Page 23 of Owned By Shadows

“MONSTERS - ACOUSTIC VERSION” BY RUELLE

NIKOLAI

The wind whistles around me as I stare up at the Soviet Era building in the middle of St. Petersburg. It’s huge and elegant, with columns at the front and so many fucking windows it’s like the eyes of Russia are watching. I hope fucking not, not for this meeting.

Luckily for us, it’s now an exclusive gentlemen’s club where deals are made and secrets stay buried.

“You sure about this, Nik? Sure Volkov can be trusted?” Dima asks from beside me, his voice gruff as he looks around us, mistrust in his gaze.

“No, but what choice do we have? We need help to take down Sergi, and Alexei has his own need for us,” I answer, squaring my shoulders and heading inside.

I’m greeted by a host, a young woman who doesn’t check for weapons, which is surprising, but they either are confident no one would start trouble or they just don’t care. She takes me tothe private room that Dima swept for bugs earlier this morning. The tension as we enter lets me know that Alexei and his men are already here, and when the host steps aside, I see him lounging in a leather wingback chair on one side of the roaring fireplace with a chessboard in front of him. There is also a bottle of unopened vodka and two frosty glasses.

His two men stand on either side of him, and it surprises me to find that neither looks immediately Russian, no typical Russian tattoos like myself, Dima and Alexei have. One has skin the colour of driftwood at midnight, his eyes a bright piercing blue, and I get the feeling he sees everything. He’s staring at me with a slight tilt to his lips.

Something about his eyes looks familiar, but I can’t quite place them. The other man has dark hair and a devilish grin on his face. With his thick arms crossed over his chest, his black shirt seems ready to burst at the seams.

“Nikolai, good to see you again,” Alexei greets, a feline grace about him as he stands up, hand outstretched. “These are my associates, DeAndre Washington and Riordan Sullivan.”

Both men give me a nod, but don’t speak.

“Pleased to meet you. This is Dima Ivanov. My other man is dealing with some other business, so it’s just us this morning,” I tell Alexei, and he inclines his head, holding out his arm in a sign for me to sit in the other chair.

“Excellent. Now that the introductions are done with, shall we get down to business?” Alexei asks, taking his seat and reaching for the bottle. “How rude of me, I almost forgot to ask. How is dear Roman? And Iris? I hope they are finding Russia to their liking. That cabin you have is rather large, enough for the other key members of the Shadowmen, so I assume they are enjoying their stay so far.”

My breath stills inside my chest, his grey eyes fixed on me and that slightly crazed smirk playing on his lips. The sound ofthe fire crackles, the twist of the cap from the vodka the only sounds in the room.

“Now that you know I know all of your secrets, I shall tell you one of mine so that we are even and can get past the whole trust bullshit,” Alexei says, pouring me a glass and then himself. “You may know me by another name, as well as my associates, and I don’t need to tell you that the number of people who know our true identities is tiny, almost nonexistent, in fact.” He looks up at me, and something familiar about his grey irises and silver hair tickles the back of my mind. “If you share them with anyone other than your immediate circle, i.e. the people in that cabin in the woods you have, then you will all die. Horribly.”

“Understood,” I reply, my palms sweating as I hold his unnerving gaze. My stomach is tight, a chill washing over me as the knowledge that he knows impossible things sinks in.

“I am known as Belial. To my left is Azazel, and my right is our glorious leader, Lucifer.”

It’s like all the air rushes from the room, because now I know how he knew all those things that no one should. Before me is The Fallen. What these men don’t know…well, it doesn’t exist because they know everything, if the rumours are to be believed.

“You are The Fallen,” I state, just to confirm with him.

“The very same,” he replies, picking up his glass and giving me a small salute with it before knocking back the vodka. “So now we both know something about the other that could prove hazardous to our plans. Shall we get down to how we kill our fathers and usher into a new era?”

Fuck. He really is as crazy as they say. Just dropping bombs like confetti at a party.

“Okay,” I say, my voice unwavering, even though my insides are in turmoil. “Aside from the fact that my cunt of a father kidnapped and raped Iris for three weeks, he’s becoming more greedy and paranoid by the day, grasping at all and anyinformation that gives him a hand up, killing innocents with no thought, eroding connections, and ruling with fear because he understands nothing of loyalty. His methods are outdated, he refuses to embrace any new technology, and is giving the Bratva a bad name.”

Alexei smiles that creepy fucking smile at me. “I hear congratulations are in order too. I just keep making these faux pas, don’t I?” He laughs, and it makes all the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end. That and the fact that, yet again, he knows something that should be a secret. “My sperm donor is similar, a dinosaur, never mind his recent blunders in the Caucasus region, which lost us millions.” His jaw tightens and his lips pull back, baring his teeth. It’s fucking terrifying. “The old ways, and thus our fathers, are becoming a liability.”

“Agreed,” I answer, reaching for my glass and taking a sip of my drink. The vodka burns in the way that only top shelf does. “I recently came across some evidence, not just incriminating for Sergi, but for Viktor as well.”

Alexei raises a brow, though I would be surprised if he doesn’t know about his father skimming from the Russian government’s defence contracts the Volkov’s have.

Dima hands me the folder I prepared with all the evidence to see Viktor arrested by the Federal Security Service—the successors of the KGB and just as ruthless, especially when someone has tried to fuck over the government.

Alexei takes the folder, setting down his glass and opening it. His eyebrows raise, a small, dark chuckle falling from his lips.

“We’ll be having the Trials soon. You should think of applying. This is good intelligence gathering and not something we knew,” he muses as he reads. His brows are raised, a hint of perhaps pride in his tone. I’ve heard of the Trials to become one of The Fallen. You pass or you die.

“As much as I’m flattered by your offer, I intend to settle down once this issue has been dealt with,” I reply, and his lips twist into a grin.

“Yes, I suppose you’ll be a father, well, brother technically, and I hear newborns are hard work.” His eyes are still on the file, but there’s that manic grin playing around his lips again. I tighten my hand around the glass, taking a deep breath through my nostrils. I fucking hate that he knows so much, but then given who he is, I’m not surprised. Alexei reaches into a black briefcase beside him, taking out a similar folder to the one I handed him. “Here’s all you need to prove that Sergi has been a very naughty boy indeed, dealing with certain terrorist groups that are banned, even by the Russian government.”

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