Chapter 28 #2
“You are supposed to be dead. I killed you.” I step backward, placing my body in front of Crew’s. “I watched you take your last breath with a blade in your heart.”
He steps forward, stretching his arms. “You sure did, and it hurt.”
I keep my gun lifted and furrow my brows. “You need to keep speaking right now.”
“Always so impatient,” Sam taunts. “Let me have at least a few minutes to fuck with you.”
“Mara,” Crew groans again, barely lifting his head, and I see the wound gaping from his neck. “I can… explain.”
“Speak,” I yell back to Sam.
Riggs laughs. “We aren’t dogs.”
I gradually move my finger over the trigger, signaling that I’m not joking around. “I’ve always thought you were a bitch.”
Sam laughs and pats Riggs on the shoulder before stepping forward.
“When you killed me, I did in fact die. But oh, what a glorious thing it was, because I got to meet the Grim himself, and we worked out a little plan.” Sam steps forward.
“You see, Mara, for a few years, the Voids have been coming together to take out the Orders—specifically Lowell and Carver—for their fucked up ways of playing God. Because what you don’t know is that it’s been decades since the High Elders have reached out to us here on earth. ”
I stay quiet, even though I’m seconds away from screaming.
What is he talking about?
Everything I’ve been instructed to do comes from them.
“They have abandoned us to rot on this fucking rock alone, so everything Lowell has forced you to do has been on his own agenda. He’s lying to you, Mara, and has been for over a decade.”
I don’t let my legs wobble as I take in the information. I think I always knew it. Lowell tricked me—tricked us all—into thinking these were demands from the high power, but he’s lied. Everything has been a lie.
“Me and the Grim worked out a little plan. We decided that if he can start taking out the Elders one by one, the Voids can step up as the top Order, and we can get back to living life how we see fit.”
I nod. “You are an idiot, Sam. What did you give him in return?”
“Well, their souls for starters—four souls from Elders—and power. He is tired of them cheating death, and it’s payback time.”
“Sam…” I step back, feeling the slosh of blood under my feet. “What did you do?”
“I get to live, and I let him take four souls in return. Easy trade if you ask me. We want to start a new Order, and we want to get the High Elders’ attention. It’s a shame that Emalyn Ren had to start the panic for the Elders. I always liked her.”
“That seems too simple,” I snap.
He laughs. “Or it sounds inviting, Mara. Once the Grim receives four souls, things will continue as normal. The balance will be restored.”
“Normal?” I repeat. “This isn’t normal.”
Riggs chimes in, “To make things more interesting for you, Crew came to see us tonight. He let us know what had happened leading up to your trip, and all the information he’d learned in the meantime. I knew letting you out of prison was a good idea.”
“What?”
My head spins, and I feel nausea rise in my throat.
“Well,” Riggs steps forward, “Lowell did want you out. He knew something was up, and if he pulled some strings, he could get you released. You should have seen how he wheeled and dealed to get you out. Your skills travel far, Mara.”
“You said Crew.” I glance over my shoulder. “What does he have to do with this?”
Riggs opens his mouth to speak, but Sam raises a hand.
“Shall we continue?” Sam cuts back in. “After Crew came here and demanded you either join us or he’s out, I got upset.
He caused quite a ruckus before you arrived, too.
I never wanted Crew to drag you into this because, quite frankly, I hold a grudge, Mara.
You killed me. But after a year of reflecting, I understand it wasn’t you. It was Lowell.”
“Why would he come tell you all of this?” I glance back over my shoulder.
Sam smirks. “Because he’s helping run this entire operation and has been. For years.”
I stagger backward, bumping into Crew’s suspended body, and he lifts his head.
Regret shines in his fading eyes, and rage rises in mine.
He knew the entire time what was going on, and he let me run around like an idiot, thinking I could make a difference or complete this mission.
He let me torture and mock him, and all he was trying to do was put an end to everything, like I’ve wanted to do for years.
We would have never succeeded, but what makes me the maddest is that I also want Lowell to die. I want to wipe them off this earth, and had he told me, I would have listened.
“Mara,” Crew whispers, and I hear his voice fade.
I step away from him. Anger floods me like the blood around Crew, and I try to drown the fury.
I didn’t listen to him, though. He tried.
He was kind—he was there—and all I ever did was hurt him.
I’m angry at the lies, but I’m also mad I never gave him a real chance.
I didn’t even let him speak. This new information makes my head pulse, and right now, I don’t know who to look at.
“Why did you hurt him?” I ask, looking back at Sam and Riggs.
Riggs rolls his eyes. “He showed up hours earlier than we expected, furious about something, and hunted down a member of the Voids and strung him up. I’m talking, it was gruesome, nearly made me gag the way he mangled that poor boy.
” Riggs grimaces, his shoulders shivering.
“We have no idea why, but it was a bad day for him. Crew got hurt in the fight, and we had to chain him to keep him from slaughtering the rest of the hive.”
I keep my gaze straight ahead. “Who did he kill?”
Sam shrugs. “He was in your Order until recently, I believe. Some new guy.”
Cris.
Crew murdered Cris.
He listened, and he killed him. For messing with me. And as angry as I am right now—feeling like an idiot in a hundred different ways—the only thing I’ve ever done for Crew is hurt him. And the only thing he’s ever done for me is listen.
“He needs to start healing.” I cut my gaze back to him. “He’s bleeding too much. If it goes on much longer, he won’t be able to catch up.”
“He does,” Sam responds. “But I’m not letting him ruin what all we’ve worked for.”
“Let me take him, then.”
Riggs and Sam smile. “Are you willing to join us?”
Crew coughs behind me, and I know my time is running out.
“Let me take him now, and I’ll have a decision made tomorrow. If I flee, you can kill me.”
They glance at each other, weighing the options, and my anxiety grows. I stand tall, my gun still pointed forward, and calm myself.
“Mara, darling,” Sam says. “Can I trust you?”
“Yes,” I snap.
“If you run, or if we so much as suspect that you are going to out us, we will do worse than kill you, Mara.”
I nod. “You have my word, and I keep my word. Let me take him now, and we will come back tomorrow to discuss everything.”
Sam takes a deep breath. “Twenty Voids will be stationed around your apartment, ready to signal us to move in should we need to. Think about this, Mara. Haven’t you always wanted freedom? Haven’t you always wanted to rid the world of Lowell?”
I don’t respond.
“Go,” Sam says. “Get him the fuck out of here.”
He tosses me the keys, and I spin, holstering my gun as quickly as my shaking hand will allow. I begin unchaining Crew from the wall as they exit.
“You idiot,” I whisper. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
With each movement I cause, he groans, and the wound in his neck bleeds more.
I unclick the locks one at a time, and with the last one, his body falls, and I catch him.
I quickly assess his wound, and from the deep laceration slicing his neck, I know a knife was lodged deep in his throat before he was chained up.
I throw his arm over my shoulder and don’t flinch as the blood begins to run down my own body. I step forward, and luckily, he isn’t too weak to walk with me, but he’s fading.
“We will be watching, Mara,” Sam shouts as I rush down the hallway. “I’d rather Bannermin not die either, so I’d hurry if I were you. See you tomorrow.”
I move down the hallway, holding on to Crew with all my strength. I have no idea how I’m going to carry him with my wounds, but I don’t care. I need to get him back to the apartment right now. He groans, and I pull him tighter.
“Stop,” I command. “The more you struggle, the more blood you lose. You know this.”
“I… need to talk to you.” He coughs, bleeding harder as he does. “I’m sorry… for how I spoke to you.”
“Hush, we have time for that later.”
This must be exactly how he felt when I was injured, and that sends me new motivation. He’s saved and helped me, but now it’s my turn to prove to Crew what I’ll do for the people I care about.
Because I do care, and I hate myself for not telling him.
No one is ever allowed to hurt Crew—except me.
We make it back to the large room and the staircase to the roof. It’ll be impossible to carry him up twelve flights of stairs, so I glance at each of the opposite doors. Crew slowly lifts his hand, pointing to the one I didn’t go in, indicating there might be a way out that way.
He’s been here countless times, apparently, so I follow his lead. I rush forward, pulling him along, and blast through the closed door that leads to a small courtyard. Relief floods over me as I see the open night sky above.
“Can you fly?” I ask, knowing the answer.
He coughs again, and blood pools in his mouth, dripping out of the sides.
“Damnit, Crew.” I lower him to the ground. “I don’t know if I can carry you.”
“Just leave me.” He spits blood onto the ground beside him. “It’s… fair.”
I huff. “Oh, we’ve come too fucking far for you to die this easily, Bannermin. I’m not done yelling at you.”