Crowed (Team Zero #2) - Rina Kent Page 0,21

my calf and toss it to her. Homeless women have it the worst.

She stares between the knife and the money, incredulous.

“If someone hurts you,” I nod to the knife, “don’t think. Hurt them back.”

Rules I lived, live, and will always live by.

I weave through the smell of waste and vomit until I get back to my bike. I dial a number for a favour long due. If Ghost is here, then she must’ve tagged along.

“You’ve reached the one and only Celeste,” she says in perfect French like a receptionist or some shit. “I can do anything for the right price.”

I ascend my bike. “I’m calling in a favour.”

There’s a long pause. She’s probably weighing in the pros and cons. Ghost’s influence. Celeste is from the second generation and came to The Pit the same day as the Rhodes. Only now they’re back to their snobbish aristocratic lives while she continues being a demon in Hades’ hell. Ghost favoured her out of all our trainees and became her mentor of sorts.

“If it means I won’t get paid, then, no. Sorry. I have lots of contracts. Oh, bugger. The reception is so horrible here, Crow. I’ll –”

“I said I’m calling in a favour, Celeste.” I cut her off. “Remember when I saved your arse that day in freezing fucking Siberia? You would’ve died if I didn’t come along.”

She clicks her tongue. “Saving is an overstatement, don’t you think? You just happened to be there.”

“Still counts.” I put on my helmet.

“Fiiiine.” She groans. “What do you want? Just so you know, I hate doing things that I don’t get paid for.”

“Fuck if I care,” I say. “Name: Paul Renard. His storage was blown up not so long ago. I need police reports. Morgue reports. Any evidence that could lead me to whoever he was associated with.”

“Might take a few days.” She sounds distracted. “But I’ll get it for you Crow-Crow. I’ll even try to quicken the process if you promise a tiny little favour in return.”

My eyes narrow. Celeste never asks for tiny favours. They’re usually huge trouble. “What is it?”

“Don’t take a contract on the Rhodes.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re mine!” She laughs. “I can convince Aaron to come back. If he refuses… I’ll accept Hades’ contract and finish him.”

“You can’t finish Aaron, Celeste.”

“Why the hell not?” She snaps as if she thought about the option.

“Because I trained you both and I know how fucking crazy you two can get. But Aaron’s level of crazy is different from yours. If you provoke him, you will get yourself killed.”

“We will see about that.” She hangs up.

I shake my head and start the engine. No idea why I feel like a fucking father, not wanting his children to kill each other. I taught those fuckers how to hold a gun and shoot. I used to tell them that either they killed or died. I taught them everything I know, not because I was ordered to, but because I wanted them to survive.

And for what? To become killers and even turn against each other.

It’s an infinite reality for us. Even the Rhodes who went back to their elite aristocratic lives can’t help but kill. For different reasons, but they still kill all the same.

Ghost’s words slam back at me again. The promise of something else beyond the endless loop of killing.

Could it be possible for someone like me?

Since the image of me murdering Doctor Curly has never left my head since Eloise smiled up at him, I very much doubt that.

Eloise

I smile up at Xavier, not believing what I just heard. “Really?”

He sits beside me on the small table in the town’s most touristy coffee shop. It’s about five minutes’ walk from the hospital. When he asked to have our break here instead of at the hospital cafeteria, I reluctantly agreed. I want to test something, and Xavier is the perfect candidate. I never thought he had such news for me.

“Absolutely.” He grins, his boyish charm on display. “After you asked me about doubling your shifts, I spoke to the director of the emergency room. The department already suffers from a lack of staff in the afternoon shift, so he’s more than willing to give you extra hours.”

“Thank you!” I would hug him if I were a hugger. “You don’t know how much this means to me.”

Papa’s house. That’s what it means. Add this to the rent I received from Crow, and I’ll be able to pay back the bank and keep the house.

“My pleasure.” Xavier touches my