Jasper’s heart suddenly started racing.“Oh?”
Kerry spread the newspaper she’d been reading on the table.Jasper leaned closer, curious, but at first, he was confused.There was no mention of a baby in the article Kerry pointed out.No, the article was about an accident at a place called Sanctuary.
Jasper had heard of it.All the hunters had heard of it.They were taught that Sanctuary had been a place where monsters gathered.The hunters believed it was where they’d planned attacks and hid criminals, but in reality, people there had helped however they could by giving food or a safe place to stay to those who’d needed it.Leroy had often ranted against the place, and Jasper had never understood why because it had been shut down when he was very young.He also hadn’t understood why his father was so against monsters helping monsters.Humans refused to do so, after all.Who else was supposed to do it?
But Jasper had known that his father was an asshole, even as a child.Leroy hadn’t only been angry because those people were monsters.It was also because they’d thought that humans and monsters could live together.They’d wanted unity, and they’d never kicked people out when they asked for help, even if they were human.Leroy firmly believed that monsters and humans should stay apart, or at least, that was what Jasper had thought.He wondered now since he’d found out that he wasn’t human, but he suspected that it had been easy for his father to ignore the fact that he was a monster.He didn’t look like one.He was supposed to be his father’s son, and Leroy had behaved as if he was.
“You know, I was always impressed by Sanctuary,” Kerry murmured.“They wanted to help people, truly help them, not like hunters.”
Jasper nodded once and quickly read the article.Apparently, a fight had broken out at Sanctuary, and the hunters had been involved.There were no casualties, but some people had been hurt, including a hunter.Frustratingly, the article didn’t go into details, which meant that by the time Jasper was done reading it, he still didn’t have any information that would lead him to his parents.
He leaned back in his chair.“We don’t know if this has anything to do with me or my family.”
“We also don’t know that itdoesn’thave anything to do with you and your family.Do you remember anyone mentioning this incident to you?”
“Not really.I mean, our trainers always said that Sanctuary was a cesspool of crime and everything, but I never really believed them.”Jasper had always been skeptical of the most vocal hunters.A lot of them had seemed to be into hunting because they liked the power it gave them, and Jasper had been able to see that even at a young age.Others were in it because they truly thought that monsters shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near humans.Jasper had liked those people even less.Mixing the two had always been a recipe for disaster, and he was glad he didn’t have to deal with it any longer.
He tapped his fingertips on the table.The incident at Sanctuary had happened when Jasper wasn’t even a month old.It might not have had anything to do with him, but he’d seen pictures of him and his parents when he was a baby.He’d never realized that there had been no pictures of his mother’s pregnancy or pictures taken around the time of his birth, but he hadn’t thought much of it.His father wasn’t a picture kind of guy.Frankly, Jasper had been surprised that they had any to begin with.They only covered the first year of his life, more or less.After that, it was as if his parents had stopped caring.
Maybe they had, in a way.Maybe they’d been trying to make it look like he was their child through pictures.That way, if anyone ever asked, they could point to the pictures to prove that Jasper had been with them all his life.
But he hadn’t.
* * * *
SLIPPING INTO THE BUILDINGwas easy.There were guards, but they were distracted by the crowd and the fights in the warehouse.One of them was on his phone when Archie walked past him, and he didn’t even look up.
Archie and Braith exchanged a glance.Archie was pretty sure that Braith was thinking the same thing he was.
This was a disaster waiting to happen.
The level of noise was astounding, but not a surprise considering the number of people crammed into the derelict building.They were everywhere, including high up on a metal platform that overlooked the main room.The people up there were dressed better than the people down with Archie and Braith.If Archie had to guess, he’d say they were VIPs, at least for the people organizing the fights.
Unsurprisingly, some of them were human.They never had any problems mingling with monsters when it came to this kind of thing, and it made Archie angry.He wanted to take the platform down with everyone on it, but that wasn’t why he was here today.No, today, he was here to find one or possibly more missing kids, and that was what he should focus on.
The warehouse reeked of sweat, blood, and dampness.The harsh fluorescent lights cast long shadows across the concrete floor where a makeshift fighting ring had been cordoned off with rope.The crowd pressed close, their faces flushed with excitement, shouting and waving their fists as they encouraged the fighters.
In the center of the ring, two figures circled each other—both monsters, both young.
Too young.
Archie’s jaw tightened.Neither of the fighters looked older than twenty, if even that.One had green scales along his arms that glinted under the lights.The other had claws that she clearly didn’t know how to use in a fight.Blood dripped from her knuckles, but not her claws.
“We need to find the room with the private fights,” Braith murmured close to his ear, barely audible over the roar of the crowd.
Archie nodded, forcing himself to look away.As much as he wanted to help these people, they weren’t the reason he and Braith were here.
They moved along the room, trying to be inconspicuous.The warehouse wasn’t as empty as Archie had initially thought.There were remnants of what it had held before—old machinery and broken crates, some stacked high enough to hide someone.Most of the crowd was focused on the main fight, but there were small groups of people gathered around the room, including what looked like a makeshift bar.
That was where Archie spotted a door.It was newer than the rest of the structure, metal and solid, with two guards flanking it.Those weren’t on their phones.They were focused, scanning the crowd as if looking for trouble.
“There,” Archie said.
Braith followed his gaze.“How do we—”
A sudden change in the crowd cut him off.Someone had won, or maybe lost badly enough that the fight was over, and people were screaming and cheering.The noise was deafening.In the chaos, one of the guards turned his head to look at the commotion.
Archie moved.
