Chapter 44 Scarlett #2
“But you don’t really think Azrael is there, do you? Chasing Malachi.”
I worked my jaw. “I can’t trust my own instincts, no matter who trained them,” I revealed. “His first instinct would have been to track that phone, and Malachi probably wasn’t smart enough to get rid of it for days.”
Alaric lifted his chin. “But what does your gut say?”
I watched him for a long time, my insides vibrating. “They caught him too—”
Before he could respond, the door opened.
My knife was in my hand a second later, ready to attack whoever walked through that door, momentarily forgetting that Alaric had already told me who to expect.
Poppy walked through the door, shoving forward some guy who had a bag over his head, his hands tied behind his back, and who also sounded gagged. “Hey, Becks caught me in the hall, he’s here too.”
My eyes shifted, finding a man walking through the door in a leather jacket and jeans. I could see instantly in the way his nose curved that he was Malachi’s brother. Azrael told me a lot about him, but the last I heard, he had still been in the wind.
Beckett must have felt my eyes on him because he immediately glanced over, his steps slowing as the door fell shut behind him.
He took me in carefully.
“Scarlett?” Poppy asked as my grip tightened. “What are you doing out here, it’s freezing.”
I didn’t bother responding, there was no way I was letting go of my knife.
“She’s on morphine,” Beckett said after a second. “She probably doesn’t feel how cold it really is.”
My face hardened. I knew how cold it was. I could feel it in my bones.
Poppy walked over to me, slowing a few feet away. She searched my eyes for only a moment before her shoulders fell. “Yeah, blood therapy works best for us all. Okay, I was kind of hoping I could get a whack at him, but hey,” she beamed, “I’d love to see you in action again.”
I glanced from her to Beckett and back in question. Who was he really? Why did they trust him? Especially with him being Malachi’s brother. He could have the same blood in him that Malachi does. The blood of someone who wants sick and twisted things. Horrible things. Vile things.
“Don’t worry, he’s on our side. He’s helping us.”
I shook my head, glancing at Beckett one last time before hesitantly sliding my blade between my teeth. “Where? Havoc named off where everyone will be. He didn’t say anything about Beckett.”
“With us,” she answered without hesitation, reminding me of just how long I had been gone. “He’s going with us to the church here in Seattle, unless, that is, we locate the Elders and Malachi.”
“We have to locate the Elders,” I told her. “Every root. All of them. They were the first hired, Elise’s favorites. We can’t let them live.”
Poppy nodded. “In that case, let’s all assume, that Az takes care of Malachi.
Beckett can go after them, kill two, and bring two back to the church or here, depending on how things shake out.
If that doesn’t work, don’t worry, the plan’s already changed a few times.
We’ve come up with a dozen different ways to do it successfully, just in case we have to pivot again. ”
After a few seconds, I turned back to Alaric. “I don’t want him behind me.”
But before he could respond, Beckett was already talking. “I’ll stand beside Alaric,” he answered, and started his way over.
Poppy smiled, finding my eyes again. “He speaks many languages, all in sign language too. Don’t ask me about his past, he won’t speak of it, but he is a man of great talent.
Come on,” she went on, gesturing towards the man, “Alaric really hates this guy for some reason, and I really want to watch you give it to him.”
I stared after Beckett for a second longer before following after Poppy. She had placed the man on his knees in the center of the room, his whimpering quiet but steady.
It was shocking how many men whimpered so much when they were captured. Didn’t they know it only made their captors foam at the mouth for more?
Poppy tore off his bag and stepped to one side of him. “I’m sure there’s no need for introductions,” she stated, her voice suddenly hard and unwavering.
The man turned from her to Alaric and gasped. “Fuck, Alaric. I didn’t mean to. I swear. Tim fucking sold it, Alaric. He fucking sold it. I had no idea what he was doing. It’s him you should be going after, not me.”
Alaric’s eyes flicked to mine, and he gently nodded towards the man.
I flexed my hand around my blade and rolled my shoulders. I was in control of this. He was giving me the reins. I wasn’t fighting for survival or fighting to escape. I was hurting him because he betrayed my family.
He hurt them.
Maybe not physically, but in a way, he had damaged them, so I would damage him.
The man looked over the second I took a step, and I felt my entire world tilt.
I stumbled slightly, my head spinning, causing my eyes to squeeze shut. I shook my head as Kat’s voice filled my head, calling me that Russian name over and over again.
“Don’t look at her, you fucking creep,” Poppy said, her snarl cutting through the noise.
I looked up just as she shoved his head down.
“This isn’t a peep show, you’re here to pay a price for whatever it is you did. Selling something, apparently. Fuck you for doing that.”
He cried out. “Tim sold the bike! How was I supposed to know I wasn’t allowed to sell a bike I paid for?”
Poppy, with her hand still wrapped in his hair, looking over to Alaric and rose a brow. “Seriously?” she mouthed.
He shrugged and found my eyes again.
I was in control.
I was in control.
I needed to be in control.
I took a few deep breaths and straightened my spine. This was my Hysteric Wonderland and this man betrayed my family. He was a spade just like them. A spade. Just. Like. Them.
I glided over with the fluidity Azrael had trained into me what felt like a lifetime ago.
I was Scarlett Thorin. I had a voice. I had teeth, and I had sharpened them to razors.
The first thing I did was walk up behind him and slice up the back of his shirt until it fell away from his skin.
My heart was pounding against my ribs, my hands shaking. He couldn’t hurt me.
He couldn’t hurt me.
He couldn’t hurt me.
I ground my teeth together, my heart racing, my breathing picking up, memories trying to force their way into my head as if they owned me.
I couldn’t let them own me.
They couldn’t hurt me anymore.
I inhaled sharply, stepped forward, and sliced into his skin, his screams filling the room.
Poppy forced his head down as he struggled and fought, but I only dug my knife in deeper, watching his skin split in two, the blood boiling out from the wound, flooding my vision.
I carved one line and then another, dragging the tip of my blade from one shoulder to the opposite hip and doing the same on the other side.
I stepped back, panting, a rush flooding through me as I stared at the large ‘X’ I had carved perfectly into his skin.
Poppy leaned over, inspecting it. “X?”
It felt as if I were flying. I stuck the knife between my teeth again, the taste of copper slowly sliding over my tongue. “I’ve condemned him.”
She looked impressed. “He shouldn’t have sold his bike, that was wrong of him.”
“What the fuck!” he cried out, fighting against Poppy’s grip. “You people are fucking psychopaths!”
I looked up, finding Alaric’s eyes in question. “Was that all he did?” I didn’t care. I really didn’t, I was glad for a little relief, and it felt good, carving into his skin, but I was a little curious now. What were his sins? What had he done to betray Alaric so terribly.
“If you want to know, you need to look into his eyes.”
I felt the chill enter my blood and immediately grabbed my knife again, licking the blood off my lips.
I had stumbled just seconds ago when I looked him in the eyes.
I wasn’t sure why, but I had. If I was going to remain in control, I couldn’t let that happen again.
I had to push through it. I had to adapt.
I swallowed and slowly walked around the man, Alaric and Beckett now to my right, Poppy still holding the his head down.
Rolling my shoulders, I tried to calm myself. I was surrounded by my family. Even if he did get up, even if he did break through his restraints, there was no way he would get to me before his heart stopped.
Still, it took a minute or two before I was able to give a nod to Poppy, who released his head and stepped back.
The man immediately found my eyes, his own brown and filled with tears. “They’re not feeding you the right information, please,” he begged. “Let me go! You fucking cunt!” he roared, fighting his restraints.
I took a step back on instinct before forcing myself to stop and focus. I could handle this. It was nothing compared to what I had done. One man sitting in an environment I controlled. I wouldn’t allow my mind to control me.
Forcing myself to focus, to see around the dizziness, I studied those eyes, searching for whatever it was Alaric wanted me to see.
It took longer than I cared to admit to finally see the tar. He was swimming in it.
I straightened, feeling that fiery feeling of determination fill me as fully as it had the first time. “He is filled with tar,” I signed to no one in particular.
A moment passed before Poppy spoke up. “Alaric says it’s due to his transgressions. He beat his wife half to death. He wasn’t convicted on a claim of self-defense.”
“It was self-defense!” he cried. “She came at me with a knife!”
Poppy slapped him across the back of the head. “Because she was terrified of you, you absolute fucking dickhead.”
My face hardened, and I felt my teeth sharpen painfully. “Why is everyone in this world so fucking disgusting?” I asked her, staring unblinkingly at the man.