Hotbloods 6: Allies

“You’re going to make us stop?” the troll retorted, smirking with his toothless mouth.

“Are you deaf as well as blind?” I asked, trying to keep my expression stoic.

A ripple of nervous amusement moved through the gathered group, who looked to the troll, as if expecting him to lunge forward or do something in retaliation. I was ready for him if he did, although I’d only resort to shooting him if I absolutely had to. Navan took a step closer to me.

“You got balls of serrantium, lady.”

I smiled. “So I’ve been told.”

He hurtled toward me, swiping a fist at my stomach, but I dodged the blow with ease. It was like the floodgates had opened, as two grisly-looking twins with tiger stripes and mohawks surged toward Navan. He held them off without much effort. The two of them tried to use brute strength over actual skill, but Navan had both.

Meanwhile, I got a couple of good punches in, my knuckles grazing the troll’s jaw and cheekbone, while his blows failed to land. I was just trying to figure out the best Aksavdo move, when an unexpected sound stopped me in my tracks. All the fighters turned to see where it was coming from. Unbelievably, someone was laughing—it was a high-pitched cackle that crackled through the air like a gunshot, making it impossible to ignore.

“Hey, Zippi, you tryin’ to tarnish the merchandise?” a female voice asked, in between bouts of laughter. It was coming from one of the female pirates, who stood on the outskirts of the brawl. She was a curious mix of things, from the look of her, with the face and stature of a fae, but the gills and shell-shaped ears of a merevin. Her skin blended from vibrant pink to more muted, oceanic blue scales, which covered her body in erratic patches.

The troll scowled at her. “What you interruptin’ for, Kirin?”

“The red hair ain’t fooling me. You’re fighting this week’s number two!” the female pirate, named Kirin, replied.

The troll turned in shock, though the expression on his face didn’t make much sense to me. I was under the impression that Kirin was trying to insult me, but the troll didn’t seem amused. In fact, everyone in the Reaper gang seemed to be looking at me, each one wearing the same dumbfounded expression.

“This spindly thing? She looks like she would break if you flicked her too hard!” the troll muttered.

“Says the one who can’t land a punch,” I fired back, irritated that people were laughing at me. I turned to the half-fae, half-merevin, who was leading the mockery. “You want to come and call me a number two to my face?”

Kirin kept laughing, pointing her finger up to a huge screen on the wall above us. It flickered on and off every couple of minutes, revealing blown-up images of wanted posters, with the bounty for each criminal scrolling along the bottom. To my abject horror, the next picture to flash up was mine, my face staring out of the bright screen. At the top right corner, there was a symbol that I couldn’t read. Judging by Navan’s face, it wasn’t good news.

“What’s this about?” he asked sharply, gripping one of the tiger-striped twins by the neck.

“Relax, grayskin, no need to go breaking any windpipes today,” Kirin said. “It’s a daily list of the quadrant’s most wanted, ordered by risk versus reward. Your serrantium-balled friend here is categorized as being the least dangerous with the highest reward—otherwise known as the jackpot!”

I gasped. “Me?”

“Hey, nothing to be ashamed of here,” Kirin said comfortingly. “I mean, son of a harridan, you’ve got one impressive rap sheet! Hijacking a Fed ship, stealing from a pawnshop, setting fire to said pawnshop, chopping the snake heads of a Pulsydean shopkeeper, beating up a Fed officer, branding a Fed officer, evading capture on several occasions, and stealing a Cassidian princess’s pleasure barge, worth a million credits!”

Whoever had written this rap sheet had evidently used some poetic license in the embellishments. If this was what the Fed thought I’d done, I was in a whole new world of trouble. Angie had been right: we’d never get them to help us, with a rap sheet like this looming over my head. Navan looked horrified, moving over to where I stood to slide a protective arm around my waist.

“I suppose you’re looking to cash in the bounty on my head?” I said, struggling to keep the nervous tremor out of my voice.

The gang of Reapers recoiled in disgust, muttering amongst themselves, sending disapproving looks in my direction. I didn’t know what I’d said, but at least they didn’t want to beat us up anymore. In fact, they’d pretty much forgotten all about Bashrik and Angie, who were tucked into the shadows of the alleyway, keeping out of the way. Even so, Bashrik was standing in front of Angie, putting himself between her and the Reapers.

“We’re not snitches, lady!” the troll barked, folding his arms across his barrel chest.

Kirin nodded. “We don’t betray our own, especially not someone with a sheet like that!”

“Like I said—balls of serrantium!” the troll agreed, flashing a toothless grin at me. “The name’s Zipiniko Fastood, but everyone calls me Zippi. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. Sorry for all the ugliness back there. Pirates gotta pirate, Reapers gotta reap.” He held out his hand, which I took tentatively, before he shook mine so hard I thought my wrist was going to snap.

“I’m Riley, and this is Navan,” I said, feeling disoriented. “And those two are Bashrik and Angie. They’re friends of ours.”

“Any friends of yours are friends of ours, too!” Zippi enthused. “Sorry about trying to take your weapons, guys!”

Their sudden shift in mood was alarming, but I didn’t want to ruin their impression of me by questioning it. They clearly thought I was some kind of badass.

“Hey, you wanna come with us to The Empty Purse?” Kirin asked brightly.

I was worried it was going to be a brothel of some kind, in the same vein as The Legless Merman—the online place that Mort apparently liked to visit. It certainly sounded unsavory, and I was worried they might kidnap Navan and Bashrik, after the attention those other women had shown them earlier.

“Isn’t that where the… prostitutes are?” I said shyly, prompting Kirin and the rest of the pirates to burst out laughing.

“No hookers in The Empty Purse, number two. Just strong drinks and a million ways to gamble away your credits,” Kirin replied, giving me a playful nudge in the arm. “So, whaddya say?”

“We should probably be getting out of here, if my face is up on a billboard like that,” I murmured uncertainly. “It was nice to meet you all, though.”

Kirin looked disappointed. “Come on, it’s not every day you meet a cool new gal! One drink, that’s all, between new friends?”

To my surprise, Navan was the one who stepped in. “I say we go with them. Be rude not to.”

“Listen to the grayskin!” the troll whooped. “Never thought that would come out of my mouth!”

“I suppose we could stay for a little bit,” I said, giving Navan a questioning look.

He shrugged, a smile playing on his lips, before leaning close to my ear, lowering his voice to a whisper. “We can see if these pirates know anything about Stone while we’re at it. They might know where we can find him.”

I nodded, turning to whisper in his ear. “We’ll need to stick around until Ezra comes back to pick up his shipment anyway, in a few days. I heard him talking about it with the president. I’m guessing he’s going to get it from Stone.”

“Look at those lovebirds, whispering sweet nothings,” Kirin cheered. “I love me an interspecies romance. If my mama and papa hadn’t fallen in love, I wouldn’t be here today. Shame they were terrible parents. If they hadn’t left me on a moon, all by myself, where Reapers picked me up and saved me, I could’ve been—”

“Empress of the universe. We know the story!” the tiger-striped twins chorused, making the rest of the gang laugh.

Kirin glowered at them. “I’m just saying, I could’ve been someone if they’d given a crap about me.”