Page 24 of The Phantom's Vice

I straighten, gliding through the long hallway like the color of the bloodred walls doesn’t cause my skin to crawl. Ihatethat color. Hate, hate, hate, ha?—

“R-1313. How nice of you to join us, finally.”

I twitch, having been so lost in thought I hadn’t realized I entered the main meeting room. The grand marble pillars and pretentious crown molding along the corners of the dining hall create a stuffy, suffocating air despite the size of the place. All twelve members of the Table sit in a semicircle, their hands clasped together on the table like identical, ancient robots. As always, the members are in full regalia, fine silk robes adorned with gold trim, tinkling with every slight movement due to the crystal accents hanging in rows along the hemline of their sleeves. Golden, bird-beaked masks adorn their faces, covering all but their mouths and the tiniest slit of their eyes, giving even the oldest of the members an eerie, threatening air.

“I had business to attend to.” I speak in monotone, the voice mod in my mask concealing any hint of rage there may have been. “What is this about?”

I scan the room quickly, noting how the thirteenth seat at the head of the table is vacant.Where the fuck is she?

“Boy. I was beginning to worry.”

My shoulders tense at the use of that name, but otherwise, I give her no reaction. The Madam glides around the table, her movements lithe despite the six-inch heels attached to her feet. An elaborate Venetian mask rests on her face, the curves and gold leaf embellishments covering every one of her features, save for a pair of cruel green eyes peeking through the eye slits.

Her twin white tigers, Nix and Niege, follow close at her heels, their black-tipped tails twitching menacingly as they look over the nervous faces of the Table members.

“Rest yourselves, darlings,” she coos, raking her pointed crimson nails along Niege’s back. “Mommy is safe here. Rest.”

Nix fixes me with his yellow eyes, his canines baring as if to sayyou’re wrong about this one. He means you harm—I know better.

Oh, if only tigers could talk. “Madam. It’s alwaysa pleasure,” I greet, dipping my head lightly in mock respect for the ruthless queen. “I see your children are eating well, as usual.”

Madam spreads her lips—that same horrible color as her nails—and fixes me with an all-knowing stare. “Nix and Niege have always had quite the appetite, yes,” she muses, reaching down and lazily fondling Nix’s ear. “It’s a good thing I have plenty of resources at my disposal.”

Several of the men at the table cringe, unable to help their reactions as she so callously refers to the countless young men she’s killed and fed to her beasts—some of them children of the Table members.Spineless bastards. If someone did that to my kin, I would tie them upside-down and skin them from their toes. I would?—

“I’m sure you realize why I’ve called you down here,” Madam interjects, that same lipless smile plastered on her face. “Youdoknow why, don’t you?”

I shrug, the movement hindered heavily by the material of my suit. “I assume it has something to do with my performance.”

Madam’s eye twitches, but otherwise, she doesn’t move. “Ah, yes. Yourperformance.Let’s talk about that.”

I nod, waiting for her to elaborate. That eye twitches again, and Nix lets out a low rumble from where he rests at her feet.

“Your DNA was found at Daniel Hanson’s crime scene. Do you know anything about that?”

“Yes. And it took them nowhere. I am untraceable, as the Sanctum planned.”

Madam blinks, that smile of hers growing wider. “They talked to your birth mother, Boy. They now know far more than they need to. All because you failed to?—”

“I followed the Code to the letter, Madam. If there was an unforeseen element I could not control, then?—”

“It is yourJOBto control unforeseen elements!” Madam screams, her composure cracking as spit flies from her bared teeth. Niege rumbles at her feet, and Madam holds a hand in front of her face, taking a deep breath to steady herself. When she looks back up, her mask is back in place—that eerie smile in full force. “That girl—the new FBI agent. She knows too much. What are you going to do about it?”

I shrug, trying to seem uncaring even though I’m pretty sure she can hear my heart from across the room. “I plan to do nothing. It would be a waste of my time.”

“Are you really so naive to think that?”

“The girl is overzealous. If she continues to pose a problem, then I will deal with her. For now, she poses more threat to the organization dead than alive.”

Madam fixes me with a hard stare. “You know what, you’re right. Why should we waste time on such a gnat when there are bigger things to worry about? Things like your disobedience. Your faults.” Her lips widen farther, revealing the molars toward the back of her mouth. “If your abilities as a Phantom are faltering, I will have no choice but to terminate your contract, P-1313. As fond of you as I am, if you force my hand…” She takes another breath, snapping her fingers at the tigers.

The twins leap to their feet, ears pinned back and canines dripping with saliva as they hiss at me. For a moment, I think she’s going to order them to attack me, but to my surprise, she turns her attention to the Table member at her left.

“Nix. Niege.Fass.”

At once, the tigers leap at the man, teeth and claws bared at his jugular. He gets out half a scream before Nix clamps down on his windpipe, crushing it in a slew of blood and matter. The rest of the Table members clamor back in horror as their colleague isessentially ripped to bits. Horrible squelches and crunching noises accompany the screams littering the room, adding to the drama of the whole scene. Through it all, I catch Madam’s eye, despising that excited little sheen in her black eyes as her right-hand man is torn to shreds in front of her.

“Nix. Niege.Platz.”

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