Chapter 8 #3
And now he was here. Tied up.
Begging for mercy.
Had Eden’s family begged? His mother?
“He’s so young,” he admitted. He’d been expecting someone older.
“You didn’t look him up after you learned his last name?” Ares asked.
“No.”
“Because?”
“Because you already told me you were going to handle it.” That, and because Galen’s death had affected him more than he’d let on.
Or, at least, he’d wanted it to. Eden had been too busy pretending a part of him cared that a man had lost his life.
Too busy dealing with his mixed emotions toward Lucifer.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t wanted to find answers now that they’d finally been within his reach, it was more that he knew even if he did, he’d still be powerless.
But not with Ares.
His hands clenched tighter on the thick material of Ares’ sweatshirt, then he forced himself to let go and retreat a full step.
“Do you want him to tell you the rest, or would you prefer I give you the abridged version later?” Ares seemed more than willing to leave all the decision-making up to him.
“Would you call me a coward if I said I don’t want to listen to him say another word?
” This was too real. Too much. Eden had come here tonight fully expecting Ares to have found something, but he never would have guessed it would be one of the perpetrators.
After years of failures and dead ends, he’d lost hope this day would ever come.
Even after he’d learned Dephik's name, that hope hadn’t returned. If anything, discovering such an influential family was behind it only made things worse for him.
But Ares had kept his word.
He’d done the job Galen had failed to do.
And all it’d taken him was a few days to do it.
“Not at all,” Ares said.
“Then make him stop.”
Ares let out a low whistle before turning back to Zonnie. The bullet he put in the guy's right thigh next was so unexpected, Eden jumped as though he’d been the one shot.
Zonnie screamed and wailed, but the zip ties at his wrists and ankles prevented him from reaching for the wound. Blood pooled from the hole, tiny rivers spilling out over honey-toned flesh to puddle around his naked form.
“Wanna do the next one?” Ares held out the blaster, and Eden stared at it for a moment.
He did. A part of him really, really did, but…
“Can’t bring yourself to do it?” Ares hummed like that made all the sense in the world.
“Don’t worry, babe. That’s what I’m here for.
All you have to do is tell me how bad you want it.
Should I make it quick? I could slash his throat and we can be done with all of this.
There’s a diner nearby that’s open twenty-four seven. We could grab a bite.”
“You want to kill him?” His brow furrowed. “Just like that?”
His father had suffered from multiple skull fractures and three broken ribs. One had punctured his lungs, which had been his cause of death.
His mother’s hand had been shattered, her left leg snapped, and her heart shredded from four bullets shot at close range directly at her chest.
His sister…
“Starling.”
“What?” Eden was still stuck on his own shortcomings.
This was what he’d wanted, wasn’t it? He’d wanted to punish those responsible.
Had dreamed of doing so. A bullet to the thigh was the least of the ways he’d imagined inflicting suffering on Zonnie.
Yet now that he was presented with the very real opportunity… Why couldn’t he bring himself to do it?
“Hey,” Ares softened his tone as he turned and rested the gun down on a single metal table, “don’t beat yourself up.
This isn’t as easy as it looks. Lots of people would struggle with causing another living being real harm.
There’s nothing wrong with you, Eden. On the contrary.
This just means you’re more normal than you gave yourself credit for. ”
The Black Hart picked up an item, seemed to give it some thought, and then replaced it, opting for a different one. When he finally turned back, he was holding a metal bat. He gave it a good swing.
“What are you going to do?” Eden asked.
“What would you like me to do?” He tapped the end of the bat against Zonnie’s head.
“One good blow here should do it. It’ll be Game Over.
Death to player number thirty-three.” Ares bent over, as though to insinuate he was talking to Zonnie, though it was clear as he spoke, his comments were meant for Eden.
“The only way to guarantee they don’t come back is a head shot, you know.
Once the brain is severely damaged? No coming back from that.
Not enough nanites in the world. It’ll be,” he snapped his fingers and Zonnie whimpered and flinched, “light’s out. Quick.”
“Quick?” Gods help him, Eden didn’t like that. His family had suffered. He had suffered. And Ares wanted to deliver a swift death to one of the monsters responsible? “I thought the Black Harts were supposed to be merciless.”
Ares straightened. “Murder isn’t one of my vices.” He shrugged. “It just happens to be something I’m really good at. Really, really good at.”
Eden licked his lips. Whatever conscience he had left within him screamed to turn back. To let Ares kill this man if he had to, sure, but to let it end there. To walk away while he still had a shred of decency—a fraction of a soul.
Galen had been different. He’d threatened Eden. He’d clearly been about to hurt him if he hadn’t been stopped.
“Why are you doing this?” Eden asked, but no, that wasn’t the right question. “What do you get in return?”
“It’s not about getting, it’s about wanting. What do I want in return.”
“Okay.” His skin was buzzing, and he couldn’t tell if it was in anticipation or horror. “What do you want?”
Ares pretended to think it over. “For finding him?” He jabbed the bat into Zonnie’s side. “A kiss.”
What happened next was almost like an out-of-body experience. Eden was walking toward him, crossing the short distance that was still keeping him safe from getting too close to the reality of this situation. His hand reached up, captured the Black Hart by the base of his skull, and pulled him in.
If he minded, Ares didn’t show it. He allowed him to set the pace and didn’t argue when Eden’s lips pressed over the mask.
The kiss was soft, tentative. Filled with the same hesitation and restraint Eden was still internally struggling with.
It wasn’t even a real kiss, but would it count?
He searched his expression, but as usual, Ares gave nothing away. Eden’s fingers flexed on the back of his neck, but he didn’t release him. “And for killing him?” He swallowed the lump forming in his throat. “What do you want for that?”
Ares glanced at his mouth. “How about a night?”
“What?”
“One night, in exchange for taking the trash out for you. Seems fair.”
“…To do…what?”
“You, babe,” Ares snorted, finding that hilarious. “I told you I would earn it first, didn’t I?”
And this was how he planned on doing it. By carrying out Eden’s revenge for him. He wasn’t just going to help him flush out those involved, he was willing to punish them on his behalf as well.
Was willing to do what Eden was so far unable to do with his own two hands.
“And…” that inner voice fought against him again, pleading with him not to do it, to just shut up and let things be, but it was easy enough to snuff any semblance of a conscience out when he glanced down at the trembling lump of weeping flesh responsible for all the heartache he’d experienced these past three years, “…what if killing him isn’t enough?
What if I want him to suffer more than that? ”
“Torture? You were upset about Galen getting a single bullet. Don’t worry. I can do that for you. No extra charge.”
“What if I wanted you to help me get the rest of them? What if I wanted you to make it hurt?”
“It sounds like you plan on drawing this out. It would be more efficient to kill them quick.”
“I don’t want that,” he insisted, voicing a truth he’d never admitted to anyone out loud.
One he sometimes even managed to lie to himself about.
“This isn’t justice. That’s not what I’m seeking.
I don’t care about getting their names in the paper, tied back to what happened, or socially shaming them for what they did.
If I trusted the law to do its job, we wouldn’t be standing here.
I want revenge, Ares. I want them to suffer as much as my family did—No, I want them to suffer more.
You said you’d give me what I wanted. That’s what I want. ”
Did Ares find him inhumane? Most people would. If he’d told this to anyone else, they’d probably have him committed. They’d report him at the very least.
But the Black Hart was different. Everyone on the planet knew about them, about the power they wielded and the things whispered about that they got away with. Eden didn’t know why this particular man was so obsessed with him—obsessed with Ransom—but he wasn’t above using that to his advantage.
At this point, Eden was willing to do anything to avenge his family, once and for all.
Anything to soothe this anger he’d been carrying. The fury that’d been slowly but surely eating him alive.
“The final boss is a big fish, babe. Making an enemy like that? It’ll cost you,” Ares’ tone shifted, but Eden was too distracted by the sound of blood rushing to his head to place it or recognize the possessiveness in it.
“I don’t care.”
“You sure about that? I can ask for anything?”
“Ask. It’s yours.” Eden was nothing more than a partial celebrity in this world. He didn’t have the kind of force behind him that Ares did. Being a Black Hart made Ares an Imperial, and on a planet that didn’t have a typical emperor, there was nothing stronger than that.
“A lifetime,” Ares said, as if that were some great thing. “That’s what it’ll cost you.”
Eden grunted. “Is that all?”
“Most would consider that a lot.”
“My life stopped mattering a long time ago.”
“Not to me.” Ares’ free hand pinched Eden’s chin and forced his face back so their eyes met again. “Those are the rules. This is the game. So, are we playing or not, Starling?”
It was obvious that he really was the one calling the shots here. That Ares would let him leave right now if Eden insisted on it. He controlled whether or not he chose to exit the game early, or continued playing, so to speak. That should have made his decision easier.
Eden couldn’t save his family.
There was still a chance for him to save himself.
But…
“A lifetime, you said?”
Ares nodded. “This is the part of the story where Creation reclaims his Starling, but only if you’re willing to return to me.
If not,” he dropped his hand, “I’ll bash his head in, take you home, fuck you until you’re senseless, and then disappear come morning.
Your life will remain yours, to do with as you please. ”
“And the others?” Eden asked. “His accomplices?”
“When you’re ready to take them out, I’ll make the same offer. We’ve got two targets to go, before we have to deal with dear old dad. Eventually, you’ll cave. You’ll give in.” The corner of his mouth curved ever so slightly. “You’ll be mine.”
What Ares wasn’t pointing out was that by killing Zonnie tonight, he would have already made Daven Dephik his enemy. He must have a plan to stay hidden. Which meant he’d thought this all through thoroughly.
“And if I don’t? If we do this dance and play to the end, and I’m unwilling to stay with you until I die?”
“Then it is what it is. I’ll kill the ones who were physically responsible, but you’ll be on your own for the final boss.”
“That’s all?” Could Eden be satisfied with that? Technically, Daven hadn’t been present that night. But he’d helped cover it up. He was the reason three years had passed with no retribution. He deserved to pay, too, didn’t he?
“I play fair. That’s the only way it’s worth it,” Ares replied.
“What is?”
“Winning.” He grinned when Eden frowned. “You don’t agree.”
“I’m pretty sure getting what you want is what makes anything worth it.”
“We don’t have to see eye to eye on everything.” That was it. He didn’t argue, or try to convince Eden, or explain.
Because he fully expected Eden to give in?
Or because he didn’t actually care about owning him one way or the other?
What was the point in saving himself when he wasn’t even sure if there was a single person left alive who wanted him, good or bad?
“I need to think about Daven, but as for the rest of it…I’ll do it,” he blurted, recognizing the predatory glint in Ares’ red eyes a second too late.
Ares walked forward, and instinctively, Eden retreated, gasping when his back hit the wall. The Black Hart laughed at him, then leaned down and nuzzled his nose with his mask almost sweetly. “Stay.”
Eden’s eyes widened when the air in the room seemed to shift, becoming heavy and terrifying. There was an almost cloying feel to it, threatening to smother him.
It was coming from Ares.
From the way he carried himself, testing the handle of the bat in his grip, humming a tune absently as he moved.
The theme song to Vanity.
“A life for a life,” Ares said lightly, stopping in front of Zonnie so the guy could see him. “Seems fair, doesn’t it?”
“No! No, please!”
Ares ignored him. “Thanks to my Starling, yours is going to last a little longer. You should be grateful.”
“Please,” the man wailed.
“Trust me,” Ares continued, “the After might be worse than the Before. You never know until you’re in it.” He set the end of the bat beneath Zonnie’s chin and lifted his head. “Thank him. Say, ‘Thank you, Starling, for your mercy.’ Say it.”
“No! No, please—”
The bat smashed into Zonnie’s right kneecap, and the crunch was deafening.
Eden may have thrown up again, but when he got ahold of himself and turned back, it was to find the same scene before him.
Ares delivered a blow to the exact same spot.
Zonnie screamed, a sound unlike anything Eden had ever heard before.
He tried to stay focused, to watch, just like he’d claimed to want, but it was too much.
Eden managed to stay on his feet, but he blacked out several times.
Each time he came back, it was to an even more gruesome scene than the last.
It was like waking in the pits of hell.
And discovering he was one of the demons who resided there.