The tips of my fingers dipped in the still-warm liquid, and I marked each of them as they tried to fight me. It was useless, and all they succeeded in doing was tiring themselves out.
My eyes met Squirrel’s, and I knew he’d picked up on what I’d said about Kalashnik knowing he was dying. He would have no reason to answer because he knew he was a dead man walking. His son, however, was his weakness.
“When my men find you, there won’t be anywhere for you to hide. You are all dead! You. Your families. Your fucking dogs. Dead!” Ivan was screaming as blood ran down his naked body.
“You’re making a bold assumption that anyone has a clue as to where you are.” Venom’s voice carried out from the shadows.
When I’d made the last mark on Ivan, I stood silent, eyes closed, and prayed. A low murmured chant filled the room on repeat. The candles flickered as I raised my lids from the trancelike state I’d been in.
Just to fuck with them, I shook the chains they were hanging from. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Phoenix step out of the shadows. The flames on the candles blazed nearly a foot tall before they dropped to their original height. He gave a half smile and faded back.
The fear had finally begun to settle in with the three stooges we had suspended from the ceiling. I could see it in their eyes. I could smell it seeping from their pores. I could hear it in their uneven breaths.
I almost laughed when Ghost appeared from behind me and walked around them slowly with a creepy as fuck tip to his mouth. Not quite a smile, not quite a grimace. He pulled out a wicked-looking blade and stopped behind Anatoly. He gave the dildo a little bounce that caused Anatoly to stiffen slightly. Before anyone knew what was happening, the blade slid through Anatoly’s side and retreated.
Anatoly screamed and Kalashnik fought to see exactly what was happening. Ghost slid the knife in the other side to match. Then he disappeared again.
Ivan actually pissed himself. Kalashnik was shouting. Anatoly sagged as his shoulders seemed to pop out of socket.
“Good thing there’s a drain,” said Raptor with a dark chuckle.
Chains came forward, and I could read the “oh fuck” in Ivan’s eyes. He talked a really big game until shit got real. Somehow, I got the feeling he was getting the hint that the cavalry wasn’t going to ride in and save them.
The big tatted-up motherfucker cracked his neck, walked up to Kalashnik, and stared at him. Besides the fact that he liked Kira and hated human trafficking, we all owed it to Shank to take a piece of them. First, he punched Kalashnik right in the ribs. The sound of them cracking echoed off the walls.
Walking around behind him, he wrapped his inked fingers around his throat and squeezed. Kalashnik’s eyes bugged, and he was gasping for breath. Chains froze, and his eyes met mine over the Russian’s shoulder. What I saw there wasn’t good, but it wasn’t the time to discuss it. He nodded, telling me he’d gotten what we needed.
One by one, each of my brothers took a turn on the three Russians.
By the time everyone was done, they were a bloody, battered mess. Except for their faces. We wanted those to be recognizable. Especially since Anatoly’s needed to make a special trip.
Blade, the sick fucker, had peeled the skin off their cocks and shoved it in their mouths. They’d passed out at various times, and we’d used whatever means necessary to revive them.
At the end of it, I took my blade and had it poised to slice Ivan’s throat exactly as he’d done to Kira.
“No!”
I froze.
Kira.
“Scars”—Papa Roach
When Ogun left, I already knew what I was going to do. I’d noticed the folded up clothes on the dresser when he’d brought me in the room earlier. It turned out to be a little harder than I’d anticipated, because I didn’t know he’d left a guard dog on me.
Speaking of which, I wanted to pick up my dog in the morning. Knowing she’d been shot and nearly killed had nearly ended me.
Trying not to think about who the items belonged to, I’d gotten dressed and quietly entered the “great hall,” as I called it. There was a young guy who was a prospect cleaning the bar and filling the coolers. He’d looked up the second I stepped out of the hall that lead to the rooms.
“Can I get something for you, ma’am?” he’d asked, making me feel old as fuck.
Trying to come up with a reason to be out there, I wandered to the bar and sat down. “It’s so quiet here tonight. Where is everyone? I woke up and it’s like a ghost town.”
“They had something to do,” he said, looking slightly cagey. Kid would need to work on his poker face.
“Hmm. Okay, well, can I get a water?”
“Sure thing,” he said with a relieved grin. He pulled one out of the big ice pit behind the bar and set it on one of those paper coasters. The place was really pretty impressive for a private bar.
“I don’t suppose you have any snacks, do you?” I asked after I’d already looked around to see if there were any handy. When I didn’t see any, I hoped he’d need to go get them from somewhere.
“Umm, well, I was going to restock them, but I haven’t gotten that far,” he said apologetically.
I pouted in my best fashion.
“I can go get you something if you want,” he offered, and I had to fight doing a fist pump.
“That would be awesome.” I gave him a bright smile that I prayed looked super innocent but probably looked creepy as hell.
As soon as he went into the kitchen, I hauled ass to the door. “I need to go to the bathroom! Be right back!” I shouted, then quietly went outside. The bikes were still parked alongside the building.
“Where the hell did they go?” I whispered to myself. As I scanned the area, I saw a line of figures at the edge of one of the fields. They were headed onto the neighboring farm. There was enough moonlight that if I was careful, I could probably make my way over there.
It didn’t take long to find the path. If I hadn’t seen them, I might not have known where to look, but knowing they likely took a fairly straight path, I pushed the lilac bush to the side and there it was.
Praying there weren’t any creatures of the night out in the field, I moved cautiously and slow. The night was still, so I could hear their voices carrying across the field but couldn’t make out what they were saying.
When I got to the edge of the farm site, I crouched in the plants, because I saw people meandering around the corner of a building set off to the back. My heart was pounding, and it sounded like my breathing was as loud as a chainsaw.
Sometimes at a crawl, I made my way over to a small building surrounded by trees and bushes and leaned against the side like I was in some kind of action movie. “What the hell am I doing?” I asked myself, then slapped a hand over my mouth.
The pigs in the building near me were snuffling around, and I hoped they wouldn’t give me away. If I got caught, I knew they’d send me back to the clubhouse and likely lock my ass in the room. I didn’t want that, because I really needed to see what they were up to with the three men who’d tried to ruin my life, then kill me.
Peeking around the corner, my eyes bugged as I saw something that sent my insides skittering and my heart froze before pounding against my ribs. The man who’d stepped out of the small building I leaned against looked like a ghoul that would come for your soul. I’d nearly given myself away before I realized it was Ogun.
When he cut through the trees and walked toward the other building, Ghost appeared next to him. I blinked, thinking I’d been seeing things. Then I remembered him doing that when I first woke up. Holy shit!
“Voodoo, something’s not right,” I heard Ghost say. They both paused with the door cracked and simply looked at each other.
“You heard it too?” Ogun whispered, but Ghost shook his head. “Then what?”
“I’m not sure. Lots of whispers that I can’t make out. Something has stirred up the spirits. I don’t fucking like it.” The hogs started to move around mo
re than they had been a minute ago.
“Anyone else sense anything?” Ogun asked his friend before he looked around.
“No.”
“Maybe it’s just the moon,” Ogun murmured. Ghost shrugged. “Stay alert. Let’s go in. I’m anxious to get started.”
Then they both slipped in the door of the old building. A sigh of relief escaped me until I realized there could be someone out patrolling or whatever they called it. I waited for quite a while and sure enough, a guy came around from the other side.
While I waited, he paced back and forth. Then he walked around the perimeter of the building. He did the same thing a few times, so I figured I’d wait until he turned the corner and haul ass.
Once I determined it was safe to move, I carefully but quickly made my way to the door they’d gone through. Before the guy could come around again, I slipped inside.
There was only one direction I could go, so I followed the hall toward the voices. It was dark and smelled funny in there, but there were lights coming from around the corner at the end of the hall.
At the shouts and groans, I told myself I shouldn’t be there—but I needed to be there. The thing was, I didn’t know what the hell I was going to do. It wasn’t like I had a plan, but I needed to be there. Retribution? Closure? Sick curiosity? Whatever the reason, I needed to be a part of it.
What I watched should’ve made me ill. It likely should’ve terrified me. Instead, all I experienced was grim satisfaction. The three of them were getting what they deserved.
Except when I saw the macabre version of the man I’d given my heart to poised to slice Ivan’s throat, I couldn’t let him do it.
“No!” I shouted. He froze, and his eyes rose to lock on mine. The glint of the red-stained knife in the candlelight was eerie but fascinating. There was a small table with a variety of items spread out on it. Another knife, a pistol, and a good number of things I didn’t recognize.
Everyone in the room froze as they warily assessed me. Ghost took a step to the side, and I pointed at him. “I don’t know what you were about to do but stop right there.”
From the look on his face, he knew I remembered his little disappearing act. Angel was at the other end of the group and calmly watched me with his arms crossed over his chest. Chains stood deep in the shadows, but I saw him as well as the rest of them.
“Is this what you do?” I asked. No one answered me. I ignored the triumphant expression in Anatoly’s eyes.
“Answer me! Is this what you do? Torture people and kill them?” I asked in confused outrage.
“Kira,” Ogun began, but I silenced him with my hand as I walked around the room, making eye contact with each of them. To their credit, they all boldly met my gaze. Not a one of them flinched. Not to say they didn’t have a hint of that wariness still.
Being a veterinarian, I’d learned how to read body language pretty well. Animals only have that to convey what’s going on. It wasn’t hard to see they all looked poised to pounce on me. Except for Angel. He still calmly watched my movements.
After I’d walked closer to the three men strung up by chains, I paused by the small table that resembled more of an altar. Before anyone could stop me, I snatched up the pistol. Thankfully, they’d been easy to distract with my act of being horrified. Little did they know, I’d seen worse.
Being raised around the fucking Russian mafia had hardened a part of me, and I’d learned how to use a gun. My brother Viktor had taught me when I was sixteen. After what had happened. So it didn’t take me long to ensure a bullet was chambered and point the gun at Ivan.
All of Ogun’s brothers moved toward me at once. “Don’t,” I said, as I held the gun pointed at Ivan. My eyes stayed trained on Ivan, but I watched them all freeze in my periphery.
“Kira. Baby, don’t do this. This is something you can’t come back from. You can’t undo it.” Ogun tried his best to convince me, but I was past being swayed.
My chest was heaving, heart racing as the past rushed me like a two-hundred-and-forty-pound defenseman. The three people in front of me had all been party to it. Though Ivan hadn’t been there when I was fifteen, he’d threatened to burn off my tattoo, destroy my friends, and he was going to rape me in front of Grishka. Fuck him and his skinned penis.
The first bullet entered right between his eyes. The second in his filleted dick.
“Kira!” Ogun ran at me, and Ghost had his arms wrapped around me in an instant, but not before I’d shot Anatoly in his leg and Grishka in his dick and his stomach. Because I wanted him to suffer.
“Give me the gun, sweetheart,” Ghost said in my ear. By then, the adrenaline had started to wear off and I’d begun to shake. Ghost handed me off to Ogun after securing the gun.
Grishka and Anatoly’s screams were background noise as he held me and I buried my face in his neck. The shaking intensified and then the tears started.
“Shh, I’ve got you.” Ogun murmured over and over as he rocked me. Time escaped me as I cried for everything Grishka and Anatoly had been responsible for in my life. The only thing that would’ve made me happier was if Lester fucking Damen had been there too.
Crying seemed to let loose all the pent-up hurt, frustration, and disbelief of my life.
“That prospect is gonna get his ass handed to him,” Venom said from nearby. I felt more than saw Ogun nod. That caused me to look up as I wiped away tears with the back of my hand.
“Please don’t. He had no idea. I sent him looking for snacks, then led him to believe I changed my mind and was going back to the room.” Worry furrowed my brow.
Ogun’s hands framed my face. “It doesn’t matter. He knew better than to leave the area unsecured. If you were able to get out without him knowing, someone else could’ve easily gotten in. It won’t be that bad, but he needs to learn.”
“But it’s not fair that he gets hurt because of me,” I argued.
“If he can’t handle a little ass-whipping because of a fuckup, he’s not cut out to be a Royal Bastard,” he replied as he caught a stray tear with his thumb.
A grunt from over my shoulder told me that the others were in agreement. It made me feel bad that he would be punished for something I did, but I also understood it was their club and their rules.
“Voodoo, take her home. We’ll finish up here,” Venom said from behind us. When I turned to look at him, I could tell he was less than happy with my actions, but I didn’t care.
“Let me grab my things. Will you be okay for a minute?” He clasped my upper arms and leaned down to look me in the eyes. I nodded. His macabre makeup should’ve been unsettling, but I found it strangely beautiful.
He had the items gathered up quicker than I could’ve imagined, which told me he’d done this before. What surprised me was that I wasn’t bothered by it. Not wanting to analyze why nothing from the night really upset me, I took a deep but shaky breath.
“Come on,” he said as he took my hand. We started to walk away, but I stopped and turned to look at Venom.
“I’m not going to say a word. And I hope you kill them both.” Then I turned back around and walked with Ogun “Voodoo” Dupré back to the clubhouse.
When we went inside, the prospect seemed shocked to see me coming in the door with Voodoo.
“We’ll talk later,” Voodoo said to the man, who blanched and swallowed hard.
Once he closed the door to the room, he leaned on it and ran a hand through his hair. “We need to discuss what happened tonight.”
“Okay, but I meant what I said. I’m not going to say a word to anyone. I’m not going to fall apart. I’m going to say this explicitly and once. I shot Ivan in the dick because he was going to rape me in front of Grishka; I shot him between the eyes because he had no remorse for trying to kill me—something he would’ve succeeded in doing had you and your friends not intervened. I shot Anatoly because he’s a piece of shit brother who held down his fifteen-year-old sister while she was raped repeatedly for money. My aim was off because I
meant to shoot him in the dick too. I shot Grishka in the dick because he doesn’t deserve to have it and in the stomach because it wouldn’t kill him right away and I wanted him to suffer for selling me off to the highest bidder not once, but twice, then threatening to sell me and my friend into the sex trade if I didn’t comply. I don’t regret it, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” I paused, waiting for his response. The only thing he’d done was cover his own junk when I’d talked about shooting them. It didn’t seem like he realized he’d done it, and if the seriousness of the situation wasn’t so severe, I might have laughed.
“Regardless, you shouldn’t have seen that. It’s still your father and your brother. I didn’t mean for you to have to see what was going on.”
“No. He’s not.” It was incredible, the relief I experienced at the knowledge that the asshole who’d destroyed my innocence wasn’t actually my father.
“What?”
“Grishka isn’t my father. He admitted it to me when I was at his house. My father was one of his men. I have no idea if he’s alive or dead, but I mean to ask my mother. Yes, Anatoly was my brother, but he was an asshole and a piece of shit. But I need to know something,” I said.
“I’ll do my best to answer,” he warily replied.
“I pieced shit together. Is that what you do? Your club? Are they assassins? Hitmen? Whatever you call it?”
He bit his lip and appeared to weigh the situation and his answer. “Let’s just say that we clean house for society. The people that slip through the cracks or get past the system.”
Satisfied, I nodded. “Good.”
People needed to know that someone was taking out the trash when those who were supposed to, didn’t. But it wasn’t my place to announce it.
Determined, I walked up to him, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him in for a kiss. Shock held him back for a second. Then, he was all in, his tongue twisting with mine and his teeth tugging on my lip. My fingers sank into his dark hair, and I breathed in the strangely comforting scent that clung to his clothes.
Voodoo (Royal Bastards MC: Ankeny IA) Page 17
