Fredrika sneak peek

Chapter 1

Where the hell are you?

Red Raven needed someone to buy her next drink. 

She wasn’t supposed to be alone at Donahue’s tonight.  Red tucked her bright red bangs behind one ear and tugged her dark ponytail to make sure it was still in place before she looked around the bar. There were a surprising number of people, but none of them were Stargazer. They were supposed to meet up after Star finished her job but, given how late it was getting, Red doubted that she was going to make it at all. 

Hopefully Star’s job went better than Red’s, especially since it looked like she wasn’t going to make it tonight. At least Star managed to get a decent cut. Successful though Red was last night, she had just burned through everything she had earned on the two empty bottles now in front of her. 

It was embarrassing to have Star constantly buying for her, no matter how happy her girlfriend seemed to be when she did it. Red worked hard too. Did most of the same work. But of course she wasn’t going to get the same compensation for it. Not so long as her mother was involved. 

Dammit, she needed another drink. And someone to rant at. 

“Hey,” came a voice next to her. A man Red hadn’t seen before leaned next to her, elbow on the bar and eyes crawling up and down her body. She’d never seen this one, dressed in green and blue in an obnoxious combination and a logo of interlinking Qs on his arm. That alone marked him as an American, and probably a hero at that. The second logo, a triangle with two of the sides drawn in heavier lines, marking him as an Apex pawn on the cuff of his jacket solidified that assumption. What he was doing here in a villain bar was less of an issue than just how close he slid in next to her. 

“You look even more interesting up close,” he continued. 

The alcohol on his breath told her that he wasn’t nearly drunk enough to give him any sympathy for what was about to follow. Red let her face relax, let her eyes widen like she was curious, let her head tilt like she wasn’t sure what he was about to say next. Her hand strayed behind her and under her folded red wings where she felt along several bits of metal lining her back. 

“How about you tell me what you are,” he said. “Where are you from?”

Red had been asked this question so many times that she stopped answering. She knew she looked biracial. She knew it wasn’t obvious what kind of biracial she was. And yet, this was the most common opening line men used on her. The sheer number of men that used some version of “What are you?” as a way to start talking to her had gotten old before she started drinking. This one, like so many others, had not introduced himself or even asked her name before deciding this was a good idea. He needed to be taught otherwise. 

Her knife was in his side an instant later, slipping in right at the seam and into his flesh. A small smile grew on Red’s face as he slowly realized what was happening. She wasn’t going to waste her good knives on this guy, so she’d selected one of her shorter, sharper ones for easy penetration through the stitching. 

“You’ve got, like, an hour?” she told him. There was no poison on the knife and no reason that he needed to hurry, but he didn’t need to know that. He probably wouldn’t even need more than a couple stitches. Still, it was nice to see the panic spread across his face. She gave the knife one last shove before she pulled it out of his side. “Go, like, annoy a nurse or whatever.”

Even desperate, Red still had standards. She watched him limp as quickly as he could out the door, watched as only a few people glanced his direction. His colours marked him as not one of them, so no one bothered to check in on him as he rushed out. 

Part of her knew she should probably not have done that. Even if he wasn’t from around here, stabbing heroes was generally a bad idea. Stabbing American heroes wearing an Apex logo, marking him as a member of the largest hero organization in the States, was an even worse one. Still, Red had no intention of going across the border any time soon. Apex was on her turf and would have to learn to leave her alone. 

Besides, this was more or less space designated for villains. Any hero that walked in here shouldn’t expect to walk out unscathed. That was just how these things went. 

With a dramatic sigh, she turned to see who was around that she could make buy her a drink and listen to how terrible her life was. And who wasn’t going to try some stupid pickup line on her. She didn’t like Star buying for her, but that discomfort didn’t extend to everyone. Red could see several people that she’d worked with before, some in uniform and some out, unwinding and looking at ease. She made a mental list of which of them could be of some use to her tonight in her quest to get completely wasted after Star had stood her up. 

She was on good terms with tonight’s bartender, Trent, but he was currently occupied. At the other end of the bar, he poured a series of shots for another group of people that had just come in from a job, still covered in dust and the red of the blood fresh on their faces. They stood out only in how little they stood out, wearing generic dark clothing each adorned with a patch to signify who they worked for this week and a few pulling masks off of their faces. They looked drawn, tired, and there was a look in each of their eyes. 

She knew the look. Whatever job they had just come back from hadn’t gone well. As they raised their glasses, Red knew they’d lost someone. Of course they would get served first.  

There had to be someone else, but she knew she’d have to be at least a little picky given the crowds in here tonight. Tywin Shy’s men barely had a presence, only three of them lingering in the corner and looking like they were waiting for someone. Nostra’s people were among the loudest and they had brought the teens with them tonight. Red checked for anyone from Ordu, but there was no sign of that ugly triple circle tattoo on anyone else scattered throughout the bar. It looked like the majority of the clientele tonight were guns for hire like herself looking for a distraction for the night. 

Among them, Red spotted someone who she knew she could at least get a drink out of. A guy with a jaw that could probably slice bread it was so sharp, dressed in black and red leather. He left his mask on the table in front of him as he lurked at a table in a dark corner. It was strange to see Dynarot alone, but if he’d been abandoned by his partner for the night then he could probably use the company. 

“You still totes need to get your own colour scheme, asshole,” Red said, leaning across from him at the table. It was a running joke they had, Red also favouring red and black, though she wore it much better. The large red wings she wore when she worked made her look come together, while his was just… plain. 

Dyna’s eyes lingered on her chest a moment longer than it needed to before it flickered up to the red streak that was her bangs. “You need a better dye job,” he told her, smiling. He nodded across from him, inviting her to sit. He looked back at the bar, catching Trent’s attention and putting up two fingers. “This better not be work, Red.”

“My hair is totes natural and you fucking know it,” Red said, a smile on her lips as she took a seat. “How long I got before, like, Kage totes comes back or whatever?”

Dyna’s eyes narrowed on her, a scowl etching deep into his features. “He’s not here tonight,” he told her. “I went out tonight because I’m nice and he wanted to bring Stephanie home.” He took a drink, draining this bottle.

That made an unfortunate amount of sense. Not just because Kage would obviously not want to bring a girl home to see a roommate there, but because Dyna’s powers made it awkward to spend a lot of time around him. He isolated himself because living things around him would deteriorate and decompose after a couple of hours of exposure to him. Kage could nullify the effects, but she had to imagine it was exhausting to keep that up all the time. 

“This better not be work,” he repeated. 

“I’m, like, so not here for work. You can totes chill.”

It took him a minute before his expression changed and he relaxed. For the moment, Red would let herself believe it was because it was loud in here and he was slow, not because he had trouble understanding her. 

Red knew what she sounded like, knew just how she spoke, and knew that it was hard for people to follow her when she let the words come out normally. It was the result of an accident when she was younger, one that she hadn’t tried to reverse. It was a part of her now and everyone else could deal with it. 

Still, she knew she’d have to slow down if she didn’t want to have to deal with a blank stare all night. Ugh. 

Two bottles of a dark ale appeared in the middle of the table and Red snatched one of them, a knife appearing in her hand and flicking the top off before she took a drink. This was not going to help, but she tried to go slow for him. “I’m, like, just totally done with everything, you know?” she said. “Like, every time I swear, I don’t even. She’s just… Ugh. Like, why?”

Even with her taking the time to slow down, there was still a blank look in Dyna’s eyes as he watched her. He took a moment before he blinked those big brown eyes of his and frowned. “I’m going to need you to back up, Red,” he said. “Who’s pissed you off?”

“Mom?” Red snapped, incredulous. Why did she bother slowing down for people? “Like, who else?”

“Of course,” he said, taking his drink off the table and popping the top off with a small knife of his own. He brought it to his lips and nodded for her to keep going. 

Red let out a dramatic sigh and rolled her eyes. “Whatevs. So anyway, like, I just did some, like, for hire stuff? And I totes rocked cuz, like, obvi.”

“Obvi,” he repeated, a grin spreading across his face. Red glared at him, but she could tell it was because he was following and not because he was mocking her. 

“Whatever,” she continued, letting her speed pick up along with her frustration. “So then I like, find out my cut. Like, nothing. Nothing. Like, I’m doing all the work stuff and what does she do? Take it all for, like, some project. Which def means she’s, like, just handing it all to some chick with a lame sob story.”

It took Dyna a beat before he nodded. At least waiting for Dyna to catch up gave her a chance to drink. “That sucks. You should—”

“Like, don’t even start with that,” Red said, groaning as she cut him off. She took another drink while he stared at her, confusion across his face. “Look, like, you totes don’t get what happens. If I want anything then, like, I need to get the job for myself. Otherwise, Aunt Jez just stops everything and, like, insists that it’s totes up to Mom because she was the one that got the job? Even if she, like, def knows Mom sucks with money and keeps complaining about it?”

Another beat.  

“So get some of your own work,” he said. “Seems like an easy enough fix.”

Red scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” 

“I don’t know what you want here, Red.”

Of course he wasn’t going to get it. There were so many things that made it nowhere near as easy as it was for him. He didn’t understand her family, didn’t understand the pressure on her to be everything they wanted her to be. 

“Look,” she said, running her tongue over her back molars. The buzz wasn’t hitting fast enough. “I def asked Aunt Jez to hook me up already, but she’s totes never gonna, you know? She knows all these people who’d def take me? But like, every time I bring it up, she’s just like… You know? I’m good, but, like, as soon as I ask for a rec she’s totes all like, nope you’re not ready. Too immature, too lazy, like, whatever total whatever she can come up with? It’s a complete dead end, you know?”

Red chugged the rest of her bottle while Dyna tried to come up with a response. She knew she was probably speaking too fast now, that he wasn’t as comfortable with the way she talked to follow, and it only annoyed her more. She shouldn’t have to slow down, shouldn’t have to explain why his idea was stupid, shouldn’t have to be dealing with in the first place. Why was she even here? Where the hell was Star?

“That sucks,” he said finally. “Good thing you have Star, then, eh? At least you got a sugar momma to keep you comfortable.”

Red’s eyes were getting a workout tonight with how much she was rolling them. “Def not.”

“Or move out. If you wanted a place, we can make some room.” He gave her a wink from across the table and a grin. “And if you want Star to come join…”

This eye roll came with a smile. “Hard pass,” she said. 

“Don’t say I never offered,” he said, tipping his drink in her direction before taking a drink himself. God, how was he only half way through that? “Sounds like you need to find work on your own. You tried asking your sister? I heard Blue Blaze is back in town. She might… Or not.”

Red became aware that she was glaring him into silence as he stopped talking. It wasn’t like she hadn’t… Well, she hadn’t asked her sister about any of this. But she was not about to have someone else tell her to ask Bea. Especially not some guy who was trying and failing to steal her colour scheme. 

“I guess Apex isn’t an option,” he suggested after another moment, a lopsided grin on his face as he glanced back at the door.

“He def deserved that,” Red warned him.

“Not arguing,” Dyna said, the smile not wavering from his face as he relaxed. 

“Like, why are they even trying in here?” Red demanded, already letting the conversation drop. “Like anyone’s gonna go down to the fucking States and suddenly decide they’re, like, totes gonna be a good guy now or whatever. Go hit up the heroes.”

“Heroes up here are too soft to work down there,” he reminded her. “They don’t develop the taste for blood they got down there. Think about it, though. You could still murder people down there and some company would probably sponsor you to do it.”

“Hard pass,” Red told him. The money was enticing, she could admit that much. But American heroes needed to be in the public eye and do stupid publicity events on top of pretending that they murdered villains purely by accident. The line between hero and villain was much different there, and the punishment for being on the wrong side was significantly harsher. Not to mention that it was far too easy to fall out of public favour and fall onto the wrong side of that line these days. 

The Canadian system, while it certainly didn’t help her kind, at least prohibited killing your enemies. It was a low bar, but at least Red knew that if she did pick a fight with the wrong guy and it ended poorly for her, he would suffer some consequences for going too far. 

Besides, she wasn’t going to give up her choice of targets. Red may have not yet gotten the opportunity to choose who she worked with, but she liked knowing that she could always say no if she didn’t agree with who the target was. Aunt Jez and her Mom would at least give her that. 

“Well, if you’re desperate, I have one you can take off my hands,” he said. 

Red perked up at that for just a moment before slinking back down behind her bottle. “Why?” she demanded. 

“Target is one of Nostra’s pets,” he said. “Even if Kage wasn’t working for him, I’m not dealing with that.”

Red glanced back at the rowdy crowd of Nostra’s people. Nostra tended to favour very young and exceptionally irritating children to do his dirty work. She’d worked with a few of them before and every single experience had been awful. They were kept around by Nostra’s reputation alone, of the threat of knowing that if the kid wasn’t happy with you, then Daddy Nostra was going to come in and make your life hell. She wouldn’t mind taking them down a peg or two. 

“I’ll def think about it,” she said. “Give me the—”

Whatever Red was going to ask for, the thoughts were gone as she saw who was walking in the door. She knew the guy well enough. Tall, dark, and handsome Blackwood. He wasn’t wearing his jacket, leaving his body on display. Red noticed more than a few eyes stray in his direction and with good reason, but he already had some companionship for the night. 

Under his arm and wearing his jacket, she could see Stargazer cuddling into his side. Red knew Star anywhere, even under the heavy jacket hiding her curves. She knew that bushy dark hair, more tousled than usual and dotted with white flecks like stars. The mask across her face was like paint had spilled across her eyes and left behind galaxies in the dark stains. And those dark eyes were now staring up at Blackwood. 

She was smiling at him. Smiling. Laughing. 

Red had been waiting for her, and this was what she was doing. 

Red didn’t want to see this. A moment later, she was gone.