7 Deadly Instincts (The Sinfire Chronicles Book 1)

Even with the Tomi problem solved, they still had issues to solve. No one on the team could make their adept abilities work reliably and Gray had barely even begun to try.

He’d always been behind everyone else on the squad when it came to his abilities, and though his core had expanded immensely as well as skillset—he now had four different spells to choose from—he wasn’t surprised to find that his first attempt to cultivate a spell wasn’t going so well.

His mana mark, though, on his upper back, was killing him. It got so bad that he would wake up in the middle of the night and lean against the outside wall. The cold wood on his skin made it feel so much better.

The Reckoning was barreling toward them—it was going to be a ten-day event this time, and it wasn’t clear if they would be spending all ten days underground or if they would get breaks to come up for a breath of fresh air.

It was two nights before the Reckoning started and First Field was throwing a party of some kind—something called the Reckoning’s Introduction and Blessings Assembly and it had two purposes. One, it was to introduce the recruits in the eight squads to the Watchfire families, who would all be there. The second was to get a chance to see what the First Field recruits could expect to see in their future. Kill squads would be there, in their full armor and with all of their enchanted items and weapons.

The kill squads had a part to play in the Reckoning, but Gray didn’t know what it was. No one did. Settie thought that the veteran demon hunters would act as security guards to prevent unwanted demons from causing mischief.

But from what Gray had seen, Crewel loved demons causing mischief.

Regardless of what their future held, Gray and the rest of Squad 23 bathed, put on their best uniforms, and got all pretty.

For some, that was easier than others.

Lilian was gutted she couldn’t wear a dress—she still had some money because during her time in Pit City she’d acquired a whole new wardrobe. Since the princess couldn’t dress up, she obsessed about her hair, which led to her obsessing about all the women’s hair.

She even offered Settie suggestions but the captain shut that shit down immediately. The captain would be wearing her hat and mask and so her hair didn’t matter.

The princess knew not to push her luck and so she went after everyone else…well, those who had hair. Rynn had decided to keep her hair short, so there wasn’t much to do there. Gray had learned to keep his hair short so no one could use it against him, but that left Ames, Midj, Tomi, and Pinch.

The fae girl was surprisingly comfortable with the princess spending hours on various braids, ribbons, and what-not for the perfect hairdo. Maybe it was because she’d spent time as duchess. In the end, it didn’t matter.

Ames was also patient, and since their time together during the Redemption Midnight, the quelling girl was more gentle Lilian, as long as she didn’t say anything cutting. If not, Ames would shriek, which drove Lilian crazy. Not crazy enough to stop though.

As for Midj and Tomi, it was a battle. Midj couldn’t sit still long enough for any kind of braiding and Tomi’s hair refused to be braided at all. The cat girl was the perfect client for the princess because she would fall asleep at the drop of a hat, which let Lilian work on her without interruption.

In the end, when they all gathered in the living room of Ruin Manor, the women looked stunning, even the captain, who had obviously spent time primping and preening. Her hair was perfect, her lips red, and her eyes outlined with a smokey dark blue.

The other women were equally made up, even Tomi. Lilian had teased out her already frizzy hair, giving it a shape and pushing it back from her eyes.

When Gray couldn’t stop looking at the her, Tomi had glared at him. “Put those eyes back in your skull, Gray. Or I swear, I will karujin out all over the place.”

“You will not shift!” Lilian warned. “I spent a long time on you, and I won’t have you ruin it.”

“Okay,” Tomi said with a sigh.

Of course, Gray couldn’t get enough of Rynn and Ames. Though they were in their uniforms, both looked so clean, shiny, and happy, he couldn’t help but hug them. Ames’s hair was a masterpiece of braided loops that gleamed like white gold. She even had on some smokey eye-liner which made her auburn eyes even more striking than they already were.

Glancing around, Gray couldn’t find Midj.

Until she came out of her room, walking slowly. She shyly glanced up at him. “Hey, Gray.”

The transformation had been wonderous. Most of the time, Midj only messed with her black hair to keep it out of her face. But now, it was braided and black, like ink, and her eyes were so big thanks to more makeup. She was the very essence of cute.

Even Settie stared.

Midj smiled. “Well, now, too bad there aren’t any goblin men there. Mother does want me to find a husband eventually.”

“There will be more goblins,” Settie said. “Fieri Ingordia is going to be there. He’s one of the middle sons of the Ingordia family. I would imagine he’ll have his kill squad there as well, the Dining Dashers.”

Tomi laughed out loud.

“What?” Midj looked hurt. “It’s a gluttony kills squad. They dine on trouble, grab the mana, and dash away. It’s a good name.”

“No,” Pinch said. “It’s not. And I was on a recruit squad called the Winners. I should know.”

Lilian had done her hair to partially cover the mana mark on her face. It was nearly all inked in, and it was big, going from her forehead to her chin, reaching even across her cheek. It was clear she didn’t like it, but she didn’t to talk about it.

Midj smiled. “Well, it would be nice for me to meet a good goblin man. Now, my family should be arriving tomorrow night. I know it’s late, but it was all they could swing, and it nearly killed my papa because he’s having to close the restaurant for so long. I know it’s a lot—assembly tonight and the dinner tomorrow, but I’d love it you would all come to Gorgonzola’s to meet them.

“Yes, yes, yes,” Settie said impatiently. “But let’s do one unpleasant social engagement as a time. Come. We don’t want to be late.”

Before they left, Gray bent and gave Yellow some final pets. “Take care of the house while we’re gone.”

Yellow barked.

And then it was off to the Reckoning’s Introduction and Blessings Assembly.

* * *

Gray was not comfortable at party, but at least the food was good. Gorgonzola’s Counter had been brought in to do the catering. The event was held in a large room in the pink palace, the old throne, which led out to a veranda that faced south, which meant they had a view of a scrubby little forest down on the ground and the soaring Hellbinder Barrier that soared up into the sky. The sky was blue, and sun was worm, and it was easy to think that the worst of winter was behind them, though it was still uncomfortably cold in the shadows.

Real torches flickered out on the veranda, and there were any number of tables—all dressed up with tablecloths as well as cushioned chairs around each table. Braziers also burned here there. The firepits, tables, and torches were a way of trying to coax people out of the throne room and onto the veranda. But with the shadows, most people were packed inside, standing while they ate and talked.

Gray had brought his stick—much to embarrassment of his squad. Well, Settie had her cane. So it was fine. He kept thinking about Settie’s story during her time with Princess Cassandra. She’d said that Cassie had taught her everyone about life, including etiquette and how to behave well at parties.

For him, he’d drank with friends in inns, and he’d seen the gladiators getting drunk and puking, but he’d never been to a formal event. He felt out of place, even though he had a definite advantage over everyone else. He could see the mana cores of all the people of the various races and he could see who had the most magic items and who didn’t.

Most of the magic items glowed with the same color mana as the cores of the people who had them—that was mostly gold—but some items radiated a different color all together.

Gray had to wonder how that worked—good thing he knew someone who dealt in enchanted items. He’d have to pay Emerilia Stone a visit to ask her all about it. It had been a while since he’d gone to hello to Softie, the cousins, and to the Widow Stone. He didn’t want that relationship dying or getting awkward, especially after what had happened with her and Settie. Also, Emerilia said she would look into his core and the possibility of multiple bonds. Taking Ames and Rynn with him might not be a bad idea for any number of reasons.

Various members of the Watchfire families were there, chatting amiably with the recruits squads and their sponsors.

Again, it was odd to be there with a team of seven—eight if you included Settie, who wasn’t about to mingle. She told them to go out and talk to the different Watchfire families, especially Hama Hama Avarica, who was actually there with her kill squad, the Collector Brigade. Grumli Greedway stood with his battle ax, Skullcraver, on his shoulder.

The kill squads were easy to see. Unlike First Field recruits, most had armor on, and most of that armor matched perfectly and was enchanted on top of that. They’d brought their weapons along to show how lethal they looked, and Grumli did look intimidating.

Hama Hama wasn’t the only leader of the Watchfire family there. Queen Petalsweet Lascivia, the fairy queen had come from Lust city, but she was hidden behind a curtain and only took selected people in to talk to them. Gray kept trying to get a look at her core, but he couldn’t. The premier Lust City kill squad was the Heartbreakers—most of them had sleek lacquer armor though a few had hardened leather or reed armor. Again, there were seven of them, and not all of them were fae. There were a few humans with them as well. With the fairy queen had come any number of aids and relatives, but none of them looked very happy. Having a core oath seemed to be a path to complete misery, or that’s what it seemed. Maybe just those fae were miserable bastards.

Going around the room, the contingent from Gluttony City was indeed Fieri Ingordia, who was had a belly but also thick, muscled arms, and he looked more like a recruit than a politician. Of course he had a plate, and as he ate, he got mana. He looked like he enjoyed eating as much as Midj, who was talking to him and blushing the whole time. Around her were the men of the Dining Dashers—mostly goblins with a few dwarves and a bearkin thrown in. At least he looked like a bearkin, though it was hard to tell. Maybe he was just a really big, really hairy man.

Other Beastkin were far less hidden. Several representatives of the Beastkin’s royalty were there and they were all in their beast form—cat men, doggish girls, but one big bear woman with white hair. That was Karlita Laza, an adopted member of the Laza family and representing the alpha, who was a cat man named Faelix. Surprisingly, their top kill squad, the Pack Eternal, had a mixture of faces including one dark elf named Boxiki Charms.

Rynn was overjoyed to see Ambera, who had risen up in the ranks of the Jelosa family, and the two couldn’t stop talking with each other. The officially member of the family, Jimeel Jelosa, was a lesser cousin who didn’t like the fact that Ambera was talking to beautiful short-haired recruit of Squad 23. There seemed to be some bad blood there. Rynn wouldn’t be talking with Ambera for long, though, because of course Rynn wanted to meet Hama Hama Avarica.

Jimeel Jelosa was with the Covet Corp, the all elvish kill squad who were surprisingly happy and loud, eating, drinking, and singing. Out of all the cores, the Covet Corp was the rowdiest, and thanks goodness. Otherwise, the whole party would’ve been dead.

Lastly, the no one from the Supera family, the rulers of Pride City could make. However, General Fangfarr said he would be representing the supreme command Julius Supera in all things that related to the all-dragon kill squad, the Enforcers. All of them wore gleaming plate mail with intricate scrollwork, that of course was all dragon related from perched dragons, to flying dragons, to dragons breathing fire. From his statement, General Fangfarr was not only the sponsor of the Fire Flyers,

Julius Supera wasn’t there but the Duke Drake Rabbia with any number of orcs who soon swamped the Wrath City Raiders to congratulate on bringing Blonko onboard. Blonko clearly loved the attention, though he kept throwing Gray looks.

As for recruits, they were all there with their sponsors, mostly clustered together, talking, gossiping, and trying to get up the courage to go talk to the Watchfire families or their kill squads.

Gray normally didn’t mind large groups, but soon, he felt like he was being smothered. He grabbed some charbrew and walked out onto the veranda to get a break from the noise, people, and chatter.

That was when Froggy found him. Her jacket was open revealing her blouse and her hard nipples swinging on her breasts. She was not strapped down.

And from the look on her face, she was a little drunk, and often, drunk meant flirty.

Gray thought to escape, but it was too late.

Froggy had him cornered.