Empress of Poisons ARC Read online

  “–did she mention me?–”

  “–does she miss us?–”

  “When I saw her, she was fine. Physically.” Artyom added. “She made it very clear how she felt about returning to this family. Her opinions had not changed.”

  Danika looked down at the floor. From the bobbing of her throat, she was forcing herself not to cry.

  “Did she say why she left?” Roman asked. He was talking to Artyom, but it was Danika he was looking at.

  “We know why she left.” I said. My voice settled over the room like dust falling from the ceiling. “Once you locate her, you’re to go and help her. The Bratva’s resources are at your command.”

  Artyom thinned his lips. “You don’t want to come with us?”

  “Elena and I have parted ways. It is you who now connects her to this family.”

  “Boss...you will want to come.”

  I crossed my hands over my front, feigning casualness. “And why is that?”

  Artyom and I interlocked gazes.

  “Because...because of the child.”

  There was only a moment where I registered my temper coming out, the Tarkhanov beast I kept locked up breaking free from its prison. I could hear the snap echo through my mind as the monster broke forth.

  My vision was red, my blood boiled hot.

  I lunged.

  5

  Konstantin Tarkhanov

  Artyom and I crashed to the ground, the desk toppling over with us as we hit the ground. The study rumbled as our strengths clashed, bringing down books and dust.

  His skin spilt beneath my first punch, but my ribs ached as he struck them. We exploited each other’s weaknesses and avoided each other’s strengths. It was almost like fighting against myself–that’s how well Artyom and I knew each other.

  We had been fighting against each other since our boyhood. Every day, every month, for decades. There was nothing in his arsenal he could surprise me with and vice versa.

  “Stop! Stop!” Danika’s voice rang out. “You’re hurting each other!”

  Her cries were lost in my rage. I couldn’t see anything through the red, through the fury.

  All I knew was: Artyom had betrayed me.

  And traitors didn’t get very far in the Tarkhanov Bratva.

  Artyom’s fingers wrapped around my throat as I buried my knee into his chest. Through his strangled gasp, he squeezed and said, “She needs you–”

  I threw my fist into his cheek, rendering him momentarily speechless. Air returned to my lungs as he grip on my neck loosened.

  “Stop it, stop it!” Danika’s voice slipped through my wall of wrath for a second time. “Stop, stop! You’re hurting each other–!”

  “Dani, do not–!”

  I felt soft hands grab the back of my neck, but they fell away as Artyom and I rolled. Loud crashes circled us, paintings falling from their hooks and plaster groaning beneath our weights. I briefly heard a cry of surprise followed by Roman swearing loudly.

  “Enough!”

  Stronger hands gripped my neck, wrenching me back. The person who had grabbed me and I went sprawling backwards, the both of us losing our footing.

  I saw Roman wrap an arm around Artyom’s neck and yank him backwards, the two falling into a bookshelf. A heavy novel dropped onto Roman's head and he swore loudly.

  I started forward but Dmitri shoved me to the side, blocking my view.

  “Boss, I know you’re angry. But Elena is in danger. In danger, do you hear me? She needs your help.”

  His eyes were imploring me to listen. The blue of them was so shocking I suddenly found myself torn back in time, viciously reminded of the lake near my house that used to freeze over in the winter. I could still feel the sting of ice beneath my palms as I toppled over and hear the ice splintering apart as my knees hit it.

  Careful, Kostya, my mother's voice crooned in my mind. If you break the ice, the monsters will be able to swim up and capture you.

  I fell in once. When I made it to the surface, lungs filled with water and fingertips blue, my mother had clucked her tongue from the edge of the lake.

  That wasn't the first time I felt unsafe in the care of my mother.

  “You’ll never forgive yourself if you don’t go now. You won’t be able to live with yourself.” Dmitri's voice dissolved the memory in my mind.

  My temper still threatened to take over, still threatened to absorb me whole. I carried the Tarkhanov beast low in my belly–and while I had always been good at keeping the monster inside of me on a leash, there seemed to be a single woman who could easily let it out. Who could easily set me off.

  Rationality gripped my mind, as cold as the brisk wind that stung my cheeks on the walk back to the house after my realisation, and I felt my body calming down.

  The word rung through my head on repeat. Elena, Elena, Elena.

  Child, child, child.

  "You okay, Dani?" Roman asked.

  I turned and spotted the young woman. She had a hand to her cheek, nursing a patch of reddening skin.

  Danika must've been the soft hands that tried to pull Artyom and I apart. In the flurry of the fight, one of us must've accidentally hurt her, causing a bruise to form on her face.

  Guilt swirled up inside of me, darkening the already horrible parts of my soul.

  I had hurt Danika, I had hurt the girl I had cared for since she was a teenager.

  Artyom looked how I felt. His face collapsed at the sight of the injury,. shame leaking through his expression.

  "It's okay," Danika whispered. She wouldn't meet my eyes. "It was an accident."

  Roman looked like he might tear my throat out. If he hadn't been holding Artyom, I would've let him.

  "There is no excuse," I said. "There is never an excuse."

  Suddenly the sound of a ringtone shot through the hallway.

  “Let me get that, Roman.” Artyom snapped, loosening the byki’s grip and fishing the phone out of his pocket. His bloody knuckles shook as he answered. “Elena, do not move. We’re coming to get you.”

  “A tracking chip.”

  Her voice.

  My love, my heart, my Elena. The woman who had destroyed me with a single sentence and left an array of broken pieces her in wake.

  Danika started forward like she might dive into the phone and pull Elena out.

  “Are you the only one who can access it?”

  Artyom paused. “In theory.”

  Elena was silent for a second, then, “In theory isn’t good enough.”

  “Elena–”

  The dial tone rang. She had hung up.

  Artyom tried to ring her again but there was no answer.

  My family looked to me, questions in their eyes. What was our next move going to be? What was my next move going to be?

  The sound of her voice echoed in my ears. So clear and strange, yet as familiar to me as my own. She had always had such a factual way of speaking, like every word that came out of her mouth was correct and there were no other answers than the ones she provided.

  I rubbed my aching jaw, blood coming away on my fingers. Not all of it was mine.

  “Ready the men.” I said calmly. “We have a woman to hunt.”

  Before we left, I sought out Danika. I found her with Roksana, the older woman checking on the forming bruise. Her fair fingers held Danika's chin gently but the expression on her face was not nearly as soft.

  Her grey eyes looked like gunmetal as they snapped to me.

  "Roksana, Danika," I greeted.

  "I do not wish to see you this very moment, Kostya." It was the harshest thing Roksana had ever said to me.

  I inclined my head. "I am not here to see you, Roksana, but rather Danika."

  Danika finally flickered her eyes to me, her view awkward because of Roksana still holding her chin.

  "It's okay, boss," she said. "It wasn't on purpose."

  I rested a hand on her head like
I used to do when she was younger. Roksana watched but said nothing.

  "There is no excuse. In exchange and to even the score, you can hurt me." I revealed my cheek to her, already bruised from Artyom's attacks. "If you hurt me, we will be even."

  Both of the women's eyes widened.

  "I'm not going to do that." Danika's voice grew higher in pitch. "I'd end up hurting myself more than you."

  "You're not that clumsy," I soothed.

  She frowned. "That's not what I meant."

  Some part of me yearned to return back to the man I was for my family.

  I would do anything for them.

  Almost anything.

  I wouldn't try and control my madness, couldn't bring back the man who had taken them in and cared for them. The man who had made jokes at breakfast and not caused nausea at his violent acts.

  I removed my hand from her hair. "I know, Danika. I know."

  ***

  We found the phone before we found Elena.

  It was shallow in the dirt, hidden beneath the underbrush. Rain had killed it, but it was a good indication that Elena had been here, had walked these makeshift paths.

  The man spread out around the area, searching inside of logs and beneath large bushes. But not even a footprint could be made out.

  I tilted my head up, eyeing the branches that watched over us. Most of them looked strong enough to form a pathway in the treetops.

  Then a sliver of color caught my eye.

  While my men hunted on the ground, I shrugged off my blazer, rolled up my sleeves and swung myself up into the tree. A few of them shared looks but none of them said anything.

  I found what I was looking for. A blue piece of fabric was tucked into the crevices of the branch, like it had been torn. I held the tear between my fingers, wondering what it had once been a wholly part of.

  Was Elena aware she now had a hole in her jumper? Could she feel the brittle cold more keenly now?

  I leaped back down from the tree and passed the fabric to Olezka.

  “Only Elena would use the trees,” he stated. “Titus’s men wouldn’t be able to get up there.”

  “My thoughts exactly,” I said.

  My torpedo eyed the evidence, seeing more than I could with his trained eyes.

  Rain began to sprinkle once more, the droplets hitting the leaves around us and joining the symphony of the forest. Moments of beauty had been lost to me for three years, but now I could almost see my love walking through this forest, hear her talking over the birds chirps and sound of rain.

  “Boss!” One of my men yelled. “Uh…we’ve found something.”

  I strode over to where a cluster of my men had formed. They had pushed back branches and dirt, revealing a decomposing body. It had only been here a few days, the flesh only showing minor signs of bacteria eating away.

  But it was clear who had taken this man out.

  Two holes were where his eyes should’ve been, bloody and dark. They were turned up at the sky but they saw nothing.

  “She’s been here,” Roman said.

  “Obviously,” Dmitri muttered. “Who else kills via the eyeballs?”

  “This man posed a threat to her,” I noted. “Bring his body with us. I want to know everything about his life–including why he found himself in Elena’s way.”

  Noises of agreement blended together. My men wrapped the body up before carrying it out towards where the cars were parked. Most of the journey had been on foot, the forest too thick to get a vehicle through.

  Artyom looked to me, face swelling. I knew mine didn’t look any better. “We’re not the only ones hunting her,” he said.

  “I know that.” I remarked. “But who else would dare? As far as the world is concerned, Elena left of her own accord. Her family could care less.” I shrugged my blazer back on. “Unless you’re implying it’s someone of our family.”

  “Not anymore,” Roman sniped. “That bitch is an ex-family member.”

  Dmitri pressed his lips together but said nothing.

  “What would Titus want with Elena?” Artyom asked.

  “When we find her, we can ask her.” I scanned the branches once more. “Elena didn’t use the ground. She’s too smart. Send some men up into the treetops.”

  The search continued for many more hours, but no one dared complain. No one was leaving, no one was sleeping, until we had found her.

  Even as the November rain grew heavier and the sky grew darker, we continued to search. Men clumsily climbed through the treetops. They ended up finding an empty pack of candies and a half-eaten jerky stick.

  She was close.

  Where are you, Elena? I thought. This is your territory, the world you are familiar with. You might evade us now, but Tarkhanov’s always catch their prey.

  Make no mistake, my Elena. I will find you.

  Olezka stepped out from the trees. He had gone a few miles ahead of us, seeking threats before we stumbled upon them.

  “There is a camp of Titus’s men up head.” He stated. “Would you like to go around?”

  I smiled. “No, no. We should say hello, shouldn’t we?”

  Excitement spread throughout the men, guns readying and smiles spreading.

  We found them circled around a bonfire, like medieval travellers making a long journey. They had shed their weapons and rucksacks, which became easy prey for my men to make suddenly disappear.

  It would almost be too easy.

  “Gentlemen,” I greeted.

  Their heads shot up and they leapt to their feet. When they scrambled for their guns, they suddenly found the places they had left them to be empty. Oh dear.

  “Don’t worry yourselves about our arrival,” I crooned. “Who is in charge here?”

  One stepped forward. The shortest of the lot with a long scar curling down his right cheek. “Give us our guns and make this a fair fight.” He growled. “Titus was right when she said you had no honor.”

  “Because she is so noble herself.” I waved a hand at my men. They lowered their guns–they weren’t worried. They looked like children who had just stumbled into a candy shop. “Let us not resort to violence. Why are you here?”

  The man hissed, his scar warping as he did so. “For the same reason you are.”

  My smile grew. “I was afraid you might say that.” I shrugged off my blazer, passing it off to Olezka. “If a fair fight is what you’re looking for, let me present myself as a candidate.”

  Like a Jack in a box, the man lunged towards me. His movements were brash and untrained. The actions of a lowly soldier, not anyone high up in Tatiana’s operation.

  Killing him was easy.

  His neck split between my hands like a twig.

  “Anyone else?” I asked the remaining men as their leader dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

  None of them moved.

  "Pity. I was so hoping for a fair fight."

  The other men came at me like a swarm of flies. Apparently, they didn't understand the principles of an equal fight, since it was four against one. When my men tried to intervene, I held up a hand.

  I wanted to feel the ripping of flesh beneath my hands, the snapping of bones in my grip. These men had hunted my Elena...and the baby. They had sought to hurt something that belonged to me. They deserved nothing less than to die at my very hands.

  That’s exactly how they ended up dying.

  The first one came at my throat, thinking he might render me airless. I caught his wrist in the air, yanking to the right with fierce strength. The sound of his shoulder dislocating was buried beneath his howl of pain. When he fell to the ground, the others trampled him.

  One down.

  The second and third assailants banded together. One came for each arm. It was an effective technique, after all, how could I fight with no arms? However, they didn’t account for me envisioning their plan and sidestepping easily to the side.

  I tripped
the third one as he went past me, sending him clattering to the ground. It wasn’t hard to step hard onto his throat, cutting through his oxygen with the heel of my shoe.

  The second one went down as easily as his partner. When he turned to me, I snapped out my hand and grabbed his head. With a yank, I took him off his balance and held him up with only my fingers. He screamed as I pressed down and screamed even louder when I reached into his mouth and yanked out his tongue.

  He died choking on his own blood.

  The fourth one came at me last. He had picked up a large stick, brandishing fire on the end of it.

  I rose an eyebrow, almost impressed by his flaming weapon.

  He came at me, flames first. I dodged by a millisecond, feeling the heat brush up against me. It singed my shirt but didn’t touch the skin.

  I thinned my lips. This was a tailored dress shirt that was probably worth more than the land we stood on.

  The next time he went for me, I sidestepped again but turned and grabbed the back of his neck. He fell back into me, allowing me to tear the stick from his hand. As soon as he hit the ground, I brandished it to his chest, letting the fire eat away at his flesh and lifeforce.

  He was still alive when we left the makeshift camp but he wouldn’t be for long.

  Olezka held out my jacket to me as we left.

  “See if you can find anything that could lead us to Tatiana.” I said. “If not, let the animals have them.”

  6

  Konstantin Tarkhanov

  The search continued for another three days.

  Morale was beginning to wane as mud soaked further into clothing and bellies grew lighter with hunger. I had little concern for the bitching of the men–they knew we weren’t leaving until I had what I had come for.

  We found a few more pieces of evidence that Elena was close by as we travelled. A makeshift shelter out of branches, a torn piece of wrapper, a pile of cat shit–which I assumed was left behind so sweetly for us by Babushka.

  “Boss.” Olezka approached me on the third day. He used his gentle voice right off the bat which meant he was going to try and convince me to give up my plight. “I can continue to hunt for her. I will bring her...and anyone with her back safely. You have my word.”