I finished off my victims, I had to refrain from the urge to kill so I could get a lock on Audrey.
“Let us out of here!” a woman begged, her fingers wrapped around the bars. “I can make you so rich that you’ll never have to work again.”
I neared the bars and sized her up: diamond-studded earrings, metallic eyeshadow, nude lipstick, blond curls spilling down her black robe. Her nails were bejeweled, and mine were caked in blood. Her perfume filled my nostrils as I leaned in. “Better get used to these,” I said, tapping my fingers against the bars. “You’ll be seeing them for a long time.”
I strutted off and approached a naked man lying on the ground. It looked like Christian had secured the chain around his wolf’s neck by bending the metal and looping the other end around a torch holder. The chain was loose, so I took it off and knelt. He was barely lucid.
“Hey, you’re gonna be okay. What’s your name?”
“Tom,” he croaked.
“Tom, do you think you can stay here? It’s too dangerous to run around. Can you sit tight for a little while?”
He nodded.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. We’ll take care of you.”
He shook his head. “I thought you were lying.”
“It doesn’t matter. Just sit tight, okay?”
My heart clenched. How bad was this guy’s life that death matches were a viable solution? Audrey must have targeted men at rock bottom, but no matter what they initially agreed to, they certainly weren’t here of their own free will. Not if they were caged.
“Don’t open that gate,” I warned him. “Those are the people who wanted to watch you die tonight. Anything they promise you is a lie.”
His eyes closed. Tom’s condition had nothing to do with injuries sustained in the ring, as I’d done my best to go easy on him. He probably hadn’t slept in days, dreading his certain death.
I followed the dark tunnel and approached a gate. After pulling the lever, I jogged down the tunnel until I reached Rafferty’s prison. Without a key, I couldn’t get inside. “Rafferty, open the door! I promise not to kill you if you cooperate.”
I scanned the room and didn’t see any plump shadows hiding behind one of the pillars. The only sound I heard was the low growling of a vicious panther. “Audrey? Are you in there?”
“Do you really think she’ll answer?” Christian asked darkly.
I turned to face him. “Don’t sneak up on me. That’s a good way to get yourself killed.”
He took the lollipop out of his mouth and let it rest on his bottom lip. “And how will you manage to strike me down without a weapon? Or did you plan to give me a coronary by flashing those blood-soaked knockers? Go on. Give us a peek.”
“Open the gate.”
With a bored look, he reached over and gave the locking mechanism a hard squeeze until it shattered. “No one’s in there but a sniveling man with an atrocious flatulence problem.”
I rounded the butcher’s block and caught sight of Rafferty cowering on the floor. Grabbing a long knife, I squatted in front of him and pressed the tip to his fleshy gullet. “Where is she?”
His eyes rounded. “I don’t know.”
Rafferty gasped when I pushed the tip of the blade in deep enough to draw blood. “If you don’t tell me where she is, I’m going to pour that bucket of chum all over you and lock you in the cage with the panther. How does that sound? I bet he starts with your intestines first. That’s a slow death, you know.”
The man whimpered. I didn’t sense he was Breed, so he must have been a human servant.
Christian’s chuckle was low but audible.
Rafferty pointed at the opposite door. “That way,” he breathed. “That way.”
I tapped his nose with the blade. “If you’re smart, you’ll stay right here. You have no idea what’s going on out there.”
He probably did. If he’d seen Audrey flying through here, it must have tipped him off that something had gone wrong.
I hurried toward the far door and looked back at Christian. “Is anyone upstairs in the auction house? You should call them and let them know Audrey might be taking the elevator.”
Christian snorted. “I don’t have my phone on me. I’m afraid our fate is in the hands of Spooky McGravewalker.”
The door swung outward. “You should still—”
Air whooshed out of my lungs when the ground disappeared. I gasped—my tank top had wrapped around my neck, and it felt like someone was pulling