Chapter 20 - Scarlett
Scarlett
I stood in the shadows, watching as Azrael disappeared into the trees, leaving Poppy at the edge of the woods.
My hand tightened around the hilt of the knife. I didn’t want anyone figuring out how to unlock my Hatter.
He was mine.
Mine.
I wasn’t willing to share him with anyone.
I felt the weight of Alaric’s eyes shift and I turned to him.
“Jealousy.”
Jealousy? What did I have to be jealous of? He was mine. He was never going to leave me, I was certain.
“How much research have you done?”
He pressed his lips together. “Digging. You’re haunting the wrong person.”
I knew that, but I had to see what she would say. I had to know if she was attempting to manipulate him.
I studied her carefully, thinking about all the training I had gotten and everything I had learned while in that church, and I suppose that it wasn’t true manipulation that I was seeing. It was just a woman desperate to say her piece.
Poppy rolled her shoulders and looked up towards the sky before turning back to the trees. Her expression had shifted from irritation to sorrow and exhaustion. She was trying to be heard, she just wasn’t able to find the right words.
I knew what that felt like, but it still didn’t ease the strange feeling I had about her.
After another moment, I turned back to where the trees grew the densest and headed straight into the darkness.
Despite the fact that Azrael and I had been in these woods a few times, it never ceased to surprise me how silent things got when I could no longer see the house. Usually, I felt as alone within the trees as I had in that house in the city, but this time I could sense my family all around me.
My family.
Alaric was behind me, not directly, but close enough to know that he was watching.
I knew that Azrael had an eye on me too, wherever he was. I could feel his eyes on me every so often, but I couldn’t see him. He was far more agile in the woods than I was, but I was learning, and this was just another test.
He was allowing me my space to prove that I could hunt just as he could. That I could complete my mission outside of torturing someone already in a chair.
I was excited, giddy, one could say. I wanted to prove to him that I could catch the man breathing in our woods. That I could protect our house, our mission, just as well as he could.
Part of me was also very excited to see my boys at work. To see Olivia at work. I hoped I could see her kill someone. See how cracked her mind truly was. I wanted to see what Azrael saw in her. I wanted to see the woman behind the files I studied so vigorously.
I danced from tree to tree, searching, my footsteps silent as I headed in the direction I heard the breathing come from.
I was surprised that they hadn’t heard him, and I couldn’t help but wonder why, although the fact that Azrael hadn’t heard him and sent us anyway proved that he did trust me.
Azrael trusted me.
He called me his wife.
He kissed me.
Today was a great day.
I heard the snap of a twig and instantly melted behind a tree, peeking around it to see who it was. I knew it wasn’t one of my people. They would never make that careless of a mistake.
“Shh,” I heard a man hiss. “You know better than that.”
“Fuck, sorry,” the second man replied. “It’s like they’re everywhere. It’s hard to avoid them.”
“It’s a fucking forest, dipshit.”
My smile widened, a laugh wanting to bubble up. It didn’t matter how many sticks and leaves were out there; we never would have made that mistake.
“We have to be close,” the second one said, looking around. “Are you sure we’re going in the right direction?”
“Yes, she gave me the coordinates, just keep heading North, we shouldn’t be more than half a mile away.”
“Let me see the map,” the second one said. “I want to double check.”
“Get your own map, dickface,” he snapped, jerking the map out of reach.
So much noise.
“You know you’re not great at reading them.”
“I’m good enough to be given a fucking map.”
“Do you really think that she cares who she gave it to? She just handed it to someone. It wasn’t planned.”
The first one jerked the map again, the sound loud in the silence of the woods. “Back off, Marcus, fuck.”
I couldn’t handle it. They were acting like such children. We didn’t act like children on missions, I knew that. Although, I did like to play games. Just like Azrael.
My grip tightened around my dagger as they kept arguing, and I slid out from behind the tree, putting myself in full view of them.
Marcus reached for the map again, the other man shoving him away. “If you reach for it one more time, I’ll fucking kill you.”
“Fuck you,” Marcus snapped. “We’re lost, and you know it. That’s why you won’t let me see the map. The others probably already made it and we’re just out here looking like goddamn fools.”
I giggled then and they both jerked around, cursing in shock, grabbing their chests as if their hearts would explode.
Marcus sighed. “Jesus fuck. Who is that?”
The other man shook his head, watching me carefully. “No idea. Maybe the Claim. She said that there was a Claim.”
Marcus looked me over. “Fucking tiny ass Claim. Not as hot as Jack’s though. I’d make her forget all about Jack Ashrin, if you know what I mean.”
The other one hit him. “Shut up.” He turned back to me, taking me in. “I thought Azrael would be more into redheads, and someone who’s taller. She looks like a midget. You a midget?”
I straightened. What was a midget?
When I didn’t reply, Marcus glanced over. “I think she might be slow. Makes sense. The only one who’d ever fuck Az would be a slow one.”
I frowned. I wasn’t slow. I was faster than they were, and I could prove it.
I dipped back behind the trees and immediately heard them curse. “We have to get her,” Marcus said. “She’s part of it.”
“I know,” the other seethed. “Here, take the fucking map, I’ll get her.”
“What? I want to get her, I deserve at least that.”
“You wanted the map, have the goddamn map.”
“Fuck you, Carl, I’m taking it. Maybe I’ll even have a little fun with her while I’m at it.”
“You’re disgusting.”
They wanted to have fun too? This would be such a fun game!
I heard them coming like lumbering giants through broken glass. It was easy to skip from one tree to another without being seen, causing them to grow more and more frustrated.
“I swear I saw her right here.”
“You’re obviously fucking wrong. She’s not magic.”
I waited until they passed me before popping out again and giggling, causing them both to whip around so fast, they nearly fell.
I laughed even harder and disappeared behind another tree. If they had been trained by Azrael, it would have been far harder for me to hide. As it was, whoever had trained them had a lot to learn about ‘floating’ as Azrael called it.
I waited for them to pass again before skipping to another tree, getting to their far right and popping out again. This time, I watched them lumber around, jumping behind trees to try and scare me.
I wasn’t afraid of the dark anymore though. I certainly wasn’t afraid of what waited within it.
I followed them, getting close behind them and checking over their shoulders to see who else they might find. Perhaps Olivia was waiting for them or Havoc. Or even Poppy. Maybe one of them would pop out and scare them next.
They walked to another tree, not even in the direction I had gone before I started following them, and Marcus turned around. “She must have—fuck!” he shouted.
I stepped back, eyes wide as Carl did the same thing, shouting in shock as well.
I looked behind me, searching for what they thought was so terrifying before turning back to them only to find their guns pointed at me.
I frowned. Why bring a gun into this? We were having such fun.
“Fuck, is that blood?”
“Calm down, Mark, Jesus, look at her, she’s a kid. She probably cut herself being stupid.”
Stupid? I wasn’t stupid.
“She’s not actually a kid, even Azrael isn’t that sick.”
“He went to that church, didn’t he?”
I straightened at the mention of it. They knew about the church? How did they know about the church?
Carl looked me over, his eyes studious. “Maybe she is a kid. Maybe Azrael likes fucking children now. Can’t get off on bleeding them dry, so he started getting his rocks off by fucking the kids.”
“If she’s brainwashed, we could try talking to her. She’s probably like 14, maybe we could convince her to tell us where he is.”
I looked down, taking in my curves, my perfect tits, my beautiful legs. Had they ever been with a woman before? I was certainly not a child.
“You idiot, have you ever heard of trauma-bonding? She probably begs to be fucked by him. Probably gets on her knees for him any time she sees him. Sick freak.”
I felt that chilling rage burn under my skin at the words. We. Were not. Sick. We were not freaks.
I lunged, grabbing the barrel of Marcus’ gun, two shots ringing out, a sting erupting across my left shoulder.
I jerked it down, brought up my knife, and slammed it at an angle where his neck met his shoulder.
I yanked the gun away when he released it to grab his neck and tossed it to the side, another shot ringing out.
It wasn’t even registering to duck or dodge the bullet, there was no way I could have done it anyway, I knew that, but what I hadn’t known until Poppy shot her gun was exactly how loud they were.
They were absolutely deafening, and I felt my insides clench at the sound, but outside? Outside I had complete control.
I felt another sharp pain as I turned to Carl and lunged.
“Fuck,” he hissed, pulling the trigger again.
I laughed maniacally as I grabbed the barrel and shoved it up just as he pulled the trigger again. I snatched his throat in my own hand, digging my nails into his skin. I wanted to kill him. I could feel the urge ripping through me.
“Spill his blood on these sacred grounds. Bless the soil with him as a warning to the rest.”
But I also knew how Azrael worked.
How the Blackheart brothers worked.
They loved to play too.