Page 9 of Deviant

But the information here is extensive, the bitch has clearly done her homework.

I snap the folder shut, turning my back on the bunch of them.

Of course, this story will never be printed. The paper would have to have a death-wish to even consider it. But that doesn’tmean it can’t grow legs and as a reaper, it is my job to ensure that does not happen. I’m charged with keeping the secrets of the Brethren as just that—secrets.

In my office, I drop the folder, and pull up the woman’s details on our database.

Conrad sits opposite me. In many ways he’s the only one I truly trust. Certainly, the only one I’d be alone with. Enough of the Lords covet my position, enough of them would kill to be sat where I am.

“Well?” he asks.

I let out a sigh, we’ve only just cleaned up the mess from the Matiss debacle. I’d rather hoped I’d have a reprieve before I’d be off, reaping again, but I guess that is life.

“Name is Liliana Edwards.” I state, reading out loud. “Lives alone, both parents are dead, one brother but he’s in Sudan…”

“Sudan?”

“Medicines sans frontiers.” I reply, mentally appreciating how convenient that little fact is. If he’s abroad, I doubt they talk all that much. It’ll be far easier for her to disappear if there’s no family to shout out about it. And it’ll also be easy to remove him from the equation should he prove to be an issue. After all, no one bats an eye when someone dies in a warzone, do they?

“Well, I’ve requested her medical records.” Conrad says. “We’ll have the file within the hour.”

“Good.” I doubt there’ll be anything of note, but I like to have all my bases covered. I like to know everything about my prey, every tiny detail.

“No need…” Anthony says as he strolls in. With a thud, he dumps another wad of paper onto my desk. “I already sorted it.”

“We don’t need your help.” I reply. How the fuck he got up here I don’t know, but I’ll add that to the list of fuckups and someone’s head will roll for this.

“I’m not offering it.” he says, folding his arms. “I’m here to make a request instead.”

“A request?” I repeat. What makes him think I’ll agree to anything he has to say? He may be a reaper too, but we are miles apart in terms of power and ability, you can see that just by looking at us.

“I want the bitch.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard.” he says. “I want her. She’s not unattractive…”

Conrad snorts like he’s already made his mind up what this Liliana woman looks like.

Anthony narrows his eyes, glancing at him as if he’s beneath his notice. “Why don’t you let the men talk?” he says softly.

I shake my head before my brother can reply. “Conrad stays. He’s a reaper, just like we are.”

That makes the man smile, and that scar in his eyebrow seems to wrinkle up more. “Is he? What kills has he made? What contracts has he completed?”

I don’t know who the fuck he thinks he is by barging in here, challenging us, does he really think I’ll just let that slide?

As I open my mouth to put him back in his place, he places a photograph on the desk.

“I want her.” he says, jabbing his finger right into the centre of the paper.

My eyes drop and I take the image in slowly. The woman I see isn’t some frigid, dumpy old hag like I’d imagine most of her ilk to be, no, she’s far more pleasing than that. She’s late-thirties, soft in all the right places, but there’s something about the no-nonsense vibe she gives off.

She’s no wallflower, that’s for sure, but then, she’d have to have some balls to even dare write this expose in the first place.

“Why?” I ask.

He shrugs. “I’m not allowed to take a slave.” he states like that might endear me to him. Like I might just hold out my hands and congratulate him on such a sentence. That he managed to piss someone off so much that he got himself barred.

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