Chapter 3 Azrael #2
“The daffodil needs to learn when to take a step back. Her anger is as out of control as her spouse’s.
Even more so,” I added, stepping onto the front steps.
“It’s getting tiresome dealing with her tantrums.” And it was.
Keeping her from landing in certain cities, keeping them from spending money on this or that, trying to keep them at arm’s length while I did my job.
I almost didn’t want to tell them what I had been doing all these years because I knew it would be like letting a rabid rabbit loose on my board.
This game had been set up meticulously, and she, at every turn, threatened to ruin it just because she had an untethered need for revenge.
Scarlett also had a need for vengeance, but she wasn’t allowing that need to control her. Perhaps the two needed to meet. Maybe the yellow flower could learn a thing or two from the dear little sinner.
“Maybe if you’d just give her something to go on. Like, I don’t know, the fact that he’s at the fucking church,” she bit.
How many weeks did that take? Far longer than I thought it would.
“You’re losing your step, Red,” I purred, taking in the scene.
Today was stormy, the world grey, but it did nothing to take away from the grandeur that was these woods.
Haunting and deadly, mysterious. Filled with monsters that might make my poor little sinner their prey.
Perhaps a hunt was in order.
“I was too busy fielding everyone else’s calls to study the faces of the people in that church. Charles barely shows his on stage.”
No, the Leaders hated lingering. Before it was because of Scarlett. They couldn’t waste a second of time away from her, but now? Who were they taking down the Back Hall? More children?
“Something’s changed, Azrael,” she went on, joining my side.
“The people there have gotten more volatile. Everyone is…angry, and Masters’ sermons have become darker.
Talk of cleansing the world of the black stains that cover it.
He mentioned something last Sunday about Thomas taking over, and he and his friends?
” She shook her head. “It’s like they snapped when you two left. ”
The whole world was crumbling without their Blessing. How poetic.
“How do the Elders feel about that?” I asked.
She shrugged, looking out across the world right beside me. “Nelson’s kid, L.J. is going to meet with them in a few days. I tried to figure out an exact date, but I’m still on the outskirts.”
And she would be for at least a few more months.
“Have you ever met the Elders? Do you know who they are?”
It was the one thing I couldn’t figure out. There were some secrets too tightly kept even for me. “No. I know there are four of them, along with the Founder.”
Her eyes fell on my skin. “The Founder. I’ve heard of him, but nobody knows who he is either. Well, I think a few outside of the Elders have to know, but I haven’t heard anyone refer to him as anything other than ‘the Founder’. You don’t know his or her name either?”
I watched as a raven flew across the tops of the trees.
People often mixed them up with crows. They certainly looked nothing like them if you knew anything at all.
Ravens were larger, broader. Their beaks were thicker, their calls deeper.
They were smarter than crows, solving puzzles, even learning how to talk in some cases.
It was the reason I chose the rings I did.
A symbol of who we were. Unkindness, was the true term for it.
An unkindness of ravens, a symbol of death, of darkness, of the reaper.
They had all just accepted it, thinking it was a gift from father dearest, but it was from me.
My idea.
My way to connect us.
And they all had theirs inked into their skin. I had placed mine into a box for safe keeping years ago, but perhaps it was time I put it back on. After all, there was strength in solidarity, even if my brothers didn’t know where that solidarity originated from.
Red released a quiet breath. “Where is she buried?”
I felt a smile touch my lips, cold and unforgiving. “You think I have gotten rid of her so quickly?”
“I hope you didn’t,” she replied, turning to me. “She doesn’t deserve a life of pain, she deserves joy, and while I have held out hope all these years that there is a heart in that chest of yours, I can’t help but worry, Az, what has come of the girl you stole from the church.”
“Did God not steal away his disciples?”
“They chose to go.”
“And you assume she did not?”
She stepped down a single step just to meet my eyes. “Did she?”
I watched the raven until it disappeared.
“She is my disciple, and I am her god. Disciples need to be washed in the blood in order to be saved, and that is what she is doing, bathing herself in my blood. You hope she is happy, I hope she is suffering, for it is only in suffering that a person can find their true strength.”
Red frowned. “You’re trying to replicate what they did to Olivia?”
My eyes finally found hers. “I’m trying to help her break free of the cage they put her in. She is nothing like the wild rose. She is far sharper. Now, unless you have other news for me, I need to get back to work.” I went to turn away, only to be interrupted by her stepping after me.
“Everett’s progress is incredible,” she told me, stepping in my line of sight again.
“I can see where your influence took hold. They’ve cleared the 100 acres in no time, paying men to work around the clock without stop.
They’ve started pouring the foundation and will start putting up the bones here in the next few weeks. ”
Good.
“You have one of your guys working with him.”
The Blackheart brothers weren’t my guys. They simply helped when I needed it. I wasn’t in charge of where they went or when, but I had repaid and now racked up some debt with them that would eventually need to be paid in return.
Bishop hadn’t gone to the build site because I had asked him. He had gone out of pure curiosity and chose to remain and go over the blueprints, take some ideas, form them into his own. He did have a knack for architecture, although Alaric was the true creator of their little family.
“Unlike me, he likes to watch,” I replied evenly, but I knew the mountain boy was getting a lot out of his presence.
“Why?”
I offered a one shouldered shrug. “I’ve never liked voyeurism.”
She stepped directly in front of me, frowning. “Why did you send him to help?”
I found her eyes. “I don’t send them anywhere. He was curious, he likes to satisfy his curiosities. They like to build things,” I added. “I would allow them to help, being as how I’ll be busy for the next three months.”
Her brows lifted. “Three months? What will keep you busy for three months?”
I gave her a small smile and brushed by her, heading back for the doors. Scarlett was probably nearing her limit by now. I couldn’t let her collapse without me there to pick her up.
“Are you going to disappear again?” She asked after me. “Because you know how that always ends.”
With me only being found when I allow her to catch up. “I’m done disappearing, Red. No more running, no more trips, no more getting frustrated when you always fall one step behind me. With that being said, you should prepare yourself.”
“For what?”
My smile widened as I disappeared through the front doors. “Until next time, Red.”