5. Chapter Five
Chapter five
W alking away from the woman without completely defiling her body, mind, and spirit was a criminal offense to my very bloodline…but there would be time.
My plan was put into action, and based on the seething, stomping, and angered ranting in my office, it was clear that she would definitely take advantage of my little gift to her.
Pulling out the crumpled charity note from the cafeteria and dropping it by the door, I gave my Little Virgin one last look before walking away.
I needed to find my moronic little brother.
We were going hunting tonight, and I wasn’t about to miss the cloak of the darkness because the fucker was holed up drunk or with some random woman again.
I punched his number in my phone and waited. It was at the second to last ring that he finally picked up.
“Sup, Buzzkill?”
Rolling my eyes, I ignored his greeting. I gave up partying like a moron a long time ago. I had a business and the Divine to run. I couldn’t be caught with my pants down around the members in this society.
We were everywhere—staff and students alike—the entire castle of St. Valentine’s was a pool of the Divine Valentine…and I ruled them all. How would people feel if they found their king passed out drunk in a custodial closet like my darling brother had been so many times?
If that man wasn’t drinking, he was fucking. I started to wonder if he ever ate to replenish his strength, at least. He must because he ruled the ice hockey team, and among his lackeys there, they had to have thrown bread at him occasionally.
I didn’t have chats with my brother about what the fuck he was eating. Anytime we talked, it was business. He would never know just how much I checked up on him to make sure the dumbass was alive.
“Are you prepared for the hunting trip, Hayes?” I said, arriving back at my apartment just shy of the campus. I was actually the one late from my time with Vivian, but I certainly wasn’t going to inform Hayes about that. He blew off anything regarding The Society.
It was a hassle just to get him to attend the rituals and meetings. When it came to business, I kept my mouth shut. He would learn on his own that he can’t escape our bloodline. If the scars on my body didn’t tell him enough already, he would learn the hard way.
“You are the one who’s late. What’s got your panties all riled up?”
Again, I ignored him, grabbing my rifle, knife, and hunting bag from my bedroom.
“Meet me at the bridge at the university. And for the love of god, keep your damn hood on, and don’t forget your mask. We don’t need your groupies fucking up our hunt.”
My brother laughed without humor. “Is there a reason you constantly make me kill people I fuck, Mads?”
Now, I snorted. “Well, Hayes, perhaps if you hadn’t fucked more than half of the women on campus, then you wouldn’t be shaken up about practicing for the rituals with their deaths.”
My body count for sex wasn’t much lower than my kills, but at least I was discreet about it. I couldn’t keep track of the number of times when I was warned that some female was plotting the demise of my brother. I was the one to have to clean up after his stupid messes. It had been that way since our sister died…
That night was still the one that haunted me the most.
Tonight was the night that I had to switch from killing deer to ending a human life. I felt sick at the thought as I grabbed my rifle, knife, and hunting bag. The skeletal mask felt the heaviest in my hands. Humans were so much larger than deer.
Any game I had caught, struggled, and I enjoyed that fight, but a human…they spoke. How was I going to feel when the cries of pain were spoken in English?
Liberty walked to the door and blocked my exit. “Maddox. This is wrong. You know it. Why do you always listen to your father? Why can’t you just make a decision for yourself? If you do this, you will never be the same person again.”
I sighed and patted my sister’s shoulder. “Libby, I don’t have a choice. We both know this.”
Libby frowned, tears falling down her rosy cheeks as she stretched her arms wider to block me.
“You always have a choice, Mads. This is wrong. You are not dad. You aren’t St. Valentine. You are Maddox. But if you do this, you are no better than any of them.”
I gritted my teeth together, trying to think of what I could show Liberty. I had no choice any more than all those before me. The mask felt heavier in my grip as my hands shook.
The Divine had owned me since the second I was born.
My bloodline was a brand of my fate, and if I didn’t kill, I would be killed. Simple as that. Survival was too important. Running would only keep me safe for so long.
“Maddox…please…” I pulled my little sister into a hug.
She and Hayes were all I ever wanted in this fucked up life of ours. If I had it my way, I would run away with them, hold them close, and never let the Divine touch them.
My father walked out of the bedroom, a black cloak in his hand. I swallowed. I was twenty years old. Just a few more days and I would be in that damn cloak before all of the Divine while they carved their name into my skin.
Run…
The thought was so constant it made me sick, but like all of?those who ran from me…it was useless.
My father placed a picture in my hand. It was a small square image of a beautiful woman. She looked so much like my little sister, which was unsettling.
“This is your target, Maddox. Aim strong and aim true. You have one chance to prove you are ready to accept your birthright to the council, or you are no good to any of us. That weak heart of yours will be the death of you. Tonight, your hands are with the Divine. You present the sacrifice. Wear our symbol as you make the kill, and do not fail me, or I will gut you myself.”
I knew this woman. Her name was Abigail. I didn’t know much else, but her entire life was written on the back of the photograph.
My sister didn’t move when our father turned to her. “Move, you ignorant child.”
Liberty was seventeen. She wasn’t a child, but our father never treated her anything more than a maid left in mother’s stead. She looked over at me, her deep brown eyes pleading.
“I said move!” The strike of father’s hand landed on her cheek, and her body went flying to the side. I went to reach her, but his arm blocked me, yanking the mask out of my hand and jabbing it into my chest.
“Maddox. Go. You have a job to do. Leave your sister where she lies. She knew what would come of defying me.”
Tears fell down my cheeks, and my sister was lying unconscious on the ground, blood on her face and dress. I forced my feet to move. I couldn’t fail. I may as well put the rifle to my head and pull the trigger myself…
A knock on the door jolted me from my memories, and I shook my head, walking to answer it. It was Phoenix.
“Brother. Do you have the details I asked about for the charity event? What is the gossip surrounding the Divine right now? I am about to take Hayes on another hunting trip. I need him to understand that he can’t fucking run. Look what happened to me. If the council does that to him…I will kill them all.”
Phoenix nodded his head, his lips in a fine line. “Yeah, Mads, The Divine is talking about Vivian. They are getting anxious that Valentine’s Day is coming up soon. There are some people saying they wish your dad were still in charge.”
I laughed without humor. “Interesting. I had been in charge for fourteen years, yet still, some members of the council wanted the barbaric, useless old ways. I have had continuous victories with each reaping. There has never been a better success rate of sacrifices since I picked up that dagger.”
Phoenix nodded again. “I agree, my brother. I hate your old man. You know that. He’s the reason all these fucking ghost stories surround the university. When your dad was in charge, he was so blasé. He didn’t care about keeping The Society a secret when it came to getting his perfect sacrifice. You brought some form of order to the Divine.”
I sighed. Old fucking men would never see a reason for change. The cognitive dissonance was too strong for them to see success. The other founders’ descendants were angry at me, too, but I wondered how much of that was lack of power. I could erase their positions as fast as they received them.
Some of these members were practically babies.
It was a fucking shit show to try to teach these people all over again. Every year, I was losing brain cells with every hunt I had to show. And worst of all, my brother should be the next leader, but if he didn’t get into the program, he would ruin it, and it would be a complete loss.
Another line would take power…or worse—my father.
“Thank you, my friend. What of the preparations for the ceremony? Is everything ready, minus Vivian?”
Phoenix made a sound through his teeth. “Well, not exactly, but it will be. Just need to remind some people of their place. Won’t take long.”
I smiled, and I expressed my sympathies to whoever needed an adjustment from Phoenix. I knew firsthand from our sparring that the man could hold his own. He was one of the few men in this world I actually considered a friend. He knew as well as I that you couldn’t escape your fate. Ours was written in our blood.
It always would be…