Chapter One

Kayzi Starr

I sense him before I hear him, and tense the muscles in my legs and back, ready for the sneak attack. He comes at me, expecting my muscles to be slack, which causes him to use the wrong move. Instead, I take him by surprise, flipping him over me and onto the ground. Grab, up, over, drop. Zach's words echo in my head. My attacker has a hood over his face, but I can tell that it’s Cody. I stick out my gloved hand to help him to his feet, and he takes it.

“Y’know, you should really work on your stealth, Codes,” I say to him.

“Don’t call me that. And how’d you know it was me?” he asks, throwing his hood back. I raise my eyebrows. Even though I’m really tall for a female, at 5’10”, I still consider Cody short, being only 5’8”. Despite his height, he isn’t that small of a guy, being rather stocky but strong.

“Besides your height?” I say. “You have really heavy footsteps. And you have a distinct fighting style.”

He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, right. You probably just saw my reflection in the side of a garbage can or something. Anyway, I came to tell you that we caught a thief, and they’re waiting for you back at base.”

“Let’s walk and talk,” I saw, and we go out of the alley in the direction of Scales. “So what exactly happened?”

“So, one of the dealers, you know Liam?”

“Yes, I know Liam. He wouldn’t dare steal from me, so I don’t know why we’re having this conversation.”

“No, he isn’t the thief. But when he was dealing at one of the tables, he noticed that when he counted the winnings, he was a little short. He thought that maybe he had just miscounted and kept going for a while. Then, people were leaving and joining the game, the winnings started adding back up. A while later, a guy that was there when the winnings were short came back, and again, the money wasn’t adding up. He called a bouncer over to search him, and the guy resisted. It got violent, so they grabbed Katalin, who found all of the missing money from Liam’s table, and from a couple of others. That’s when they sent me for you. They’re waiting in one of the back offices, and everything else is functioning fine. Max took over Liam’s table, and most people barely noticed.”

“Alright, then,” I say, as we turn the block to Singer Street. Previously one of the worst streets in town, we’ve done a lot to improve. When Zach took over, we just owned the Scales, a good-sized gambling bar, until he bought the two shops next to us, redid them, and then sold them to small-time business owners who were willing to take a chance. He had then bought and remodeled the shop across the street and the shops two down on either side. Since I've taken over, I’ve bought out most of the shops, redone them, and sold them to good people. We keep our streets clean and kept other gangs off. Anybody who’s anybody knows that Singer Street and the surrounding area belongs to the Night Dragons. I walk up the newly fixed steps (there was a bar brawl a bit ago, and they stomped through several of them) and into Scales.

I breathe in deeply through my nose, loving the smell, loving the sound, loving the sight (mostly). We go to one of the back offices and I close the door behind us. I turn to the thief, who is trembling in his skin. By the looks of him, he isn’t from around here.

“So,” I say, speaking to Ryan, one of the bouncers. “This is le voleur?” I see recognition in the thief’s eyes as he hears his native language. My hunch was right.

“Uh... yeah,” he says, not recognizing the word but still knowing what I meant. “But we can’t get him to talk. Seems as if he doesn’t speak English.”

“Well, I’ll see what I can do about that,” I say. “Can we have the room, please? Except for you, Liam.” They file out.

“Ainsi, vous avez décidé de voler de moi?” So, you’ve decided to steal from me? My voice is low, just above a whisper.

“Non! Non!” he replies loudly.

“Savez-vous qui je suis?” Do you know who I am?

“Le Dragon,“ he whispers, and I smile at my street name.

“Oui,” I say. “Et savez-vous ce que je fais à ceux qui me mentent?” And do you know what I do to those who lie to me? He whimpers. “Oui. Je vais vous demander à nouveau. Pourquoi m'as-tu volé? Qui t'a envoyé?” Yes. I will ask you again. Why did you rob me? Who sent you?

“Péril,” he says, then bites down on something. Within seconds, he’s foaming at the mouth, and I realize that he’s been working a tablet from his teeth this entire time. It doesn’t take him long to die.

“What did he say?” Liam asks, getting up and trying not to look at the body slumping forward and falling onto the floor.

“Peril,” I say. “Peril sent him.”