I walked right up to him, stood out of arm’s reach, which wasn’t all that easy with the jostle and bump of people around us, trying to get in and out the door he stood next to.
“Are you here to see me?” I asked.
He tipped his head just a fraction, but I couldn’t see his eyes behind those dark glasses. I could, however, tell that those glasses were recording everything I said.
“Matilda Case?” he asked in a flat tone.
“You can go back and tell the head of your House that he owes me a blood debt,” I said.
“Come with us.” He grabbed my wrist.
I stepped to one side, twisted my palm open and down. Punched his arm hard enough to break it. He growled, dropped my wrist, and took a step back.
I can hold my own in a fight. When a girl sees her parents dragged away, she throws herself into self-defense training for pretty much the rest of her life. Plus, I’d had to wrestle Lizard down more than once, and hunting feral creatures before breakfast was sort of a daily ritual.
But this wasn’t a feral creature in front of me. This was a man.
I pulled my gun, finger curled against the trigger, before he had a chance to grab for me a second time.
“Don’t try it,” I said. “I don’t know you well enough to want you dead, but I am not afraid of sending you to the hospital to rethink your line of work.”
If those glasses of his were any good, he already knew I had a gun. Just in case, I lifted it enough he saw it for sure.
So did his two buddies, who had taken a step toward us, and paused.
“Step back and step out of here. Tell your boss he has a debt to settle with me.” I thumbed back the hammer on the gun, which was old enough to make a very satisfyingclacking sound.
The two goons shifted their weight just slightly, suddenly more in the mood for a fight. I supposed they could pull the city down around my ears if they wanted to.
Too bad I didn’t care.
The boss man’s mouth twitched. He had a broken arm and hadn’t more than grunted about it. I was glad I had the gun.
“I don’t follow your orders, girl,” he snarled. “You will come with us. Now.”
The door behind him opened wide. A rush of chilly air whisked through the steamy café and cooled the sweat covering my skin.
“Gentlemen,” Abraham said, his low voice both carrying over and silencing the crowd, “you now have the full attention of House Gray.”
18
It may have been the horror of so many innocent deaths. It may have been the human spark that still burned in the twelve that brought them together in secret.—2098
—from the journal of L.U.C.
The men from House Black glanced at Abraham, and their anger was palatable.
“Fucking stitch,” the man who had grabbed for me muttered so quietly, I almost didn’t hear it even though everyone in the place was silent.
Abraham heard it. His eyes tightened and his fist snapped out, faster than I could track, slamming into the man’s shoulder. The audiblecrackof a bone shattering filled the room, accompanied by the man’s scream.
Even the silence got silent.
Abraham pushed his forearm under the wounded man’s neck and lifted until the guy was on his toes, struggling to breathe. In Abraham’s other hand was a huge knife, which he flicked, taking off the man’s left ear.
I supposed the guy might have been yelling if he had air to yell with.
“You will show me proper respect, citizen, and you will extend that respect to this woman.” Abraham sounded like he was giving a polite lecture on manners while the man gasped and bled. “She is under House Gray protection.”
