Chapter 15 Poppy
Poppy
I hung up on Olivia after she gave me absolutely nothing regarding her first visit to the house.
Scarlett had showed her around, she had talked to Azrael, but as in Azrael fashion, he gave even his prodigy nothing useful.
No real plans, no real meaning behind the words he had said, so we were left, once again, with questions.
Although I had to give it to him, he did bring everyone together for the first time in his life.
It showed growth.
I looked up to the front doors of the Training Building. It was just past 1am now, and Malachi had called me for a meeting.
I knew from the moment I had been assigned to Azrael that he was going to be the biggest pain in my ass. I knew I was going to be exhausted, angry, irritated, and sometimes even cry myself to sleep because of how insane that man drove me.
What I never considered, in a thousand years, was that he would find a girl that would actually match his crazy.
Or that I would like her.
She was cute—adorable, actually, and she wasn’t just doom and gloom and irritating like Azrael was, she made me smile. She was tough, and she walked through this world like…well, like Alice would. A murderous Alice, but still Alice.
I had disapproved of the whole ‘Hysteric Wonderland’ ideology before, but after seeing them together for a little bit, I could see how it worked for her.
I was even trying to learn sign language, although it was more difficult than I previously considered.
Now, here I was, walking down the dimly lit, abandoned halls of the building that gave me a new lease on life, about to probably lie my ass off to protect my new baby sister and the man who’s been trying to kill me every week for the last eight years.
God, what has this world come to?
I didn’t bother unzipping my leather jacket as I walked into Malachi’s office and took the seat he offered.
I wasn’t planning on being here long. Sorry, father dearest, after what Azrael claimed, I couldn’t risk giving he or Beckett the time of day until things were figured out, and I knew Azrael well enough to know that if he named the father and the true heir as the Founder of that shit show, he knew with near certainty that it was them.
Probably, if things hadn’t gone down the way they had, he never would have told us until he knew for certain.
This was certain enough for me, the fucking bastards.
“I know you know where Azrael is,” Malachi started off.
I shrugged, looking around his office. It was a little more disorderly than usual. “Why is that, Malachi?” “After his meeting with you, he disappeared.”
Malachi’s blue eyes turned icy. “All of you disabled the trackers on your vehicles and left your phones at the same location.”
It wasn’t a secret that he tracked us. It was for safety reasons. If we were in trouble, we knew we would be found. Azrael never trusted that. I wondered if he had known it was someone we knew this whole time.
Had that started this hunt? Had he heard something, seen something, years ago that led him to that church?
“Climate change is a bitch, isn’t it?” I snorted.
His eyes narrowed.
I waved my hand and rolled my eyes. “Electromagnetic fields and the earth’s rotation, something like that. Call Jack, he’ll know.”
“Why are you protecting him, Poppy?” he demanded. “You know how much trouble he’s caused.”
I thought I did, but now it looked like he was causing all that trouble to help us. Fucking dick.
When I didn’t reply, he straightened. “He told you something, didn’t he? And you believed him? How many times has he tried to kill you, and you still trust what he tells you?”
It’s been a fun game, this ‘cat and mouse’ thing we had going on. Fuck yeah, I trust him. Something about your brother trying to kill you every chance they got just did something to a person. It was almost endearing.
“Oh, you thought of me enough to try and kill me every week for the last near decade of my life? How sweet.”
I almost laughed. I bet Scarlett would get a kick out of that one. “Azrael Claimed someone, Malachi,” I said easily. “And she’s thriving. More than thriving, I think she’s doing far better than me.”
“You think that means he’s changed?” he laughed. “I’ve known him since he was a boy. He hasn’t changed.”
I smiled and shook my head. “No, he hasn’t, and that’s the beauty of it.
Everyone else has. Jack lost his bite, Grey gained his teeth, and Everett?
Well, Everett’s whole focus now is on the school you still don’t fully approve of.
But Azrael? He’s still just as psychotic today as he was the day he came back from the asylum. ”
I stood and shook my head. “He walked out on a meeting, Malachi. He didn’t kill anyone, he didn’t set fire to the building or make anyone drink any Kool-Aid, he walked out. We’ve all walked out on meetings before, this reaction is uncalled for.”
He remained where he was, watching me carefully. “Poppy, I want him brought back. He needs to be leashed before he does something that can’t be fixed.”
I shrugged. “That’s my job, isn’t it? It’s not yours or theirs,” I gestured towards the hall.
“It’s mine. I’m in charge of him. You hired me to protect the world from him, what you never thought about was protecting him from your world.
” I pointed a finger at him. “Just because you don’t understand the way his mind works doesn’t mean it's wrong. Beckett understands that better than you. Perhaps he should have been their ‘father’.”
I turned on my heel and headed for the door, wanting nothing more than to punch Azrael in the fucking face for putting me in this goddamn position.
“He wasn’t like this when he was born,” Malachi called after me.
I stopped in the doorway, the words registering slowly.
I turned back. “What?”
Malachi had stood, the lamp on his desk casting shadows across his face.
“He was a good boy when he was born. He laughed, he cried, like a normal baby would. But as the years went on, those tendencies started to grow until he finally killed his first victim when he was just 6 years old. The poor woman. She never saw it coming. We thought we could train it out of him, but he kept killing. It wasn’t until he was 8 that he killed his first Initiate.
Greyson caught him and it changed everything. ”
I shook my head, my brows furrowing. No, Beckett found him when he was 8. He had only been here a few months before he killed that Initiate, nobody knew where he had come from.
“The true heir and his ever-faithful father.”
I shook my head again and hardened my eyes. “Goodbye, Malachi.”
“You’re making a mistake, Poppy. He’s going to get you killed.”
I ignored him, my mind racing, trying to plant doubt within itself, but I knew the truth. Azrael loved his games, he loved talking in riddles, but there was always truth in his words, even if we never saw it.
I had never strayed from him. Not once. I wouldn’t start now.
~~~
I pulled up to the house, grateful that Azrael had taught me how to disable the trackers a long time ago.
I was met at the door by Bishop, causing me to frown. “Do you people ever sleep?”
Rather than answering, he remained silent for a few seconds longer before his phone chimed.
I pressed my lips into a thin line as he pulled it out, read the message and slid it back into his pocket. “This way,” he said.
“You talk to Ev and Olivia literally all day, so I’ll forgive you for not wanting to have a conversation with me. Your throat must hurt deep throating their conversations.”
He didn’t even look back as he led me to the elevator.
Fucking prick.
I held up my middle finger. Swinging it around just to make sure Azrael got it from all angles. I suppose I shouldn’t be too upset, at least he was actually letting me up this time.
Bishop took me up to the third floor and led me down to the offices where Azrael sat, the room lit up by his computer screen and a few lamps placed around the edges of the room.
Bishop closed the door behind me, and I tossed him a glare before heading towards Azrael’s desk, trying not to react to the fact that his mask wasn’t on.
It wasn’t the first time I had seen his face, no, that had come the first day I attended that church, but this was the first time I saw his face outside of the church walls.
He hadn’t reached for his mask when he saw me coming. He didn’t even blink. After all these years, I expected something…more, but I suppose I should have been grateful that he didn’t feel the need to cover up around me anymore.
Rather, I looked around, trying to keep my composure. “Nice place,” I commented. “Do you ever sleep?”
“No,” he answered flatly. “What do you want?”
I shrugged. “Figured everyone makes poor choices after 2am, so I decided to come here and see if you’d finally let me into your creepy castle, and look,” I beamed. “You did. I outsmarted you once again.”
His icy eyes found mine for only a moment before returning to the computer screen.
I rolled my eyes and took a seat in the chair across from him. “Malachi wanted me to turn you in, so obviously I gave him your tracking location, your phone history, and your transaction history.”
“Your humor is as dry as ever, Red.”
“Figured you couldn’t handle the switch up with everything you’ve got going on. Where is she?”
“Resting.”
I nodded, glancing back towards the door, wondering which room on which floor she was resting on. “She took to Olivia quickly.”
“Her soul is the most similar to ours.”
“So, you believe in souls now?” I asked, finding his eyes again.
He only glared. “What brings you to my home this late at night?”
“Are you his kid?” I asked, wanting to cut to the chase. There was no point in dancing around it. Not this late in the game.
He watched me for a long time before he turned his monitor off and leaned back in his chair. “What would it change if I was?”