“Not a single volunteer?” Cam asked.
“Astraea. You know if you don’t come with us now how much worse things will get for you,” Kevin tried to reason.
Bella suddenly appeared on the other side of the man on the steps. “Has anyone told you that you’re not only rude but also incredibly stupid?”
A twisted grin spread across her pretty face. “She said she didn’t want to go. I heard her from the top of the stairs. I guess you missed that. I think that should disqualify you from being messenger.”
“That’s a good point, Bell,” Cam agreed.
The look Kevin gave me could have inflamed the entire Badlands. It appeared I was to blame for this.
“What the fuck was that?” Luce gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze and then dropped his arm. Everything thereafter happened within seconds. He nudged me towards the steps and both Bella and the man who randomly introduced himself as Ice moved me up to stand alongside them.
By then, Luce had already wrapped his hand around Kevin’s throat.
He was only about six feet tall, making him a few inches shorter. That didn’t hinder his ability to lift Kevin off the ground. The muscles in his back visibly flexed from the strength he was using, but even as he reached into his rear pocket and removed a glistening blade, he kept his hand easily secured around Kevin’s throat.
He drove the pointed tip clean through his right eye, going deep enough that I was positive nothing could repair it, but not so far as to kill him. The scream that tore through the air had goosepimples erupting across my flesh. I had never heard a man scream like this.
My lips parted at the first sight of blood. It trailed down his face without a discernible pattern, dripping onto the floor.
This was more satisfying than his fear. It was nice not to be on the receiving end of brutality for once.
Luce pulled his knife out and grinned. “There. Now you and your new roommate have something in common.”
Still holding him by his neck, Luce handed Kevin off to one of the acolytes. “Take him to meet Butcher.”
The guerillas that had come with him watched on helplessly as two acolytes silently did as they were told.
Who was Butcher? That was the second time I’d heard that name. No one else in the room batted an eyelid. This seemed to be normal for them. Given their faction, it wasn’t all that shocking behavior.
Kevin was carted down the hall I’d initially been down, his wails carrying through the house.
The remaining guerrillas made no effort to stop anything that had just happened. They remained seemingly frozen in place, the terror on their faces unmistakable.
“Now that the distraction is gone, which one of you nice boys is going to be the messenger?”
“I don’t understand. You were the one who let us know she was here…” the guerilla beside Ponytail said, his brown eyes bouncing between the different Savages.
“He let you know something all right,” Cam smirked.
Ice laughed under his breath; Bella sighed. Ponytail’s brow puckered, and then understanding cloaked his features.
I was left not knowing what was happening.
I’d been sure Luce had let them know I was here because he was going to give me back. Now he and Cam looked like a pair of rabid wolves about to tear into their prey.
Luce moved so that he was standing directly in front of Ponytail, holding a hand up to stop his acolytes from shadowing his movements. He leaned in, giving the illusion that he was about to say something none of us should hear.
“You get it, don’t you?”
An audible swallow and a nod. “You—”
Luce brought his blade up and pressed it to the man’s mouth. The same blade that still had Kevin’s blood on it. “Shh. She can’t know yet.”
What couldn’t I know?
What the hell was going on?
“I believe we have our errand boy.”
He straightened and took a small step back, sharing a look with Cam I couldn’t see due to him still facing away from me.
“What’s your name?” Cam asked, throwing his arm around the other guerrilla who’d been watching all of this in silence.
“Tim,” he replied nervously. “And that’s Calvin.” His hand motioned to Ponytail.
“Well, Tim. If Calvin is the messenger, that makes you the disposable one, my friend.”
“W-what? We only came because our Cardinal sent us. We have no issue with the Savages. All he wants is his—”
Cam shoved him forward. Luce turned and caught him around the back of the neck, slicing his throat in one fluid motion. Blood sprayed onto his shirt, saturating the fabric.
He didn’t care. He released his hold and tossed Tim aside, leaving him to fall to the ground.
The acolytes moved far enough back that their robes would be spared from the puddle of crimson that was rapidly forming on the floor. I was transfixed until Calvin began to panic.
“Shit.” He cursed and turned to run, much like I had the night they took me. Cam was there to stop him, just as Luce had stopped me.
“Woah.” Cam grabbed hold of Calvin’s shoulders and forced him to turn around, and with one foot, he swept Calvin’s legs out from beneath him.
I winced internally as they met the floor with a loud thwack. He stared up at Luce, his pupils dilated and nostrils flaring.
“Not gonna beg?” Ice questioned. The sound of his voice almost made me jump. He’d been still as a statue.
Calvin’s jaw tensed, but he didn’t respond.
“Look at that, kid’s got heart,” Luce goaded.
“I think we should make it easy on him.” This was from Cam.
“He still needs to send my message clearly. Would you like to do the honors?”
“Of course.”
Luce passed his bloodied knife to Cam and stared down at Calvin.
“This will only hurt for a minute.”
My hand flew to my mouth as Cam sliced into the cartilage of Calvin’s left ear. He fought to keep his composure, but within seconds his face crumpled, and he began to scream.
It was over within seconds. The result was that the majority of his ear was no longer attached. His bottom lobe became covered in blood, the upper portion nothing but an abnormally shaped lump. Cam held Luce’s knife in one hand and a blob of flesh in the other.
I felt marginally bad for Calvin, simply because I had no clue who he was. For him to be sent out on this search, though, he’d had to have proven himself somehow.
Cam tossed his blob down just as Luce stepped forward and crouched. Both of their faces had traces of amusement. It was so at odds with all they’d just done that I couldn’t help but be intrigued.
Calvin sat on the ground, moaning loudly, shoulders shaking and holding a hand to the side of his head.
Luce grabbed his jaw and forced him to look in his eyes, placing a hand over his mouth to muffle his moans.
“Your hearing in that ear may be sort of fucked, but sooner or later you’ll hear better in the other one. That’s precisely why you’re going to give your Cardinal this message word for word. You’ve only got one chance to get this right, so pay close attention.”
He brought his mouth to the ear that wasn’t gushing blood and spoke each of his next words with purposeful articulation.
“Tell your Cardinal, and I can’t stress this last part enough. It’s the most important thing you need to remember,” Luce implored. “Tell your Cardinal, the Savages said he can go fuck himself.”
Luce dropped his hand from Calvin’s mouth and stood.
“Take him right to their doorstep. If any of them try anything, feel free to have some fun.”
The remaining acolytes surged forward, giving me a chance to notice the white masks covering their faces and leviathan amulets draped around their necks. They began to drag Calvin away, his cries of pain trailing behind them.
Cam handed Luce his knife back, and he wiped the bloodied blade on his shirt before repocketing
it. I studied the floor, taking in the mess and smell that came with bloodshed as Tim’s lifeless body continued to twitch.
“I’m not cleaning this up,” Bella exclaimed.
Luce and Cam looked over, their eyes resting on me for a few seconds, both void of any noticeable emotion.
“Don’t want you to. I want you to do me a favor and take her outside for a few minutes,” Luce said.
“Come on, Star.” She reached around Ice and grabbed my hand, tugging me off the steps.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The sun rested high in the sky, its malevolent eye unblinking. Heat wrapped around our limbs like a hot-blooded serpent. The contrast between inside and outside was incomparable. It was like going from a freezer to an oven.
I brought a hand up to shade my eyes, dragging my gaze from left to right. Everything looked just as it had from the upper window, only two times larger.
There was a hint of stench in the air, one that reminded me of death and burning bodies.
“What did you do to my brother?”
I glanced over at Bella and saw a smile on her face.
“That wasn’t normal for him?” I still didn’t know what exactly had just happened, but I was even more curious now.
Bella scoffed and looped her arm through mine, leading me to the right.
“The being a cocky asshole and casual killing thing, that’s all Luce. I cannot tell you the number of people he’s occasionally killed or tortured in one week.”
“Okay…”
“Taking a man’s eye because he didn’t like the way he looked at a girl… that’s not Luce.”
As we turned a corner, my stomach did that stupidly annoying flip. “I don’t think he did that for me.”
“Psh. I know my brother. He’s protective over his family and his Badlands. That’s it.”
I wasn’t convinced. “He seems to be that way with Ice and Cam…”
She laughed, and the sound was like someone tapping a glass with a fork. Bella was perfect proof not to judge someone by appearance. Her looks and sweet demeanor would make you think she was delicate. I highly doubted that was the case.
“Luce doesn’t have friends; he can’t afford to. He’s got family. The acolytes. Ice and Cam. Heck, even Zane. That’s his family.”
Zane? I’d heard that name before. I couldn’t place it right then, though.
“Does that mean I’m an enemy?”
“Nah, I think you’re good. You’d be dead or being painfully tortured by now. We believe in gender equality.”
I was more confused now than I had been in a long while.
He let A.R.C know where I was. He could have killed me or given me back. He hadn’t done either. And now sending Calvin straight to their doorstep… was he trying to start a war?
Bella stopped walking, resulting in me doing the same. Releasing her hold on my arm, she turned so that we were facing one another.
“It’s not really my place to tell you what he’s up to, and honestly, with Luce you will never always know everything. Remember that for future reference. It can be rage inducing.”
“Is Cam like this too?”
“They have a lot in common. But for the most part? No way,” she laughed.
Turning so that we could begin walking again, she continued. “Cam is sweet even when he’s cruel.”
I didn’t know him well enough to agree or disagree with that. Calling him sweet felt like I’d be underestimating what he was capable of.
“He’s been through a lot. We all have, but Cam got the worst of it. I think he has a complex now, like he failed or something and has to make up for it somehow.”
Bella was rather open. While it was surprising, I didn’t mind. She wasn’t telling me anything that would incriminate or endanger her family, but even if she did, I had no one to tell.
I got the sense she needed this, the freedom to talk to someone who would listen. I remained silent and eyed the side of the building, realizing how large it was as we neared the next corner.
The smell in the air intensified as we turned, causing me to stop walking again.
Where was it coming from?
I searched the backyard, swallowing at the site of the massive crosses. They were different than the A.R.C’s. They had the Leviathan shape and were much larger, all three of them evenly spaced.
A large wooden dais was a few feet in front of them. The sun reflected off a Savage pentacle that had been engraved in its center. Beyond all this, at the furthest end of the yard were a flock of acolytes doing different tasks.
A small wooden building was situated behind them, mesh fencing keeping something inside. The culprit for the smell was the ravine like split in the ground, off to the right of them.
I watched on in silence as Tim’s body was carried over and tossed into it.
“They’ll burn them once they have a few more.”
“They’re not burning now?”
“Er…no?” She toyed with a strand of her long blonde hair. “It’s just hot as hell out here, no pun intended.”
So, the bodies were essentially baking. And rotting. I was beginning to see why the A.R.C burned their corpses immediately.
The sound of a bell came from behind me just as something brushed against my legs. I twisted around to find a black goat. At least, I think it was a goat. It bumped my legs again, this time using the top of its head and releasing what I could only describe as a bleat.
“He wants you to pet him,” Bella explained. “His name’s Philip.”
I knelt and stroked Philip’s head. He bleated again and nearly knocked me down as he moved closer. He reminded me of the hounds the Cardinal kept, only friendly. Much cuter, too. The same amulet the acolytes wore had been fashioned around his leather collar.
“How did you end up with the A.R.C? You’re not anything like I would expect one of their girls to be.”
“I’m not one of their girls. I wasn’t born there. Quite a few of us aren’t. They separated me and my brother from our father when I was eleven.”
“And your mom?”
I swallowed, stroking the silky end of Philip’s ear. I never spoke about my family. No one ever asked. “She died the day she had me. My father said it was a complicated birth. He took care of me and my brother on his own until the day we found A.R.C.”
“That’s rough.”
I hummed my agreement. Rough was an understatement. They destroyed my life. I purposely left out all the grittier details because I hated thinking about it. Dad hadn’t always raised me and Amo on his own. There were three other people, one I considered a mother.
All of them were dead now. They died weeks before we finally stumbled upon A.R.C. What a mistake that had been.
“Did he leave you there?” Bella asked, her curiosity blatantly obvious.
“They didn’t give him a choice.”
“Then he’s still out—”
“No,” I said, harsher than I intended to. “He’s gone,” I added in a softer tone.
I could still hear the gun going off after he was dragged back through the woods. He’d fought so hard to save us.
“Is he food?” I asked, needing to change the subject.
If she was offended by my tone from moments ago, it didn’t show.
“We don’t name our food,” she laughed. “Though I’d eat him if I had to. He’s my pet.”
Male voices reached me, steadily growing closer. A loud burst of laughter drowning out their words.
“One sec,” Bella said, brushing past me. She disappeared around the corner, leaving me alone.
These people genuinely didn’t think I would escape. Underestimating me had never gone well for anyone. If—when—I decided I wanted out, I’d find my way out.
I looped my fingers through the chain-link fencing and stared at all the land spread out behind the compound.
Philip lingered nearby, pulling at some weeds on the other side of the fence. I blocked out the smell of baking bodies and shut my eyes
, concentrating harder on feeling the slight breeze.
My mind was racing with all the possibilities of what could happen to me.
With a sigh, I unbound my fingers and stepped away from the fence. Bella hadn’t come back yet, but I was tired of standing in one place. It was too damned hot for this.
Even my cage had shade.
I started walking towards the shed-like building, bypassing the dais, crosses, and a decent sized patio.
When I realized I’d have to get closer to the ravine and the acolytes to investigate what the structure was, I changed my mind. Corpses didn’t bother me. Dead people couldn’t do me any harm. The living ones often did. That smell, on the other hand, was sickening.
I turned the corner and bumped right into Luce’s chest. I’d thought he was on the total opposite of the compound.
His hands went to my forearms to steady me, tightening when I tried to push them off. His dark brows narrowed the tiniest bit.
“Where in the fuck did you think you were going?”
“I was just walking.”
A small gasp fell from my mouth as he pulled me forward and turned me, planting my back against the side of the compound.
He let go of my arms and brought a hand to rest beside my head. My eyes dipped to his chest. Seeing he still had on the shirt that was covered in blood, I glanced to my left. Beyond a small fleet of vehicles, all donning the Savage insignia, I spotted Bella, Ice, and Cam watching us from near the front of the building.
I had no idea their cars were kept over here. There were acolytes crawling all over this place, so it wasn’t as if I could hop in one and take it for a spin, but I could see how it would look to catch me heading in their general direction.
“I wasn’t going to run,” I vowed.
“No shit.” He gripped my chin, forcing my attention back to him. “That’s the last thing you’d do.”
He said that with absolute confidence. And he was right. For now. I stared up at him, wondering what would happen next. His eyes delved inside me and prodded at something that’d always been there but had become quiescent.
There was a befuddling static that crackled between us and a progressively magnetic pull that made me want to lean into him. I hoped it was one sided, even if the idea of that was upsetting for reasons I couldn’t yet understand.
Renegades: Badlands Next Generation Page 11