“I’m thinking of just going in there guns blazing. Unexpectedly. They won’t know what hit them.”
“And if they do know? If they’re waiting on the other side?” I ask, cocking my head and leaning my elbows on my knees. “They’re smarter than you think, Kurr. There’s a reason Beast and Hella were your leading men for so long.”
“True.” He raises his finger. “But that’s also how I know that Beast will be assuming I won’t go against my word and just kill them all.”
“Then what?” I answer. “You don’t even hold that sort of authority to take out a dozen men and leave behind a blood bath. You’ll have to answer to a lot of people, and that’s not how The Army does things. It’s messy.” I throw my ankle over my knee.
“No, but you do. And why are you trying to avoid this?” he asks suspiciously.
I laugh, shaking my head. “I’m not, and the answer is no. There’s a lot at stake here. This is where you have to be diligent.” I stand up. “I’ve got one more thing to do before I head home.”
“You’ve been spending a lot of time outside these gates lately, son.”
“Have you forgotten I have an entire world that I run outside these gates?” I arch my eyebrow before turning on my heel and walking out. I need to find Viking.
“Okay, what’re you doing, man?” Viking asks, pulling on his boots when I walk into his cabin.
“I don’t trust this man.”
“Who? And why would you care enough to not trust him?”
“Because if I don’t trust him, there’s something wrong.”
“Not necessarily,” Viking begins. “You don’t trust anyone.”
“I trust you. I trust Miles. I trust—” I pause, thinking over my next words. “I don’t need you. I’m only asking because I’m thinking it’s been a little dry around here lately, you might need some blood on your hands.”
He nods, pulling on his blue mask. “Yeah, I’ll come.”
“Come where?” Joker steps inside Viking’s cabin.
“Shut the door.” I point to it and he kicks the door closed with his foot.
MILLIE
I’m pulling out deli meat from the fridge when Cassia walks in, her head held high and her face blank. She walks past me, her shoulder knocking into mine.
“What’s your problem?” I ask, closing the fridge and laying everything out on the counter.
“Me?” she bursts. I could tell right away that she was just waiting for me to say something. All the built-up tension and hate that was brewing towards me, from her end, was evident. Anyone could see it.
“Yeah,” I state, placing a piece of meat on my bread. “You.”
She steps forward just as I’m spreading the mayonnaise on. Her hand slams down on the pieces of bread, the mustard and mayo splattering everywhere. “You, bitch. You’re my problem. This? What me and Raze have? This is real.”
I raise my finger to my mouth, my eyes coming up to meet hers as I suck the mayonnaise off with a popping sound. I raise my eyebrows. “And?”
“And?” she bursts. “And he’s fucking mine, so from now on, stay away from him.”
“Mmmm,” I raise my finger just as she’s walking away. “There’s one problem.” I take a massive bite of my sandwich and walk towards her. “He just can’t seem to stay away from me,” I say smugly, muffled by my mouthful.
“Are—?”
“Cassia!” Miles snaps, walking into the kitchen.
I smirk around my next bite. She snarls at me, walking back towards the stairs. I knew this wasn’t over. In fact, I’ve probably opened up a whole new can of crazy when it comes to her.
I turn towards Miles. “You going somewhere?”
He looks at me over his shoulder, straightening his tie. “Yeah, but can I trust that you won’t get into a fight with Mrs. Claws up there?” He nudges his head towards stairs.
“Probably not. Me breathing is a problem for her. Where are you going anyway?”
“I’m meeting Raze.” I pause my chewing briefly. “Oh, where is he?”
Miles smiles, pulling his hair into a man bun at the back of his head. It’s not that long, hanging around his collar, but it looks perfect in a man-bun. “I can’t tell you that, puddin’.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s business, and until you’re wearing a rock on that pretty little finger, you can’t know anything.”
“A rock? Marriage? Not likely,” I scoff, taking another bite into my deliciously crisp and juicy sandwich.
Miles wraps his long fingers behind my neck and pulls my face towards his, pressing a soft kiss on my forehead. “Won’t be long.” He begins walking out of the kitchen when he stops. “Oh and puddin’?”
“Yes?”
“Raze will need special attention tonight. Begin preparing yourself now.”
Then he leaves me there with my empty thoughts.
RAZE
Pushing the mask over my face, Joker drives the van up the curb. The cold stone concrete arches line the outside of the ancient building and the giant clock which sits in the front was only counting down the hours.
“Remind me again why we’re doing this?” Joker asks, looking up at the church.
“Because I said, that’s why.”
“Well, I guess that’s always a valid point,” Joker replies sarcastically.
My hand squeezes on the handle of the van door. “You wanna say that again, Joke?”
He mutters something, pulling his mask down. “Fuck man. Kurr is going to lose his shit when he finds out.”
“He won’t know that it’s us.” I look at Miles who’s working on his laptop, his shoulders square and his glasses on. “Done?”
He continues tapping on the keyboard and then closes his laptop, his eyes beaming with excitement. “Fucking done. Let’s do this shit.”
Joker and Viking begin climbing out of the front seat of the van and I pause, my hand going to Miles’ chest. “Yeah, you’re gonna need to put this on.” I hand him a ski mask.
“What?” He scoffs. “No, man. That’ll fuck up my outfit.”
“Miles…”
He takes off his glasses and pulls his hair out of the bun before pulling on the ski mask. “Fucking, fuck, man.”
“What? You can still wear your glasses.”
“No, no. I fucking can’t because it’ll look fucking stupid.”
“Miles?”
“Yes?”
“Shut the fuck up and get the fuck out of this van before you have no eyes to need those glasses for.”
We both climb out of the van and walk towards Viking and Joker who wait for us. “The fuck took you two so long?”
I ignore Joker. If he gets in my way too much he’ll be added to the body count. You’d think years of us working together I’d be used to him, but I’m not. There are just some people you can never warm up to and Joker is that person for me. Smart fucking mouth, but ruthless. It’s the only reason why I haven’t killed him yet; he’s too much of an asset. Clicking the strap of the semiautomatic around my shoulder, I twist on the scope and push a couple GLOCKs into my jeans for backup, and if I run out of those, I have my fists, which I’ve been told are just as lethal.
We begin shuffling towards the church with the AK propped on my shoulder and my eye peering through the scope. The sun has long since gone down and the air has a distinctive chill that whirls with it. We call it the chill of death; it’s when the adrenaline shoots up and your blood begins pumping faster, spiking your endorphins to all new heights as you wait, fight, and bleed for the love of the kill. I let out a growl, swinging my arms in circles to stretch them out.
Joker lets out a loud wolf howl. “The devils are home, baby!” he says before launching his foot through the heavy wooden door with a loud crack.
A nun who’s walking past the big cross standing proudly in the center of the stage throws up her hands and lets out a scream. I lift my gun and pull the trigger. Pop. She falls to the ground.
“Dude,” Joker says to me with a chuckle. “Why’d you do that?”
“She fucking screamed. You know how much I hate screamers.”
“Oh, really?” Miles smirks from behind me. “Since when?”
“Shut up. Move.” Stepping forward, we continue to the back of the room where the door leads you down a dark hallway, taking you to all the bedrooms which house the nuns. We walk past each room. Every nun that sees us remains quiet, their head hanging between their shoulders.
Miles laughs sadistically as we walk down. “Ladies, keep your mouth shut and you won’t end up with my monster dick shoved in it with a bullet lodged in your brain.”
We’re almost at the end of the long hallway when gunshots ring out in front of us. I lean back against the wall with the boys following suit. Once the shooting stops, I put one foot in front of the other and make my way towards the end where the office door is wide open with no one inside. I look to the left, seeing the way down to the basement and out to the fire exit. I know this because we studied the layout of the church before coming. I nudge my head and aim my gun. Pulling open the door, I step down the steep stairwell, the musky smell of old books and dust floating through the air. A flapping sound comes from the door where the fire exit is and I pick up my pace, taking two steps at a time.
I point back up the stairs. “Joker and King, take the front.”
They quickly shoot back up the stairs as Miles and I run towards the fire exit and out the back alleyway, which is between the church and a concrete two-story house. The alley is dark with a single car parked to the side of the gutter. I pause in my step and look up over my shoulder to one of the three windows, which has a clear view of the alleyway, before looking back.
Images flash in my mind of what Millie would have witnessed from her standing point the night she saw the priest take a nun’s life and what started this particular shitstorm. I point my gun up to the middle window, looking through the scope, then do the same to the remaining two windows before lowering it.
“You done?” Miles asks.
“Yeah, let’s go. He can’t be far. He’s probably holed up in that house and already calling backup.”
“Or worse,” Miles says. “He could be calling Kurr.”
“I have a solid reason as to why we’re here, that Kurr won’t second guess, if that happens.”
My heavy combat boots press on the loose gravel as we make our way down to the end of the alleyway. Once we reach the end, I look left and then right. Right is a dead end, and the left takes you back where we came.
A loud gunshot reverberates through the atmosphere and every hair on my skin stands to life as my feet pick up and bolt towards it. Miles and I round the corner to find Joker holding his pistol to the kneeling priest’s head.
Joker cocks his head at me. “The fucker bit me. Tell me I can at least put another bullet in him.”
I smirk and walk towards them. Kneeling down, I drop my face to the priest’s ear. “You lose, priest, and you put your filthy hands on my woman.”
He looks up at me under his blood-smeared forehead. “Who?”
I chuckle, bending down to his level and unclipping the switchblade that is secured around my ankle. “Who do you think, David?”
“Oh, he’s a natural fucking idiot,” Joker laughs in a high-pitched tone.
“Pull him up. We can take him into the house.”
Joker pulls David to his feet and I shove him forward. “Move.” We continue to walk him towards the old brick house that sits near the church. I stop and look over my shoulder, inching my head back to the church. “Yo, how theatrical do you all feel?” All the boys stop and turn towards me before looking over my shoulder to the church. Miles chuckles devilishly. “Because it’s Millie? Very fucking theatrical.”
Pushing David down onto his knees in front of the heavy large wooden cross has my skin itching and my fangs twitching. I am thirsty. I want his blood and I want it now. Seeing him manhandle Millie that day started my thirst. Fucker is lucky I let him walk free for this long.
Flicking my switchblade between my fingers, I cock my head down at the pitiful piece of shit kneeling in front of me. “Hmmmmm…” I look around the room and then look over to Joker.
“What’re you thinking, boss?”
Just as he says that, an idea clicks in my head. Chuckling, I put my palm out to him. “I need all your knives.”
Joker pauses along with Miles and Viking.
I snap my head up to them. “Now.”
Each of them pull out a knife and hands it to me. I kneel back down to David and smirk, though he can’t see it. Bringing the point of my blade up under his chin, I tilt his head up.
“You’re fucking lucky you’ve been breathing this long.”
“Come on, man.” Joker itches beside me. “We don’t have much time and I wanna see some blood. Stop toying with our soul food.”
I chuckle, pressing the tip of the blade into David’s chin deeper until blood slowly trickles down the shiny silver blade and onto my hand. “Get him up.”
David breathes heavily. “You won’t get away with this, Raze. You think you’re God!” He roars as Joker and Viking pull him up to his feet and walk him towards the crucifix.
I crank my neck and swing my arms around before turning around to face him. “Those your last words?”
He snaps his mouth shut as Miles walks to the side of the little platform and pulls out a ladder, pushing it against the crucifix. David’s head turns to see what Miles is doing before he looks back at me, shaking his head vigorously as realization set in.