Mammon (Devilry #2)

33. Beelzebub

THIRTY-THREE

BEELZEBUB

It’s the smelling salts that wake me.

My eyes jerk open. My breath comes out in one loud inhale as I whip my head to the side and try to take in my surroundings. I can’t make out much, but it looks almost like a warehouse, with one large empty room and exposed metal beams on the ceiling. Everything is dark and damp. I can’t recall anywhere in Juniper Ridge that’s like this.

“ Nghhhh …”

I gasp when I see a tied-up Gore lying on the floor in front of me. My first reaction is to go to him, to tend to his bruised face, but when I try to move, I’m held back. I finally notice that I’m restrained, thick ropes forcing my hands behind my back around the chair. I struggle, attempting to move the chair and break it to get free, but it’s metal and somehow bolted into the floor.

“Gore! Gore!” Panic rings through my yelling. “Baby! Wake up!”

“Don’t worry. He’ll wake up. That’s actually an important part of our plan.”

I’ve heard that mocking tone in a robotic cadence. It’s recognizable, even steady and clear. Heavy footsteps approach me as he slowly comes into view. I know who he is. It’s the feeling I get when I stare at amused green eyes and that cocky smirk.

The wolf man.

“You better not fucking hurt him,” I grit out, trying to sound forceful, but knowing there’s a desperate edge to my voice.

“Well, that’s just dumb,” he says, snorting as he shakes his head. “Of course we’re going to hurt him. Maybe just not in the way you think.” He looks over his shoulder at Gore, who’s slowly regaining consciousness. “Good. I want both of you to hear this. Let me introduce myself: I’m Sage, the leader of the resistance.”

Sage . That’s a dumb-ass name and probably not his real one, but he’d be an idiot to give that up. He’s an average-looking man, nothing special, but the air of authority he carries is eerily familiar and disconcerting.

I push those thoughts aside. “What do you want?”

“Honestly?” Shrugging, he tips his head from side-to-side. “Tit for tat, I think. Your leader didn’t listen, so now he has to face the consequences.”

At the mention of Mammon, hope blossoms in my chest. He has to know that we’re missing by now and he has to be freaking out. He’ll find us—he has to—and I’ll spit on Sage’s grave when Mammon kills him with his bare hands.

Sage must not sense my murderous rage, or he must not care. Other men join us now, coming from a different room. They all stand silently just a few feet away. He looks at them, nodding, before he continues. “I bet you probably have questions.”

“Fuck you,” I spit. I don’t want to listen to him. Even if I'm curious, I don’t want to give him the satisfaction.

“See, it all started when the takeover happened,” he explains, ignoring me, “we were just normal citizens living normal lives, but everything changed one day. After you burned our buildings and killed our friends, we knew it was time to rise up and become more than ourselves.”

He’s making it sound like he’s some sort of hero from an action movie. Pathetic. He’s nothing more than another meek human trying to hold on to whatever control he has. He’s a stubborn fuck who just doesn’t see the way things are now and who can’t accept the truth that he’s fighting a losing battle.

Humming, he circles my chair. “I know all about you, Beelzebub. About you and your…” He scoffs. “ Brothers . I know about Belphegor too, about how he’s a little…out there.”

My spine tenses at Gore’s name on his lips. It’s said in such a taunting manner that it makes me see red. He doesn’t get to speak about him; not my baby. “Shut up.”

“It took a few weeks, but we gathered all the information we needed.” He bends down in front of me, eye level now, and smirks. “There are wolves at your door, Beelzebub.”

I try to deny what that means, but I can’t. If what he claims to know is true, then we’ve been betrayed. Whether it’s a conduit or someone on the council, they’ve spilled our tightly kept secrets. “Then you know death is the only option here. You might as well kill yourself now to spare yourself the pain of what’s coming.”

He seems to ponder my words before clicking his tongue. “My death might be self-inflicted, sure, but not before I do what every citizen here wants. Before I bring justice to this island.”

“Justice?”

“You know, I’ve found out a lot of things.” Standing straight, he walks toward Gore. My gagged baby thrashes in his ropes, eyes wide and tearful as he looks to me for comfort. “You and Belphegor were in the same foster home, right? Things got a bit messy, didn’t they?”

Gore lets out a muffled shout when Sage bends down to stroke his cheek. “Belphegor here is always following your lead.” He turns and smiles. “I know about Mammon too. Maybe more than you do.”

That’s not true. I know everything about Mammon. The details of his past are irrelevant to me because I understand the man he is now. “Shut up.”

“You’re probably aware that he’s the worst of you. Leviathan is the most violent, of course, but Mammon…” he trails off in something akin to awe. “Well, he’s just fucked. It’s the smart ones you have to worry about. The ones with plans .”

“Mammon is going to annihilate you,” I mutter hatefully. “He’ll find us.”

“He could, yes, if he looked hard enough.” Sage thinks for a moment before speaking, a twisted smile on his lips. “But we’re not planning on keeping you for long. This isn’t a ransom, Beelzebub. It’s just another friendly warning.”

I’m confused, but I don’t show it. “Friendly warning?”

“I realized early on that I had to fight fire with fire. I knew that the only way to get the peace restored here in Juniper Ridge was to become like you.” He frowns at this. “But there are sacrifices to freedom.”

Again, he’s acting like some sort of martyr. I’ve always been able to read people; it’s how I’ve kept Gore this safe for so long and I know this guy is full of shit. No, he might be more like us than he thinks; Like the other citizens who changed when the rules were broken down and anarchy took its place. “This is a mistake. We’ll?—”

“You don’t think we know how depraved you all are? You think we haven’t noticed that you get off on inflicting pain on others? Well, we think it’s time for a taste of your own medicine.”

He comes up to me quickly and forces my jaw down, shoving something hard and small down my throat, pulling away before I can bite his fingers off. I gag, trying to spit it out, but it’s too late. I squirm, paranoid and afraid for once in my fucking life. “What the fuck did you just give me?”

He juts his chin to the side and I watch as one of the men breaks from the line and begins unbuckling his belt.

“Okay,” Sage says, producing a black latex glove, pulling it on with ease. “When we deliver you back to your leader, be sure to give him a message for me.”

My eyes widen as the man approaches Gore. His fly is all the way down now. Another man comes up too, going to Gore, pulling down his pants, and…

I fight against my restraints once more, wishing that this wasn’t real. Telling myself that this isn’t happening while something stirs within me against my will. Suddenly, everything is tingling, but I don’t care. I look in front of me, fat tears tracking down my cheeks as Gore screams. “Please! No?—”

Sage steps up behind me, pinching my face to keep my sight straight ahead. With too much glee, he whispers in my ear. “The message is this: We can be monsters too.”