"What a warm welcome," Della said, refusing to acknowledge her fear.
"She's sassy," said someone behind her.
"We can beat that out of her," said the vamp walking toward her as he eyed her up and down.
"I wouldn't try," Della said.
"I second that," Steve added, his voice deep and filled with warning.
The rogue tightened his gaze to check their patterns. "So you brought your pet with you, huh?"
Della heard Steve inhale and she reached over and touched his arm. Surely, he knew to let her deal with this.
"He's not my pet," she growled, offended for him more than she realized.
"Ah, I see," the lead rogue said, a filthy twinkle in his eyes. "So you're giving it up to this joker?"
"We've swapped bodily fluids if that's what you're asking," she countered, confident, and suddenly grateful they'd exchanged spit last night during that hot kiss.
The vamp grinned. "I like your spunk. Maybe you and I can swap some bodily fluid sometime."
Steve tensed beside her. "I wouldn't count on it," he said.
"And I'll second that," Della said.
The vamp frowned as if disappointed he couldn't intimidate them. "You do realize first you will have to prove yourself worthy. If you are accepted, then your shifter here will have to prove himself, and even then he will only be considered an extra. Extras ... don't last very long."
The rogue's insinuation struck a punch to Della's nerves, but she focused on what was important. The whole "prove yourself worthy" comment.
Was it going to be this easy? Was he just going to tell her right now what she had to do and they could leave? A tiny part of her hoped it wouldn't be so simple. She already disliked this guy and wouldn't mind teaching him a lesson.
"Exactly how do we prove ourselves?"
"Do you know how to fight?"
Hell, yes. "I can hold my own," Della said.
His gaze shifted to Steve. "Looks like shifter-boy likes to fight," he said, obviously referring to Steve's black eye.
"I can hold my own, too," Steve said.
"How strong of a shifter are you?" The rogue studied him as if assessing him.
"Strong enough," Steve answered.
The rogue laughed. "Then why did you stay human to fight? You're obviously not as strong as you'd like to believe."
"Don't let a little bruise fool you," Steve said, tilting back on his heels.
Della heard the confidence in Steve's voice, and while she'd assessed his ability to transform quickly, she honestly didn't know his strength. Yet somehow she sensed that like her, he was holding his cards close to his chest. Not cowering down to them, but not letting them know exactly what they were up against if they picked a fight.
The rogue laughed as if he didn't believe Steve. "Well, follow us. We have a little game going and we'll see how well you two do."
"What kind of game?" Della asked and cut her eyes around, taking in all the rogues circling them.
"A little hand-to-hand combat. If you do okay, we'll see about your pet. You game?"
"Now?" Della asked, remembering in detail how Burnett told them not to be lured anywhere. Already the vamps had proven they weren't good to their word because they'd stated only three of the gang members would meet them for a nonconfrontational interview.
"Now," the rogue said, pulling a knife from a side holster and wiping the blade on his dirty jeans. The guys to her left and right pulled out their knives as well.
Della heard a low growl, and although she didn't know shape-shifters growled, she knew it came from Steve.
She also knew that refusing the rogue's invitation wasn't an option. It was go, or have some hand-to-blade combat right now.
"Let's go, then," Della said, hoping whatever came next would provide a better escape.
Steve glanced at her and in his gaze she read his mind. I don't like this.
Well, neither did she, but she didn't see any other choice. She'd done a quick head count and there were twelve of them. She could probably take on five or six, but she couldn't take on twelve. Not with knives.
* * *
They were led to an old abandoned warehouse. Steve transformed into a black crow and moved slower. The rogues muttered curses that they had to slow down.
Della couldn't help but wonder if his choice of form hadn't been on purpose. Did shifting into a faster bird require more energy? And was he preserving it? Or was his ability to shift into certain kinds of animals a sign of power, and he was downplaying his abilities to the rogues? It occurred to Della that if she was going to work for the FRU, she needed to educate herself on all species.
It would have been helpful to know exactly what Steve was up to.
When they landed, she also noted Steve took several minutes to change. A hell of a lot slower than before. That's when she knew for sure he was downplaying his power to the rogues.
One of the vamps stepped close and said something about wringing the crow's neck. Della moved between him and Steve.
With Steve now in human form, they walked inside a dark building. Della could smell old blood and vampire sweat. While she couldn't see for shit, she could also smell the bloodthirsty crowd. No longer just twelve rogues to deal with, but more than fifty. Her chest clutched with fear and the realization that maybe she should have taken her chances back at the park.
The lights suddenly flashed on and the crowd hiding in the shadows appeared. In the middle of the room was a boxing ring. Steve looked at her, concern tightening his gaze.
The crowd cheered and Della looked back up. A girl was pushed into the ring. She looked scared, but also determined. Della tightened her brows and saw she was half werewolf, half vampire. Were being her dominant species. She was obviously an extra. And from her stance, Della also assessed she was a willing victim.
"And here I thought I was just going to get to kill a human or two," Della said, praying her voice didn't shake.
"Oh, we do that, too. But we change it up to keep it interesting."
Bingo, Della thought. They could leave now. Unfortunately, she didn't see that happening.
The girl turned and looked at Della with something akin to hatred. Della knew this was the girl she was supposed to fight.
The smell of dried blood in the air warned Della just how far this fight was supposed to go.
She looked at the leader of the rogues who had met them. "It's hard to fight someone I have nothing against."
"When she takes her first punch, you'll have something against her. She's not nearly as weak as she looks. Sort of like you, I'll bet." He pulled out his knife again. "Go fight her, Miss Sass, and let's see how good you really are."
Della swallowed a knot of fear, but she forced herself to ask. "Where does this end?"
"What do you mean?" he asked, but his smirk told her he knew exactly what she meant.
"I knock her out, it's over, right?" She was hoping.
His eyes brightened with plain ol' evilness. "What fun would that be?" He brought the knife up and stared at the blade. "It ends when one of you stops breathing and becomes a willing blood donor, that's when it's over. So the question is, will we be drinking your blood at sunrise or hers?"
"Hmm," Della said, and worked at keeping the horror from showing on her face. She glanced at Steve. He cut his eyes up to the ceiling. She didn't know what the hell the message was, but she hoped it meant he had a plan. Because, God help her, she couldn't think of one right now. And she was either about to kill someone, or be killed.