Page 2 of Aleko
From their vantage point, Alex had watched Galatas come in, bodyguards, hangers-on, and the girl in tow. On arrival, she had been standing well away from the thick-necked drug dealer with his gold chains, but as if on cue, when the clock struck twelve, she’d sat down next to him and let him put his arm around her. Then the Russians had arrived, looking as if central casting had put out an ad for Russian gangsters.
Alex remembered when Russians had cared about appearances and arrived everywhere in fur, even in the summer. Now, he would have been shocked if one showed up in anything but a tracksuit. Galatas and the Russians had been as happy to see each other as people who thought the other group wanted tokill them could pretend to be. Then the bottle train had paraded over to the table. After that, the lines were divvied out. They hadn’t been subtle about it, but club security had all pretended not to see. From where the girl had been sitting, Alex hadn’t been able to see if she had done a line of her own, but he assumed she had. It wasn’t the kind of party where people saidno, and he didn’t think she was the kind of girl who saidnoeither. Alex needed to stop looking at her, but every time he scanned the crowd, his eyes went back to her. She was wearing a white scarf mask that was down around her neck and a navy dress, something short and tight that covered all the appropriate bits but left very little to the imagination. And he knew damn well his imagination would be using her image later in the evening.
Sebastian craned over the edge to look at the party below them. “Who cares who she’s with?” he asked, his lip curling at Galatas, who was wearing sunglasses inside. “She’s not that into him.”
“She’s not that into him,” said Alex. “She’s also not into Sergio Conti. Or the guy I saw her with downtown.”
“Ah,” said Sebastian. “Meh. Who cares? So she dates a lot, and she likes rich guys. You qualify.”
“She works on the old port road,” said Alex. “I’ve seen her under the olive tree.”
Sebastian appeared to think about it. “Everybody’s got a right to survive,” he said at last.
“Yeah,” agreed Alex. “But I can survive without a drug-addicted hooker in my life.”
“You don’t know she has a drug problem,” objected Sebastian, always an optimist.
“A girl that pretty? She should be able to find someone to look after her. There is no reason for her to be selling herself on the side of the road. It’s got to be drugs.”
“Actually,” said Sebastian frowning, “that makes this a bit weird, doesn’t it?”
“What do you mean?” asked Alex, tearing his eyes away from the girl again.
“I mean, if she had a drug problem, she would definitely have someone—” Sebastian straightened up in his chair and let out a low growl. “Ten o’clock,” he said, jerking his chin.
Alex pivoted slowly, keeping his movements deliberate as he turned. Nothing attracted attention quite like sudden movement. He spotted the warlocks almost immediately. Like the Russians, it was as if they liked dressing to meet their stereotypes.
“It’s like eighty-five degrees out right now, and they’re wearing pleather,” said Sebastian derisively. “Fucking wannabes.”
Episode 2
Kolduny
Eliandra
Eliandra Smith disliked the way Galatas stroked her arm, which was why she was dancing. He always had to push her fucking boundaries. Galatas knew the rules, but he also knew that she wouldn’t want to call him on it in front of the Russians, so he pushed. She also hated that he always tried to shove his fucking drugs at her. Like she needed the head fuck of drugs. She had enough problems with her brain without adding additional chemicals. She’d brushed the coke off the table when everyone had bent over to do the line. She’d gotten fast enough that she didn’t think anyone noticed.
She gave a spin and triednotto look like she was leaning in to hear the Russian’s conversation. So far, everything was fine. Well, the Russians thought Galatas was an asshole, but everyone thought Galatas was an asshole, so she didn’t think she needed to report that. But she hadn’t gotten the impression that they were considering a double-cross. So far, all their conversation had been about getting the deal done and leaving. Something she heartily endorsed. The sooner they left, the sooner she got paid, and the sooner she could get away from Galatas.
“This will be good,” said the big blond one who looked like his head had been squared off in an industrial accident. She’d never previously used the insultblock-head, but it seemed appropriate here. “With this and what we got from thekolduny, we should be pretty well set up.”
The dark-haired one laughed. “Fuckingkoldunyare too stupid.”
Lia frowned. It wasn’t often that she came across a word shedidn’t know, butkoldunywasn’t something she recognized. In her head, it buzzed likemagicandnastinesscombined. She usually trusted her instincts about words, but this time she didn’t know what to make of it.
“At least they don’t stink like this one. Let’s get this wrapped up and go. Galatas smells like Old Spice and sheep.”
Lia had to agree with that but tried not to show it.
“The girl is hot, though,” said the blond one, twisting in his seat to look at her.
“She’d be hotter with my dick in her mouth,” said the brunette.
Lia avoided eye contact and kept dancing. She gave it a few seconds and then moved to where she could see Galatas. She looked up and met his eye—he jerked his head, and she went up the two stairs to the private table area.
“They want to wrap up the deal and leave,” she said in Greek as she bent over to pick up her glass. She wouldn’t sit down next to him again if she could avoid it.
“Good,” he said with a shrug. “They drink too much.”
