by Heather West
So why, this time, didn't I believe him?
“Do you know what’s coming, baby?” he asked, his tone cracking just slightly. I didn't think Blade caught it, but I did. This—these words, me in a cage—it was killing him.
I swallowed and shook my head just barely. My response caused both men to grin wider and it was Blade who finished Bills’ words for him. Bills looked strangely relieved by the fact.
“We’re gonna use you,” he told me, his grin widening as his eyes dropped down over my body, making me feel as though I was naked before him. He looked maniacal. “That pretty little body of yours. We’re gonna use you just like your pretty little mommy.”
I froze. What?
I didn't know what his words mean, but they stabbed at me somewhere in my heart. I knew they couldn’t be good and that Blade said them deliberately to torture me, to goad me, to make me feel terrible. It made it all the worse, because there was something in his voice that rang true. He threw the words at me, because there was meaning behind them.
I just didn't know what it was.
The men stood there watching me a while longer. Blade said a few lewd things about my general appearance—and the things he was going to do to me—then shared whispers with Bills.
“You gonna let me have a go at her?” Bills asked Blade almost casually, like they weren’t talking about taking turns. “You must have some idea how long I’ve wanted a piece of that.” Sweat dropped down his neck, where it was absorbed by the collar of his shirt.
Blade pretended to think about it, probably more in an effort to scare me further—which was a moot point, since I was terrified already—then finally answered with a small, wicked smile. “Don’t worry, my friend,” he said to Bills, placing a large, scarred hand on his shoulder. “We’ll all get a shot at that pussy.”
I felt like throwing up. My body was trembling with fear and disgust. I didn’t want this. But I didn’t see any way out of it. I was quickly running out of time and if Bills were here, working for Blade, my chances of making out had just dropped significantly.
I was going to be used. My arms wrapped themselves around my body as I shuddered against the burning bile that tried to come up my throat. Blade must have seen my volatile reaction, because he laughed heartily at it. It was manic, a little crazed, but genuine.
He was enjoying my fear, my disgust, and the prospect of… of raping me.
I turned away so I didn’t have to look at them anymore and squeezed myself into the farthest corner of the room, desperate to put as much distance between them and me as I could. It didn’t even matter to me anymore if they saw how scared I was. Bravado wouldn’t save me in the end.
“Keep an eye on her, would you?” Blade's voice called. I heard his heavy clopping footsteps and for a moment the room was silent other than those steps. They echoed up the stairs and when the door at the top shut, I finally spoke.
“How could you?” It came out of me as a whisper, but I was pleased to hear the complete and utter disgust laced there.
For a moment, Bills didn’t answer. In fact, he was silent so long that I finally submitted to the urge and turned to look at him. I was surprised to see that he’d come closer and was now standing right beside the bars, his big, beefy hands gripping them tightly. I pressed myself against the wall, worried that he was going to try to get a little preview before the main show. But then I saw his eyes.
How pained they were. I was right. Before, I’d sensed that he didn’t want it and now that Blade was gone, it was written plain as day on his features: he hated this.
“I’m sorry, Lucy,” he apologized immediately, his words sounding sincere. But I wasn’t sure if I could trust him. If you can lie one way, wouldn’t it be easy to lie the other? And Bills had just put on quite the show.
I shook my head. “You’re a monster.”
He winced as though I’d just punched him, but nodded as though in agreement. “I know. I… I knew what was going on and I was too… fuck, I was too chickenshit to stop it. But I swear to you, Lucy, I didn’t know about this!”
Again, I didn’t know if I could trust those words, but I tried to. Probably it was my own desperate need to believe that things were going to be okay and that I didn’t really have to fear Blade’ threats, because someone was on the inside helping me. “You’re working for them?” I asked, hesitantly and suddenly unsure of exactly what was going on.
He shook his head, then glanced towards the door at the top of the stairs, paranoia evident in his expression. He looked back at me and said, “No. I’m…well, I was being blackmailed. Now I’m undercover. Max knows what’s going on and he told me to stay under so I could get to the top.”
I stepped away from the wall, just a little bit. “The top? Isn’t Blade the top already?”
Bills shook his head again. “No. He’s not. He may run the Slayers, but there’s someone else pulling his strings. If I can get to whoever that is, maybe I can bring this whole fucking thing crumbling down on top of them. Maybe…” He shook his head. “I don’t want to see this kind of thing happen to anyone. Ever.”
I bit my lip. I wanted to be angry with him, because I sensed that his admission meant he wouldn’t be getting me out. Not now, anyway. He had to keep his cover and a jail break would mean they knew he was a rat.
That didn’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence on my part, given the cage I was in and the promise of violence to come.
“Is Max coming for me?” I asked in a small, scared voice.
Bills offered me a half smile and nodded. “You know he is. Max’d take on the whole damn world if it meant he could keep you safe. You must know.” He said it with a bitter sweetness and I was reminded that Bills had once made a very serious pass at me. It was hard to think how he’d wanted me, and now…Well, a lot was going on now and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it all.
“I’ve got to go before someone catches me talking with you,” Bills said. He must have heard something, because his gaze was back at the door.
“Wait!” I said, remembering his words and realizing that Bills knew something. “What did you mean before?”
He looked horrified. “I didn’t—Lucy, really, I never would have done…You’ve got to believe me.”
I shook my head hurriedly and held up my hand to stop him. “No, no. Not that. The other thing. The thing about my mom.”
He froze. For a moment, his expression went completely blank, then there was only pain. He pursed his lips tightly together, then shook his head, almost numbly. When he spoke, it was in a small, tired voice that rang with things I didn’t quite understand. “I can’t…It’s not my secret, Lucy. I’m…I’m just sorry.”
He pushed back from the bars and started towards the stairs. I rushed forward and slammed against the wall of the cage, reaching for him, suddenly desperate for this information he wouldn’t share. “No, please! Wait! I need to know.”
Turning back to look at me, his lips pulled down into a deep frown. For a moment, it looked like he was going to cave and tell me, but then the door at the top of the stairs opened and another pair of boots came down. It wasn’t Blade, thankfully, but another one of the Slayers.
“Boss wants you upstairs,” he told Bills.
Bills looked back at me briefly and mouthed, “I’m sorry.” Then he was gone and I still had no answers.
Chapter 22
Max
The man who sat before me was big. Bigger than I was by a couple of inches and roped with muscles that made him look like the kind of man who devoured children for breakfast every day. It would have been a lot more convincing, however, if his expression wasn’t a mask of absolute terror. He’d had that same expression, bruised and battered, since we’d dragged him in here. I think he’d even been praying a couple of times, making me want to remind him he was in Reaper territory. No god was going to save him here.
Thunder was standing off to my right, arms folded across his chest so they sat on his heavy middle. Thanks to the
dimmed lighting and Thunder’s unkempt look, my temporary bodyguard looked menacing. Perfect for the mood.
I stood in front of the man, who was a Slayer and Blade’s lackey, staring him down. I hadn’t said a single word to him since we’d pulled him from the alley. One of my guys, Danny, had spotted him after doing a quick round of the block to check for Slayers. He’d found this poor soul and the three of us had given him a solid run for his money.
Danny was gone now. I’d told him to leave, to find more Slayers, to get information however possible, and to kill them as soon as he could.
My hands were bloody, torn up already, but they felt good. I flexed them slightly, stretching out the torn skin and indulging in the spark of pain. The blood hadn’t really started to clot yet, so it oozed as I stretched the cuts and scrapes open wider again. I’d been dying to hit something ever since they took Lucy and I was more than happy to have our little friend here act as my punching bag.
I noticed the poor, terrified creature cringe at the sight of my stretching fingers and I realized he was waiting for me to hit him again. There was a strange sense of satisfaction that came from knowing just how much a man was terrified of you. It made my blood warm. Adrenaline surged through me for a moment, and I considered it. The feel of my skin meeting his flesh, a sharp slice into his already sore and bloody face. Well, it was pretty damn tempting. And I was angry. Angry enough that I worried just a little that if I started, I wouldn’t stop until the man was dead.
Not that I’d shed a tear. I wasn’t worried about his damn life and never would worry for a Slayer’s life again, but there was a reason this man was sitting in front of me instead of being thrown into the truck of a car as a bloody body, driven away into the depths of nowhere. I needed information. Anything on Blade might be useful, but mostly, I wanted Lucy.
“You know what I’m going to ask you?” I said to him mildly in a voice that displayed more restraint than I actually had.
One of his eyes was starting to swell shut and he didn’t even bother trying to keep it open, but the other was trained on me, terror shining in it. He shook and opened his mouth, trying to answer, but not quite able to.
I flexed my hand again and this time I had every intention of throwing it into his face, maybe knocking out a tooth or two. But then the door behind us opened, allowing a small stream of light to flood in, reminding me it was still the late afternoon. I turned to look at the silhouette that walked towards us.
Bills.
I turned fully from the man, not even giving him a second glance, and walked over to my lieutenant. “What do you know?”
Bills let out a low breath that almost came out as a whistle. He didn’t look so good. Pale, drawn, sweating like a pig. I knew at least part of that was due to his illness, but some of it wasn’t. I could tell. Dread was written across his features.
“What is it? Lucy?” I asked, suddenly panicked and furious all at once.
Quickly, Bills shook his head. “She’s okay. I saw her. I talked to her. She’s okay.”
I seriously doubted that, but it eased my fears a little bit all the same. Maybe she wasn’t exactly doing great, but at least she was alive and, I hoped, untouched. Bills would have told me as soon as that had happened, because he knew if I found out before he told me, I’d kill him, too. Folding my arms across my chest, I asked, “What’s going on?”
Bills glanced over my shoulder towards the man in the chair sitting beside me. He didn’t say anything about it and I knew he wouldn’t, but he lowered his voice and said, “Let’s talk in the office. Fewer ears.”
I nodded and led him to the office. It still smelled faintly of Lucy. When I closed the door behind me, I rounded on him. “Well?”
He swallowed harshly, then said, “Blade’ll do it. He’s making threats about… about using Lucy and he’ll do it.”
My blood ran cold, though this wasn’t new information. I already knew exactly what Blade was capable of. I was a fool to have ever thought we could work together, to coexist. Waste of fucking time. “I know,” I ground out.
Bills shook his head, mopping up the sweat that was dripping off his bald head with a thick hand. “No. You don’t.”
I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Bills spit out a curse and turned away from me. He began pacing, looking more and more like he was the sick, dying man he claimed to be. There were heavy lines of worry marking through his face like scars and his shoulders had drooped slightly, letting his arms hang almost limply at his side.
Things were bad, much worse than I realized. Had they…? “You said Lucy was okay,” I repeated back to him carefully, suddenly worried I had misinterpreted our earlier conversation. “They haven’t…they haven’t touched her yet, right?”
Bills cursed again, but then turned to me. “No. They haven’t touched her, but I’m telling you they will, and not just because we know they run girls and prostitution and porn. I’m telling you they will because…they have before.”
I froze. My mind blanked completely and I was grateful, because I didn’t want to think about what his words meant. They have before. Was it possible that I’d spent all these years with Lucy, the love of my fucking life, without knowing her biggest secret? Had she…had she been forced by Blade, the man I’d been trying to make peace with? Anger surged within me and it was so blinding that for a moment I didn’t know what to do with myself. It was the kind of anger that breaking things wouldn’t solve. The kind that boiled and festered and ate you alive if you gave it half a chance.
I thought about Lucy and how she’d been so weird lately. She knew there were peace talks between myself and the Slayers, that Blade would have to head them if we were ever going to get anywhere. I had thought her behavior was a direct result of her father’s death. They’d been so close and she loved him so deeply, that when he’d died, she seemed to be lost. So when she started talking about things like leaving, getting away from the violence…What if that hadn’t been about being a Reaper at all?
Had I missed what was going on so completely?
“They've already done this to Lucy?”
Bills glanced up at me in surprise. He frowned, then shook his head. “No. Not Lucy.” He hesitated for a split second, just long enough for a wash of relief to flood me, only to be replaced once again by dread. “Mary. Mary Gilles, the Preacher’s wife.”
I sucked in a harsh breath. “They raped Mary Gilles?”
Bills nodded. “And not just once. They…they’re going to do the same thing to Lucy if we don’t stop them. And we’re running out of time. Whatever we’re going to do, we need to move fast. I know where she’s being held.”
That cold anger sliced me open again and my words came spilling out as a result. “I’m going to kill them. Every last fucking one of them. There will be no survivors, no hope. No one walks from this, do you understand me? No one.”
Bills’ expression was grim, but he nodded solemnly in response. He wouldn’t argue with my orders, not even if he disagreed with them, which something inside told me he didn’t.
We walked out of the office into the dimly lit room that generally served as the legitimate business body shop of the Reaper’s. Today, it was closed, however, and a bloodied man sat tied to a chair, his expression pale beneath the messy blood and terror shining in his eyes.
Normally, we weren’t particularly violent, especially when compared to some of the other clubs out there. It didn’t mean we were immune to it, and from a normal person’s perspective, we were probably downright barbaric. But by the standards of the trade, we were pretty mellow. Initiations and the occasional brawl aside, we were just a few shades shy of being model citizens.
But then there are moments like these. Moments where I stared into the eyes of my enemy and knew I was at war. What I did here may have been brutal, may have been unfounded in the eyes of those who stand outside of the war, but in this moment, they were necessary. My options had disappeared. They were stripped from me the momen
t I heard about Mary, Lucy’s mother. Worse still, the knowledge that it was Lucy next ate at me until I couldn’t see past the red in my vision.
Maybe the man sitting tied to that chair, a Slayer by choice and therefore just as guilty as the rest of them, sensed what was brewing within me, because he spoke before I got the chance to hit him again.
“I’ll tell you everything! Whatever you want to know! I’ll—I’ll tell you where your girl is! The—the pretty one, right? Real cute and small with the brown hair—”
My fist plunged into his mouth. I ignored the feeling of his teeth catching on part of my skin, tearing what hadn’t even begun to heal yet. I didn’t care. I just didn’t want to hear his filthy mouth say anything about my Lucy ever again. I’d take out his voice box next if he didn’t watch his fucking mouth.
“She’s at the edge of town! Over by that old train yard!” the man all but screamed at us. He coughed and sputtered and I momentarily wondered if maybe he weren’t crying a little bit, too. If he were, I was still unmoved. “There’s a house, an old house that was condemned! Blade got a hold of it and it’s got a basement! Oh, God, she’s in the fucking basement!”
