Collinsworth met us at the alley again when the sun dipped below the horizon and the market streets became bare. He led us around the back of the empty building and to a small cellar door. He knocked three times and a slit in the door slid open, a single eye appeared.
"Password?" he gruffly asked.
"Ambrosia," Collins whispered.
The door rattled a couple of times before it was flung open, and a Cyclops orc took up the doorway. He eyed all of us for a few minutes before he nodded for us to get inside. The whole place stretched underground and looked like it had been thrown together recently, the wood beams still shedding from a fresh saw.
There were several round tables scattered throughout the room with cards and plastic chips flying from hand to hand, as others slammed the tables and hooted loudly, the entire room filled with chaotic noise.
"Where is the auction house?" I asked Collins over the mess.
He pointed to the other side of the room next to the bar, where a red curtain divided the room from another.
"If you go through there, you'll be able to sign up for the auction and you'll be taken into another private room where they do the bidding."
Caspian walked forward and grabbed Collins. "Let's go, you're taking us in."
He looked terrified but had no choice but to obey. I tried to follow after them but was stopped at the bar.
"This is as far as you go, stay here until we come back. If anything happens, run from here and meet back at the market entrance," Caspian said.
This time I knew there was no arguing, there wasn't going to be any need for me in there and I'd probably just get in the way. I nodded and walked over to the bar to wait by the entrance. The last thing I wanted to do was draw attention to myself while I was alone.
I sat down next to a girl with dark blue hair and odd arm tattoos. It was clear by her smell that she wasn't a werewolf, for some reason she smelled of salt and reminded me of the ocean.
As if she sensed me staring at her, she suddenly turned and smiled at me.
"My, my. What is a pretty thing like you doing here all alone?" she asked.
I gaped at her, not sure if she was teasing or genuinely hitting on me.
"I'm here with some people, they're in the auction house." I looked closer at her and saw what looked like the scales on her skin underneath her shirt collar.
"Oh dear, were you left behind for your safety?"
I smiled nervously. "Something like that, I don't really have any interest in that place anyway."
"Probably for the best. Tonight, especially is supposed to end with a grand surprise." She grinned and showed off a full row of sharp teeth that almost had me scrambling out of my seat.
But before I could make a run for it, an explosion from behind me sent me flying forward into the bar. I quickly got up and moved out of the way as others started to rush toward the cellar door, cramped between each other and stampeding the floor. People were getting crushed beneath them if they so much as stumbled.
I looked toward the entrance of the auction house and saw the entire entrance was in shambles with flames shooting out of the only small exit between the rubble.
"Caspian!" I cried out and rushed toward the door, but someone held me back and started dragging me back. I looked over my shoulder and saw the woman from earlier, her face covered in blood and dirt.
"Wait, let me go! I have to go back!"
"Not if you value your life," she yelled back. "Trust me, if your guards are as tough as they look, they'll be fine in there."
She managed to drag me through the cellar door without getting trampled and pulled me over to a safe place on the grass. I tried to get up and run back but she was a lot stronger than me and pulled me back down.
"If you aren't going to let me go back there, can you at least take me to the entrance of the market? That's my meet-up point," I asked.
She shook her head. "Not until the building is cleared." She looked like she was intently waiting for someone, or something, to come out of the building. But as we sat there and watched, it continued to burn as more local werewolves showed up to try and figure out what happened.
I supposed this was the end of the gambling den and auction house.
'Please be okay, Caspian.'
We waited for what seemed like another hour before shadows started to appear from the rubble and smoke of what was left of the building. One of them looked to be carrying someone in their arms.
The woman rushed forward, and the smoke cleared, revealing Caspian and Jax with a small crowd of others. Caspian was carrying a female child in his arms who was whisked away by the woman as she clutched onto the child and started to weep loudly.
"Stella, oh thank the Gods, you're okay!"
Caspian suddenly started to frantically look around until his eyes landed on me. I breathed a breath of relief when I saw he was unharmed but didn't expect the full frontal attack he gave me that nearly knocked me to the ground.
He hugged me to him for a split second before he pulled me back to look me over.
"Are you alright, are you hurt?" he asked.
"I'm okay, I was able to get out thanks to that woman over there." I pointed to the woman still weeping with her child. "What happened in there?"
"It seems we weren't the only ones infiltrating the place. I'll tell you about it later, we need to leave."
I nodded but stopped when I spotted the blood soaked through his cloak.
"Wait, you're hurt!" I grabbed his cloak and ripped it off to expose a large gash that was bleeding a lot. "Why didn't you say anything, we need to get that healed."
"I'm fine, Sevika. I can shift and it should heal."
"Or I can help you out." The blue-haired woman spoke. "The name is Rosalyn, and I heard you were looking for Siren's blood."
I gasped when she took out a small dagger and sliced her palm. She walked over and placed her palm over the cut on Caspian's arm. He hissed in pain but only briefly before she pulled away and revealed an almost perfectly healed arm as the cut seemed to disappear in seconds.
"Thank you, but it's not me that needs Siren's blood, and I need more than that."
Rosalyn rolled her eyes. "As greedy as they come," she muttered, and her green eyes seemed to glint angrily.
I quickly stepped between them. "I apologize about him; we have just come a long way for those vials of blood, and we've been searching for them quite a long time."
"Well, if it were you asking," she said and dragged a finger under my chin.
A second later I'm snatched away by a growling Caspian.
"Someone is feisty. What do you need the vials of blood for?"
"It's for me."
Her face brightened. "If that's the case, I'd be more than happy to treat you. In fact, I would love to treat you personally after I return my child home. I will stop by the Alpha King's manor in a few days."
I gasped. "How did you know?"
"Oh please, I could smell him the moment he walked in." Her glowing eyes shifted to Caspian. "I can see now where all the talk comes from, though I don't remember hearing you got married again. What kind of crime did you commit in a past life to end up with this guy?" she turned her attention back to me.
Caspian growled and made a move toward her, but I barely held him back.
"Thank you for the offer, we look forward to seeing you at the manor when you get there. I hope your daughter makes a speedy recovery, but we should really be on our way," I said.
"No need to thank me, sweetie. Just make sure your guard dog has calmed down by then." She winked before she rushed back to her daughter.
"Can we leave now, please?" Caspian begged slightly.
"Wait, where is Collinsworth? Did he get out safely?"
Caspian's lip twitched in irritation. "Yes, we had to drag his pathetic body out of there after he fainted from a drop of blood."
"Did you just leave him there? If he is caught, he will get in trouble!" I pushed past him but was once again overpowered and hauled back. I really was a weakling.
"He's fine, Jax dropped him off in the market square away from the building. It looked like he just passed out on the street and with this much commotion, I'm sure someone is going to spot him and get him to safety."
"What if they think he is involved anyway, or someone has ratted him out? I don't want him to get in trouble for helping –"
"Sevika," he growled and walked toward me, crowding my space. "I don't very much appreciate you being so concerned over another man in front of me."
'Oh, shit.'