Blaze: Devil's Nightmare MC: Book 11

by Lena Bourne

  Angry shouts of protest from the Snakes follow us as we run into the darkness, but none of us turn.

  If they weren’t so very stupid, they’d probably realize their shouts should’ve brought someone to check what’s going on, but they are that stupid.

  Being free, running through a field of knee-high grass washed in faint moonlight feels good. It makes me think I can pull off the rest of my mission too.

  Colt leads us to a car he hid behind a bush at the edge of the road the field connects to.

  “We’ll go see my father first,” I say. “Maybe I’m wrong about him.”

  “We gotta tell the Snakes where Crow and Hijack are,” Buddy protests.

  Maybe it was a mistake bringing him. He seems to have a strange kind of loyalty to the Snakes.

  “They’re as good as dead,” Colt says. “Especially now. Forget them.”

  Buddy just gasps a few times and Slate looks like he’s about to start asking questions too.

  But Colt ignores all their protests as he drives off without turning on the headlights.

  They’ll get their way soon enough. Right after my father plays his role. I hope he hasn’t changed his mind. And I hope the promise of returning his sons will be incentive enough for the Snakeskins president to not shoot me on sight.

  Neither of those is actually a given.

  It’s a short ride to my home and everything is quiet and dark as we race down the bumpy gravel road leading to the gate. Buddy and Slate both piped up that coming here is a bad idea before we reached the wall, but Colt and me just ignored them.

  Colt stops the car about four paces from the gate and turns to me. “Go knock. We’ll wait here.”

  I don’t say anything, just open the door and stride to the gate. I bang on it harder than I did when I returned for the first time.

  “It’s me! Blaze!” I yell for good measure. “Pa, I have to talk to you!”

  I bang again right after.

  “What the fuck? Blaze?” my father’s cold, angry voice floats to me from above. I look up to see his head at the top of the wall, looking down at me. A few moments later his shoulders and chest appear too. As do my two cousins and Uncle Bill. They’re all carrying rifles.

  “I’m on the run,” I shout up to him. “Let us in.”

  “On the run from who?” my father asks.

  “Devil’s Nightmare MC,” I say. “Come on, they could be here at any moment.”

  “What did you do, boy?” my father asks.

  “Nothing, absolutely nothing, they got it all wrong,” I say. “Let us in, I’ll explain.”

  “You goddamn fuck up,” my father says. “What in the hell made you think coming here was a good idea? You’re not welcome here!”

  He lifts his rifle and points it at me, and even though I know it’s all pretend, I’m still not at all sure he won’t shoot me.

  “Come on, Pa,” I say. “I got nowhere else to go.”

  “You made your choice when you left, boy,” he says in a venomous voice. “You’re no son of mine.”

  And then he actually shoots. Missing me by several feet, but still.

  “Get back in the car, Blaze!” Colt shouts. “The asshole is fucking insane!”

  My father shoots again and I run back to the car, not even managing to close the door before Colt peels away at full speed.

  “He is fucking insane,” I say breathlessly.

  “What are we gonna do now?” Colt asks.

  “We gotta go to the Snakeskins,” Slate says. “It’s your only chance.”

  “Screw that,” I say. “They’ll kill me faster than my father just tried to.”

  My heart is racing, and the adrenaline that scene sent through my bloodstream is making me nauseous.

  “They won’t if you tell them how they can rescue Crow and Hijack,” Buddy says. “Guaranteed.”

  I exchange a long look with Colt. Eventually, he shrugs. “The Devils will be after us too now. The way I see it, we need all the help we can get. We could run, but we probably won’t get far.”

  “Fine,” I say and lean back in my seat. “Might as well give it a shot. I’m a dead man walking any which way I turn.”

  My words echo into the silence that follows them. That slow fade sounds like something Gran would call an omen. But it’s pointless worrying about that now. There’s plenty of dangerous shit ahead. I don’t need to be worrying about signs from the universe on top of it.

  The White Lady and peace. That’s all I gotta focus on. It’s plenty. I’ll do whatever I must to stay alive to see Misti again. Put that way, it’s simple.

  We’re parked in the darkness about a mile from the wall that encircles the Snakeskins’ compound. The drive here was long enough for all of us to calm down some, but the biggest hurdle and test of this plan Cross made comes now.

  “I think me and Buddy should go in and tell Old Bastard you want to talk to him,” Slate suggests. “I think that’s best.”

  Colt is nodding along but stops when I fix my eyes on his. I don’t know if he’s acting, or whether he’s really scared for me. I kinda suspect it’s the latter. I get it. We’ve known each other for most of our lives. And tonight might be the last time we speak.

  “I ain’t got a whole lot to lose by going in with you,” I say.

  Only silence meets my words.

  “Let’s go,” I add firmly.

  For a split second Colt looks like he’s gonna try to talk me out of it, but then he starts the engine and drives towards the wall.

  A weird thing is happening with my vision. Instead of growing closer, the wall keeps moving further away and it’s getting smaller instead of bigger as we near it. I better find a way to control my fear and my nerves or they’ll get me killed before I even start on this mission.

  I take a deep breath and think of Misti. Of her soft, porcelain skin, her pink, velvety lips, her delicate hands, and fluttering heart. Of her sweet taste and the feeling of calm and happiness being with her causes in my stomach and chest. She is peace made flesh. And just thinking of her brings it to me.

  I have to get back to her.

  And with her waiting, I can’t fail. She is the one who will bring us all peace. There is no other way. All I have to do is trust that.

  Once we reach the gate, Slate instructs Colt to honk the horn, which he does. It causes a very bright light to come on and illuminate the car better than the noonday sun.

  “Who the fuck is it?” a harsh, angry voice demands from behind the wall.

  Slate rolls down his window and sticks his head out. “It’s me and Buddy. Let us in. And get Old Bastard. He’ll wanna hear what we’ve got to tell him.”

  The gate starts opening, rending the silence with its creaking and groaning.

  Colt drives through as soon as the opening is large enough and comes to a stop in the middle of the open area right inside it.

  Slate and Buddy get out without saying anything, but Colt just sits there, looking at me with very worried eyes.

  “We gotta do what we gotta do,” I tell him, open my door and step out. I definitely don’t feel as brave as I just sounded.

  The yard is illuminated by the same kind of strong light as the one on the other side of the wall and it reveals about half of the Snakeskins’ compound, which is about four times as large as my family’s.

  Some of the Snakes have already gathered around us, about ten of them. Their surprised gasps as they see and recognize me are followed by such thick silence you could cut it with a knife.

  I see the head of the club and their family, Old Bastard striding towards us, followed by about ten more Snakes and a man with long white hair falling loosely over his shoulders.

  “That’s the new Sinner’s president,” Colt whispers to me, quite unnecessarily since I recognize him too.

  Cross said we’d have back-up in here and I believe him, but I don’t see a friendly face anywhere. Hopefully, they’re hiding in the shadows all around us.

  “What the fu
ck is going on here?” Old Bastard shouts, glaring at me.

  Slate walks towards him. “We got away, but—” Old Bastard literally shoves him aside and continues his descent on me.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” he asks reaching for his gun.

  “I know where your sons are,” I say as he points it at me. “And I can help you save them. If you don’t kill me, that is.”

  It’s taking every last ounce of my composure and strength of will to keep my voice from shaking.

  “Talk,” he says, not lowering his gun.

  “Your plan worked,” I say. “The Devils are after me too now and they’re here. We don’t have a lot of time before they attack.”

  Murmurs from the crowd encircling us turn deafening.

  “Silence!” Old Bastard shouts and they obey.

  “Are my sons alive?”

  “Yes,” Buddy answers. “We just left them. We tried to free them too, but it was impossible. But if we ride now, we can get them.”

  “Only about twenty Devils are guarding them and they got a fire to worry about now,” Slate adds.

  Old Bastard looks confused as hell. Until he locks his eyes on me. Then he looks like he knows exactly what he’s doing.

  He takes the last two steps still separating us and presses the barrel of his gun into my chest.

  “Say bye-bye, Blaze,” he hisses. “You’re about to reunite with your uncle and brothers.”

  I don’t know how I manage not to flinch. “I can serve you up my entire family plus the entire execs circle of Devil’s Nightmare MC. But you gotta let me live for that. Take a second to think about it.”

  He looks confused as all hell by my words, but he’s not pulling the trigger so there’s that.

  “Let him talk,” the white-haired man says. “I want the Devils. I’ll pay you double.”

  So that’s how that partnership works.

  “Alright, talk,” Old Bastard says.

  I look down at the gun he’s still pressing at my chest, and he actually gets the hint and pulls it away. Just an inch, but I suppose that’s the best I’m gonna get. Even if the entire Devil’s Nightmare MC is hiding in the shadows around us, I won’t dodge this bullet if he fires, and I have to be OK with that.

  “All the execs are riding on this job to make you pay for the bombs your sons set,” Colt says, beating me to it. “They plan on making you watch as they kill them right before they take down this entire MC, so they’re safe for now. My bet is that they’ll go after Blaze and me first now, since I helped him escape. I know too much about their plans.”

  I look at him like everything he’s saying is news to me. It kinda is. I thought I was supposed to do all the talking.

  “How do you know so much?” Old Bastard asks him.

  “Because I helped them plan it,” Colt says. “Right up until the time they caught Blaze. They tricked me you see, said they wouldn’t go after him, but they lied. They can all burn in hell as far as I’m concerned now.”

  They seem to be lapping it up. Especially the white-haired Sinner.

  “You sure Cross will ride to look for this guy?” the Sinner asks as he points at me.

  “Yeah, and thanks to me, he knows exactly where to look for him,” Colt says. “In his family compound.”

  Everyone is looking at Colt now, most with our mouths open.

  He looks at me and shrugs. “I’m all in now. They’ll kill me just as sure as they’ll kill you, if they find you. We gotta make sure they don’t.”

  Old Bastard is looking from one of us to the other, his eyes wide. “I don’t understand the half of what you just said. We’re going to get my sons, like they said.” He points at Buddy and Slate. “Now!”

  “Yes, let’s go,” Buddy says and he sounds very excited by the prospect.

  “And you two are coming too,” he says. “We’ll trade you for them.”

  “Not gonna happen,” Colt says. “The Devils don’t trade, they just kill. Don’t go upsetting them. Listen to me. My plan is better.”

  “I like his plan too,” the Sinner says. “We can attack when they go looking for this guy.”

  He points at me with a snarl on his face.

  “Fuck you, I’m going to get my sons,” Old Bastard says.

  Him and the Sinner glare at each other for a couple of tense seconds, but I don’t think it surprises anyone when the Sinner looks away first. Crazy always oozes out of Old Bastard and it’s especially bad when he’s angry. He has other sons, at least two younger than my little brother was when they killed him. I can’t imagine he loves any of them, but he’s been grooming Hijack to take over after him.

  “Alright, then we’re coming too. But he stays here,” the Sinner says, meaning me. “For plan B.”

  “There won’t be any need for Plan B. We’ll kill them all tonight,” Old Bastard says mockingly and turns to Slate and Buddy. “Do you know the way?”

  They both nod.

  “Fine. Take this asshole to the shed, but the other one comes with us,” he instructs his men. I’m the asshole. Colt is the other one. “Two guys stay back to guard him, the rest are riding!”

  And just like that, two guys grab one of my arms each and start marching me into the darkness the bright light doesn’t reach.

  I hope Cross counted on this turn of events. Getting separated from Colt like this doesn’t sit well with me. Nor does sitting on my ass in a dark room that smells of shit and piss like these places always do, while everyone I know and care about cleans up the mess I cooked up.

  28

  Misti

  Stormi drove here to get me right after I called her this morning and wouldn’t take no for answer easily. I’m still a little unsteady from the argument that followed in the parking lot of the church when I refused to leave with her.

  But I can’t leave. I’m tied to Blaze’s family and what happens today.

  I’m sitting on the curb by the motel room where Blaze’s grandma is sleeping. The window is open and every so often she shrieks in her sleep. Then she goes back to snoring and moaning. The church across the street is locked, but I don’t know if I’d be in there even if it wasn’t.

  I won’t find any comfort anywhere. Except in Blaze’s arms. I realized that very clearly while I argued with my sister when she tried to drag me away from here. She drove off in a huff about an hour ago and I wish he’d hurry up and get back to me. I’ve been alone for much of my life, but I’ve never felt as alone as I do today. Maybe it’s the vast fields of nothing but grass all around here. But I don’t think it’s as simple as that.

  Dusk is settling in, coloring the vast sky all around a grayish-purple. It’s beautiful, but it’s my least favorite sunset color. It reminds me of the inevitable kind of death and old things.

  Stormi is driving back along the arrow-straight road that passes this motel. Before she drove off, she said she was leaving and not coming back, but I didn’t actually think she’d do that. She pulls up by the curb next to me, smiling widely and kind of sheepishly as she climbs out of the car, holding two bags of food and two huge milkshakes in a cup holder.

  “I thought you might be hungry,” she says.

  “I thought you were done taking care of me,” I counter. I said some nasty things to her today too, but when she said that back it cut deep.

  She walks over and sits down next to me, almost overturning the shakes in the process.

  “I’ll never stop taking care of you, Misti,” she says in a serious voice. “I’ll die first.”

  “Don’t say that,” I whisper.

  “It’s true, babe,” she says and grins at me. “You and me, always and forever. I’m sorry I tried to guilt you into leaving before. I understand why you have to stay here.”

  I smile at her too, and it’s like a huge weight is just gone from my chest. I didn’t even feel it there, until just now. “You and me forever. I like the sound of that.”

  She takes one of the shakes and hands it to me. “Drink this first, be
fore it melts completely. It’s strawberry.”

  “My fave,” I say and take a long gulp.

  “I know,” she says and takes a sip of hers, which is chocolate, her favorite.

  “Do you think they’ll be alright?” I ask after awhile.

  She shrugs and her eyes are very sad and very watery as she looks at me. “Ace told me not to worry.”

  “Blaze said the same thing,” I say and take one of the bags of food. I don’t even have to open it to know what’s inside. Chicken wings. Just like the ones Blaze and I had after the pool game that really kicked off our adventure.

  Does that mean something?

  Something good or something bad?

  I never used to worry about signs and such. Never even thought much about it. But I can’t stop seeing them now. They’re everywhere. In the dusty pink sky above, the closed church, the hissing grass all around us stretching from here to eternity.

  “I say we just trust them,” Stormi says and reaches into the bag to pull out a box of chicken wings and fries. “And eat.”

  “Sounds so simple,” I say.

  “It is,” she says. “I love Ace and you love Blaze and all we can do is wait for them to come back to us.”

  “I wish it was easier,” I mutter.

  “I suggest we rent a room, then eat while watching a pay-per-view movie,” she says. “Something sweet. You know, just like old times.”

  We used to watch hours and hours of TV together when we were younger. No matter what Stormi had going on, she always spent a part of her day with me.

  “Sounds like a plan. But I have an even better idea,” I say, and the worried look on her face as she hears it is priceless. I chuckle.

  “Let’s eat in our room while watching TV,” I say and stand up.

  She sighs in relief. “Good, I thought you were gonna say we should go look for Ace and Blaze.”

  I laugh. “As much as I want to, I know that’d be stupid.”

  She walks to reception to rent a room and I wait by the car, holding the bags of food and the milkshakes. I wish this anxious fear that’s been building in my chest all day was the kind that can be alleviated by a good dinner and a feel-good movie. It’s not. Nothing but Blaze coming back will do that. But I’ll fake it. More for my sister’s sake than mine.