City of Fire and Ink

Firequeens, Men, and Monsters

Orion knocked the shot glass out of my hand and we bolted into action. I jumped for the nearest guard- slamming the hilt of my knife into the side of his head as hard as I could. He slumped down to the ground. I didn't have time to see if Orion handled the other guard, but I ran for the cluster of pillars where Ayofemi pointed. The corner wasn't just filled with pillars- it was filled with scraps of fabric, mounted to look like various birds nesting in a garden of marble.

 The nook was dimly lit, making it hard to discern the exact color of the jackets. I scrambled around with my hands, checking the tags of each jacket. There was no way to know which one was actually Dominic's since at least half of them fit Ha Kun's description, but from what I'd seen of him, he took great pains to dress well. People who had the money to dress the way he did usually had custom name tags sewn into their clothing. My bet was that Dominic cared enough about fashion to have gotten himself one, especially since this jacket meant a  lot to him. 

The constantly shifting light of the room wasn't doing me any favors, but eventually, my hands landed on a scrap of worn leather. The cloth was fur lined under my fingers, definitely expensive. I fiddled with the tag till I could read the audaciously flowery script; Dominic Angelique Sforza. A more overkill name I've never heard. I wondered if Angelique was actually his middle name, or if he just like to fuck with everyone for kicks. Knowing Dominic, both possibilities were equally likely. I smelled the leather and the faint aroma of peppermint oil tickled my nostrils. So this was the jacket that nearly cost us our lives. It was nice, but not worth being stabbed nice. 

"Orion I have it!"

Orion had his eye on the doorway- waiting for the impending flood of Thorns to trample us to our deaths. "Thank god. Let's get out of here." We both glanced at Ayofemi and Maisie. 

"I'm not carrying Maisie." I declared.

"Neither am I," Orion crossed his arms. "Even drugged out of her mind, she's too quick with a knife." We stood there for a moment. I knew we should have been moving, but I felt like I was missing something. From Orion's stressed out face, clearly he thought the same. Something was wrong. Something was very very wrong.

 It took some more hard staring at Ayofemi before I realized what the matter was. Where's Emery? Emery sent the distress signal, they were supposed to be here on drugs with Ayofemi in case something went wrong. But I hadn't seen them since we arrived in Mirage.

"Ayofemi. What happened to Emery?" I demanded.

"Who's Emery?" Ayofemi slurred. 

"Great. He's got amnesia now too."  I called Aisha on my implant. "Where are you?!? And for that matter, where is everyone else?"

Aisha's stressed voice came through the implant's speaker. It was hard to make out the words surrounded by the pounding dance music, so I had to strain to hear Aisha. 

"I thought it was a false alarm."

What? "You thought Emery was fucking with you?"

"Wouldn't be the first time? I trust Ayofemi, but I didn't hear a word from him. I thought Emery was setting me up to be captured."

"Why would they do that?"

"Do you honestly think I can trust any of these people here?"

"Seojun, wrap it up. I hear Thorns coming." Orion insisted.

"Are you with Orion?" Aisha asked. 

"Yeah. He saved my butt up on three. But also, I found out some information."

"Seojun," Orion grabbed my arm. "We need to go, now."  

"Send message to the Ducks of Doom. Everyone get out and meet at the nearest Lourdes owned establishment you can find."