Chapter 50 Scarlett
Scarlett
I stared out the windows of the office. The sun was shining for the first time in a long time, causing the glow of the trees to turn into something ethereal.
Still no word for Azrael, which only confirmed my belief that he was being held somewhere.
If he wasn’t in that church today…
He would be in that church today. I was sure of it.
“Hey doll, how are you feeling today?”
I kept my eyes on the trees, my hand gripped tightly around my knife. It was the last day I would ever get ready for church again. Today was about the reckoning. Today, my family would take back what had been continuously stolen from them for years.
Today we would capture all the Leaders, the two Elders, and Malachi. Everyone else was going to die a very painful death.
How was I feeling?
Angry.
I felt the chilling rage burning under my skin like a white-hot fire, eating away at my flesh and bones unforgivingly. Today was the day we took back our Hysteric Wonderland.
I would see my husband again, and our lives would be cleansed of this tar-filled stain that had infected this world.
Infected me.
My hand tightened.
Would Azrael see the tar his father had infected me with? Would he still want me just the same?
No!
I shook those thoughts away and turned to the room, finding Olivia, Poppy, Beckett, Emily, and Lucy standing around Azrael’s desk, all dressed in their Sunday best, their guns and ammo hidden from view. I slid my knife away and signed, “Have you called anyone?”
“Emily has,” Poppy answered. “They’ll head to their churches when we make the call. Emily will be managing from here, waiting by the phone which Jack connected to everyone else’s. Havoc has his phone in case anything happens.”
Something I hadn’t considered was the fact that there were several different time zones in play here.
I didn’t quite understand how time zones worked, but what I did understand was that all the others would be hitting their churches nearing the end of service while we would be hitting ours at the beginning.
They worked the problem so we could have the best chance.
I truly appreciated that.
My eyes fell to Olivia’s stomach, a slight bit of worry filling me, but I shoved it down.
I had to trust her. I had to trust us to keep her safe in the middle of all of this.
The chances that many would have guns there were slim to none, and we all knew that they weren’t trained like we were.
In all reality, this wouldn’t take very long. A half an hour at most, I estimated.
After meeting each pair of eyes, I closed mine and focused.
Focused on the rage, on everything they had done to me.
I focused on what they had done to Rae, her letters of determination that faded into hopelessness.
I focused on what they had done to my Olivia and her Baily.
I focused on all the pain and agony they had caused in the name of purification, and the promises of blood Azrael had given me the day he realized I was worthy enough to handle it.
The day my ghost chose me.
No masks today, not physical at least. We would drive up as if we were regular people late for church, and we would give them everything they deserved.
The cities these churches were placed in would lose a lot of rich people, but Beckett, the Blackheart brothers, and Azrael had already taken care of that.
A lot of money would be donated, the deaths of these poor souls written off as some tragic event in the newspapers where the churches were located.
It would go on the news, people would speculate that they were connected, but the people we controlled would continuously write it off in a way that would eventually cause the talk to die down until the next thing came about.
This was America, it wouldn’t take long for the next tragedy to overlie this one.
“Scarlett,” Beckett started, pulling my eyes to him as he slid his hands into his pockets, “I know this isn’t your first mission, but it’s your biggest. I have to ask, are you sure you’re prepared?”
I really liked Beckett. He was quiet, studious, and mysterious.
Everything about him was a secret, but one Azrael never really questioned.
They all just let him live his own life, never requiring anything of him, never asking him to prove much of anything.
He reminded me of the Blackheart brothers in that sense.
Just a lone wolf, going about life as he saw fit.
I had so many questions, but felt no need to ask them at the same time. Who was he? Why did Azrael trust him so much? What was his story?
But I shoved all of it down and straightened my spine, a smile splitting my face in two. “I was ready for this before Azrael ever walked into my life,” I told him. “I will handle it as he would.”
His blue eyes studied mine for a moment longer before he nodded, seeing whatever it was he needed to see. “Okay, I’m going to go. I’ll call you when I’m fifteen away.”
The Elders, of course, were also located in Seattle, holed up in a building north of where we were going. Beckett needed a headstart so we could get to our places about the same time. I held no doubt in my mind that he would succeed. After all, he was the one who trained Azrael first.
I watched as he left before turning my attention back to Emily, Poppy, and Olivia. Lucy was coming with us, but she was remaining in the car until right before we locked the doors. It would be too suspicious otherwise.
Today would be the first time I would truly see any of their faces. Even when Azrael and I had gone to that church together, I had never looked up. Not until we visited the other church had I been allowed to do that.
Today, I would see the faces of all those who betrayed me. I would finally look into their eyes before I spilled their blood on those ugly red carpets.
I would stain those pews with their tar-filled souls.
I would fill that church with their screams of terror.
I giggled at the thought, that familiar feeling filling me. I was ready for this to end.
After today, who knew what came next? Perhaps Azrael, Poppy, and I would travel the world, ridding it of tar-filled people one day at a time.
They talked about purity, but they didn’t know a damn thing about it.
I skipped over to Azrael’s desk and pulled out all the things he had gifted me, shoving them into the pockets of my red and black dress. Hope was a silly thing, but even so, I hoped he would be there. I hoped my hatter would be waiting for me.
~~~
I recognized the streets the closer we got to the church, remembering it from the time Azrael and I had driven there.
My heart was calm, Azrael’s humming filling my mind, mine mimicking it.
“Fly away to Wonderland, and off to the ship we’ll see, something ticking across the water, a clockodile with sharp teeth.
” I giggled at the memory. That piece of picture he had taken from me the Sunday following that day was taped to his computer.
The first picture I had ever drawn of him.
He had seen it in the cameras he had accessed of that house, and he had promised he would keep that little corner safe.
And he had. All this time, he had kept it safe.
“Fly away to Wonderland, with knives and guns gah-lee, blood we’ll spill across the land, tick tock the clock will scream!”
Tick tock goes the clock.
Tick tock goes the clock.
We’re all mad here, little sinner.
The madness has infected us.
Brought us down, down, DOWN the rabbit hole. No one can ever harm us here again, but we must protect it.
Protect it.
Protect it.
The tar will not infect our world.
Not like it had infected me.
The parking lot was filled when we pulled up because we were late.
“Late to a very important date!”
But it was our plan. We had to be late in order to make sure that every last person was inside that church before we locked the doors.
We parked on the street and got out, my excitement filling me to the brim, causing me to hop and prance and skip as Havoc joined my side.
“Wait here,” Olivia told Lucy through the wide-open window.
I grabbed Havoc’s hand in both of mine as the dog whined. Touching him had become easier in the last two days. I found comfort in it. He was familiar. Like Olivia and Azrael. He was safe like them. He had never hurt me without my consent. He was safe.
I stared at the church intently, my nails digging into his skin. Safe, but my body still tensed at the contact. My body and mind were still disjointed sometimes, but that was fine, I was sure everything would be fine when we were done here, that everything would return to normal.
I could see a couple of people standing just inside the glass doors. They were so oblivious. Did Malachi teach them nothing?
“Okay,” Havoc said, uncaring of my bouncing. He pocketed his phone and looked over to Olivia. “D and M have barricaded the other exits. Once we lock the front doors, nobody is getting out.” He lifted his chin, turning back to the church, studying it in question. “Why don’t churches have windows?”
“It’s like a casino, is my guess,” Poppy offered, joining his other side. “If you can’t tell time, they can keep you there forever.”
I could feel him; I was sure of it. I could feel my hatter just on the other side of the wall. This whole time, he had been here, and I was just sitting around healing? I laughed at the thought. Silly me. I was sure he would find it funny too.
Havoc turned to me when he heard the sound. “What was Azrael’s priority?”
I paused momentarily before spinning on Olivia, twisting Havoc’s hand a little.
Olivia gave me a warm smile, but the light in her eyes was one I recognized. She was ready to satiate her need for blood too. “Hey, baby sister.”
I giggled and turned back to Havoc, finding his warm caramel-colored eyes.
He had his brow raised. “And?” he pushed.
I paused again, my brow furrowing. What else was his priority?
But Havoc gently touched my nose. “You, doll. We protect you. Ready for this?”