HER SHIFT COMPLETED for the day, Irina drew her sweater tightly around herself as she left the building via the back entrance. Autumn’s chill was in the air, and she hurried toward home, away from her undignified job and her employers who frightened her. A menial job to be sure, serving the despicable Thieves-in-Law class, the Vori v Zakone for pittance wages when they were wealthy beyond imagination; but it was better than being a s*x slave. As meager as her own existence seemed, she pitied the strange Inglyski girl with the rabbit-teeth who appeared to be exactly that.
“Scusami,” a voice said as she walked quickly down the cobbled lane. Startled, Irina looked up. A man approached her from the side of the path. “Are you hungry?” he asked, his appearance out of place in a back lane, weari
