35. April 16, 2023
Demon
Medusa landed the helicopter just north of Mount Pelée on Martinique at what looked like an older estate.
From the air, it was well hidden by a canopy of trees, except for a small, isolated patch of dirt that looked no bigger than a schoolyard basketball court.
The helicopter literally fit in the space by inches.
There, they were met by Midas, who helped them secure Giudici and Deschamps in a basement clearly outfitted as a jail.
“Waters,” Cherry mumbled.
Demon pressed a kiss to her temple. “Rest, a chuisle .”
Vehemently, she shook her head. “Need to tell him. About Sarah.”
He frowned at her pale face, eyes still closed, her mouth pinched with discomfort. “Cherry?—”
“Please.” Her eyes opened. “ It’s important.”
Something in her tone told him that if he refused her, she’d find a way. He looked up at Midas. “Get him on the computer.”
He carried Cherry into the dining room of the estate and deposited her into a chair at the table. Instead of sitting next to her, he crouched at her side, one hand caging her in the chair by holding onto the ladder back, the other hand covering hers in her lap. “You need rest, a chuisle .”
“I can rest after. This won’t take long, but he needs to know. It can’t wait.”
Moments later, Waters appeared on the screen. “Good to see you upright, Cherry-bomb. Midas said you needed to talk to me. You could have slept for a bit first.”
“Sarah.” Her voice cracked with pain.
There was a pause. “What about her, Cherry?”
“Zion.” Her voice cracked again. “It was Zion.”
Demon knew the second Waters comprehended what she was trying to tell him. Everything about the man tightened. The silence felt like time had stopped, and it only started again when Cherry spoke.
“The shipment. In 2017. The one you intercepted. It was Zion’s.
Something about it was his ticket into the elders.
I don’t know exactly what that means, but it sounded like it was meant to prove himself worthy of an upper-level position.
Maybe like Gendry was trying to work his way higher, only Zion was at a much further stage.
When I sent you in to intercept that shipment, it ruined his opportunity, and he had to start over.
He took Sarah as his revenge.” She paused.
Demon could feel her body start to shake.
“He was there that day. When you were rescued. He said he was the one who made sure you watched as she died.”
If he didn’t know better, he would have thought the computer screen was frozen based on how still Waters sat. Someone swore behind him. He heard a thud as someone else collapsed onto a chair. Within seconds, she was collapsing in his arms and sobbing uncontrollably .
“I’m so sorry.” It was all she could get out, over and over.
Demon rose, swept Cherry up into his arms, and then sat down in the chair with her on his lap. He clutched her tightly, holding her head to his chest, tucking it under his chin.
They sat in silence for several minutes as Cherry worked through her tears and Waters digested the information.
When their team leader’s voice came over the speakers, it was gravelly and tight, and everyone knew that there would be no arguing with him.
This was the Waters they’d known before his capture.
A killer. Demon hadn’t seen him like this in years, and he wasn’t sure if seeing his boss returned to his former self was a relief or if he liked his boss better on the softer end since he’d met Kubrick.
But the man before him? His eyes bored through the screen, his entire focus on Cherry.
“You listen to me, Cherry-bomb, and you listen well. You are not to blame. Don’t you dare apologize to me. Ever. That man is not your uncle, and even if he were your goddamn father, you still wouldn’t be apologizing to me. He made his own choices and lived them.
“I know exactly what you’re thinking right now.
Stop it. You couldn’t have known what he was.
Monsters hide who and what they are until they can’t hide anymore.
Zion can no longer hide who he is, and we will find him, we will catch him, and he will pay for what he’s done.
To his victims. To Sarah. To me. To our team.
To our friends. To you. And to your father. I promise you that.”
“But it is my fault, Waters. You don’t know…
” she whispered. “General Howard. He fixated on me at a young age. Something about his daughter. When they took my dad, it was his plan to remove my dad to get to me. When he couldn’t get to me like he had planned, Zion bought my protection.
I suppose I should be grateful, but…” She sucked in a deep breath, expelled it.
“He was the buyer. For Flame. When he saw her, she reminded him of me, and he made the deal. Then she disappeared before Gendry could profit off her. Gendry finally found her again, but it was the worst of all coincidences. So when we thwarted him again? I think he snapped. He wasn’t looking for a bride anymore. But he definitely wanted his revenge. ”
A loud crash sounded behind him. By the swear words and the muttering, it was TB. Now General Howard was definitely on TB’s most-wanted list. The interrogator would stop at nothing, and he would hunt until his dying day to find the man who threatened his woman.
“Waters,” TB growled. “If he’s that pissed off, he’ll try to take her again.”
“I got it, TB. I’m headed home as fast as physically possible, and I will guard her with my life. In the meantime, call one of our trad guys to go pick her up and bring her to Tribe. She’ll be safe.”
The giant of a man picked something up, threw it, and whatever it was shattered.
“TB!” Cherry cried out as he stormed out of the room, swearing and slamming the door behind him. “He’ll never forgive me. I’ve hurt everyone.” She buried her face in Demon’s neck, clinging to him as she sobbed.
He didn’t know how to help her, and it was killing him inside. All he could do was hold her tighter.
“Cherry. Listen to me,” their boss said. When she didn’t turn her head, he tried again. “Look at me, Cherry,” he ordered her through the screen.
“Sweetheart,” Demon murmured. “Look at Waters.”
It took a moment, but eventually, her head turned—eyes swollen, face blotchy, exhaustion clear. She needed hydrating, some bland food to soak up what was left of the drugs running through her system, and rest. Lots of rest. He needed to get her out of here and into bed.
Waters had leaned forward on his arms and was staring intently into the camera.
“I’m gonna make this short and sweet because I can see D puffing up like one of those spiny fish over getting you checked out and resting.
You. Are not. To blame. I will make sure Flame is safe.
I promise you, nothing is going to happen to her. Get some sleep. It will be okay.”
Demon nodded at his boss, then pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “C’mon, sweetheart. You need rest.” He stood with her in his arms, and Steel pulled the chair back so that Demon could turn and carry her away from the table.
He heard quiet voices in the room as he walked out. Likely Steel getting directives from Waters. Didn’t matter. He just needed her away from it so that maybe she could shut her brain down for a while and start recovering.
Her exhaustion was so complete, she was asleep before he even made it upstairs to an empty bedroom.
He undressed her, sponged off the blood and gore he could get to, slipped a T-shirt on her that someone had dropped off outside the door while he was caring for her, and pulled the covers over her.
She’d probably be out for hours, but he scribbled a quick note.
He didn’t really want to leave her, but he needed to go check on the girls they’d brought back with them.
Demon joined the local doctor Mythos had hired to help them process the girls.
After they were examined for acute conditions, they were given rooms on the second floor to clean up, change clothes, and rest. In a few days, Medusa would fly the girls to Gem and Nemo, who would arrive to take them to one of the Mythos schools while they waited to reunite with their families or, if they had no families, give them a safe haven.
When Demon returned to Cherry’s room several hours later, it was to find her lying in bed, awake, and staring out the open French doors looking out over the forested area.
He closed the door and leaned on it, giving his aching back a chance to rest, as well as waiting for her to recognize he was there.
He knew she had to be feeling… well, he honestly didn’t know what she’d be feeling.
An awful lot had happened to her in the last forty-eight hours.
It would be enough to mess anyone up. Even a woman as strong as Cherry .
He waited a long time before finally making the first move. “You feeling okay, fireball?”
“I’m fine.”
“Can I get you anything? Food? Drink?”
“Not hungry.”
“Understandable. I took a blood sample, but you were pretty out of it. They weren’t using anything too scary. MDMA. Not very creative, but… given what you were supposed to be put through as part of their ritual, not surprising. The effects should wear off completely by tomorrow.”
“And the other girls?”
“They were under something different, and for much longer, probably to keep them aware but compliant. Those results are going to take a little longer, and we’re going to wait until we get them to a more secure location to run additional tests since things here are a little more primitive.”
“Good.”