The Sweet Scent of Blood

Friends, plural? The word snagged my attention. ‘You said “friends”?’

She smiled at me like I was a child. ‘Well, you’ve more than one, haven’t you?’

Katie. An anxious knot tightened in my stomach.

Ha

I stared at them. What was I going to do if they had both Katie and Fi

‘Don’t just stand there,’ she chided me, and I realised what I was looking at: her Corset Girl outfit.

‘Hurry up and put it on, unless you want to go out there naked.’ She pulled a long blue evening dress out and held it up in front of her, her eyes sparkling. ‘Beautiful, isn’t it?’ She stroked a hand over the shimmering silk. ‘John Galliano made it especially for me.’ She glanced up, a mistrustful glint in her eye. ‘But don’t get any ideas about it. I know I said like to help, but I draw the line at lending you an original Dior.’

Her dress was the last thing I wanted.

Chapter Forty-Three

The skyborn goblin curled her long cats’ whiskers, regarding me with her blue marble-like eyes as she slid her finger down her nose. I returned the greeting. A deck of cards appeared on the blue baize card-table in front of her. She picked up the cards and shuffled the pack, the cards whizzing through her triple-jointed fingers almost too fast to see, then she carefully placed them face-down on the table.

‘Hurry up, Genevieve. You need to pick a card,’ Ha

I pressed my lips tight together. Nowshe wanted to hurry. The cave room had opened onto a stone-hewn corridor with a small underground stream ru

There was another loud burst of sound, and Ha

I glared at her in disbelief, snatched up the cards, and started to turn them over.

‘No look, Lady,’ the goblin ordered, waving her bony fingers at me.

‘What the hell am I supposed to do then?’ I asked.

‘Just pick up half the pack, and give it to her,’ Ha

‘Fine.’ I put the cards back and cut the pack.

The goblin took them and handed me back the bottom card. ‘Participant.’

‘I’m not here to participate,’ I snapped.

Ha

‘I wasn’t pla

She gave me a knowing smile. ‘Check your card, Genevieve.’

I turned it over. The face of the card was printed in flat grey, only as I looked, the grey swirled and eddied. What a surprise—not! I went to give it back to the goblin, but she shook her head.

‘You have to keep it,’ Ha

Of course, I did. I stuck the card down my cleavage.

Ha

‘Get a bleedin’ move on, pets.’ The voice came from behind us.

Tensing, I swung round to face a short, stocky vamp in black wraparounds and full goth outfit flashing his fangs in a grin. ‘We ain’t got the time to muck around, y’know.’ He pushed past us and grabbed half the stack of cards. His card was black.

‘Spectator,’ called the goblin, hiking a thumb over her shoulder at the steel door behind her.

He slapped the card against it. As the door slid away into the wall, noise slammed through the opening like a tidal wave. He strutted out.

I started to head after him, but Ha

‘Hurry up, then,’ I snarled, my patience at an end.

Outside, Ha

Then the screens switched to show a league table with a list of names. Betting odds flashed next to each name: the Earl, Rio, others I didn’t recognise, and—my pulse started speeding—my own name at the bottom. Odds against me were sixty to one. Malik’s name wasn’t there.

I tugged on Ha

‘The wi

Fuck.

A tiny Monitor goblin whizzed past our knees, blue dreads swinging, a thick wad of paper in his hand. A vampire, his own long curls falling over his face, leaned over the side of the stands and grabbed the goblin by the scuff of his boiler-suit, lifting him into the air. The vamp’s mouth moved. The goblin scribbled on his pad, then thrust it at the vamp. The vamp shot an appraising look at me, nodded, and dropped the goblin. He tucked into a ball as he fell, rolled to his feet and whizzed away, his trainers flashing.

Ha

The vamp gave me a double thumbs-up and gri

Nice to know someone had confidence in me.

The screen switched back to the match. The two figures were apart, circling each other, arms outstretched in a fighting stance. Both were naked. The camera zoomed in on the smaller one—Rio, her dark skin gleaming like it was oiled. A close-up highlighted the pink-tinged sweat that beaded in her blue hair, moved to focus on her eyes, the whites stained a deep indigo with power, then cut downwards to her snarling lips pulled back over her fangs. Then the camera pa

The crowd stamped and hissed and booed.

Now the larger figure, a troll, filled the screen, his massive body glistening a dark red colour. The camera zoomed in again for the close-up. My heart caught in my throat as I recognised Hugh. I broke into a run, watching as his face grew larger above the ring. His grey eyes were clouded like a storm, his nose was chipped, his skin etched with deep cracks. Then his face was gone in a blur of movement.

The crowd jumped up as one and roared.

The screens switched to a wide-angle shot of the two of them grappling across the solid blue of the fight-ring’s floor.

I ran faster, and as I reached the edge, leapt into the fight-ring—

And hit something not there.

I bounced back, landing on my arse. Swallowing down a scream, I crawled back to the edge and looked.

A shimmering dome rose up and over the ring, its bespelled wall inches from my nose. I stared in at Hugh and Rio. Hugh seemed to be wi