Badlands: Next Generation Collection, page 40
That realization had a burst of anger flaring within me. I was disgusted that someone could do this to another human being.
It didn’t take away from his attractiveness in the slightest. Like Luce, he had a unique beauty that was all his own.
I knew my attempt to be discreet had failed, but he didn’t point out my ogling. He gave me a friendly smile that was hard not to return.
“Are you hungry?”
“Yes,” I replied before he could finish asking. I was beyond the point of hunger by this point.
The ache in my stomach had ceased and left behind a steady pang.
“Follow me.” He walked away without checking to see if I did as he asked. I was near desperate to have something of substance—he didn’t need to worry.
Whatever he had on kept trickling to my nose, the smell reminding me of honey.
I took in my surroundings as we returned to the lower level. I wouldn’t go as far as calling the place a house. The shape was all wrong, and I remembered what the exterior looked like from the night before.
It could’ve been a factory, but it wasn’t quite that industrialized. Wherever I’d been brought, the building was well maintained and full of nice furnishings. The air was cool as well, another exuberant and rare luxury for most. This coupled with the room containing various goods had my desire to know who these people were magnifying.
As we bypassed a black circular couch, there was a painting on the floor in front of it impossible not to notice. A bold red Baphomet was encased in the same type of pentagram that was hanging on one of the walls.
The symbol painted on the front door of the farm came back to me.
“This was at that house.”
“Yeah. My dad tagged it years ago. We’ve freshened it up a few times since.”
“What does it stand for?”
“It’s a key part of our faction,” Cam explained.
“Demons?”
“I guess we’re something like demons. We do follow a devil.”
A devil. Not the devil.
So they weren’t Lazarus. I should’ve known that by now. That group was extremely secretive with their whereabouts. I doubt they brought in many random outsiders. Besides, Samael had his own revered nickname.
What confused me was the tattoo beneath their eyes being nearly the same.
No wonder his had looked so familiar. Most factions wanted to be unique and stand out amongst the others. The Lazarus now had double insignias similar to two other factions. I was tempted to ask him about it but then thought it better to keep my mouth shut.
Who knew what asking questions would get me or potentially disclose? Cam seemed much friendlier than Luce, but that didn’t mean anything. A friendly face didn’t make the person wearing it harmless or innocent.
“Have a seat.” Cam gestured to a long table, continuing to the kitchen. “Is there anything you don’t like? Allergies?” he asked, pulling open the fridge.
“Whatever you have is fine.” I appreciated the question, but I wasn’t about to get choosey.
He leaned back so he could see me.
“I asked you if there was something you didn’t like.”
“Ghee,” I replied, pulling out one of the high-backed chairs.
“Don’t blame you for that. I have to say, that is some nasty ass shit.” He made a face and then started pulling things out of the fridge. I watched him pour something into a dish and then place it in a microwave above his stove. When he glanced over and caught me staring, I quickly looked away.
After a few minutes he sat a bowl in front of me along with a glass of water.
I stared down, trying to decipher what is was. A delicious aroma emanated from the steam and made my mouth water. A portion of white rice was piled neatly on cubed meat sitting in brown broth.
Chunks of what I dared say were cooked apples were evident too.
“Taste it,” Cam implored.
Never one to turn down food, I lifted my spoon and scooped up a sample portion, blowing on it before putting it in my mouth. Flavor exploded on my taste buds. The meat itself was spiced, tender and juicy. I knew right away this was lamb. A gamey texture became distinguishable as I chewed.
“You like?”
I nodded around my bite, ready to pitch the spoon and chug down the contents of my bowl.
“It’s sweet lamb curry,” Cam said, pulling out the chair two seats down from mine. “My mom makes a fresh batch every two weeks.”
“How?” I questioned once I’d swallowed another bite.
Lambs weren’t just walking around to be poached and eaten. “Where is the meat coming from?”
“A few places, but the largest set-up is in Centriole,” he replied proudly.
I combed through my mind, trying to remember what that was. I’d heard of this place in my lessons. When the answer popped into my head, I instantly sat my spoon down.
“The fallen kingdom?”
He leaned back in his chair and gnawed his lower lip. “I forgot people called it that.”
“Are you a—”
The sound of a door slamming shut cut me off. I glanced over my shoulder to see Luce coming in from outside. He headed straight for us. If swaggering was a person, it would look like him. Effortless and natural. His confidence was unmistakable.
When he reached us, he whispered something in Cam’s ear before rounding to the other side of the table. Whatever he’d said had Cam looking between the two of us with furrowed brows.
Luce pulled out a chair directly across from me. As soon as he sat, our gazes collided, locking together. His eyes, so black and deep, felt as if they were sucking me in with a magnetic force.
Their tattoos and the symbol on the fabric hanging behind him drove home exactly the kind of person I was sitting across from. How I’d missed this was beyond me. The woman from the farmhouse had practically given me the answer when she asked if I was one.
I couldn’t quite pinpoint the emotion this evoked.
As Lucifuge continued to stare, my mouth ran dry and my stomach flipped in an unfamiliar way. I reached for my glass of water, needing something to wet my throat.
He leaned forward and propped his elbows on the table. “You know who we are,” he stated matter-of-factly.
How did he pick up on that so fast? I swallowed and nodded, placing the glass back down.
“Good. You can help me get us on even ground then. What does A.R.C stand for?”
Wow. He’d meant it quite literally when he said he’d have all the answers he needed when I saw him again. This guy… I knew he was going to be an issue, but not to such an extent. Luce was the exact kind of trouble I didn’t want. A Savage of all things.
I had heard so much about them. Now knowing where I was, and knowing him, I wasn’t sure what percentage of that information was true or false. I’d wager the merciless part was accurate.
This situation called for impassivity. Luckily for me, that was a skillset I’d honed years ago. Seeing as he already knew I was associated with A.R.C and Cam probably did as well, I wasn’t going to dance around his question too much.
Our factions were not fans of one another, and I’d be damned if I was going to have my life snuffed out or be tortured because of those assholes.
I sat higher and clasped my hands on my lap, never breaking eye contact. “Atone. Relinquish. Commit. On Sinful Sundays and usually two or three times a month, the commitment part is replaced with cleanse.”
“The fuck does it mean to cleanse?”
“They shoot you in the head and set you on fire. It supposedly relieves your soul of all its tainted burdens and sets you free.”
“What the fuck?” Cam muttered. “Then what are you committing to?”
“Our divine and sacred doctrine.”
Luce smirked. “I take it that’s the diary of fantastical bullshit created by the dumb fuck who preaches out of his ass and calls himself Cardinal?”
My laugh was unexpected enough that I myself was caught off guard by it. I’d referred to him almost the exact same way more than a few times.
Luce’s face reverted to a blank mask as he shifted in his chair. Beneath his stare, my face warmed the way it had when I was inside the enclosure.
What sounded like a chuckle came from Cam. When I glanced over, he covered it up with a cough.
The two of them looked at one another and did that silent communication thing. If I weren’t the topic of their muted conversation, I wouldn’t have been bothered by not knowing what it was they were saying.
I’d spoken with my girls the same way. When words couldn’t be used, getting your point across could always be accomplished in other ways. This came with a level of trust and knowing the person you were dealing with. I didn’t know them from a hole in the wall, but I was inexplicably drawn to them as if I did. This was not a good thing.
“What are you going to do with me?” I asked boldly, interrupting whatever it was they had going on.
“I told you that already,” Luce replied.
“By the way, my acolytes have heard through the grapevine that some men in uniforms are searching for a girl that almost matched your description. I believe the word ‘psychotic’ was tossed around. But that’s not you, is it?”
My face almost slipped into a scowl. Goddamn Hendrix! He was the only person to ever call me that. It must have been him overseeing the search.
“I’m not psychotic.”
“Are you sure?” Cam asked.
I pulled my gaze from Luce’s and turned my head towards him. “I’m not.”
“What are you then?” came from Luce.
The way they were speaking to me needled at my skin. I didn’t care for their tones.
“What I am is sick of dealing with boys and their fragile masculinity,” I snapped at him.
Luce grinned, brandishing a remarkable shade of white, straight teeth. Realizing he’d wanted a rise out of me all along, I silently railed at myself and took a quiet breath before speaking again.
“I do what I have to in order to survive. I’ve never hurt someone who didn’t deserve everything they got.”
When neither spoke, I glanced between them and took in their obscured expressions. Without any warning, they stood up. Luce pushed his chair in, signaling that he was going to step away from the table.
“You didn’t say what you were going to do with me.”
“We already had that discussion. You need to start listening, because I don’t like repeating myself.”
We hadn’t talked about it.
He’d mentioned keeping me. There was never a confirmation that he would. I didn’t want to be kept, but my desire to never return to the asylum outweighed anything else. I couldn’t risk being outside of this place right now.
Having confirmation of who they were, I knew I was safe from Hendrix and his guerillas as long as I was here. They wouldn’t dare go against the Savages. The rest I could figure out later.
“Do you want me to go back to my cage?” I hoped he said no.
“Cage?” Cam echoed. “You mean the—”
“I want you to keep your ass at this table and finish your food.” Luce cut him off with a look I couldn’t decipher.
With a nod of his head, they both walked away.
“You better be right there when I come back,” Luce tossed over his shoulder.
His warning wasn’t necessary. Where did he expect me to go? We both knew I wasn’t leaving here unless he wanted me to, or I came up with an elaborate escape plan that would get me thousands of miles away from all this.
Once they disappeared up the stairs that led to the second level, I returned my attention to the curry. I was too hungry to waste it. I ate slow so I wouldn’t get sick, my mind working the entire time.
It dawned on me that Luce hadn’t said my real name. That could only mean one of two things. He either hadn’t gotten this piece of information yet, which I doubted was the case, or he was waiting to divulge it for his own reasons. I could only wish to know what those might be.
With someone like him, I’d never have an answer until he wanted me to.
CHAPTER TEN
A cage.
That wasn’t a simple slip of the tongue or smartass remark. She hadn’t tried to play it off as one either.
She’d been locked away; I’d already assumed something like that from how calm she was about being put in the kennel the other night. Everyone else always begged or pleaded to be set free.
When that didn’t work, they cried or tried to climb out.
The frequency with which it had to have occurred for her to so casually ask if she should return didn’t sit right with me. Neither did all the scars littering her body. Some were old while a few were so new the flesh was still healing.
I wasn’t blind. I saw more than the average person did, but these couldn’t be missed. Common sense dictated to shut the fuck up about them. Like I said, timing was everything.
My anger wasn’t as confusing as this foreign urge to be close to someone I’d just met. It was entirely out of character for me. I didn’t know how to begin explaining it. We’d barely touched one another, hardly spoken more than a few sentences.
I was attracted to her. Any man with two eyes would be.
She was beautiful filthy. Cleaned up she was even more. But this went deeper than vanity or getting my dick wet. I’d been trying to pinpoint what the allure was since she ran into my chest.
I’d brought all this upon myself. I asked for excitement and Satanas delivered that shit on a steaming silver platter. It wasn’t what I’d had in mind, but I wasn’t going to complain.
Fuck that.
This was better than anything I could have sat around and thought up randomly.
“You trained them well,” Cam said.
He was referring to me whispering that the acolytes had found what I was looking for. They brought me two key pieces of information, one being the body of a girl who’d been shot. It was currently being disposed of.
“They became what they wanted to be.” I shrugged.
Our acolytes were human like us. They wanted the ability to thrive in a world of turmoil. The Savage culture gave them that and so much more. Our black cult religion saved twice as many lives as it took.
We gave a home to the outcasts and those labeled as degenerates. I’d recruited many of these people, put endless hours into making sure the next generation had loyal followers for years to come. Those numbers combined with the ones that were left after my father finished weeding out the bad seeds gave us a goddamn army.
The Venom alliance would quadruple that. And the people who stood against us, choosing to judge and misunderstand without taking a moment to learn who we were?
Fuck em.
It would be their corpses rotting in the hot ass sun.
“Are you going to tell me what this discussion you two had was about?” Cam asked.
“Do you want to go first?”
He grew quiet as we ascended the stairs. For once, I wasn’t apologetic about asking outright.
If he told me anything Butcher might have let slip, we could have potentially used it to find Lilith.
“It ain’t the way you’re thinking of it.”
“And how is that?”
“What he told me was like everything else. A bunch of empty words to make his pain stop. If I had the smallest inclination of where Lilly was, you’d be the first to know. I want her back more than anything.”
The emotion in his voice made me want to kill Butcher myself.
Cam had always been the good guy with a sketchy moral compass. He’d done a superb job of keeping all his shit locked up tight. It hadn’t been a healthy coping mechanism. I knew that firsthand. I was the one who found him half-dead a few weeks after we got here in a mess of his own blood.
That’s why I didn’t mind him beginning to unravel. If he needed to feed his demons, I’d happily bring him some prey.
Betrayal was a bitter pill for all of us to swallow. Betrayal coming from someone you’d willingly take a bullet for felt as if they’d been the one to pull the trigger. That made this whole situation and the damage it’d caused a real sonofabitch to try and figure out.
I wanted to make everything better but didn’t know how.
We each dealt with things in our own way. I had to play my role from the top and the outside looking in. I did my best to understand everyone’s point of view. Cam’s was always one of the hardest, which was to be expected.
I kept things from my sisters to keep them protected, not to plot against them. I would carve out my heart before I ever hurt Addy or Bella.
If I did something on the scale Butcher had, my dad would make me regret it for the rest of my painfully short life. There was no doubt in my mind, he would annihilate me.
To disrespect him or our religion in any manner was flirting with death, but hurting my mother would offend him to the highest degree. It’d be over for me before I could so much as blink.
“She’ll be okay.”
I wouldn’t say we’d get her back. I had no definite proof of that. I wasn’t someone who soothed a wound with lies. I paused a few feet away from the room Bella was in, turning to answer Cam’s previous question before we entered.
“As of now, I’m keeping her.”
If he was surprised, he didn’t show it. “Are you sure that’s the right move?”
“What do you suggest?”
“I’m not saying don’t keep her, but I know you, and having one girl around has never worked out. You’re not exactly a relationship kind of guy.”
He had a good point, but it was easily debunked.
For one, I was picky as fuck about who I shared myself with. I could have any woman I wanted beneath me, but easy pussy wasn’t always good pussy.
I had standards. Going around and smashing anything for the hell of it sounded like an STD waiting to happen. I was good on all that.
For two, Star wasn’t any of those girls. If she were, we’d have fucked the same night she got here.
Thirdly, and this wasn’t really a point but still something to clarify, I didn’t usually find my flings while doing perimeter checks.
I repeated all of this to him.
