Chapter 44 Scarlett
Scarlett
I ran.
I ran and I ran, and even when my lungs hurt and my throat was screaming, I kept going.
I had to keep going.
I couldn’t sleep.
I couldn’t think.
I couldn’t even breathe without feeling, hearing, smelling, seeing their faces haunting me.
It was supposed to be Azrael.
It was supposed to be my husband that haunted every faucet of who I was, who I am, who I was going to be, but it wasn’t.
It was them.
It was Malachi.
God, I wanted to slaughter them. I wanted to destroy them. I wanted to kill every single one of them, their spouses, their children. Anyone with their blood in their veins, I wanted them dead!
Why couldn’t I fucking get rid of them!
I turned down yet another hallway, running blindly. I knew this place better than my own mind. It was the only thing that hadn’t changed. The only thing that remained the same after they broke me.
That was until I found myself skidding to a halt when I came across a hall that I had never seen before.
I was panting so hard, the sounds echoed along the new corridor, my mouth watering with the threat of bile.
The throw-up was pushing its way up my esophagus as I shook my head, trying to separate reality from fiction.
No, I knew my Hysteric Wonderland. I knew it, and this wasn’t it. This wasn’t a part of my house.
I rubbed my eyes fiercely, careful of the blade still gripped in my hand, and took a step back to truly take in the hall as it was.
It looked brand new. So knew that I could tell exactly where the seams of my home had been broken because the walls went from black and gray to a deep, royal purple.
I took a few weak steps forward. Purple. They liked the color purple, my brothers. I r-remember. Of course, I remember, they had been working on an addition when I had disappeared. Just starting the plans.
They were already done?
Had it really been that long?
I had only taken a single step into the new hall when I heard a door open.
The panic was instant, my body immediately melting into the shadows despite the fact that I knew nobody here would hurt me.
Still, I did my best to hold my breath, and I waited with white knuckles. Waited until the man stepped out from the shadows, his eyes finding mine as if he knew exactly where I would have gone to hide.
Alaric’s familiar black eyes were unwavering as he stepped into the center of the hall and stopped.
I remained right where I was, pinned, my head pounding from the lack of oxygen, every ounce of my body so tight, I was sure my bones were begging for relief.
He angled his head slightly. “You can’t outrun them,” he signed.
I released a shuddering breath, my eyes filling to the brim. I wanted Azrael. I needed Azrael.
I inhaled sharply, my teeth grinding together as my muscles held that smile, trying to contain the emotions. I was fine. I would be fine. I could handle all of this, I was sure.
His eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “How much morphine did you take to sprint like this?”
A lot. More than Doctor Manson was comfortable giving me.
But he couldn’t say no. It had been made clear since the day I woke up that while Azrael was gone, I was the next in charge.
They all listened to me, did as I requested.
The chef, the doctor, all those who had sworn their allegiance to Azrael, it was equally sworn to me.
I really was royalty here.
And I hated it.
Azrael should have been here, and I should have been out there looking for him, but I wasn’t strong enough.
It didn’t matter who I controlled here, with the Blackheart brothers, Olivia, and Poppy all breathing down my neck, I couldn’t leave until I was healed enough not to cause a problem.
I refused to be someone they had to carry when they were doing us a favor by even helping us on this mission. I refused.
“You’re making things worse,” he signed when I didn’t reply. “The morphine only blankets the pain, it doesn’t help you heal. Pushing your body like this—”
I stepped in the hall, the rage that now lived inside of me, coming out, the smile painful.
It had been painful for a long time, but now?
Now it was excruciating. I slid my knife between my teeth.
“How else do you expect me to live?” I demanded viciously.
“I will not lay down and just accept the pain anymore. I will not do nothing.”
His eyes flicked to my hands, and I immediately folded them behind my back, knowing exactly what he was seeing.
They hadn’t stopped shaking since I woke up. No matter what I did, they wouldn’t stop.
He eyed me carefully. “Come, I have something that I think will help.”
Without waiting for a reply, he turned away from me and continued down the hall before turning a corner.
I watched after him for several seconds before glancing back the way I had come and forcing my feet to follow him.
I took in the entirety of the hall. I never thought that they would connect the other halls, but, I suppose, I had never actually looked at the blueprints. I wondered if every floor had been extended. I wondered if they would have let me help had I been here.
I turned the corner and found Alaric standing at the end of the hall, holding open a glass door that was surrounded in wrought iron designs. I could feel the chill of the winter air biting at my cheeks, causing goosebumps to flood over my skin, but it didn’t bother me too much.
Poppy had let me borrow a pair of thick black leggings that I had put on my long-sleeved, high-collared dress. It made me feel safe, being wrapped up. I felt like I was harder to get to now.
Alaric watched me for a moment longer before he went through the door himself, leaving me alone.
I watched him cross the room, my steps slow, until he got to the other side, stopped, and turned to me, waiting patiently.
It was kind of him, and I didn’t fail to see it, the extent at which he and everyone else went to in order to make me feel safe here. The space they were allowing me, the way they spoke to me, as if nothing had changed.
I appreciated it.
The door handle was iron too, cold to the touch, and when I opened it, I was met with a blast of cold air. It was still early in the morning, the large, circular room lit up by only the colored light of the moon and stars.
I scanned it as I stepped in, seeing that the roof was made of beautiful stained glass, which was why the soft light was so colorful.
The ground was stone, as were the walls all around us that stretched up to about Alaric’s height before shifting to that glass.
On the walls hung weapons of all shapes and sizes.
No firearms though, just hand-to-hand stuff.
Rods, all kinds of blades, sticks, throwing axes, throwing stars, throwing knives, chains, boxing gloves, and so much more.
I slowed to a stop and found Alaric’s eyes as I slid my own knife between my teeth. “You want to fight me?” I wasn’t sure if I had the strength.
A small smile, hardly perceptible, touched one corner of his lips before disappearing. “No. Poppy couldn’t sleep either, she just got back with someone we needed. Someone who did us wrong. She got to hunt him. You can punish him.”
My heart thudded at the thought, my mind sparking with a rush of excitement.
Suddenly, the thought of harming him just consumed me.
Drawing blood. Killing. It was something I needed desperately.
I didn’t even care why Alaric wanted him specifically, what he had done to deserve it, all I wanted was to hurt him, to punish him for all the sins he had committed.
“Why are you here?” I asked, stepping away from the door, but keeping to the outer edge of the wall.
I didn’t want to be snuck up on, even if it wasn’t intentional.
“The man Poppy hunted down is for personal business.”
They worked on a lot of personal things, I had realized during the time I had spent with them.
Their lives seemed complicated and busy, but not more complicated, I suppose, than The Family was.
Azrael’s life and been built within an organization, but the Blackheart Brothers?
They were free agents. They roamed the world, working for themselves, building something purely for them.
It reminded me of what Everett and Olivia were building with the school except on a much smaller scale.
Before Absolution, I had sometimes wondered if the Blackheart brothers would work with the school or remain agents for hire if and when my family ever needed them.
I think I would always need them.
“We have time before we hit the churches,” he explained. “At least, we should have time. You need to heal correctly.”
Drool pooled in my mouth around the blade as I shook my head, my expression hardening. “I don’t want time.”
“You need it.”
“What I need is to forget like Rae did.”
He searched my eyes carefully. “You won’t speak about it.”
I released a breath, my drool spreading across the blade.
“What’s the point in talking about it?” I asked, walking forward angrily, my eyes burning again.
“They know horrible things happened to me. They know what Absolution is about. Havoc hasn’t found the place yet, which is bullshit.
There is no point in telling them anything when they already know. ”
He angled his head as I stopped several yards away from him. “You’ve given them so much already, why allow them to silence you too?”
I inhaled sharply, feeling the tears fill the rims of my eyes, that terrible feeling building again. “I want my husband. Where is my husband?” I asked angrily.
“You said he was hunting Malachi. You escaped Absolution, killed Lady Elise, you know what that means.”
It means that Malachi was running as far as he could before enacting whatever plan he had. That’s why it had been quiet since I left. That’s why there had been no retaliation, no anything. Malachi was running scared, Azrael on his tail, and everyone was busy thinking.