No, no. He won't be that fortunate.
The chanting escalates until the haunting noise radiates off the cave walls. I feel the figure's eyes boring into me. And though they can't see my face either, I return the stare.
Finally, they turn and walk away, disappearing back into the shadows.
My heart thumping heavily in my chest trumps the noise around me. I can't hear anything beyond the racing organ beneath my rib cage until the little girl's screams pierce the air. I've lifted the blade over her, the sharp point hovering right above her chest.
The handle is fisted in my grip. I stick out two fingers, pausing for a few seconds to make sure the signal is seen before tucking them back in.
And then I look down at the girl.
“Close your eyes,” I whisper. “And don’t open them until I tell you to.” Her lip wobbles, but she listens, closing her eyes to the horror that will happen around her.
Gripping the blade tightly, I lift it up and swipe my arm to the left. Directly into the frat boy's throat.
The chanting stutters before stopping completely, gasps ringing out as the boy beside me suffocates on his blood. I jerk the blade out, the suctioning noise swallowed by his choked gasps.
He’s staring at me, eyes wide with disbelief. And then he collapses, no longer capable of holding himself up.
Gunshots ring out. A security guard stationed behind me falls to the ground, his brain matter splattered into the shadows.
That was the trigger. The entire room bursts into action. Panicked screams and running bodies aim for the exit. I don't let Larry make it a step before the curved blade is plundering through his eye. Glasses and everything.
His body convulses, and then collapses when I rip it out of his head, the suctioning noise lost in the chaos.
I look down at frat boy, and watch him take his last breath, the life snuffed out from his eyes. And I smile.
Michael erupts from the shadows, running towards me. When he’s close enough, he flings a gun at me. I snatch the weapon in the air and face the direction the black figure disappeared off into.
Urgency flooding my veins, I glance down at the little girl, her eyes still faithfully closed. Blood is splattered across her body, and I hate that evil still managed to touch her.
Slipping the hood off my face, I lean down over the girl. “Open your eyes, pretty girl. But I want you to look only at me, okay?”
Slowly, she cracks them open. The tears have dried, but her face is still twisted with panic.
“My friend here is going to take care of you. He’s going to make sure you get back to your mommy, okay?”
Immediately, she bursts into tears again. I swipe her blonde hair from her face.
“It’s okay, pretty girl. What I want you to do is keep your eyes on him and only him. Close them if you have to. He’ll let you know when it’s safe.”
“Okay,” she whispers, her little voice cracked.
She nods, and I gently sweep a tear from her face before straightening my spine.
“Take care of the girl,” I order, looking up at Michael. “Ruby should be here, she’ll take care of her and then you come back and help finish this shit off.”
Michael nods while I start towards the area I last saw the black figure disappear. If they really were a part of the Society, then I want them for information.
Screams erupt from the entrance I came in through, followed by more gunshots. One of my men must've let my team in.
Absolute carnage is consuming that cave, but I don't worry about that, trusting that no one that participated in this ceremony will make it out alive. That was a very clear order I made.
This world will be better off without them.
I only make it about ten feet before an explosion blasts through the cave, sending me flying. Time slows as my body hurtles through air, sound becoming inconceivable.
And then it speeds again, and my body is colliding into the stone altar. The oxygen is knocked from my lungs as my back hits the corner of the altar before I collapse to the ground.
Loud ringing reverberates throughout my head, but it’s no louder than a whisper when the pain is deafening.
For seconds, minutes, hours—all I can manage is to lay there as confusion and pain swirl around me.
Groaning, I crack open my eyes, squinting through the dust clouding the area. I can’t hear a goddamn thing, but as the dust settles, the body parts strewn across the place tells me how loud it is.
Bodies are running around chaotically. There’s a man dragging himself towards the steps, one leg completely missing while part of the railing protrudes from his side. He must’ve been on the top floor and gotten blasted through it.
Along with several other people, some of them missing limbs, others just covered in blood and seriously injured. Cradling some part of their body as they process the utter shock of the explosion.
The ringing recedes, and an onslaught of screams filter in.
I groan again, forcing my body into an upright position as I try to figure out what the fuck just happened.
My head is fuzzy and my vision swims, the pain flaring brighter with every movement.
Jesus fucking Christ. What the hell happened?
A person is charging towards me, their tall, lanky body emerging from dust clouds and bloody limbs. Their mouth is open in a shout, and it’s not until they’re nearly a foot in front of me that my eyes process what I’m seeing.
It’s Jay. Why the fuck is Jay here?
He should be behind a computer desk somewhere.
“Zade, dude, are you okay?” Panic etched into every line on his face, and his hazel eyes are rounded with fear as he kneels before me, his hands sweeping over my body to check for injuries.
“The fuck happened?” My head is fucking throbbing, and my back feels damn near broken. “Why are you here?”
“I came as soon as I figured it out. It was a setup. This last video… they knew we were coming… I don’t know how, man. But they purposely leaked the fucking video. It was a fucking setup.”
I’m so focused on Jay’s mouth, slowly trying to process the words coming out of them that the sound of a gun being cocked and the cold press of metal in the back of my head registers too late.
“Glad you could figure that out, Jason Scott. Now let’s see those hands, otherwise this single bullet will find its way in both of your fucking heads.”
Jay looks up at the person standing behind me, his eyes growing impossibly larger.
“You?”
Chapter 42
The Manipulator
“A
re you surprised?" I ask through the phone, twirling the red rose between my fingers. I woke up to Zade gone, and a rose in his place.
My mother sighs. "No, I’m not. It explains a lot about your Nana and her strange attachment to the house."
I'm curled up on the couch watching the news channel, a sense of pride filling my veins as the words Breaking News and Seventy-Five-Year-Old Cold Case Solved.
Daya and I reported our findings to the police early this morning. They spent hours and hours going over our evidence. Still, after verifying the serial number and DNA test results were authentic, they declared Frank Seinburg the man that murdered Genevieve Parsons in cold blood. His motive—unrequited love.
They confiscated the diaries for now, but I made them pinky swear they would give it back. The police officer looked at me like I was unhinged when I physically made him pinky swear. But it made me feel better about parting with the diaries, even if it is temporary.