PART ONE

DEATH RATTLES


1

ROEDER

For the first time since becoming The Dregs spider, Roeder couldn't trust his own eyes. He prided himself on his knack for logical observation, never believing anything he could not see- and he saw everything. His sight never once failed to rationalize even the most unnerving situations, until now. He laid on his front, peering over the rooftop bordering the Dregs' northwest territory. Roeder's fingers stiffened with cold, struggling to keep a hold of his slick metal binoculars.
How in the fuckā€¦?

Ketterdam drowned beneath a coat of heavy, smoky clouds lathed over a bruised night sky. The night felt wrong as if The Barrel held the breath of an ugly promise. A promise that would swallow the Dregs and the Bastard of the Barrel whole. The streets were mud-slickened and flooding, yet The Barrel overflowed with the spatterings of conversations, rippling gunshots, and drunken peals of laughter. The bell chimed twelve times, marking the midnight hour.

His targets mingled fifteen stories below, across the main waterway dividing The Barrel and East Stave. Violent, crimson hair dipped out of view among black suits. His keen eye traced out the slinky form of the red-haired woman through rain-battered lenses. At first sight, Roeder convinced himself that it was the weather that made it difficult to keep an eye on her. No matter how many times he stared unblinkingly, eyes wide open even as the rain stung them, he could not explain what he saw. The woman rallied the gang members together like a pack of wolves, her vulpine eyes full of wicked glee.

His targets had just come off a gang fight against the Razorgulls. Roeder had stayed away, watching the poor souls of the Gulls battered by bullets or shredded by steel. Their movements were fast and precise, save for the redhead. She disappeared from view during the fight, dragging the opposing crew into the dark alleyways with a coil.

Once the redhead gathered the crowd of black suits, her arms rippled out and stretched, working in a steady circle in front of her. At the last moment, she slammed a gloved hand into the ground. Blazing ember orbs flicked up, boring right through Roeder's skull, a smug smirk lifting the corners of her mouth. In an instant, the party evaporated from thin air, only a faint blip of red revealing any sign that they ever existed.
Oh, Saints, she saw me.

Roeder wasted no time in gathering his equipment and dashing away. He ran, the rain beating heavy on his back, dulling the thud of his feet against concrete and shingles. In one knee-bunched vault, he was off the roof, heading southeast toward the Slat. The first time Roeder had been caught, it had to be while casing the potential headquarters of the most dangerous rival gang in all of Ketterdam: Umbra.

Shit, shit, shit. She saw me.
Panic and dread bubbled up in the pit of his guts like the gurgling waters flooding the sewer system below. The mission was compromised and he could be followed. Dirtyhands would string him up and kill him for jeopardizing the entire operation- or worse, make him scream for death. That is if Roeder could even make it back to the hideout before she caught up to him. Vix Vargo, otherwise known as Vex, had a reputation of being utterly deranged and senselessly ruthless. He couldn't decide which one he'd rather handle, her or Dirtyhands. Roeder took a convoluted, longer route back to be sure he wasn't tracked.

His feet met the shingles of a gabled roof and he catapulted himself to the left, landing on the roof across the way. The rubber soles of his shoes did not find grip on the steeper incline. He slid and stumbled clean off the edge. At the last second, his fingers found purchase on the awning and it creaked in protest against his weight. Not good.

He had to focus, his headstart and his keen sense of the Ketterdam rooftops were the only advantages he had against Vex. The spider muscled up onto the roof, crawling like a bug up the shingles. He vaulted off at the top, long limbs sprawling out to the building in front of him. He grappled the edge of the flat roof, hoisting himself up and sprinting forward. Two paces away from the next jump, something snagged his foot. Roeder pitched forward, nearly tumbling headfirst off the roof. He cried out as the barbed coil around his ankle dug deeper into his flesh and wrenched him away just in time.

Roeder flipped over, blade at the ready as he made for the rope around his leg. Blood dribbled from the puncture wounds encapsulating ankle to mid-calf. He dropped his knife and pried at the cord, eyes darting wildly around for any sign of his opponent. He felt like harried prey trying to flee while the predator waited in the shadows, mocking him from afar. With a pained groan, he ripped the barbs out, chunks of skin coming with the hooked metal. Roeder hopped to his feet and cried out in frustration at the injured limb:
"Fuck!"

He crumpled to the ground again, sidling backward on hands and knees while he searched desperately for the offender. The flicker of fire glinted in her eyes as she sauntered around the corner of the building's elevator shaft.

"How did you get here so fast?!" He growled and curled back, balancing on the balls of his feet in a crouch. His leg screamed in defiance and he nearly collapsed from the pain. Roeder dipped a hand into his leather waist satchel and whipped three throwing stars in her direction. With a flick of her gloved wrist, she shifted in and out of focus, side-stepping each blade in quick succession. She stuffed her covered hand into her pocket, the other wielding the culprit of his snag. The barbed whip dripped with his blood, tattered pieces of him hanging from thick metal hooks.

"Do y'know what happens when the itsy bitsy spider gets caught in his own web?" Her voice dripped like honey over a mummified corpse, lilted and sickeningly sweet. Vex slinked towards him nonchalantly, her eyes wide with anticipation.

Roeder stared, mouth falling open in shock. A syrupy red liquid stained the front of her clinging white shirt, dribbles of it coming off her in the icy rain. From her belt hung the severed head of a Razorgull, fastened loosely by long blonde hair. He was held in thrall, the image so morbid that he couldn't tear his eyes away even if he wanted to. I'm going to die. I'm going to die crying and begging for my life.

In what felt like a millisecond, she was on him, her hand bunching up the front of his tunic. It was then he realized the covered fist which held him had only three fingers, the last two whittled down to nubs beneath the empty fabric.

"He gets eaten by the better spider who triggered the catch." Vex continued through gritted teeth, face mere inches from his, alcohol and something inhuman lingering on her breath. She relinquished her hold on his tunic, fastening her forefinger and thumb to his chin instead. His fingers wrapped around the blade next to him, poised to drive the steel into the side of her throat when the moment arose. Roeder's eyes were wide and unblinking, pupils constricted with the primal urge to fight or flee. Her vile mouth was deadly close to his, hot breath fanning his face and her glare paralyzing him.
Now. Do it now.

His knife came up quick as a viper mid-strike. It buried into the long, soaked hair. Her eyes grew impossibly wide. He had her.

In a blink of an eye, her face vanished, her hold on him gone. The knife continued its path in front of him, catching on nothing.

"That's me, I am the better spider."

Roeder whipped around to see Vex behind him, arms crossed and her face twisted in manic glee. He flung himself at her, dagger driving full force into her leg. A fatal mistake. Then, she was gone.

The cord lashed out, wrapping around the blade-wielding hand. Roeder let out a scream, his arm wrenched back in an odd angle. Her gloved hand dug into his scalp and yanked him onto his back by a fistful of wet brown hair.

He looked up at her with wild eyes, his breath coming out in panicked huffs. She limped closer until her feet straddled his head. Rust-colored blood dripped from the stab wound in her thigh, splattering onto his face. The severed head bobbed with her movement above him.
"And you? You're about to get fucking devoured."

Roeder begged for his life.