Voodoo (Royal Bastards MC: Ankeny IA)

by Kristine Allen

  Then they had found out that hogs will eat any fucking thing. Especially the gigantic wild boars we bred there for hunting ranches. They were some ruthlessly savage creatures.

  “You heading straight to the clubhouse?” Squirrel asked as he pulled his helmet on.

  “Yeah,” I said as I did the same, uncaring if I smeared the paint. It was cooler that day, thank fuck, because anytime we had business like that at the farm, we wore helmets. Less of a chance that someone would be able to point one of us out specifically. Then again, the local law enforcement didn’t fuck with us too much. We paid them enough.

  I flipped down the tinted visor and started up my bike. We all pulled out of the farm without a backward glance.

  Coy and the boys down in our Louisville Chapter had a similar operation, but theirs was disguised as a Pet Crematorium and Funeral Services business. Crazy thing was, they actually did that shit too. People paid a lot of money to keep old Rover’s ashes with them for all eternity.

  The other thing we were in agreement with was their stance on the drug trade. Well, mostly. We made a lot of fucking money by transporting weed from Colorado to Iowa and down to Florida. False bottoms and a false wall in the front in the livestock trailers of the semis made for the perfect storage system. We made money from the hogs and the weed. It’s the perfect cover.

  But the harder shit? Fuck that. That shit was toxic to people, families, and society in general.

  It didn’t take long to reach the clubhouse, since it was down the road but on the same property as the hog farm, and we all backed in against the building. Though the temps were cooler, I was still sweating by the time we reached the clubhouse.

  “Fucking hate those things,” I bitched as I hung the helmet on the handlebar to let the sweat dry.

  Phoenix chuckled. “Pussy,” he teased. He wore one all the time, no exceptions. Then again, the fucker loved the heat because he barely felt it. If it wasn’t for his special talents, he’d probably be down with a chapter in Texas. But we all had our reasons for being where we were.

  “Fuck off,” I said with a huff of laughter.

  “You look scarier now than you did before,” Squirrel muttered.

  I flipped him off.

  We stepped into the cool interior, and I left the guys at the bar to go back to Venom’s office. Facet followed me but went into his room as I continued on. I already knew he was going to dig into what the guy had said about Mule.

  Venom looked up as I knocked on the open frame. “Hawk called me. You okay?”

  I nodded. Though I was worried about my grandmother, if my parents said she’d be okay, I believed them.

  “It done?” He didn’t need to elaborate; I knew he was asking about the job.

  “Blade’s working on the cleanup, but yeah.” He nodded in satisfaction.

  “Where’s Raptor?” I asked as I sat down in the chair opposite the desk from him.

  “Making the rounds with Kicker to check on the dry cleaning shop, the restaurants, and car washes.” Also legit businesses that were perfect fronts for cleaning the dirty money we brought in.

  “I wanted to let you know something that the guy at the farm said today,” I started. He leaned back in his chair with an intense look.

  “Does this need to wait for church?”

  “I definitely plan to bring it up, but I wanted you to know first.”

  He nodded, and I told him about what the guy had said and about how I’d been feeling like I was being watched. He didn’t like it either.

  Once business was out of the way, we sat and shot the shit for a bit before he looked at the time. “Unless you wanna be cleaning shitters this weekend, I suggest we get to the chapel.”

  “Um, yeah, no thanks. Give me a minute to wash my face,” I said as I stood and followed him out of the room. Once I’d washed the makeup off, I headed down the hall to the chapel at the end. We dropped our phones in the basket outside the room as we stepped in.

  As always, the old-timers were there first. Goob, Shorty, E, and Break had pretty much all retired, so they hung out all day at the clubhouse to get peace from their ol’ ladies. Well, except Shorty. He’d never gotten serious with anyone and swore he was a confirmed bachelor.

  Kicker, Shank, Phoenix, Squirrel, Croc, and Ghost were at the table, too. Facet walked in after us with his laptop. It was the only electronic device ever allowed in church, because that thing had the highest security I’d ever seen. Encryption upon encryption and whatever other shit he had on it to protect the dealings he did for us on the dark web. It was where our jobs came in from. Most of the people we worked for didn’t know who we were, and we didn’t know them.

  The guy in the slaughterhouse today was one of the few jobs we did where we had met the client who hired us in person. The woman had a lot of money and was willing to pay heftily for what had been done to her nephew. She’d even stood in the shadows for the first of the job today. Weird, but whatever.

  “Oh, good. Thought I was gonna be last in again today,” said Angel as he hurried in the door behind Raptor. Ghost laughed. The only ones who were exempt from cleaning shitters were the old timers, P and VP. Of course, Blade because he was occupied, but Venom would fill him in.

  The pounding of boots across the floor was followed by Chains rushing in and looking around before he dropped his head. “Fuck,” he muttered as everyone busted a gut.

  “All right, Chains, shut the door. Everyone listen up. We got the information regarding the De Luca job. Once we go over the details, we’ll vote as to whether we want to take the job. Blade already gave me the okay to vote for him by proxy.” Venom motioned for Facet to continue with the info he’d received from Lorenzo De Luca.

  Facet cleared his throat. “First of all, I found the info about that guy and Mule.” He then went on to elaborate and let the rest of the brothers in on what the guy had said earlier. Turned out it was legit. None of us was overly worried, because the Scorpions would never be able to tie Mule’s cousin to us.

  Except I didn’t like that they kept popping up in shit for us. That was twice in one day. I didn’t like it.

  Then he tapped away at his computer and opened the file he’d received from De Luca.

  “Okay. So evidently Grishka Kalashnik killed his youngest son, Francesco.”

  “He knows that for sure?” Venom asked in surprise. While we might’ve known it wasn’t an accident, to hear Kalashnik had been that ballsy was unnerving.

  “According to this, he says Grishka boasted about it in a video that someone secretly recorded.” Facet said.

  “Someone as in who?” asked Raptor.

  “One of his own men,” said Facet as he looked up at all of us.

  “Oh, shit,” murmured several brothers. The dude was as good as dead if Kalashnik found out. And he would. If we’d seen it, and De Luca had seen it, then it was likely others had too.

  “Okay, so we know he wants retaliation. What exactly does he want?” Venom asked.

  “Cleanup and disposal of a certain daughter of the head of the Bratva in Chicago.”

  “Shit,” mumbled Angel as he slouched in his chair. He hated when the job included women. In fact, we usually refused those jobs unless the woman was an absolute evil cunt.

  “Shit is right,” said Facet as his face went pale. His eyes met mine, and he slowly spun the computer around.

  The room went silent as I stared at the beautiful, smiling face of my woman. Except instead of Kira Baranov, it said Kira Kalashnik. Heart pounding, I swore to fucking Christ the room started spinning. A vision of Kira in my arms with vacant eyes and covered in crimson flooded my senses, rocking me to my core. It was so real, I could smell the scent of her blood—taste its copper tang.

  “No!” My fingers gripped the edge of the table as I shouted, and shit went flying off the walls. The few empty chairs fell backwards. Facet grabbed his computer and held it to his chest like it was a baby.

  “Goddammit, Voodoo!” Venom shouted. His shouts
barely penetrated my rage.

  I was tackled out of my chair by Angel. His touch and Venom’s began to calm me, and I found myself lying on the floor trying to catch my breath with huge, heaving gasps. Every fiber of my being was electrified and on edge.

  “Voodoo, brother, listen to me. We’re not taking the job, but I need you to think clearly. Calm your shit,” Venom demanded.

  Finally able to make my head and body cooperate, I swallowed hard and nodded. “Let me up,” I whispered.

  Angel and Venom both gave me hesitant looks but let go of me. We all got up, and I clenched my jaw as I took a deep, cleansing breath. “I’m good,” I said.

  “Look, I understand your reaction, but you gotta keep that shit under control,” Venom said in a low tone. I nodded.

  Once we were all back at the table, everyone turned serious eyes in my direction.

  “This is my concern,” Venom began. “If we don’t take the job, De Luca may just find someone who will.”

  “Why her? Why not his oldest son? The one he’s closest to,” said Shank. Surprised that he knew so much about Kalashnik, I studied him with narrowed eyes.

  “How do you know about them?” Raptor asked.

  Shank snorted. “How do you think? I was in prison with one of his thugs. I heard things.”

  “That was years ago,” said Raptor.

  “So? You think he’s not still up that boy’s ass? Look him up,” said Shank, causing Facet to open his computer again and start typing.

  “He’s right,” said Facet as he scrolled, then looked at us. “Every picture of him shows his oldest son with him. Like, I wonder if he takes a shit with him in the room.”

  “Then you contact De Luca. You tell him she’s my ol’ lady and no one touches her. Tell him I’ll take out the son myself,” I growled.

  “Voodoo. Think about this. How is she gonna feel about you killing her brother?” Angel said with concern. “I’ll do it.”

  “Now, everyone hold on. We’re not doing a motherfucking thing without putting it to the vote.” Venom sounded exasperated and banged his fist on the table.

  “We can’t risk De Luca taking this job somewhere else,” Angel firmly said. “You said so yourself.”

  “I know what I said, but that didn’t mean we fly off the handle and start making plans that might rain hell down on this chapter or the entire club. Kalashnik has a lot of influence in a lot of places. De Luca is just as bad. Though he may be retired, he’s still a powerful man.” Venom was trying to reason with us, but there wasn’t really any reasoning with me.

  Holding his gaze, I said in a calm but deadly voice, “If I have to, I’ll kill both De Luca and Kalashnik, but my woman is not getting harmed.”

  “Brother, you need to back the fuck up. You’re talking some crazy-ass shit, now,” Ghost said from the other side of the table. Croc was sitting next to him with his hands covering his face as he muttered to himself.

  “First, Voodoo, is she your ol’ lady? Because I didn’t hear you announce that before. Bringing her to a club party is a far cry from her being an ol’ lady. She willing to do that? Tat and all?” Venom seemed to be staring into my soul, and I fought fidgeting.

  Because the conversation she’d tried to start with me that morning about it not being a good idea for us to continue what we’d started slammed into my head. Except I’d had no idea she didn’t just have skeletons in her closet—she had the whole fucking cemetery.

  “I’ll make sure she is,” I said with finality.

  “Sell My Soul”—Seether

  “What am I going to do?” I asked as my shoulders slumped. Sasha tipped her head and looked at me questioningly. Then her big tongue lolled out of the side of her mouth and her tail thumped. I shook my head. “You’re no help.”

  When I fell back on the bed, she bounded up and began to excitedly lick me. Despite my worry mere seconds ago, she had me laughing.

  “Well, that’s a far cry from the noises I heard coming from in here earlier,” Geneva said from the open doorway. Sasha immediately paused and turned toward Geneva. She jumped down from the bed and began racing around like a lunatic.

  “Sasha! Settle.” At my command, she paused and sat, but I could sense the energy vibrating through her. “Outside, Sasha.”

  She took off like a shot, and I heard the doggie door flapping wildly.

  “Sweet Jesus, that dog has energy!” Laughter bubbled out of my roommate.

  “Don’t I know it,” I said as I realized that was another bad idea for me to go stay at Ogun’s. What if Sasha’s puppy exuberance hurt either Zaka or herself if she pissed Zaka off? He’d tear her to pieces.

  “What’s eating at you? You’re not acting like a woman who got a wall-banging orgasm less than an hour ago,” Geneva said with a shit-eating grin. My face flamed.

  “Oh, Jesus,” I muttered.

  “Hey, there’s no shame in having a man that can make you scream his name in under two minutes. Hell, I think I was screaming his name just from listening to you two.” Her smile was pure devilment as she sat on my bed and leaned up against the headboard. “So what’s the issue?”

  Hesitating for a moment, I gazed at the ceiling fan as my shoulders slouched.

  “He wants me to stay at his house for a couple of days,” I finally admitted. She didn’t reply, so I glanced her way. She was staring at me, blinking. I motioned for her to say something.

  “I’m sorry. I was waiting for you to tell me what the problem was,” she said with false confusion. I smacked her with one of my pillows.

  “It’s not that easy,” I argued as she laughed.

  Her expression sobered. “Kira. Before this Voodoo guy—”

  “Ogun,” I corrected.

  “His cut said Voodoo, therefore I’m totally calling him that. Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, before Voodoo, when was the last time you went out on a date?” She crossed her arms, waiting.

  “I’m not sure. A few months ago?” I said, truthfully unsure.

  “Months,” she whispered to herself, rolling her eyes. “And how long has it been since you had a customer stop into the pink taco?”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake!” I said as my face heated again.

  “Answer the question,” she said, then pursed her lips.

  “Uhh.” I was thinking, embarrassed to say that I thought it was halfway through vet school.

  “If you have to think about it, it’s been too fucking long. I get that vet school was challenging, but you need to have time for you. If all you ever have is your career, you’re going to end up as a crazy cat lady. I’ll be watching you on that show where people hoard animals, thinking, I knew her when she was young and normal.” She’d leaned forward to speak earnestly, and I swatted her with the pillow again.

  “I will not!”

  She didn’t answer. Instead, she raised her brows at me and said more with her look than she ever could with words.

  “Geneva… it’s complicated,” I began. Chewing on my lip, I tried to figure out how to explain it.

  “If it’s your dad, he doesn’t need to know that his little princess is banging a dirty biker down here in podunk Iowa.” She was the only one who knew about my family. We’d spent the first four years of undergrad together, and she’d actually gone home with me for a couple of holidays.

  Of course, my dad had been on his best behavior for her. Well, as good as he got, anyway.

  “He already knows.” I swallowed hard, feeling like a baseball was lodged in my throat.

  “Oh, shit.”

  “Yeah. And he told me in no uncertain terms that I was to cease and desist any and all involvement with one sexy biker. Okay, so he didn’t say it exactly like that.” It was much worse.

  “What the hell? How would he know that? Is he in town?” she asked in surprise.

  “No. Which means he has someone watching me,” I murmured and nervously picked at lint on my leggings.

  “And that’s not creepy at all,�
� Geneva said in a voice heavy with sarcasm. “What the hell, Ki? Why would he do that? You’re a grown-ass woman. You can do what you want and who you want.”

  She clearly didn’t understand the Russian Bratva. Then again, she had no idea that was who my family was.

  “My father is angry because he wanted me to marry someone and I refused.” It was better not to get into too many details, because the life my family led was akin to something out of the movies. Most people had no idea things like that happened in real life.

  “Ki, that’s crazy. We don’t live in the middle ages. Regardless of his beliefs, that doesn’t give him the right to have you followed and then to threaten you.” Disbelief had her voice rising to a near shriek. She was shaking her head, causing her red curls to bounce and fall in her face.

  “My family is very old-school. My father immigrated to the US when he was a small boy. My mother was born here, but her parents were Russian born. They live by antiquated traditions. I’m not saying it’s right, but it’s what they know.” It pained me to make excuses for my father, but I also didn’t want to come out and say, “Yeah, my dad wants to me to marry the heir to the New York City Bratva to allow for a stronger alliance between the two.”

  “What about your mother? Is she okay with this?” Geneva asked in outrage. It almost had me smiling that she was championing me the way she was.

  “No, but there isn’t much she can do,” I said with a sigh. My mother had been loved by her family, and they thought they were doing her a favor and honor by marrying her to my father. He had money; they had the elite bloodlines but no money. They had no idea the kind of man my father was.

  “So my question to you is… what are you going to do?” Geneva asked as she gave me a worried glance.

  “For now, I’m going to go switch my laundry.” I shot her a half-hearted smile and got up from the bed.

  “You know that’s not what I was talking about.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t want to think about it right now.” Not waiting to see if she had more to say, I left the room and went to the laundry room. As I pulled my third load of laundry for the day from the wash and tossed it in the dryer, I heard Sasha barking, then the doggie door rattled and flapped.