We spend the next two hours searching out all the women in the Disorderly Hotel. Locke removes every collar since he’d been the one to kill Madam Polly. We count fifty-three women. All of them cry when we rescue them from their clients. The men complain, but when Locke threatens them with death once they leave, they shut up real quick. We kick out all of the men, and make sure the doors are locked so the women have the time to recuperate without trouble.
“Take what you need from this place,” I tell them. “The food won’t last outside of the safehouse, but the items will.”
“Thank you,” one of the women says, her eyes hollow. We’d pulled her from beneath a table when we’d first come out, and she’d immediately joined in to help us find all of the others. “For everything you’ve done.”
“It was nothing,” I say. “Locke killed her.”
“We all saw you walk in,” she replies. “We all saw the storm around your shoulders, Beast Bound. It may have been by his hand, but you gave him the strength to hold the dagger.”
Frowning, I glance at Locke, who only shrugs. “It’s true,” he says, smiling.
“Bone Breakers are notoriously strong,” Havoc grumbles, rolling his eyes. “There’s no need for frivolous romantic notions of grandeur.”
I raise my brow at him. “Do you have to ruin everything?”
“Yes,” he answers immediately.
Sighing, I move through the room, making sure that everyone is okay before I take a seat at a nearby table and stretch out my legs. The automaton waiters appear from nowhere and immediately sets the table with food that makes my mouth water.
“Your supper, Madam Vesper,” they say.
“Don’t call me that,” I growl.
“My apologies,” the waiter says. “Madam Player.”
And then he stumbles away before I can correct him again.
“Madam Player,” Svetlana says. “It has a nice ring to it.”
“Don’t you dare,” I tell her as she leaps off my shoulder and tears into the plate of food.
“I would never,” Svetlana laughs. She starts slicing at the food with her razor arms and then shoving her face daintily into it, her little mouth nibbling at the meat.
“I am tempted to replace your title,” Cipher pips in.
“I’ll never forgive you. That woman was a terrible person,” I warn.
He sighs. “You are correct. I will refrain from offending you then.”
In the corner of the room, one of the televisions hangs, the screen static right now. The news broadcast hasn’t come in since we’ve been here, so I don’t know exactly what time it’ll pop on. Maybe we missed it in all the chaos.
TIER UPGRADE AVAILABLE
UPGRADE NOW
The notification flashes across my vision again as I open my interface and sigh. “Alright,” I say, selecting the icon. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”
CHAPTER56
VESPER
CURRENT STATS ARE AS FOLLOWS
TIER 1 – SCAVENGER’S BOND
Wastrel, entry-level
STRENGTH: 10
