6 | Silas
Silas
As we exit the car and cross the street, my eyes take in the crowd.
The doors of the house are open; people are filling the yard and porch.
I can see inside, and I already know everyone on the list is here.
But I am specifically looking for one person.
The host himself and his lovely girlfriend, Chloe.
The one who caused so much pain to Sage when we were still living in this town.
You see, once upon a time, in another life where we still were more siblings than whatever we are now, Sage used to be so fragile.
A broken girl, easy to toss around and bully.
I tried to be around as much as I could, but I wasn’t always.
Rumours were already circling around about us anyway, and even though it wasn’t until we turned eighteen that our relationship changed, people still had noticed.
It wasn’t hard to figure out that the Vale twins were a little too fond of each other, if you count the fact that I ignored every girl who tried to hook up with me.
Or the fact that I dated Diana, Chloe’s best friend, for a while without giving her even a speck of my attention.
Because I couldn’t offer her that luxury; it belonged to Sage. Always.
As if she had been summoned by my thoughts, I see her park her car basically on Kyle’s yard, almost running over a couple that was talking on the edge of the lawn.
She doesn’t care. The doors of the car open, and there they are.
Both of them. Chloe exits the passenger seat, and Diana follows her right after.
She doesn’t bother to properly park her car, because who cares—they still think they own everyone here.
And maybe they do. Maybe nothing has changed since high school, even if it’s been years since that hell ended.
“She still looks good,” Sage mumbles next to me.
I turn to her and put my arm around her waist, pulling her closer to me.
My lips brush hers, but I don’t kiss her.
Instead, I hold her close for a moment long enough to ignite whispers around us.
Just this. A glimpse of affection. It is enough to make everyone stare.
That’s the curse of being the Vale twins.
Always at the center of attention, even when we don’t wish for it. Even when we despised it.
Over the years, somewhere along the way of being tortured and cast upon, Sage learned to gloat in it.
She thrives in hate. I have always admired that transformation.
My woman transformed from a fragile, terrified little girl who did everything in her power to please a mother who never truly loved her into a woman everyone should fear—including me.
Even though I am the one who seems like a terrifying asshole between the two of us, and maybe I am a little in reality, Sage is the one you should actually fear.
Because the silent ones are the ones who hold the most power.
The ones who can end you. I can lash out and cause chaos.
I can cause some damage in the way of my wrath being unleashed into the world.
But Sage? Sage will burn everything in her path, including me, if she needs to, in order to survive or protect what matters most. And in her eyes, what matters most are the innocent.
Something she doesn’t think we are. I wouldn’t be surprised if one day she sacrifices herself in the way of saving a soul she believes is worth saving.
I am not a fool. I know she fears me most of the time.
But I think the reason is that she hasn’t yet discovered how dangerous she truly is herself.
It’s a power that is hidden under years of trauma.
It’s what keeps her going even when her mind tells her to stop.
I always admired that about her. And who wouldn’t?
A woman who lost everything and almost bled out in the process is standing now next to me with a knife strapped to her thigh, tucked inside her fishnet stockings, ready to claim her revenge from those who wronged her.
The whispers we have always heard are now growing louder around us, but this time we are provoking them. “Look at the Vale twins,” one girl says to her friend in a hushed tone, but she is too close for her words to pass unnoticed.
“I told you they were fucking,” her friend replies, and that response makes me laugh. Because it wasn’t true when the rumors started, but it sure is now.
I press Sage’s body against mine before I whisper against her lips, “You look better, dear sister.” But it’s not a whisper at all.
In fact, I would rather shout it from the damn rooftop if I didn’t know she would be upset with me.
I would love for everyone here to know she is fucking mine, and by the end of tonight they will know it.
Because she has always been mine, and everyone who hurt her will pay with blood and terror.
“Let’s go, angel.” I give her a squeeze on her ass before I release her and walk a few steps away from her, just enough to look at her. She is stunning. My sweet girl.
Sage walks first, and from the way she takes her first steps toward the door, I know my girl is back to her usual self.
Probably because provoking everyone just a minute ago was enough to make her angry, or she is just jealous of Diana.
It’s not a first. And honestly, if we don’t get to finish the list, it won’t be the last time she sees this redhead and turns to a bull seeing red.
Which is fitting, because this woman has been dyeing her hair fire red for so long that, for a good while, she had everyone convinced it’s natural.
Yet if you fuck her, you can totally tell it’s not, since she is not the ‘shaving everything’ type.
Don’t ask me how I know, and most importantly, don’t tell Sage.
I would very much prefer not to join the list tonight.
Even though she knows, she just doesn’t need to hear it.
“Are you still having second thoughts, angel?” I ask her as we enter the party, and everyone turns to look at us, because now we have become a spectacle for the night. No one actually expected us to be here, and our outfits are not exactly subtle.
“Nope,” she says, with the ‘p’ making a popping sound, emphasizing that she is indeed pissed. I take one of the pink blades I stuffed in my leather jacket and hand it to her.
“There you go, pretty girl,” I say with a smirk. “Go have some fun. I have a guy I need to see.” I need to start the night right, and the only way to start the night right is to find Kyle.
“Good, I have a cheerleader to meet.” She heads for the kitchen where Diana got lost as we walked in, and I go straight for the stairs leading to the top floor.
I don’t even need to look for the fuckboy of the night.
He is right on the top step, kissing his girlfriend for everyone to see.
I can see them from down here, and I walk faster toward the stairs that lead to where they stand.
My eyes never leave them. I watch them as he hands her a drink, and when she shakes her head, refusing, he pinches her cheeks, forcing her to part her lips before he pours the drink down her throat.
He starts laughing while Chloe chokes on the liquor.
I almost feel bad for her. For a moment, her eyes find mine, and I could swear this woman has the look of a prisoner in her eyes.
If she wasn’t on the list herself, I would feel like I am about to save her, given the fact that I am heading upstairs to kill her boyfriend. But she is.
I pass people as I head for the stairs, but as I do, a guy has the nerve to speak directly to me.
“What are you doing here, Vale? Is your whore sister around? Maybe you would like to share her this time!” He talks and talks and never stops.
Not until I pull him by his T-shirt and turn my gaze to the door.
Sage doesn’t know I have arranged just a little help for us tonight.
My two friends, the only ones who stuck around after everything that chased us off this town happened, are already locking every exit. It’s time to play. The guy struggles under my hold as I keep him hovering in the air. I bring my new rainbow blade against his skin.
“What’s wrong, buddy? Don’t you want to play anymore?
” I tease as the rainbow metal slices a line from one side of his neck to the other.
Blood starts spilling, bathing me in red, and I smile as everyone starts running, realizing quickly that they’re trapped.
I wanted to start with Kyle, drag this torture out for a few hours at least before they started running like scared sheep.
However, this guy had to open his damn mouth, and here we are.
I let his lifeless body fall when he is done choking, from the blood filling his mouth.
One crossed off the list; five more to go.
“Maybe another time, pal. I have a guy to see,” I say with a smirk to the dead guy, and my eyes find the top step of the stairs again. Kyle is nowhere to be seen. Fuck. He is probably hiding.
The music has stopped, and screams fill the room as everyone runs away from me, trying desperately to find somewhere to hide, while I head straight for Kyle’s bedroom. The house is big, and some manage to escape through windows or hide in the bedrooms downstairs.
When I reach the floor where his bedroom is, I see him just in time, running into the bathroom down the hall.
But Chloe, to my surprise, isn’t with him.
She is actually on the floor crying and crawling away from me.
The coward must have pushed her as he fled.
It’s not a shock at all. He was always a pussy.
Poor woman, I wish that would be the worst thing happening to her tonight, but sadly it won’t be.
She is not a priority right now, though; her boyfriend is.
I kneel down to her and use my blade to remove her hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. “Don’t worry, Chloe. It’s not your turn yet.” I stand and turn my back to her. “Kyle, you fucking coward, come out to play. I promise I won’t hurt you... much,” I shout as I head toward the bathroom.
I leave Chloe behind me and continue down the long hallway.
I have every intention of Kyle being my next victim, until his best friend makes a pathetic sound that draws my attention to the bedroom on my right.
The door is wide open; those people have the survival instinct of a caterpillar, it seems. I walk toward the door of the room the sound came from, abandoning for a moment my quest to find Kyle.
My eyes take in the room as I stand in the doorway.
Mark is halfway under the bed, and I can hear crying coming from the closet.
All the years of being locked inside an iron one myself taught me how to stop and listen.
Trauma can be great for sharpening up that survival instinct.
Maybe that’s the problem those idiots are having.
Their lives have been perfect; no need to sharpen that pesky little skill.
I, on the other hand, had to learn to rely on my senses to survive in a home that treated religion like a weapon and a gospel at the same time. Everything in the name of God. Both the good and the bad.
Environments like that teach you things.
Like, for example, how to listen for every noise around the house, recognizing footsteps by the echo they make on the floor.
Sage’s are silent, almost. Delicate. She walks in a way that is as if she is trying to be undetected.
Knowing we share a mother, I would say that’s exactly what she learned to do for her entire life.
It was a natural instinct to be invisible. Every day of her life until the moment we left this awful town. It was truly amazing to see her change from invisible to loud. She takes up space. She screams in your face about her existence.
Mother’s footsteps were always the opposite of Sage’s.
Heavy, like a warning, was hidden behind every single one she made.
I learned to listen carefully for each one.
I learned to recognize which ones meant she was in a good mood, or when she was in one that would transform into some type of punishment for either me or my sister.
I learned how to recognize the moments to stay quiet from the moments when I could exist somewhat freely in our home.
Not that the latter existed often. Most times, it was the wise thing to remain undetected.
To go with the flow of Mother’s desires.
Apparently, now those skills have made me a skilled killer, as I know the number of people in this room just by standing at this door.
Listening in. I step inside and close the door behind me.
My fingers wrap around the delicate key already in the lock, waiting for me.
I turn it, and the sound of it locking echoes in the room.
Just enough to make everyone hold their breath.
“Time to play, little sheep,” I say with a wicked tone, worthy of a protagonist in a horror movie.
My sweet Sage would be so proud of me if she were here, but I know she has her share of fun downstairs.
She will join me soon, though, and help me teach those idiots what it means to be against the Vale twins.