CH20

I am lying on my bed and feel how the blessed numbness tries to overtake my mind. It is almost morning by now, but I have not slept for almost two days so my body does not give a single fuck. Unfortunately, Morpheus’ domain is out of my reach, and that is because some total idiots downstairs thought it will be so damn fun to start howling like homeless dogs with a bladder infection just a minute ago. The last couple of years of my education had taught me that a deep sleep is a luxury I cannot afford. So I am lying here, pissed and tired, wishing that someone more ambitious than me would make us all a favor and kill those bloody bastards.

…Damnit, I groan.

No such luck.

After another minute of constant yelling my patience runs out and I have to get up. Someone is gonna pay for it. I do not even bother to change my clothes as I walk through my room. The place is a little bit claustrophobic but I do not mind, at least it is my own. When I was younger I had to share my dorm room with three of my brothers. The place used to stink like a rotting carcass. Well, these are the privileges of seniority.

I walk through the hall and down the stairs. Theoretically, I could have taken the elevator but this is a good way to stretch my aching muscles and it is just one floor. With my belly full of righteous anger, I make a strong resolution to personally ensure that whoever is guilty of disturbing my rest will have a lot more shitty morning than me.

“…and you’re an imbecile! Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to arrange that?!” I pause in my tracks when I hear an unfamiliar voice. Outsiders at the Academy? That is weird.

But that also means that I can simply kill the annoying fucker and go back to sleep. Great news. With my mood lifted considerably I enter the common room. We sometimes use this place to meet and enjoy a drink and watch holo-films. Everyone needs to relax once in a while.

The scene I face is like nothing I would expect. My brother, Draco seats on the sofa in the middle of the room, seemingly unconcerned and with no expression on his handsome face, while opposite him stands a… man? At least I think he is a man. The guy must be almost two meters tall, a real giant compared to me. But the real eye-catcher are his clothes; a blue shirt under a violet jacket, light green trousers and a pair of thin sunglasses on his nose, all combined with short red hair. He looks like if a freaking rainbow.

And those sunglasses. At 4 a.m., in March. Jesus… This is the man responsible for my wake-up call? That kind of kills the mood.

After one more step I realize that there are more people in the room than I first thought. Two more actually. They stand in the shadows, directly behind the clown. Both of them are men, dressed completely in black, in contrast. Taking into account that they must be well over 100 kg each, the fact that I had not spotted them right away is a testament of their skills. Or my drowsiness. It is 4 a.m. for fuck’s sake.

Nevertheless, these boys look like taken straight from a VDV recruitment poster. And I start to understand who our guests may be and what is going on here.

“Draco, you moron! I know you don’t give a damn about regulations but this time you’ve gone too far! Inviting whores to the Academy?!” I shoot a pointed look in the direction of the two stone-faced bodyguards. “Have you lost your mind?! And why in the world did you bring along their pimp?! Don’t tell me you’re gonna fuck him too?!”

That at least brings a trace of a smile on my brother’s face. He seems… relieved?

“Listen, I can overlook some of your little adventures, but this is…” I continue blabbing while walking towards the center of the room. Just when I am sure the two blocks cannot see it, I sign with my left hand:

Need help?

It’s fine. Draco replies by casually waving his fingers, and right after that: Be careful.

Pff, I am always careful.

“Who the hell are you?” The clown finally turns towards me. Great, now the color of his face matches with the fiery red haircut.

“This is my brother, Ares.” Draco takes the responsibility for the introduction part and with his next sentence confirms my suspicions. “Ares, meet Aleksey Petrovich Kuznets. My beloved daddy.”

Did I hear sarcasm in his voice? Yes, I did.

“Get out of here kid, before I lose my patience. Your keepers tend to get annoyed when someone squash one of their pets.” Aleksey somehow manages to restrain himself and speaks calmly.

I had to smile. If that is how you understand slaughtering whole villages than yes. They can become very annoyed.

At the same time I see the bodyguards changing positions. One of them takes a neutral stance behind his employer’s back while the other one, on Aleksey’s left, comes forward; a clear sign that I should find someone else to bother with my charming self.

But there is no chance they will get rid of me that easily. No matter who they are, Academy’s guards would never let an outsider carry a weapon on the campus. And I think it is time for a lesson.

“Listen, you fucker.” I take another two or three steps until the first bodyguard comes within my reach. “You come to my home, you wake me up with your squeaks and you think…”

I do not bother to end the sentence and attack while speaking. My head goes first and my forehead cleanly connects with the muscleman’s lower jaw. Sometimes it pays off to be, ahem, of average height. The guy stumbles but stays on his feet. At the same time I see Draco jumping from his comfy seat and joining the fun by stopping the other one from helping his friend. I do not waste time and try to kick the my opponent in his right kneecap. Unfortunately for me, he is fast, able to regain his focus fast and dodge. With anger on his face, the brute counterattacks by throwing out his right hand and trying to grab my wrist. I am faster.

My body bents when I charge forward with my head lowered and catch the guy with a wrestling grab while my right elbow lands on his lower abdomen. His whole body shakes, but it is not enough to send him on the floor. Instead, the man makes a swing with both of his hands and strikes my exposed back. I feel a joint of pain runs through my body and my legs turn into jelly; one more such a blow and I will be done. Mustering my strength I embrace my opponent’s leg with both of my hands and try to twist my body while pulling him along. He loses his balance and we both fall; the guy ends up on the floor while I land on him, roll over and stand up. It is time for another round.

The bodyguard apparently thinks so too, because I can see a cruel smile dancing on his bloodied lips while he gets up. I must have smashed out some of his teeth. Not waiting a second to recover he throws himself at me and tries to overwhelm me with his mass. He never comes that far. A bullet embeds in his shoulder when he is couple of centimeters away from me, the force flips him over one of the couches.

The room turns silent as we all look in one direction. Even Draco breaks his duel. At the entrance stands a lonely figure, dressed in a pair of boxers, with a handgun.

“Chingis, what the hell?! You could’ve killed me!” I shout at my brother. His Asian features make it hard to tell but he looks somewhat sleepy.

“Yup,” Chingis shrugs and yawns. “Shit happens. Are you done playing? You’re kinda noisy…”

VDV - (rus. Vozdushno-desantnye voyska) Russian Airborne Troops

“So, care to tell me what was that about?” I ask Draco while we both sit in his room. The place is not very different from my own besides the fact that he lives on the second floor. “It didn’t look like a standard visit.”

After we were finally able to get back to our dorm rooms I thought it may be a good idea to get things straight. Our guests left in a hurry but the cleaning took some time. So now we sit here, a half empty bottle of vodka from Draco’s own stockpile standing between us.

“…What do you know about my father?” Draco answers with a question.

“Not much,” my brother is not a fan of this sort of talks. He likes to keep private things… private. “I know he comes from the Slavic League and that the guy has money. Those two facts combined mean that he either stole it from the government or that he is the government. People like him were once called oligarchs, I believe. Oh, and by the way sorry for calling him a pimp.”

To my surprise my brother bursts out laughing.

“Please. He owns half of the brothels in the former West Ukraine. That name suits him well.”

Draco remains silent for a while and I do not interrupt; I am in no rush.

“The truth is, my father is an overly ambitious prick, who thinks that life is only about fucking, drinking and licking asses of those above you in a hope of gaining a tiniest shred of power. And he has an unflinching belief that every other human being is just as rotten as he is.” The disgusted expression on my brother face makes me rethink the phrase “daddy-issues”. “That was the reason he sent me here, you know? To be a middle man between him and the Brotherhood, to gain power inside the organization and so on. Ha, you can only imagine the depth of his disappointment after he’d finally realized that for the Brotherhood he is just a disposable pawn. Not that he would just stop making business with us, oh no, that would require an ounce pride, something totally foreign for my dear old dad. Fucking rat. Seriously, if you hadn’t shown up I may have killed him .”

My brother takes a shot and sneers. I follow suit to keep him company and refill the glasses.

“…He wanted me to be his tool, you know. To gain a high position, become useful,” Draco continues quietly, his eyes never meet mine. “Can you fucking believe that? I was six when I had first entered the Academy and the last thing he said to me before he left me here? “Do not disappoint me, boy.” And I tried. I’ve always been the first to volunteer, I took every shitty job there was just so I could be the best. Always the best. But after some time…”

“You started to enjoy being here?” I guess what my brother wanted to say.

“Yeah, you could say so. The Academy became my home. My family.”

What could I say? I knew that feeling. Even though my mother had her own reasons to send me here, the Academy was a special place. Not a good – and certainly not a safe – place, but special nevertheless. Nobody here would bother to help you with your problems, but the teachers could show you how to beat the shit out of those problems if you cared to listen. And you could be sure that there is a bunch of really dangerous fuckers ready to avenge you if you fail. Besides, I am sure Draco has more reasons to stay with us. A particular gloomy dark-skinned reason comes to my mind.

“So what did he want this time? A sweet family reunion?”

“Something like that,” Draco gives me a big genuine smile. “My older brother’s died. Biological brother, I mean.”

“Ah, my condolences. I see it hit you hard.” My voice is full of mockery.

“Screw him. We’re from different mothers anyway. The big idiot overdose at one of daddy’s nightclubs. Must’ve been hell of a party.” Draco laughs. “I only wish I had been there to see how his brain tissues started to leak through his ears. Apparently it’d been quite a show. But you see, the guy was useful for my father. Stupid as a brick and loyal to the death, a perfect combination. And now, without him, daddy’s nervous. He has no one to watch his back… and the world is dangerous.”

So he wanted you to come back with him…

“And what will you do now?” I finally ask my brother, a glass hovers in my hand.

“I graduate this year. And after that I will ask Jack to make me a hunter.”

A hunter? What does becoming one of the Brotherhood’s infamous executioners has to do with anything? They were damn good assassins, true, but…

“Ah, I understand. You hope that his name will one day appear on the list.”

“I know it will. Sooner or later. And when it happens I will be the one to take the contract and I will personally cut off my father’s fucking head.”

What can you do when you hear such a declaration?

“Let’s drink to that!”