Page 59 of Wolf of Ashes
“Okay,” he says. “I’ll bite. Why were you hoping to meet me?”
“Because we want in,” I say. “We need work and we have skills to offer. It’s our understanding you’re the person to speak with about that.”
I try to not to cringe at my own response. Hell, I have no idea how a mercenary applies for a job.Please, sir, let me infiltrate your empire?
But Vanguard nods as if my response is somewhat expected. “We’ve had many like you over the last few years. Since new management took over Draven Industries, many skilled supernaturals have needed a new master.”
I’m not sure how I feel about the concept of having a ‘master’ and if the way Diavolo has bristled is anything to go by, he doesn’t like it much, either, but my focus now is more on the mention of that other organization.
Draven Industries.Mom described it as a major arms dealer that provides weaponry to the underground throughout many eastern states. Or it was. It sounds like it’s had some upheavals.
I decide not to confirm or deny Vanguard’s assumption. Let him think what he wants.
“We’re willing to swear allegiance to the Ultima Nostra.” I choose my speech carefully, since I only have the assumption that Vanguard, Jonah, and the men who left the room work for the Ultima Nostra.
When Vanguard doesn’t give a hint that I’ve spoken incorrectly, I add: “For the right price, of course.”
“Yes, of course,” Vanguard replies, as if this is completely reasonable. “The Ultima Nostra is always looking for new soldiers. But what is the right price?”
His speech sounds casual, but I’m not so comfortable with the way he begins a stealthy pace across the floor. It’s a gliding movement, back and forth, back and forth, slowly and carefully like a snake that’s trying to mesmerize me.
His focus darts to the corridor behind me. Instead of haggling over money, he asks, “Do you know what that green door is?”
I don’t react to his admission that he can see it.
Instead, I shrug and take my best guess. “A concealed entrance.” I glance at Diavolo. “Which we shouldn’t have been able to find.”
Vanguard shakes his head. “It’s far more than that.”
I try to quell the new wave of worry rising within me, since Vanguard is now gleaming at me. He looks utterly delighted that I have no idea about the nature of the door.
“Well, then enlighten me,” I say, “because it looks like an ordinary door to me.” I turn to the keeper. “Looks ordinary to you, too, Diavolo?”
“It does, Veda,” he replies without taking his eyes off Vanguard.
Vanguard breaks into a grin and it chills me to my fucking bones.
“Not a door,” he says. “It’s a death trap designed to kill any supernatural who steps through it. Yet, somehow, you survived.”
Oh, this conversation is about to go bad.
My instincts scream at me to either attack or run. But I can’t be certain which would be wise. I’m not sure now that I’d prefer to take my chances escaping through a death trap door or if I’d rather fight my way past Vanguard and Jonah and try to make it to the exit on the other side of the room.
It’s Diavolo’s reaction that keeps me standing where I am.
Unexpectedly, his tension is gone and he’s smiling as broadly as Vanguard. A fucking scary grin that reminds me I have a pretty nasty smile myself.
“Well, as you say, here we are,” he says. “We walked through your death trap without a scratch.”
I follow up the keeper’s response by blowing a raspberry. “Death trap? That’s fucking nothing. We’ve survived worse.”
Not a lie as far as I’m concerned.
Diavolo continues. “So it seems you either have a very big, fucking problem. Or you have two very powerful supernaturals who are willing to work for you. Which will it be? Enemies or allies?”
Vanguard narrows his eyes at me, and again, it chills me.
I take a moment to appreciate just how fucking scary all three of these men are. I haven’t even seen Vanguard in action and I already believe he’s strong enough to have murdered my father, or to have been complicit in his death.
