Walk With The Devil [ Kaz Brekker - Six Of Crows ]

2. Two

Present day

Erin was running through the streets of Ketterdam, laughing out loud while occasionally looking over her shoulder to see if she was still being followed. Men, as big as they were fat, were running after him. They were members of the Black Tips. And, they weren't the softest of the gang, Erin knew that if she fell into their hands, it would be the end of her. That's why she laughed, the adrenaline made her euphoric.

Suddenly, she stopped running, turned around to wait and confront her enemies. A smile still plastered on his face. The members of the Black Tips also stopped, sensing the trap. Erin held back from jumping up and down, the euphoria and excitement were too intense.

"Gentlemen, tell me, do you know where we are now?" she asked in a voice so soft they all thought it was someone else who had spoken. "What? No one knows? What a shame!"

Erin turned her head slightly, still keeping an eye on the men in front of her, she pointed at the Crow Club sign. The men looked in the direction indicated and they began to back away, Erin's smile widening.

"Looking forward to seeing you again, gentlemen!"

When she was sure they were no longer there, she entered the Crow Club, she went straight up to Kaz Brekker's office. She stopped in front of the closed door. She knocked and only entered when she had permission. She walked towards Kaz's desk and placed the Kruges she had collected from the Black Tips.

"There are more than expected," she announced. "There are two hundred thousand Kruges instead of one hundred thousand."

Kaz frowned before asking why she had double the expected amount. Erin shrugged before answering.

"Geels' second in command gave me double to make sure I don't come back to their territory again. I think he's a little afraid of me."

"Anyone in their right mind should be afraid of you," he said with the shadow of a smile playing on his lips.

"And you, are you afraid of me?" she asked with an amused voice.

"For that I would have to be sane."

Erin laughed heartily. For Kaz, listening to her laugh was like listening to the most beautiful symphony ever written. Yet he hated it. He hated that she was the only one who managed to make him feel real things, ironically, she made him feel human. He found it ironic because she was as monstrous as he was, the people of Ketterdam knew, when they saw Kaz Brekker or Erin Eyre alone, they were going to have a bad time, but when Kaz and Erin were together, there, they no longer had any chance of getting out alive.

A lot had changed in a year. Kaz and Erin's relationship had evolved. At first it had been quite complicated, they had had to get used to each other's constant presence in their lives - going from seeing each other once every three months to seeing each other every day had been quite a drastic change and they had a hard time getting used to it - then once they got past that it was fine, they became a great duo. A terrifying duo who sow terror in their path, but excellent all the same.

And, the fears and doubts that Kaz had had at the beginning, had been proven wrong. Kaz Rietveld had not resurfaced, not once. Well, not when they were in public, when they were in his office or in Erin's room, there he allowed himself to become the old him again, but otherwise, he was still Kaz Brekker.

Everything was going as Kaz had planned. Erin did what she wanted, when she wanted, she often - far too often, in fact - challenged Kaz's plans, which had a way of driving him crazy, but in the end, the remarks she made helped him perfect his plans, so he said nothing. And, Erin wasn't listening or obeying anyone, like Kaz had promised. The only person she more or less obeyed was Kaz because she didn't want to undermine his authority in front of the other gang members and also because she knew he wasn't really putting anyone in danger, that everything was planned down to the second and that if things ever went wrong, there was always a backup plan, so if something went really, really wrong, it was their fault, not Kaz' .