by Jamie Magee
“How do you know?” Steele asked as he sized up the two in the room.
“He’s a fucking Druid,” Thrash said as his glare landed on Talon. Druids were known for their link between this realm and the gods in their time, they were also wickedly brilliant in both political and war moves, which were often one in the same. Of course, Thrash was only stating what he was told of Dust, where he fit in ancient history was still a mystery.
Thames moved his pointed fingers between King and Dagen. “How in the fuck do the pair of you play out here? You know Vec from before, are you saying she is one of you?”
It was the whole ‘undefeatable’ notion that had Thames along with everyone else trotting down a twisted trail of thought. As it stood then, the witch that created them was losing her shit and to beat all, she was more powerful than they thought? Even more powerful with King’s faction behind her? Not a good day at the office.
King lifted his chin before he spoke, “I will not stand here and defend who I am or where I came from. The truth is like you, all of the men who I lead were once mortal and called to something greater.”
“I wasn’t called to evil,” Knight said shaking his head as his fingers flew over his laptop, all the lore in creation on whatever kind of soul suckers that King and Dagen were was downloading just as fast as his hardware could manage.
“Our emotion is exaltation, hardly evil.”
Thames snickered, “Tell that to all the fucks that died in the sack.” He only managed to earn a grin or two.
“We do not follow our sovereign. Our faction was created long ago in search of a better way to find balance.”
“You mean you don’t suck ‘em all dry, you save some for later?” Judge bit out, his mind was racing with a thousand ‘oh fucks.’ Having a daughter had caused him to put everything in check, twice. He was not feeling like the dad of the year knowing a soul sucker had been the one guarding his own.
“We take what is too much,” King answered.
“Not all of you,” Knight said never looking up from his screen, he was fast becoming an expert on Escorts, or evil angels.
“No, not all lines are led the same way. I can’t answer for them.”
“But you left your boss,” Talley surmised. “You pissed off the one fuck that can take you down. Instead of dealing with that, you’re standing here asking us to kill one of our own or be killed.” He narrowed his stare on King. “No one is dying on my watch. Been there, fuck I still might be for all I know. Not hittin’ rerun.”
King’s arched brow before he spoke might’ve calmed any other crowd down; the Sons saw it as an insult, as him looking down on them. “The last thing any of you have time to do is fight against yourself,” King said easily. It was as close as he would get to publicly stating if he agreed or disagreed with Reveca.
“Really?” Talon quipped. “I was sure it was getting rather stale around here.”
King held his balanced expression as the others laughed.
“Her fear is real,” King’s steady voice silenced the room. “Does it have merit? None of you will ever know. We have shared enemies and allies. Each of you should do what my Faction will always do,” he glanced at Dagen, then back at the crowd. “Make choices that sit well with your eternal soul. When you are in balance, favor lands at your feet. At a cross—hell rains down.”
No one could mutter a word before he vanished. Dagen lingered, not saying a word, keeping his stare steady on Dust and Vike. If he were any other asshole Talon would’ve told him this was private business and to get the fuck out. The thing was, Talon didn’t have an issue with Dagen, never had. And honestly, telling him to leave would do little good. Even if he obliged, Talon was sure the ass would still have the 411 on what was going down in this room.
“I want to know what has crawled up her ass,” Echo said, finally breaking his silence.
“She’s never liked Scorpio,” Thames answered.
“Where the fuck is he?” Echo countered as he shifted his stare to Dust.
“Are we back to business now? I was rather enjoying the side show,” Dust asked, far too relaxed for a guy who walked in this room and dropped a bomb.
“Answer him,” Talon said.
“Akan vanished on your watch,” Dust stated, not an answer at all.
“I’m very aware that a shifter fuck is on the loose,” Talon grated.
“Are you aware of how grossly you have underestimated him?” Dust fired back. He ticked his head at Vike who pulled a tablet from is kut then slid it down the table to Talon.
“Our Chapter takes no risks. When handed the script business we took both honor and pride in managing this clubs primary mortal assets. Every stop, every pickup, was scouted no less than seven deep. We wanted to know every face, every risk. When the first shipment was tainted with Black and the truck was stopped we had no choice but to also saddle the problem of shutting down this drug.”
Dust nodded to the tablet telling Talon to turn it on. “Our surveillance picked up Akan within five miles of every shipment of Black hitting the streets.”
“You think I don’t know this?” Talon asked. “Do you not think that Scorpio not only kept me in the loop but that I gave him leads on where to send his boys?”
“Just setting the stage, boss,” Dust said with a slow wink.
“Akan is a top seller, what the fuck are you trying to say—you re-invented the wheel?” Thames asked.
“He’s tryna say that Mr. Black and Akan have the same wardrobe,” Talon said handing the tablet to Thames.
“Get this man a cookie,” Dust said. “First few times, we thought it was a coincidence. Even Akan fucking with his own people. So, we rushed a few situations, places we had intel that Mr. Black was present. It was Akan, or Akan shifted into another image, that ran out each time.”
“He still could be fucking with people, he’s a shady shifter,” Echo argued.
“Maybe, but the last time Black was seen until this morning was on the gambling boat you pulled Akan from. He missed a heavy hitter deal that would have made him half a billion.”
“You’re tryna say Akan is Black,” Talon surmised. “Even if I give you that stretch to hold on to, how in the fuck does it answer the question of where Scorpio is?”
Dust ticked his head toward Echo. “Shifters can track shifters easily. I’ll give you that. But they can not track them as easily as the daughter of a legendary soothsayer, a victim of Zale’s.”
“Zale has many victims.”
“But very few are the ones he stole the magic of resurrection from. Scorpio is after the one weapon we need to take down Akan.”
“And he told no one,” Talon seethed.
“Why would Reveca want him stopped?” Judge asked searching like mad to see inside of Dust’s mind, like always he only saw what Dust wanted him to see.
“I won’t speak for her, or try to guess any other reasons or solutions Scorpio has left for. I don’t even care to point out that Reveca demanding his death for a simple disobedience could happen to any of you.” Dust nodded to the sealed ancient papers on the table. “Several of your signatures are on this original document. To be in this room they should be on the modern ones. This is mayhem. When the mother chapter is captured, the Fire Sons are to take the table.”
“He’s sitting right fucking there,” Thrash said with snarl ticking his head to Talon. “There is more going on here.”
“I’m not here to air anyone’s business. Just doing my job.”
“A job that sets your chapter at this table. That is one helluva upgrade.”
“Is it?” Dust asked. “I rather dislike being uprooted and placed on the Boneyard that has a target for every law enforcement agency in the country planted on its ass.”
“Nobody fucks with us,” Thrash snapped.
“We’ll see. Are we voting, or will there be a battle in the lot tonight.”
“You really think all those riders out there would take this Boneyard?” Echo said across a dis
believing laugh.
“Right now, no. They’ve been told we were called here. They believe they are fighting at your side, increasing your numbers and making enemies mortal and immortal aware of how fierce we are.” Dust leaned forward and slid on a sly grin. “If this vote fails, then I assure you their intel will change. They will hear that a president that has never given them a reason to doubt him has asked them to take over the mother chapter with force. I expect little hesitation.”
“And why are you so confident?” Talley asked.
“Because those men are battle ready, for you to turn away needed support can only mean you are a threat, either by choice or weakness.”
The grumbles slammed into the tense air.
Dust’s grin grew as he leaned back in his chair. “This vote simply says our chapter must agree unanimously with any action you take.”
“But not that we agree with any action you take,” Knight pointed out. “Your patched in votes triple for every one of ours. You only need the majority to force us by loyalty to carry out your orders.”
Dust nodded along then winked as if to say ‘good job sport.’ It only pissed off the techie alpha.
“Mayhem requires an action plan. An end time or resolution. Once the resolution is met the power shifts,” Judge said. “I haven’t heard the resolution you are after. I don’t know your plan.”
“Simple,” Dust said nodding at the handwritten paper that nearly blended in with the others, a letter from Scorpio. “In short Scorpio stated when Talon was fully restored to all his power, free from bitches in general, and or Akan was taken down, we would remain in power.”
“Careful who you call a bitch, son,” Talon warned.
“How in the hell can you put Reveca and Ambrosia in the same park as Akan?” Thrash said as he spoke over Talon.
Dust gave Talon a long stare. He wasn’t willing to air Talon’s weakness even though everyone in the room was on the same page, some things were better left unsaid, but if they kept picking at him, he would.
“Dependent on Reveca’s power and sucked dry by a hard up goddess,” Talon said. “Akan having anything to do with Black, or being Black himself, is a mortal war. What Akan has done in the immortal world, deals he’s made is an offense we cannot leave unchecked. It would be strategic for Akan to stretch us to the point where any drama would break us—me. Akan has risen to the same enemy level as Zale. Once he is taken down, there is no threat this chapter or any chapter could not handle. Top of the food chain.” Here, he thought to himself. What the bullshit King and Reveca had going on with some dark god was a war that would have to wait its turn.
Talon studied the men before him, ones he had spilled blood with, laughed with, had long good lives with. “Akan knows both worlds as well as we do and he was present here, chances are he will take aim at the ones he had time to study the most.” He nodded at Dust, “Their outfit will not be his target at first. If we want to seem unbreakable to whoever is against us, united we must stand. Mayhem was set in place for the worst of wars. This is it, boys. The final curtain is set to fall, and I don’t know ‘bout you, but I want to go down swinging.”
Every one of the Sons bowed their heads, and silence filled the air. Judge was the one who broke the quiet. “Vote or no vote, Reveca is after Scorpio’s head. What the fuck are we going to do about that?”
They all shifted their stares to look at Dagen in silent debate.
“Reveca knows the consequences,” Talon said plainly. He raised his gavel. “Vote. Aye.”
One by one, some more hesitant than others, the votes were taken. It was unanimous.
Mayhem had begun. November Scorpio now held the power of the Pentacle Sons in his hands.
Three
There was anger, there was rage, and then there was wrath. Reveca had been BFF’s with wrath for the better part of the last seventy-two hours. Her entire world was crumbling, and she could swear madness was trickling in. With it came the haunting voices telling her, this is it, life is meeting its end.
Can you feel death? Is it a call that is so deep and unexplainable that you could never explain it? Is that why days after someone goes to the great beyond, family and friends speak of how the person who was gone said something or did something? It’s like a haunting last gaze at loved ones or places they’d call home, that foreshadowed their final day. What tells the soon to be departed to stop, drink in the view of what will only be their past, a memory of time lost to the ages.
No matter how many times Reveca told herself it was only paranoia, she could not bring herself to believe it, much less speak her very real fears. To speak them was to call them into existence. Thinking of them was twice as powerful, but there was little she could do to stop the thoughts when she felt the reaper himself breathing down her neck.
One too many loose or forgotten threads of her life were presenting themselves at once. It was all a sign; one she wished she had noticed before Scorpio had.
Over the years they had found respect for each other, maybe even trust. Not the bone deep trust she had with others, but the trust that men in his care would be well led. Trust that no matter how far or long Scorpio would wander, he would always return.
The stolen Son raised as her own was proving to be the deadliest weapon she had ever faced. Considering the evil she had met, the evil that still made her skin crawl at the thought, her fear and instinct about Scorpio said a lot.
The secret library in her home had become witch central. For everyone else, those not living with a doomsday clock over their head, it was business as usual. The tables were covered with maps, personal belongings of Jade and Akan were on the table, along with all that was needed for tracking spells.
Reveca could only assume they had found another lead, both Gwinn and Adair were gone. Bastion had been MIA with Cashton since the night before. If she ever needed her witches, it was now. With her crew focused on other business matters she was forced to reach out to her coven. It was getting her nowhere.
Her sister had her agenda in this war. Numero uno was resurrecting her daughter. Needing all the karma and allies she could gather, Reveca had helped in any way she could, in all truth she was more of a witness to how massive this war was. Reveca had let herself get excited as she began to make allies with who she believed would be new sovereign gods of both Shock and Grief. She was a fool to do so because now she would not be present to see any of it.
For all the glory she had witnessed in the past weeks, the impossible battles won, would mean nothing for her battle. Would her actions in this massive web of heart and souls benefit her people? It was possible. Anything was possible. But she was just fucking selfish enough, human enough, to be pissed she would not be there to see it.
Two steps forward, and three back—right into the hands of karma. Accidental fucking karma. Did she set out to piss off any member of a Throng? No. Hell, no. She didn’t even consider anything in her past life to have any truth at all. She’d boycotted anything and everything that reminded her of what and who she had lost back then.
You would think that karma would have a gray area, but it doesn’t. The only guiding light is the balance one feels. If everything sucks and you swear you did nothing to welcome it, you’re wrong. So wrong. Karma is not slow or fast, instant or blindly striking. It knows exactly how to deliver a perfect punishment.
How would it happen? she’d ask herself. Where will my soul go? Either question twisted her gut and for the first time in a long while filled her with anguish.
Sending out the order to bring Scorpio back was a precaution she said on a whim as she left to aid the allies she was trying to form days ago. When she returned and not a single rider had left, when she understood not one phone call to any chapter in any direction had been made, when not one single tracking technology was used, she was pissed.
She and Talon tossed one of their old arguments on the table and seasoned it with the freshest ones. Ones like her accusing (stating stone-cold facts) him of fucking Tis
k and forcing her to King, or him accusing her and her ex (now current) of dragging their family into doom. Then they dabbed it with the fact that Talon had kept a secret so rich and deep that it would break most women—a secret family.
Talon polished the fight off with pointing out that no matter what he may have done in his life he had never once raped another with body or energy. His blatant accusation, no matter how truthful it was, came too soon. It was also on the heels of far too much Reveca was contending with outside of the Boneyard’s dilemmas.
She felt like telling him all of this was childish considering what she had witnessed in other realms. There were real wars going on that the mortals of the day to day world were oblivious to.
Young mortals called to greatness were fighting dark gods and coming through in the most tangled ways she had ever witnessed. The web of hearts and souls was too rich and complicated to be explained to anyone simply much less to a man who had a one-track mind and was saddling one too many life changing revelations back to back as it were.
And now this. Scorpio had not only assured her that he was going forward, but he had hijacked her defense. Reveca had felt betrayal in her life before, the soul-shredding sensation that forced her to realize no matter how many allies she had, when it was all said and done the only person she could trust was herself. This was different. Circumstance changed everyone.
A point that was underscored by the expression on King’s face as he silently manifested in the large wingback leather chair in the center of the room. At the time, Reveca was two stories up searching the oldest of book spines for the darkest of spells. If karma was accusing and trying her for being cold and malicious, she might as well commit the crime.
“I’m assuming they are all still alive,” she seethed gathering books in her arms before letting herself fall to the floor below.
Like Talon, King had done nothing when she demanded Scorpio’s head. He could send millions to search for one measly biker, at least to stop him from opening old wounds, but no. That was unethical.