I Regret Nothing - JB Trepagnier Page 0,14

Still, this was prison, and I knew the food was going to be bad. I spooned some peas and slapped some gray meat on my plate.

Dakarys put his hand over mine.

“Use the gravy on everything. It’s the only thing they put seasoning in. It’s just salt and pepper, but it’s going to save everything on your plate. Grab a pudding too. They hand those out if we don’t get something sweet cooked. The pudding is decent, and people have gotten beaten for the butterscotch.”

I slipped a pudding on my tray and followed him to a table. No one was sitting there except an utterly beautiful man. His skin was the color of black coffee, and he had silver eyes. He was even bigger than Faust, and he had the top of his jumpsuit off. He was seriously cut in his undershirt, and he seemed to know who I was because he gave me a friendly smile when I sat down.

“I take it you found the Silver Fox?”

“Rei,” I said, holding out my hand.

“Rajack. We’ve been following you on the computer.”

Why? I’d never stolen from a sphinx or a gargoyle before. I doubt they gave a shit about that Grimoire or the amulet I was trying to get my hands on. Witches could only use the Grimoire, and witches had created the amulet, but anyone could use it. I couldn’t even claim street cred in here for successfully robbing the Museum of the Profane because Venus ruined that.

“I’m just a thief, and I’m sure there are plenty in here. I’m not that interesting.”

Rajack just grinned at me.

“The other thieves here are sloppy, and we don’t like them. Tell me, why did you bite that witch and get caught?”

I sighed.

“I asked myself that a million times while I was in solitary waiting to be brought here. I was trying to rob the Museum of the Profane, and I had a plan. Venus showed up and ruined it. I had to improvise. I had this vision of biting her, getting the amulet, and leaving her for the guards, but it didn’t play out that way. I owed her for betraying my mentor.”

“Venus is over there trying to get close to Astrid. Astrid is the high priestess of the witch gang in here, and the witches do nothing without her approval.”

My eyes darted across the room. Yeah, there was Venus trying to kiss ass to sit next to a woman with long, black hair. I knew better than to expect Venus not to come at me here. If she were as sloppy as she was at the Museum of the Profane and they linked her to several other thefts, then she would have ended up here eventually, even without me biting her.

“Yeah, that’s her. I’m going to have a problem with witches and Faust while I’m here.”

Dakarys just smirked.

“We’ll watch your back with Faust, but if we claim you, no witch will touch you. Black market, remember? The witches might not have their magic with those cuffs on, but they can brew some of their potions without it, and they like their talismans. Astrid is fair and smart. She likes her revenge just as much as the next witch, or she wouldn’t be here, but she’d not dumb enough to deprive her entire gang of what I could get for them because of one witch.”

“I’m not sure I understand why you want to claim me and offer prison protection. I’m not complaining, but why? It can’t just be the news stories. They painted me as this horrible person for the things they could nail me with.”

It wasn’t like I could go to the shifters for protection. Faust was already going to be a problem. I didn’t need every shifter in here curious about me. The supernatural community was cliquey. The witches were out because of Venus. The Vampires would only take me if I let them feed on me. There were no other demons in here, or Faust wouldn’t be so curious. It would be smart to partner up with Dakarys and Rajack, but that was Hauser’s rule six—trust no one until they proved they had earned it.

Dakarys had been helpful about the food and giving me information about Faust. They’d offered to help me with the witches. But what did they want in return? People always wanted something. Being a professional thief was a testament to that. They coveted things so severely, they were willing to pay me a lot of money to