Chapter 19 Azrael
Azrael
I leaned back in my chair as Doctor Manson fought to get Scarlett to remain still. He kept giving me fearful looks, assuming I would kill him for not taking care of her wounds.
But the two wounds I had made that day after she killed Bastrom, and the ones I had made since had already clotted.
They all needed to be sanitized as soon as possible, but I wasn’t going to push it right now.
Besides, it wouldn’t take long for her to collapse.
The exhaustion had been clear the moment I had turned back from putting on my vest, and I hadn’t let her sleep more than twenty minutes since then.
She was only filled with energy now because of the rush.
It had been two and a half days since she made her first kill, two and a half days of fucking and touching and kissing, and I still felt far from satiated.
A kiss.
I had kissed her.
She had caused me to lose control. My wife.
My wife.
I watched her dance around the concerned doctor, her blade still in her hand, new blood staining her, covering her skin, cracking on her face.
There was new blood on me too. The scratches she left on me burning in a way I didn’t find wholly familiar.
A trophy.
Cuts that would create scars that I would be…proud to wear.
Proud.
What was she doing to me?
The door opened and Scarlett froze.
The Blackheart brothers walked in, barely blinking at the sight of us, despite not seeing us in days.
Scarlett, however, pranced over to Alaric, who had been the first to walk in, and held out her wrist, her smile wide.
Alaric looked down at it on his way to his desk and gave her a nod.
Her smile widened at his approval.
She spun around, her dress following her, and headed for Havoc who had already made his way to his desk.
He was already smiling long before she made it to him. “How was your first kill, doll?”
She held out her wrist in pride, showing him the date.
He took her hand, inspecting the new carving. “Look at you,” he hummed his approval. “Good job. Any good information?”
She took her hand back and thought about it. “They sent so many people to Absolution that they had to stop,” she explained, glancing towards Bishop. She held out her wrist and beamed.
“Looks good, Scar, glad you popped that cherry.”
She beamed and turned back to Havoc. “I think the church is crumbling, but I don’t know why.”
Havoc leaned back in his chair. “Have you considered it’s because you left?”
I had known for quite some time that the Leaders and Thomas had imploded after she left, but I never considered that she wouldn’t have drawn the same conclusion seeing how far they had fallen.
She laughed and shook her head. “That’s what Mrs. Bastrom said, but I think you both are wrong.
They had other Favorites. More every year, twice this year because they had a second auction to make up for all the people they sent to Absolution.
They didn’t need me, they just picked me because I was different. ”
And yet here I was, coveting every piece of her, craving every inch, compromising my own beliefs just to get more.
Havoc’s eyes flicked to mine and back. “So what are you going to do about it?”
The door opened again, revealing Red and a guest.
My brows furrowed when I saw the rose. I had completely forgotten about Red being here and now the wild rose was here too? How did they get up here?
I turned to Alaric who was watching them with a threatening, chilling gaze.
My own gaze hardened as I turned back to them, watching as they both glanced to Scarlett and back. Red’s expression flattened, but the rose’s held an almost excited curiosity.
Nobody said a word, but it didn’t take long for Scarlett to catch the breath of noise they made and spin around.
She inhaled sharply and pranced over, grabbing the rose’s hand and holding out her own as Red continued her walk to my desk.
Scarlett released her hand and started signing quickly, explaining everything that had happened since the moment she walked into the basement two days ago.
The rose watched her with a soft, almost sultry look in her eyes. I think some part of her knew what that new carving meant, and I also knew that she knew what had occurred after that.
When Scarlett was done, Red was sitting in front of me, and I still had my eyes trained on the duo standing yards away.
“She killed someone three days ago,” I explained.
“One of the women whose husband’s forced himself on her.
She gave us some information about what’s happening there, and then Scar killed her.
She’s been refusing medical treatment,” I added on, raising a brow.
Scarlett’s cheeks reddened, but her smile didn’t ease. She had no care in the world that Doctor Manson was sitting between mine and Alaric’s desks, panicking silently about the infection that might take place if she didn’t get her wounds cleaned.
The rose smiled brightly, her own scars stretching. “Your first kill?” she hummed, taking Scarlett’s hand. “Congratulations. Can you teach me some of those words while the doctor looks at you? I want to learn so I can talk to you. Maybe we can have our own secrets,” she hummed.
Scarlett’s eyes widened and she immediately started pulling the rose back to the chair the doctor had set out for her. She sat in the chair, the doctor visibly sighing in relief, the rose crouching down on her left side, between my chair and Scarlett’s.
“Kill,” Scarlett signed and then spelled it out.
The rose was quiet for a long time. “K,” she finally whispered as Scar signed the letters again. “I. L. L. Kill,” she said, her eyes lifting.
Scarlett nodded and made the sign again.
I turned back to Red, satisfied that the doctor was finally making sure her neck wound was clean.
She was looking me over, probably wondering what other marks I had left under Scarlett’s clothes, but I had other worries on my mind than what she thought of my extracurricular activities. “How did you both get up here?” I asked icily.
“You should be apologizing for making me wait three days for this.” She adjusted herself in her seat.
“Bishop,” she answered, causing my face to harden.
“I left because I didn’t want to spend the night here, checked every day, but you two were still locked up.
I just came back, and Liv was down there, waiting. Bishop let us up.”
“You came in after him.”
“We wanted to talk,” she answered, her own eyes hardening. “I’ve never taken you to be so paranoid.”
“Then you’ve greatly mistaken everything I stand for.” I leaned in. “Paranoia is healthy, Red. It keeps my things mine.”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Can she still fight, or does she need a break after you nearly fucked her to death?”
My smile sharpened. “She craves the violence, deary. Look at her, wearing it with pride.”
Red glared at me for a few seconds longer before reluctantly turning to my little sinner and her big sister.
She was trying to teach the rose how to say our names, Hatter and the Queen of Hearts, while the doctor worked on her neck. He had only been allowed to wipe away as little blood as possible in order to clean the wound. She looked alive, her eyes as bright as the stars.
“Why haven’t you two taken showers yet?” Red asked, turning back. “It can’t feel good, the dried blood. I doubt it’s good for your skin.”
I wanted to roll my eyes. Being ‘good for her skin’ was the last thing she was thinking about.
She was simply wearing the blood with pride.
“She’s fine to fight, but we’re going to do it outside.
” Fresh air would be good, and I wanted to see what Scar would do given that much space.
She did great in confined spaces, fighting the brothers, but it was different fighting outside where there was space to run.
“How long will you be training her?”
“The training never stops, Red, we’re only worth how good we are. Scarlett.”
It was like a switch was flipped.
She straightened, immediately ending whatever conversation she had been having, every ounce of her attention was devoted to me.
“Are you well enough to beat Havoc right now?” I knew she had yet to beat Havoc, but she liked teasing as much as I did.
Her smile stretched from ear to ear, her eyes sparkling. “I can beat Havoc half asleep.”
Havoc scoffed. “You’ve gained too much arrogance, doll.”
“My arrogance was earned,” she replied smugly.
Red glanced between the two before turning back to me. “I got ‘arrogance’ from that.”
She was learning. Good for her. “She’s bragging,” I replied, pushing myself to a stand, wincing when my shirt rubbed against the scratches. I’d deal with them later. “Red is ready to test you.”
“I still need to disinfect her wrist,” Doctor Manson said.
But Scarlett was already up, grabbing her sister’s hand. She started pulling her towards the door, and we all followed, including the brothers who wanted to see how well their training had embedded itself into her.
The elevator was far more crowded than I liked, but watching Scarlett and her rose try and communicate was, I must admit, amusing. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of chaos the two would create when unleashed on the world.
When the doors opened, Scarlett pulled her sister straight out the door, Alaric following quickly after.
Red and I were the last to leave, following the brothers at a slower pace. “Are you really going to let her go?” she asked, keeping her voice low.
“She is strong enough,” I answered, although there was a bite to my tone I hadn’t expected to be there.
Why must she continue to question my choices?
Going to Absolution had to be done in order to completely understand what was happening.
She was the only one who could go. She volunteered, and who was I to deny her what she so desperately wanted?