“Where is she?” I demanded, hauling the guard up by his collar. He was an ugly sonofabitch. His nose looked too big for his old, scarred face and his eyes were black. He sneered at me and spat blood in my face.
“Wrong move motherfucker,” my knee slammed into his ribs. My knee cracked into his ribs, hard enough to hear something give. “Try again.”
“Who?” he wheezed, blood painting his grin. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The girl. The shadowmancer.”
“No clue,” he coughed. “Think you’ve got the wrong guy.”
I rolled my eyes. “I know it’s hard to stay focused when your brain’s made of dogshit, but I really need you to try, friend. Think hard. Can you do that for me?”
“Fuck you,friend.”
I sighed. “Alright. Plan B.”
I extended my hand, letting the claws grow long and black, glinting in the low light. Then I drove one into his shoulder, fast and deep.
He screamed—high and raw, all the bravado gone.
“Feeling more talkative yet?” I demanded. “Tell me where she is!”
He wheezed, grinning through his pain. “There are a lot of girls here. They all scream the same.”
My vision blurred with red. I jabbed my claws in deeper. The guard shrieked.
Slade grabbed my arm. “Focus,” he snapped. “Kill him now and he’s useless to us.”
Phoenix had the second man pinned under his boot, flames licking up his palms. The glow lit the guard’s face—and the panic blooming there.
“The shadowmancer,” Phoenix said, voice like ice wrapped in fire. “Where is she?”
The guard started to shake, eyes wide with pain and fear. “Okay! Okay! She’s in a cage—beneath the Pit! That’s where they keep her! Just let me go, you assholes!”
Footsteps echoed behind us—fast, closing in.
Too late.
I shoved my claws deep and slit the bastard’s throat. He hit the ground with a wet, unsatisfying thud.
“Leo!” Phoenix shouted.
“I’m going after her!”
“No! Don’t do it! We need to go!”
I spun and bolted, rage and desperation tearing through me like wildfire. Behind me, guards burst into the corridor, drawn by the screams.
I didn’t stop. I fought. I slashed.
But there were too many of them.
One came up behind me and smashed me hard in the head.
I blacked out.
Chapter 38
Phoenix
