Page 10 of The Darkness is Calling

“Yet.”

I smile, because the answer comes from both my brothers.

Maybe my mother wouldn’t be proud that we live this life, or that I just killed a pedophile priest. But I am certain she is proud that she raised the three of us to stand together until death, no matter what happens.

4Nickname used by Russians for a corrupt police officer

Chapter 3

Artem

My office is thick with cigarette smoke and the smell of vodka while my most trusted men, the ten brigadiers of the organization, discuss my plan for tonight.

They are Тёмныё птицы ( Tyomnye ptitsy), the Birds of Darkness, led by my brothers and me.

Tonight’s operation isn’t much different from the ones before it, so everyone already knows his place and his role.

They have been by my side for almost ten years. We grew up, trained, and fought together, so it did not surprise me when, three years ago, after I decided to come to London, all of them chose to follow me.

Since then, we have changed the map of the mafia organizations in this city, much to the displeasure of many already established here.

When we left Moscow, my father was angry with us for allowing the Solntsevskaya Bratva to gain complete control of the area. We had begun to build a reputation stronger than his, one known even in Saint Petersburg, where we were at war with the great rivals who controlled that territory, the Tambovskaya Bratva.

The name of our organization began as a cold whisper.

Mother always used to tell us we were beautiful as angels, but Father and his men knew exactly what the three of us were capable of. That is why they always completed her words by calling us the Angels of Death.

Ангёлы смёрти (Angely smerti).

Although Yaroslav is two years older than me, he chose to be the man who executes orders, the one who solves everything with the power of his heavy fists and thick arms. He never wanted to stand out, and the shadows seem to be part of him, hiding among them with lethal precision.

At the opposite end is Aleksandr, or Sasha, as we call him. The boy with golden hair, often dyed almost white, always ready with a joke and a smile that melts girls’ hearts. But for all the angelic beauty of his face, this boy is just as dangerous.

Right now, he is playing with a knife, tossing it into the air only to catch it by the sharp blade with the tips of his fingers.

His favorite toy.

“Pakhan, everyone understands what they have to do. We leave in two hours?”

Dimitri’s deep voice makes me slowly shift my gaze toward him. He is one of our most essential men, the one who slips among enemies like a shadow, just as his nickname suggests.

Ten.5

Shadow.

I nod, keeping the same cold indifference on my face, and take a deep drag from my cigarette.

Pakhan.

Although this title is usually given to mafia leaders with far more experience in the Bratva, it seems that my early initiation and the bloody missions I successfully completed over the years propelled me into this position much faster than many expected.

I expected it.

I always knew I would become a feared Pakhan, and I planned everything from the moment I tasted the blood of the first man I killed. That had not been my goal at first, but my father told me even back then that I was already on that path, and that I was destined to become one.

5(ru.) - shadow

Neither of my brothers ever had such aspirations.