Chapter 51 Azrael #2
She glanced that way before nodding and returning her attention to Olivia.
I pranced over to the door and pulled it open, immediately finding Mr. Kels, Mr. Edgars, Mr. Alascer, and Mr. Young, hiding behind the desk with their wives and kids like the cowards they were.
I beamed. I wanted to kill them all except for the Leaders, but Azrael deserved some fun, so instead, I slammed the door shut. I knocked my knife against the wall, getting the attention of my family. “Found them!” I gestured towards the door.
“Lucy, guard,” Olivia told her dog as they continued their search.
Lucy immediately hopped over all the dead bodies, her paws splashing in blood pools, and she found her way to the door, her pink tongue rolled out, her fur doused in red.
She was such a good girl.
I patted her head and finally turned to the last place we had yet to search.
The Back Hall.
Azrael had to be down there. I knew he was. Where else would they keep him but down that hall?
I never wanted to go down that hall ever again, but for him? I could brave anything for him, I knew I could.
Still, my steps became heavier the closer I got to that door, and I couldn’t help but look back at my family, seeing them searching, helping people out from under the pews, killing those they knew weren’t Favorites.
They had a lot of work to do out here, I could do this on my own.
It was Azrael, and the only other people who could be back there were Mr. Bastrom, L.J. , and possibly Malachi.
I could handle that. I could. For Azrael.
I reached out for the door handle and my body immediately stopped. My hand flexed and my fingers shook, my heart stuttering.
I snarled under my breath, my eyes filling. It was nothing. I could do this. It was just a hallway, it held no power over me.
It held no power over me.
Everything that happened, it was all just bad memories. Memories could be lived with. People could get past memories, I knew they could. These memories would not control me. A hallway could not hurt me. It just couldn’t.
I stepped back and took a deep breath as I fisted my hands. It would hold no power over me. Not today, not ever. I lifted my foot and slammed it into the door, right next to the door handle.
The door flew open, shards of wood exploding from the door jamb.
The dark hall was silent, all the doors closed, the cool air drifting over to kiss my skin as if it were taunting me.
I put a big, sharp smile on my face and started humming as I stepped into the Hell of this church. How many other people had they brought back here after I escaped? How many people were on the videos they kept hidden away?
All because they couldn’t have me.
I tapped the hilt of my knife against the wall as I half-danced down the hall. Tap. Tap. Tap, tap, tap. Tick tock goes the clock.
Tap. Tap.
Tap, tap, tap.
Tap. Tap.
Tap, tap, tap.
I hummed along, opening every door I walked past. Each one holding vivid, horrible memories, but each empty as well.
I knew he was down here. I felt it in my very bones.
Tap. Tap.
Tap, tap, tap.
Finally, I came up to a door I remembered very well. This room held horrible memories but good ones too. This was the room where I first met my hatter. The room he used to break me out of my cage, to give me the promise of a different future.
He changed everything in this room.
It would only make sense that they would hold him here.
I grabbed the door handle and let it fall open, my smile growing even more when I saw him sitting on the floor directly in front of me, his lazy smile directed towards me.
His head fell back against the wall, sweat coating his brow, blood dripping from his wrists onto his unkempt hair and from the corner of his mouth. His eyes were just as bright as they had always been, and his black and red aura was bright and unrelenting.
I stepped into the room, hoping he was proud of what he saw, despite the fact that I was shaking. Was it out of anger? Fear? Relief? I wasn’t sure. There were too many emotions to decipher. All I knew was that he was here and he was alive.
“Hello, little sinner,” he hummed.
My entire being vibrated in that familiar excitement.
I had always thought about speaking to him, more so since I left Absolution.
I thought about what I would sound like the first time I tried.
How maybe I would say it seductively, beautifully, melodically.
Malachi took that away from me too, but now?
Now I didn’t care how I said it. I just didn’t want me screaming his name in pain and fear to be the first, last, and only time he ever heard me say it.
I felt the tears burn my eyes and spill over my cheeks, the masks I put on since leaving that house cracking unrelentingly. “Hello, Azrael,” I half-whispered.
His smile faltered for only a moment, his eyes flashing in that familiar, unfamiliar look. We were above love.
His smile continued to fall and he shook the chains that held him in place as if seeing that something was wrong, but I ignored him.
Instead, I tried to wipe the tears away and glanced around the room quickly, seeing L.J.
lying dead on the floor, surrounded by a pool of blood.
I walked over, uncaring of dirtying my shoes, and slammed my knife into his throat because it was something I deserved.
I didn’t care that he was dead, I just didn’t want to leave him without leaving my own mark.
I ripped open his shirt and carved an ‘X’ into his chest, the blood still spilling if only a little, before standing and turning back to Azrael.
Inspecting how he was situated, I made my way over. These shackles were pretty tight, but I wasn’t very good at picking locks yet.
I frowned and looked down on him, breathless at seeing him again.
“I don’t know where the key is, darling.”
I huffed and fell to my knees, setting my knife to one side so I could speak to him. “You weren’t home when I came home,” I signed instead.
His eyes grew dark, his shoulders weighted as if the pain were suddenly more than physical. “Rage can make even the best of us lose our critical thinking,” he replied softly. “I am sorry.”
I swallowed, the tears filling my eyes again at seeing the pain in his eyes, true pain. He wasn’t sorry for anything. He never had any regrets, not one. “I killed Lady Elise,” I told him, my heart starting to pound again, worry filling me. “I killed her for me and for you.”
But he wasn’t angry. In fact, there was a bit of pride in his eyes when he replied. “I know, sinning doll, thank you.” He searched my eyes. “Something is wrong,” he told me.
I offered a small smile and shook my head. “I’m fine,” I told him, gesturing to my lips. “Smile.”
His eyes hardened. “How dare you think I know you less than that.”
I felt the smile fall, the tears spilling relentlessly down my cheeks, hot and unforgiving as another crack appeared in that mask I had crafted so well when Poppy had told me to unlock my cage. “I need to find something to pick this lock,” I said instead, looking around us.
“Scarlett.”
I paused, my eyes locked on the small gun laying next to him. He must have gotten it from L.J. somehow.
“Let me help you.”
My throat closed as my eyes lifted to his. He was shackled to a wall, my hatter. Shackled and bloody and bruised. Why was he wanted to waste time with this?
But from the look in his eyes, it was more than that. For some reason, he needed this. He needed to hear it, whatever ‘it’ was.
I inhaled sharply, pressing my lips together tightly, pulling at my own fingers, blood smeared across my hands.
“Rae did it,” I finally said, finding his eyes.
“She wore so many masks. One of them made her forget and I knew that they would keep being worried about me until I showed them that I was better, so I just…” I shrugged.
“I put one on. I put on a mask so deeply, that even I forgot it was a mask, but it is. A mask to hide all the pieces they stole because they stole so many, Azrael. They stole so many pieces and I was so scared. I am terrified that I will never find those pieces again.”
His expression was one I had never seen on his face before. It was broken and angry. “Come here,” he ordered gently. “I need to kiss my wife.”
My heart leaped to my throat, and I immediately lunged for him, grabbing his face, and slamming my lips against his as I straddled his legs.
I could taste copper and salt as he worked his lips against mine, and I wasn’t sure if it was sweat or tears that was causing it and I didn’t care. Every hurt, every pain, everything wrong that had been growing inside of me, it all faded away as his tongue touched mine.
My chest cracked and I leaned into him, our kiss breaking when my forehead fell against his. The tears were still falling. Still falling.
“Scarlett,” he breathed out, the chains rattling again.
I sobbed softly and leaned back, sniffing, shaking. “Malachi infected me,” I told him, keeping my eyes low, unable to face him. “He infected me, Azrael. I don’t ever want to infect you. I won’t steal that piece from you.”
“Look at me,” he ordered me.
I sniffed, wiping my hand under my nose. I could never ignore a request from him.
Lifting my eyes to his, I leaned back on his thighs, waiting for his verdict.
His ocean eyes searched mine, brows pulled together, his expression serious. After several seconds, he shook his head. “I see no tar in your eyes, Scar. Not a single drop.”
My heart stuttered, relief flooding through me in a way that left me breathless.
“He lied,” he stated, voice dripping in hatred. “And I will punish him greatly for it, I promise. I will punish him for every piece they stole from you and then I will spend the rest of my life carving out pieces of myself if I have to so that you can be whole, do you understand me?”
I inhaled sharply and nodded, grasping his face between my hands, leaving blood in the trails of my fingers. I missed him so very much. I missed him so much, my soul ached for him.
But after a moment, I knew I had to keep looking. We had already wasted so much time. It was time to get him home.
So, I let his face go and started looking around again. “I have to find something to pick the lock,” I said again, searching around him, still sitting on his legs. They really trashed this room, but I knew I could find something.
There was garbage and blood around Azrael, a broken bookcase, as if they had thrown him against it. I had used a shard of wood before, I could do it again—
“Fuck,” Azrael hissed.
Suddenly, I was on my butt, my head hitting the wall painfully, Azrael hovering above me, his hands pulling so hard on the shackles, blood dripped in a stream onto my head.
I rubbed my head, confused and startled, finding his eyes just as the crack of a gun filled the room.
He flinched.
My eyes widened and fear filled every ounce of me, but his smile remained, his ocean eyes shining. “Who would’ve thought,” he hummed. “Tick tock goes the clock, even for the hatter.”