kicked off with a shrill whistle from my engine, and left Turain behind in a cloud of steam. I would be back tomorrow, and when I did I was going to blow a hole in this scheme and find out what was really going on. I was going to drag the cruel son of a bitch behind this out of his hidey-hole.
10
I dropped Annia off at her apartment in Maintown, then passed by Lakin’s house on the way home to tell him about the underground ring and that we had tickets for tomorrow night. He wasn’t home, so I picked the lock on the front door and left a note for him on his refrigerator with the details and my phone number – I wasn’t about to leave sensitive information like that on his doorstep.
I considered going to the Palace and telling the Chief Mage about what I’d found, but he had a lot on his mind and I didn’t want to burden him when I didn’t actually need his help yet. I would tell him when the time was right, probably after I went to the fighting ring myself tomorrow. So instead I headed home to resume my study of the Residah.
The phone started ringing almost as soon as I walked into my apartment, and I scowled. Not a single phone call in weeks, and now I was getting two in as many days?
You left Lakin your phone number, remember? He’s probably just calling you back.
Oh! Right. My mood lifted, and I quickly crossed the room to snatch up the phone.