Page 67 of House of Pain
Broken Horn reached out a hand, and Blaze passed him the bills. “You’ll find her somewhere on the floor. If you reach her before someone kills you,witchlings.”
Val strode through the door first, Blaze following in her wake, and a wall of smoke hit them right in the face.
Inside, the warehouse was packed with stalls where traders had a variety of products set out, most of them rare and stolen.
As they made their way through the outer ring, trading stalls changed into gambling tables, where poor witches gambled their money, souls, and lives away as greenish goblins dressed in fancy black suits shuffled the cards.
“Do you even know what the Imp Queen looks like?” Blaze asked Val, leaning in closer to her.
Blaze knewofthe Imp Queen, one of the few creatures of Hel who took up residence in Inathis, ruling this side of the city and, most importantly, the only black market in Avalon state.
He was sure his father had crossed paths with the woman before. Galliermo owned half the fucking city after all.
But even Galliermo never spoke of the Queen out loud.
“I do,” Val said, glancing at Blaze. “Haven’t you seen the illustration in the Demonology texts?”
“That’s your source for what the Imp Queen looks like?” Blaze raised his eyebrows, but Val only laughed.
Most of the illustrations of creatures of their realms were accurate. Satyrs, goblins, sprites, and fairies, amongst many other creatures, all looked exactly as illustrated.
But the Imp Queen was no average creature.
And her illustration was the reason why Blaze had nightmares, like so many other students, after their first Demonology class.
Blaze glanced around, expecting to find a woman who stood out in a crowd, but there were none that fit his criteria.
But amid goblin dealers, faceless Crahen, and witches walking the edge of the blade, nobody stood out.
After they did a full lap around the warehouse, Blaze was sure the Imp Queen wasn’t here.
“Well, what do we do now?” Blaze asked. “Should we just go check the stalls for the crystal?”
Val shook her head. “We won’t find black quartz at one of the stalls. Heavy-duty shit like that is where you go to see the Queen herself.”
Suddenly, a heavy hand landed on Blaze’s shoulder, whirling him around. A pair of forest-green eyes stared at him, one slashed with a nasty scar right in the middle.
“You come with us,” the Redcap announced, voice rough, and he pushed Blaze forwards, his hand still wrapped tightly around his shoulder.
Blaze glanced at Val, who didn’t look alarmed by two murderous Redcaps escorting them to the corridor on the side of the main warehouse hall.
They walked in silence for a long time, the corridor leading them deeper into the warehouse, where windows were becoming scarcer. When they finally reached metal stairs, they climbed, Redcaps hurrying them forwards.
Blaze wasn’t sure they’d survive a fight against the Redcaps.
One they might be able to take downifthey were clever enough with their spells.
But two were impossible.
The thought raised Blaze’s heart rate, but then they reached the door at the top of the stairs. One of the Redcaps knocked on it.
“Come in.”
The door opened on its own. The Redcaps shoved them inside before slamming the door shut behind them.
Blaze and Val stood in front of the large slab of crimson stone serving as a desk, a tall, slender woman sitting behind it.
When she lifted her eyes from the papers scattered in front of her, Blaze’s blood froze in his veins, that striking amber gaze locking him in place.
