Damnation. He’s right.
“Adjusting inventory sheet,” I muttered, scratching out numbers.
Koa’s chuckle rumbled from the kitchenette where he was sharpening my sword. The rhythmicshhhhk-shhhhkof steel on whetstone synced with theclick-clickof magazine springs as I finished up with the handguns. The vampire half of our heritage didn’t eliminate the need for mundane weapons; it just made us more efficient with them.
Our apartment, if one could dignify this roach-infested hellhole with such a term, had served its immediate purpose: Shelter, anonymity, and proximity to our last three assignments. It smelled like mildew and cheap take-out, with water stains painting abstract patterns across the ceiling. Four hundred and twenty-eight square feet of tactical disadvantage, with poor sightlines and exactly one exit point. Unacceptable for anything beyond temporary use.
The first thing we would do at our new estate was establish our armory, I decided. I required proper infrastructure, a base of operations that made strategic sense. Father hadn’t so much as sent blueprints of the place, and I had drafted thirty-three scenarios forremodeling and restructuring the interior to incorporate what we needed. Armory was first priority, security room second, lab/workshop for Ko and his inventions third.
“Holy water flasks?” Zane yelled from the bathroom.
“Third shelf down, left side,” I replied, not bothering to look up.
Koa moved silently through the living room, a mountain of contained energy gathering weapons with the reverence of a priest handling relics. Unlike Zane and his theatrical sighs, Ko understood the value of preparation.
“You’re making that face again,” he commented, not looking directly at me as he crammed clothes in a duffle.
“What face?”
“The ‘I’m counting exits and calculating odds’ face.” He finally glanced up. “You’ve run the numbers a dozen times. This deal is our best option.”
I tucked a set of throwing knives into the specially designed pockets of my black leather jacket.
“Our best option is a forced marriage to a potential enemy asset? That’s a damning assessment of our circumstances.”
“Our circumstances involve living in this shithole, taking contracts from people we despise, and following Lucian’s orders whenever he snaps his fingers.” Ko’s voice remained even, but I detected the underlying current of resentment. “A year of playing house in exchange for freedom? Even if wedoneed to kill the ‘bride,’ I can live with those terms.”
I nodded. He wasn’t wrong. We could survive marriage for one year.
Marriage.
I resisted the urge to sneer. A pointless sentiment. Marriage implied commitment, permanence. This arrangement was neither. It was an assignment. A calculated move to gather intelligence, to monitor Arabesque’s ambitions. And if the girl, our intended wife, proved to be part of that ambition, then she would be handled accordingly.
It wouldn’t take much. A staged accident. A disappearance. If necessary, something more direct.
Still, there were variables. Unknowns. I didn’t like unknowns.
So messy.
Like emotions.
I suppressed a shudder.
We had no records on the woman we were to wed. We didn’t even know her name, let alone how she was related to Arabesque. If she had value to the Dark witch, I would find out why. And if she was a threat, I would neutralize her.
Simple.
“It’s a marriage contract, bro, not a suicide mission,” Zane announced, emerging from the bathroom juggling five silver flasks.
Ignoring that, I checked my watch.
“Twenty minutes until departure. Final gear check.”
My brothers exchanged a look I pretended not to notice. They thought I was being obsessive. I preferred to think of it as thorough.
“What’s our protocol when we meet her?” Ko asked.
“I’ll go over it on the drive in detail, but in short, assessment first, followed by appropriate response. She’s either a threat or she isn’t. If she’s aligned with Arabesque’s interests, she’s a plant, possibly with instructions to gather intelligence or worse. If she’s a direct threat, we eliminate her before she can report back or activate whatever trap has been set.”
