8. Adrenaline
CHAPTER EIGHT
Adrenaline
“Like a parasite, man leeches onto its host, draining the nutrients and watching it shrivel and die.”
Ian effortlessly slipped his scalpel into the soft flesh beneath his fingers as he firmly held down his struggling victim. “The host being…” his mother’s voice echoed behind him.
“...earth, that which we were gifted but do not deserve-” Ian recited.
“That we do not deserve,” she repeated, walking around her son to watch him work. “Good boy, leantuinn?*…”
Though his mother was often the instructor, it was his father’s dark, ominous presence lingering in the corner of the room like the God of Death himself that left Ian unsettled.
Ian ever so subtly glanced up and felt fear strike his heart before quickly averting his gaze.
“Ian…” his mother persisted impatiently.
Ian froze. His father always had that effect on him. Like a demon who stole the very thoughts from his mind with one simple look. Ian started to sweat as he tried to remember what came next.
“Man must pay…”
Glancing up, Ian spotted his older brother standing alongside their father with his hands behind his back. Jax’s face was a cold, spitting image of their father, but with a softer, more forgiving gaze that seemed to breathe life back into Ian again. “Man must pay…” Jax mouthed quietly.
“Man must pay for his transgressions, his wickedness… with recompense,” Ian exhaled.
As he always did, Ian glanced at his foundation, Jax, who gave him a reassuring look before gesturing back to the man on the table.
As if remembering, Ian looked down at the man as he tried to focus on separating the flesh, but it was hard to get past his screams.
“Please! I’m begging you! Stop! I have a daughter! Please!”
And for just a moment… Ian hesitated. The hesitation was less than five seconds.
Enough time for him to recover. Not enough time for his father not to notice.
Ian’s hands flew to his throat before splintering his fingers against a thin metal cord.
“You do not hesitate…” The mixture of disappointment and disgust in his father’s voice was almost as painful as the metal slicing into his neck.
Ian could hear his mother sigh as she headed for the door. “When will you not be a disappointment? It’s exhausting. Maybe next time,” she said, walking up the stairs. Tears pearled in Ian’s eyes as his focus wavered between his panicked brother and their unfazed father.
“Athair, please,” Jax begged.
“Your brother knows the rules,” their father said monotonously as he kept his eyes on Ian, who was cutting his fingers on the wire to get it off. “A Reaper does not hesitate.”
Ian knew their father was right. It was one of the main principles of a Reaper: to spare a parasite was to forfeit your own life. Ian truly believed his life would end at the hands of his own father.
But before he dared to beg for his life, blood splattered Ian’s face, and his throat collapsed as the wire fell from his neck.
Ian struggled to breathe before he stared at his brother wide-eyed.
With the thin wire wrapped so tightly around his forearm that it sliced into his skin, Jax wound the wire around the man’s neck and pulled tight until his head nearly popped off.
Breathing heavily and splattered in blood, Jax stared down at the nearly headless man before he quickly looked up at Ian. “Are you-” But before he could finish his sentence, Jax flew to the ground from how hard a metal toolbox slammed against the back of his head.
Ian froze where he stood as he watched his father stick his hands into his pockets and stroll towards the stairs. “Clean up after yourselves…” was his only command.
Ian waited for the door to close before he rushed towards Jax, who was sitting on the floor, touching his bleeding head. “What is wrong with you?!” Ian demanded. “Why would you-”
“Don’t ask stupid questions, Ian…”
Ignoring his own bleeding neck, Ian bit his bottom lip as he analyzed the gash in Jax’s head. “...I’m sorry…”
Jax snorted. “Don’t let him break you, Ian…”
“Ian!”
Jax abruptly slapped Ian’s hand away from his face. “Oh, I’m sorry. You must want to walk around with your skin hanging off the side of your face. I’m sure Deja would love that,” Ian said sarcastically.
Jax grumbled as Ian continued to sew the torn skin on Jax’s face. “I wouldn’t have to do this if you weren’t so reckless. That’s Keith’s role,” Ian added.
“I was angry…”
“You’re always angry, Jax…”
Ian tied the stitch along Jax’s temple before dabbing it with a cloth. “I’m meeting with Keith to dump the bodies. As for the rest of the Reapers, they’ll be back, you know,” Ian noted.
“And we’ll be waiting to rip them to pieces,” Jax said coldly.
“Perhaps you should just make an appearance,” Ian advised.
“And what would that solve?”
“They think you’re dead, Jax. It’s why they’re targeting Deja. If you make an appearance, then perhaps-”
“If I make an appearance, I will coat the walls of the Great Hall with their blood and tear flesh from bone until I’ve wiped out their entire bloodline.”
“...See, this is the anger I was talking about.”
Jax snorted as he shooed Ian away again. Wiping his hands, Ian leaned back against the counter and stared at his brother. “What?” Jax muttered.
Ian shook his head with a shrug. “You worry me.”
Jax rolled his eyes as he pulled his bloodied shirt over his head. Ian stared at Jax’s back, lingering on the strange black mark on his shoulder. “...when are you going to tell us what actually happened to you, Jax?” Ian asked. “Ever since you’ve come back… you haven’t been yourself.”
“I already told you,” Jax said, leaving to shower. “I met the devil.”
Watching the blood stream down his body and swirl down the drain, Jax’s eyes glazed over.
You’re always angry, Jax…
Jax always admired how astute Ian was, and yet… this observation of Ian’s bothered Jax.
Restraint. Fortitude. Self-Control. These traits embodied Jax.
It is what kept him and his brothers protected, feared, and revered.
Not… anger. Anger was fleeting. Temporary.
Weakness. A minor relapse into the boy he killed to become the man he was today.
But as he looked down at his hands shaking underneath the showerhead, he started to doubt himself.
His fingers ran over the old, hardened scars on his arms. He used to be able to account for each one as if it were a badge of honor.
But then he lost track. His shoulders were heavy.
As if there were a house attached to his back.
A glass house filled with all the people he loved and cared about, while Reapers of the Society that raised him chipped away at the glass with bloodied knives and smoking guns.
The threat against Deja reignited something in him. He felt stuck. Exposed. Threatened. But most of all… enraged.
“Babe, you’re gonna bite your finger.”
Looking down, Deja noticed that she had nearly chewed her nails to the stub. “Crap. Sorry, I’m just annoyed,” she said.
With one hand on the steering wheel, Keith slid his other hand into Deja’s and lifted her hand to kiss her fingers. “Relax, baby girl. You’re so tense. Didn’t you have a good time?”
“I did…” she sighed. “Until my ex showed up. My parents didn’t even invite him, so why would he just invite himself like that?”
Keith’s tongue ring flicked against her knuckle before he tenderly kissed her hand again. “Want me to kill him for you?” Keith hummed.
Deja smirked. “No. Thanks for the offer, though.”
“If you ever change your mind…” Keith grinned as they pulled up to a vacant lot.
Furrowing her brows, Deja looked out the window at their desolate surroundings. “This isn’t the hotel.”
“Just picking up Ian,” Keith said, hopping out of the driver’s seat.
“I thought you said Ian was with Jax?” Deja asked.
Keith paused and exchanged glances with Caleb. “He was,” Caleb said. “But he also had to run some errands.”
“You guys always have ‘errands’ to run,” Deja said suspiciously.
“It’s business-related, baby girl,” Keith said, kissing her cheek. But Deja grabbed his arm before he could pull away.
“Solar-energy business or Reapers’ business?” Deja asked. She tightened her grip on his arm. “And don’t lie to me.”
“Well, shit, how can I with your sexy ass ordering me around like that?” Keith grinned as he leaned in to lick her.
Deja pushed him away. “Just hurry up. I don’t like it here. It’s creepy.”
“As you wish, beautiful,” Keith smirked before sauntering away.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Deja looked at Caleb in the back seat, holding Chloe. He met her gaze, and his cheeks flushed at her probing eyes. “...wha-?”
“I feel like you guys are lying to me,” she said abruptly.
“It’s not so much lying, rather… not giving you all the details,” Caleb smiled.
“Caleb!” she snapped when suddenly Chloe puked. “Oh no,” she said, stepping out of the car.
“I’ve got her,” Caleb said, carefully laying Chloe on the backseat.
“My little spitfire has had a bit too much excitement today,” he grinned while cleaning her off.
With her arms crossed over her chest, Deja smiled, watching how tenderly Caleb wiped her daughter’s face and changed her clothes.
She loved how easily these dangerous and murderous men turned to mush when it came to her little girl.
Deja looked over her shoulder and squinted, trying to see through the dark until she spotted Keith standing with someone she assumed was Ian. Impatiently checking her watch, she wondered what was taking them so long when suddenly she caught something at the corner of her eyes.
“Keith!” she screamed. But just as Keith turned to her, a dust explosion went off, kicking up dirt all around them.
Deja’s feet were moving before she had a moment to process what had happened.
The wind whipped against her face, her heart beating fast as she ran towards where Ian and Keith had been standing. “Keith!” she screamed. “Ian!”