60. Don’t Ask Questions
DON’T ASK QUESTIONS
Axel
A guard banged on the door of my cell, startling me awake. “Vanderhart, get up and put this on.”
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. “What’s going on?”
“Don’t ask questions.” He thrust a black garment bag between the bars. “Do as you’re told. We’re leaving.”
Panic tightened my chest as I shuffled forward and took the bag from the brawny guy. “Am I being transferred?”
They wouldn’t ship me off to Maine State Prison in the middle of the night with no warning.
Unless they wanted to do it under the cover of night to avoid a press circus. I was a Vanderhart. Coming from such a prominent family and being convicted of murder was definitely headline news in Copper Cove.
But when I unzipped the bag and found a black suit, my head swiveled back to the guard. “I don’t understand.”
The guard—the silver nametag on his left breast pocket read Officer Morgan—dragged his hand down his face.
“We don’t have time for this. Get dressed.” He held out his arm and pointed to the serpent and dagger tattoo inking his skin. “We have official business to attend to. I’ll return you to your cell in time for breakfast.”
All the moisture vanished from my mouth as his words sank in. Bass must have already made his move on Vaughn. I just signed that document last night, but why else would the brotherhood need to sneak me out of prison?
After donning the ebony suit, Officer Morgan led me out of the jail through a back door, and we made it to the catacombs beneath the Sigma Delta house in record time. Members in black cloaks and stark white masks packed the ancient stone atrium.
I slipped the macabre outfit on and slid the mask in place as the officer passed me off to another brother who drew me toward the empty dais in front. Ascended gathered on the left, and even though he was masked, I recognized Coach Carson by his shoes.
With this many members in attendance, the matter at hand had to be serious.
My brow furrowed as I searched for my father. His tall stature and broad shoulders were easily identifiable in the cloak, but I didn’t see him.
A sharp whistle caught my attention, and three masked guys gathered on the right. I inhaled a deep breath, full of salty air and candle wax, as Killian, Gage, and Slate moved toward me. Someone stepped in their path blocking them.
Killian’s body stiffened, and Gage had to shove one of my roommate’s clenched fists down before he struck the other Lord.
My heart sank as I was cut off from my friends. I hadn’t seen or talked to them since being arrested, and it felt like a piece of me was missing. It was almost as bad as the ache coursing through my veins for Lorelei.
Fuck. I’d give anything to have her in my arms right now. Maybe I could convince Officer Morgan to take a little detour to the Zeta house before returning to the jail.
The crowd of members parted like a black sea, making way for the Grand Domnus as he drifted to the front. His crimson robe whispered over the floor, and the ram-skull mask hid every trace of humanity, leaving only hollow black sockets fixed on us.
A chill crawled up my spine. He didn’t look like a man anymore. He looked like the reason people whispered about blood rituals and sacrifices to the devil.
“You’ve all been gathered on such short notice to deal with a very unsettling issue.”
Jasper Bishop’s deep voice traveled through the atrium, quieting the hushed conversations. “It has come to my attention that our brother Axel Vanderhart is in a precarious legal position because another brother has betrayed us.”
Murmurs erupted through the crowd, and masked faces turned to each other. Did they notice the Domnus was missing?
A door on the left opened. A cloaked Lord dragged a man into the atrium with a burlap bag covering his face and his hands tied behind his back. Tension infiltrated the atmosphere as the Grand Domnus placed a wooden chair on the center of the stage and roughly forced the detained man down.
My fists curled by my sides as the bag was ripped from Vaughn’s head. Gasps ricocheted, and I wasn’t sure if it was because the traitor was the Domnus or because welts and bruises mottled his face. Dried blood stained his upper lip, and the bottom one was busted open.
The gas lanterns and candlelight danced on the split and bruised knuckles of the member who dragged him in. If I had to guess, it was Bass, and he’d beat the shit out of Vaughn.
Who needed enemies when you had friends like Sebastian Davenport?
The Grand Domnus lifted his palm to quiet the brothers before angling toward Vaughn.
“Mr. Radcliffe, you’ve been accused of betrayal.
How do you plead?” As Vaughn opened his mouth—probably to deny it—Jasper interrupted.
“Remember who you’re dealing with. We can easily uncover the truth, so rethink any lies you’re about to spew. ”
Vaughn should have known this was coming the moment Brock went to the police with the video Susanna Michaels recorded. His nostrils flared, eyes burning with fury, but he finally bowed his head in submission.
“I gave brotherhood secrets from the archives to an outsider without permission,” he muttered.
Several members cursed—Lords and the older Ascended—and fury permeated the catacombs. This was serious treason. The secrets held in the archives were used to keep members compliant, but passing anything to an outsider was a monumental fuckup.
And to make matters worse, it landed in the hands of the police.
“Do you understand the severity of what you’ve done, Mr. Radcliffe?” Jasper shook his head, the horns of the ram skull ominously curling from the crimson hood.
Vaughn stared at his feet. “I apologize for my lapse in judgment, sir. It won’t happen again.”
“No, it won’t.” The Grand Domnus withdrew a ceremonial dagger from the pocket of his robe. “Mr. Vanderhart, come and deliver your retribution.”
The blood drained from Vaughn’s cheeks. And the same time dread coated my veins. Of course, I’d known this was coming. This was how the Serpents & Daggers dealt with treason.
“B-but I’m the Domnus.”
When Vaughn attempted to stand, Bass shoved him back in the chair.
“As the Domnus, you know the type of punishment your mistake has earned.” Jasper held the hilt of the knife toward me.
I took it in my shaky hand, knowing I couldn’t refuse. But the thought of spilling more blood soured my stomach.
At least Vaughn wasn’t innocent.
Bass suddenly removed his white mask, his grip still digging into Vaughn’s shoulder to keep him still. “Grand Domnus, before we carry out Mr. Radcliffe’s punishment, I would like to announce that I’ve secured evidence capable of exonerating Axel.”
Um, what?
Someone cleared his throat, and Killian stepped forward. “We were able to secure a way. And Conrad Vanderhart was an integral part.”
Bass gave a pacifying smile. “It was a group effort.”
My hand clutching the knife lowered as I studied the two warring Davenports. Bass definitely wanted something big once this was all said and done if he was willing to work with his stepbrother.
A door on the right opened, and my father entered the atrium, gently towing a woman with a burlap bag over her head. His calm blue eyes met mine, soothing the storm of emotions crashing inside.
What the hell was going on?
The Grand Domnus stepped down from the dais and met my father at the edge. “Care to explain why you’ve brought a stranger into our sacred domain, Conrad?”
My father turned to the crowd. “This woman will be able to clear my son’s name.” He whispered something to her and then slowly pulled the bag off her head.
I nearly dropped to my knees. I had to blink multiple times to ensure I wasn’t hallucinating the familiar brunette with blue eyes.
“Susanna!” Micah ripped off his mask and shoved his way to the front, his face frozen in shock. “I-I thought you were dead.”
Her brow furrowed. “Micah? What are you doing here?”
Blood thundered in my ears as I tried to make sense of everything. Susanna Michaels wasn’t dead? I hadn’t caused a second death that night?
“Mr. Preston, please step back,” the Grand Domnus commanded. “Keep quiet while we deal with this matter.”
Micah clamped his mouth shut but didn’t return to his spot in the back. He’d only joined the Serpents & Daggers to uncover what had happened to his friend.
But… she was alive and well.
Susanna wrung her hands and shifted her feet as she nervously studied all the masked and cloaked men within the archaic catacombs. It couldn’t have been a pleasant sight, especially to an outsider.
“It’s okay, dear.” My father gently patted her arm. “You’re safe. I promise.” His kind eyes and easy smile must have soothed some of her panic because her muscles relaxed.
Susanna sucked in a deep breath before speaking. “I filmed the video that was handed over to the police, implicating Axel Vanderhart in the murder of Peter Dupont.”
Micah’s head snapped in my direction, and as he quickly connected the dots, his jaw clenched. Fire ignited in his gaze. She might have been alive, but I was the reason his friend had vanished. And I’d lied right to his face on multiple occasions.
Jasper lifted his mask and spoke quietly to my father. “I assumed Ms. Michaels had been dealt with back then.”
“She was paid off for her silence and forced to vanish.” My father gave a one-shoulder shrug. “I thought removing her from her life instead of ending it was a better solution at the time. We, of course, kept tabs on her to ensure her compliance.”
I removed my mask and wiped a dribble of sweat from my forehead. My father had let Susanna live to spare me the guilt of taking another innocent life. There was no doubt in my mind.
Knowing that would have prevented a lot of heartache, though.
“In exchange for signing an affidavit admitting the video was faked, I get my life back,” Susanna said. “I’ll claim I wanted to punish the frat brother in charge of Peter that night so I fabricated the whole thing with AI.” Her gaze shifted toward me, narrowing.
But we knew the images on that video were real. I did push Peter off the cliff. And she would never forget it.
After several moments of internal debate, the Grand Domnus nodded.
“Very well. This seems like a beneficial deal for both parties.” He turned his attention to Susanna, his amber eyes darkening. “We will be watching you, Ms. Michaels, more closely than you might deem appropriate.”
Some of the color drained from her face. “Understood.”
Vaughn shifted in the chair as he tried to break out of Bass’s hold.
“Since the charges will be dropped, I don’t see why death is still a fitting punishment.” A bead of sweat ran down Vaughn’s temple and dropped onto the collar of his shirt.
Jasper pulled the ram skull back on his face. “You knew the consequences of disloyalty when you swore an oath to us, Mr. Radcliffe.”
“This is bullshit!” Vaughn bolted from the chair, but Bass was on him in seconds, throwing him to the ground.
Killian’s stepbrother shoved his knee into Vaughn’s chest to hold him down. “Our blood is from one cup. Our bones are from one beast. Our soul is from the same shadow. Brothers above all. We enter this world together.”
Vaughn barely had time to suck in a startled breath. The blade kissed his throat.
“And we shall only leave,” he said, voice low and merciless, “with a dagger pressed against our throat…” Steel flashed. He yanked the knife across Vaughn’s neck as he finished the oath. “And the serpent’s poison in our veins.”
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Vaughn’s eyes went wide, his body going eerily still as if even he couldn’t believe someone had dared to touch him. Then the wound opened, a dark, brutal smile carved across his throat, and crimson poured over the front of his robe.
A collective breath rippled through the chamber.
Vaughn’s hands flew to his neck, fingers slipping uselessly through the blood spilling between them. He twitched beneath Bass, choking on a sound that was half gasp, half plea, but no words came out. Only wet, broken gurgles.
His mouth opened and closed, eyes darting wildly from face to face, searching for loyalty, mercy, anything.
He found none.
Only silence and judgment. And the oath he’d sworn sealing around him like a noose.
He choked once more, blood bubbling over his lips, still clawing at his throat as his body fought for a few more seconds of life it no longer owned.
Acid oozed up my throat when he finally stilled, his dark eyes fixed on the ceiling. I hated to admit that I was grateful not to be the one who slaughtered Vaughn, but Bass would want something in return for keeping my hands clean.
“I apologize for overstepping, Grand Domnus. As a former Domnus, I’m used to taking immediate action.
” Bass wiped the blood off his knife on Vaughn’s shirt before standing.
“Since the position is open, I have the perfect candidate to clean up Vaughn’s mess and make preparations for the fall semester. ”
A string of curses dropped out of Killian’s mouth.
Son of a bitch.
I should have known this was what Bass was after all along.