Chapter 236: Blood Laughs

The scream had cut the market — a raw, high sound that ended as quickly as it began. Tobias heard it and moved.

Smoke curled in ribbons through the low tunnels, and the fire’s heat painted his face orange. He slipped between toppled crates and upended barrels, keeping low. The market had become a theater of frantic movement: people running, stalls collapsing, the occasional metallic ring of a coin pouch abandoned and rolling away in the dirt. Above it all, the men sent by Victoria prowled like a second plague — precise, brutal, and laughing as they cut.

What irked Tobias more was the fact that they enjoyed the killings. Laughter spilled as people ran for their lives. They should be focused on their task, but instead, they were focused on killing people who had done no harm to them. Innocent lives were lost.

Tobias blamed himself too. Maybe if he had gone with some other plan, this wouldn’t have happened. But was that the truth? With the way he saw how blood-hungry these men were, he doubted that even if he had gone with a different plan, they would have let the others go.

But at least he could stop it now. Maybe if he just showed them the body of the Owl, then they would let the others go.

He continued his movements in search of the other men, preferably someone in charge. Maybe the client?

He found them clustered in a ragged clearing between three stalls. A small group — five or six — huddled around a heap of bodies and embers, cutting through what was left for trophies and loose coin.

One of them was Anderson. The boy was young and fresh-faced in a way that didn’t match the blood on his hands, a pale scar slashing across a cheek that gave his grin an animal edge. He knelt, pulling a sword free from the chest of a fallen wolf; blood ran down the blade and dripped to the floor.

There was a small, vicious grin on his lips as he brought the tip of the sword to his mouth and licked at the wet steel. Tobias felt his stomach roll at the gesture.

"He tastes weak," Anderson muttered in disgust.

Around Anderson, the other men laughed comically.

They were dressed like predators in civilized clothing: heavy boots, layered leather, hoods pulled tight, masks tucked up under chins or hanging at their belts.

One of them — broad shoulders, a shaved crown, a nose crooked as if broken twice — barked something that sent a ripple of amusement through the group. Another, lean and quick, spat into the ash and mocked a fallen trader by kicking the man like he was a disease.

"Funny how they thought shifting could help them," he said.

The other laughed. "You shifted too."

"Of course I did. I thought it was going to be a good fight, but nothing good came out. I used my wolf for no fucking reason."

"Except to kill him and rip his heart out," the other said.

The group laughed again, Anderson along with them.

It was only after they said it that Tobias’s gaze cast down to the man and, truthfully, there was a gaping hole in the man’s chest.

"Who’d have thought we would get to enjoy this bloodbath. And here I was thinking that this quest would be boring," Anderson spoke with a laugh.

Tobias could feel his hands clench.

*Calm down,* his wolf, Ryker, told him. *Don’t give yourself away.*

Tobias nodded and took a deep breath. He had to control himself. If he didn’t, then he was just going to put a target on his back. He had a plan in place. This was like killing two birds with one stone.

If he could sneak along with them, he could go to the West, get information on what the Enclave was doing, and also get information about the Silver Creek pack.

He had to control himself. There was a lot at stake here, and he wasn’t going to let anything hinder or destroy the plans he had in place.

He had stolen the dead man’s identity. If he played this right, they’d believe the body. If he played it wrong, there was only the flame and the alley to hide in.

He moved forward, stepping out of the shadows.

"Sir," he said, matching the rough cadence of the men clustered there. He made sure his voice sounded like the dead man’s own.

There was a reason he was nicknamed a master of disguise after all. He had heard the voice once, but it was enough to copy.

"What is it?" Anderson said with a glare. "Can’t you see I’m busy?"

"I have something to report," Tobias said to him.

"And who are you?" Anderson spoke with a low growl.

Tobias swallowed. He had no idea what the man’s name was. He had been in such a hurry that he forgot to get more information from the man.

"This is William, sir," said a voice from Tobias’s left — a gruff fellow with fingers like broken twigs. "He’s a new recruit. He hasn’t learned the rules perfectly yet."

Tobias could not believe his ears. The man who had behaved so cruelly, peeing on the body of a dead girl, was a new recruit? Was cruelty a requirement to be a part of these people?

He pushed the thought aside, taking on the role of a new recruit. He slumped his shoulders as if he were nervous and darted his eyes to the ground, making sure not to stare into Anderson’s eyes.

When Tobias had first heard Anderson speak earlier, asking questions, he never thought that the boy would be this cruel — that he’d take joy in killing people like they were nothing. But again, he wasn’t surprised, or rather, he shouldn’t be surprised. Victoria and her people were famous for their cruelty after all. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"I had no idea we even had new recruits with us," Anderson said.