Chapter 45 Poppy #2
I shrugged. “She bit a chunk out of Azrael’s neck first thing, and was dancing around the room, down the halls. I think she started giggling a lot then, which is just plain creepy, you know? For a girl who doesn’t talk.”
Another smile. “It is, a little, yeah. So, knowing that, I think they did something much worse in that house. Not just timewise, but I think something happened in there. I think she would have been okay for a while, even through the rapes. She would have dissociated, completely disappeared during most of it, but I think something really bad happened, and I think they didn’t allow her to do that. ”
My face twisted only for realization to hit. “Adrenaline?” It was the only thing that made sense. The only thing that would keep her mind focused and wired.
Olivia only shrugged, but the look on her face confirmed what I thought. They must have realized she was disappearing when they raped her, so they made sure she couldn’t.
There was a sudden thud that caused me to jump, my head jerking around to find Scarlett standing behind Azrael’s chair, her smile a little smaller now, a little less sharp, but far more creepy.
“They only gave me that once.”
She was just standing there, her hands on his chair, the knife and rabbit on the desk, but the look in her eyes had changed significantly. There was a strange, deadly little light in the back of her eyes that caused my skin to shiver.
“After I started killing them for shoving chair legs into me, they started giving me paralytics,” she explained, causing the rage under my own skin to boil as my stomach twisted.
“They only gave me adrenaline once. Mr. Alascer was the first to visit me, by the way,” she went on, dancing around the table, spinning, her dress flowing all around her.
“Then Mr. Bastrom,” she continued. “Then Pastor Masters. When I told Mr. Alascer that we had Marla,” she pranced over to Havoc’s desk, snatching the last bite of his sandwich away from him, and plopping it in her mouth, “he screamed and punished me for it.”
Olivia, Emily, and I exchanged a feral look before both of us stood. “Why would Malachi send Alascer first?” Emily asked.
She shrugged, gazing over at Havoc as he leaned back in his chair, a little smirk on his face. “That’s what I was wondering. Why Mr. Alascer? Why let him live? Why promote him? Why keep him around after all this trouble. It’s interesting. Hello, Havoc.”
“Hey, doll, glad you’re eating something again.”
So was I. She hadn’t eaten much since getting back. In fact, I don’t think I had witnessed her actually eating anything, but she must have been to have this much energy. It was just nice seeing it.
“Is Marla still alive?”
I shook my head. “No, Azrael killed her weeks ago when Isabella showed up.”
Her shoulders fell but then she perked right back up. “Can we go see Zo and Thomas?”
“How are you feeling, Scar?” I asked instead, watching her dance around Havoc’s desk as if she hadn’t just spent the last week terrified of being within ten feet of any man.
“Fine,” she smiled. “I want to question Zo and Thomas.”
Still, I hesitated. “You’re still smiling.” It looked different, but it still worried me. Was this her or was this a mask?
She instantly dropped the smile, tilting her head to one side, her eyes wide and probably innocent looking to anyone else on the outside. To anyone who couldn’t see what Azrael, what the church, had done to her.
I frowned. “Alright, that’s a little worse. Are you going to be okay being near Thomas?”
As if to prove something, she danced behind Havoc and poked his temple hard enough to move his head around, her smile back.
Havoc beamed, finding my eyes.
I pressed my lips into a thin line. “That’s not exactly what I meant, but fine. We’ll take Azrael’s car.”
She beamed brightly and pranced forward only to stop. “Wait, my mask?”
It was Olivia’s turn to hesitate this time, but it was Emily who spoke. “Are you sure, Scarlett?”
I had to agree with that hesitation. I couldn’t imagine that it would feel much different than the muzzle. How would she react having it on again?
Scarlett ran her fingers over her mouth, her jaw, and finally nodded. “Azrael gave it to me, it’s safe.”
After another moment, Olivia nodded and glanced over to me.
I inhaled deeply and headed for Azrael’s desk, finding the mask in the top drawer with everything else he had given her. All the little gifts she had yet to look at.
I grabbed it, shut the drawer, and headed back her way. “Here you are.”
She took it gleefully, her smile dropping the second her mask covered her face. I wondered how relieving it felt not wearing it anymore.
The second the mask was on securely, she spun back on Havoc and gestured towards the door. “Let’s go. I want to talk to the sister who betrayed my family.”
Havoc pushed himself to a stand and grabbed his jacket and the keys, leading the way with Scarlett dancing around him.
“Hmm, you think that’s gonna last?” I asked as Lucy, Olivia, Emily, and I followed after them.
“I don’t know.”
“Havoc is the closest thing to Azrael she has right now,” Emily put in quietly. “I think some part of her is relieved she can get that close to him now.”
I could only imagine. She and Havoc had always been close. I think, in their own unspoken way, he was her best friend. I couldn’t imagine not being able to talk to mine—
I frowned deeply. “Fuck.”
Olivia glanced over in worry. “What?”
“I think Azrael’s my best friend. Goddammit.”
She and Emily both laughed. “You’re only just realizing that?” Emily asked.
I shot a glare at them both. “Let’s just focus on this, okay?
I want to get a good read on her before we do anything big.
” I needed to figure out her dependability, her predictability.
It would make it easier to plan what I was doing or where I was going.
Most of the people in these churches weren’t trained, they were just rich fucks who thought money could buy them or get them out of everything, however, there was a chance that some of them could be.
Going into a mass of people, trained or untrained, was risky.
I wanted to know who was standing on either side of me and what they would do so I could adapt.
Scarlett was deadly, a great asset to have on my right, but if I couldn’t predict what she was doing, that asset turned into a liability. So, it was time to study and learn who this new woman was, and maybe, just maybe, we could actually end this with a near 100% chance of success.