Chapter 3
The next morning, I pulled into the small parking lot outside the Enforcer’s Guild building, the sun just cresting the rooftops of the buildings lining the street.
I figured the earlier we got this done, the sooner I could get back to the Mages Guild.
Sure, I was due for a scolding either way, but they’d be less pissed at me if I was simply late rather than absent the entire morning.
As I sat on my steambike waiting for Lakin to arrive, I allowed my gaze to roam over the tall, dingy grey building that represented Canalo’s law enforcement system.
It was rectangular, four stories high, with cracked windows and stains sunk deep into the concrete walls.
The state of the building was a perfect allegory of our current justice system – old, flawed and neglected.
One of the reasons I’d become an enforcer was to try and make a difference in the system, and uncovering Yantz’s role in the silver murders was the first time I’d made a dent in my goal.
It felt good to finally be back in the trenches again, even if just for a short time.
A large shadow passed over my head, and I glanced up to see one of the new tourist dirigibles passing overhead, puffing out white steam that trailed across the morning sky.
Half-open glass windows lined both sides of the small cabin fitted to the underside of the large, bright red transport, and I snorted at the sight of cheery humans leaning out and gleefully waving their hands.
I was amazed the tour company allowed such a thing – if a tourist hadn’t tumbled out one of those windows yet, it was bound to happen eventually.
But dirigibles were a relatively new addition to Solantha’s tourism industry, and I had to admit that enjoying the sunrise from up there sounded pretty fun.
If I ever had some spare coin again, I’d have to get myself a ticket, even if they were pretty pricey.
The high-pitched whistle of Lakin’s steambike drew my attention away from the dirigible, and I turned my head to see him enter the parking lot.
He wore a helmet with a visor that covered his face, and the wind blew his long leather coat out behind him, which I had to admit looked pretty badass.
Maybe I should get myself one of those things.
With what money?
I sighed, shoving my hands into the achingly empty pockets of my own leather jacket.
Right. I was really going to have to do something about my money situation soon.
The reward I got for my part in uncovering the silver murder conspiracy was drying out in my bank account, and the small stipend I received from the Mages Guild as an apprentice wasn’t enough to cover my living expenses.
If I didn’t convince the Chief Mage to let me take on work at the Guild soon, I really was going to have to move back into the Palace.
Most people in my situation would have happily taken Iannis’s offer of free room and board without a second thought, but I knew the moment I did that I would lose my connection to the outside world.
If I cloistered myself away in the Palace long enough, it would be all too easy to turn into one of these lofty, ice-hearted mages and lose touch with myself.
And I’d be damned if that was going to happen.
“Morning,” Lakin said as he tugged off his helmet. His blond hair was slightly tousled, making him look positively boyish as he grinned at me, and I was surprised at the answering flutter in my stomach. “You ready to twist some arms?”
“You bet.” I grinned back as I hopped off my bike.
We drew curious looks from the enforcer trainees manning the front desk as we walked in through the front door, which I guess was only to be expected – Lakin was new in town, and I was something of a conundrum.
When I’d dragged the Chief Mage into the silver murders, I’d brought the scrutiny of his office down on the Enforcer’s Guild, and Captain Galling hadn’t forgiven me for making him look bad.
But on the other hand, I had the Chief Mage on my side, so Captain Galling couldn’t do anything overt to make my life miserable.
As a result, the other enforcers weren’t sure how to react around me.
Some were exceedingly polite, while others glared daggers at me and whispered nasty things about me when they thought I wasn’t within hearing distance.
I didn’t know where the foreman of Sillara’s crew stood, or whether his attitude toward me would make this easier or harder.
Lakin and I crossed the lobby, our boots clopping against the scuffed tile, and headed toward the elevator on the other side.
The rickety box spit us out on the fourth floor, where the smaller crews’ desks were located – while there were a few enforcers like me who worked solo, the majority of us worked as crews, each headed up by a foreman who answered to the Guild Captain.
I sent a silent prayer up to Magorah, the shifter god, that Sillara’s crew would still be here.
It wasn’t too hard to find them – they were a group of five shifters, clustered toward the far left end of the room as their foreman, Laro Vanit, read off the names on their docket for today.
I pursed my lips as I caught sight of the long list – there were at least twenty names on there, more than enough for their crew, and I wished I could snag one of their bounties for myself.
But that wasn’t what I was here for.
“Excuse me, Foreman Vanit,” I said after he was done. “Can I talk to you and your crew for a moment?”
Vanit turned slowly to face me, and if I were a lesser woman I would have been intimidated by the glare he shot my way. A brawny black male with tawny lion shifter eyes, a shaved head and blocky features, he stood a head and a half taller than me, and was looking at me as though I was vermin spawn.
Guess he was a member of the “I Hate Sunaya” camp. Tension curled its stiff fingers around my shoulders, and I stood up straighter, meeting his fiery gaze with my own.
“What do you want, Baine?” he snapped, folding his arms over his chest. He wore standard black mercenary leathers that were only a few shades darker than his skin, making him look like a creature of the night.
“As you can see, we’re a little busy around here.
Unlike you, some of us have to work for a living. ”
The other shifters in his crew snickered, and I clenched my teeth at the insult. But if I rose to the bait, this would degenerate very quickly into a fight, and I needed to stay focused on getting those files.
“This is Inspector Lakin from Shiftertown,” I said, gesturing to Lakin, who was quietly assessing the group from my left. “He’s investigating Sillara’s death, and needs to study the cases she was working on before she died. We were hoping you guys would point us to her files.”
One or two of the crew members shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Lakin’s name, but the rest looked bored or hostile. Like me, these shifters were all clanless, and wouldn’t consider Lakin an authority figure.
“Hmph. I don’t know about that,” Vanit said, turning his tawny glare onto Lakin. “Last I checked, Sillara’s death wasn’t a homicide. Why would you need to dig into it more?”
“It turns out the coroner was mistaken,” Lakin said evenly, his eyes gleaming with impatience. “Sillara died of silver poisoning, just like Petros Yantz’s other victims. Since she was a member of Shiftertown’s tiger clan, her murder falls under my jurisdiction.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Vanit admitted, his scowl lessening slightly.
But it returned with a vengeance as his gaze switched back to me.
“I’d like to help you, Inspector Lakin, but since you’re attached to this sell-out over here I’m afraid you’ll have to appeal to Captain Galling directly.
And as I recall, he’s out of town.” He gave me a vicious grin, baring his fangs.
“You asshole.” I took a step forward, my lip curling back into a snarl of my own. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Sillara was your crew mate. I’d think you’d want her murder solved just as much as we do.”
“Yeah, well she’s been dead for over three months,” Vanit spat. “I think the mystery can wait a few more days if it means I don’t have to lower myself to help a whore like you.”
“Excuse me?”
“Give me a break,” Vanit sneered. “We all know that you’re responsible for the shitty management changes that have been going on down here. Not only did you defect over to the mages’ camp, but you’re sucking mage cock so you can get what you want. So excuse me if I don’t help you.”
“I don’t know where you heard that from, but I’m not sleeping with the Chief Mage.
” A hot flush spilled across my cheeks at the accusation, and my thighs quivered with the effort of holding myself back from attacking Vanit.
“In case you didn’t know, master and apprentice relationships are supposed to be platonic. ”
“Oh yeah? Well you coulda fooled me. Whore.”
Lakin made a grab for my arm as I launched myself forward, but he was too late – I’d already closed the distance between myself and Vanit, my fist hurtling through the air towards him.
Vanit side-stepped the blow, a smug grin on his dark face, but I wasn’t going to let him get away that easily – I pivoted on my left foot, then side-kicked him in the midsection with my right.
Grunting from the force of the blow, he doubled over slightly but recovered quickly, drawing the sword at his side as he straightened.
I jumped backwards to avoid the slash of the steel blade, which gleamed in the light filtering in through the dingy, cracked windows.
Gasps and murmurs broke out all across the room, reminding me that there were several different crews here, and I stiffened.
Vanit’s crew was closing in on me with murderous stares, and though Lakin and I could probably take them all on with the help of my magic, I wasn’t going to be able to fight off an entire room of enforcers if they decided to take Vanit’s side.
“Hang on,” Vanit said, his thick lips curling into a grin as he held up his hand in the direction of his crew mates.
“Let’s play this out. I think Little Miss Sunaya here’s let her new position as the Chief Mage’s pet go to her head, and I for one would like to remind her where she stands.
What say you and I have a little match, huh? ”
My eyebrows shot up. “You want to what, have a duel or something?”
“No, I want to kick your entitled little ass.” He bared his teeth at me, fangs sliding out from beneath his gum line. “If, for some reason, you should happen to win, my crew will more than happily get Sillara’s files for you.”
“Sunaya,” Lakin said, his voice low and urgent. “You don’t have to do this. We can come back when the Captain is here.”
“No.” I glared at Vanit, unstrapping my crescent knives from my right thigh. “If Vanit wants a fight, he’s getting one. Just because he’s got his panties in a twist over me doesn’t mean he’s getting away with this. We’re getting those files.”
Vanit’s expression turned downright ugly, and he shifted into a fighting stance, holding his sword aloft.
I curled my fingers around the handles of my knives and took up a stance of my own, holding one knife out towards him and the other close to my midsection so I could block any blow that got past my initial guard, much like a traditional empty-handed stance.
The other enforcers gathered around us in a circle to watch, their eyes gleaming with the thrill of an impending fight, and I saw quite a few of them exchange coins out of the corner of my eye.
If most of them were betting on Vanit, that didn’t bother me. It just meant they were going to lose their money.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” I demanded. “Weren’t you going to teach me a lesson?”
Vanit let out a snarl of rage, then rushed forward, jabbing straight for my mid-section with his sword.
Magic crackled at my fingertips, and I itched to simply blast him with a fireball, but I knew the Chief Mage would be pissed at me if I ended up killing Vanit, so instead I simply caught the blade using one of my knives, then side-stepped him.
Off balance, he had no time to move out of the way as I slashed down the length of his forearm with the knife in my right hand.
Blood gushed from the wound, splattering across the front of my leather jacket, and Vanit howled in agony.
His fingers went limp, the sword clattering to the ground, and I wasted no time, swinging my fist back around to my ear and then smashing it into the side of his jaw, a vulnerable spot regardless of the size and strength of an opponent.
Vanit dropped like a stone.
The resulting silence in the room was deafening. All eyes were on me, and my skin prickled under the weight of the crowd’s attention. Ignoring them all, I nudged Vanit in the side with the toe of my boot just to make sure he was down. He groaned slightly, but didn’t budge otherwise.
“Anyone else feel like challenging me?” I lifted my head to meet the eyes of the rest of Vanit’s crew.
One by one, the rest of the shifters lowered their eyes submissively, accepting their defeat.
No, they didn’t hate me any less, but damn if they weren’t going to respect me, and that was all I really cared about at this point.
Now that I was finally out from Garius Talcon’s thumb, nobody at the Enforcer’s Guild was going to push me around anymore, no matter who they were.
“Very well,” a dark blonde woman stepped forward from the rest of the crew, her gaze hot but steady on mine. “Come this way. I’ll take you to the files.”