Devil's Blood

by Amity Cross

  Laura, or should I say Lorelei, came to watch the proceedings. I wondered about her the most now that I'd let go of any hope of rescue. I wondered if she remembered Vaughn, or if she knew that the world thought her to be deader than dead. I wondered if she’d been conditioned like X…

  I hung from the ceiling, my arms wrenched above my head, the metal of the chains that held me in place bit into my skin as I dangled. My toes barely scraped the floor that was stained with my filth, brown spots of blood where it’d dried hours ago. My hair was lank and stringy, my head hanging low, and still, I defied them.

  They wouldn’t break me. They couldn’t.

  “Give up,” Lorelei purred, stroking my hair. “The moment you let him in, is the moment it all stops.”

  “Never. I’ll never give up,” I hissed.

  “It’s not so bad once you get used to it.” I gasped as I realized my scattered thoughts had been right on the money. They’d tortured her into being a monster. “Yes,” she said with a laugh. “I was reborn…remade into a superior version of myself. I was left for dead, and I was saved.”

  “You were weak,” I snapped at her. “Fucking pathetic.”

  “I’ll be sure to remember that when I bleed the life from Xavier Blood,” she said, my barb not even hurting her. “FYI, that’s my next assignment..”

  “Bitch.” I spat, hoping to get her right in the eye, but I ended up missing her by a mile.

  “Lorelei,” The Watchman scolded from the shadows. “I allowed you in here to observe, not to taunt.”

  “But it’s so much fun,” she said with a pout. “If only she would give it up already. I know we’d have so much fun together.”

  The Watchman came to stand in front of me, his cold gaze appraising his work. “Do you know how long it took for Xavier to break?”

  When I didn’t answer, his hand shot up and grabbed my chin, forcing my head up.

  “No,” I rasped.

  “Six months.”

  Holy fucking… I’d only been here five seconds in comparison.

  “He was my finest work,” The Watchman continued, ignoring Lorelei’s pout. “I flayed him, burned him, hung him from the ceiling for days… I even skinned pieces of flesh from his body.”

  Bile began to rise in my throat, involuntary tears streaming down my face. Six months… X, goddammit.

  Closing my eyes, I thought to myself, I am Mercy Reid. I am in love with Xavier Blood. I am Mercy Reid and when I get out of here, I will skin The Watchman alive for what he did to the love of my life, Xavier Blood.

  “X will come,” I hissed. “He will come and kill you like the dogs you are.”

  The Watchman glanced at the door and then back at me, his expression bland. “Really?” he asked. “Then where is he?”

  I am Mercy Reid. I am in love with Xavier Blood.

  The Watchman turned and moved behind me, the sound of metal on meal filling the tiny room. Lorelei smirked, her eyes glowing, so I knew this was going to be bad. Of course it was. That was the only certainty that remained in my life.

  The Watchman came back into view, and I instantly laid eyes on the glowing end of a metal poker. It shone brilliant orange with the tip fading out so pale it was almost white. He’d burned him…he’d burned him, and I was going to experience it firsthand. X couldn’t be any further away, but our souls were about to be linked deeper than I’d ever imagined. I didn’t want it to happen this way, I wanted us to heal together.

  Not like this.

  “Who are you?” The Watchman asked as Lorelei rolled up my T-shirt and tucked it underneath the edge of my bra. My stomach was exposed, and I knew my scars would match X’s when this was all said and done.

  “I’m Mercy Reid, you sick bastard.” I am Mercy Reid. I am in love with Xavier Blood.

  The poker hit my skin, and I cried out as my flesh sizzled, my screams beginning to shred my throat. The more I defied him and the more he burned me, the more I would come to associate my name with pain. I had to compartmentalize just like X had taught me. Put Mercy into a little box, and when this was all said and done, come back and let her out. Then I would be me again.

  I hoped.

  I am Mercy Reid. I am in love with Xavier Blood

  X had held on for six months before he broke. As my skin melted and seared underneath The Watchman’s assault, I didn’t even know if I could hold out the hour...

  I am Mercy Reid. I am in love with Xavier Blood

  “Who are you?”

  Staring down my greatest enemy, I snarled, “I am Mercy Reid.”

  Twenty-Three

  X

  MI6 were true to their word except for one thing.

  They sent Mei out into the field with me. This was never going to be a solo gig.

  They got confirmation that their experimental brain stimulation worked, they confirmed my identity through DNA testing, and now it was my turn to deliver.

  I was given a new set of clothes and a shower before being loaded into a car with Mei and handed a mobile phone that was no doubt imbedded with a tracker. I made a mental note to ditch it and Agent Akiyama the moment I got a chance. Considering what I was planning once I had my marks in my sights, it was something she or MI6 would not want to see.

  As the car emerged from the parking garage and into the light, I realized we were not in Exeter any more.

  “Where are we?” I asked as we drove through the built-up streets. Buildings and pedestrians were tight knit, the day well underway.

  “Bristol,” Mei replied.

  “You have a house in Exeter,” I mused. “Hell of a commute.”

  “I’m not even going to ask how you know that.”

  “You should move.”

  Mei glanced at me. “Duly noted.”

  I settled back into the passenger seat, waiting to see where she was taking me. Nothing had been shared with me about their plan, and I hadn’t been forthcoming on mine either. I couldn’t exactly tell a government agency that said plan consisted mainly of ‘rivers of blood’. That wouldn’t go down very well.

  The city passed us by, my gaze raking over every aspect of our journey, tallying blocks, buildings, street names and distances. I wondered how much of this came from my MI6 background, and how much of it was from The Watchman’s training program. Perhaps my past had more to do with the level of my current skill set than I would ever know.

  Mei drove for about thirty minutes, weaving through the tight streets, before our surroundings dissolved into an industrial estate. I narrowed my eyes, wondering what her game was.

  “What is this?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. I expected intel to be handed to me, not a leisurely drive down a scummy back alley.

  Mei didn’t reply, she just pulled up on the side of the road, turned off the engine and got out of the car. I watched as she stood by the hood, waiting for me to join her. Sliding out, my boots crunched on gravel as I stood before her, a questioning look on my face.

  “I know you don’t remember much of our ways,” she stated. “But that car is riddled with listening devices and GPS trackers and for what I’m about to say, nobody needs to be listening in. Nobody but you.”

  I cocked my head to the side.

  “Give me your phone.” She held out her hand, and I placed it in her palm. Flipping it over, she clicked off the backing, took out the battery and slipped out the SIM card. Tossing the phone, she snapped the little chip in half and let the pieces flutter onto the pile. For good measure, she brought her heel down on the screen, and it shattered with a crack.

  “You’re letting me go.” It was a statement on my behalf.

  “Yes,” she said. “I know enough that for this kind of operation, things need to go off book. If you do what I suspect you’re going to do, you don’t want it on record.”

  I grunted. MI6 wanted my prey alive, and I wanted them to suffer for their crimes. If I killed them, I’d be strung up by the balls and would never have my freedom with Mercy. This was the kindest thing Mei could hav
e ever done for me, and knowing her position made it even more meaningful.

  “They want The Hangman, too,” she said, assuming that I got her intent. “We have a confirmed sighting. He’s being held by Royal Blood. They’ve moved him a few times, but we suspect that he will be with The Watchman soon enough.”

  Glancing at her, I said, “He has a lot of connections. I’m not surprised.” Vaughn had never come into the equation, and it was the first time I’d heard MI6 express interest, but it was hardly a surprise. I wasn’t even sure if he was alive or if Hawkes was still out there looking. I owed it to The Hangman to keep my mouth shut. Just this once.

  Mei leaned against the bonnet, crossing her arms over her chest. “Seventy-five Kestrel Way,” she said. “That’s the address of the last known sighting of The Hangman. We don’t believe that he’s been moved far from there. Last known direction was east.”

  “When was this?”

  “An hour ago.”

  I glanced down the street, a plan beginning to form in my mind. Where there was smoke, there was always fire.

  “Go,” she said.

  I raised an eyebrow.

  “I’d do it before I change my mind.”

  I watched her features, but she didn’t turn to look at me, not even once. “You don’t trust them, do you?”

  She closed her eyes briefly. “I’ve brought you as far as I can. I’m bound by more laws than I can count…you are not. Not unless you’re caught.”

  “Point.”

  “I know what we had is gone,” Mei said with a sigh. “But at least I can do this one thing for you.”

  “It’s a pretty big ‘thing’.”

  “When you said you loved her…” She cast her gaze down. “I saw it in your eyes. It was the way you used to look at me. That’s how I knew.”

  I frowned, a rare sliver of emotion rising to the surface. “No,” I said. “There’s no going back. Only forward. I might only remember pieces, but I know there’s nothing left for me back there. I’ve changed too much.”

  Mei glanced at me, the wind whipping through her black hair. Reaching inside her coat, she pulled out a handgun from her holster. Then she held it out for me, butt first. Reaching out, I curled my hand around it. For a moment, we stood holding the gun between us before she grimaced and let her hand drop.

  “Go,” she said. “Get your revenge.”

  I nodded and shoved the gun down the back of my jeans. “Thank you.”

  She pushed off the car and rounded the bonnet. As she opened the door, she paused. “Good luck Agent Cassel. You’re going to need it.”

  I waited five minutes after the car had disappeared before I began walking.

  Mei had given me what intel she could get off MI6 on the location of The Watchman’s operation. I wasn’t about to trust them blindly, even before Mei surprised me with her ‘look the other way’ attitude. I knew I had to find Hawkes and confirm with his own findings. There was no other way I was going into this.

  I didn’t know Hawkes, but I knew his unfaltering trust in Sebastian Vaughn, and that was more than enough for me to throw my lot in with his.

  Falling back onto my training, I backtracked my way into the city, following the path that Mei had taken. Keeping my head down, I found myself near the central train station. There was a multitude of CCTV cameras and police, but I didn’t have time to try and locate a pay phone in a less secure area. I had to risk it.

  Entering the main concourse, I threaded my way through the crowd. I kept my eyes averted from those around me and avoided bumping into anyone who was too busy looking at the arrival and departure screens to notice where they were going. A group of police officers appeared ahead, their bright yellow vests making them stand out from the commuters around us. Turning right, I rounded them with ease, putting a family with piles of luggage in-between us. Spotting a bank of phones, I went straight for them, keen to get out of this place before I was made.

  I had no money and no ID, so trying to explain that to the Bristol Police would be a fucking nightmare, that’s if I hadn’t already been picked up on facial recognition from the security cameras peppered about this hellhole.

  Pressing in the code for a reverse charge, I dialed the only number I knew, the number I hoped Hawkes still monitored. It began to ring, and I waited.

  “Yes?” Instantly, I recognized his rough voice.

  “Hawkes,” I replied.

  “X?”

  “The one and only.”

  “Where have you been? I thought—”

  “I was dead?” I retorted. “Cut me some slack. Have you found any leads?”

  “Yes, and I could use your assistance.”

  “That was why I was calling.”

  “You know something?” he asked eagerly.

  “I have a sighting,” I replied, dangling a carrot. “We need to move. Can I trust you?”

  “Of course. Where are you?” he asked. “I’ll come and meet you. There’s much you don’t know.”

  “Bristol,” I replied without hesitation.

  Hawkes grunted. “Well, I suppose you know just as much as I do if you’re here.”

  If he was here in Bristol and MI6 had eyes on the city, too… My blood began to quicken. “They’re here, aren’t they?” I asked.

  “I believe so. I have eyes watching a warehouse to the east.”

  East. Mei had said that the last known sighting of Vaughn was a little over an hour ago.

  “Then we have a lot of work to do, Hawkes,” I said. “Time is not on our side.”

  I thought I was close the night we raided that warehouse in Exeter, but now it was certain. I was about to lay eyes on Mercy Reid. I had to believe it. I hadn’t come this far or gone through all that tampering in my head to give up on her now.

  “Are you ready for some fun, X?” Hawkes asked, and I felt a smile being to pull at my lips.

  We were about to assemble the motherlode of all revenge plots.

  Fuck rivers of blood.

  It would be oceans of it.

  Twenty-Four

  Mercy

  I didn’t know how long I’d hung there in total darkness.

  When they finally came and unhooked me from the roof, I’d hardly noticed until my arms fell to my sides. As blood began to fill my veins again, the pain bordered on unbearable. Liquid fire seared through my body, but I didn’t have the energy to cry out as I was carried to a new room. I was so out of it, I wasn’t able to take in any of my surroundings.

  I was dumped unceremoniously into a chair, my head cracking against the back. I was so tired and deflated I had no control over my limbs at all. My ribs burned from where The Watchman had branded me, the wounds seeping and sticking to my T-shirt.

  At least they’d taken me down and sat me in a chair. I was chained to the apparatus and left, their motivations a mystery. I’d find out soon enough when The Watchman deigned to resume his work.

  But it wasn’t The Watchman who came to see me next.

  The door opened, and Greggor strode in, followed by the man who’d attended my early torture. I’d thought he was the apprentice, but it turned out Lorelei was.

  “Darling,” he declared, standing before me. “You look like shit.”

  I ignored him, staring at the open door behind his bulky body. There was a light shining from beyond, and in my exhaustion, I almost believed it was the light at the end of the tunnel. Death had come to claim me.

  “Bring him in.”

  I raised my head as movement caught my eye. Two men entered, hauling a body in-between them. Realizing it was a man with sandy blond hair, I heaved a sigh of relief. It wasn’t X. But as they dumped the man in the middle of the room, I realized who they’d caught in lieu of their prize.

  Vaughn.

  I desperately wanted to get to him and ask about X, I didn’t care about anything else. Was he looking for me? Selfish.

  He glanced up and I gasped as I saw the state of him. His face was broken and bleeding, his right eye b
lack and swollen, his eyebrow and lip badly cut. He’d been savagely beaten and tortured, and when his gaze met mine, his mouth fell open.

  “What the fuck is this?” Vaughn rasped, pushing himself up onto his knees.

  “What does it look like?” Greggor asked.

  The Hangman glanced at me, assessing my predicament. He should probably be worrying about himself since they’d beaten the shit out of him as well and who knew his fate? “You’re telling me,” he said, “that you’re the infamous asshole, Greggor?”

  He smiled down at Vaughn like he was a lion playing with his prey. “The one and only.”

  “But…” Vaughn glanced at me, his eyes full of sadness. In that moment, he was defeated, and I still didn’t understand.

  “Surprise,” Greggor declared, looking pleased with himself.

  “All this time…” Vaughn shook his head before rising to his feet. “You were her father, and you let her die. I will never forgive you, Gregory Lansford.”

  Greggor’s real name was Gregory Lansford? Why did that name sound familiar?

  “On the contrary, Mr. Vaughn,” he declared with a flourish. “You were the one who let her die. You made a deal you couldn’t handle with Sykes. You were responsible for her fate.”

  “No!” Vaughn roared and lunged, but he was brought up short as one of the men in the wings brought a fist down onto the side of his head. He crumbled and fell hard on the floor, his shoulder smacking into the concrete.

  Greggor was Lorelei’s father.

  I jerked against my chains, but nobody paid me the slightest bit of attention. I wasn’t going anywhere, no matter how hard I fought. I was nothing but a voyeur in this sick twisted game.

  Greggor gestured to the other man who then turned and opened the outside door. Lorelei stepped into the room and joined her father. Her face was still cut and blackened from her time trying to coerce information from me, but it didn’t seem to bother her in the slightest. My gaze flickered to Vaughn, who pushed back onto his knees.