red lake

prologue

"What's the matter, branleur?" you tutted, a devious smirk playing upon your lips. Your SMG was held to the shivering man's head, his bald scalp relecting the bright red, green, and yellow lights of the casino. The lights flashed, the cacophony of clinking coins, poker chips, and pool sticks hitting balls straining your ears. Although you had a gun to the man's head, nobody seemed to notice the occurance, all overly-indulged in their own piggish greed. "Nervous?"

The overweight man's forehead coated with prespiration, his lip quivering as he slowly raised his chubby hands. His striped black and grey suit clung to his sweaty, enlarged body, eyes wide with terror as he breathed heavily.

"C'mon, Odile, we dont have to do this, pодная," he laughed nervously, the sound coming out more as a choked cough than anything else. His Russian accent was prominent and slurred. "That is what they call you, right? The Black Swan?" He smiled, flashing his yellowed gapped teeth. "Heh... heheheheh..."

"Kill him," said Roksana, her voice cold, calculated, and devilish. Her lovely face was stoic and stern, and her Russian drawl was precise and sharp. "Do it now, Друг."

You smiled, eyes narrowing upon the man as he cried out in shock and fear. You prepared to pull the trigger and blow his brains out right here, right now, in front of everyone in this damned money-hungry, tobacco and cigar-smelling casino, but Andreev stopped you with a shriek at your mercy.

"Stop!" he squealed like a filthy pig. "I have information you want! You do not wish to kill me, I can promise you that." He chuckled again anxiously.

"Hmm?" you hummed, a grin playing upon your lips. Your gaze switched over to Roksana, who looked unamused yet intrigued. You turned your slim eyes back on your victim. "And what is this information, hm?" He was quiet, the only sound emitting from him his shaky inhales and exhales. Angered, you spat: "Speak, cochon!"

He made a sharp noise that sounded nearly like a squeal. His fat body was pushed into the betting table in front of you, scattered with poker chips and half-empty glasses of liquor and whiskey. The men sitting around the table watched the scene develop with curious, amused eyes. They were Andreev's men, were they not? You cackled internally. Hilarious, how they did not bother to protect him when his life was on the line.

"The Ghost is after you," he gasped, hot tears slipping out of his eyes. His small mustache was soaked in sweat. "And the König. I heard it from a friend of a friend. They're here, in Russia, as we speak!"

You snarled, recoiling from the new information and scurnching your nose in distaste. Those dumbasses... How could they? You told them you could do this on your own. If you had to threaten their lives to get them off your back, that's just what you would do. This was your dance floor, and your shoes dominated the stage, not theirs. You were the Black Swan, not them.

"Odile," said a voice amongst the booming vintage music playing over the speakers, the voice raspy and cold and sharp. Your breath hitched. It was a British accent, an accent you knew too well.

You snapped your head around, eyes meeting with Simon Riley's. And beside him was none other than Kilgore.

No... you couldn't let your feelings for them get in the way. You had a job to do. You had deaths to avenge. And if it meant you had to go off the deep end of the lake and refer to them coldly as only Ghost and König, then that's what you would do. They were nothing to you anymore, and you had to keep it that way.

"Garçons!" you grinned as you turned around, ebony tresses falling over your face. Unbeknowest to your worried companions, you used the distraction of them seeing you for the first time in months to reach into your back pocket of your tactical vest. Your heart beat like a dragonfly's wings in your chest, the blood pumping so rapidly through your veins it was defeaning.

"Odile," said König cautiously, taking a small step towards you, his voice flooded with emotion. He took notice of the menancing men around the betting table, Andreev, and your Russian Special Forces partner Roksana, and did not dare say your true name aloud. König wanted to say more, wanted to beg you to drop all this insanity and come back home to Germany with him and Ghost, but he knew things couldn't be that easy. You had lost your mind, and he was afraid he would never get you back.

Then, in the blink of an eye, you flashed a wicked grin and pulled a smoke grenade out of your back pocket, bringing the bomb to your lips and exhaling a breathy chuckle as you bit down on the trigger, ripping it out with your bite and spitting the remains on the floor. Ghost and König stared at you in shock and surprise, clearly not expecting the action.

You threw the smoke bomb in front of them, blinding them for a moment and the others in the casino, screams and shrieks of fear and bewilderment consuming the building amongst the jazz music and clinking of glasses.

"Какого черта!" someone cried.

Then, adrenline coursing through your veins, you whipped back around to Andreev, who was full-blown sobbing at this point, pushing your cold, metal gun further into his bald scalp. The smoke burned your eyes and clouded your vision, but you managed to steal a glance at Roksana before you turned complertely around.

"Oгонь," she said simply and equally as menacing, her platinum bangs falling over her cold blue eyes, and you smirked, knowing exactly what to do.

You raised your voice, maing certain your old boyfriends would hear:

"Welcome to the stage, vieux amis."

And with a blinding streak of light, you pulled the trigger.

✦

[A/N] - WELCOME TO BOOK TWO MY LOVELIESSSSS

i have such big plans for this book omg and i am so so excited to share them with you! i hope you guys are as excited as i am for this book haha. and don't fret, there will be lots of smut and sexual tension;))

new chapters coming soon! enjoy the long-awaited red lake my lovelies!!<3

-R.J