Chapter 14 #2
For once, the shades didn’t fight him. They turned to go back the way they’d come, streaming inches above the ground, indistinguishable from the prison’s gloom.
The cell door’s bolt slid back, and all four Shadows shouldered their way through.
Niko kept his head low in a gesture of submission, doing his best to look like anything but a threat.
If they thought he had surrendered, that they controlled him, then perhaps they would grow complacent.
He would watch, waiting for the perfect moment. And then he would strike.
These men might be soldiers of the Light, true. But if it was between them and his Dimi, there would be no choice. He would use whatever weapons he had at his disposal to kill them.
Yes, his shades hissed, coursing faster. Kill them, and feed on them, and strengthen until no one can stand against us…
The shades had almost returned to him; he could feel them lurking around the bend from his cell, biding their time until they could seep back inside him, unseen.
Maybe he should take on Berezin and his men now, draining the life from them before this farce of a trial could take place.
He could do it; there was no question in his mind.
And the more people he drained, the stronger he would become. But what if that endangered Katerina?
As if Berezin had plucked the thought from his mind, the alpha Shadow sneered at him.
“You’ve been whining about seeing that Dimi of yours since the moment you got here.
Well, now is your chance. She’ll stand trial right alongside you, and then doubtless the two of you will swing from the hangman’s rope side by side.
Not the reunion you dreamed of, perhaps, but beggars can’t be choosers, no? ”
That settled matters. If this was his opportunity to see Katerina, he wouldn’t compromise it. Together, the two of them had always been unstoppable. He would go along with this charade, until or unless he couldn’t anymore.
“I understand, alpha,” he murmured, allowing Berezin to take hold of one of his arms.
Morozov snorted. “Not so fearsome now, are you? No more than a weakened pup, bowing to the alpha of the Druzhina Guard as you should.” He spat at Niko’s feet, the glob of saliva running between the stones.
Inside Niko, his black dog stirred, enraged. When I am free, the dog growled, I will show you what it means to be a true alpha. You will kneel to me.
Something about the dog’s voice sounded different, rougher. Less a guardian and defender of the vulnerable; more a leashed, vicious beast. But Niko couldn’t dwell on that now.
“I do not answer to you,” he said instead, curling his lip at Morozov.
The man’s eyes darkened, his body shimmering with the first hint of his Change. “Oh yes, you do. I am the alpha’s second; you are naught but a bottom-feeding worm.”
“I thought I was a weakened pup.” Niko tilted his head, unable to resist needling Morozov. It was too easy. “Which is it? You seem a bit confused. Perhaps that’s how you earned your place as the alpha’s second—all brawn, little brain, doomed never to rise to true leadership.”
“Why, you—” The man lunged for him, giving Niko the distraction he needed.
Now, he told his shades, and they streamed through the cell’s bars, keeping close to the floor, hidden in the gloom as Morozov’s hands closed on his upper arms.
“Let him go,” Berezin ordered, his voice cold steel.
“He insulted me!”
“Because you provoked him. Unhand him and step away. We have places to be.”
The other two Shadows flanked their alpha, one of them pulling Morozov back, the other restraining Niko, even though he’d given no overt sign of resistance.
Amidst the chaos, the shades wrapped around his ankles, unnoticed, absorbing back into his body as if they’d never been gone at all.
Niko smiled at Morozov, who growled at him, the black dog barely chained.
“Nezhit.”
He turned in response to Berezin’s voice, just in time for the man’s fist to connect with his jaw. Pain reverberated from the point of impact, and he had to brace himself against the wall to keep his feet.
Kill him, the shades ordered, cold as the depths of the Vohdanya Sea that bordered Iriska. Strangle him with your chains, as you imagined. It will be the work of a moment.
Niko could envision it so clearly: wrapping the chain that bound his cuffs around Berezin’s throat until the man choked and sputtered, his face growing blue as Niko’s grip tightened.
Sending the tendrils of Darkness to suck the life from the other three Shadows, helpless to defend their alpha.
The satisfaction of watching Morozov die at his hands; the incredulous, defeated look on Berezin’s face when the alpha realized he’d never commanded Niko at all, right before the light vanished from his eyes and Veles came for him.
But, no. As satisfying as that would be in the moment, he was playing a long game here, holding his secrets close, like cards in a game of Durak, until the right time came to reveal them.
And so he let the four Shadows drag him from his cell, Berezin’s blade at his neck and Morozov’s, fittingly, at his back, the point digging in just enough to make him wince.
He lifted his head and held it high, taking in everything he’d seen through his shades’ gaze: the winding corridors, the bedraggled prisoners, the rough-hewn walls damp with grime.
And when at last he mounted the stairs and stepped outside, the sun’s warmth bathing him and the sweet, fresh air filling his lungs, he told himself that the tears that stung his eyes were only a result of the blinding light after so many days in the dark.
He was Niko Alekhin, alpha Shadow of Kalach.
He would do what must be done.