17. Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Brixon
“ H ey, I just got a text from Alec. He wants us to meet him at Devereaux’s place on Royal. We all have to be there by ten. We get to have some fun with Boudreaux and pipsqueak’s mommy dearest.” Liam says lowly with a sinister smile as he strolls into the kitchen, rounding the counter as he puts his phone back in his pocket.
“Well fuck me. That was fast. What the hell are we going to tell the girls?” I ask, not wanting to tell Evie about her brother until I have had a chance to get to know him, and figure out where he stands on the pet issue. I think he will be on our side from what I saw at the hospital, but you never really know.
“Just that we have to work tonight but will make it up to them tomorrow. It’s technically not a lie. The plan is to still leave tomorrow to spend New Year’s in Florida with the girls, this doesn’t change anything.” Noah shrugs.
“I just need to make sure this brother of hers, Sin Devereaux, doesn’t mean her harm.” I close my eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. I know I’m taking a huge gamble thinking that she won’t be pissed. Hopefully she will actually appreciate the fact that I just want to protect her.
I honestly don’t think the guy is a threat after what I saw at the hospital, but you never know what a person is really capable of.
“If he does, we will take him out like the rest. We love Evie too. We would never let anything happen to her.” Liam replies, matter of fact, as he takes a handful of pecans, and pops them in his mouth.
“Let’s eat, have nice dinner conversation, and send the girls home because we have to work. Just be honest. As long as we don’t lie or bring it up, why should they?” Noah says quietly as he shakes a can of whipped cream.
Liam and I watch Noah intently as he creates his little masterpiece, adding two pretty swirls of whipped cream on either side of the dessert plates in the shape of an S, sprinkling them with cocoa powder, and finally pops each one back into the freezer to set.
I swear Noah has been able to make any plate look good since he was around eleven. He found his passion for cooking when his music lessons didn’t turn out the way mine and Liams did.
I play the piano and Liam plays the guitar. Noah tried to play the drums but hated it. He finally asked Darius if he could have cooking lessons instead. He still cooks for his family and friends, and anytime he needs to step into his world and get lost for a while.
We know we can find him in his kitchen at home blowing off steam if he isn’t answering his phone and we need him or haven’t heard from him in a few days.
He gets in his own world sometimes, shutting everything out for a bit while he fucks some tourist for a few days until she has to leave. Then he gets sad that he hasn’t found the one, and it turns into a week of solitude.
He never wants to acknowledge the fact that he didn’t fall in love, but simply, in lust with every fucking tourist. It’s always a tourist, for one week, every six months, like clockwork.
Those are the weeks that he takes solo gigs to unload some rage without us having to see him explode. Sometimes we all need it and take whatever jobs Darius will allow, just to feel something.
Noah adds the little sprigs of parsley to each of the appetizer plates of blackened gator bites with his homemade rémoulade sauce and lemon wedges. He adds those, baskets of fresh French bread, and little plates of butter in the shape of fleur-de-lis on our trays to carry out.
He wants the girls to experience some of his specialties from the restaurant menu.
We walk the girls next door, telling them to keep the party going since they are a few bottles of wine in already, and we will see them tomorrow.
Luckily, Evie doesn’t give me too much shit. She reluctantly goes in with a cute pout after letting me kiss her goodnight, just like she used to when we were kids.
“Eves giving you shit about having to work all of the sudden tonight?” Noah asks as we make our way to the car.
“Not too bad. I’m sure having a bottle of wine all to herself helped me out. I also know I’ll get grilled later, and she will see whatever happens tonight anyway, so it’s a lose-lose situation for me, buddy. How about you guys?”
“Em was a little disappointed but seemed fine when we left.” Liam smiles wide.
“I think Lily was a little upset that I invited her over tonight and then had to bail. I just hope she is still there when we get back.” Noah admits as he puts the address into the GPS of his phone and waits for it to pop up on the screen of his blacked-out Jeep.
He puts it in gear and takes off following the female voice that seems to have an Australian accent this time. I always chuckle at the voices Noah uses for his GPS.
I can see the fear of the unknown with Lily is weighing on him. The voice usually makes him at least smile, but right now he just looks sad. I wish I could reassure him that this chick isn’t going to be going anywhere, and that he might just be the one she needs to de-ice her fucking heart. Or put it back together again if that’s what she truly needs.
Evie wouldn’t tell me much about her. She said, just like she did with Emily, it’s not her story to tell.
Liam had already looked up all of Emily’s hospital records by the time I texted him last night, he just hadn’t looked through them thoroughly at that point.
Once Emily fell asleep last night, he went through everything he had found on her. He let me know he wanted blood, sending me and Noah the photos of Emily the night she was brought into the hospital. She was unrecognizable, definitely not the little ray of sunshine I have seen bouncing around the house. Her eyes were void of any trace of light in those photos.
Noah and I promised to let him take out his aggression on the fucker first, but I get to interrogate him before anyone kills him.
Noah finds a parking spot outside of a building I recognize from Evie’s show last night. I laugh to myself and shake my head. She will fucking shit herself.
“How in the fuck am I supposed to compete with the mother fucking Michaelson Compound?” I ask more to myself than my friends.
“The what?” Liam asks with furrowed brows, looking at me like I have lost my mind.
“Never heard of him,” Noah shakes his head, “No, her brothers last name is, Devereaux, bro. You sure you are good for the job?” He deadpans as him and Liam look back and forth from each other to me.
I can’t help but bust out laughing, thinking about how my little witch about lost her mind when I had no clue who the Michaelson’s were.
“It’s a TV show that Evie is obsessed with called The Originals. This is the compound for the original vampire’s family. Sounds ridiculous, but it was, intriguing.” I smile as I exit the vehicle, leaving my friends inside to talk about me.
Alec stands outside of the brick hallway that is the entrance to the compound, waiting for us. It’s only nine-forty, we are early.
“Gentlemen, nice of you to join me on such short notice, but if we don’t get this done soon, you won’t be able to. Mrs. Devereaux’s hormones are in overdrive, and she is ready to tear them all apart. We have a couple of hours to get to know them and have some fun. I have a bone to pick with Boudreaux myself. Devereaux has been gracious enough to let me have some time with him for what he did to my fiancé.” Alec smirks with a bit of a huff.
“We obviously have our own agenda, so we will be recording this, and keeping it for our records of course.” Noah smirks back, tilting his head, almost daring Alec to try and tell him otherwise.
Alec nods, turning on his heel and going down the small tunnel. We follow and wait for the gate to open when Alec hits the intercom button. No one says anything, he just looks up into the camera, and it opens.
“Devereaux has beefed up his security detail since his wife was taken, then beefed it up times ten across the board when he finally got her back.” Alec explains as we make it through the heavily guarded gates.
I’m a bit in shock at the fact that this place looks just like the show, down to the small details of the etchings in the dark wood on the staircases on either side of the courtyard with the flowing large black concrete fountain.
We follow Alec around to the back of the house to a door that is open in the grass. The closer we get to the opening, I see it leads down to a dark metal stairwell.
I look down into the giant hole and see light, but very little. I go down the stairs hearing my boots clank on the metal steps until I hit pavement.
Dull yellow lights shine to illuminate the small cave like hallway until we get to another door. It opens to a bright room with glass walls caging the animals inside. They are wearing collars, chains, ball gags, and nothing else.
My nose stings at the overwhelming scent of bleach the further I make my way to the end of the thick glass wall. I look at each prisoner as we walk by, smiling when I see Mark in a cell marked purple.
Vivian is in a cell directly across from him labeled as green. I chuckle as I get the joke. Queen Fiona, Shrek, ha. Now that’s funny. She does not even resemble the photos from her file. She has had enough work done to look just different enough. The one thing you can’t change too much is the eyes. Her lifeless, dull, grey eyes give her away.
My attention moves over to the next cell holding another woman who looks familiar. She has bright blue eyes and jet-black hair. She reminds me of someone, but I can’t place who.
Once Alec told us who Evie’s birth monster was, we started digging and found all kinds of shit on the bitch. She deserves whatever she gets.
Being the higher ups has its advantages when digging up shit on people within our organization. We diligently keep records of everything. If anyone fucks up, we know about it.
She fucked up using doctors who kept very thorough records of everything, including all dealings with the queen.
“Guards, please bring Mark and Vivian, oh I mean, purple and green, into the playroom, and chain them both up. I want him bent over and her chained in the corner. Mrs. Devereaux likes for everyone to address them buy color, kind of the way they had their pets in their hell house of horrors. The women there went by colors and numbers, so that they weren’t able to use each other’s names to be able to tell anyone who they were. Sin and Savvy Devereaux tend to go with the logic of an eye for an eye.” Alec chuckles, directing us to the toys laid out for us, picking up two remotes, “Pick your color, purple or green?” Alec smiles, holding out the remotes that literally have a dog paw on them.
“I will take purple. Thanks.” Liam grabs the remote, while Noah takes the green one.
“I’m more of a hands-on kind of tormenter.” I explain to Alec, whose grin turns slightly sinister, and instantly, I know he is just like us, wanting blood for someone this oxygen thief hurt or took something from.
“What’s your girl’s name again?” I ask the guy willing to risk his life to make sure she stays safe. Not many men in this hierarchy have the balls to question the next Diocese, let alone the next King, on where they stand with the treatment of women.
I have to admit, I can’t wait to see what he does next.
“Magnolia June, or her friends call her, MJ. Like you with your girl, I prefer to call her mine. She is Christian and Savvy’s niece, and the only reason he has let us come in. He knows what Boudreaux did to her. Out of respect, and the fact that I didn’t exactly give him a choice, he is allowing us some time to play.” Alec replies, picking up a cattle prod and a fake rubber dick looking them over.
I walk past the table, cracking my knuckles. I don’t need any fancy toys; my fists have always served me well.
The guards remove their ball gags as I walk up to Vivian. I reach in my back pocket, pulling out a picture of Evie, holding it up in front of her face, “Do you know who this is?” I ask, almost growling at the old bitch.
“Should I? One of my many pets maybe?” the fucking cunt has the audacity to smirk at me.
My questioning glare fades as I back hand her, “You are a piece of shit. This is your daughter.” She licks the blood from her lip. I usually don’t hit women, but as far as I’m concerned, this bitch is nothing but a demon. I’ve seen all of her files, including what our teams found in the homes the queen had, and now know everything about her.
“I’m guessing you are the Saint who is going to be passing her around to your friends over there.” She nods to the guys and immediately starts jerking, that smirk wiped right off of her face as Noah presses a button on the remote.
“Bitch don’t talk about my little sister like that! That’s just gross!” Noah shouts as he releases the button on the remote.
She hangs from the silver, metal chains with her head down, her dark brown matted hair clinging to her damp face. Slobber, with a tinge of blood, hangs from her chin almost down to the floor. Her chest heaves with her eyes looking straight ahead, completely void of any form of a human soul residing behind them.
“Shit, sorry Brix, guess I should have started with the yellow button. My bad.” Noah chuckles, looking at the remote, then shrugs, “What are you gonna do? Damage already done.” He shocks her again for good measure, nodding when he feels like she has had enough.
I deadpan him, knowing I won’t get shit from her now.
“What? She shouldn’t have talked about my little sis like that. Nasty bitch!”
“How about you Douchey Boudreaux?” I ask, as I make my way over to where he is tied facedown to a bench. His arms, legs, and head are strapped to where he can’t move at all. He just has to lay there and take whatever we decide to give him.
I hold the picture of Evie in front of his face as I squat down to look at him under the bench. The head rest has a hole in it similar to the ones that massage parlors use.
“You selfish little bastard. You couldn’t stay away from her. Now you are the reason she is going to die. I gave her a life without you. She was free. Now she will die because of you.” His voice stays completely monotone, while his eyes never leave the picture of Evie.
He just stares at the picture with a stone gaze, his eyes only showing a hint of emotion for a split second, then are void of any life once again.
His words slice through me like a hot dagger piercing the very pit of my soul.
“Fuck you Boudreaux, you have no fucking clue what you are talking about! Don’t worry though asshat, I will always take care of Genevieve. She doesn’t even want to know you. She wants you dead for what you did to her friend Emily.” I look to Liam, who hits him with a jolt of electricity.
His body goes stiff, convulsing a bit before he pisses himself and Liam lets up.
“You fucked up when you hurt the only girl, besides my mother and pipsqueak, that I have ever cared about. Now I get to hurt you. I’m apparently in a long line of people who want to fuck you up, and by the looks of it, in more ways than one, judging by the size of that rubber dick Alec is about to fuck you with.” Liam explains to the fucker why he is about to be tortured before he drops the remote.
He grabs a metal whip that almost looks like a sparkler decoration for the fourth of July. It has five or six thick strands of metal. Razor wire wraps tightly around each whip, hanging from the leather handle.
“Wait, you can’t kill him. That has razor blades. Use the bullwhip, I swore to Sin that they would all still be alive when we were he gets back. Interrogate, hell, beat the ever-loving shit out of him, but leave him alive!” Alec almost pleads.
I really need to get to know exactly how Sin Devereaux, who has been a Saint all of five minutes, has Alec, of all people, shaking in his shiny black oxfords.
Liam drops it on the ground and grabs the bullwhip on the table with a stifled growl. He looks it over, feeling the weight of it in his hands as he carries it back over behind Boudreaux.
“Emily had six large gashes on her back, requiring her to have one hundred and eighty-two stitches with how deep some of them were. I’m going to double that and call it a day once my brother here has the information he came for.” Liam says the last word with the whistling sound of the whip coming down on Boudreaux’s back, cracking as it meets his skin, tearing it open instantly.
Blood streams steadily down his back, sides, and legs, coating them, as Liam strikes him with the whip him over and over.
Boudreaux never makes a sound other than grunting, taking his punishment in silence.
I count each strike, watching as leather meets skin with a loud wet cracking sound, leaving a pool of crimson in its wake.
Boudreaux passes out around hit nine, but Liam is a man of his word, giving him all twelve lashings.
“Call the doc to come in and stitch up the ones that are too deep to heal on their own. We are done here!” Liam drops the whip, looking at me, then Noah, as he wipes the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.
“I guess the interrogation is over.” I say as I shake my head at Liam.
“What? He wasn’t going to tell us anything anyway.” Liam shrugs as he walks back out of what Alec called the playroom.
“I’m going to stay here and see if I can get some more information for you. I know how to push his buttons.” Alec waves the giant rubber dick at us as we exit the way we came in.
“That guy has some serious issues, but I like him.” Noah chuckles as we leave the massive compound.
I text Evie from the back seat of the Jeep, letting her know I’m on my way home, as we turn off of Royal St.