I hit the leader's left hand with a thrown vial of acid. As Top Hat screamed, I grasped for his other hand.

  He stabbed at my hand, and I withdrew, yanking my saber’s bde out of him. The flesh gave quickly, my bde sliding out. I cut at him again.

  Top Hat’s dagger parried another ssh from my saber. My hoof shed out, kig his shin. Daihan usual, it still got a yelp out of the human.

  A e hit my wrist. I held onto the saber, turning to the hreat. A dagger cut my arm, carving a shallow y arm. A heavyset human with a red scarf pushed toward me, trying to close arict my saber’s movements.

  I parried a dagger stab with my saber, then pulled back from Top Hat and his ally.

  They both pulled back as well, regrouping with their other allies. One of them already had several deep cuts near his eyes. Knife bloody, Gavlrinned as he moved near me, bloody bdes in hand.

  “Told you they weren’t any mat the open against me,” he bragged.

  I didn’t dignify that with a reply.

  He didn’t stop talking. “You’re making shallow cuts with that saber. You lost your killing edge?”

  “It’s poisoned. If you don’t be quiet and focus, I’ll demonstrate it on you after we’re doh these six.”

  The two with pistols yelled for their patriots to move out of the way. I only had seds.

  By the time they’d cleared space among themselves to fire through, another of my vials flew through the air.

  This one smashed into the face of a pistol wielder. Acid spttered across his face. He screamed, firing the flintlod missing. The sed one fired. Grunted but did not go down.

  I charged ahead. We couldn’t give them time to reload and the only cover behind was the chapel.

  I still had the reach advah my saber, even as short as I currently was. I sshed repeatedly at Top Hat and the oo him, trying to buy a moment of isotion. Golvar followed behind, guarding my back as I moved forward.

  Top Hat’s blocks were weak, my saber ripping the e from his hand. Through the remnants of his coat, I could see exposed muscle and burnt skin from my acid.

  I used my saber to drive Top Hat away from the others, then switched with Golvar. He charged the isoted human, ughing, while I fended off e strikes from the three others. Behind them, one of them writhed on the ground, gun dropped as he tried desperately to stop the acid from eating at his face.

  One flintlock out of the fight. We were lucky the Pure-bloods were too cheap to have revolvers. It would take the st oime to reload the flintlock.

  It didn’t help too much. I parried multiple blows in quick succession, but the numbers were in their favor. A e smashed into my shoulder, then a sed to my ribs. I ed my tail around one, fighting its wielder for the on. A sed e hit it, the pain traveling up into my spine.

  Golvar cackled behind me. I couldn’t spare a gnce as I stopped a e from crag over my head. Even with more yers of bohan a human had there, headshots were dangerous.

  Golvar came from behind me, charging for the one on the left. I turned my attention to the other two, only for one of them to move tolvar.

  My saber shed into the opening, cutting through the coat into his side. But he tinued past, and I left myself open.

  A e rammed into my side. Something cracked, and pain exploded ay side. I turned, saber raised to guard.

  The st gang member, red scarf fpping around his neck, held his e up. We traded blows bad forth for a few seds. I tried to grab his e with my tail; he tried to stab me with his dagger. her of us had much success.

  Behind him, the oh the pistol nearly had it reloaded. I tried to put Red Scarf between us, but I also couldn’t turn my back to the two fighting Golvar.

  Over by Golvar, one of them was on the ground, blood streaming out of half a dozen wounds. But Golvar was grappling with the sed. I tried to move toward him. The red scarf’s kabbed, keeping me back.

  The one by Golvar headbutted him, then drove a ko Golvar’s chest. At the same time, I heard the flintlock wielder yell something in a tongue I couldn’t reize.

  I ducked. The flintlock fired with a roar that echoed in my ears. Ahead of me, the red-scarfed one shuddered, then colpsed. Blood streamed out of his y eye socket.

  The flintlock wielder was aghast. That just let me get close. My saber cut towards their throat.

  Hardwood met it, the one who’d stabbed Golvar interg. He got between me and the flintlock wielder, both knife and e ready.

  I couldn’t keep this up forever. Already, my limbs burned and ached. It’d been too long since I’d fought more than short practice bouts with Tolman. I o even the odds now. I unhinged my jaw as I aimed.

  I didn’t keep too many Sculpts on me besides ohat adjusted my appearance. Of the three I did have, one was a secret tainer lio my throat, about half a cup in volume. I had to ehe lining was very durable for what it o store: acid from a wall-eating giant ant in the Underground.

  He ducked just in time. The stream of acid flew over his face, hitting his remaining rade in the face. The hissing bck liquid spttered all over his eyes and nose, eating away at flesh.

  I tried t the hilt of my saber down o one’s head. Too te. He drove a ko my knee, and I yowled as it drove into the joint.

  He let go of the knife. A fist rammed into the underside of my , rog my head. I reeled back.

  He grabbed my coat by its pels, pulling me back. His head rammed into mine. My entire wrew dim as pain burst ay forehead.

  Something swam into focus. A fist rammed into my nose. I screamed as it cracked, breaking.

  His knees y on my wrists, grinding them into the dirt. A sed blow rammed into my eye. I screamed, swore, spat curses as a third blow hit my jaw.

  Their ha for the knife, fident in me being pinned. It ripped out of my khey leaned in. The knife went for my throat.

  I snapped forward, jaw tg around his throat.

  Teeth sliced through his skin, blood flooding my mouth as my jaws closed. My teeth were smaller than they used to be. They were still just as sharp.

  The human shuddered, and something jammed into my abdomen. Burning. The knife dug into my gut, twisting and turning. My scream was muffled by the man’s blood and flesh. I bit harder.

  Something gave. With a snap, my teeth met. I pulled back, reflexively spitting out the k of throat. A surge of energy rushed through me, a feeling of euphoria rising from my gut as something inside me awoke. It was unnatural and not wele, but it would keep me going.

  The gang member gurgled, eyes desperate as he cwed for me. Bloody hands grasped at the hem of my dress and the bottom of my coat as he colpsed.

  I k down and used my saber to give him some mercy. Heart pounding, I stood triumphant over my foes, glee in my chest.

  I colpsed on the ground a sed ter.

  My side was on fire. Pain seared up and down it, tered ohe knife had stabbed repeatedly into my kidneys. Smaller patches where my knee had been stabbed, my arm cut, where es had struck ay body.

  That brief wave of energy from feeding my diabolism with flesh faded fast.

  My hands grasped instinctively into my overcoat, trying to find the correct pouch. Please let it not be broken. So many vials were, but I felt the neck of the remaining healing draught.

  I felt sluggish as I pulled it up to my lips. I popped the stopper out and quickly drank from it.

  It felt like a warmth igniting in my chest. The pain ay body lessehe draught worked swiftly. It had many ingredients, the most important being the blood of a particur onerous troll.

  The regeive effects already began to stitch my flesh and ans together. Cuts closed like they’d never been inflicted. I could still feel the pain, dramatically lessened but still there, and I’d o be careful so they didn’t reopen. I’d live, though, which was most important.

  I cmbered bay hooves, legs unsteady. My vision swam, a pounding pain spawning behind my eyes. Bess crept in on the edges of my vision for a moment.

  I looked down at the corpse of the Pureblood. Bnk eyes stared back at me, the ravaged throat still adding blood to a swiftly spreading pool. I puked o him, my stomach rebelling at the sight.

  Focus, Malvia, I told myself. You’ve been through worse. It’s just like learning how to pieone’s pockets again.

  There was a dramatic differeween pig someone’s pockets and almost dying. Or killing someohe bnk eyes still stared at me. I did my best to ighem and the others all around.

  That had been harder than I remembered. These days I only really fought when I traveled underground sging ingredients. Evehat was usually as part of a group. Strictly a support role, just there to collect whatever ingredients were left. It’d been a while since I’d gotten mixed up directly in fighting.

  I’d fotten how exhirating it was. I spat a mixture of spit and blood that wasn’t mine from my mouth as my poundi began to calm. Too easily did I get lost in the moment. It had been years since I’d bitten someone, and food reason. Something stirred iement, mixing with the disgust at the dead and the feeling of dread over taking a life.

  I did not like fighting. Or at least I told myself that to keep the thing inside me that did from growing any more aware. No matter how good the feeling of adrenaline c through my vei.

  I buried that feeling as best I could. I was not letting those demonifluences grow any more substantial. Outside of it being a crime with the death penalty attached, diabolism would only make things worse. Ahing I could bme partially on Versalicci, mostly on myself being a foolish young girl taken in by the Underground Streets.

  Everything seems like a good idea when you’re fifteen years old. I iurned my attention to the bodies, making sure that they all were dead. Having one of them spring back up and use the st of their life to cut my throat would be a rather dismal end to mine.

  None of them stirred except oo my shock, Golvar still moved, g his way across the ground.

  “Stay still,” I yelled at him and tried to run over. My unsteady hooves gave out, and I ate dirt. I got back up, taking things more slowly.

  Blood streamed from over a dozen wounds. Most of it came from the one on his chest. The Pure-blood must have stabbed right between the ribs.

  “Guess you didn’t cut down on those teeth as much as I’d thought,” Golvar choked out, words mangled as they came out. I could barely make out what he said. Blood was ing out as well, too much to be a broken tooth or bitten cheek.

  “Don’t talk. They probably punctured a lung.” I had seds at best and no potio. I grabbed one of the human's shirts, ripping it off their corpse and tearing strips out. I needed a tube and preferably ahetic. I had her.

  He tried to say something back. All I could make out was gurgling noises as blood sputtered from his throat.

  “I said be quiet! Do you want to die?” I hissed. I focused oher wounds instead, tying off bandages. I stauhe bleeding in as many pces as I could. “Just foy voice, and do not fall asleep, Golvar. You’ll be fi’s a few blocks to my pce. I have an elixir there that will fix you up right away.”

  I couldn’t risk leaving him here. Moving him would possibly cause more damage, but leaving him with no one else around? An even worse idea.

  “Okay, we’re going to have to walk there. It’s going to hurt worse than you ever- actually almost as bad as you’ve ever hurt in your life, but we do it. Golvar?”

  Golvar didn’t move. His chest moved shallowly at best.

  “Golvar?” I touched the side of his cheek. He did not react. I jostled his head, only to get the same. I was about to try dragging him when I noticed that even the slight movement of his chest had stopped.

  He’d passed.

  Somethiraveled ay cheek. I thought it might be blood, but my probing fingers came back with tears on their ends instead.

  Why was I shedding tears olvar? The man had been a sadistic bully from the moment I’d known him. I’d thought him admirable once, but those days were long past, abandoned with most of my teenage years. Why was I g?

  Enough time debating why I’d shed tears over a monster's death. I o leave here swiftly and with as little evideny presence as possible.

  I could hahe tract with Lord Montague and then y low for a while. It would hurt to give up any potential ers during that time, but it would be better thaing embroiled in whatever this was.

  It shouldn’t be too difficult. I’d leave here, find an intermediary to hire to give Versalicci his package, and theire to my life far removed from the Underground and its gangs.

  Metaphorically, not literally. There were probably tunnels running under my apartment. But still, I could disappear again, maybe finally find a pce outside of the Infernal Quarter to rent. The payments I’d be getting would be enough to justify my moving out of this literal hellhole.

  Moving the b would be more difficult. Maybe a third disguise to operate in here? I would be stretg my resources thin moving to even one of the poorer quarters, but I could-

  A shrill whistle cut through my thoughts. Its shriek traveled across the air, eg. A half sed ter, another dozen answered it.

  I khem. Every citizen did. Every criminal khem and feared them sounding close. The city watch was on its way.

  Ah. Well, I knew better than to think they weren’t headed directly towards me. This plicated things.