by Dark,A. A.
“Do you think we could try to slip a message to the new High Leader, Jarrett? I know I’ve asked before, Main Master, but there has to be something he can do.”
My lids opened and I took slow steps while I began pacing.
“He can’t be trusted. Jarrett is not for me or Master Harper. Jarrett is for Whitlock. He’s like many others, he’ll play whatever side he feels is best for his views on how this place should be. Although,” I paused, taking in what my intuition told me. “He may be for Everleigh. He’s protective enough over her. He’s fed her secrets. I’ve seen it in the footage days after my attack. The knowledge he has over this place is quite astounding. He sees it as a game, as he should. But I think it’s something more. He’s soft for her. He may even—”
Banging cut off my words. The guards were in the apartment for their search and I couldn’t help but raise one of my eyebrows in slight annoyance as I waited. A good few minutes went by before I turned back to Derek. “We need to shake things up. Jarrett won’t help Everleigh hurt or kill West. He’ll leave that for her to accomplish, but if we could discover a way to somehow make him believe there’s a chance I’m alive, he’ll have more to consider than just her or West. We need something subtle. Something that will add doubt without it being too obvious. I want to see his actions when he realizes things may not be as they seem. Who will he choose when the future of Whitlock hangs in the balance? Who will he give his loyalty to?
Chapter 12
West
Angrily, I snatched the pills from Jarrett, shoving them into my mouth. The bitter taste washed over my tongue and I let it as I flicked my hand at the water that was offered. I sat in a chair off to the side, staring at the dark cloak that covered Everleigh. She was hidden beneath the massive material and I couldn’t even see if it was her. The way her head was bowed gave me pleasure, but not satisfaction. I wanted her to bow to me. To crumble under the weight of killing. I fucking wanted her to come back so we could be like we were. Didn’t she see how much I loved her? After everything she’d done, she should be dead. Yet, here she was, very much alive. And very much a pain in my ass. Literally.
“Damn woman.”
My mumble had me turning to take in the stage. It was already stained with blood from the previous executions. No amount of spraying it down could cover the death the wood had recorded deep within the thick slats. The large crowd surrounding me was yelling out. Their excitement for my presence didn’t escape my notice. It fed the power-hungry beast within and I let my hand lift, watching as they all grew quiet. Pain shot through me as I stood, but I forced back the agony as I headed to the front.
“Tonight is a special night. As you all know, I was recently attacked and became indisposed of my position. During this last week, I’ve had a lot of time to think on things. On duty and love. On right and wrong. But most importantly, on how far I would go to save my marriage.
“My love for my wife knows no bounds. Sure, I have demons. Don’t we all?”
Laughter and cheers rose and I couldn’t keep in the smile or laugh.
“Exactly. So, we both fucked up. She apparently had her revenge. But because of her attack, I’ve come to see that Mistress Harper has her own secrets. She and I are more alike that she wants to admit. So as my gift to her, I’m allowing our Mistress to take out her need for violence right here. Everleigh, wife, come here.”
Black silk parted at her bare feet, but still, she stared at the ground. With each inch closer, I grew more impatient to strip her of that fucking cloak. I wanted to see her fear. Her regret on not taking up my offer of coming home.
Before she could stop next to me, I ripped her closer, jerking back the hood. The make-up and the way her hair was twisted back elegantly had me blinking through my surprise, but it was her smile that stopped time. For what felt like an eternity we locked stares and I knew … she was going to best me at my own game. There was no fear. Only what looked to be a fucked-up sense of pleasure as her hand lifted and she pulled back an elastic band attached to a leathery looking mask. When she fit it up over her face and continue to stare at me, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was real—human. It could have been mine.
Her eyes were visible through the holes cut out, as was her small nose. And there was a large opening around the mouth that gave view to her bright red lips.
“Is …” I swallowed hard. “Is that Estevan’s face? The guard who raped you?”
“It is.”
“Good,” I ground out.
For a moment, her lids narrowed toward me, but she didn’t stop. Everleigh reached up, unfastening the pearl button that held the cloak closed. All I could do was watch as she let it flutter off to where it clung to my arm. The weight had me letting go of her bicep and suffocating silence surrounded us as it pooled between our feet. A black dress, one I knew all too well, hugged to her body. She looked horrifically beautiful. So much so that it took everything I had not to throw her on the blood-stained boards, rip off that fucking sick-ass mask, and fuck her brutally in front of everyone.
Each rise and fall of her chest, the way her full lips pulled back to the side while she grinned through her own sense of pleasure … she was like a vision. A goddess of death. And regardless that I’d meant to teach her a lesson, the spell she had on me increased.
Everleigh turned toward the cautious crowd, walking away as she began to head down the length. The opened back of the dress gave view to the scars covering her back. Scars, I’d given her. The marks screamed of my ownership and spoke of my claim.
Without a word, Everleigh stopped at the large wheel. The multiple methods of death covered the large circle like thin slices of pie. Blue eyes turned to peer back at me and her white teeth became exposed as she reached up to a peg aligning the side and jerked down. The clicking from the spinning wheel cut through the silence like a knife. My pulse spiked and she didn’t break her seductive, playful gaze from mine as it came to a stop. It was as though she didn’t care how she had to kill.
Whistles and cheers erupted, but I didn’t know why. I couldn’t see the verdict. The only thing I was aware of was her beauty exposed through the openings in the dead guard’s face. Defiance. Yes. She was loving this game. But she wouldn’t for long.
“The rack! Bring her forward!”
My stare broke from Everleigh’s to take in Master Kain. He waved the guards forward. Each one had their grip tightly on the fighting slave’s arms. She was young. Barely eighteen, and a new slave from the last auction Bram held. Her homicidal behavior wasn’t one her Master wanted to deal with. It was too much of a risk. At her last attack toward him, he’d cast her into the White Room to await her execution.
“Please! I don’t want to die. Please!”
Everleigh kept her attention on me. The satisfaction that I’d caught in her expression before was gone. Nothingness took its place. The stoic blankness she was so good at stole the loveliness only there moments ago and it was my turn to grin.
“Please! I’m begging you. Help me!”
“My dearest wife, she wants your help. Are you ready to help her?”
I looked between the two women. Where Everleigh’s hair was dark, the slave’s was nearly white. The short blonde strands swung below her high cheekbones as she fought. I couldn’t deny she was attractive. Still, I felt nothing as I grabbed Everleigh and drug her in the direction of the rack.
“Tie her down. My wife can take care of the rest.”
The volume of the slave’s screams increased while the guards forced her to lie on the flat table. While they secured her ankles and wrists with rope, I learned in next to Everleigh’s ear.
“Look into her scared eyes. Do you see how afraid she is? Are you ready to make it fade? To make it disappear? You don’t have to. Just tell me you’re sorry and I’ll escort you back to our wing. You never have to come to this place again.”
The jerk had her breaking from my grasp. She didn’t even look at me as she walked around the rack. The guards were
barely lifting before Everleigh grabbed the wheel with her good hand and gave a hard turn to tighten the ropes.
“Oh, God! Please! No, please!”
Sobs shook the woman’s chest and Everleigh paused, blinking and looking down for the first time. Her hand came up shakily and she pulled the mask over her elegantly styled hair letting it drop to the ground. I saw her uncertainty—the terror, as it seeped into her features. A smile tore my mouth open and I bit my bottom lip as she took deep breaths.
“I b-beg you,” the slave said pleaded. “Have mercy. Have mer—”
A high-pitched scream cut off her words as Everleigh used her body weight to twist the wheel around three more times. Her lids closed at the groaning of the ropes and I immediately threw the top part of my body out over the rack to slap against my wife’s bruised cheek. The growl accompanying her eyes flying open only had her twisting faster. The yells were almost deafening and I could tell Everleigh was beginning to have trouble as she continued to try to pull the woman’s limbs free.
“Momma! M-momma! M-momm—ahhh!”
Both, the slave’s and Everleigh’s screams conjoined, mingling with the rumble of hungry cheers from the crowd. Tears were pouring down my wife’s pale face while she seemed to throw all of her weight into the one thing that would give both of them peace.
“Come home,” I yelled. “Walk around and take my hand and this will be over for you!”
“Never!”
Trembling wracked Everleigh while her eyes darted out around us panicked. The girl was in so much pain. With the white gown she wore from the White Room, it did little to conceal her body. Blood was beginning to soak into the ropes at her ankles and wrists where her skin was broken and bleeding. The muscles in her arms and legs were stretched to capacity and I knew only a few more turns would rip them free.
Before I could figure out what Everleigh was looking for, her small frame jumped back and she raced across the stage. My own lunge sent pain electrifying through me. My entire body seized to a stop, and not just because of the axe she pulled from block set off to the side. Fear engulfed me. I was taking steps back, not even realizing my actions while she stared me down with that axe over her shoulder. But it wasn’t me she was after. The moment she reached the rack, she drew back, swinging the weapon with a force I didn’t know she could possess. Blood sprayed in both our directions and the screams ended with a screech that sent the crowd silent. But Everleigh didn’t just do it once. She reared back, lifting the large, heavy weapon, embedding the large blade back into the girl’s neck, again. The constant pouring of blood dripping on the floor at our feet increased with each thunk of the axe hitting the wood where the slave’s neck used to be. Deep pants left my wife and moments went by until her eyes were coming back to mine.
“I supposed that’ll do. Is there anymore or am I free to go? Master Kunken says my apartment is ready. I wish to leave.”
My lips were separated and I stared down at gap between the girl’s body and head. Her neck was completely gone, replaced with serrated skin and slivers of meat and bone. The lightheadedness I was feeling was getting worse and I wasn’t sure whether to push this new form of anxiety away or grasp to the lust that joined it. A hand came out brushing against my bicep, but I ignore Jarrett’s call.
“I’ll escort you to your new home.
“Main … Master.”
Again, Jarrett flicked across my arm. I swatted him away, picturing Everleigh’s new reality. Our new reality.
“Main Master.”
“Not now, Jarrett!”
“B-but?”
I spun, jerking my High Leader to me by the fisted grip I had on his uniformed shirt. “What part of—?”
His finger was pointing, bobbing up and down while he looked between me and the fortress behind the crowd.
“Master Bram Whitlock. He was in the window. Third floor. Not the fourth. I … I swear I saw him … I.”
“You saw Bram?” Everleigh flew around the rack, stopping next to us. Her voice held more anger than awe or love.
“Yes, he was there. We stared at each other for … what seemed like forever. He looked furious. And then he stepped back and was gone. I know it was him. It had to be.”
“Get the guards, then, you idiot!”
I snatched Everleigh’s arm, dragging her to the stairs that would allow us to leave the stage. For the life of me, I couldn’t stop looking toward where Jarrett pointed. Whitlock. The six levels of hell on earth. I’d been so sure Bram was dead, but my doubts were no longer the dread I held to. There were too many sightings. Too many coincidences. The truth was too much. Bram was alive.
“Let go of me!”
The tugs against my hold had me rearing back, slapping Everleigh. The action didn’t cause her to calm like I’d hoped. She went wild, attacking me. Nails tore into my jaw while her weight crashed into me.
“I’ll kill you! I’ll peel off the rest of your face! Let. Go!”
Fear spiked, feeding my rage over the revelation of Bram. Given my size over her, I shouldn’t have had to be wary of my wife, but I was. The emotion peaked at her nails raking over my neck and I reared back, again, slamming my fist into her cheek so hard that she went limp in my arms.
Jarrett was yelling into his radio and I slapped at his chest making him take her. I was hurting so damn bad. There was no way I’d be able to carry her. I didn’t want to even imagine walking back to my wing. I had pushed it way too hard, today, but this was far from over. Now I had to face what I didn’t want to. I had to find Bram and kill him for good.
“I want her locked away in the slave quarters on my top floor like we planned. I’m going to pull up all the cameras. We have plenty on the third floor. He had to be caught on at least one.” I headed up the stairs that led to the second floor, looking over to the location where he had been spotted. The Cradle and the White Room were on the third floor, but not where he was. Those were empty offices and monitoring stations that weren’t used anymore. I’d only been in those rooms a few times and that was when I was a boy.
Jarrett bounced Everleigh on his shoulder, readjusting her, staring at the same location I was.
“I swear it was him. It had to be.”
“What did he look like?”
Master Norris’s conversation filter through and I swallowed hard, trying to imagine my former best friend lurking in the halls.
“The same? Dark suit. He had his hands crossed over his chest while he glared at me.” He paused. “He might have been pale. His face may have been thinner, too. I don’t know. The distance makes it hard to be sure. It felt like forever that we stared at each other, but it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds.”
“Fuck.”
I broke onto the second floor, picking up my pace.
“If Master Whitlock is alive ...”
My steps slowed and I turned, narrowing my eyes angrily at Jarrett. “It means nothing. If he wants the position of Main Master back, why does he not come and take it from me?” My stare rose to the top of the ceiling, traveling down to where I was almost positive a camera was. “Do you hear me, Bram! If you want what’s mine, come fucking get it. I know you won’t!”
I turned back to my High Leader, stepping in so close, I was only inches from his face. “Until my last breath, you serve me. I am the Main Master. I will continue to be Main Master for as long as I live. If Bram is indeed alive, his absence revokes any claim over the title. Whitlock is mine and I’m prepared to fight for it. If you have a problem with that, you better tell me now.”
Groans came from Everleigh and Jarrett blinked a few times, bringing his hand up to settle over the back of her thighs almost protectively.
“I am the High Leader. I serve the Main Master. It is a position I don’t take lightly. I’ve waited for this opportunity for almost a decade. I will do my duty and all it entails.”
Even though he spoke of loyalty, I didn’t miss the hidden meaning behind his words. The guards belonged to Whitlock. Not
necessarily to who ran it. I was all too aware of what he’d mentioned before. The guards whispered of Martial Law. If Jarrett was as true as he spoke, he might jump at the opportunity to replace me. A coup was coming, I could feel it. But what could I do? Replace him with someone else? The talk was beyond the man before me. It had already weaseled its way into the ranks of men who should have served me. The idea was infested within their pathetic little minds and if I didn’t tread lightly, a new revolution would begin. One not of soldier and men, but of killers and monsters.
Chapter 13
24690
“You really did it this time. Did you have to attack your husband and make things harder on yourself?”
Bram’s voice broke through and I blinked, whimpering through the pain that pounded my head. My cheek was throbbing, as was my hand. My entire body felt like it had been beaten, again. A groan left me and my head lifted while I looked around the small room. Aside from facilities and a bed, it was almost identical to my cell at the White Room. The only thing that told me it wasn’t was the size, the stand-up shower, and the windowless door. Even the comforter I pushed up from was white.
“Bram?”
I had heard him, hadn’t I? Yes. I was back to hearing more voices. Maybe it was the girl crying out for her mother that set them off this time. Or maybe it was killing her. In the moment of her cries, any composure I held had slipped away. My walls crumbled as did my heart. I’d gone momentarily mad. Crazy with disgust for what my life had come to. It was a heartbreaking life. I knew that. But hadn’t hers been as well? She had gotten a bigger taste of the outside world. She’d been able to connect with her parents like I never had. And we lunatics had taken her away from them.