Chapter 36
36
Scorpio
The plan was that Joker would ride into the forest compound with Eden willingly sitting on the back of his bike. Only after that would she find out her freedom was gone. It was a dumb plan. The result of Joker’s growing feelings for her no doubt. He wanted to prolong the good times he had with her, before he’d show her what a monster he really was.
But of course we had a Plan B, and a Plan C, for her abduction.
For some reason that he didn’t share with me—despite my endless prodding—Plan A fell through. So we’re going with Plan B now: Grabbing her at her apartment in the night.
Joker sent me, Razor, Manic, and Doom to get her. I was gonna comment on him staying behind for this, suggest it’s because he doesn’t really wanna do it anymore, but by then he was full-on angry at me for constantly suggesting it and there was no point in making him any angrier. He’ll see it in time. I have no doubt about that.
But as we sat in the van in the alleyway that runs at the back of her building, waiting for the lights in her apartment to go out, I did seriously consider fumbling the mission for a while.
That would solve more than one problem I’m facing now. It would get Karma and Grim off my back about it and save Joker from having to choose between the revenge he’s spent most of his life planning and the one woman who finally seems to have managed to get him by the balls.
But that was just a passing idea. Impossible to pull off. The other three with me want this to happen too much to let me fail, for one thing. And for another, I’m no traitor. The darkest part of me wants this plan to go off exactly as Joker planned it out. The part that wants others to suffer like I have. That guy is all for this plan.
Plus, I just gotta meet her. Although I probably won’t see what Joker sees in her. Nerdy, bookish women never held any appeal to me. Good girls neither. Give me strong, tough ladies like Karma all night long. Give me people that are broken in all the right ways, like me. Or better yet, I’ll just take Karma and Grim. Then I’ll be happy and never even consider desiring others’ suffering again.
I just hope I’ll still have them after this. Grim seemed to have understood my point about revenge and all that better than Karma, but I think they both did. There’s a flower shop at the end of the alley and the air smells of wilted, rotting flowers. I hate how clearly that seems to be telling me I’m not gonna get my wish.
“It’s almost four AM,” Razor says, cutting through my spiraling thoughts of doom. “The lights are still on but I don’t wanna wait any longer. People are gonna start waking up soon.”
I peer up at the windows of her apartment. Dots of light are sparkling in them, but from what I can see, the rest of the apartment is dark. “Yeah, let’s move. Get this over with.”
We exit the van and Razor opens the back, while I signal the guys in the other van to join us. We brought two vans just in case the Devils spot us. In that case we’ll be using the second one as a decoy.
Joker seriously over plans these things. But it’s good to have all those instructions to fall back on now, so I don’t have to think too hard about what we’re actually doing.
When I was abducted, I went into the car with those two monsters willingly. They pretended to be good people, offered me food and a warm place to sleep on one of the coldest nights I ever spent anywhere. Eden almost got to believe a sweet lie like that tonight. She could’ve come willingly with Joker. Now she’ll get her freedom taken away by force. And I’m gonna do it. That doesn’t sit well with me. Makes me nauseous if I think too hard about it, and my head wants to start spinning. And I’m very preoccupied with trying to ignore all that as Manic picks the lock on the back door of her building and all the while we’re climbing a narrow, steep flight of stairs to her second floor apartment. He doesn’t even have to pick the lock there, because it’s already unlocked.
This girl really is about to have the rug of her perfect, pampered, safe life pulled from under her. I feel bad for her and I shouldn’t. Nothing good will come of me losing it right now.
Doom and Manic enter first, looking around the one room studio space which is well lit up by all the Christmas lights she has up.
“Shit, there’s two of them,” Manic curses, pointing at the bed at one end of the space. “I think it’s that whore Ariel. What do we do now?”
They all turn to me for an answer. Which is fitting, I guess, since I’m the VP. What I want to say is that we should abort. Leave and do this another time.
But what I say is, “We take them both. We can’t leave any witnesses.”
My nausea is so strong I almost retch. But once I give the order, it fades quickly. The whole room reeks of gin, as does Eden. I wake her up gently, coax her to follow me, let her believe I’m Tyler—Joker—which in her drunken state she seems to. I can tell myself I’m doing it this way to make as little noise as possible. But the truth is much more sickening than that. I’m actually imagining that I’m doing her a favor by treating her kindly, answering all her dumb, drunken questions, making jokes and laughing so she won’t be scared. She’s too fucking innocent for this.
When I was abducted, at least I always knew it was a possibility with the way I’d been living. And I’d been through some shit before it happened, so I knew to always expect the worst. This woman—all she knows are her books, and pretty lights and pampered safety. This alone could break her.
What the hell kind of monster am I?
The kind that gets her all the way to the bottom of the stairs without having to use force to do it. Using lies and illusion to get it done. The worst kind, in other words.
The guys handling Ariel don’t take that kind of care. She’s screaming up a storm up there, calling Eden’s name which finally wakes her up as we reach the back door of the building.
I have the chloroform all ready and press the rag over her mouth before she can do more than call Ariel’s name a few times and fight to get free a little. I don’t want to hurt her. But I already have. It’s enough to make bile rise in the back of my throat.
“What’s with all the noise?” Manic hisses at the other two as they carry a lifeless Ariel down the stairs. “Is she dead?”
Doom shakes his head. “She’s just drugged. The bitch woke up while I was packing those clothes for the other one like Joker wanted. Why did he want that again?”
Because he’s in love with her.
I don’t say that. I just tell them to load the women up so we can get out of here. I need to get back to Karma and Grim and start forgetting all this shit. Although I can already see the nightmares coming.
But that’s fine.
Because after all this is done and our revenge is had, the nightmares will finally be gone too. Gone for good.