Chapter 13
CHAPTER
THIRTEEN
WESLEY
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing!?” Jasper snatches the cigarette from my lips, tossing it onto the cemetery ground.
I heave out a sigh, giving him a slow blink. “I was going to have a smoke. That was my last one.”
His lip pulls back into a snarl as he steps forward, getting in my face. “Do you think this is a fucking joke?”
“I’m not laughing, am I?” I raise a brow.
“Do you not understand how much shit we’re in?” he asks, voice low and dangerous.
“What do you want me to say?” I ask. “We spent three hours looking for her. She’s gone.
Not a trace. The best we can do is look at the cameras in the surrounding areas, but I don’t think that's going to help much considering she probably didn’t go home naked, and her mask is right here.
” I lift the teal bunny mask up to show him.
It hangs from my finger, dripping with rainwater and mud.
He snatches it from my hand and snaps it in two, tossing it at my feet. “We fucked up. We need to fix it.”
“We didn’t think she would run.” Sylas sighs heavily, running a hand through his wet blonde strands.
“Why the fuck would she volunteer to do this, go through with it, and not sign the contract? It’s not like we were asking her to sign away her fucking life.
Just to keep her mouth shut about what goes on down there.
I mean, she would have left with millions for fuck’s sake. ”
“Gee. I don’t know. How about we go ask her?” I shove my hands in my pockets. My fingers itch to grab another cigarette. Fuck. I’m going to have to stop by the store before going home to grab another pack.
“Right now is not the time for your smartass remarks.” Jasper snaps.
It’s rare to see him lose control like this. It’s kind of fun to watch. Like a burning train crash.
“How are you not more worried?” Jasper glares at me.
“We did what we were supposed to do. We picked the girl, fucked her, cut her open, collected her blood, and drank it. I played my part. I wasn’t aware that she was going to bolt like a scared little rabbit.” I say dryly. “What do you want me to say? What do you want me to do?”
“Find her!” Jasper snaps.
“Yes, I’ll use my magical powers and do just that.” I roll my eyes.
I’d have to say, I am curious why she ran. From the moment our eyes landed on her, we knew she was the perfect sacrifice for the night.
I’m sure everyone else was just as qualified, if not, it would have been easy to figure that out. But there was something about her.
She came here knowing what she was doing. She wore that little white night gown, looking all sweet and innocent.
It was a lie. She wasn’t the least bit innocent. She came here with a purpose. She wanted to be chosen, and she was. Now, the question is why?
If she didn’t want the money, the number one reason these women volunteer their bodies, then why put herself through all of this and get nothing in the end?
Or, did she get what she wanted, and that's why she ran?
“I don’t think it’s as big of a deal as you're making it out to be,” I tell him.
“You’re joking, right?” Jasper’s eyes widen. “This is a really big fucking deal!”
“No. He’s right.” Sylas stops his pacing and looks at us. “No one sees the contract but us. Each group of men is responsible for their own sacrifice. No one is going to know that she ran off and didn’t sign it. Everyone had already left the room before she did.”
“Even if that's the case, without the contract, what’s keeping her from opening her fucking mouth and telling the world what really goes on within the Brotherhood?” Jasper demands.
“Nothing,” I tell him plainly. “She could do just that. And there's nothing we can do to stop her.”
“And you're just okay with that? What the fuck!” Jasper growls. “Am I the only one who takes any of this seriously?”
“Pretty much.” I shrug. “The only reason why I agreed to continue to have anything to do with the Brotherhood is because I don’t like the idea of someone else taking my position and having more power over me.
I stay because I want control. I don’t believe in the god we give these offerings to.
I don’t believe that by drinking some girl’s blood, my bank accounts are going to stay filled. ”
“You should,” Jasper growls.
“Why is that?” I ask. “My father followed every rule and custom to a T. He fucked the girls, took their blood, and drank that drop every day. And look where it got him. He almost made us lose everything.” I push off the tombstone from where I was perched and take a step toward him.
“It’s not what we do down in the catacombs that gives us the wealth and power we have.
It’s the way we work at our companies. If you're a bad business person and make bad decisions for the company, no amount of virginal sex and blood is going to fix that. If that was the case, I’d keep all my money to myself and not waste it on paying my employees. ”
“You spent the past eight years working toward this. And all for what? Nothing? What's the point if you don’t want to be a part of this?” Jasper demands.
“I was forced into it. My sick, fucked in the head father was thrilled that his young, teenage son was old enough to not only take lives, but have sex with random, strange women. Sure, at the time, I was thrilled to be able to sleep with an older woman. What teenager doesn’t dream of having sex anytime they want?
But don’t you think it’s a little fucked up that we didn’t know how old they really were?
Sixteen, eighteen, thirty? Who the fuck knows. ”
“Don’t act like you don’t enjoy every moment of your life,” Jasper says.
“I didn’t say I didn’t. I’m saying, I was only a part of the Brotherhood because my father forced me. Never have I ever believed in any of it.”
“Then why stay?”
“Because of you. Because of Sylas. Because of my company. You’re my family. My brothers. And the only people who I give a crap about.” With the exception of Callie and Nola. But now is not the time to bring up either of them.
Jasper closes his eyes, taking in a deep breath.
“Don’t hate me, man, but I’m on Wesley’s side with this one,” Sylas says.
Jasper’s eyes snap open. “What the fuck?”
“Hear me out.” He raises his hands. “I’m not saying I want to leave.
But this means something different to you than it does to us.
You do this because you want to make your father proud.
You were pulled into this new reality of ours in a much different way than we were.
Your father even found ways around their messed-up rules to have the life he wanted.
We could have done the same, we could have someone else take our place.
But we can’t. Because there's no one left. I don’t have any uncles or cousins to take my place.
The only person I have is Callie, and women aren’t allowed positions of power.
Not that I’d let her join anyway.” Sylas grumbles.
“And the only person I have is my father. No fucking way I’d give that bastard his power back.” I mutter. I’d rather kill the man myself with my own bare hands. Still might do that anyway.
“I can’t believe you two right now. Of all the fucking times to tell me that everything we’ve been working towards is something you don’t want.” Jasper is the one to start to pace, running his hands over his face. “Fuck!”
“Breathe.” Sylas steps in front of him. “We’re not going anywhere.
We’re still keeping our positions in the Brotherhood.
We would never give them up. It’s too dangerous to lose that kind of hold we have on not only other members but the people of New Orleans.
It would be stupid to even think about leaving.
There would be so many people who would try to swoop in and ruin us.
We’re not talking about leaving. We’re saying that it’s okay to not follow every rule to a T because how the fuck are they going to know?
We play it smart, play it safe. And if anything, if someone asks for a name, we forge one. ” Sylas shrugs.
“You’re both not getting it,” Jasper snaps. “Forget the fact that she didn’t sign it. It’s the fact that she is running around New Orleans knowing some very fucking important information with no means to keep her mouth shut.”
“That’s not entirely true," I tell him. “She knows what the consequences are if she opens her mouth. Death. It would take a really stupid person not to know that. We don’t need a contract to scare her into keeping her mouth shut.”
“What if she’s working for someone?” Jasper asks. “What if she was placed there to gain information for one of our rival families?”
“She could have been,” Sylas says. “But I doubt it. There's no guarantee she would have been picked from all the other girls.”
“Want to know what I think?" I ask.
“No.” Jasper snips.
I ignore him. “I think she was a very curious girl who wanted to know what really goes down on ritual nights. She heard the whispers, the rumors, and wanted to find out for herself.”
“Why the fuck would anyone want to do that?” Jasper asks.
“The whole point of these women wanting to volunteer is the hope of some big life-changing reward. While there's been no definite proof of that outcome, due to the contracts, it’s not a secret that people can see for their own eyes the kind of changes these women end up going through. They want to experience it for themselves. She clearly didn’t. ”
“Could just be a kinky bitch who wants to get her rocks off by a group of powerful men and let them do whatever they want to her body.” Sylas chuckles.
“You damn well know there's a lot of women out there who are little freaks like that. We’ve fucked over what, a hundred of them? And what we did to that girl tonight doesn’t even come close to the things we normally do. ”
“If that's the case…” I smirk. “Girl got the shit end of the stick. If she really was a freak, she should have just sought us out here."
“Maybe she did.” Sylas shrugs. “And we turned her down. So she found another way. Whatever her reasons for being here tonight, to put herself in the position to be used like she was, the fact is, we don’t know.
She’s gone. We can do our best to keep looking, to find all the security feeds in the surrounding area.
Other than that, there's no point in stressing out over it unless we have a reason to.”
“This is fucking bullshit.” Jasper sneers. “From now on, we make them sign it before the ritual.”
“I’m down with that. Not sure why we don’t make them do that already,” Sylas says.
“It’s because we need to make sure they are genuinely volunteering.
That they’re under the illusion that they do not benefit from this.
That it’s all their free will because they want to offer their body to the gods.
Their blood to feed him and his followers.
Her purity to allow them to take as their own. ”
“That's bullshit.” I chuckle. “They’re all just a bunch of money-hungry bitches who probably held on to their virginity just for the chance to make bank selling it to the likes of us.”
“It doesn’t matter why or what they believe. It’s what was taught to us. Who are we to change it?” Jasper asks.
“Ah, we’re literally the leaders of this whole organization.
Half the members from the generation before our fathers are all dying off.
We can change things to benefit us. If we play it smart, do it slowly with the new members who come within the Brotherhood over the next few years, by the time all of the current members are replaced, no one will know for sure what the original history of this cult is. ” Sylas says.
“Because that's what this is,” I tell him. “It’s a cult. And being leaders of said cult, we can change things, make the rules. Hell, it was our great-grandpappies who founded this whole thing. Who says we can’t do what we want with it?”
“I’m going to stop you right there,” Jasper says. “You’re going too far. It’s too big of a risk.”
“Right.” I snort. “Forgot you were not a risk taker, Mr. Wet Blanket.”
“I’m done with this.” Jasper starts to take off his robe. “I’m going to look into seeing if I can find her. I’ll let you know if there's any information.”
He turns around and starts heading for the cemetery exit.
“Well, tonight was an eventful night.” Sylas looks over at him with a big grin. “Not going to lie, tonight's sacrifice was different.”
I nod my head slowly, my eyes flicking back over to Jasper’s retreating back. “I felt it too.”
“I wonder who she is?” Sylas asks. “And why did she just want to be fucked with no rewards?”
“I’d bet money on the fact that after it was done, reality set in, and she was freaking out over what she just did. Probably was ashamed of herself.”
“She sure as hell wasn’t ashamed while she was writhing on that stone vault for us, loving every single thing we were doing to her.
” Sylas groans. “And now I'm hard just thinking about it. She’s not like the other girls we’ve chosen.
Her virginity might have been intact, she might have dressed like a pure soul, but something darker lurked inside her.
I could feel it. I could see it in the way she just let us have complete control over her.
Whoever she is, I have a feeling this wasn’t the last we’ll see of her. ”
“You think?”
“She wanted more, she wasn’t done." Sylas smirks. “She was just afraid of the fact that she was more messed up than she believed. I’ll put money on that one.”