Chapter 45 Poppy
Poppy
She was as still as Azrael was when he was plotting, but I knew something much worse was brewing here.
I knew there was so much we didn’t know about what happened in that house.
Dark shit. We all knew she was raped. We all knew that L.J.
Nelson, at the very least, had visited several times, along with Thomas’s friends.
We knew Pastor Masters had gotten himself killed right in front of her for giving her the answers we so desperately needed, and we knew that Malachi had been there, but other than that the details weren’t there.
I had my doubts that we would ever know exactly what happened in that house, what I did know was that she wasn’t the same person who was taken there, and she needed Azrael desperately.
Where the fuck was that stupid motherfucker? Of all the selfish, impossibly irritating, down-right fucked up things for him to do, disappearing on some goose chase to hunt down Malachi had to be the worst.
God, he got under my skin like no one ever had.
Even so, Scarlett’s words had me walking around to the other side of his desk.
Scarlett had pulled up a document titled ‘Red’.
I grabbed the mouse and leaned in, reading exactly what she had put on the screen.
July 2nd, 2022,
She knows I’m onto something. The way her hunt has shifted, the way she’s lingering back. I wonder what she has realized. Very intelligent, very calculated, yet her emotions sometimes surpass those calculations.
I had once considered that a hinderance, emotions, but studying her work, I now see that she uses them as her own weapons. I wonder how much longer it will be before I have to tell her everything. Before I have to shred her world apart.
Will her emotions still be a weapon then? Yes, I believe so. She wouldn’t allow something like betrayal to get in the way of righting what has been wronged. Even if the man who hired her was behind it all.
I wonder if he knew when he found her that rather than being what saves him from me, she would be what aids me in destroying him.
She has been an excellent ally in this mission, despite not realizing she was on it, and I will dearly miss our little cat and mouse game, even if she doesn’t realize that she was always the mouse.
I frowned, but the irritation was there, burning under my skin. “Pretty good for a fucking mouse,” I muttered, straightening.
My expression immediately softened as I reread it though. It had been fun, those years of chasing him. The years of poisoning each others beverages, of the games. I had just never realized he had been having fun too.
Fuck. He cared.
I held up a middle finger to the screen just as the door opened.
“What did the computer do to you?” Olivia asked, Emily, Lucy, and Havoc coming in behind her.
I frowned, clicked out of the screen, and headed back around to the other side of the desk. “Nothing.”
Alaric had gone back to his church, and Beckett always slept in until 9. It was part of his own personal ritual, something Malachi had always hated. But these days? Fuck, I would give anything for a few more hours of sleep.
I studied her as she walked towards the chairs. “You’re starting to walk like a pregnant person,” I pointed out, noticing the almost imperceptible sway she had now. “Got a slight sway to you now. Not much,” I added at her scowl. “But a little bit. I thought you would have to show more for that.”
She glared at me. “It has to do with a fucking hormone, not how much you’re showing,” she bit back, Havoc smiling. “What’s going on with her?”
I couldn’t help but smile, feeling my cheeks burn a little hotter at his smirk. Olivia was entertaining with all these hormones running wild within her. It was fun to tease.
I suppose it was also fun getting Havoc’s reaction too.
We had had a couple of nights over the last few months of fun ourselves.
Just to burn off some of the energy, good and bad, that kept building in our systems. It meant nothing, however, remembering the way he fucked me always had me wanting a little more.
I inhaled deeply, shoving the thoughts away as I turned back to Scar. “She is unlocking her cage,” I explained as they all joined me.
“Unlocking her cage, huh?” he asked. “‘Bout damn time, I was getting worried.”
I was still worried, but I think that fear was natural. I trusted her because I trusted Azrael. I had seen bits and pieces of her psychopathic tendencies, how Azrael had trained her, so I kind of knew where this was going.
My only real worry was controlling her. Azrael couldn’t be controlled. He was a manipulative, control freak with a blood lust that couldn’t be satiated. I suppose my only hope was that she was still communicative during the whole process.
“We’re going after Azrael,” Olivia stated, her eyes trained on Scarlett, her hand gently petting Lucy on the head.
“Yup,” Havoc and I popped. “Do you have any idea where he might be?” I asked Havoc.
He shrugged, heading to his desk. “You know Malachi better than I do. If that’s actually what he’s doing, you’d know where he was heading.”
Somewhere he could lay low until he believed Azrael had given up. He had an endless amount of money though, so that could have been anywhere.
But I didn’t care if he was already hiding out in the pits of Hell, we were going to find him and kill that stupid motherfucker.
I turned back to Scar, studying her carefully. “What exactly do you think this will entail?”
Olivia watched her for a long time before she answered, the worry clear in her low voice.
“I think she’s going to remember everything they ever did to her, since the very beginning, and let it fuel her.
Let it widen the crack, so to speak. I don’t think she liked the fact that Rae had forgotten so much.
I think some part of her doesn’t really understand that it was the brains way of protecting itself, so I think part of this is forcing herself to remember every single detail.
She’s just like Az,” she went on, looking over.
“She needs to be in complete control of herself. Of her mind, her body. Something like forgetting an entire period of time might be terrifying for her, even if that time was terrifying enough.”
Right, but did she understand that she couldn’t control that? “What about you?” I asked. “Didn’t they open up some crack in you too? Your bloodlust and control issues grew when you came out.”
Olivia shrugged and nodded. “Yeah, but not like this. I think there is a difference between being born a psychopath and being raised to be one. Azrael was born one. I was born with anger issues that shifted into something similar to them, and while I can put off pretty well in a fight that I am one of them, I’m really not.
I like control, I like the games, but not like them.
Scarlett? She’s what happens when you’re turned into one.
She’ll be more like the Blackheart brothers, I think.
Although since she was trained by Azrael rather than whoever they were trained by, it’ll look a little different. ”
My brows furrowed and I glanced over to Havoc who was now enjoying an egg and bacon croissant that I hadn’t seen him bring in. “That? You’re saying that man over there is a psychopath?”
She glanced over just as Havoc was picking something out of his teeth.
Olivia laughed and nodded, turning back.
“Yes, all three of them are exactly like Azrael. Worse in some cases, better in others. They’re not actual psychopaths though, not in the literal sense.
Azrael is, but not them. It makes it a little more terrifying. ”
“How could that possibly be more terrifying?”
She shrugged. “Well, you can count on Azrael being one, although the more I watch him, I don’t think he’s the ‘every day’ one like we always thought.
It’s predictable. You can count on Azrael not feeling guilty for what he did, not feeling any remorse, and up until he met Scarlett, not feeling any empathy or attachment to anyone, although, as we’ve learned, that’s also not true so… ” Her face twisted.
I frowned. “You’re saying he’s not a psychopath?”
She struggled with finding her next words.
“The definition of psychopath is remorseless, lack of empathy, guiltless, impulsive, manipulative, egocentric, shallow emotions, and being unable to form any sort of attachment, but we’ve seen that he can.
He did all of this to protect his family.
By all accounts, he fell in love with Scarlett.
It’s just the other traits that make him look like a psychopath. ”
I stared at her for a long time, frowning, pressing my lips together tightly, disliking what she was saying. “He’s still a psychopath to me.”
Olivia laughed lightly. “Fine, but the point is, the brothers were raised by the same woman who was running Absolution, and they were raised in that asylum. From what I’ve gathered, Lady Elise called them ‘her sons’, but they aren’t blood related, so I have no idea how they all ended up in that asylum together as kids.
But just imagine, the place Azrael spent only a year at, those boys spent a lifetime. ”
Emily and I glanced back over to Havoc just in time to see him fix his little sandwich, make sure the top and bottom croissants were even, and bite into it.
We exchanged a confused look. “I mean, if she’s anything like that guy, I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
Olivia smiled and turned back to Scarlett, her smile slowly disappearing.
She watched her for a long time before speaking again.
“They trained her for a month to withstand actual torture. Azrael and those boys. I couldn’t imagine being tortured by them for an entire month, but you told me the difference it had made.
She seemed a bit more wild, a bit crazier. ”