Chapter 19
Quill
“Revenge.” I repeat the word, eyeing Tragen with suspicion.
After driving back like a madman to Astley, aware with every passing minute of the danger threatening Piper that I was helpless to fend off, I’m stuck in my apartment, having to deal with an asshole talking to me about revenge.
I fucking want what he’s offering me.
But I need Piper more.
“I don’t want revenge,” I say, and in my peripheral vision, I see Liam and Dane breathing a touch easier. Yet, is the unspoken word, but I’ll allow them to think they’re safe. It’ll make it that much better when they realized just how fucked they are.
“You don’t,” echoes Tragen, looking at me quizzically.
“I want to get to Piper,” I say, my voice thick with panic.
“Right.” He stands up, walking over to me. His hand on my shoulder practically makes me jump out of my skin. “I was wrong before, soldier. Your love of that girl doesn’t make you weak. I’ve never seen you more razor-focused before. Nothing could possibly stand in your way right now.”
Yeah, and I was wrong too, because you’re the cringiest bastard who ever lived.
Instead of voicing that thought, I snap, “So stop standing in my way and let me go.”
“No,” he says with a maddening smile, ignoring the anger I’m not doing a thing to hide. “I’m not letting you go. I haven’t come here out of the goodness of my heart. Not only, that is.”
I wait, my jaw clenched, for the fucker to just spit it out. Now that I know he’s not planning to kill me, why the hell won’t he let me go so I can save my girl?
“I need soldiers like you in my army.”
“You have me in your army.”
“My new army,” cuts in Tragen.
Vaguely, I’m aware of the interested glints in the soldiers’ eyes.
Those eyes are the only thing that tell me the dozens of emotions they’ve all passed through in quick succession.
Smugness, terror, confusion. They know better than to react, like Kevin did.
Kevin was probably new. But these guys have been so well-trained over the years that they’re basically like zombies whenever they’re in Tragen’s presence.
Robots who carry out orders unthinkingly. Tragen could tell them to walk off a cliff and they would, in formation, too.
I was nearly like that too. But I guess Tragen always has favored me. I never felt the crippling fear these other soldiers do, that leads them to go into zombie-mode around him.
“What new army?” I ask, forcing my thoughts back to what Tragen’s saying.
“Things are shifting,” he says slowly. “There are fractures in Devil. They won’t remain all-powerful forever. A storm is brewing.”
“Okay. I don’t really have time for this metaphorical shit.”
I’m trying very hard to keep myself from reaching for my gun to shoot the asshole right in the face, and leave my apartment.
But I’m aware that even before I even managed to get through the first step of that plan, I’d be dead. Tragen is the fastest shot I’ve ever seen.
The officer’s lips flatten into a small smile. “I think you do have time, soldier. That is, if you want to save Piper Day.”
My back straightens, and the nerve endings in my back bristle. “Piper is in danger because of Devil. So honestly, I don’t give a shit about them and whatever fractures they’re currently dealing with. If they implode, I’ll be the first one to cheer. Now let me go.”
I don’t know what’s wrong with me for speaking so brazenly, especially to someone who very much represents Devil. But the anxiety beating down on me when I think of the trouble Piper is in prevents me from thinking clearly.
Tragen shakes his head. “You’ve got it all wrong, Quill. Piper’s safer inside Devil Tower than out.”
I hiss out a disbelieving breath. “Yeah, right. Did Damien Wells trick you into saying that?”
“Obviously, Damien Wells does want to kill Piper Day. But something tells me she’s not dead yet, because Logan Colt very much does not want her dead. Hasn’t he done enough to clue you in to that?”
“Right.” I chew on the inside of my lip, realizing I should be wondering more about that. But being in the Devil Army has taught me to act instead of ask.
Maybe if that hadn’t been the case, Piper would still be with me right now. Maybe our relationship wouldn’t have gone up in flames after high school. Maybe—
I close my eyes as the painful thoughts crowd back in.
“There are more people that want to kill her in Astley than that don’t,” concludes Tragen.
Great.
“You’re doing a good job of reassuring me,” I say sarcastically.
“I’m not trying to do that. I’m trying to get you to focus, soldier.”
“Focus on what?” I lash out.
“On revenge.”
Again, the expressions in the soldiers’ eyes who surround me go from interest to fear. I can’t believe I’m trying to convince Tragen to let me not get revenge.
“I just need to get to Piper,” I say, my voice strangling with urgency.
Blood thunders in my ears as I remember Piper’s plea.
They’ll rape and kill me at Devil Tower.
“Please,” I add to Tragen, tears pricking at my eyes. “Please let me go.”
He takes a deep breath. “Quill,” he says slowly, as though explaining something to a kindergartener. “You’ll need an army to get into Devil Tower.”
I shake my head wordlessly, because I know he’s right, but I also know nothing could possibly keep me away from her. Two opposing truths battling it out in my heart.
“You’ll need an army,” he insists. “And that’s what I’m offering you. An army.”