Sky Ghosts: Marco (Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure) (Sky Ghosts Series Book 1.5) by Alexandra Engellmann Page A

at this tattoo…” she commented, staring at the man’s head. “Pompous ass,” she scoffed, ignoring the disapproving look that Chris gave her.
    “What are you doing in the city at night, with your sword and everything?” he said calmly as he stood up, “Peter won’t be happy. Get out of here, Pain.”
    She didn’t say anything in response, just adjusted the straps on her chest. This new scabbard was killing her back. This is what professionals use , Peter had said when he gave it to her. Masochistic professionals , she added to herself, wincing as the heavy metal-magnetic-God-knows-what scabbard dug into her back again.
    Chris took the unconscious fighter by the shoulder and tried to roll him over. However, Chris was tall and thin, and the fallen man was bulky, so he ended up having to use both hands, and grunted as he rolled the man onto his back to get a good look at him. African-American, over six foot tall, no more than twenty-five, with a few scratches on him and blood on his eyebrow. And six dead men around him.
    Chris turned to his partner with a questioning look.
    “You sure you don’t know him?” he asked.
    Zac looked over the unconscious fighter one more time, rubbing at his neck tiredly. Then he shook his head, craning back to look at Chris, who stood almost a head taller than him.
    “No, I mistook him for someone else at first, but this one I’ve never met,” he replied, his delicate features contorted in annoyance, “We’ll have to call Michael.”
    “What if he’s a Beast?” Chris objected. “We can’t bring him to the Headquart- ”
    “Are you blind?” Pain suddenly cut in, “That’s Ramon over there, Eugene’s third. This guy can’t be one of them.”
    She gave them a doubtful grimace. They all looked at her, and then Butch, the third one, finally spoke up.
    “She’s right. The one next to Ramon looks familiar. I think I saw him with the Beasts once.” He shifted uncomfortably under their stares, his large frame throwing a shadow over them all as he came closer.
    Zac shook his head with an exhausted sigh.
    “It doesn’t matter, they still could’ve got into a fight.”
    “What, six of them against him?” Pain objected, coming up to him and pulling handcuffs out of her pocket, “Take him to Michael. We could use fighters like him.”
    She stood there with her hand outstretched, but Zac didn’t try to take the handcuffs from her. He just stared at her dubiously, his expression clearly showing how much her presence there pained him.
    “It’s not like he can do us any… ” Butch began, then broke off because a tall, black figure suddenly landed right by his side, as if he had materialized out of thin air.
    “What is it?” the man asked in a sharp voice, and all four of them subconsciously straightened up a little.
    “Rob,” Zac greeted him with a nod. “Black male, twenty to twenty-five, drunk and passed out. Most likely finished these six off just before we found him.”
    Rob nodded, and moments later he was squatting by the unconscious young man. His large frame blocked the view of whatever he was doing, and Pain quickly moved to crouch across from him. Rob was taking the drunken fighter’s pulse, it turned out. He winced, as if the sight of the man’s bloodied face pained him, and took his fingers away from his neck.
    “Did he talk?” he rumbled.
    “I think the right question is, Can he talk? ” Pain sneered, but before she could get any satisfaction from that, Rob scowled at her from beneath his thick black eyebrows.
    “You. Out of here,” he commanded, “If I see you in the city at this time of night again, I’ll cuff you to your bed for a week. You hear me?”
    She responded with a long, martyred sigh, then stood up and returned to the other fighters instead of leaving. Chris shot her a bemused look, and she stuck her elbow in his side, making him grunt. A glint of irritation flashed across Zac’s serious façade when he glanced at them.
    Rob got up