Page 4 of Villains Never Die

“Do you want backup?” Gray asked.

“No, this one is mine. I want to make sure he pays before he dies,” I said, still staring at that card, a tendril of excitement crawling through me. “I’ll wait until the fights are over for the night, and then I’ll pay our friend a visit.”

I rubbed the small, round scar where Rook’s bullet hit me. Maybe I’d shoot him somewhere agonizing, so he could feel it before he died.

So he could feel exactly how much it cost to steal a life from me before his flitted away.

***

The street was deserted at well past two in the morning. The dingy building was locked with chains on the outside. Its windows were boarded. For all intents and purposes, Rook’s club was just another abandoned building in an unsavory part of the city.

I think this might be beneath him.

Better not step in that vomit and ruin his nice shoes.

…looks grumpier than usual.

I circled the building, ignoring the voices. It was large, and I thought it might once have been a warehouse. The chains were locked with a spell instead of a padlock, but they fell away after a few tries at undoing the magic. The door creaked when I opened it, but the inside of the building was empty of people.

What a shithole.

A bar hugged most of one wall. The bar top was still sticky with rings left by glasses, as if no one bothered to wipe it down when the night ended. There was a counter further in, where I imagined people placed bets on fights.

In the center of it all was a massive chain-link cage surrounded by bleachers and areas for people to stand. I moved toward it, and my shoes kicked up dust from the dirt floor, swirling it onto my pant legs. I peered inside and my jaw tightened. There he was, shining with sweat and beating a punching bag until it split at the seams.

I was silent as I moved toward the cage door. I glanced around for guards, but we seemed to be alone. Cameras winked around the room; they caught sight of me, but no one swarmed me, so I doubted anyone was monitoring them.

He was sloppy.

Or cocky.

Either way, it would get him killed tonight.

I prowled through the cage door, the sound of his fists covering my footsteps. A tower of fire erected behind me, crackling the dusty floor. No way to the door. No way out.

Rook jumped backward, moving to see me around the punching bag. His eyes traveled up and down my body, and I noticed again, as the firelight danced in them, that bright, sparkling shade of blue.

“You’re supposed to be dead.” He rolled his shoulders, composing himself and shaking off the startled look he had a moment ago. He stood taller and broadened his shoulders, crossing his arms at me. “Get out of my club.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” I said. “That bullet cost me something precious, something I can’t get back. Not to mention, you’ve been stepping on my toes.”

“Stepping on your toes?” He chuckled, but hedged to one side, a tension coiling in his body. He was readying himself for a fight. “I own the shittiest part of this city. You can’t—”

“You own nothing. It’sallmine.”

“Wow, does that big ego come with the fancy suit?” His hands flexed, and I eyed his fingers, waiting for him to cast magic.

“No, it comes from actually being important,” I said through gritted teeth. He was all bulging muscle and tough layers, and I thought if he took a swing at me I might go down, so I kept enough distance between us to cast and nothing more. I kept myself in shape, but I’d seen the way he’d pulverized that heavy bag when I walked in.

Then I realized—too late—he was insulting me to distract me. His hand moved so fast that I didn’t have time to react to the gust of air that hit me like a punch and knocked me to the dirt floor. Grit scraped my palms and wedged itself under my fingernails. I roared and pushed to my feet, skipping niceties and blasting curses rapid-fire at the man. He dodged each of them, but his footing faltered.

While he was distracted, a curse knocked him in the face and blood spurted from his nose. I cringed at the sight of it dripping over his lips. What a waste. He might have been handsome if we weren’t trying to kill each other. Brawny wasn’t usually my type, but those crystal blue eyes and that square jaw had a certain appeal. It was truly a shame I was going to have to break that face and watch the life drain from his eyes.

He lunged at me, nostrils flaring as he tried to breathe through his swelling nose. The force of his body knocked me back a few steps, and I had to pulse magic through my limbs to hold him off.

“What’s wrong?” I gritted out. “Are you too incompetent a magician to fight me with magic?”

He laughed in my face. “I’m not a pussy who needs it to fight. I didn’t think you would be so weak.”