SATAN-SPAWN-COLLECTION-To Load

by Dahlen, K. J.

  When she closed the door between them, she went over to the window and stared out through the glass. She didn’t see the sun shining down or did she see the yard and everyone working. All she could see in her mind’s eye was the last time she’d seen her mother. It was the day she died. Her face was ravaged by the pain of her cancer and she was trying to comfort her daughters. She must have known the end was near but Cricket had been too young to understand that death would soon take her away from them.

  And indeed it had but it wasn’t the cancer that took her mother, it had been Cordy in a rage not unlike the one she’d inherited from her father.

  She did feel grateful that Raine was away visiting his family. If he were here, he would get into Bane’s face.

  Now, a fear Cricket hoped she would never have to face resurfaced. He’d brought Michael here to meet her and he seemed proud to have this son. If he found out the truth that this MC killed Cordy for all her horrible deeds—God help them all when he found out they had taken his daughter away from him before they had a chance to meet.

  Chapter Five

  Bane sat there glaring at the hallway and the closed door. He felt more than saw another man join them and he slowly turned his head to glare at Deke.

  “What the hell do you want?” Bane snarled at the other man.

  “I don’t want you here that’s for sure but since you are, there’s something I feel you need to know.” Deke stared him in the eyes. “The reason Cricket’s sister Cordy snatched my children was because she thought I was in love with her seventeen years earlier. I left my old MC in Maine the day I turned seventeen and she would have been twelve years old. I didn’t know it was possible but when I left she was in love with me.”

  “So what? What does that have to do with the reason she took your children?”

  “That bitch was crazy and had no feelings toward anyone. She told us she would cut herself just to feel something. When she took my kids, Cricket brought them back. There was such a difference in the two sisters, it was like night and day. Now I know why.” Deke settled back in his chair and stared at Bane.

  “Ok, I give up. Why do you think there was such a difference in the sisters?” Bane crossed his arms and waited for some flimsy theory from Deke.

  “It’s clear to me that Cordelia was in truth your daughter and Cricket belonged to your brother. I knew Orrin and she was truly his child.”

  Bane froze at the announcement. His heart stopped for a fraction of a moment. He turned his head and glared at the closed door where Cricket was hiding. He got to his feet and as he did, he noted every man sitting there got to theirs as well. The whole room went silent.

  Bane knew these men would protect Cricket from his rage if they had to. So he did the only thing he could. He turned his glare to Deke. “Tell Cricket I want to see her. I need her to tell me the truth about her sister. Then we will discuss the repercussions of her death.”

  Deke stood and glared at him. “There will be no repercussions for Cordelia’s death. She broke the rules we live by and she had no remorse for her actions at all. She not only put my children’s lives on the line but her sister’s as well. She has done this time and time again and this is something she never had any remorse for at all. She cost the life of one man and would have murdered another if she hadn’t been caught. In the eyes of this MC, she deserved death and we would do it again. She was judged by a Tribunal same as Cricket was.”

  “I want to speak to my niece if you don’t mind.” Was all Bane had to say.

  The older man next to Deke, Bones moved away from the table and walked down the hall. A few minutes later, he returned with Cricket.

  She went over to Deke and Bones stood behind her. Together, they faced a stony Bane.

  “Is it true that Cordelia was my daughter?” Bane asked.

  Cricket raised her head high and stared at him with no hesitation. “Yes, she was your daughter. Our mother finally admitted this to us just days before she died.”

  Bane flushed a bit. Then asked, “Why? Why would she admit this at that time?”

  Cricket shook her head. “My mother was all about facing the truth. She hated lies more than anything else in the whole world. She told us about you but never told us your name. She wanted to forget everything that she went through with you and only remember the good in her life. She told us not to hurt Cordy but help her understand where she came from. She knew in her heart that Cordy was like you and since she was dying she wanted us to know that truth.” She turned to Michael then back to Bane. “Cordy was just like Michael. She had no soul. She didn’t care who she hurt. She held a pillow over our mother’s face and ended her life just because she could. Mom didn’t have that much time left on this earth but Cordy took that away from all of us.” She paused then added, “She had no compassion for anyone but herself.”

  “Did she face an honest tribunal? Were they fair to her?”

  Cricket nodded. “Yes, they were fair, and she accepted her fate. She said her pain was almost gone and she would welcome death.”

  “So she faced her fate with dignity at least,” Bane whispered then turned his glare to Deke and the rest of them. “You may not want us here but we will be here until I get what I came here for.”

  “And just what might that be?” Deke asked.

  “That’s between me and Cricket.” Bane glared at the other man.

  ~*~

  Bane sat in the corner with his back to the wall and watched everyone. He noted the tiger murals again and he still thought it was an odd thing to have in a place like this. Whomever the artist was, they knew how to paint for sure. But in his business, he learned not to be surprised. Surprises like letting someone sneak up in your blind spot could get you killed. His eyes kept everyone in sight. He sighed. It wasn’t that he was looking for a knife in the back, not here. But a lifetime of training was still in place. Lessons learned as a child had become a habit he couldn’t break.

  He and Michael had been here for days and he knew he was wearing out his welcome. Michael had been relentless in his pursuit of answers only Cricket could give him.

  When he’d asked her about the daggers, she turned on him and let him know in no uncertain terms he would never have them back. He had expected that but hoped that as she got to know Michael, she would change her mind. Now he wasn’t sure she ever would. Those daggers had been an important part of his childhood, his upbringing and while his grandfather gave them to Orrin, Bane hadn’t missed them or wanted them back until he grew to know his son. They belonged in the Jessin family and Michael would be the last in his line.

  When she told him he would never have them, he wasn’t going to let that be the final word. He would get them back at any cost now. All he had to do was wait for the proper opportunity then swoop in and make his demand again. He was determined he would find a way to turn the tables on her.

  That’s when the subject of the Priest came into play. If he was the best in his field of assassination, then the Priest was the best in his field of breaking a man and spilling his secrets. He was the only man Bane would not like to meet.

  In Bane’s business, very few had ever earned his respect. The Priest was one of those. The other two were now dead, by the Priest’s hands, in fact. Both had been the best hitmen in the business too. Yet, the Priest had got to them and found out what he was hired to find, then they both disappeared.

  Bane knew by experience The Priest had taken them out. So, his explanation to the Vincinti men about the interrogator not being a hitman may have been misleading. He shrugged. He didn’t really care about any of it. If The Priest was coming for someone here though, it wouldn’t matter what the MC did to protect her or even if the Family tried to protect here. The Priest would get to her, period.

  That had been days ago and the Priest had indeed come and gone, taking the young woman named Sawyer with him. That he offered to return her surprised even Bane. Usually, he didn’t let his victims go but again Bane didn’t care one way or the o
ther what another man did.

  It was all moot anyway, this morning his son had done something so stupid Bane couldn’t believe it. He had taken his sister and a baby hostage, in order to get the daggers back from Cricket. Bane sighed at his son’s stupidly. Even he was aware of the fact that his son might not be returned to him.

  For a moment, he prayed the MC wouldn’t kill Michael. Shaking his head, he was surprised. He was getting weak if he thought about the fact that Michael being hurt could ever mean anything to him.

  He’d never had these feeling before and he wasn’t sure he wanted them now. This was all Grace’s fault. She had hidden the boy from his true purpose for too long and Michael had made a big mistake. He’d lived emotionless in a household full of emotional people. In a life not meant for him. Being thirty now, it seemed too late to train his mind the way he needed. Now, he’d gone and done something idiotic.

  Bane sat back in his chair and thought about it some more. No this wasn’t Grace’s fault, this was on Cricket. If only she had done what he expected and turned the daggers over to him. He and Michael would have been gone before this.

  His eyes narrowed as the day passed and just when he’d all but given up, the doors opened up and the group that entered carrying something over to his table. When they dumped it on the floor beside him Bane saw it was Michael. They had beaten him but Bane didn’t care about that. Michael was still alive and Bane did care about this part.

  He looked up slowly. His eyes never flickered when he saw his son’s battered body. When he shifted his eyes to Cricket, his gaze held no emotion at all.

  She laid the backpack on the table. “I’ll make a deal with you.”

  “And what would that be?” Bane asked as he raised a brow.

  “I’ll give you the fucking daggers if you take this piece of shit and disappear. I don’t care where you go with him but I don’t ever want to see either of you again.”

  “Agreed,” Bane replied instantly.

  “I don’t want to see you, either of you again. You understand?”

  Bane nodded.

  “He wants you to teach him all you know.” Cricket leaned closer as she spoke, “He thinks you’ll teach him the trade and then someday, he’ll take over for you.”

  Bane shrugged. “It could happen.”

  “I think he plans to kill you one day, maybe as soon as you’ve taught him all you know.”

  Bane turned dispassionate eyes to his son and sneered. “He could have tried. But I’ll take him with me and we won’t be back.”

  Cricket pushed the backpack toward him. “I hope you choke on these, I really do. I hope you won’t retaliate against the club for beating the hell out of him. He hurt Cassie and used Jemmia to get me to take him to the daggers. He had the beating coming.” Then she turned with a wince and went down the hall to her bedroom.

  Bane lifted his coffee cup to his lips and took a drink.

  Deke stared at him for a moment, then asked, “Are we good?”

  Bane nodded once. “We’re good. Apparently, my son needed a lesson and he got one.”

  “Then, I think it’s time you and Michael left. You’ve outstayed your welcome.”

  “We’ll be gone within the hour.”

  “See that you are.” Deke turned and went to the back door.

  Bane sat there a few minutes longer then looked over at Michael. He found the boy glaring back at him. The gag in his mouth held him silent and Bane leaned down to cut the rope binding his hands together.

  Michael groaned as feeling came back to his arms. A second or so later, he ripped the gag out of his mouth. Before he could say anything, Bane leaned closer and held his finger up. “Do not say a word until we are out of here. I don’t care what your excuse was, you got what you deserved. Now, get to your feet and walk behind me. Keep your damn mouth shut.”

  Michael got up and followed his father out of the clubhouse all the way to the car. A few minutes later, the car left the compound and headed back for Geneva.

  Half way there, a light flashed inside the car and there was a loud bang, but the car never stopped. It kept going.

  ~*~

  Months passed and in the quiet, Bane did his research on Cricket. He didn’t know what it was about the girl but there was something. Could it be that she reminded him of Grace? Could it be her courage? He admired very few in his life, but this girl had managed to intrigue him and she was the very last of his family. What little he could find didn’t tell him much, yet she remained a puzzle.

  His gut told him that there was something she knew that he should know. It was one of his senses. Being the way he was he had some ability to know a person’s motives or hidden intent. Bane hated puzzles. They took too much time and while Bane was often a patient man, this type of situation he had no patience for.

  He supposed it was that she was so much like her mother that he didn’t have to guess what her draw was.

  Grace had that deep-down honor too, and it was the one thing he wanted from her. She had a strong sense of right and wrong and Bane had wanted that for himself. The fact that he never got it had let him down to some extent, but he hadn’t realized at the time how much he missed that.

  Then when she and Orrin betrayed him, the rage inside him overshadowed everything else. Over the years, he’d forgotten what it was about his wife that he desperately desired. Now he had found it back and it had belonged to another man.

  He did find something interesting along the way. He found a birth certificate for a child born to his daughter Cordelia. Cricket failed to tell him that little tidbit of information. Bane’s eyes narrowed as he glared at the birth certificate in his hands. This was the something she had hidden. It verified his sense of the puzzle.

  The boy would be about seven now by his figuring. He wondered where he was staying. Had he been at the clubhouse the last time he’d been there with Michael? He hadn’t thought so. He was very keen on the people around him and Bane was certain if his grandson had been around, he would have noticed that. Cricket gave no indication that any of the children present was special to her. If he knew anything, he knew Cricket would favor her own family against everyone else.

  No the child wasn’t there at the time but it gave Bane something to look for. He knew he wouldn’t stop until he found him. What he would do then he wasn’t sure of but only time would tell. First, he had to find the boy.

  ~*~

  Bane returned to the clubhouse the same way he’d come the night before. He knew Cricket knew someone had been there. He’d been watching her all day yesterday. He knew she was wary and she had reason to be.

  He had come into the knowledge in his research that Cordelia had stolen something from a man years ago and laid the blame on Cricket. Why did Bane care? He couldn’t resolve that part, he just refused to look at it too closely. He might not have wanted to ever see her again, but this could mean her life and he wasn’t going to take the chance. She’d been unyieldingly honest with her dealings with him, all but once and even he could understand why she lied about the boy.

  Even so, she needed his help and if he didn’t do anything else above board and honest he would do this, for her and her alone. No one else had ever deserved this but she did. She might not want anything to do with him but he was going to do this.

  He heard a door open in the hall way and he knew it would be her. When she reached the main room, her eyes searched the room for anything amiss before she even took a step inside. They swung through the first time so fast she missed him. Bane smiled slightly.

  It was only when she swung around for the second time that she saw him sitting there. She stopped and stared, almost as if she didn’t believe what was right in front of her face. She stomped forward and shouted, “What the fuck are you doing here? You promised you’d never come back here. You promised.”

  Bane never moved, he didn’t even flinch at the sound of her voice. He didn’t but suddenly there were other people rushing into the room. Deke, Bones, Gator, Mount
ain and several other men came running with their weapons drawn. The last one to join the melee was Raine. He only had his pants on, but his gun was ready and Bane could read what was in his eyes for everyone to see. He knew as did the others that it took every ounce of his resolve to hold back from shooting the man calmly sitting at one of the tables. This was the man involved with Cricket. Yes, he remembered this.

  The only light was coming from the kitchen, so someone snapped on the lights in the main room. Cricket didn’t even flinch when she saw her uncle sitting there. He had a cup of coffee in front of him and he calmly reached for his cup.

  Cricket stomped over to his table and knocked the cup out of his hand spilling the coffee on the floor. The cup smashed when it hit the floor and her uncle slowly raised his eyes to hers.

  “I asked you a question.” She growled. “What the hell are you doing here? Or doesn’t your word mean anything to you?”

  No one ever had this kind of courage while up against him. “I suggest you be very careful in the way you speak to me little girl,” Bane said quietly. His voice was heavy with the threat behind his words. “People don’t usually speak to me in this manner.”

  Cricket sat down at the table ignoring everyone else in the room. “Were you here last night too?” she asked. “Are you the one who was watching me yesterday?”

  Bane tipped his head as if to answer her questions without words.

  “Why?” she asked. “Why did you come back here? Why do you watch me?”

  “I came back here for a purpose, little girl. I did have every intention of keeping my word to you, but something came up and I felt I needed to warn you.”

  “Warn me?” She frowned. “Warn me about what?” She looked around the room, trying to see into the shadows. “Where is Michael? Is he here as well?”