“And what would you choose?” Reese asked, furrowing her brow. She didn’t quite understand what he meant by his cryptic words. “The right choice, or yourself?”
A pause, strong and silent, filled with tension that felt like it could drop at any moment. And then, “Andie. Always Andie.” Another silence hung between the two of them, and he tossed his eyes over his shoulder so he could look at her. “Don’t forget to tell Andie about this. Please.”
Now Reese couldn’t concentrate for the remainder of the evening. Had something happened to Andie that she didn’t know about? Was Andie all right? Why was Jack acting so weird and mysterious and brooding? He was supposed to be Black Wing, not Jack Phillip. She understood when he went on about power and not being able to save everybody. Her family was murdered, even though she knew it was going to happen, even though she had had a vision of it before. Yet she could not prevent it, no matter what she attempted to do. It was destined to happen.
Was that what he was referring to? Or was it something else, something she didn’t know about just yet? Instead of getting more clarity on her current predicament, she was getting more questions without any answers in sight. It was more than a little frustrating.
Reese tried to quiet her thoughts now that she actually engaged in battle on the streets of Onyx. Black Wing only allowed her to go after street thugs, taking on the higher ups in the criminal world himself. It wasn’t rare to see him hang people off the edge of buildings or drop them from thousands of feet in the sky in order to track down a lead or attempt to get information on a bigger crime lord.
“Every part of Onyx is divided,” Jack had told her the second night. “There are five sections that each belong to a different Boss. Bosses are supposed to respect territory, keep to their own. Noir didn’t care about borders or respect. He did whatever he wanted, and because he was so psychotic, he got away with it. However, I can guarantee you everyone in Onyx–including the lowliest criminals and their high-ranking Bosses–are glad he’s gone. Those Bosses initially believed that with Noir’s disappearance, order would be restored and Onyx would continue to run the way they were used to, with minor deviances and problems that needed to be addressed.”
“But it’s gotten worse,” Reese pointed out. “Why?”
“Because people saw the power Noir had and wanted it for themselves,” Jack replied. “They don’t know he’s a demon–an Excom–they think he’s a regular man who managed to acquire power simply by taking it. Now, everyone thinks they have a right to the power Noir sacrificed. Onyx is left with a hole, and people think they can fill it. There are no more boundaries, no more territories. Loyalty is gone straight out the window to the highest bidder. These Bosses can’t trust anyone, so they’re more ruthless, more deadly. These streets are filled with nothing but chaos. This is why the Mayor is pushing for a city-wide curfew. There’s a war going on, and as of right now, you and I are the only ones fighting for Onyx and its people.”
So Reese fought. She was shaky at first, worried failure was going to tear at her confidence and make everyone realize she wasn’t fit for the role of Savior, but Jack was patient and he started her out slow. Initially, it was difficult to hit moving targets, but she got the hang of it quickly.
“Never shoot to kill,” Jack instructed her. “You never know what someone can tell us.”
Reese thought that was interesting logic. Jack didn’t want Reese to kill perpetrators because he believed she shouldn’t play God or didn’t want her to take on such a burden of responsibility; rather, he wanted information. That was the sole reason to keep any of these people alive. So she started honing in on her targets, aiming for a leg or arm rather than the much easier torso. There were times when they got away from her, but Jack was always there as backup, spreading his wings and shooting after them.
“How do we know if we’re winning?” Reese had asked.
“We don’t,” came Jack’s cryptic reply. “All we can do is fight until it’s over. When that is, I’m not sure. Nobody is. But we don’t stop until it’s done.”
It wasn’t hard to find crime. It wasn’t hard to put a stop to it. It was hard to be everywhere at once. Reese was particularly sensitive to crimes against women, and always went out of her way to take care of such acts rather than a mugging. Currently, she was in the middle of stopping a rape. The woman was half-dressed, fear clearly written in her eyes. She looked disheveled, and judging from the bruises on her face, Reese was certain he had smacked her around a bit.
“Excuse me,” she called, her bow and arrow already at the ready. “Excuse me!” When the man stopped what he was doing–though he did not yet remove himself from on top of his victim–in order to look at Reese, she continued. “I kindly request that you stop what you’re doing and get off the woman, please.”
“Oh, yeah?” he asked, amused. “And what’re you going to do about it? I tell you what, sweetums, you wait right there and when I’m finished, it’ll be your turn, okay?” With that, he turned back to his task.
Reese opened her mouth to respond, but suddenly, she felt lightheaded and black spots filled her line of sight. She had felt this way before. She knew what was coming.
Oh, no, she thought to herself. Not this. Not now.
She was standing in front of someone. She could feel her mouth move, talking to someone else. She felt… upset. Angry. Frustrated. Whomever it was she was speaking to was someone she didn’t like. Reese couldn’t hear what she was saying. Didn’t know why she felt the way she was feeling.
The person behind her started talking. Reese tilted her head back to listen, but kept her grey eyes fixed on the mysterious threat. And then this person emerged from behind her and it was… Ollo.
She was protecting Ollo.
But why? And why would Ollo need her to protect him?
And then he started talking to her, and she couldn’t help but look at him. How could she not? He seemed insistent to get whatever it was off his chest, needed her to hear something, whatever it was.
The threat, without warning, fired something. Reese didn’t know if they had thrown a knife, used an arrow, or fired a gun, but Ollo was the target.
She didn’t even think. She stepped in front of him, pushed him out of the way, anything to make sure he wasn’t harmed.
And then, everything went black.
A sharp pain caused Reese to crack open her eye, but before she could figure out just who and where the pain was coming from, another blow to her head left her feeling disoriented. She moaned a long, low sound and tilted her head, trying to orient herself to where she was and what was happening to her. She couldn’t think just yet about the vision. She would wait to analyze it later, when she was safe in bed with Ollo. Right now, she knew she was in danger, and she needed to get out of it if she was going to be any help to Jack for the rest of the night.
“Yeah, that’s right, sweetums,” a familiar voice said from on top of her. That was when she noticed she couldn’t get up due to a heavy pressure on the lower half of her body. Someone was holding her down. “Moan for me again, baby. You will. I’m gonna make you do it, just like I did to that girl. Too bad you couldn’t save her. You passed out. I’m used to it. Girls go weak for me.”
“Only because you get them at their weakest,” Reese said, though her face pinched with bruises and her head swelled. “Can’t handle them when they’re aware, can you? This is the only way you can get a girl, huh?”
Where was her bow, her arrows? She knew they weren’t on her back anymore, couldn’t feel them pressing against her spine. She cracked open her eyes and almost groaned again at the pain. Instead, she bit her lip to keep quiet and threw her eyes outwards. They were still by the entrance of the alleyway, where she had first collapsed.
Dammit.
When she felt a hand start to unzip her jumpsuit, her mind geared into motion. She started struggling. She was in danger, and she needed to get out of it now. He started laughing at her attempt to stop him, started talking gi
bberish–or what sounded like gibberish–about how there was no way out for her, that she’d end up dead just like the one before but at least she’d enjoy herself, that –
And then, he stopped.
Everything stopped.
The talking. The unzipping. The stale breath. The awkward hands. Everything finally stopped. Then a man’s guttural scream pierced the air until…. It stopped.
A loud crash, somewhere a way’s away.
Then, someone was picking up Reese, someone safe and familiar. It was Black Wing. It had to be Black Wing.
“My arrows,” she managed to get out, hoping she was pointing in their general direction.
“I have them,” came his guttural reply.
She felt him fly with her in his arms, across the Onyx night. She knew he would take her home to Ollo, and that Ollo would be upset and use this as an excuse to try and stop her from coming out to Onyx again at night in order to fight the war. She knew how it would all go, and like her visions, she wouldn’t be able to prevent it from happening.
However.
Now, more than ever, she would fight. Someone was going to go after Ollo. The woman she tried to save was dead. She couldn’t stop fighting. Besides Jack, she was all Onyx had, and she didn’t realize it before, but she refused to skirt around that responsibility.
She would fight, no matter what, for as long as possible. Up until her vision came true.
15
It was pitch black and just after one thirty in the morning when Keirah strolled up to the law offices of Onyx District Attorney Lucas Burr. Her dark hair was left undone–Noir liked it best this way–and she wore a long charcoal trench coat cinched at the waist over a collared shirt and dark jeans. She looked like any other woman, except women like her weren’t normally found on the streets of Onyx so late at night when the city was running rampant with crime. It didn’t matter, however; she knew how to take care of herself, and wouldn’t hesitate removing any threat that could possibly get in the way of her heading to Purgatory, whether it was a criminal or an innocent passerby.
She hadn’t known how to prepare for the journey to Purgatory, so she dressed warmly. It made her wonder why such an evil man–demon–would be sent to a place of transition rather than damnation. Could there be hope for him and his soul? Was he waiting there to repent? If so, she knew deep down, he would never leave. Noir believed wholeheartedly in what he accomplished up in Onyx. There was no way he would ever claim innocence or ask for forgiveness. What Noir did, he was proud of, and there was no way he’d regret it, even if that meant sacrificing Heaven.
Although, again, why God didn’t punish him for his heinous actions and send him straight to Hell…
Maybe everyone got a second chance, a voice guessed. Maybe everyone has, at least the opportunity to ask for forgiveness.
Keirah shrugged, not entirely sure. It didn’t really matter anyways, as long as he still was in Purgatory, waiting for her.
When she reached the double doors of the skyscraper Burr’s office was located in, she glanced at her surroundings, making sure to take everything in. The street was empty, silent. If she had been her old self,the one who still went to high school and interned for Dr. Hawkins and was afraid of Noir, she would have taken it as an ominous sign. Instead, she found it convenient. It would take her no time to pick the locks, and once inside, she’d disable the security cameras. Not that it mattered, considering she’d be leaving Onyx for Purgatory. If people saw her face or recognized her, if Commissioner Jarrett actually admitted that she had been involved in this string of criminal activity for a long duration of time of her own choosing, she would be locked away for good. And, as much as she wanted to believe Noir would risk breaking her out of wherever they happened to place her, she didn’t want to risk his capture. She knew she wouldn’t be able to escape of her own, either. She didn’t have the talent the way Noir did.
This only begged the question of what Noir would want to do once she found him. Would he automatically be released from Purgatory? Would she have to barter for him? And if he could leave, where would he want to go? And would he even want her to be around? She was the cause for his banishment there; he saved her life, which wasn’t something he did, ever.
She shook her head. She could worry about all this later. For now, she wanted to get to Purgatory.
In her time alone, Keirah focused on acquiring skills that might be able to assist her if she ever chose to be Bombshell. One such skill was picking locks. As such, she had brought a mini-kit tucked away in her coat pocket with her in order to pick the locks of both the main building and Burr’s office in order to get inside. Her hands were gloved with sleek black leather so she wouldn’t leave fingerprints. However, before she could even remove the kit from her coat, she found the main door unlocked, as though someone knew she would be here tonight, as though someone was waiting for her.
She tensed, looked around again. Was it Henry? Was this a trap? Did he want to enact revenge against her for kidnapping Piper?
Keirah took in a sharp breath. If Noir were here, what would he do?
He wouldn’t be afraid of anything, she knew. He would walk right in the building, knowing, somehow, he’d be safe to walk right out.
Keirah flared her nostrils, tightened her fingers. She would do the same.
Tentatively, she pushed the door opened and slid inside. She made sure to leave it unlocked, just the way she had found it.
The lights from the lobby started to flash on and she jumped, but she realized they were programmed to react to movement, so she all but dashed across to the security system located behind the main desk of the lobby. This was where security could normally be found, but the room was empty, black, and… eerie. The cameras were already dismantled.
Someone else was here too…
But why? And would they pose a threat to her?
She patted the inside of her left thigh where she had strapped on a small glock, just in case. It was loaded, and she knew how to use it. It comforted her, if only a little.
When she left the room, her feet immediately took her to the elevator, and it wasn’t long before she was inside, heading up to the thirty-sixth floor. Her heart was hammering so hard in her chest, she could hear it over the soft ping the elevator would give as it announced each floor it passed. She wasn’t brave right now. She wanted to be, so so badly, because she knew Noir would be and she was trying her hardest to emulate her lover to the best of her abilities. But she couldn’t help but feel scared.
“Suck it up, Key,” she murmured to herself in a firm voice. “No one is trying to get Noir back except you. Get your head on right, and focus on your mission. That’s all you need to do.”
She rolled her shoulders back and tilted her head up, trying to give herself a confidence she wasn’t particularly feeling. Her fingers shook as she exited the elevator, but she felt a little bit better.
It didn’t surprise her to find Burr’s office unlocked as well. What did surprise her, however, was finding Burr himself there, sitting at his secretary’s desk with a casual smile on his face as though he had been expecting her the entire time. Keirah’s gut told her that he had. Her body tensed, and she paused, but her fear temporarily subsided. She wasn’t afraid of Burr. Wary, yes, but not afraid.
“I knew you’d come,” he told her, standing up and fixing his tie. He still looked at her with a knowing smile, his crystal blue eyes refusing to look anywhere but at her.
“Why didn’t you just tell me I could get to Noir from your office?” Keirah asked, ignoring his premonition. She didn’t care one way or the other if he knew she would be here or not. All she wanted to do was get to Purgatory. All she wanted was to get Noir.
“I needed to buy time.” It was odd to see a man at one thirty in the morning dressed the way Lucas Burr was dressed, especially since he wasn’t at some fancy party or nightclub. It was as though he had to always look his best, wear the most expensive clothes. It was the way he wore his mask, she realize
d. This was his own way of hiding himself. “I can’t just let you go to Purgatory without informing you about your precious Noir.”
“I already know he’s a demon or an Excom or whatever,” Keirah said. Her voice revealed how little she cared about that, but Burr interrupted her.
“No, you don’t,” Burr said. “Please, take a seat. I promise once I’m finished speaking, I will take you to Purgatory myself. But you need to be informed, Keirah, just what you’re getting yourself into. Purgatory is only for souls who have somehow passed on. A human has never entered, so it isn’t certain if they’ll ever return.”
“If Noir’s there, I don’t need to return,” she told him seriously. She didn’t even hesitate, didn’t even care how sappy it came out.
He smiled as though he expected such an answer, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I understand you think yourself in love with him–”
“I am in love with him,” Keirah stated. “I don’t give a shit if you believe me or not. I don’t want to hear your warnings of what I’m giving up in order to get to him; I’m sacrificing much more if I give up on him.”
“Do you know what an Excom is?” Burr asked, raising a brow. “Do you know why they’re called Excoms?”
Keirah did nothing but remain silent. That was answer enough for him, it would seem, because he smirked in response to it.
“As I thought,” he continued. “An Excom is the worst kind of demon, too uncontrollable that the devil himself doesn’t even want it. They’re banished to hopeless places on earth, such as the Sierra Desert or a rainforest because it’s practically impossible for them to escape and there’s little to no population. They don’t want to ask for forgiveness, which is why they aren’t waiting in Purgatory for their chance at redemption. They don’t care about Heaven. They don’t care about Hell. All they care about is wreaking havoc.” He tilted his head to the side. “Excom. It’s short for excommunicated. As in, both Heaven and Hell both excommunicated the demon, so they’re damned in a particular sort of way.”
Sacrifice: Book 3 of The Dark Paradise Trilogy Page 11
