“Yeah,” Phin answered. “As many as possible. Garr’s ready for them, right?”
Noah nodded. “Yep. They’re waiting at our place. One call and his guys are here to haul them off.”
Phin nodded. “Good deal.”
Noah continued. “All right. Eli, Luc, stay with Riley. If she goes out, get her out. Josie, I’ll be with you and Seth.” Noah gave my brother a hard look. “And don’t zone in on your sister. She’s our concern tonight, not yours. You watch your own neck. We’ll watch hers.”
“You can use Luc on someone else. I got Riley,” Eli said, moving close.
Noah grinned. “Luc’s for you, man, in case you get out of control.”
I looked at Eli’s face. It darkened. “I’ll be okay,” I assured. It didn’t seem to help much.
Seth threw a glance my way. The wind caught his dark brown hair and tossed it into his eyes. I could tell he hated this, and for a second I wished like hell we could go back, to before the Arcoses were released. I missed his innocence. Love you, he mouthed to me. I mouthed it back, then nodded to Noah. “Okay.”
Noah gave him a return nod, then turned to the others. “Phin, you’re on Zetty. My guys, scatter. Keep your eyes peeled and stay close—but not too close. We don’t want them knowing we’re all together.” He glanced down at the street and pointed. A group of four guys had turned the corner and were headed to the entrance. “Mortals. Perfect. Let’s follow them in. And hey—we’re not here to cause shit tonight. The killings won’t happen until the end of the week, anyway, so keep your head on straight.” He looked at me and smiled. “Follow me, darlin’.”
I looked back at Eli, who inclined his head to follow Noah, and I did. Luc stayed behind us. We swung down, bounded, and leapt, until we dropped to the sidewalk. In the distance, a siren blasted over the city, and close by, a baby’s unhappy scream seeped out of an open window and ripped through the night. It gave me chills to think of a baby being raised in this environment. I knew there were thousands more I’d managed to tune out.
I followed Noah to the front entrance, and we filed in behind the mortals. Inside, the fanatic boom of heavy metal music thumped against the walls, joined by the muffled rumble of hollering, objects being slammed against surfaces, swearing, cheering.
Screams.
We found more graffiti inside. The whole place was dim, with a few candles lighting the interior of the shelled-out church, with a fading charred outline of Christ on the cross where it used to hang on the wall, obviously before a fire took it out. Charred rafters overhead and a set of narrow steps leading upward near the back made up the room. We headed to the stairs. The mortals had already started up. Hurrying across the floor littered with cans, trash, liquor bottles and cigarette butts, we followed them up and pushed into a crowded room above. Our group instantly separated. The scent of kerosene burned my nostrils as I followed Luc around a ring of spectators. Inside were two fighters; bare to the waist, wearing ripped jeans, and barefoot. Both were mortal. As I squeezed through the crowd, I glanced around and noticed several guys wearing dark shades.
“Newlings trying to hide their freaked-out eyes,” Luc offered. “Keep up.”
I pushed closer to Luc. “Why is it mortal against mortal?” I said into his ear.
He looked at me. “To weed out the weak,” he offered.
Just like Noah had said, the newlings were looking for the strongest of the mortals to lure into their band. It made sense.
“Let’s get in here,” Eli said, and pushed in next to a pair of guys at ringside. Two guys fought, their faces cut and bloodied. I could literally sense the bloodlust accumulating in the room, vying with an immense overload of testosterone. How the newlings were keeping their cool, I had no friggin’ clue.
“Whoever created them is controlling them—that’s how,” Eli said against my ear. “With one thought he could tell them to maul and devour everyone in this room. That’s why I want you to watch your mouth, your ass, and not to do anything stupid.”
I looked at him hard. “Yeah, I got that, Dupré. Stop worrying so much.” The guy next to me jumped, and I fell hard into Eli’s side. “Does that mean he’s here?” I asked.
Luc pushed beside me and shook his head. “He’s not here.”
The crowd cheered as one of the fighters roundhouse kicked the other in the face and knocked him down. One of the newlings, dressed in dark jeans, a dark tee, and a black skully with dark shades, walked the perimeter of the man-made ring, watching everything—including what went on in the crowd. Across the way, I noticed Noah and Seth. My stomach lurched at the thought of watching my brother fight. He normally wasn’t a fighter. He was sweet, and he had a kind, cheerful soul.
“Now he has a kick-ass soul,” Luc offered. “Pay attention, Riley. Head in the game.”
I swore in Romanian. Eli pressed against me, probably to make sure I knew he wasn’t going to put up with my being pig-headed, and continued to watch the fight.
The guy beating the holy crap out of the other thought he was one tough bastard. Even when the other guy was on the floor, he stomped and kicked him in the ribs. The more the crowd cheered, the more brutal he became. We watched him fight one more guy, nearly beating him to death, before I could take no more. The weaker one kept trying to get up, would make it on one knee, and the other would smash into his face with his elbow, then his heel. I pushed the guy in front of me, heard Eli swear as I rushed the floor, and I knew Luc had restrained him, because he didn’t follow. Just as big bully badass was about to drop his half-dead opponent, I roundhouse kicked him in the ribs. I heard Eli behind me say, “Fuck!” just as my new opponent dropped to one knee.
The crowd roared.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed the newling moderator move toward me. I challenged him. “What?” I threw my hands up. “You got a fuckin’ rule says I can’t fight him?”
A slow smile spread across his face. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I knew they were weird and opaque behind his shades. His skin was pale—almost a blue hue. Funny how no one else seemed to notice. His gaze raked over my inked skin. “There are no rules, bitch. Go for it.”
The moment he said it, the crowd roared, and my opponent, jumping up, lunged toward me. I dodged and swept a leg out. He tripped and hit the floor.
I really, really didn’t want to fight a mortal.
I didn’t dare look behind me, back into the crowd. Eli’s anger hit me like a wave, and I could only imagine Luc was having a helluva time restraining him.
It was like fighting a toddler—unfair; no sport—and it wasn’t accomplishing anything. I wanted to kill vampires. I wanted to kill him, the monster.
I let my opponent land a few hits, just for show. They hurt. I dealt. I made sure no blood was spilled.
Unavoidably, my gaze hit the crowd. Twice I found Eli glaring at me. Luc grinned. I’d caught Noah’s stare as well, but his was a slight smile instead. He was diggin’ it, I could tell—freakazoid.
His smile broke wider, and I shook my head.
Finally, I grew tired of playing around with the mortal dude. I’d made my point—to the crowd and to the newlings. With an elbow to the gut, and a double fist to the nose, I sent him to la-la land. The crowd roared. I feigned slight exhaustion, grabbed my knees, and breathed. I lifted my head slightly; Luc’s expression had softened. Eli’s had not. But a slight nod assured me to keep going.
Next, I fought a girl: early twenties, solid as stone, mean as shit, and high as a friggin’ kite—high, but not wasted. She was totally pissed at me for some odd reason, and once we got the go-ahead nod from the newling ref, she threw herself at me like some crazed banshee, squalling and screeching. She scared the holy hell out of me.
“Come on, whore,” she said, dancing around me and taking pokes with her balled-up fists. I didn’t even flinch, her marks were that off. “You scared or somethin’? What’cha waitin’ for, huh, bitch?”
Bap. I took her down, just on principle. One punch and she was out cold. I still hadn’t broken a sweat. Again, the crowd cheered.
Somebody dragged her off the floor.
I noticed two newlings standing together; something I hadn’t seen all night. They were talking, and once I honed in on them, I realized they were talking about me. I wasn’t exactly sure if that was a bad thing or not.
I fought two more guys before I noticed Eli in the sidelines waving me out. After I took the last one out, I once again pretended exhaustion, and I staggered from the fight floor. It was covered in blood, spit, and something else I dared not to try and identify. Disgusting. At least it wasn’t my blood—or any other body fluid.
“Hey,” the one newling who’d been watching me closely for the past two hours said, grabbing my arm. “You wanna come back Friday night?”
I glared at him. “I don’t know. You got somethin’ more than a bunch of pussies and druggies for me to fight?”
I heard Eli hiss behind me.
A slow smile spread across his pale face, and I noticed his brows were so blond, they blended in with his undead skin. The black skully he wore stood in stark contrast to his pastiness. Some would be scared. I wanted to beat his arrogant ass. And it suddenly struck me how well the potion Garr gave the guys—the vampire guys—worked. They paid them no attention. Cool. “Yeah. Come back Friday night and find out.”
I gave him a hard glare and knocked his shoulder with mine as I passed. He smiled, knowing I’d be back, and I bet he was looking to try and whip me himself.
“What about you?” he asked Eli. “You here to watch your woman fight? You a pussy or somethin’?”
The air around us stilled. “What you got for me?” Eli said, his voice deadly.
The newling’s mouth lifted at the corner, and he inclined his head to the ring. “Come on and find out.”
Eli didn’t even spare me a glance. He followed the newling.