Rise of the Gryphon (Belador #4)(4)
Well, that and red glowing eyes she could see even from this distance.
“Demons,” Storm said without any question, and she agreed.
The two demons circled each other, bodies hunched forward and arms raised, ready for attack.
She shoved her hands in the pockets of her jacket. “What’re they doing?”
“Fighting.”
“Why?”
“It’s a Beast Club.”
Her face must have shown her confusion when she looked at Storm to see if he was serious.
He explained, “Think illegal fight club, but with nonhumans.”
Now it all started to fit. People were crowded around the ring, already shouting like she’d seen on television when humans wrestled or boxed. “I’ve never heard of a Beast Club. How do you know what it is?”
“They had these in South America. The only way you found out was by being a sponsor . . . or a fighter.”
She wanted to ask more about when he’d lived there, but there wasn’t time for that now.
The hurling scream of something in mortal pain echoed across the mountains.
Evalle snapped around in time to see the green-skinned demon rip the head off the one in camo, silencing his opponent. She hadn’t expected the beefy guy to lose—at least not so quickly.
Rubbing her neck muscles, she struggled to come up with a new plan. “I have to inform VIPER.”
“You contact them and they’re going to order you to sit tight and wait for them to raid this. If by some small chance that valley is owned by a person with diplomatic immunity from VIPER operations, the owner is technically within his or her rights to host the fight. By the time VIPER finishes busting up the party, your witch will be gone.”
As an agent with VIPER, a coalition of powerful beings who protected the world from supernatural predators, Evalle would be in trouble if this did turn out to be an illegal operation and VIPER found out that she knew about it but failed to report it.
Caught between her responsibilities to VIPER, her promise to bring Tristan in to Macha and her commitment to the Beladors, Evalle’s duty to the Beladors and Macha came first, which meant saving her own hide came last, as usual.
But that still didn’t solve her problem of talking to the witch if they couldn’t track her. “Crap. What’s the possibility of getting to Imogenia now?”
“Pretty good, actually. If she’s got a fighter entered, she can’t leave until her demon, or whatever it is, fights.”
“Then we need to get to her soon, but how?”
“That part’s easy. We just walk in.”
Evalle didn’t like the I-already-have-a-plan-in-mind sound of that. “They aren’t going to notice a couple of uninvited people?”
“You don’t need a formal invitation to a beast fight like that one. All you have to do is”—he paused, locking his hands behind his head and twisting, stretching his shoulders and chest—“show up as a fighter or with a fighter and you’re in.”
Grace be to Macha. Evalle figured out what he was proposing. “No. I watched you almost die once. I’m not going through that again.”
He dropped his arms and stepped close, pulling her against his chest and whispering into her ear. “I don’t know why there’s a Beast Club in North America, but now that I do and that witch is involved, I know better than to risk leaving here and you hunting for her later without me. I’m going down there to find Imogenia now. You can be my sponsor, or you can wait up here.”
TWO
Storm kept his face calm and his movements easy-paced for Evalle’s benefit. Nothing frightened the hellion, but if he told her that he’d come close to decapitation the last time he’d been in a Beast Club fight, she’d call in VIPER just to protect him.
She’d make the call, knowing she’d lose her best shot at meeting with Imogenia.
Evalle’s determined steps followed him down the mountainside. She grumbled, “I wish you wouldn’t do this.”
Not as much as I wish you weren’t going with me. “I can use the workout.”
“Thought you said you were a hundred percent again.”
He’d spent weeks in a coma with his body a mass of broken bones after interfering when Evalle was being taken into custody. He’d do it again. “I am a hundred percent and feeling good, but it won’t hurt to test my reflexes before I go back to active duty.”
“So you are coming back to VIPER?” she asked casually.
“Maybe. VIPER still needs a tracker in this region.” And Evalle needed a partner who’d watch her back and not stab it.
“Well, I hope you are in shape, because if you’re going to be stupid, you gotta be tough.”
He chuckled, ignoring the caustic edge she used to shield her real feelings. Evalle’s natural reaction to worry was anger. He reached over and brushed his knuckles against her cheek, drawing her to a stop. “I’m tough to kill.”
“Says the man who spent three weeks in a coma after Sen tried to kill him,” Evalle pointed out in a frosty tone.
Sen had taken a shot at Storm once as payback when Storm had interfered in Evalle’s arrest. As liaison between agents and the VIPER coalition, Sen had authority over the agents and an unnatural hatred for Evalle, Alterants or both. Sen had set his sights on Storm when Storm refused to use his lie-detector ability against Evalle.