Chapter Seven.
Drake
I screamed. The attack was incessant and never-ending. Russ ripped away everything that I’d built up and dug into my memories. He was relentless in finding those which would cause the greatest harm. Russ ensured I recalled every minor detail, even if I’d forgotten it.
Anguished, I watched Da die. Axel’s grief-stricken face flashed into my mind, and the pain rose, once again refreshed. I was a lost, scared teen who witnessed everything falling apart. What did I do now?
Phoe lay broken and damaged on the ground, and that was my fault. Phoe had fled after I’d been heartlessly cruel. Every wound she’d suffered was on my head. The image would never be forgotten. This was on my hands.
Harley’s skull was laid open. He lay in a coma for a year. My beautiful boy, alive but not with us. Never knowing if he’d open his eyes again. Despair and hopelessness filled me.
I flashed forward, and Silvie was attacked by Frenzy, and my daughter was taken. Serenity was stripped naked, beaten, and yet she’d won. Angrily fighting for her life, she’d kicked Frenzy’s ass. And we learned of Street Serenity, the alter-ego she kept hidden.
Hellfire blew up, and Fanatic was seriously injured. I’d no idea if he’d live or die and could only pace. Anxious about an enemy I couldn’t fight. Learning that Fanatic would only be able to live with constant medication. Unable to do anything to ease the pain Phoe suffered.
Ghost returned, bringing my sister, whom I’d no clue existed. Carmelle hated me, and so did my two nieces. They needed protection, and instead, I ignored them. How had I been so cruel? It had been hard to accept Arrow had moved on and had a relationship with someone.
We confronted Spike and Volcano and finally learned the depths of Fury’s depravity. Ambitiously fostering his own incestuous line.
Standing beside my brothers as Venomous Fangs rode towards RC. Knowing we were about to kill and be killed. The army riding for us terrified me, but I couldn’t show it. I had to stand and defend our city.
Funerals. One after another. Brother, family, friend, unknown. Heroes who’d fallen because of one man’s psychotic ambition. Barely healed, and ensuring I attended each one from the first to the last. It’s what I owed them.
Pain.
Fear.
Anger.
Desperation.
Grief.
Terror.
Hope.
Anxiety.
Self-doubt.
The urge to flee.
The desire to fight.
Hopelessness.
Horror.
Isolation.
Cowardice.
Inadequacy.
Hostility.
Enragement.
Russ Kennedy locked me in my mind and tortured me. He’d no intention of letting me go free. Images of the dead faces I’d seen flooded my thoughts. Glee hit when Russ discovered those who’d died at my hands. He’d use those against me and make sure everyone knew what a further murderer I was.
My head was exploding. Blood poured from my nose, and I think I would have bitten my tongue if I’d not been screaming in agony.
I drummed my heels on the floor, but that provided no alleviation.
The entire world burned, and I couldn’t stop it.
Russ tore everything deep I’d hidden away and waved it in front of my face.
He was trying to make me into a monster and was slowly succeeding.
Tears trickled down my cheeks as I sobbed while holding my dead children. My worst fear made real.
I tried fighting back, locking Russ out, but it was useless.
Russ had total control, and I was a pawn.
The sacrificial lamb. The tragic thing was Belladonna had been correct.
Russ was beginning to realise his powers, and he was guessing the possibilities were endless.
That thought alone frightened me terribly.
Belladonna
I kicked the door open to the Rage clubhouse and didn’t hesitate.
I struck instantly, and the guy in front of me reeled back.
Romeo swept in with Slasher. They headed immediately for Drake while I attacked Judas.
I hit hard and fast, and the kid pulled back, raising shields.
Judas lashed out, hate and anger making him strike like a snake, and I went for his defences.
They were tight, but I kept battering away.
There was a weakness; I just had to find it.
“You’re her,” Judas smirked as he sought a way through my own shield.
“Yeah, and you’ve no chance. What’s your name?”
“Russ. Call me God.”
“Dude, I call no fucker God. Especially some snotty-nosed kid on an ego trip.”
“I’ll give you ego trip,” Russ yelled. “Leave Michaelson alone! He’s mine!”
Russ struck out, and Romeo staggered as he absorbed the blow. Russ almost pouted when Romeo didn’t crumple like he expected. I re-attacked immediately and hammered Russ. He stepped backward, shocked at my strength as I sought a chip in his defences. My entire focus was on him.
We shoved back and forth, both of us trying to find the weak spot and not give away our own. I was so focused that Drake’s voice took me by surprise.
“Taylor was a good person; she wouldn’t want this,” Drake rasped.
Russ faltered, and that was it. I punched through and entered his mind.
It was a seething cesspit. So many negative emotions rolled around, and his thoughts were scattered.
Russ fled from me as he began shutting doors and slamming them shut.
But it was too late; I was in. I ripped Russ’s memories apart, destroying the easily accessed ones first.
Russ screamed as he fell to the ground. There was nothing he could do now.
The kid was mine. I didn’t set out to torture; I just systematically destroyed his mind.
It wasn’t easy. Russ had a strong will, but he couldn’t defend against me.
He rabbited, pulling back his most precious thoughts until I cornered him in a tiny box.
Darkness, where his personality had once lived, surrounded it.
Everything came down to this. Russ’s entire life I’d dismantled, memories, emotions, dreams, all gone.
It gave me no pleasure to destroy someone like this, but it was necessary.
Russ couldn’t be allowed to have anything intact; that would give him a base to rebuild on.
Hate would return, and he’d find different targets.
Despite what people believed, some aspects of your personality were hard-wired into you; being a psychopath was one of Russ’s. His mind needed to be completely destroyed, and so, I cut him out like the infection he was.
Now there was nothing. Just a basic instinct to survive. “Leave me alone,” it screamed.
I couldn’t. Russ would slowly recover, regain his telepathic skills, and continue on to murder.
Sadly, I grabbed the last tiny spark. Grief swept through me.
This was all that remained of a living person, and then ruthlessly, I crushed it.
Russ Kennedy faded into darkness, and nothing lingered of him.
The guy destined become a serial killer had been snuffed out. It was done.
Tiredly, I opened my eyes and stared at the drooling, vacant-faced man.
Russ’s body worked, but it was an empty shell.
It would breathe, eat, piss and shit as a basic function, but there was no brain activity.
Romeo glanced across from where Phoe and Drake sat propped up by him and his brothers.
Poker was next to them, one hand on Nun and one on me.
Seeing me come back to myself, Poker released Nun and me.
Beside me, Stitch had a hand on my forehead, staving off the impending migraine I get after using so much energy.
“Nice job,” Romeo murmured with a little awe. “Clean, surgical, precise.”
“Who was he?” Phoe whispered as Slasher had a hand on her that glowed faintly blue.
“His sister was Taylor Kennedy,” Drake said. His voice sounded a lot better than the last time I’d heard it. Slasher had healed him first.
“Taylor was an officer with the RCPD. She and her fiancé were killed in the war. He arrived DOA, but Taylor survived for a while before succumbing to her injuries. That was the younger brother?” Phoe asked.
Drake nodded. “Yeah.”
Somehow, it didn’t surprise me that they knew the name of the victim or her background. I bet they’d learned every victim’s details—including those who’d been forced into fighting for him.
“Russ wouldn’t have quit. He had plans in place for the children and the rest of the club; even your allies skirted his thoughts.
Russ would have kept murdering until he was stopped.
Because he’d kill psychically, he’d never have been caught unless he crossed paths with one of us.
The kid was a bona fide serial killer in the making.
Luckily, Russ was focused on you and hadn’t killed anyone else yet. But the thought was there,” I said.
“Russ’s sister, Taylor, was a cop, but harboured a psychopath.” Drake shook his head.
“Wasn’t the war that turned him either,” Romeo stated.
“I caught some of his thoughts. Taylor had covered for Russ. He’d been hurting animals, a classic sign.
The kid developed his powers after Taylor’s death.
Despite his tendencies, he did love her.
The shock tipped Russ over the edge, and his grief grew into what we saw today. ”
“I can’t help but feel sorry for him. Russ might have had a chance if Taylor had lived,” Phoe said.
I shook my head. “No, Phoe. Before Russ discovered his powers, he’d been hyper-focused on a girl in school. She would have been his first victim.”
“Christ,” Phoe muttered. She reached out and took Drake’s hand.
Drake clasped it tightly. “We’ve got the luck of the devil.”
“Yeah, we keep surviving this shit. What do we do about Russ? It seems cruel to kill him in this condition,” she inquired.
“Hand him over to the cops. Tell them you found him here. They’ll lock Russ up in a psychiatric ward, and he’ll live there for the rest of his life,” Stitch suggested.
“He’ll never recover?” Drake asked as he slowly got to his feet.
“No, Belladonna did a beautiful job,” Romeo confirmed.
Drake nodded and pulled his phone.
Drake
The Royal Bastards left first. I offered a marker, which Undertaker took.
Phoe flew them back on her plane, which returned for the Harlots.
Phoe doubled the money she’d originally paid, and again I gave Stitch a marker.
Stitch accepted on behalf of Sapphire. The cops had picked up Russ Kennedy, some of them recognising him, but none had a clue what had happened.
The last we heard, Russ was locked up in a psychiatric ward.
I heard he was undergoing a barrage of tests, but nobody understood what was wrong.
Drugs had been floated as an idea, but again, there was no evidence.
But Russ would turn into a cautionary tale of a bright young man who blew his own brains out with narcotics. So be it.
I felt as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
The darkness Russ had forced upon me was gone, and I was back to myself.
Yeah, ain’t gonna lie, some guilt and self-recrimination lingered.
They always would. Same as the self-doubts, but at the end of the day, that was natural and within the normal range.
No sooner had Russ been captured than everyone went home. Phoe and I had Reading Hall back and manageable levels of chaos. This was my life; it wasn’t perfect by a long shot, but for me, it was.
Belladonna
I entered the clubhouse and sighed. Thank God I was home. I headed for the bar and saw Blue and Saxon behind it. Nun whistled at him, and Blue grinned and came around as Nun leapt into his arms, and Blue carried her to her apartment. Sapphire laughed as I grabbed a seat next to her.
“I swear Nun banged a Hellfire MC prospect while we were there,” I said as I tapped the counter.
Saxon poured a Jack and Coke and handed it to me.
“It’s her life. All resolved back in Rapid City?”
“Yup. Drake offered a marker. Stitch accepted it.”
“Nice. Rage MC has power behind them.”
“Yeah. Plus, he also offered a second marker for Stitch healing one of their old ladies. That’s a right situation that part of South Dakota has. Lots of raw emotion. It may be a year and a half since the war, but that city is still deep in grief,” I said.
“Gotta be anger and blame there too,” Sapphire mused.
“Yup. Ain’t a single family that wasn’t affected in one way or another. Rapid City won’t heal for a long time.”
“Anything else I need to know?”
“Yes. Don’t send me there again. The Rage MC Hellions are fuckin’ nightmares. Who needs an army when we’ve got kids like that walking the planet?” I drawled and took a huge swallow.
Sapphire raised her own glass and laughed. She tilted it at me and drank. “Yeah. We’ll see. Piss me off enough, and that’s a suitable punishment.”
“Bitch,” I muttered at my best friend, sister, and president.
“Too damn right.” Sapphire lit up as her handsome man walked in. She put the glass down and sauntered across the floor. Wylde grinned and picked her up, hands full of her ass. He kissed her and then carried her away. Shit, I needed to get myself a man!
“Hey, Cass,” I called, seeing one of the stable.
He looked up, and I beckoned him over. While not what Sapphire had, Cass would scratch my itch. For now. Cass smirked and followed me to my room.