Seph goes to them, shoving Perevis aside.
Hard knocks come at the door, which Vallan stands near with his arms crossed. “Sir! You in there? There’s vampires running wild in—”
“I know, you fuckingdolt, they’rein here!” Perevis screeches. “Break the damn door down!”
Sephania’s voice softens as the girls shake in front of her. She lifts the paper. “How about you three? Recognize either face? They’re slavers.”
They share scared looks. In this moment, Sephania looks like a harbinger of death. They just want to go home—wherever home is—if they even have one. Their lives were not meant to be tossed away by garish scum like Perevis of the Gilded Guild.
“Well?” Seph asks. “I won’t hurt you, I promise.”
The smallest and youngest girl quickly nods. “Man on the left? He sold me.”
“When?”
“Three months back. I got a better gig here, anywho.”
“Where can I find him?”
“Used to be holed up in the southwest, ma’am. That one ugly brothel with the rooster crowing on the gable? Something about cocks—”
“I know the one,” Seph interjects. “He still operate out of there?”
“Maybe? Dunno, ma’am. Been months.”
Seph nods. “Thank you.”
“There!” Perevis squeals. “You got what you came for. Will you fuck off—”
“Silence,” Sephania growls. She raises a palm, not bothering to look at the jiggling merchant. To the nightladies, she asks, “Are you here of your own volition?”
“What’s ‘at mean?” the tallest girl asks.
“Do youwantto be here?”
The skinny woman laughs. “No onewantsto be here, Hellwhore. If you’re asking if we mean to be here, we do. Well, I do at least.”
“I don’t,” says the third girl, the one Perevis rolled off on the bed. She glowers at Perevis behind Seph. “Fat sack of shit keeps me locked up in here more days than not. Says he’s gonna breed me ‘cuz I’m so pretty. Can’twaitto jump out that window and get my pretty ass out of here.”
Sephania blinks at her. From my profile angle, I can see the cogs working in her mind. When she turns to Perevis, he backpedals, paling at the sight of her darkened face. He holds his hands up. “Wait now, girl. Don’t do anything stupid. Don’t you know how much coin I—”
Sephania’s sword is in her hand before he can finish. When he says the wordcoin, she lunges and spears him directly in the gut. Perevis screams, coughs blood from his lips. He grabs the blade of the sword, whining—
Sephania pulls back, slicing off two fingers before stabbing him again. Then a third time. Finally, a forth, once he’s on his knees, putting the sword through the slumlord’s neck. His eyes widen and she kicks his chest to slide his corpse off her blade.
This time, none of the girls screech. They simply watch with dead eyes.
“Hewasa good meal ticket,” says the youngest one.
“For you, maybe,” says the slave who’d been locked up.
The door cracks, wood splintering.
“Well? Exit out the window?” I ask.
From the door, Vallan says, “No need,” and draws his massive war-axe from his back.
Sephania, now covered in blood across her boots, turns to the girls. “When we leave, you three are free to go. If you need a safe place to stay, head southeast, underground, to the Grimsons. Find a man named Antones and tell him I sent you.”
