I watched as Zeus poured the water over Rage’s head and didn’t utter a single word as he grabbed tool after tool that lay around in the shed and mutilated Rage, taking his time. My favorite was when he tied a tourniquet around Rage’s forearm and grabbed the bone saw, slowly cutting off his limb. Each time he screamed, Dracus smiled.
If this was any other man, I may have some shred of sympathy for him, but it’s Rage and he’s the last person who deserves any empathy. All of his actions have finally led up into this moment, and he will pay with the ultimate sacrifice – his life.
Minute after minute I watched until Dracus, Bolt and Tex all took their turns. I waited for mine patiently, knowing exactly what I was going to be doing to this damn monster. I’d thought about it many times, thinking about exactly what it is that he deserved. The others were right in warning him that it would be slow, because it would. It will be agonizing, horrific and there will come a point that he begs for death. Only, I won’t be the one to grant him that wish.
It’s eleven in the morning and the sun is blazing down into the dirt. After thinking about this many times, I can’t wait to actually do it. I lower Rage from the meat hook, watching the blood drip from where his hand once was. He’s cut all over his body, his face already turning black and blue from the beatings that everyone took out on him from the night before. I drag him out through the doors of the shed and into the heat, right into the spot that I had dug up just for him.
With the help of Dracus we toss Rage into the hole, deep enough to where his head will stick out. I have an even better idea now, though. I grab the shovel next to the hole and begin filling it while Dracus makes sure that Rage doesn’t move.
“What the fuck are you doing now!?” He snaps out, trying to move, but the binds that Tex put on him earlier are too tight for him to move hardly an inch.
I take a hold onto Rage’s amputated arm and make sure it’s out of the hole. Him losing his hand wasn’t part of my plan before, but now I’m getting ideas. I can work with this. A few minutes later, Rage is packed into the dirt like a sardine, unable to move even if he tried. Only his head sticks out, and his nub where his hand once was before.
“You’re going to burn, Rage. Bit by bit, the sun will take you. I have a feeling you’re not going to enjoy what I have in store with you, especially in a few hours,” I taunt, and he won’t enjoy it. He doesn’t even know the half of the madness that will be coming his way. His amputation changes things, they’re better for me now. I can give him so much more pain – the pain that he deserves.
***
“He looks to be passing out” Chaz tells me, sitting on a lawn chair that he found around back. I glance over and see that his assessment right, Rage looks to be passing out. It’s no matter, I’d sent Dracus into town to pick up some things for me, and he’d brought them back not too long ago.
I grab the grocery bag and walk over, opening the package of salt and pour it right over his wound. If blood loss didn’t kill him, the sun sure as fuck would. I don’t plan on giving this asshole a drop of water.
“F-uck!” He snarls, glaring up at me. It’s interesting, you’d think that after going through so much that he would begin to beg for his life, but he hasn’t. Instead he’s accepted everything that’s happened to him, just muttering out curses in the process.
Even after all of my thoughts of how this day would go, there is never enough that any of us could do that would make up for the things that he has done. There is no amount of pain that we can inflict upon him that would somehow void it all.
Dammit to hell, I just wish there was. No matter, I can wish a lot of things and it won’t change the reality that we’ve been faced with.
“Save your energy, old man. You’re going to need it,” I grab the next item from my bag, revealing a jar of honey and watch as I turn over the sticky substance, drizzling it over Rage. I start at his nub, pouring it over the salt, then venture over to his face, in his hair. I want to make sure that he is completely covered but can still breathe. I want this bastard to squirm.
Dracus not only grabbed me items from the grocery store, but he went to the live pet store as well and fetched me some mice. I take the small box that they’re in from the bag, and grab them one by one, placing them in the honey, making sure that they’re nice and stuck. That’s when I get the big guns, the creatures that I know will cause extreme pain to him. The deadliest scorpion in all of Nevada, the bark scorpion.
I had him go from store to store, purchasing fifty of these guys. I grab the other box, opening it and pouring them all over Rage’s nub and head. They fall onto the mice, and into the honey, and for the ones who don’t land in anything sticky, they are circling Rage, exactly as I hoped they would have. The thing about scorpions is that they don’t sting unless they feel threatened, and the plan was for them to feel threatened by him.
Mission accomplished.
I watch as scorpion after scorpion stings him, on his forehead, nose, lip, the top of his neck where the dirt just isn’t quite covering him. I can’t help but smile, knowing how badly the stings are from my own personal experience. Rage made it an initiation that all Demons must be stung by a bark scorpion before we could even prospect. I wonder just how many prospects were stung by these fuckers. Rage had always smiled when they were stung, but he isn’t smiling now. Bastard probably never experienced the sting for himself, instead reveling in the pain and misery of others, as he did throughout his entire life.
I could watch this happen for days. In fact, I just might.
Chapter 32
I love you past the moon and miss you beyond the stars. -JM Storm
Kat
“Hey, Baby.” Damon’s voice is music to my ears, even if it’s over the stupid cell phone. I’ve missed him so much, and he’s only been gone a couple of days. I just want him to be home, with me.
“I miss you,” I whisper into the receiver, hoping that he understands just how hard it is to be without him. “Everything has gone batshit crazy here and I’m trying to keep my shit together and you’re not here for me to vent to and I’m sorry but you’re such an ass for leaving me to deal with all of this on my own.”
“Well, someone has turned into a needy little girl while I’ve been away.”
“Yeah, which is exactly why you shouldn’t do it ever again.”
“I’m not gonna baby, I promise. I told you, this time is the only time I won’t be beside you. I meant it, I’m not gonna ever leave you alone again. I just had to this time and I know you understand that.”
I nod, even though he can’t see me.
“How’s it going up there?” Damon asks, and I sigh.
“It’s a shitshow, Damon. My uncle is mad at Kade for being in love with the daughter of the enemy and it feels like some next level Romeo and Juliet shit. The Bears vanished like the cowards they are, and we don’t know where they are, or what they’re doing. We offed the remainder that didn’t flee with their Prez, but we haven’t heard anything. I’m not even sure if we’re at war or not anymore…everything is so weird here…none of it makes sense.”
“Of course, we’re still at war, Kat. We’ve just won the battle while the Bears have run off to save their asses, prepping for the next time we decide to face off. I’m sure Fist isn’t likin’ that though.”
“No, he’s in an extremely bad mood. Damon….she was cut up into bits, awful things written all over her body with a blade…I haven’t talked to her, but I’m pretty sure that her father did that to her and my uncle thinks that she’s some traitor. No one in their right mind would still be loyal, regardless if they’re family or not, especially after what she’s endured.” I tell him, shaking my head at the thought, trying to hold back the tears welling behind my eyes. I understand my fair share of pain, and I may be the only one who can even attempt to comprehend the horrors that Ivy has been through.
“Rage is going to die today.” I almost cough when he tells me, unsure if I heard him correctly. “All of us have
been getting our vengeance, Kat. Me, your Dads, Zeus. Each and every one of us. It’s been slow and agonizing, but I think it’s time to end his miserable life.”
“Why are you even allowing him to share the same air as you? Why did any of you give him the luxury of experiencing your hatred, the anger that you all have bottled up because of him. Don’t you understand that it fuels him, that it eggs him on?” I snap, angrier than I thought I’d be. I understand the need for them to get out their anger, but it was selfish of them. Rage deserves to die and there is absolutely no doubt about that, but what he doesn’t deserve is to have the privilege of taking another breath. Dammit, if I was there I would love to be the one to take that very thing from him, to watch as his life abruptly came to an end. “Do me a favor, make sure he fucking dies, then get your ass back home.”
I hang up the phone, rolling my eyes while my heart beats at a million miles a minute.
Maybe when Rage is finally dead I will find peace.
I crave it so badly.
Chapter 33
If the hurt comes, so will the happiness – be patient. -Milk and Honey
Damon
I stare out onto the ground where Rage lay buried, still shocked that he’s even breathing. He won’t be for too much longer, that I can promise him. Kat wants him to die, so he will. Honestly, I never really thought that he’d be fired up by the things we had done to him, but Kat is right. I don’t know how I didn’t see it, and I should have. I should understand how he operates more than anyone, after the years I had spent here studying him like some science project.
“Kat wants us back home,” I tell Dracus, feeling his presence coming up beside me. He brings his cigarette to his lips and inhales, nodding once.
“I can imagine she does, especially after everything they’ve been dealing with while we’ve been away. Spoke to Fist earlier,” he mutters, keeping his eyes set on Rage. “The hope was that we’d at least nix one of the war’s, and I think we’re doing that. The only thing standing in our way from that objective is that man right there. All we have to do is kill him and all of this with the Demons is going to be over and done with.”
“It’s never that easy,” I inform him, because it never is. Nothing in life is ever that simple. War will not die with this one man, no matter how hard we aim for it. There will always be someone who decides to rise up in the hopes of gaining revenge for the actions of others. I can tell you one thing, though. Whomever decides to stand against us will get picked off one by one, like the vermin that they are.
“Sure, it is,” Chaz chuckles, grabbing his knife from the pocket of his jeans he approaches Rage, who manically laughs at him.
“He’s going to kill you for everything you have done. All of you!”
“Don’t know who he is, and I don’t really give a fuck. Only thing I’m concerned about is getting’ back home and gettin’ my dick wet.” He takes the blade and slices Rage’s neck, blood pours down his neck, and I watch as his vein pulses even more blood onto the dirt.
Dracus turns from beside me and walks off. I’m stuck here shaking my head, wishing that I was the one to take Rage’s life. I guess it didn’t matter much though, either way he was going to die, and it might not have been by my hand. We were lucky enough to be able to do whatever we wished upon him, and he suffered in the process. I just know that there’s no way he suffered as much as Kat, or anyone else who was in his grasps did. That is my only regret – not making him suffer enough.
“Well, now that the nuisance is handled, let’s get a move on and get our asses home!” Chaz shouts. I couldn’t agree more. There’s this girl I need to wrap my arms around and I just happen to miss her more than anything.
“Not likely. Prez wants us to stay here,” Cobra pipes up, now standing where Dracus was a minute ago.
“Why?” I ask, curious.
“He’s your Dad. Why don’t you ask him? I’m not his keeper, but apparently Fist and him both want us to stay.”
“He’s right. Just got off the phone with Fist,” Tex adds, I turn around, not noticing that anyone else was standing behind us.
“Well, while you all deal with whatever the fuck Roman and Fist have decided, me and the boys are on our way back to Birmingham. I’m sure we’ll see you again, just hope it’s not soon. Usually whenever we meet up, it means trouble is headed our way,” Zeus says to the group of us. We say our goodbyes and watch as the Sons of Gods leave us.
“As you were saying…” I mutter to Tex, wanting to know what’s going on.
“More of The Brotherhood is on the way. Widow, Chaz, and Cobra are to stay here until a few of their brothers arrive. I’m sure Fist was gonna talk to you about this, but you’re going to need to be back here too. As far as I know Booger, Hawk and Dixon are coming back with you.”
“I don’t understand. What the fuck is happening?”
“Change,” Tex responds lowly, he takes a look around the area before he begins speaking again. “In this spot, there’s been nothing but turmoil. This club…shit. I can’t tell you of the things I’ve seen happen here, of what I witnessed that bastard do.” He points over to where Rage’s lifeless body lay, roasting out in the sun. I didn’t know that Tex had been here before. I’m sure I’ll find out more about that later.
“The Demons may have lived here, but now the Reapers and Brotherhood are claiming it. We’re expanding, and this will be our joint clubhouse. Our alliance is growing it seems. I don’t know the logistics, but Fist wants you here and so does your father.” Tex says it with haste, something is obviously bugging him and I’m not the beat around the bush type.
“What’s bugging you?”
Tex shuts his eyes firmly before looking back to me. “We just got our daughter back and I know the second that she finds out you’re coming back here, she’s going to follow you. We just got her back, and we’re going to lose her again. None of us are ready for it, not yet.”
“You will never lose her, not ever,” I tell him, then look to Dracus and Bolt. “I don’t even know that she will want to come back here, of all places. The thought of being here may be a nightmare for her.”
“No, she will find the silver lining in it as she does everything else,” Bolt adds, and I take in a sharp breath, realizing that he’s right.
Kat will come here with me, and the second she does her family will be grieving her loss yet again, but for different reasons.
“We should get a move on, then. I’m sure your woman wants you three home too,” I mutter, glancing back to Cobra, Widow and Chaz as I walk towards my bike. It seems that I’ll be seeing them in about a week, and who knows what will unfold when that happens. I thought that life would be so much simpler in Montana, but here I am, with life throwing me a huge curveball and bringing me back to the one place I had hated all these years.
Chapter 34
He kissed her like her lips were air and he couldn’t breathe.
- Anonymous
Kat
Each day that passed became more torturous, knowing that they were on their way home, watching the time creep by. That’s all I could do, just watch the clock. Not because I didn’t have anything else that I could be doing, but because I was being babysat along with Ashley and Camila. Apparently, what we did the other day didn’t sit too well with my uncle, so Booger is our babysitter and we aren’t allowed to do anything without him being in the room, and I mean…anything. Shoot. If I had only recorded the way he tried to bust his way into the bathroom with Camila. He was just doing his job, but I thought that she was going to kill him. Now he just sends two of us in together and waits outside the door like an overprotective father.
“I can’t believe Rob has me in this prison with the two of you. He should know better. It’s not like I’m going to do anything.”
“Says the girl who lead the charge into the Bear’s clubhouse,” I point out, getting a nasty, scrunched up expression back from her.
“You didn’t have to point that out, captain obvious.”<
br />
“It’s kind of my thing,” I retort.
“Mhm, being a bitch most certainly is,” Ashley grumbles.
“No, it is Boog’s thing. Only a little bitch would scamper around like a puppy.” Camila seethes, glaring at him. I can’t hide the smirk that spreads across my face. She has the hots for him, but when she’s mad…she becomes livid. I do find it a bit interesting that Boog is the one watching us when my uncle wants him to stay as far away from Cam’ as possible. Hmm. The whole Ivy thing probably made him forget about his distrust of Boog around Camila.
“What does he know?” My uncle asks as he walks in the clubhouse with a few men, one of them who I’ve never seen before, but I swear he looks like a certain someone. Almost just like him if you ask me. He heads in the direction of the table where he always sits. I take an interest to his conversation, eavesdropping as best as I can while still trying to give the impression that I’m listening to whatever it is that Camila is yapping about.
“He knows enough, as long as Widow didn’t blow up what I have planned,” the bigger man comments. He has dark gray hair that goes down his back with bits of black. I’m assuming that this is Damon’s father, but until someone tells me…I don’t really know.
“You should know your man well enough. Would he tell Damon everything we have planned?” I hear the hiss in my uncle’s voice as he emphasizes we. It appears that he doesn’t like how the other guy is taking all the credit.
“Widow wouldn’t. Others may, but not Widow. He doesn’t know enough to tell him anyway. I made damn sure of that when I kept the important details to myself. All he should know is that he’s needed back at that skeleton of what’s left of the Demons clubhouse, by your request of course.”
“Of course,” my uncle agrees, “You just have to think all of my ideas are yours, don’t you? You just want the damn credit”
Havoc- Reapers MC Boxset Page 46
