Page 1 of Of Flames and Crows

CHAPTER1

Vlad Vissarion studiedthe man sitting on the other side of his desk with a steady expression.

A faint smile curved the incubus’s mouth. “Are you threatening me?”

Enrique Cortes looked unfazed by his chilly tone.

The man sitting beside him was Vasco Gomez, whom Vlad had last encountered in the basement of a strip club, before all hell had broken loose. The Colombian’s gaze darted to Cortes. Though he was doing his best to hide his unease, Vlad could tell the mobster was somewhat nervous in the presence of theBacatá Cartel’ssecond-in-command, the man destined to be his future leader.

“It is not so much a threat as it is a polite request for appropriate compensation for losses incurred.” Cortes arched an eyebrow. “After all, it’s theBlack Devils’ fault that we lost our ship and its precious…cargo to the U.S. authorities.”

Gomez flinched. Vlad’s lips thinned.

For someone who’d come from one of the worst slums in Medellín, Cortes spoke with the suave eloquence of a Harvard alumnus. Vlad had heard tales of the mobster’s infamous ascent through theBacatá Cartelechelons. It had been marked by a trail of carnage that made him one of the most feared men in the underworld today. Now that he was face to face with the guy, Vlad understood why Gomez and so many others were wary of him.

Cortes’s refined appearance could not hide what he truly was. A beast who would as soon kill you as look at you. Vlad frowned faintly.

It takes one to know one, after all.

Tarang raised his head where he lay by the fire. The tiger familiar was acutely attuned to Vlad’s mood and could sense his irritation. A low growl rumbled out of him.

Vlad sent out a reassuring thought across the bond that connected them. Tarang settled back down. The tiger’s hooded gaze focused unblinkingly on the men seated opposite him.

Since they were not magic users, they could not see or hear him.

Vlad drummed his fingers on the armrest of his chair as he scrutinized theBacatá Cartelmobsters. He couldn’t exactly deny Cortes’s assertion. It was his actions that had hampered the human trafficking deal the Colombian cartel had set up withOniks, the defunct Russian crime gang he had dismantled two months ago with the help of Mae Jin and their allies.

Vasco Gomez had come to New York to seal the agreement with Emil Sobol, theOniksgeneral who had been turned into a monstrous modified demon by the Dark Council. Unbeknown to Gomez, his cartel had in fact been about to sign a contract with the Devil himself.

Barquiel, the fallen angel and Archduke of Hell who had been helping the Sorcerer King and the Dark Council from the shadows, had needed a steady supply of subjects for Dietrich Farago, the Immortal scientist helping the demon and the Dark Council achieve their goals. The shipment of slaves theBacatá Cartelhad brought to New York had been intended for the inhuman experiments Farago had been carrying out over the years to create an ungodly army with which the Sorcerer King would eventually rule the world.

Vlad, Mae, and Nikolai Stanisic had crashed Gomez and Sobol’s meeting at a strip club and exposed theOniksgeneral’s true nature during the battle that had followed. Vlad narrowed his eyes slightly.

Not many in the criminal underworld knew of the Dark Council’s growing influence amidst their gangs or the unseen danger that threatened to see them become mere puppets acting under the will of the Sorcerer King. It had taken witnessing the incredible power Mae Jin wielded for the Bratva theBlack Devilswere affiliated with to finally pay heed to the threat Vlad had been telling them about for months.

Vlad was still annoyed with himself for not having anticipated his Bratva’s next move. After seeing Mae’s abilities, the syndicate had become fearful her affiliation with him would make theBlack Devilsthe most powerful criminal organization in the world. They had commanded Vlad and Yuliy Vissarion, Vlad’s adoptive father and leader of theBlack Devils, to convince Mae to work for them instead.

He couldn’t help the wry smirk that stretched his mouth as he recalled the meeting that had taken place at Yuliy’s mansion five weeks ago. The syndicate representative who’d come to New York to enlist Mae into their ranks hadn’t quite counted on the fact that no one could tell a Witch Queen what to do. She had managed to put him off, though Vlad knew the Bratva hadn’t given up on making her their pawn.

Brimstone and Hellreaver will undoubtedly have something to say about that.

“Does this situation amuse you?”

Cortes’s cool words brought Vlad back to the present.

He’d been expecting some kind of payback for messing with the Colombian cartel. When Gomez had requested this meeting to discuss the ramifications of what had gone down at the strip club, Vlad hadn’t expected Cortes would turn up too. Judging from Gomez’s skittishness, neither had he.

Victor swallowed a frustrated sigh as he met Cortes’s dark gaze. He wished he could just ignore the guy or use his incubus powers to bring him to heel. But it was in theBlack Devils’ interest not to stir up shit with any crime gangs unless there was just cause to intervene, like inOniks’scase. After all, there was a good chance he and Mae would need their help one day if their fight with the Dark Council spilled over into the seedy underworld he inhabited.

Whatever his demands are, I have no option but to fulfill them unless they’re utterly outrageous.

Vlad steeled himself before leaning his elbows on the desk and steepling his hands under his chin. “What kind of compensation is theBacatá Cartelafter?”

Gomez’s shoulders visibly sagged. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and dabbed at the sweat beading his forehead before glancing at the fire crackling merrily in the hearth. Vlad knew it wasn’t just the flames making him hot. The mobster’s life was literally on the line and Vlad held the final thread that would determine his fate.

“We would like an introduction to Budimir Volkov,” Cortes said quietly.

Vlad stilled. Ilya, his bodyguard, shifted ever so slightly where he framed the door alongside one of Cortes’s men.

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