The clock in the hall struck 10 p.m. right on cue.
Dagger arrived first, silent as a mugger. He wore his hair long, in a ropy braid that glistened in the torchlight. He leaned in the doorway and waited, his left eye always scanning, right eye fixed on me. Old habit from a childhood nobody asked about.
Rook next, as huge as a walking casket. He ducked under the lintel, jaw clicking as he worked it. I’ve seen him rip a man’s arm off and then use the bone to open a bottle of beer. Subtle he was not.
Vex was last. Always last, always wearing black, always looking like a violinist at a funeral she planned to crash. A cigarette sat between her fingers; her tall boots clicked across the concrete.
I didn’t waste time.
“This is our war council,” I said, and all three of them took a seat at the battered table. Dagger, with his knife already out, spun it on one finger. Rook pulled up his sleeves so he could plant his elbows, arms meaty and powerful. Vex reached for the ashtray, then unfolded her hands, as if about to recite the rosary.
I stood and leaned over the table. The first sound from me was a fist. I brought it down so hard on the wood the ledgers jumped. The flicker of torchlight caught the edge of Dagger’s blade as he spun it, but I didn’t flinch.
“Every inside line’s burning up,” I said, pacing the war room like a man unmoored. Let them think I was furious. Let them taste the theatrics. “So, turning low-level grunts turned out to be a dead end. Nobody was willing to do our dirty work for us from the inside. If they went to Bronc or his council, the most they could know is that we were looking for a way in. Good. Let them choke on that illusion.”
Rook’s knuckles whitened against the table. “So, is it time to take the girl out?”
I scoffed. “Parker? If I wanted her corpse, she’d already be rotting. But why kill the architect of their ruin?” The truth simmered beneath my words: Parker’s code was humming like a Swiss watch, siphoning Iron Valor’s accounts dry night after night. Their coffers bled out quietly, and their panic would taste sweeter than vengeance.
Vex, ever the skeptic, leaned forward. “Maybe she turned rat.”
I let myself laugh—cold, sharp—for their benefit. “You think the tooth fairy’s taking money from under my pillow? Parker hasn’t run. She values her worthless brother’s life too much. That’s her weakness. And we’re not finished with her. When we’re through with Iron Valor and she’s left with no one, I’ll have hermove on to our next target, whoever that may be. We deal in blood, Vex. It’s what we do. Trust the plan,” I said, softer now.
I paced, slow, using the limp to my advantage. You learned how to weaponize your own wounds after a while. “Iron Valor stole our birthright. We had an up-and-coming pack, one that the Council and the rest of the supernatural world had started to notice. Bronc and Iron Valor stormed in here without so much as a green light and ended it all in a day.” My voice was coming out in growls.
“All we did was bring our Alpha’s choice of mate to her new territory so she could see for herself how good her life could be. And forthat, our pack was decimated, left without a voice for years. Then Iron Valor gets a slap on the wrist formurderingan Alpha?” We’ve waited long enough to even the score. There are others who agreed that it was a miscarriage of justice.
“And demons don’t fear reprisals do they?”
Rook flexed his hands. The old tattoos on his knuckles—sinner,suffer—caught the light’s glow. “Maltraz,” he said, as if just the name might draw the creature through the wall.
I smiled. “The demon king wants money. We have money. Between our underground fight nights, traveling casinos, and strip clubs, there is more than enough money to burn. Once we’ve added Iron Valor’s hundreds of thousands, no pack in the country will be able to touch our wealth. Money is power. He also wants territory. We have that, too, and we’re about to have more, once we end Iron Valor and swallow up their land. Most of all, he wants chaos. I think we can deliver.”
Vex looked queasy. “He wants souls.”
“Who doesn’t?” I said, pouring myself a drink. “The trick is, you only promise them if you’re sure you can keep them for yourself.”
Dagger finally spoke up. “And if he double-crosses us?”
“He can’t,” I said. “Not if the contract is sealed right. Besides, he’s not stupid. He knows Iron Valor will never play ball withhim. He’s got no use for honor, but he respects power. Anyway, he plays in the shadows. ”
Vex nodded, but it was shaky. “So we invite him in?”
“We send a message,” I said. “Tonight.” I looked at Dagger. “Do you know the man who can bring the demon king to us?”
He grinned, teeth like headstones.
Dagger wiped his blade and slipped it into the sheath. “Yes, sir, I do. Do we need to worry about Iron Valor finding out?”
I shrugged. “We don’t. Maltraz voted against them when Menace and his bitch mate came before the council. There is no love lost between them. I’m sure he’d love to take a shot at Bronc if given a chance.”
I stood at the head of the table and raised my glass. The others, dutifully, did the same.
“To escalation,” I said. “To the endgame.”
They drank.
And somewhere, not in the room, but close enough to feel, the walls listened. Hungry, hopeful, waiting for the next name to be whispered in the dark.
