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"How's Uldr looking now?" I asked Az at the top of my turn. Even he'd seemed to be pulled into the game. Our antagonistic war set aside for the moment.

"He's looking pretty fucked up, honestly. Keth's last attack did some serious damage. What're you doing, Elarra?" Az asked. It had taken a bit to get used to him referring to us by our character names, but it helped pull me into the moment.

"I…" I looked around the battle map and considered my options, looking at my spell list.

"Do something, Elarra, or I'm moving on." Az said, sighing in frustration.

I did some calculations and leaned over the table to move the miniature I borrowed for the game, counting out the squares until I was within range of Uldr.

"I'll use my last sixth level spell slot to cast inflict wounds."

"Roll it," Az said. I tossed my dice on the table, and it felt like the room was collectively holding its breath. The room erupted into cheers when it stopped with a brightly painted twenty on top.

Craig helped me gather several ten-sided dice to roll my damage and let out a low whistle as we did the math.

"Don't forget to double that."

"So that makes… one hundred and twenty-eight?" I asked.

"Holy shit!" Joey whooped.

"Elarra steps forward, eyeing the gaping wound in Uldr's hide. Chanting a dark incantation, a sickly black energy glows from her hands, tendrils wrapping up her arms as the power radiates from her. She surges forward and digs her hands into his wounds and unleashes her spell directly into his wounds. With a gurgling growl, he collapses, as his body withers and rots around her hands. Uldr the Dread is no more." Az narrates the scene dramatically as he pulls the dragon's miniature off the map.

The room erupted into cheers again. I couldn't contain my excitement, whooping with the rest of them. Craig wrapped me up in a celebratory hug and spun me, laughing. Before I could stop myself, I'd taken his face in my hands and planted a celebratory kiss on his lips. The spinning stopped, but he kissed me back eagerly.

A crashing sound behind me made me jump back, and I turned to see Az storming out of the room. The room was quietnow, and Rich turned slowly to face me. His dark brown gaze pinned me to my spot.

"You're playing with fire, Princess. If you're not careful, someone is going to get burned."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Leighton

I got a lovely bunch of coconuts standing in a row.The phrase played on repeat in my mind while I worked. Rich told me I couldn't come back to the manor until I found a Jackal we could torture for information. Though, whether he meant about the attack at Temptat!on, Victoria setting us up, or both, was anybody's guess. I opted for both. It was always better to cover all the bases than deal with Rich when he was truly pissed off. My antagonizing Az had crossed a line, and I was already treading dangerous territory with Rich because of it.

Tucking my hands into the pocket of my hooded sweatshirt, I kept my head down as I walked through the streets of Southside. I needed to focus, but between the stupid earworm and my brain wanting to recall every sound Victoria made as I railed her, I wasn't doing a good job of it. Fuck. This hunt would take longer than I wanted if I couldn't get my head on straight. It had already been a week, and I hadn't turned anything up.

I only had myself to blame for it. The Jackals were like cockroaches if you knew where to look. And I knew where to look. I just couldn't keep my thoughts from straying tola petit démone. The look on her face when I tore out of the camera control room made me feel funny. It was like a dull ache in my chest, and I was constantly rubbing my knuckles along my breastbone to ease it. Part of me wanted to disobey Rich's orderand return to the manor to check on her. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why.

"Fuck." I muttered as drizzling rain started to spit from the sky. "What the fuck is wrong with me?"

Growling to myself, I hooked a left on Providence, ignoring the street girls calling out to me. Usually, I would have stopped to chat. The girls who worked the corners were some of the most informed people on the street. They knew everything that happened in Southside and would tell you for the right price. Sometimes, I'd even pay triple their hourly rate just to slake my thirst for causing pain. Any other time, a week would be a long enough dry spell for me to consider it, butla petit démonewas in my head, twisting things all around.

Upping my pace, I speed-walked toward The Spotted Cobra. It was a rundown little hole-in-the-wall bar that had been around probably longer than I'd been alive. It was also the only other neutral territory in Southside. I hadn't missed the irony of the youth center and a bar being the only neutral ground in the whole city when I first met the other guys, and they made me part of their tight-knit family.

When the dilapidated bar came into view, I jogged the rest of the way to the doors. The sky had grown darker in the short time it took me to walk there, and I didn't intend to get caught in the coming storm. I paused, reaching for the handle, as I took notice of spider-webbed cracks in the bulletproof glass windows of the swinging doors. For a brief moment, I wondered who would be stupid enough to risk being barred from neutral territory. It had to be one of the lone criminals. There were only three crime families in all of Sacona, and while I despised the Jackals and rarely encountered the Golden Devils, neither of their syndicates would stand for their low-ranking soldiers causing problems at the Cobra.

Strolling through the outer and inner doors, I approached the bar. My curiosity was riding me hard, and I was desperate to ask Harrison who had tried to shoot up the place. And to offer my services for dealing with them. The longer my hunt took, the more my need to hurt and maim someone consumed me. Instead of finding the grizzled old medic, his daughter stood behind the long wooden counter. Her fiery red hair was wrangled into a messy bun, and she wore the standard black t-shirt and jeans that passed as a uniform in the Cobra.

"Mags!" I called cheerily as I slid onto a stool. "Where's Pops?"

"He's out on business. What can I get you, L?" she replied, her bright green eyes narrowing.

"Whiskey, neat. And maybe the name of whatever idiot thought it was a good idea to fuck with my favorite bar in the city."

"It's being handled. Besides, I know better than to accept a favor that would make us indebted to any of you lot."

I clutched my chest in mock surprise. "I wouldneveroffer you my services in exchange for a favor, Mags. The way I figure it, we have enough I.O.U.s racked up that, if you asked, we'd be obliged to take out the whole damned city for you. You and Pops have patched me up on more than one occasion. Let me return at least one of the favors."