Dark Deceit Read Online Free

to the weapon. The fuck had apparently pissed off
the wrong people. The Mare looked around the apartment the mark had kept in
Boston. It was nice, if you liked the idea of wanting to slit your wrists just
for something to do.
    Everything was white, or at least it had been. Now it was spattered
in the mark’s blood, painted in the stuff. The shag rug where the POS was
laying had gone from pink to red. Soon it would be brown as the blood dried to
a hard crust.
    Message sent.
    Korvain’s pocket began to vibrate. Palming his phone, he answered it
and held it to his ear. ‘Speak.’
    ‘Sit rep?’ Darrion’s cold voice asked on the other end of the phone.
    Korvain glanced around the room, nudging his mark with the toe of
his boot. ‘End game.’
    ‘Good. Divert.’
    Korvain hung up and slid the phone back into one of the pockets of
his black cargoes. He faded back to Dorchester, stepping out of a dark alleyway
beside a cheap brothel. Under the haze of red-tinged lighting, there was a set
of dingy stairs leading to the upper level; syringes and bent spoons littering
the treads.
    Korvain opened up Darrion’s office door and froze. His boss had the
tip of a throwing knife in his right hand, the concentration on his face
unmistakable.
    ‘Don’t move,’ Darrion murmured icily; his blue eyes fixed on a point
just over Korvain’s left shoulder. Korvain did as he was told, standing
stock-still, hardly breathing. Darrion had trained him, had taught him
everything he knew about killing. Korvain knew what the man was capable of, how
good he was with a blade in his hand.
    Darrion drew his arm back above his head and released the blade in a
downward chopping motion. The blade sliced the air perfectly, flying just a
hair’s-breadth away from Korvain’s ear. The blade landed in the wooden board
behind him with a sharp thunk .
    Korvain released the breath he’d been holding and straightened up. Darrion
stalked past him to retrieve the blades he must have been throwing at the wall
since he’d made the call to bring Korvain back in.
    ‘What took you so long?’
    ‘I didn’t realize you were timing me,’ Korvain replied in a cold
voice, walking over to one of the walls and putting his back to it. There were
a lot of bare walls to choose from. Darrion was no Martha Stewart.
    Darrion took up the same position as before and took aim once more. Thunk.
Thunk. Thunk. ‘I have another assignment for you.’ His voice was calm,
level, matter-of-fact. It was a little too calm—unnerving Korvain and sending a
chill down his spine.
    ‘Why didn’t you just text me the details?’
    Darrion looked at him with a hard edge in his pale eyes. ‘Delicacy
is required.’
    Korvain folded his arms across his chest. When was Darrion ever
delicate? When his boss wanted secrecy, it meant it was someone important, not
like the POS lesser god he’d killed earlier.
    Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. ‘This is a once-in-a-lifetime hit. If
you can make the mark disappear, you’ll get paid triple what you usually get,
plus I’ll take five years off your contract.’
    The muscle in Korvain’s jaw jumped. ‘I’m listening.’
    Thunk. ‘You can’t fuck this up if you take
it.’ Thunk. ‘If you do,’ thunk, ‘you know what happens.’
    That sound was really beginning to irritate Korvain. ‘Okay.
Want to tell me?’ he asked, his molars clenched together, grinding.
    ‘A Valkyrie,’ Darrion replied calmly, throwing a blade.
    Korvain barked a harsh laugh. ‘A Valkyrie?’ he asked incredulously. ‘Why
not ask to kill Odin himself?’
    Darrion turned, throwing the blade in his hand. It hit the wall
behind Korvain, but not before slicing open his cheek as he reflexively dodged
to the side. He hadn’t been fast enough though. And that pissed him off. The
rage Korvain kept simmering whenever he was around Darrion began to boil over,
making him see black spots when he blinked.
    He felt the first warm rivulets of his blood tracking down his
cheek, dropping off