Chapter 24 - Scarlett #2
I turned back to Rae, studying her carefully before looking back to Havoc who was already standing behind me. I found Rae’s eyes again. “Did you first start hating him when you found out about the affair?”
Havoc repeated the words clearly and concisely.
Jack glanced over at his wife as she stared at me, unblinking. “No,” she answered. “I have always had a bad feeling about him. Have you not met him yet?”
I shook my head. “I’ve hardly left the house since training began.”
Her eyes shifted to Havoc when he repeated the words before falling back to me, but she wasn’t the one who responded.
Emily leaned forward, studying me. “Everything that Olivia and Azrael told us, did you know all of it?”
I nodded, knowing that now that Azrael was seemingly distracted, they would take the opportunity to ask me whatever question they had about my past and what I had been doing here.
I expected nothing less from Azrael’s family.
“Part of my training was to study your files. All of them,” I clarified, glancing to Jack and back as Havoc translated.
“He wanted me to learn everything you did right and everything you did wrong so that I could be better. Even you, Emily. You have files. More so notes on your life about what you do and how you help, but notes all the same.”
Her brows furrowed and she straightened. “That’s unsettling.”
“It’s the only way to survive,” I replied.
“Learn from each other’s mistakes. He also taught me that I could learn and study all I wanted, but it still wouldn’t change what happened in the real world.
Even if I went on the exact same assignment as Rae, correcting the mistakes she made, it isn’t a guarantee that things could go well.
Just better.” I gestured back to the Blackheart brothers.
“They taught me how to think on my feet. How to turn everything and anything into a weapon. How to minimize damage. How to take blows. Ask Poppy and Olivia if you doubt me. They were here when the Initiates attacked.”
“She was a good opponent,” Poppy confirmed. “Almost as good as Az. A little crazy though.”
Jack eyed me carefully, studiously. “You’re calmed down today,” he commented. “What changed?”
I frowned but refused to answer. I didn’t like Poppy’s doubts, but I would not talk bad about her to them. She was still my sister, despite her belief in me.
When I didn’t speak, Olivia turned to him.
“She wants to go to Absolution,” she explained.
“The place they take the people who don’t behave or are unwanted.
Azrael found a woman who sent her kids there, remember?
” she asked, referencing the story. “Nobody knows what actually goes on there or where it’s at, so she wants to go and answer those questions.
Originally, it was to get any information she could on the Founder, now it’s to get any information at all. ”
Olivia glanced my way, hesitating. “She knows the risks and she wants to go there anyway, but Poppy, who is just trying to look out for her, doesn’t want her to go. Also, she’s upset that she was shot and has to heal,” she added with a shrug.
“That’ll put a kink in anyone’s mood,” Evie commented, giving me a knowing smile.
I studied her for a second too long. She was beautiful. Probably the second most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Of course, Olivia was the first.
Jack leaned forward then. “What kind of information are you looking for?”
“Any information that will help us. Names, location of the Elders. Anything at all.”
“And you think you’ll find those answers there?”
I nodded.
“Do you believe it’ll be more difficult for us to complete this thing if you don’t go?”
I considered his question before answering.
“Mr. Nelson ran from the church. Nobody knew about the compound in the woods. Nobody knew about the party they were throwing at that church Rae went to. Nobody knows about the nonprofit Thomas opened up.” I paused.
“They might now that the branches have all closed, but there could still be people out there who are meeting in secret. Maybe I can find out exactly what’s left. ”
Jack nodded, leaning back in his chair. “It’s not something that’s abnormal,” he told Poppy.
“We take risks like that all the time. If it helps, it helps. You weren’t here last time, but years ago we tried doing this same thing.
We tried taking down a pedophile ring once before, but we only managed to get a handful of them before they disappeared.
While I don’t appreciate Azrael’s methods, I can, reluctantly, understand why he went to such lengths to do it this way.
If Scarlett going to Absolution helps, then it’s a risk worth taking. ”
Poppy stared at him wide-eyed. “I feel like I’m in the fucking Twilight Zone,” she said through her teeth.
“Rae can’t even remember what her dad and those fucks did to her.
Olivia actually went insane for a while there.
It’s not—you know what?” She lifted her hands and dropped them.
“Fine. Just remember how shocked you all were seeing how young she was, and then realize where you’re allowing her to go. ”
I glared at her before turning back to Olivia. “I would have beat her in that fight had we not been interrupted and she knows that. I can handle myself. I’ve done it my entire life, I can do it now.”
She nodded, her eyes softening. “I know, it’s just…it’s difficult. We never had a choice. We were kidnapped, drugged, chained up. You’re going willingly. It’s difficult to grasp.”
“Do you know why Azrael started thinking it was Malachi?” Everett finally asked, pulling every eye to him.
His icy blue eyes were exactly how I remembered them. Cool, unwavering, serious. They reminded me a bit of Azrael’s. “He never specified, but I don’t think he ever would have found the auction if he hadn’t been led there.”
Everett’s eyes lifted to Havoc who had just finished repeating what I had said. “Do you know?”
“Yes,” he answered.
When Havoc didn’t go on, Everett’s expression dried and he found my eyes again. “Can you tell me more about how the church works?” he asked. “If we are each being given a church to take care of, I want to know the most I can before we leave the state.”
“Things vary from church to church,” I explained.
“We have five Leaders. Their children weren’t allowed in the Back Hall until Thomas gave them permission to have sessions with me.
The laws in the Good Book state that Leaders can take whoever they want into the Back Hall.
They can allow their children to take whoever they want back there too, but the Pillars aren’t allowed back there ever.
“I think I’ve heard that there were as many as eight Leaders at some churches and as little as three at others.
The laws they have in place for them and for Favorites were written to keep people safe, but to them, the laws were just guidelines.
Pastor Masters, a long time ago, was good at enforcing the laws, but as the years went on, he started caring less and less.
By the way the auctions went, and that event with all the churches, it seemed to me that he had been the best of the pastors at one point.
I think he had to be since he was the only one in direct communication with the Elders, as well as running the first church that was established. ”
Everett nodded, taking down a few notes in the notebook he had brought. “How often do these auctions happen?”
“They used to happen once a year, but they’ve already had another since I left.”
His brows pulled together. “More kids? Why would they bring in more if they had to close the branches?”
I felt the rage burn under my skin. “Because they are greedy,” I answered, Havoc’s voice earning a bite to it, as if he could sense my rage.
“One of Thomas’ friends purposefully made his Favorites impure because he couldn’t control himself.
His friends find themselves at Royal Knights and The Beat taking advantage of the rooms in the back.
We mean nothing to them. To any of them.
The Pillars, the Leaders, their children, we are nothing but breeders. Nothing but things to be used.”
Everett watched me for a long time, his eyes chilling, before he scribbled down some more notes. “Do you or Azrael know where the other churches are?”
I glanced towards Azrael. He and Grey were still talking near the windows. “I know that the one in Russia is going to be taken care of by Mr. Raine,” I answered, turning back to him. “Azrael trusts him. I know that he, Havoc, Bishop, and Alaric have been hunting down the locations of the churches.”
“We found them,” Havoc continued after repeating what I said.
“It wasn’t difficult. All seven churches hold the same name, no denomination, and they advertise themselves in the Black Market.
All of their advertisements have been taken down, but that’s how they were calling in new people.
That’s how they grew their auction every year. ”
Thomas had always been so proud of the advertising. He had boasted about it often until Azrael showed up. His boasting had eased after that, until eventually, he stopped all together.
Everett scribbled something down before he finally leaned back in his chair. “Can we trust Beckett?”
“Yes,” Azrael stated, walking back around the table as Grey took his seat.
Everett tracked him carefully. “How do you know?”
“Because he knew too.”
“What?” Jack asked. “Why didn’t he say anything? Were you two working together?”
“No,” Azrael answered, coming to a stop directly behind me, “but he has always known. Don’t forget when our dear uncle walked into this life.
The warning he gave you, Everett. Stay away from your little rose.
Stay away,” he sang in a voice one note higher than normal.
“He was trying to keep you separate. Even when sending you on your extermination, he never told his brother. He was trying to protect you.”