Kyle picked up a bag. He had to leave again, but promised to be back soon. I curled up in Cody's arms as Kyle gathered the last of his things.
"Aren't you two lovebirds adorable?" He smiled, staring at us.
I gripped tighter around Cody's neck, never wanting to let go. He winced a little, but he never complained. I gritted my teeth, staring at his face. His wounds were healing. A scar had started to form on his cheek.
"We are in fact." I kissed Cody and then released his lips.
He tilted my head up to his.
"I love you."
I floated toward the ceiling.
"I love you too." I didn't think through any of the ramifications before responding. I didn't care. It was true, but the guilt was going to eat me alive. I planned to tell him the truth, soon.
"Sorry, bad timing. I couldn't help myself. There aren't many opportune moments these days."
Kyle walked over, wrapping his arms around both of us.
"I love you guys too."
Kyle tightened his hold on our necks as the laughter subsided.
"I'll be back soon."
"I'll walk you out." I stood up to follow.
Kyle rose, walking over to hospital bed. Placing his hand on Grandpa, he took his limp hand in the other. "Be back soon, old man."
He turned to Cody and me.
"Call me if anything changes."
He strode through the door, and I followed him to the hallway.
"Gonna miss you, sis."
My gaze dropped to the ground.
"Thank you," I said.
"For what?"
"Saving my life."
Kyle shrugged. "It's what brothers do."
I wrapped him in a bear hug. The same hug I'd welcomed him home with. My face planted in his shoulder and I sobbed.
"I'm sorry."
He stared at my eyes and palmed my cheeks. "You didn't do anything wrong."
"I murdered him. I should have waited, let the police do their jobs."
"Mags, listen to yourself. He was a monster. You know what he did to us. To the others. He deserved everything he got."
I relaxed just knowing someone was on my side.
"Please come back soon." I couldn't fight back my tears.
"Be back before you know it. Besides, it looks like I'll have to be in a wedding soon. Dropping all them 'L bombs' in there."
I slugged his shoulder.
"We're taking it slow, asshole."
"I see that." He smiled big. The same smile from when he was twelve.
He started down the hall.
"Hey Kyle?"
"Yeah, Mags."
I paused, trying to find my words. "If that day comes, if you know...Grandpa can't be there...or even if he is...will, will you walk me down the aisle with him?"
Kyle retraced his steps to me and put a hand on each of my shoulders.
"Nobody would be able to stop me."
I sat in Cody's arms, crammed against the tiny sofa in the hospital. Grandpa was in the bed next to us. I kept getting up to make sure he was breathing.
The news played on the small television suspended near the ceiling. Cody watched while I paced near the bed. He reached for the remote, turning it up. They were reporting the riots in Bathory and the death of Kiril. Ka0s hadn't Tweeted in over a week and the riots were losing steam.
The reporter clutched at his ear piece and his face was white as a ghost. Cody nudged me and increased the volume.
"Folks, we have just received some disturbing footage. We haven't verified, but the owner claims to be Ka0s, saying it reveals the truth about the Matriarch."
My heart nearly stopped. I leaned in toward the TV. "Turn it off, please, I can't watch."
"C'mon, I wanna see this." Cody gave me a weird look.
"Please, I'm begging you."
"Why not? This might show something about what happened to your grandfather. Don't you want to know?"
I knew it was a losing battle. He knew me well enough to know I would want the information. I couldn't tell him what had actually happened. He thought I'd been called to an emergency client meeting in front of his shop. My chest drew in tight and my breath grew shallow. Why now?
Ka0s appeared on the screen. His orange hair and white makeup crawled under my skin. I reached for my elbows, squeezing my arms into my chest, waiting for the worst.
"Oh, hello." Ka0s appeared looking surprised. "I hear my message is dying. That people have moved on to the next best thing. Well...let's just hold off on that for a moment. Now...I'm a fair, objective guy...you know?"
I scoffed.
"And I too, was caught up in the mystery of the Matriarch, and her umm...good deeds. Hell, I think every city needs someone like her defending the poor, protecting us from all those evil, you know, what's the word I'm looking for here? Rapscallions." He laughed to himself. "Great, great, word. But, I just happened to stumble on to a little secret. See, the umm Matriarch...see she fights evil, right? You might say, 'Oh Ka0s, but that's a good thing' but...there is a difference between justice, doing what's right, and cold-blooded murder. See...you see Kiril was an evil man, a villain so to speak. But in a country with liberty, even the villain gets a fair trial. Even evildoers get a fair shake. Now I know what you're thinking, 'but hey, don't you kill people, Ka0s?' A fair question, but the people I use to send a message have openly admitted their wrongdoings. They have publicly displayed their disdain for you and the underlings they step on."
"As far as I know, Kiril never got a chance to explain. He never committed those crimes he was accused of in front of anyone. He never admitted to doing anything wrong. And yet the Matriarch, she, she mowed him down. There is also evidence of her whoring around with these bad guys, wait oh—" He turned to someone off camera and mouthed something inaudible. "—okay, okay, so I can say whore on TV? Okay. She whores around with these men. For all we know she could be in collusion, and then—" He laughed to himself.
"To top it off, she has him captured, ready to face the music, and she cuts his head off." Ka0s was now laughing uncontrollably. He then grew stone cold and silent, a horrifying demeanor came across his face. "No, no, my friends. That is not justice. That is someone who kills for fun. That is someone with no sanctity for freedom and basic human life. A human has the right to live in this great country. So without further ado, I give you, your hero of Bathory. The Matriarch!"
The feed cut to the reporter. It warned the audience that the video contained graphic sex and violence. That it was not suitable for children. A video popped on the screen and I could immediately tell it had been edited. My face dropped into my palms, peering through my fingers. I caught a glimpse of me riding Damon Sabbath, then snapping his neck. It showed the park, a close up view of my fight with Kiril. How in the fuck did he get that angle? How did I not see the camera?
In the video, Kyle could be seen working on Grandpa as I stabbed Kiril in the foot, then plunged my knives into him. The audio kicked on when Kyle screamed "No" after Kiril had goaded me. Then it showed me in slow motion, severing his head, catching it with my hand. It zoomed in to my face as I stared at the head, holding it and screaming. The sound was slowed. My deep scream like a serial killer's voice as I slung the head out into the darkness, blood from his neck spraying in the air and raining down on me like a fountain.
I pried my eyes open, praying it was all a dream but thankful none of it gave away my identity. I looked to Cody, sitting there, shocked with his jaw on the floor.
"Cody?"
He didn't budge.
He sat there dazed. He had always thought the Matriarch was a good person, cared for the city. His head twitched, snapping out of his stupor.
"Cody?"
He looked over.
"That woman is a monster."
The riots had spiraled out of control, forcing most non-participants from their downtown homes and into the suburbs to stay with relatives. Others lived in hotels or homeless on the streets.
Fires raged in
barrels and buildings. Looters controlled all of downtown. There was no hint of police in sight.
I slinked down the red brick wall of an alley in my suit and mask, stealthily melding with the shadows. I remained undetected as I paused at the view of the moon and the towering buildings that soared toward the stars.
Screams invaded my ears and I looked over to see two men surrounding three girls, pawing at their clothes.
Ka0s thugs.
I snuck behind them.
I'd been out every night that week trying to help anyone who hadn't made it out of the city. None of it made the news.
I tapped on one man's shoulder, surprising him with a burst of punches as he turned around. The other took notice, stalking toward me.
"Run!" I motioned the girls to the end of the alley.
They didn't hesitate. Their screams carried up between the buildings. The fear criminals once held when I would greet them had disappeared since the video.
"Aren't you supposed to fuck us first?"
The other chuckled. I kicked a knife into his shoulder, laying him out on the ground. Kiril would be the last man I killed, ever. The other man swung, and I caught his arm, dropping my elbow into it and snapping it in half. I grabbed his cock while he clutched his arm. "I wanted steak. This is a salad course you fucking pussy."
I pulled one of them close to my face and yelled at him through gritted teeth.
"Tell your boss I'm coming."
"Tell him yourself." The man laughed and hobbled off after his buddy. An eerie laugh emerged from the shadows. I recognized it immediately.
The figure stepped out from behind a dumpster, the moonlight glowing on the side of his face.
"Ka0s..."
"Very astute observation." He sidled over to me. Blood seethed under my skin. I'd repressed the rage, knowing what it had cost me.
"Why are you doing this? I thought you cared about the people?"
He laughed.
"See, therein lies the rub. The people are a means to get something bigger...something I covet more than freedom and liberty. No, we lost those long ago."
"Who the hell are you?"
A breeze kicked up dust through the dark alley, whipping through a haze suspended throughout the city.
"Oh, search within yourself. Search hard. I'm sure a smart woman like you can figure that one out. See it all makes sense, if you just turn the plans on their side a little and see things from a different, umm, angle."
He stepped closer. I stared hard into his eyes. A smile turned up on his face.
"Hello, Mags." He stepped closer to give me a better look.
My jaw dropped. I was completely vulnerable and helpless. Thoughts sprinted through my mind, praying it was all a bad dream, the worst nightmare imaginable. A tremble began in my feet, inching north. My body shook at his face paint. His voice and his words carved my intestines with a jagged blade, devouring my entrails.
"Kyle?" I knew the answer.
"Bingo." He tapped me on the nose in a playful manner.
"W-what? Why? I don't unders-s-stand."
"Oh I think you do. I think you really, really do. I think you had this feeling all along and were just afraid to act on it. You were afraid of the truth, because it just might be, well, umm, true."
Every piece of the puzzle started to fit together. When he left my house all those times.
"Well is she after you?"
"She is. She just doesn't know it yet."
Walking downstairs while Kyle was on his laptop. The surprised look on his face, clutching his computer tight.
"You? You worked for Kiril the whole time?"
"Oh Maggie, please. You think that old man could put all this together?"
Turning slowly, he seemed to admire the fires ripping through the city. The screams of the innocent.
"Why?" My face was angry. "Why?"
Instantly, his hand clutched my throat. He smiled into my eyes, staring at me. His eyes were crazed like a diseased dog. I slapped at his hand as his voice grew cold and angry.
"You left me there. My best friend...left me to rot in that fucking place. Do you know what happened when you left? When you escaped? To help these — these whores and lowlifes?"
He released my throat and my lungs rapidly searched for air, panting hard, unable to catch my breath as I felt the bruises around my neck.
"Answer me!"
"I, I thought you were dead." My knees quaked.
"Oh, I died alright." He nodded. His normal voice returning. "I was tortured, beaten, maimed...raped! That's right, your brother, nineteen-years-old and scared, fucked by old men, over and over 'til I bled, begging for death."
"I, I thought you were dead. They told me they killed you."
"Did you see my body?" He composed himself. "See, Mags, I never would have given up on you. We had a deal, remember? In dad’s classroom? I would have fought for you. When you escaped, I had hope. Oh I had big hopes. I prayed every day for you to show up. And you never did."
"So, after a while I adapted. I made myself valuable to the organization. They gave me a computer to play with, taught me how to fight, taught me the art of warfare. I read everything I could get my hands on. My sister, well...well she was going to college, becoming a billionaire, driving these, these fancy cars. You didn't raise an eyebrow when I telegraphed where all Kiril's info was hidden on William's computer? Just some random, anonymous source. Pfft. C'mon Mags, you're smarter than that." He laughed.
"Why Grandpa? Why would you include him in this?"
"Grandpa? Why, he just let us go. Let Mom and Dad take us to hell. He never even came and looked for you. Didn't look for me. Knew Mom and Dad were dead and yet he still stayed behind. Fucking coward. Some family we've got. Some fucking family."
"Please, I can't lose you. This isn't you. You aren't thinking right."
"Oh, I'm thinking clear as ever." He ran his hand up to my face, his index finger tracing my cheek. "This is going to be fun. Playing this little game, you and I. It's going to be simply — delightful. Allow me to get it started."
He pulled a phone from his back pocket and he tapped on the screen.
"What are you doing?"
"Oh nothing, nothing at all...and send." After a final tap on his phone, he smiled at me.
"What the hell did you just do?"
"Oh, I just sent our precious Cody a little something. Great guy that Cody. He deserves a real winner. A woman who will treat him right. A woman who is, what's the word I'm looking for? Umm, tru...no, no, no...integr...no that won't work, umm, honest!" He snapped his fingers at his thought. "Yes, an honest woman. Are you honest with him? Does he know about this, this, persona?" He waved a finger up and down at my outfit, scoffing at the sight. He leaned in to my ear. "Does he know how much you love fucking evil men?" He grinned. "Does he? Does he?" He kept laughing.
"What did you send him?"
"Oh just a little video of you and our good friend William. He's dead by the way. Did you know, well, that you got a married man killed after cheating on his wife with you? Yeah, so that happened. Then, you took information from his computer. I just had to type you a little email and you jumped all over it. What was on that again? Oh, plans for Kiril to buy Cody's parents' business. That was a shrewd one, gotta give you credit for that. I mean, I'm the one who told him to do it. But you know, I didn't get any credit for that. Oh well, he's dead now anyway."
"Does Cody know who actually bought his parents' business? Does he know, Mags?"
My head sank and I stared at the ground. "I was going to tell him when the time was right."
"No? So he doesn’t know?” My head rose as he faked a look of sincerity, followed with a wide grin. “I didn't think so. Well, good news, he knows now!" His psychotic laugh murdered my soul.
"Please, stop this, please. I begged as he smiled, enjoying every emotional scar he sliced into me.
"Stop? Hell sis, I'm just getting started." He began to walk away, stopping with his back to me. "Nice
move going to his family. Showing them the loopholes, and whatnot. Business speak always eludes me, but yeah, that was a good one." He wagged a finger again.
"I had to protect him, Kiril was going to..."
"Blah blah blah, you don't have to explain to me, Mags. You'll do enough of that at home later. If, if he's still there." His sinister laugh tore me up once more.
My phone vibrated and Cody's picture appeared on the screen.
Ka0s walked down the road with his arm held out, like he was escorting a bride down the aisle, his voice echoing off the walls. "Dum dum de dum...dum dum de dum," he hummed, as he disappeared into the night.
Thank you for reading book number one of The Matriarch Trilogy. I hope you enjoyed it. If you have some time please consider leaving a review so I know what you thought. It would be much appreciated. As of publication, I do not have release dates for books two and three but I anticipate them to release in 2016. To be notified of new releases you can follow me on Amazon or sign up for my mailing list at the link below to get an email. You can also get plenty of announcements and more if you find me on one of my social media pages: Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
www.sloanehowell.com
All of my releases can be found on my Amazon author page: click here
For each individual book link see below:
The Panty Whisperer: Volume 1 (free short story)
The Panty Whisperer: Volumes 1 - 5
The Panty Whisperer: Volume 6
Payne Capital
Chloe Comes For Christmas
I spend my days doing the opposite of writing. I crunch numbers. Yes, I work as an accountant and spend most of my time in Excel spreadsheets. At night, I turn into a dirty-minded, erotic romance author. I’ve also written science fiction and comedy under other pen names. When not reading or writing I enjoy hanging out with my family, watching sports, traveling, and engaging my readers on social media. You can almost always catch me goofing off on Twitter so stop by and say hi. Thanks for reading my books, I hope you enjoyed.
The Matriarch: An Erotic Superhero Romance (The Matriarch Trilogy Book 1) Page 22