Chapter 35 Azrael #2
My eyes locked with his, but it was the wild rose who asked, “Scarlett?”
“No,” Bishop answered. “Front camera.”
I pulled up the footage on my phone, finding a woman standing in our driveway, my racing heart easing ever so slightly.
I chuckled, the chilling energy only building in my bones.
“Ah, Ms. Masian. Welcome.” I shoved the phone away and looked around the table, their eyes flicking to the large windows and back.
“Do not go near the windows. If you’re going to remain loyal to father dearest, you mustn’t be seen cavorting with the enemy. ”
“Olivia was here when those Initiates attacked,” the mouse pointed out.
“We killed them all,” the rose replied dismissively. “Malachi sent his fake wife here? Why?”
Or did she come seeking her precious girlfriend? I suppose we would see. “Who is out there?” I asked putting my mask on.
“Alaric.”
I nodded and headed for the elevator without another word.
The elevator took me to the basement, and I walked down the long, concrete hall, straight into Marla’s humble abode.
She had changed since I was last down here. Alaric had done his due diligence trying to get every last bit of information he could out of her.
She was missing most of her hair now, an eye, several fingers, a foot. He had taken her spleen and appendix. I was almost positive she was missing a kidney as well, but she was covered in so much blood and so many open and scarred over wounds that it was difficult to say.
She barely made more than a whimpering noise when I walked in.
I wasn’t completely positive she was alive until I used the end of my cane to tilt her head up.
My antlers were now used for one person and one person only.
How could I disgrace them with someone who could never fit them as well as my darling sinner?
Marla mumbled something unintelligible, her lips swollen, her cheekbone broken, her eyes nearly swollen shut. “Your little plaything is here. Why don’t we go say hello.”
I unclipped her from the shackles keeping her suspended before putting her in a new set and using those to drag her down the hall.
The woman weighed almost nothing now. I suppose that’s what happened when Alaric continuously left her with just enough blood to keep her heart beating and nothing more.
She hardly made a sound as I dragged her to the elevator and pressed the button.
I was curious to know how Isabella would react seeing Marla nearing death.
I was about done with her anyway. She hadn’t given us any more information than we already had, and she certainly didn’t know where Absolution was.
It seems the Alascer family was entangled with Malachi in two completely separate ways. At this point, I should question their dear daughter. Perhaps she too had secrets I had yet to know.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. I dragged her over to the left of the door before dropping her off and straightening my vest.
Adorning my smile, I walked out towards the top of the steps, seeing dear Isabella standing yards away, her arms crossed over her chest, an angry look twisting her features.
“Oh, I wouldn’t look so pinched, my dear, it’ll cause wrinkles,” I hummed, not bothering with searching the tree line. She would be rather stupid if she hadn’t brought Initiates to guard her here.
“You killed my people.”
I laughed. “Weeks ago, deary. We’ve moved on from that. If that’s why you’re here, I should warn you, they’ve been chopped into tiny little pieces and turned to ash. There isn’t a morsel of them left to send back to their homes.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You didn’t kill everyone.”
“Hmm, most of them,” I hummed. “Almost all.”
She straightened, dropping her hands to her sides. “I want the survivors back. Now.”
“Oh? And what price are you willing to pay for that?”
“I don’t do negotiations.”
“Then we have nothing left to discuss.”
I went to turn around, only for her to stop me. “Wait.”
I paused.
“What do you want?”
I turned back to her, studying her. She knew my answer. Anyone working with Malachi at this point knew my answer, so I needed something different. “I want Washington.”
She laughed, her eyebrows shooting into her hairline. “You what?”
I nodded, turning back to her. “I want Washington. I want this state as my very own. No pesky little disloyal Initiates. No Daylighters. No human trafficking to speak of. I want Washington. Give me that and you can have what’s left of your precious little tribe.”
Isabella released a breath. “I can’t give you an entire state.”
“But you know who caaaan,” I sang.
“Azrael, you have no idea who you’re messing with. The power he has.”
“On the contrary, my dear, I know exactly who I’m up against. It’s you who doesn’t.”
She took a step towards me. “Some of us didn’t have a choice.”
“I am so very tired of hearing that. The only people who didn’t have a choice in this are those who were kidnapped and put here by force.
Even those born into it eventually have a choice.
They can become better, stronger, smarter.
They can grow teeth and claws and fight their way out.
You had a choice. In fact, I have one of your choices here, and you can have her back if you tell your precious boss to give me my state. ”
She clenched her hands into fists. “Just give them back. Give her back.”
So she already knew, how fun. I watched her for several seconds before fetching dear Marla and dragging her to the top of the stairs, reveling in the horrified look that twisted Isabella’s features.
I forced Marla to her knees and found Isabella’s eyes, only to see that she had taken a few steps forward before stopping herself.
My smile only sharpened. “She has been very helpful in my endeavors.”
“She has nothing to do with Malachi,” she breathed out.
“I think sucking his dick changes that statement.” I lifted my chin. “She had a lot to say about him. A lot to say about her dear daughter, and a relationship with you certainly implies that her roots run deep. Are you saying that they only wrap around you? That the affair was made up?”
Isabella bared her teeth. “Of course not, Azrael.”
“Oh, well, how about you tell me the story then. I’ve heard so many versions, but I do love hearing more.
” I couldn’t care less about their retched affair.
They were all going to be scattered across the Atlantic when all was said and done, but perhaps she would slip up in her anger and sorrow and confess something Marla simply forgot to tell me.
She snarled. “Malachi saw them at work, decided he was interested, they met, fucked, she used him to put her daughter through his training, and at some point during all of that, we met and fell in love. There’s nothing more to it.”
“Love is such an arbitrary emotion though, isn’t it?” I purred, grabbing Marla’s chin and forcing it up. “I mean who could love a face like this?”
“Stop it,” she panted. “You are torturing her for nothing. She is a good person. She isn’t involved in Malachi’s bullshit.”
I released her face. “Such harsh words for a man who uses you as his play wife on assignments.”
“We all have our jobs. Not everyone has the same gift you do, Azrael.”
I rose a brow. “Gift? Is that what you lesser beings call it?”
“I’d say your freedom is a gift, yes. Malachi allows you to go wherever you want, do whatever you want. You don’t even get assigned anything. You’re his shadow, for what?” she bit. “You certainly don’t follow the same rules as your brothers.”
The gears in my mind ticked around and around as I watched her carefully. I suppose she could have been telling the truth. Marla and Malachi met up, Rae was put in the program, around the same time Charles was recruited and joined the church.
Tick tock.
Perhaps Malachi had been using Marla too. After all, he had to know that Charles was good at keeping secrets, even from his own wife.
The daffodil was just a child of poor circumstances.
Tick tock.
I inhaled deeply and nodded, bored. “Yes, well that’s that then. Are you going to get me the state?”
She growled through gritted teeth. “I can’t do that. You know he would never give it up.”
I gave her another second to change her mind before I nodded, pulled out my sword, and swung it into Marla’s throat.
Isabella screamed, taking a step forward only to stop herself. She was panting through her teeth, her hands fisted at her sides, her eyes flaming as they shifted from Marla to me.
I jerked the blade out of her throat and pulled out my handkerchief, wiping the blood off the metal as the body fell. “Did father dearest have anything to do with the Initiates coming to my doorstep? With the ones you brought here today?”
She snarled. “The first ones no. They were mine. The ones that took that bitch you claimed? They got the coordinates of this house from me.”
I rose a brow. “Oh? And how did he take it when he realized that you sent the first ones without telling him?”
Her eyes fell to Marla, sorrow and pain filling them. “He killed the girl that had been playing our daughter.”
“Casey, you can say her name, unless it’s just too painful, of course,” I feigned sympathy.
Isabella turned back to me, her eyes hardening with such rage, I almost laughed. “He sent me here today. He said I could have Marla back if I delivered the message.”
“And that’s the problem with love, isn’t it?” I asked, putting my cane back together as I stepped behind Marla’s lifeless body. Using my foot, I shoved her down the stairs. “It blinds us to logic.”
Isabella scrambled back a step as Marla hit the ground.