“Really? These assholes again?” Naz said, shaking her head as the group of men emerged from the alley.

  They quickly surrounded the two, with the man who had taken a swing at Eli stepping in front of them to block their path. “We’ve got unfinished business, cuz.”

  Eli rolled his eyes and began to push through him. “I don’t think so.”

  That’s when he heard the unmistakeable sound of a gun being cocked behind him before he felt cold metal pressed to the back of his head. He turned his head a fraction of an inch to see that Naz was in a similar position beside him. The man in front of him grabbed them both and hauled them towards the darkened alley beside them.

  As they moved, Eli silently cursed himself for underestimating the men. While his magic was far more powerful than the guns they held, a bullet to the head would kill him as surely as a spell. Looking to the side he caught Naz’s eye and she shook her head slightly, clearly thinking the same thing as he was.

  When they finally stopped at the end of the alleyway Eli spoke again. “Look, I don’t know what you’re thinking here, but whatever it is – rethink it.”

  “You’ve got a smart mouth.” The man said before swinging at Eli, hitting him across the face.

  In reality, it was a pathetic punch – one that would make any of his real training partners ashamed. Even so, Eli moved with the momentum of the punch, spinning around before falling to his hands and knees. As he was hauled back to his feet by the man and his compatriots he took a furtive glance around, ensuring that the two men were the only ones with guns drawn. When he was sure they were he turned to the man and wiped his chin before grinning.

  “You definitely should have brought more than 2 guns to this fight, buddy.” Eli growled.

  “What?” The man responded.

  Without another word Eli spun to his left, grabbing hold of one man’s pistol with one hand and pushing it downwards and away from him in a technique that would make Zee proud. His right arm came around as he completed the motion, punching the man hard enough in the ribs to crack at least one of them. Even that wasn’t enough to halt Eli’s motion though – he continued pushing with his fist, shoving the man into the alleyway wall behind him.

  The practiced move took less than a second – sudden enough that the man loosened his grip on his gun enough that Eli was able to pry it from his fingers. He doubled over and cried out in pain as he rebounded from the brick wall but his cries were quickly silenced when Eli’s right knee connected with him squarely in the face, knocking him out cold.

  The moment Naz saw Eli moving, she leapt into action as well. Showing all the flexibility of a dancer and the strength of a warrior, she kicked one leg backwards – her black high heel connecting between the legs of the gunman behind her. Unfortunately for Naz the movement caused him to reflexively squeeze the trigger of his pistol, firing off a single round.

  Turning to face the rest of the crew Eli felt his mana reserves drain precipitously when a golden magical sphere flared to life around Naz, protecting her from the bullet. Eli gasped and he glanced over, seeing the man whimper and fall to his knees before letting out a strained breath as his eyes began to water. Naz quickly slapped the muzzle of the gun away from her before finishing off the man with a quick strike to the side of the head.

  “You okay?” Naz asked as she squared up next to Eli.

  Eli exhaled and refocused on the incredulous-looking group of men in front of them. “Yeah, I’m good.”

  His words seemed to break the group of men out of their stupor. As one they charged at the pair, with one of them diving for the discarded gun on the ground. The others seemed to prioritize tackling Eli, either because he still held a pistol – albeit in a backhanded grip – or because they saw him as a greater threat in a street fight than Naz.

  That would be their last mistake of the evening.

  Naz intercepted the diving man with her leg, kicking him across the face as he sailed through the air. She planted her foot at the same time as the man hit the ground, bringing her arm up to block another man’s punch aimed for her face. When the man’s momentum carried him closer she twisted her hand, pulling him towards her before throwing her forehead forward in a headbutt that broke the man’s nose. He cried out when she released his arm, stumbling backwards as he reflexively brought his hands to his face in an effort to staunch the bleeding.

  Not wanting to leave the diving man unattended, Naz turned back to his writhing form on the ground. She carefully stepped over him and kicked the gun away before delivering two sharp kicks to his midsection, breaking several ribs. He groaned in agony from the strikes but made no movement to try and get up.

  Satisfied that he was out of the fight, Naz returned her attention to the man whose nose she broke. He was still clutching his face and whimpering when she stepped closer to him and lashed out with the side of her hand, hitting the cluster of nerves near the back of his neck. The movement caused the man to fall to the ground like a ton of bricks, with all control over his limbs temporarily severed.

  While Naz expertly dismantled her two attackers, Eli faced down the remaining 4 men. The nearest man – their leader – was easily dispatched the moment he charged with a pistol whip to the side of the head, knocking him out cold. The other 3 men moved together with a frenetic energy, bumping into each other as they neared Eli and reached out to grab him.

  Realizing they wanted to take the gun from him he tossed it high into the air, causing the 3 of them to look up. While it spun he delivered an expertly placed throat punch to the larynx of the nearest man, causing him to double over and gasp for air. The second man realized the distraction for what it was just in time to block the next punch from Eli.

  The man’s good fortune ended there though because Eli was already reacting. He moved close to the man as he launched a flurry of strikes with his elbows and knees, cracking bones all over the man’s body. By the time the gun clattered to the ground further down the alleyway the man was already wavering back and forth, and a final open-handed strike to the face was enough to drop him.

  “Stop or I’ll shoot!” The last man shouted.

  Eli turned slowly, locking eyes with the man as he considered his options. The distance between them was too large to close with a quick leap, but close enough that even a half-drunk novice marksman could hit him. As Eli looked him over he noticed that his hands were shaking, and his mouth continued to open and close as if he couldn’t figure out what to say. Finally, he started muttering out loud.

  “Fucking shit. Why did this all have to go to shit so quickly? What the hell am I supposed to do now, man? All this shit because Carlos decided to hit on some dumbass black girl.” He paused for a moment, then continued his tirade under his breath. “I told him to go for a white girl. Black girls are always more trouble than they’re worth.”

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  “Excuse me?” Naz said.

  In his state of hyper fixation, the man had clearly lost track of Naz – only for her to step up behind him. Her words were followed by a chokehold from behind as she easily wrestled the man’s gun from his grip. When it clattered to the ground Eli exhaled and moved closer to him, ignoring the still-struggling man.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah, fine.” Naz said, the hint of orcish blood rage in her eyes fading. “I think I’m supposed to be offended though – he was saying things about black people.”

  Eli glanced at the man whose face was steadily going purple, then back at Naz. “I mean, I’m just a white guy so it’s probably not my place to say this, but… technically you aren’t black.”

  “Well, yeah, I know that.” Naz said as the man stopped struggling and passed out. “But he didn’t know that, so I feel like I should be offended.”

  Eli considered it for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, I guess so.” He nodded to the man. “Does he really deserve to die though? He’s already out cold – why don’t you let him go before it becomes permanent.”

  “Right.” Naz said, dropping the man to the floor.

  “Good girl.” Eli praised her before kissing her deeply.

  Naz shivered as they broke apart. “You know what those words do to me.”

  “I do.” Eli replied with a grin. “And I fully intend on taking advantage of that fact as soon as we get back to the hotel.”

  “You know, this fight was almost nostalgic for me – it reminded me of our first fight together.”

  Eli recalled the martial arts tournament where they’d met for a moment. It was an annual competition in the city of Irandell, the capital of the elven nation of Eyilean and where the Hightower family made their home. In order to level the playing field and prevent any lethal injuries, none of the participants were allowed to use magic – giving Eli the opportunity he needed to beat Naz in their match and win the tournament.

  “Yeah, I can see how the Verinthas might remind you of this situation.” Eli said, referring to the tournament by name. “Except this time we were fighting side-by-side. And these idiots put up far less of a fight than you did – even with their guns.”

  Naz barked out a laugh in response, then turned to the 8 unconscious men on the ground around them. “We should probably figure out what we’re doing with these guys before that though. We can’t leave them here, and we don’t want them going to the police.”

  Eli pulled out his phone in response. “Agreed on both counts. I’ll give Aria a call.”

  “Actually, I was thinking you should call Minerva.” Naz countered. “She’s been sitting with Zee and I everyday, learning our security procedures. She sees it as an extension of her job so I promised her that we’d call her if we ran into trouble – she wants to put those skills to use.”

  With a slight frown, Eli dialed the number and she picked up on the first ring. “Eli?” She asked sleepily.

  “Minerva, I hate to bother you but we need your help.”

  “What is it?” She responded, now clearly awake.

  “We were jumped by a group of idiots.”

  “Who in their right mind would jump a Royal Blood and his orcish mate?” She said incredulously.

  “Just a bunch of drunk humans.”

  “Oh.” Minerva replied. “Injuries?”

  “None for us. They…fared worse. They’re taking a little pavement nap.”

  The sound of keys clattering on a keyboard rang through the phone before she spoke again. “I’m seeing reports of a gunshot sound and a disturbance near your location. Police units are already on their way, stuck in traffic. You’re lucky its so dark and cloudy, or else they probably would have found you already.”

  “How did you get that information so quickly?” Eli said.

  “I’ve got access to every emergency services dispatch in the US courtesy of Zee.” Minerva replied. “Give me a second, I’m going to call our local contact.”

  Before Eli could respond a soft intermittent beep started to ring in his ear, signaling that he was on hold. Holding one hand over the receiver he turned to Naz and nodded approvingly.

  “She’s good. You trained her well.”

  “She’s taken to it like a dryad to the forest.” Naz replied. “Especially given that she hadn’t touched a computer or a phone until after she left the angelic pocket dimension. She’s a hard worker too – read through every procedure we have, memorized the whole thing, and came back with questions about situations we hadn’t even thought of yet.”

  Eli chuckled. “I don’t know where she found time to do that. I thought Aria was organized – and she is – but she’s more of a ‘high level strategy’ person. Minerva knows every detail, she’s got my calendar arranged down to the minute, and she does a better job of running our household than I could even imagine. I made an offhand comment the other week about being a little sleepy during my afternoon meetings. By the evening she’d read several books worth of research on the science of caffeine, picked a coffee blend without the same caffeine crash, and restocked our pantry with the new coffee. She was right too – I’m not as tired anymore.”

  “You’re gushing about her.” Naz teased him.

  “Minerva is pretty fantastic.”

  “O-Oh. Thank you.” Minerva said over the phone, clearly having heard at least part of the conversation.

  Hearing the blush in her voice, Eli changed the subject so she wouldn’t be embarrassed. “What’s our status?”

  “Right.” Minerva said, clearing her throat. “I’ve managed to get the rest of the police units rerouted. Instead, we’re getting one of our people – a werewolf and an elf - inside the police department to attend the call. They’ll take care of things.”

  “Should we hang around to meet them?”

  “No. It’d be better for everyone if you weren’t around when the police got there.”

  Hearing one of the semi-conscious men groan in pain in the alley, Eli nodded. “It’s time that we made our exit then. Thanks Minerva, you’re a life saver.”

  “I’m happy to help!” Minerva responded, a spark of joy radiating through her voice.

  As they walked up the alleyway and back to the street though, Eli saw a flicker of movement. A small form wearing a dark hood darted out from behind a trash can. Sizing up the figure as it ran away he realized several things all at once: that it was either a child or a very short adult, that it was probably human given the fact that they were on Earth, and that from its vantage point it would have seen the entire interaction – the fight, the magic, and the phone call afterwards.

  “Shit.” Eli said into the phone. “Minerva, we have another witness.”

  “What?”

  “3, maybe 4 feet tall.” He replied, breaking into a run alongside Naz as the figure reached the busy street and darted into it. “Dark hood and clothes. Can’t get a good look!”

  “Eli, we can’t let a witness escape! Everyone has phones now – what if they-”

  “I know!” Eli cut her off, skidding to a stop and peering through the crowd to try to find them. “We’re on it!”