to someone who doesn’t know how to fight. Stupid would be accepting the job without understanding all the risks. That’s why I ask a lot of questions. The fighters aren’t the only ones I’m concerned about. I might survive the match, but if you haven’t covered all your bases, I could wind up in Breed jail.”
“I assure you that will never happen. So long as you meet all the qualifications, we shouldn’t have a problem.”
“I’ve gotten into more than one death match with a Shifter. I’m about as qualified as you can get.”
“How did you wind up working behind a bar, if I might ask? You would be better suited as a personal guard.”
I sighed. “Bad life choices.”
“I hope you exceed my expectations,” she said. “A good fighter can do this for many years before retiring.”
“How many are there?”
“One.”
I stopped in my tracks.
Audrey turned around, the flames illuminating her stunning features. “This isn’t a competition. There’s no other Mage competing for your spot. The longer you last, the greater enjoyment you bring my benefactors. Not all of them show up for every event. We reserve their membership even if they go away for thirty years. The idea is to draw in the largest crowd, and if you please them, you’ll be handsomely rewarded.”
“How did a woman like you become a pit boss? Sensors can make so much money the legal way. I always thought these fights were run by big men with small penises, not a gorgeous woman who can probably get whatever she wants.”
“And this is what I want. I was once married, you know. My husband bought and sold Shifters for profit. When it became illegal, we lost everything. Then one night a group of those Shifters returned to our home with torches. I escaped while my dear husband distracted them. I almost didn’t make it out alive. I fought a Shifter with my bare hands, and it brought out something in me I didn’t know existed. I suppose that’s always stayed with me.” She rubbed her arms from the slight chill. “When I met Pablo, he had smart ideas.”
Audrey continued her walk down the hall until we reached a narrow gate. When she pulled a lever, the gate lifted. “You aren’t permitted to bring any electronic devices such as a phone.”
That worried me. Audrey was probably concerned about a fighter recording things. Could cell phones even work down here? If not, where did that leave the video camera around my neck? Was I out of range?
We turned down a wide hall and neared a small gate with a room behind it. Audrey set the torch in an empty mount and said, “Open the door.”
A man greeted her with a timid bow, and he wasn’t a timid-looking man. His brown shirt was tattered and stained, and his large belly showed at the bottom. The dark bags under his eyes made him appear sickly, and his black mustache covered most of his teeth when he smiled. He unlocked the gate and let us in. Pillars secured the ceiling, and the torches mounted to them did little to brighten up this dungeon.
The hefty man plodded back to a wooden table and lifted an axe. I watched him hack into a large piece of meat and toss the scraps into buckets on the floor.
Ignoring him, Audrey reached for my hand. When she grasped it, I quickly pulled it away.
She gave me a beguiling smile. “Are you worried I’m going to sense your fear?”
“I don’t like people touching me without permission.”
“Have it your way.” She moved ahead of me. “This is where we keep them.”
Curious, I looked inside one of the cages to my right. A man with a shackle around his neck stared back at me, and my stomach dropped.
His sunken eyes widened with hope, and he reached for the bars. “Help me get out of here! Please!”
Audrey moved past the cell to the next one. “Hurry along, Robin. The beggars are so hard to endure.”
As I passed his cell, I pinched my nose. The room had a drain in the center, but no furniture or toilet. Just a bucket.
Audrey snapped her fingers. “Mr. Rafferty, I want you to rinse and mop the cells twice a day. If I come down here again and it’s not clean, you’ll be replaced.”
“Yes, Miss Audrey!” He submissively lowered his head and shuffled over to the man’s cell with a bucket of raw meat.