Chapter 9
The dream starts the same way it always does—with fire.
I'm standing on a battlefield of bones. The sky is split open like a wound, oozing crimson light and the air tastes like blood.
Across from me stands... me.
But not me.
My face on an angel's body, wings spread wide, flaming sword raised. His eyes burn with righteous fury, but his mouth twists with doubt.
Opposite him stands another me—demon-faced, horned, fanged, scarred. Laughing. Always laughing.
"My name is Legion," the angel-me whispers.
"For we are many," the demon-me finishes.
They circle each other, these twin versions of myself, neither fully winning, neither fully dyin’. I try to scream, try to move, but I'm frozen between them.
For some reason, I’m not participatin’ in this battle. I’m just a witness.
Blood begins risin’ up from the ground. . Droplets formin’, defyin’ gravity, floating up like rain in reverse. It beads on my skin, then pulls away, drawn to the sky.
The angel-me turns, fixing me with eyes that burn. "You chose this," he says, my mother's voice coming from its mouth. "You chose this the day you were born."
The demon laughs, the sound shattering the air like glass. "Tell him the truth," it growls. "Tell him what happens when the blood reaches the sky."
I look up. The blood droplets converge, forming a perfect circle. A clock face. A countdown.
"My name is Legion," I try to say.
"For we are many," every voice I've ever known answers back.
The blood-clock strikes thirteen—
BANG BANG BANG
I jerk awake, hand already reaching for the shank under my pillow that's not there. Heart hammering against my ribs. Sweat-soaked sheets twisted around my legs.
"Kane! Wake the fuck up!" Roach's voice cuts through the door. "Brick wants you. Now."
I blink at the ceiling, dragging myself back to reality. The clubhouse. My bunk. The morning after patching in.
The space beside me is empty. Mercy's gone.
"Two minutes," I groan back, voice rough with sleep.
"Make it one," Roach answers, footsteps already retreating down the hall.
I swing my legs over the edge of the bed, wincing as the movement pulls at the fresh brand on my chest. The bandage Diesel applied last night is spotted with blood and clear fluid. I peel it back carefully, hissing through my teeth.
The Badlands B stares back at me, angry, red, and black. The skin around it swollen and weeping. It's not just a mark, it's a covenant. Permanent and binding.
No goin’ back now.
Not that there ever was a goin’ back.
I stand, stretching my stiff muscles until they ache. The dream clings to me like smoke, that reversed blood rain still vivid behind my eyelids.
"Why me?" I mumble to the remnants of the dream. "Why do they haunt me? It's just a name, for fuck's sake."
The shower is a brutal awakening. Water pressure too high, temperature swinging between scalding and freezing. The spray hits my chest and the pain is immediate and electric. I grit my teeth against it, letting it wash over me.
When I get out I realize that someone left a tube of aloe gel on the edge of the sink, alongside a white pill I recognize as oxy. Thoughtful.
I take the aloe but put the oxy inside the medicine cabinet along with a whole line of pills people been tryin’ to give me since I got here four days ago. I need my head clear for whatever Brick wants.
I dress in clean jeans but no shirt. Not today, Satan. Can't even stand the thought of fabric against the raw flesh of my brand. I can’t even wear the cut. It'll have to wait.
Downstairs, the clubhouse is quiet. Morning-after kind of quiet. The kind that comes with hangovers and regrets. Crow sits at the bar, methodically cleaning a .45, piece by piece. He nods at me but doesn't speak.
"Mercy?" I ask.
He jerks his head toward the back door. "Range."
I step outside into the harsh Montana morning.
The sun's barely up, but the air already carries that dry heat that promises a scorcher by noon. The sound of gunfire draws me around the side of the building to the shooting range. It’s just a dirt berm backstop and target frames made of repurposed metal signs, but it gets the job done.
Diesel stands behind Mercy, his massive hands adjusting her grip on a rifle that looks too big for her small frame. She squints down the sight, face set in concentration.
"Breathe out and squeeze," Diesel instructs. "Don't pull."
She does. The rifle cracks. A sign fifty yards away pings and stutters.
"Good girl," Diesel says, pride evident. "Natural. Just like your brother."
Something twists in my gut watching this. My nine-year-old sister learning to shoot from an outlaw biker. There's a wrongness to it. But there's a rightness too. This world doesn't spare children. Better she knows how to defend herself than end up dead because she can’t.
"Mornin’," I call.
Mercy turns, face lighting up when she sees me. Then carefully lowers the rifle, barrel down, finger off the trigger. At least Diesel's teaching her right.
"I hit five in a row," she says, pride making her stand taller.
"That's my girl," I say, and mean it. "Gotta see Brick. You good here?"
She nods, already turning back to her lesson. Diesel gives me a solemn nod. Message received. He'll watch her.
Brick's office sits at the back of the clubhouse, separated from the main room by a heavy wooden door. I knock twice, wait for his gruff "Enter," then step inside.
First time I've been in here since my release. Not much has changed. Same scarred desk. Same maps on the walls, marked with routes only Brick understands. Same smell of cigar smoke and old leather.
Brick himself sits behind the desk, phone pressed to his ear, as he stares at the floor. He's a big man, tall and solid, with the kind of face that's weathered rather than aged. Gray in his beard, none in his resolve.
"Don't care what they said," he's saying into the phone.
"Price is the price. Border's hot right now.
.. Yeah, well, that's not my fucking problem, is it?
" He glances up, sees me, and gestures for me to sit.
"Look, I gotta go. Have it there by Friday or the deal's off.
" He hangs up without waiting for a response.
I take the offered seat, trying not to look too obvious as I look around and take stock of the place. Filing cabinets against the wall, safe bolted to the floor, stack of burner phones on the corner of the desk. This room holds the secrets that sent me to prison. The secrets I kept.
"How's the brand?" Brick asks, lighting a cigar.
"Hurts."
He nods, approving. "Good. Should hurt. Means something that way." He studies me, eyes giving nothing away. "The kid can't stay here."
It's not what I expected him to say. I tense. "Mercy? She's not—"
"Relax." He raises a hand. "Not saying she can't be around. Just can't live here. The clubhouse isn’t a place for a kid. Especially not a girl."
He reaches into a drawer, pulls out a manila envelope, and slides it across the desk. "Open it."
I do. Inside is cash—a lot of it. Twenty grand, maybe more. And papers. Legal papers. I spread them out, trying to make sense of what I'm seeing. Title deed. Insurance forms. Utility particulars.
"What is this?" I ask, though I'm starting to understand.
"Your place," Brick says simply. "Double-wide. Three bedrooms."
I stare at him, then back at the papers. "I don't understand."
"Brotherhood means something here," Brick says, leaning forward. "It's not just ink and patches, Legion. You should know that by now. And if you didn't, well, now you do. You took the fall. Did the time. Kept your mouth shut when the Feds offered deals."
He taps the envelope. "Three years, every member put in what they could.
Some more than others." He doesn't need to say who contributed the most. I can guess.
"House is yours. Paid for. No strings. We had the old trailer hauled away two days ago.
Tried to clean up the shitty yard a bit when the new one dropped but…
" He shrugs. Winces. "It's still a shitty yard. "
I don't know what to say. Words stick in my throat. "I was… I was gonna burn it. That same night I got home."
Brick laughs, comes around the desk, and pulls me to my feet.
His hand grips my shoulder, tight enough to anchor me to the moment.
"Well, that would've sucked. An arson investigation would've really fucked up the timeline, so—" He claps me on the back hard enough to make me choke.
"I'm glad ya didn't." Then he points at me.
Flashes that smile that's been a winner with the women for five decades.
"You're family now, Demon. And family means something.
You take care of us, we take care of you. "
He pulls me into an embrace, careful of the brand on my chest. It's brief but fierce. When he steps back, his eyes are suspiciously bright.
"Thank you," I manage, the words inadequate.
He nods, already turning away, uncomfortable with the moment. "Get the kid settled in. Take a day or two. Then… come find me. We'll talk business."
I gather the papers, the cash, my new life wrapped in manila. As I reach the door, Brick speaks again. "Legion."
I turn.
"Good to have you home."
I nod, not trusting my voice, and step out into the hallway.
Standing there, papers in hand, I feel something I haven't felt… well… ever.
Hope.
It's dangerous, that feeling. Hope is a luxury I can't afford. Not yet. Not with Destiny still missing, pregnant and alone. Not with Mercy still jumping at shadows. Not with Savannah wearing another man's ring.
But it's there all the same. Small. Fragile. Real.
One step at a time. One bullet at a time. One breath at a time. That's how I survive.
I tuck the envelope under my arm and go to find my sister.
Time to go home.
Mercy is still at the shootin’ range. Her finger slides to the trigger. She breathes in. Holds. Exhales slow. The shot cracks across the yard. Fifty yards out, once again, a sign jerks and pings