Badlands: Next Generation Collection, page 30
Ace was gone, and the only positive I could make out of his demise was that he no longer had to suffer in silence like the rest of us. He was free from the hell we called the Badlands.
I couldn’t pinpoint why Ace’s death was bothering me on the level it was. I barely knew the kid, but it sure as shit put some things into perspective.
Nothing in life was guaranteed. Things could change in the matter of a few seconds. That mutilated body could have been any one of us but, as long as I was around, it would never be Nyx.
As if she knew where my thoughts had gone, her soft touch traveled down my wrist to my hand, dainty fingers threading through mine. Neither of us said anything or looked down to acknowledge the gesture, but I made sure her hand wouldn’t slip away from mine.
“There’s no sign of life here,” she said, drawing me out of my head.
“Not a single house has a light on,” Addy added, “Do you think there’s no power in this area?”
“Could be possible, but look.” Zane pointed upward, bringing attention to the fact the street lights were on.
“So it’s possible Darrian gave a false lead?” Trix checked.
“Why would she do that?”
“Because she’s a woman, and we’re sometimes known to be slightly psychotic when it comes to the men we love,” Addy answered confidently.
“You were psychotic before I met you.” Zane laughed. “And that makes no sense. Why would she switch sides?”
“She said we were slightly psychotic, not that we weren’t impartial to making shitty ass decisions,” Nyx replied. “Think about it: Darrian has been alive this entire time, but Ace is suddenly dead. Those wounds on his face were fresh and his body had not been in that pot very long,” she continued, saying verbatim what I had started to think since we left the farm.
“Sounds a little sketchy, Z,” Trix said.
“It does,” he mused. “If one of you could have brought this up before I left Greer alone with her, it would have been appreciated.”
“Greer isn’t stupid. He would have noticed it. Worst case scenario: he’ll kill the bitch before we do if she tries anything.”
Nyx looked up at me and smiled. “That sounds like a best case scenario.”
I wouldn’t disagree with that if this all panned out how we were thinking. I was more concerned about this lead having come from her, though. Who knew what we were walking into.
This neighborhood reminded me of the last gated community we were in, only nicer. These houses weren’t so invasively close together, and the lake didn’t smell like a cesspool.
“Do you think people live in any of these?” Nyx asked, glancing over at me.
“Maybe a few; some of these houses are definitely being looked after, but others are in bad shape.”
“He’s right—look at those two.” Addy pointed towards two stuccos with overgrown lawns. One had a busted front window.
We came up on a street that split off in three separate directions, leaving us with the option to go straight, left, or right.
Zane came to a stop and sighed. “How are we supposed to figure out which house is this Cardinal asshole’s?”
“If A-R-C is supposed to be religious, then I’m guessing the one with the giant cross in its front yard.”
Eight eyes followed Nyx’s stare to the left, and there, caddy-cornered, partially hidden by an old oak tree, was an off-white house with a cross in its front yard.
“How the fuck did we miss that?”
“All the lights are off, so I’m guessing that means our mystery man isn’t home,” Zane said. A moment later, he added, “Let’s go.”
With a set destination, we moved a bit quicker, making our way through the silent neighborhood.
“This is not the nicest house in the area,” Addy quipped once we reached it, eyeing the split level from the road.
It had vines going across its front window, in major need of a trim. There was wood sticking out of the ground where a mailbox had been.
The driveway was full of cracks with weeds sprouting between them. Dirt was caked all over a once white front door. The cross seemed to be the only cared for part of the property.
“I got to agree with you, Addy. This place looks like shit.”
“You say that about every house,” Zane replied.
“Not ours.”
“It doesn’t look like it has a security system activated,” Trix pointed out.
“That’s not normal, is it?” Nyx questioned. “If he’s so important, why wouldn’t he have some type of safeguard?”
“To be fair, Darrian never said he was important, just that some deal he made with the Stags was. We don’t know what the fuck this is all about yet.”
“True,” Zane said. “Trix, you wanna give the door a try?”
“Give me a second,” she replied, jogging up the driveway.
“Don’t you think this has all been a little too—?”
Trix came jogging back up to us not a second later, slightly shaking her head. “That door’s not locked, opens right up.”
“See, easy,” Addy finished Nyx’s sentence. "This has all been too easy.”
I agreed with that too, but I wasn’t going to jump to any conclusions without thoroughly running each scenario through my mind.
“I have a theory,” Zane began, “but to prove it, we need to go inside.”
“That doesn’t seem like the brightest idea,” Nyx replied. “It feels like a trap.”
“Or a clue,” I tossed out.
“An unlocked door is a clue?” Addy asked.
“Hasn’t everything been? Nothing up to this point has been hard to accomplish or severely life threatening.”
Staring up at the house, I knew we had to go inside. Or more, I felt as if someone wanted us to go inside. The only real question was, why?
Something flew overhead, landing on the house’s center peak. Charon. A soft caw and tilt of his head seemed to ask, What are you waiting for?
Chapter Twelve
doce
I took a step forward and was immediately halted by a strong hand wrapping around my forearm.
Arching a brow, I looked from his hand to his face. “What are you doing?”
“You should let us check it out first. To make sure it’s safe.”
“Excellent idea; be a good girl and wait with them,” Zane directed at Addy.
“Safe? Do you not know where we live? Being out here is just as unsafe as whatever is lurking in that house.”
“Fuck, Nyx. Just…please?”
I glanced at Addy to see what she wanted to do. She gave me a shrug. “It’s a losing battle, babe.” She huffed out a breath and wrapped her arms around Zane’s middle. “Just don’t go in there and die.”
“And leave my princess? Never.”
I looked over at Maliki, being met with a smug expression. Ugh, this man.
“You’re lucky I’m occasionally beginning to adore you,” I relented.
He grinned, flashing his pearly whites. “Babygirl, you always adore me.”
I would have protested, but his lips sealed over mine, and then he was gone, moving up the driveway with Zane.
Trix sighed wistfully and wrapped her arms around Addy and I, pulling us closer together.
“What are you doing?” I asked once our boys disappeared inside.
“I’m just glad everyone has gotten their shit together enough to let love win.”
“I guess it’s your turn then, huh?”
“Girl, no.”
“We’re totally going to find you a pretty lil woman to love on,” Addy intoned.
I wanted to ask what the issue had been with her and Zane, but they seemed to have worked it out for the time being. Trix was not someone I would be having that discussion in front of. I trusted her to have my back, not keep a secret.
After a few more minutes of standing on the curb, Zane and Maliki reappeared, waving us forward.
We headed up the drive, up the steps, and entered the house, shutting and locking the door behind us.
“Whoa,” I mumbled, looking around.
The place was freakishly clean and much nicer on the inside than the out. Not a single speck of dust or lint lingered anywhere in sight. Whoever had furnished it made sure that they had the best of the best.
“That’s gorgeous,” Addy sighed, staring up at the chandelier above us.
“We have those, too.”
“Ours are dark and satanic. This one is glass,” she retorted. “You find anything?” she asked Zane and Maliki.
“We didn’t do an extensive search; we just wanted to make sure it was clear. But, there is something you should see.” Zane grabbed her hand and led her past the staircase centered in the foyer.
“Come on.” Maliki nodded after them.
We followed, going down a hall that ended with a door straight ahead and another on the right. One was as regular as a door could be; the other was affixed with a thick black lock, some kind I had never seen before.
“The only way past that is to break the door down,” Maliki explained.
“So what’s stopping you?” Trix asked.
“I was getting to that. If we break it down and there does happen to be some alarm, I would assume this would trigger it. Maybe we should search the rest of the house first.”
“No,” Addy objected. “That could be a waste of time, and we have no idea when whoever lives here is coming back and with whom. We need to get in this room first, and then if we have time, we search.”
I nodded in agreement. “No one puts a lock on something unless they’ve got something to protect or something to hide.”
“All right then.” Zane rolled his shoulders. “Clear the area.”
“Seriously?”
We stepped back, giving him ample room to get to the door without drop kicking us in the process.
There was a loud bang as his boot met the wood, splintering it. His second kick knocked the entire thing damn near off its hinges. He and Maliki used their hands for the rest, pulling the door apart chunk by chunk until a section around the lock remained.
If there was an alarm, it was silent, because nothing happened. No beep, click, whir—nothing.
“Holy shit,” Zane muttered, stepping into the room. “Come here, princess.” He held a hand out, helping Addy over the last pieces of wood.
Trix went, and I trailed after with Maliki’s urging. He stepped through behind me, resting a hand on my hip.
“Think they were protecting whatever is in here or hiding it?” Maliki asked.
“Both,” Addy and I answered at the same time.
I wasn’t sure what to make of all we were seeing. There was a large circular desk with three monitors atop it, all powered on and set with a screensaver of a weeping angel with a cross behind her.
On the wall the desk was facing was a projector screen with the word A.R.C displayed in green letters. Bookshelves lined one wall behind a roundtable that was littered with papers.
A brown leather couch faced the opposite direction of the desk. A coffee table with magazines, a remote, and a flat television sat in front of it.
We wandered over to the computer station and woke the center one up, causing the projector screen to change along with it.
“Password protected,” Trix announced once all three computers had been tampered with.
That wasn’t surprising, but… “So this room was locked, these computers are password protected, the house is insanely clean which means this Cardinal guy gives a damn about it, but then he forgets to lock the front door?”
“I think someone wanted us here, and to find this room,” Maliki said.
Addy crossed her arms and smothered a yawn. “Even if all that is true, how were we supposed to get into the system? Does anyone know how to hack?”
“Ice does,” came from the partial doorway.
In one defensive motion, we turned to see who had arrived.
A disbelieving laugh bubbled out when I saw his face.
“What the hell, Luce,” Addy snapped. “What are you doing here? How did you get in here?”
“I wanna know how his ass knew where we were,” Trix voiced.
Luce grinned at us before stepping through the doorway, a man with dark blonde hair following after him. I knew Ice from around the compound. He had always been one of Lucifuge’s go-to confidants, a lone wolf if ever there was one.
“I’m here to check on my baby sis and little cuz.”
I scoffed. “We’re older than you.”
“Numbers mean nothing,” he joked, holding his arms out for a hug.
Pretending I was reluctant, I dragged my feet forward and embraced him. I was happy to see him.
It felt like forever since we’d been home. Aside from missing the hell out of my parents, he was the next best thing.
I stepped back and caught the strong scent of gas. “What did you do, roll around in a tub of diesel?”
“Naw, Ice and I paid a visit to a farm.”
There wasn’t a need to ask which farm, so I simply asked, “And then?”
“We had ourselves a good old-fashioned bonfire,” Ice answered, his southern accent full of amusement.
I shook my head at the two of them. They’d burned the Stiles Farm down and more than likely had some fun with the remaining cannibals.
“I want to know even more now how you knew where we were and what’s going on,” Addy demanded.
She accepted her brother’s hug, and then stood by as he did the manly handshake with Maliki, Zane, and even Trix.
“This is Ice. He’s been with me since things went to shit,” he introduced the blonde and then turned to address us as a whole.
“The SUV has a tracker on it; our parents made sure of that before sending our most precious cargo off into the world. Up until a few days ago, you had four acolytes trailing you. They’re all dead now.
“I’ve been on your asses ever since, staying a few paces behind. That is, until I got a call from your Latino friend. He filled me in and spilled his distrust for an old friend of the Venom. I’ve got Bryce on his way to him, and you bunch get my assistance.”
Um…
I took a few seconds to process his words, looking to Addy. “Are you not as surprised as I am?”
“I’m super underwhelmed actually. We should have known this one would be on top of things,—our dads, too.”
I shrugged and moved back to the comfort of Maliki. Luce was Luce. Uncle Romero had wanted to replicate himself minus all the fucked up shit he had to go through, and he had exceeded even his own expectations. His protégé was exactly the kind of person the Badlands needed to run it.
Lucifuge was a Savage to the core, a lethal prince just waiting for his turn on the devil’s throne. He hid it well, too. Beneath his charm and easy demeanor lurked something I never wanted to meet. But, he was my cousin, and for all his secrets and sins, I loved him.
“Ice,” he said, gesturing to the computers.
We moved out of his way so he could get to the chair.
Sitting down, he pulled something out of his pocket and plugged it into the main computer’s USB port.
“I’m gonna copy all I find once I’m in,” he explained, tapping a few keys on the keyboard. “This could take a minute. Might want to get comfy.”
Great. More time to sit around and wait.
“I’m going to look through those papers.” Addy smothered another yawn and went to claim a chair by the round table.
“I’m hungry as hell. You can find me in this asshole’s kitchen, throwing us something together,” Trix announced, heading out of the room. Just before she exited, she stopped beside Luce and asked, “How did you get in here?”
“That’s a secret. Just know that I can get into anywhere. It’s locked down, though. No one is coming in without me knowing, if you were scared.”
She glared at him and continued on her way.
He, Zane, and Maliki crowded around the computers as Ice worked, leaving me unsure what to do with myself.
I looked around the room. Addy seemed to have the paper thing under control, Trix was a hands-on chef who would be annoyed if I got in her way.
With no better solution, I walked around the leather couch and plopped down, grabbing the remote in the process.
“Let’s see what you’ve been watching,” I mumbled to myself.
I hit the power button, confusion setting in when I realized the TV had never been off, its screen had just timed out. Powering it back on revealed whatever someone had been watching last was paused.
Hitting play, a video began, something that had been recorded with a camcorder.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up at the sight of a young girl, maybe ten or eleven at most, in a see-through white night-gown sitting on the edge of a bed with a man older than my father at her side.
Her hair was something between auburn and golden brown, flowing in waves to her waist, skin pale and slightly freckled. Her round eyes were the color of pewter and would have been beautiful if they weren’t so empty.
She looked like a lifeless doll. I turned the volume up to hear what was being said, and I immediately regretted it.
“Do you know why the sheets are white?”
A small nod. “Yes, Cardinal.”
“Are you afraid?”
A shake of her head. “My body and my life belong to the A.R.C. To be chosen for a Stag is an honor. There is nothing to be afraid of. I am thankful.”
“What the fuck?” Zane voiced.
“Very good. Now, move to the center of the bed and present yourself like your mother taught you.”
“No,” I objected as if I were in the room.
Maliki’s hand was suddenly reaching over my shoulder and turning the television off. “I think I speak for all of us when I say no one in here needs to see the rest of this video.”
“What the fuck was that?” Addy asked, rising from her spot at the table.
“The video was time-stamped,” Ice supplied. “Seven years ago.”
“So then the A.R.C isn’t new?” My question was rhetorical; the proof was right in front of me.
“So the sick fuck just likes to reminisce?” I stood from the sofa and took a deep breath, trying to settle my revolting stomach.
