Chapter 35 Azrael #3
“If you had just given it a moment of thought, you would have realized that he knew I would never let her leave alive. He raised me, after all. He probably knew I had guessed your relationship together. He probably knew that the chances of you and the little Initiates hiding in the trees returning home were slim to none. Don’t worry, there comes a pivotal time in every young Initiates life when they realize that they are, indeed, replaceable.
You are all pawns. His pawns, and you did exactly what he wanted.
So, before I kill you,” I went on, watching as her eyes flicked behind me, “what is this message he wanted me to hear?”
I wondered which of the three brothers had her shaking. My guess was Havoc. He may not have been as big as Alaric, but his presence certainly was intimidating.
Isabella swallowed, turning back to me as she tried to rein in her confidence.
I couldn’t help the laugh.
She flexed her hands and licked her lips, suddenly afraid, it seemed, which meant that she knew the news she was giving me wasn’t good.
“Tick tock goes the clock,” I hummed impatiently.
Isabella inhaled sharply and lifted her chin, steeling her spine as if that would somehow help her.
“He said that, despite your arrogance and ego regarding how special you think you are, she’ll be long dead by the time you actually find her.
If not her beating heart, then her will to live.
” She took a step forward. “How many cocks will it take before the great Azrael Thorin has finally lost interest—”
Her head cracked back, her eyes widening for the millisecond her brain was aware of what happened and then she collapsed, blood trickling from the fresh bullet wound between her eyes.
Alaric and Bishop walked by me, heading down the stairs and towards the trees to hunt down the Initiates that had come with her.
Havoc stepped up beside me as my hand tightened around the cane, my insides shaking with blinding rage as the red threatened to take over my vision. “I have to ask.”
I stared at the two dead women on my doorstep, the ticking clock roaring in my ears. “I could never blame her for what they did, I can only fix what they broke.”
He looked over. “Do you think it would be different had it not happened to us?”
My jaw tightened. “My thought process was shattered and remolded by what happened in that asylum, Havoc. I know of no other reality.” I may have been certifiably insane in the eyes of my family, but blaming my wife—anyone—on the rape forced upon them? Only true monsters would ever do that.
“What do you want to do next, Azrael?”
I wanted to fucking kill and kill and kill until this whole godforsaken world was nothing but fucking dust. “We have all the connections in the world, the technology, the people, and I still can’t find her.
” I swallowed, my heart beating a little too hard.
“I don’t know.” The confession tasted bitter on my tongue.
It made my stomach twist and my mind spin.
How do I get her back? How do I find her?
“Well, that’s fucking bullshit.”
We both turned, finding the cub standing just inside the doorway, his hazel eyes hard.
I pressed my lips into a thin line. “How did you get down here?”
“None of your windows lock, you asshole,” he replied, walking over.
Havoc and I exchanged a glance. “You crawled out of the third story window, scaled the wall, and climbed back into the house in the lobby?”
“It’s not hard,” he replied icily. “Can I speak to my brother alone please?”
Havoc found my eyes again before agreeing. “Alright, see you upstairs.” He gave me a nod and headed back to the closed elevator.
I took the cub in before turning back to the woods. “Did you really scale the building?”
“No. It took him a few days, but Jack hacked into your system. He wanted to wait until ‘the right time’ to show our hand, figured it was today.”
That was fine. It updated every eight days. In three days, they’ll lose access again and everything will reset.
“Does Havoc not know that the windows are system locked?”
“It’s been a long day. Too long to be caring about little white lies. What do you want?”
He was quiet for a few minutes. “When Everett didn’t know where Olivia was, he started asking questions, killing whoever he needed to kill, following whatever clue he could find, no matter how small.
You have a clear trail, and I know if I ask you why you’re not following it, you’ll say ‘because of the plan’. ”
He was right, there was a clear path, but I wasn’t ready. They weren’t. If we attacked the churches before I knew where she was, they could use her as leverage or kill her out right just because. Attacking the churches would be a mistake now, and I couldn’t risk making that kind of mistake.
“But I know you. I’ve studied you far more than the others all these years, I have followed you as closely as I could, I have talked to Poppy every day for years, and even though I never knew everything, I know enough.”
My smile grew. “You hated me, brother. Why feign sympathy now?”
“I hated you for a very long time, yeah,” he agreed, causing my jaw to tighten, “but the hatred didn’t stop me from studying you.
It didn’t stop me from trying to understand you.
When you went to that asylum, you changed.
I wonder now if Malachi sent you there to break you, because when you came back, there was this darkness in you that hadn’t been there before. ”
My eyes pulled together at his words.
“And now, seeing you here. You and Olivia are best friends, to put it simply—”
“And here I thought you were being truthful,” I muttered.
He glared at me. “You are. The way you two work together, exchange glances, walk almost in sync with the other, it’s a little unnerving, but Everett seems almost relieved about it, which also worries me.”
“She terrifies him,” I commented, his words slowly working through me, ideas blooming and dying only to bloom again.
“The point is,” he went on bitterly, “that you two are friends. You felt regret when you realized that what you said actually hurt Pops. You have become more and more manic the longer Scarlett is away, so with these realizations, I’ve been thinking back to the names you gave us, and how sometimes you call us by our names, but only when you are feeling a certain emotion. ”
I sneered. “You and Red should be the ones committed.”
“You call us our real names when you’re afraid,” he said, ignoring me, “yet the nicknames you gave us…those are important, aren’t they?
A lifeline to your family. I have no idea what happened at the asylum, but I know that you never called us those names before then.
You were trying to comfort yourself weren’t you?
You saw things up there, and you saw us, and then we found our girls, and they reminded you of the beautiful things you saw up there too. ”
I bared my teeth, my hand tightening around my cane.
“I suppose I have only one question about those names though. Why Jacky boy?”
“You’re a jack of all trades, Azrael, but a master of none. You are weak and pathetic, and you will never be more than our little whore. So get on your knees and stick out that precious tongue of yours.”
Tick tock tick tock tick—
I snarled and shook my head. “What is the point of this useless speech, Professor?”
“You always know what to do. You are a survivor, and from what I’ve seen of Scarlett, from what I know of her, so is she.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but for once in your life, you have to let your emotions get the better of you.
Stop trying to outsmart Malachi, you’re a natural at that, now it’s time to do what he never could; let yourself feel. ”
I thrummed my fingers, thinking over his sad little speech, but the truth was, if I did that, all of Washington would be up in flames.
Literal flames. I would leave nothing but ashes in my wake trying to find her.
I wouldn’t care who suffered, who died. The entire world could burn so long as I got her back.
“No one would like what I become,” I said, and quickly continued, “you said something very interesting, cub,” I hummed as the ticking of the clock rang through my mind.
He only sighed. “You’re allowed to have friends, Azrael, and out of all of us, I think Olivia is the best one for you.”
“No, you insolent child—”
He frowned. “I’m older than you.”
“—you mentioned the asylum,” I went on, uncaring of his interruption as my eyes fell to the two lovers. “And we are nothing if not led by a man who uses his women until they bleed.” I didn’t want it to be true, but I was nothing if I wasn’t thorough.
If this was the path, however, the fall down this rabbit hole would be one I have long since desired. The only question was; who would get to her first?