“I’m glad you know that he’s strong.”
Azazel looked up and quickly stood when he heard another man enter the room.
“Who are you?” Azazel asked. Although he did not know who the man was, he could tell that he was a unicorn shifter.
“Father, this is my uncle Orion.”
“Your uncle?” Azazel asked.
“Yeah.” Kristoph smiled. “Uncle Orion’s been taking care of me since Dad brought me to him.”
“Brought you to him? Why would he take you to a unicorn?”
“For protection,” Orion answered. “And that’s all I’m going to say about it. If you want to know what really happened, let Uri tell you.”
Azazel looked around, noticing that Uriel was no longer in the penthouse. “Where is he?”
Orion sat down beside Kristoph. “He’s gone.”
“Where?”
“Dad calls it work but I know he goes and does something bad, because he comes home bloody and hurt.”
Azazel wrinkled his brow and looked from Kristoph to Orion. “Where does he go?”
“To Vanis's. They have an illegal underground fight club.”
Hearing the name of the place, Azazel disappeared and reappeared in the back alley of the club. He entered through the back and ignored everyone who was staring at him as he walked through the hallway leading to the kitchen. Azazel knew about the fight club and where it was, since he’d visited it once with Loki, but he found no interest in watching the fights.
He walked to the secret door and was about to enter when he was stopped by two large men.
“Move,” Azazel ordered.
“Sir, we know who you are but...” one guard started.
“Then if you know who I am and don’t want this place shut down, move out of my damn way.”
The guards saw Azazel wasn’t in the mood to debate and stepped aside. He walked through the secret door leading to the tunnel that lit up ahead of him, guiding the way. The closer he got to the arena, the louder the crowd's cheering and heckling sounded in his ears.
The closer he got to the exit of the tunnel, he could see the stands and the outline of the cage. Azazel hastened his steps when he heard a loud thud and stopped when he saw Uriel in the cage standing over a man who was knocked out cold.
Azazel studied Uriel’s face, a face that was contorted with anger, wondering what had happened to the kind hearted man he loved. The shirt he wore was stained with blood.
“Get him out of here,” Uriel shouted, his voice echoing even through the roaring crowd. “Next opponent!”
“That’s what I’m talking about!” someone on Azazel’s left yelled.
“He’s back,” another added. “I haven’t seen him this fired up in months.”
Azazel knew how the fights went. The crowd voted on a fighter and watched with bloodthirsty glee as the competitors fought until they were so broken they couldn't move.
“I can’t believe he took out three guys in just five minutes,” another said.
“Right,” his friend added. “I thank the gods for whoever pissed him off. I just won twenty thousand dollars.”
The arena was cleared, leaving Uriel standing in the center.
“Since no one has dared to enter the ring, how about I sweeten the pot. Whoever beats me tonight, I will give them one million dollars and I will quit the fight club.”
