Chapter 20

Jade waved off the challenges of several other bandits wanting to get in the ring with her, hopping out of the sandpit to her friends. There were now at least a couple dozen of the bandits eyeing up the three women, both because of Jade’s performance and the flashing. Olivia immediately started demanding the money from their bets, and they’d received good odds since Jade was maybe half the size and weight of Big Red Bronson. She got a bit of pushback after her antics and one of the men said he’d let it go if she gave him a private viewing, but Renee let a magical glow darken around her hands ominously in the background and they backed down.

Further revelry, or whatever they wanted to do, was cut off however when a strange change happened in the room. It didn’t get quite like when some stranger entered a Wild West saloon - it was more like a change in the air pressure. It took a long moment in the crowded space to figure out what was going on, but then the girls noticed the hard-bitten criminals making way without complaints for a trio who sauntered through the room.

The lesser two, and there was no doubting who was in charge and who followed, were a pair of what may have been brother and sister though their differences were as stark as their similarities. The man was thin, with a pinched face that looked like he had something bitter in his mouth but he didn’t necessarily care. He was scruffy and wore a pair of bandoliers across his chest that displayed at least a dozen throwing knives. The sister of the man had the same facial features, but she stood almost a head taller and was as thickly muscled as he was thin. She wore a breastplate, patinaed with age and slightly scarred but still functional. Her hands were clenched into what looked like permanent fists, and her hair was pulled back severely into a long braid.

On any street or in any tavern the two would have stood out as trouble, especially with their gold amulets hanging prominently from chains around their neck, displaying their allegiance to the Risen Wolf Gang. The third man, who led the way, was on another level.

All eyes of the bandits glanced and darted away as he passed, as if afraid of getting picked out of the crowd. If they were wolves, he was some sort of dragon.

The man wore a vest of leather that hung open, showing off a muscled chest scarred several times over from a lifetime of combat. His arms were thick like tree trunks and heavily tattooed. His moustache was a thick and full ruddy brown caterpillar across his upper lip, and his jaw was a chiselled block except for a cleft in the chin-

“He has a butt chin?” Elyse asked with a chuckle.

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, he has a butt chin.”

“He sounds kinda hot,” Rhia chuckled.

“How old does he look?” Tori asked.

“Probably in his mid to late forties,” I said.

“So he’s hot Daddy Henry Cavill,” Tori grinned.

“Oh my God,” I groaned. I was used to getting my NPCs ragged on or compared to celebrities - sometimes I even did it on purpose myself. I’d never had one called ‘Daddy’ before.

His hair was rough and shaggy, and his chest and arms were thick with body hair. He moved with a purposeful grace as he walked around the other side of the fight pit from the three ladies. The other bandits continued to shift out of his way without needing to be asked, and he approached a table near the back that seemed to have been left open for him and his companions. As he sat he cast his eyes about the room and it was like everyone in the rugged alehouse wilted just slightly before he pulled his attention from them and turned to say something to the man who had entered with him.

“That dude is definitely, like, a vampire. Or a werewolf,” Rhia said.

“What? Why?” Elyse asked.

“Because he’s too good-looking, and Shane spent too long describing him,” Tori said. “He’s all shaggy and rough, but muscley? And living out in the woods? And in charge of the ‘Risen Wolf Gang?’ And isn’t his name-” she checked her notes from earlier, “-Alexander Houndsfang? Definitely a werewolf.”