of snakes & crows || kaz brekker

─ 𝒐𝒏𝒆

┏━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┓

[01|| chapter one]
a viper with
warm blood

┗━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┛

         ━━━━ THE VIPER OF Ketterdam had the weekend off.

         Normally, Eadaz Viottova, the woman beneath the cloak, had no sort of time for such luxuries. She was constantly on the move, either running from the men of Pekka Rollins, or fleeing a crime that the Viper committed with the stadwatch on her tail. She never stayed in one place for too long, and she never let herself get comfortable enough to let her guard down.

         She was, after all, a lone wolf, a snake that belonged to nobody— not the Dregs, the Black Tips, or any brothel— and that made her wanted. Hunted. People yearned to behead her, to have her skull as a decoration on their fireplace, to ensure that she would not put the entire foundation of their organizations at risk. Unfortunately, no one ever got close enough to try and snuff her flame.

         So, alive the Viper was, still kicking and doing as she pleased, whenever she pleased.

         And on this fine day in Ketterdam, when the sky was a delightful shade of grey and black, the clouds rolling with thunder, lightning, and swollen with rain that had yet to fall, the Viper decided it was time for a break. She'd been on a roll this past week and had all the kruge to blow on gambles and drinks. So she tucked the maroon cloak away for the day, and called it then and there.

         Both the Viper and Eadaz Viottova were taking the weekend off.

         And she knew exactly the place to blow her money: the Crow Club. Usually, Ead avoided the barrel, especially during the low hours of night when she didn't want to get her hands dirty, but the Viper was fearless, often seen scurrying about rooftops, searching for random men to pickpocket, and unlucky bastards to beat, specifically in the south.

         Only Ead herself knew that the people she picked were never random. She had a keen eye for scoping out those who won fair sums of money during their gamblings, so she knew who could afford their pockets picked, and who didn't. As for the people she occasionally beat the living shit out of— well, those were the people she often spotted making things hard for a certain bastard of the barrel.

         But neither Eadaz Viottova or the Viper were stalkers. She only came around to a certain Crow's aid whenever she heard of big plans, or on nights when the crowds were sure to be especially raucous. Ead's protection over Kaz Brekker was a guilty pleasure, a hobby she was slightly ashamed of.

         Not ashamed enough not to do it, however. But tonight was not about protecting the man, nor shadowing his heists or parleys, it was about taking a break.

         The Crow Club was already brimming with gamblers, cigar smoke thick in the air, the sound of clinking coins, and shuffling cards like a melody of the damned. Eadaz smiled at the familiarity of it all, though it was rare that she came around without her maroon cloak. She did know how to play it safe, however, wearing tattered second hand clothing, not storing her money where any slick fingered passerby could nick it off her. She also had a concealed weapon, but she was pretty sure that not having a weapon in Ketterdam was more odd than carrying one everywhere you went.

         Ead sat at the bar first, smoothing a hand over her dark brown hair, which was pulled up in a knot at the back of her head, stabbed through with many sharp hair pins as a precaution. One could never have enough protection in Ketterdam, and always needed to be ready to take on anyone if a fight broke out.