“Breathe through your mouth,” Grey said. “It helps.”
“Why does it feel like that?” I shot the vials another look, not liking the way the neon contents made my eyes burn just from looking at them.
“The nature of the potions. They’re all exceedingly unpleasant.”
My gaze riveted to the next shop window, which made the ‘unpleasant’ potions look like a sunny day in the park. It was by far the worst display I’d ever seen. Possibly the worst thing I’d ever seen.
Severed body parts floated in the air, all of them withered and wrinkled. Claws and talons tipped the hands, and the organs were unlike any I’d ever seen in diagrams or at the coroner’s office.
“What is that place?” I whispered, my stomach turning.
“Demon body parts emporium. They’re used in spells.”
I shook my head, horrified. “I don’t care if demons are the personification of evil and their souls wake back up in their hells, that seems wrong.”
“I must say that I agree.” He walked a bit faster, putting himself between me and the shops so that I couldn’t easily see what was inside.
“Thanks. I’ve definitely seen enough.” I kept my gaze glued on the cobblestone walkway that gleamed gold and dark beneath the streetlamps that burned even in daylight. The stones looked wet, though it hadn’t rained recently. In fact, this whole place appeared damp.
“We’re nearly there,” he said.
“Thank fates. I’m surprised the Council lets a place like this exist.”
“They toe the line between legal and illegal. And there are some bribes involved.”
“Do you facilitate any of those?”
“For the blood sorceress, yes. For places like the demon body parts emporium . . . definitely not.”
“Why does she live over here if she is a member of the Sorcerer’s Guild? I thought they liked to stick together—loyalty and all that.” The sorcerers were generally bastards to outsiders, but they were a fiercely loyal bunch amongst themselves. I quite admired it, actually.
“She’s not a member of that guild. Not formally, at least.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s a member in the same way that I’m a member of the Vampire Guild. She pays dues so that the Sorcerer’s Guild will claim her, and the Council leaves her alone. But she isn’t involved with them in any way.”
“That’s possible? Could I have done that if the Shadow Guild hadn’t appeared?”
“It requires money and connections, but yes.”
“Oh. I don’t have those.”
He looked down at me. “Yes, you do.”
“Connections, maybe.” I nudged his shoulder. He was pretty much the most powerful connection one could have in Guild City, albeit an unorthodox one. “But money? No.”
“I do.”
“You’d have used it for me?” Surprise surged inside me.
A perplexed look flickered in his eyes. “I don’t see how that is a question. Of course I would have.”
Our bond might be broken in a short while, magically torn asunder, but how could I not fall for a guy like this? He always had my back.
“But it was a last resort,” he said. “It’s a careful balance to be outside of a guild, and always more dangerous. You’re safer as a true member. That was always the goal.”
“And now I am.” I had my ragtag guild—tiny, but fierce.