Chapter 17
SEVENTEEN
LEVIATHAN
I don’t know how long it’s been. It could be hours, or even days, but I know that I’ve deserved every second of this.
The lashes on my back sting, the whip itself settled in the corner of the dingy chamber, mocking me. While I like pain, this is a completely different kind. I like giving pain and receiving pain, only when I want it. Being confined here, naked with my hands chained above my head, standing in a pool of my own piss is demeaning, but I knew what I was getting into when I killed Jennifer. I knew there would be consequences and, at the moment, I hadn’t cared.
Of course, Mammon was on me the second I arrived home. As Master’s right hand, he always hears everything first. It didn’t take long for one of our members on the force to call him and tell him what he suspected one of us had done. Since everyone else had been home, I’d been the only suspect.
When he asked, I hadn’t lied. I saw no point in it. I’ve teetered around the truth recently, but I never lie to my brothers when they ask a straight question. Plus, I was too hopped up at the time to come up with a reasonable excuse. Mammon had sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he barked a command, and then seconds later, everything was dark.
I woke up here. Tied and naked. Asi had the pleasure of whipping me until I passed out. I haven’t gotten any food or water. I haven’t been released from the chains, and I hang limply since my legs have given out. I can feel the way my skin is peeling from the metal wrapped around my wrists.
But I don’t regret my actions.
It could have been much worse. I exercised as much control as I could. I’m sure the officers will blame Jennifer’s death on an out-of-towner, someone that they can’t tie to the community. Everyone in the town will feel slightly paranoid for a few days until no more deaths happen and everything calms down. The judges might grease some palms, making the whole situation go away. Or, Mammon will intervene, if necessary.
I cough up blood and it trickles down my chin along with my spit. I wonder how long they’re planning on keeping me here like this. I wasn’t smart, I wasn’t thinking straight, but it can’t be as bad as that one time Bel nearly fucked someone to death.
My mind is starting to crumble. The feral side of me coming out, and they’re lucky I still have my collar on. If it weren’t for that, I know I could find a way to break free from here, but I’m rational enough to know how stupid that would be.
Not only stupid but disloyal, and I would never betray my brothers and Master in that way.
The door creaks open and Asi walks in. He doesn’t immediately go for the whip, so that’s a relief. He sits down on the chair right in front of me, arms crossed in front of his chest. He eyes me with curiosity and then a bit of annoyance. “Bel and Gore won’t shut up about you being here.”
“Has it been enough?” I croak, my throat like sandpaper as I try to swallow.
He nods. “It’s been enough. What were you thinking, Levi?”
I drop my head. My neck is too sore to stay upright. Regardless, I chuckle. “You sound like Mammon.”
“What did you tell him?”
“The truth. I killed her because I wanted to.”
“And he believed that?”
Somehow, I find the power to snort. “Not in the slightest.”
“Are you going to tell any of us what’s going on?” he asks, an uncharacteristic edge to his voice. “You’ve been off ever since the ceremony. Are you having trouble with your bounty?”
To this, I shut my eyes. Squeeze them as tight as I can to get the image of Aiden to go away. He’s plagued me ever since I came here, so unwelcome and embraced at the same time. I don’t understand what’s happening to me, but I know it’s his fault. It makes me both completely obsessed with him and repulsed with myself. The night I left Jennifer’s—however long ago that was—I told myself that I’d make a move. What kind of move? I’m not too sure.
I lift my head, wondering how much trust I can place in Asi. He carries aloofness and annoyance like a weapon. We’re only two years apart, yet I know barely anything about him. Still, in the twenty years I’ve known him, he’s kept my secrets, but secrets that could shatter the family are different. Secrets that Mammon needs to know are never kept quiet for long. Still, he’s my brother, no matter what blood says. “You want to know?”
“I’m entirely curious,” he mutters, seeming the exact opposite, but that’s Asi.
“Between the two of us,” I insist, eyeing him dangerously. “Nobody else, Asmodeus.”
He raises a brow, intrigued. “The last time it was nobody else, things didn’t end well.”
I know. I remember. I ended up here.
I push that thought away, remembering the beatings, so close to death I almost kissed the Grim Reaper. It’s best not to dwell on that time.
“This is different,” I say then jut my chin toward the chains. “Let me down?”
He wrinkles his nose but stands with a sigh, producing a long silver key from his back pocket. He reaches up to unchain me and the bastard lets me fall on the piss-stained floor. He goes to the corner and grabs the pants I came with, tossing them at my head. My legs are weak and trembling as I put them on. I crawl my way toward the chair, lifting myself gingerly as he produces a medical kit.
“These will scar,” he says, handing me the box as he points at my wrists.
I smirk. “They better.”
He rolls his eyes and props his hip against the wall, gesturing for me to get on with it. “So?”
“My bounty is… interesting,” I say for a lack of a better term.
“Interesting how? They’re all the same, aren’t they?”
“Don’t fucking talk about him like that,” I snap, baring my teeth at him. His eyes widen just a touch, but he masks his surprise easily.
“Touchy,” he mumbles, raising placating hands in the air. “Continue.”
“It’s not a usual hunt,” I explain, wincing when the alcohol meets my raw wrists. “I want to do this one differently.”
“How so?”
“I want to hunt the way you do.”
He cocks his head, staring at me with too much interest. “You think you can?”
“I want to try,” I grit out, not liking his condescending tone.
Asi hunts in a very specific way. He gets some twisted satisfaction in being a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He likes to befriend his bounty, become close to them, only to betray them at the very end. He’s spectacularly good at blending in with the mundane humans we live amongst. It also helps that he looks almost too beautiful to be real, like a Roman God, and people fall for that bullshit vanity every time. Or maybe it’s because he’s Master’s only true son, practically raised by Mammon to be the prince he is. Regardless, he’s my best chance.
“What do you need from me?” he questions with a shrug. “I can’t wave a magic wand and make you not a fucking psychopath.”
“How do I get my bounty alone with me willingly?”
“You could ask him out on a date.”
“What’s a date?”
He snorts. “Jesus, we have a lot of work to do.”
I narrow my eyes as I wrap bandages around my wrists. “You don’t have to be an asshole.”
“Of course I do,” he answers. When he sees me struggling to tie the wrap around my right wrist, he comes up to help me. “Just go up to him, introduce yourself, and smile. Tell him you want to grab coffee or some shit. Show me a smile.” I do and Asi shakes his head. “Maybe try it like you don’t eat first born children.”
I growl, digging my fingers into my hair when he’s done with my wrap. “Why is this so fucking hard?”
“Why are you pushing?” he asks. “What’s so special about this bounty that’s making you like this?”
I lick my chapped lips. I reached out for help but telling him about Aiden seems wrong. Aiden is mine. Only mine. He’s my secret, the other half of my twisted soul, he’s my pretty possession and even speaking his name to another person is enough to turn me murderous.
My silence is greeted with a huff. “Fine, don’t tell me. The best advice?”
“Yes?”
He kneels in front of me, eyes boring into mine, so full of dread and despair it sucks the air from the room. “Put on a mask. Turn into somebody else. Pretend that you’re not a fucked up murderous bastard. Try to imagine a life outside of this place. Fucking convince yourself you’re not going to hell.” He looks down, a moment of fleeting sadness in his eyes. “That’s what I do.”
I take his words in, even though I don’t know what the fuck they’re supposed to mean. This is my life, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. But what he says about the mask does resonate. I put on a mask when I stalk my prey, turning more into a beast than man. I just have to slip into a skin suit, someone Aiden can trust, someone he can rely on. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep it up, but I want to try.
“Thanks, brother,” I tell him, clapping his shoulder. I stand, wobbling on my feet as I rub my stomach. “Now can I fucking eat? I have things to do.”
“Oh, you’ll probably need this.”
I look down at the leather wallet in my hand. “What do I need this for?”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he mumbles under his breath. “If you’re going to try and pass yourself off as one of them you’re going to need that and about a dozen showers,” he says, slapping my raw back. “You smell like literal shit.”
Despite the situation, I chuckle darkly, glad we can joke about it now. I’ve received my punishment and all is forgiven, even if it’s not forgotten. “Is Mammon angry?”
“Mammon is… Mammon,” he sighs with a shrug. “Don’t worry about him.”
I nod. Worry isn’t something I feel very often. I don’t even think I can. My brothers are more than capable of taking care of themselves. But something… unusual curls in my gut. Making me stop halfway to the door. What’s this feeling of unease in my stomach? This crawling jittery fluttering?
I shake myself out of it. Everything is just growing stranger and stranger by the day. My skin starts to itch, and I let out a satisfied groan as I reach back and dig my nails into the open wounds in my back.
There. Better.