Aylin sat alone on the ground in the center of the market square, Golon’s chair empty behind him. He’d moved it from the large tent and set it up in wait for Rekeba. Vrith was nowhere to be seen, but he could vaguely taste the remnants of her passing in the air. She was hidden in the shadows near a tent somewhere near him.
He braced his hands against his knees and focused on keeping his expression as neutral as possible. All the demons in the camp had already been instructed to remain in their tents unless something changed — that obviously didn’t go for Spider, but Spider did what he wanted.
The masked demon had doubtlessly either overheard or figured out his plan already. He hadn’t made any moves to stop Aylin, so that was probably a good sign. It meant Spider supported it.
That, or he just didn’t care.
As Aylin waited, he went back over the last few things he’d discussed with Vrith. She’d known a lot about Rekeba and her gang, the Silent Silvertooth. Too much to pass along in just a few minutes.
They’d had to focus on the core elements. Rekeba was apparently something of a unique demon. Vrith had reluctantly admitted that she was beyond beautiful and equal parts strong, fast, and arrogant. She’d earned the right to look down on others through more feats than Vrith had cared to list, but it boiled down to her being a proud demon with little inclination to surrender.
According to Vrith, confrontations between streetlords had a few hard rules that had to be observed if he was to avoid pissing off every single streetlord in the city.
1. There are two stages to a meeting like this. Because she announced her arrival and I haven’t made it clear she isn’t welcome, we’re locked into a talking stage first where neither of us can attack without cause before our conversation is complete or an hour passes. Rekeba is a second, which gives her the same negotiating rights as a streetlord, so I’ve got to play by the rules.
2. Any promises I make during the meeting stage are binding. If I say something and can’t follow up on it, she is within her rights to attack me.
3. Threats are all on the table. So are bluffs. Anything works until it gets called out. So even though random fights aren’t allowed during the meeting, I can follow through on a threat. The second stage of this meeting is just an all-out fight at the end of the hour if we can’t come to an agreement — I don’t want to let it come to that.
4. Every streetlord is going to be watching this to see how I perform. On one hand, I’m a new streetlord without any reputation or feats. Nobody expects much from me. On the other, I’m representing Spider, so showing any weakness is an insult to him.
If he could have just had Vrith kill Rekeba, it would have made things a whole lot easier for him — and in the process, it would have shown he was too weak to stand on his own. The other streetlords would keep sending people to bother him for the rest of his life. He’d never get a chance to breathe.
There was no doubt that the meeting was stacked against him. Rekeba was an experienced second and her gang wasn’t powerful for no reason. Even if she wasn’t the streetlord, she had more than enough practice dealing with people a lot more talented than him.
Rekeba was likely counting on him being uncertain and unsteady in his position to keep him off balance through the whole meeting.
Vrith was pretty certain she’d do her best to humiliate me and crush my resolve through the whole meeting. I got the feeling she and Rekeba have some sort of history. That doesn’t change anything.
Rekeba’s experience does mean I definitely can’t play safe, but that works with my plan. I just wish she’d show up faster. There are so many other things I want to do. I just hope —
Aylin’s ears twitched. Rekeba was coming. It was so silent that he could easily hear four sets of footsteps approaching the market square even at a distance. He settled his nerves and plastered an uninterested look over his features as he waited for them to approach.
Just a few seconds later, four demons stepped out from the main street. Three of them strongly resembled Golon. They had red skin, huge, bulky muscles, and scrunched up faces that made it look like they’d been dropped on their heads a few dozen times as children.
The demon at their front was, without a doubt, Rekeba. Even though Vrith had given Aylin a description of her appearance during their quick conversation, he still hadn’t been properly prepared.
Aylin had seen beautiful before. Edda’s content face when she fell asleep with a full belly was beautiful. Violet’s smug grin when she’d returned home with a few extra scraps of food was beautiful. Vrith was beautiful — but Rekeba was otherworldly.
Her hair shimmered like a river of gold, framing faint pink skin. She had wide, inquisitive eyes and perfect lips curled up in the faintest hint of a smirk. Rekeba’s form seemed to have been sculpted specifically to draw the eye to all the places it wasn’t meant to look — and every strutting step she took made it absolutely clear she knew it.
Aylin hated her on the spot. No matter how much he wanted to pull his eyes away, he couldn’t. It was like a compulsion. The demon had an aura around her that made him want to leap to his feet and do whatever she ordered him to. His skin prickled. The more he thought about her, the more he felt his energy pulled away from him.
He clenched his fists, digging a small claw into the bed of his palm. Blood pumped in his body as his chest heated. He focused his thoughts on anything else — Violet, Vrith, Torick tripping over himself, Edda choking on a mouthful fruit. His eyes narrowed and he forced the unnatural influence from his mind, locking eyes with Rekeba as she approached and making absolutely no move to rise.
She and her three guards stopped several feet away from him.
For a second, there was only silence.
“Rekeba,” Aylin said in a flat tone.
“Where’s your streetlord, boy?” Rebeka asked, her words dripping with a honied tone.
You know damn well that I’m the streetlord.
“Right in front of you,” Aylin replied. “Sit down.”
Rekeba arched an eyebrow and tilted her head to the side as her lips curled up in amusement. “You seem to have forgotten my chair behind you— unless you were planning to offer your back?”
Aylin ignored her taunt and gestured to the floor before him. “That chair is for Spider, should he choose to take it. Nobody else is worthy to sit in his presence — thus, the ground will suffice. Sit.”
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He tasted a flicker of irritation in the air and fought to repress a smile. Rekeba wasn’t pleased with his response. She’d definitely been expecting more of a reaction. Given what most streetlords were like, she was probably used to it.
“And if I refuse? I could just stand right here,” Rekeba drawled. “Above you, as is my proper place.”
“If your group stands, I will shorten you — starting with one of your guards.”
Rekeba lifted a hand to cover her mouth as a burst of laughter slipped from her lips. “Threats? Already? I already know how strong you are, boy. You were trembling in your scrappy sandals when you met that mangy cat. I’m stronger than she is, and unlike her, I didn’t come to beg at your feet.”
Aylin didn’t respond. He just waited. Vrith knew the timing on these things a whole lot better than he did, and he wasn’t sure exactly how long they had to hold back before —
His ears twitched. There was a crunch, followed by a flicker of motion and a splash of darkness near the shadows at the edge of the square. Aylin tasted blood in the air. The large demon to Rekeba’s right let out a scream of pain and fell to the ground, blood pouring down the back of his legs. His hamstrings had both been severed.
Aylin didn’t have to turn to hear Vrith come to a stop behind him. The taste of blood grew stronger. He kept his eyes locked with Rekeba’s, not letting so much as a flicker of emotion pass over his features.
“Bitch,” Rekeba snarled. Anger and surprise mixed in her taste. She was genuinely surprised. “Found a new master so quickly? Surrendering is one thing, but throwing your lot in with him? Pathetic.”
Vrith didn’t respond. Rekeba’s jaw clenched and she dropped down, sitting cross-legged across from Aylin. The remaining guards did the same, while the injured one squeezed his mouth shut and muffled his groans of pain.
That’s one point to us.
“You can only get so far using someone else’s power — though I wouldn’t expect a puppet streetlord to know that,” Rekeba said. She didn’t even look in the direction of her injured guard.
Aylin almost winced. She had a point.
And one point to her, then.
“Spider’s decisions are his own. If you value your life, I suggest against questioning them. You’re here to figure out the legitimacy of his claims as well as my own ability, correct?”
Rekeba’s lips curled up. She was back in her territory. “Yes, precisely. Not exactly the most difficult conclusion to come to, boy.”
“You didn’t have the most difficult of motives to discern. If you want to test me, then I propose a game.”
“Not the first time a demon has asked that, but I’m a good sport.” Rekeba leaned forward and pulled her lips back in a sultry smile. “What game, boy? What do you think you want to challenge me in?”
“Questions,” Aylin replied promptly. “You may ask me anything you wish about this camp. I have ten seconds to answer with complete honesty. I will then do the same to you, but only with relation to yourself and the demons present here rather than your entire camp. If either of us refuse to answer a question or lie, they admit the other is their better. The same rules also go for asking questions so neither of us can stall the meeting out until the hour ends.”
Rekeba hesitated for a second as she thought over his offer. She might have been strong, but she wasn’t stupid. This clearly wasn’t a game of power. “You’ve stacked things against yourself. Hoping to bait me in?”
Aylin shrugged. “I felt you needed the handicap, and I don’t truly care about you or your camp. Some random demon and their gang are irrelevant in the grand terms of Spider’s plans.”
Rekeba’s eyes narrowed. “Is ‘I don’t know’ a valid answer?”
Nice catch.
“So long as it’s true. Lying is against the rules of the game.”
“And how would you know? You have no way to validate my claims.”
Aylin smiled and shrugged. “I suppose we will have to go by the honor system. As agreed, lying would be admitting that I am your better. I will not lie. I swear my life on it. If I speak a single lie, I’ll become your servant and do whatever you want me to for the rest of my life. So, unless you’re so pathetic that you fear speaking honestly to a mere boy simply asking questions about you, I expect you to do the same.”
“I trust you don’t expect me to agree to the same terms.”
“Those are mine alone. Just the first ones.”
“You could make things easier for yourself by lying off the start. I won’t hurt you too much that way — though too much may be relative.” She let out a ringing laugh, then bared her teeth again. It was all a show. She was just buying time to think, but Aylin was all too aware of how tempting the bait he’d set was. Any chance to get information on the elusive Spider — especially when the odds were leaned so heavily in her favor — was too difficult to pass up. Sure enough, Rekeba came to her decision just a few moments later. “Very well. I accept your terms.”
Aylin smiled. “You can start.”
“Who is Spider?” Rekeba asked without an instant of hesitation.
“The strongest demon I’ve ever met. I don’t know his identity because he keeps his face covered, but I suspect he could kill either of us with little more than a thought,” Aylin said.
Rekeba pursed her lips in displeasure. She’d probably heard much of the same from her scouts. He’d still technically answered the question, though.
“Fine. Your turn.”
“Tell me about what you consume to grow stronger.”
A flicker of confusion passed over Rekeba’s features before she snickered. “You’re not the smartest, are you? It’s lust. I drink in all the energy idiots waste staring and drooling in my direction.”
Aylin drank from the truth in her words. As obvious as it may have been, there was importance to the revelation. Revealing the concept a demon fed on was the same as baring a demon’s core personality — and there was power in such truth.
There wasn’t much for a relatively small revelation, but she was still a Rank 3 demon. A flicker of unease passed over Rekeba’s features but she shook her head. She kept her mask of emotions raised and looked over Aylin’s shoulder.
“How about Vrith? Did you make her scrape at your boots? Beg for her life? Tell me everything you did to her.”
Hoping to humiliate Vrith instead of me? They definitely do have some history.
“After we left the street, we went back to Golon’s tent and talked for a while. Then I fed her some food. That was about it,” Aylin said.
Rekeba’s cocky expression twitched. “What? That’s it? You’re lying.”
“That’s two questions, but I’ll give you an answer anyway. I am not lying. Vrith is blushing. That should be proof enough.”
Rekeba glanced back to Vrith, then snorted. “Prude. Of course you ended up giving into the biggest pansy of a streetlord in history. Ask your question, boy.”
“What do you desire most in this world?”
“Are you trying to court me or something?” Rekeba asked with a tittering laugh. “There’s no gift you could give that I truly desire. I want power. The adoring gazes of everyone in the Damned Plains — no, more. Everyone in every plane. I want them all focused on me and me alone. I want to drink all of that delicious energy for as long as I live. I—”
Rekeba faltered as Aylin drank energy from her words. She was actually easier to drink from than Vrith, though that might have been because of how honest and upfront she was being. Everyone loved talking about their passions, after all. Rekeba hesitated for a second, then opened her mouth once more. Then she narrowed her eyes. “That’s all. I don’t have anything else to add. Is your question done? I want to ask my next one.”
“Go for it.”
“What do you consume?” Rekeba asked immediately.
“Ah. You should have asked that earlier. Knowledge.”
Rekeba’s face paled and she shot to her feet. “You cheater! I—”
“Sit down. Unless you’ve surrendered and admit my superiority, the game is still going,” Aylin snapped. Rekeba froze. Her jaw ground and, after a second, she forced herself to sit back down. They locked eyes with each other. Aylin smiled. “I believe it’s my turn to ask a question. I’m glad we’ve got an hour to keep playing, Rekeba. I want to know everything about you. Every. Last. Thing.”