They all looked confused at how Tom had ended up on the other side of the street with a bloody nose, but after a moment, a scrawny young man with a big nose said, “Shinga Sniggle don’t let us just come up to him any old time. But Tom’s friends with him.”
“Sniggle?” Vi asked, smirking. “That’s not really his name, is it?”
Tom picked himself up off the ground. He roared and charged Vi.
Not even looking at him, she waited until he was two steps away and poked her foot into his hip in mid-stride. When his foot didn’t come forward to take the next step as he’d expected, he went skidding across the cobblestones at Vi’s feet. She didn’t break eye contact with the boy.
“I, uh, yes, Barush Sniggle,” the boy said, looking at Tom. He didn’t seem to find anything comical about it. “Who are you?” he asked.
She contorted her fingers into the thieves’ sign.
“That’s a little different than ours,” the young man said. “Where you from?”
“Cenaria,” she said.
All of them took a step back. “No shit?” he said. “Cenarian Sa’kagé?”
“Now you,” Vi said, grabbing Tom Gray by his greasy hair. “Are you going to take me to the Shinga? Or do I have to break something?”
He swore at her.
She broke his nose.
He sputtered blood and swore again.
“Slow learner, huh?” She hit him in his broken nose, and then grabbed his head. Jamming her fingers deep into the pain points behind his ears, she lifted him to his feet. He screamed with surprising vigor. It was unfortunate she’d broken his nose first, because he sprayed blood all over her. Vi didn’t mind, though. Nysos was the god of the potent liquids: blood, wine, and semen. It had been weeks since she’d given him an offering. Perhaps this would appease him until she found Kylar.
She held her fingers deep in those pain points, letting Tom Gray scream, letting him spray blood over her shirt and face. The boys cowered back, about to break and run.
“Enough!” a voice called from the darkness.
Vi released Tom and he fell.
A short, squat figure walked forward. “I am the Shinga,” he said.
“Barush Sniggle?” she asked. Shinga Barush Sniggle had a potbelly, small eyes under lank blond hair, and a cruel mouth. He walked with a swagger despite his small size. Perhaps the hulking bodyguard by his side helped with that.
“What do you want, wench?” the Shinga demanded.
“I’m hunting. My deader’s name is Lord Kylar Stern. He’s about my height, light blue eyes, dark hair, athletic, about twenty years old.”
“A deader?” Sniggle asked. “Like you’re a wetboy? A wet girl?”
“Wasn’t Kylar the name of that guy who busted Tom’s chops a couple weeks ago?” the big-nosed young man asked one of the other teenagers.
“Sounds like him,” another young man said. “Think he’s still staying with Aunt Mea. But he ain’t no lord.”
“Shut up,” Barush Sniggle said. “You don’t say another damn word, you got me? Tom, get your ass off the ground and bring that bitch here.”
Amazing. Kylar had made it so simple. He thought he was far enough away, was confident that everyone thought he was dead. She had all she needed now. It would be a simple matter to find him, and it would be an easy matter to kill him, too. She tingled with excitement. She still had a two-inch scar on her shoulder from him, despite having let one of those foul wytches heal her.
“I think I might just have to take you back to my place,” Barush Sniggle said. “We’ll find out how much of a wet girl you are.”
“Never heard that one before,” she said. The bodyguard had one of her arms, and a triumphant Tom Gray had the other.
“She’s one hot bitch, ain’t she?” Tom Gray said, grabbing a breast.
She ignored him. “Don’t make me do something you’ll regret,” she told the Shinga.
“Can I have her after you’re done?” Tom asked. He squeezed her breast again and then he petted her hair.
“DON’T TOUCH MY HAIR!” she yelled.
Both the bodyguard and Tom flinched at her sudden fury. Barush Sniggle forced a laugh a moment later.
“You little guttershite, you sewer froth, you touch my hair and I swear I’ll rip you apart,” Vi said, trembling.
He swore at her and ripped out the leather thong that bound her hair back. Her hair fell loose around her shoulders for the first time in years. She stood exposed, naked, and the men were laughing.