Page 6 of A City of Smoke and Demons
Sometimes, he hoped Jem wouldn’t show up. It would let them both off the hook. When Ezra ran from the Gendarme, it was straight into the bowels of London. He’d had no plan except to survive. And to forget. He spent weeks holed up in the seediest of doss houses before eventually being tossed into the street. It then became a game of hide and seek with his former colleagues, his opium-addled body somehow managing to find its way to the Canem Club and Maddog Pierce.
There were worse places to be, like destitute and hungry. Or dead. He had a roof over his head, a job that didn’t pay much, but it was a job that came with benefits money couldn't buy. Maddog had an agreement with the Gendarme. As long as the violence remained tempered and the crime kept to the shadows, he’d stay off the radar and out of trouble.
Maybe it was that knowledge, lurking somewhere in the back of Ezra’s drug-fucked thoughts, that led him to the most feared gangster in the Credges.
Ezra wasn’t the same man he used to be. The more time he spent with Maddog and the more he came to understand the inner workings of the slums of London, the more he recognised the changes in himself. The old Ezra wasn’t fond of violence, and now he beat people shitless. The old Ezra would never have visited the skin market, desperate for human touch, no matter if it was paid for and impersonal. The old Ezra didn’t run his mouth or carry a chip on his shoulder.
The old Ezra had been both respectful and respected, with ambitions, drive, and honour. He’d had friends, but something inside him broke when they turned on him and accused him of betraying his oath. The motto of the Gendarme was ‘to serve,’ and by choosing not to send witches to their deaths, Ezra was committing treason.
He couldn’t give a fuck about what any of them thought anymore—except Jem.
Jem was the bridge between the two Ezra’s. He could be vulnerable with him, let down the barriers he’d been forced to build. But that wasn’t always easy. He was hardening as a result of the life he was leading. Being vulnerable with anyone else in this new world would see a knife between his ribs.
Ezra yawned. He should have stayed in bed with the redhead. There was something familiar about her, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He ran a finger over his bottom lip. She’d bitten him hard enough to draw blood, and dug her nails into him as she came. Afterwards, she rolled away, burrowing under the blankets. She hadn’t told him to get out, letting her silence speak for her, but he’d still waited until she’d fallen asleep before he left.
‘You look like shit.’ Jem stepped out of the shadow of the nearest warehouse. His eyes scanned the docks—wary—like always. ‘Please tell me you haven’t—’
Ezra managed a smile. ‘No opium, I promise.’
‘Have you slept, Ez?’
‘Not really,’ Ezra replied, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
‘The girl from the skin market again? I’m not sure why I’m surprised,’ Jem mumbled, spying Ezra’s lip. ‘You let her take a chunk out of you?’
‘No pain, no gain. And it wasn’t her. She was a redhead, in case you’re wondering. Natural, I might add.’
‘I wasn’t wondering.’
‘I found this one in a pub—your sister’s to be precise,’ Ezra said. He usually avoided Lira. She was another link to the past. She’d looked worried when he’d followed the woman from the pub.
‘I didn’t know you frequented The Lion.’ Jem sounded surprised.
Ezra shrugged. ‘I don’t.’
‘She recognised you?’
‘She did.’
‘She won’t say anything.’
Ezra’s muscles tensed with the reminder of why they met like this in the first place. ‘I know, and on the basis of that statement, I’m going to assume they’re still looking for me.’
Jem nodded. ‘Keep your head low, Ez.’
‘I can’t get much lower than the Credges and Maddog Pierce.’ Ezra didn’t bother to hide the bitterness in his voice from Jem.
‘Since no one has been able to find you, the job of dragging your arse back to face His Majesty’s justice has been given to Tobias.’
Ezra sighed. ‘Fuck.’
Why did it have to be Tobias? The man hated him as passionately as Ezra hated being stuck in the filth and shit of the Credges with a target on his back and a false accusation attached to his name.
‘I see he’s been made Captain. He must be thrilled.’
Jem’s eyes widened. ‘You saw Tobias? When?’
‘Yesterday. I went for a walk like a normal human being and ended up watching him and Jonas drag a death witch from an alley. She was only a kid. What happened to her?’ He didn’t tell Jem how close he’d come to being dragged from that alley as well.
