Either way, they were irrelevant. Proselytes tended to stay away from here until it was time to remove one. That’s what made this area of the lodge site the best possible place to meet up and talk our plan through.
I chewed my lower lip, trying to remember the layout of the Badlands. Approaching random factions wasn’t an option, and we couldn’t wander around with no destination in mind. That would be just as suicidal.
It was bad enough none of us knew how extensive the Stag-Lazarus faction’s reach had become since being sequestered away.
“Give me a bit more time to think, okay? I need to go meet Samael before he sends his firing squad to find me.”
“Okay, but not much. We’ve already put this off twice. If this pans out, tomorrow is our chance to really make a break for it,” Kara pointed out.
“You’re Blue’s daughter, right?”
My reply to Takara died on my lips. We shared a look between the three of us and then turned our heads towards the pen closest to us. Now this person had my attention. I hadn’t heard Mom’s nickname in Satanas knows how long.
A middle-aged guy with messy brown hair stood away from all the other people that had been shoved inside, watching us closely.
He couldn’t have been here too long, because he was relatively clean and seemed to be sane.
“How do you know that?” Poet shifted in front of me, protectively.
I peered around his massive form, curious about what the guy was going to say.
He held up both his hands defensively and offered a smile. “It wasn’t that hard to figure out. Cameron was very descriptive.”
“You know Cam?” My heart clenched at the mention of my big brother.
“I know a few things that I think would be a big help to you.”
By his tone, he wasn’t going to simply give this information freely, which was to be expected. If I were in his position and had something to bargain with, I would’ve done the same. There wasn’t much I could give this guy in exchange, though.
“Go meet Samael,” Poet ordered, his protective side rearing its head. “I’ll deal with this.”
I was reluctant to leave him alone. Not because he couldn’t handle himself or that I thought this man could bust out of the pen, but I wanted to hear what he had to say. Alas, I couldn’t risk Samael or one of his puppets catching me speaking to him. That wouldn’t go over well.
“Come on, boo,” Takara urged softly, taking hold of my hand to lead me away.
I went without further delay. I trusted Poet to get any answers he could.
“You think he was being honest?” Takara asked once we’d put some distance between us.
I lifted both shoulders in a shrug. “He knew my brother’s name, but that doesn’t mean anything. Everyone knows who he is…”
My mind drifted to the last time I saw my big brother in the flesh. I was sitting on bleachers inside an old gym. Cam had no idea I was there. I’d been in full-on Stag gear to keep myself hidden.
If he’d known how close we were, the meet would’ve turned into a bloodbath. Belladonna and her brother had been there too, along with Amo’s sister.
I couldn’t speak. I wasn’t to give any indication that I was in the room. It was the term Samael made me agree to when he allowed me to go with them that day. That had been so long ago, right before we relocated to the lodging site.
Just as I was careful with my words, the proselytes were the same. They only allowed trivial pieces of information to slip. I had no real way of knowing how my family was until I made it back to them. All I knew for certain was that I’d already lost one brother, Cam’s twin.
I wanted to blame so many people for his destruction, but I had to face the music. Braxton’s choices were his own, leaving me with only him to blame for what I knew of what went down.
He’d coveted everything Samael and Amo had accumulated. He resented Cam for reasons I had yet to figure out. His poor decisions led to him betraying both factions and eventually his inevitable downfall. With what we were about to attempt to pull off, I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d soon be joining him in the afterlife.
As Takara and I drew closer to the pits, the sound of screaming had my mind snapping back to reality. I slowed but didn’t stop walking. The screams had a rawness to them. Whoever was suffering to an extent that they released such a sound was clearly being consumed by pain.
This wasn’t anything unusual to hear around here, but I didn’t like that they were coming from the direction we were heading.
Couldn’t be a coincidence.
The stench of burnt flesh was evident as well. I assumed this had come from Jim’s body being disposed of. There was no way he made it through last night alive.
“I can only imagine what we’re about to see,” Takara said.
“With Mal, one can never be sure.”
We took the same path I had the night before. The area was known as the ‘pits’ because of the shallow ditches dug beneath every bonfire set up.
“Looks like the whole crew is here,” Takara noted as we came around the final bend.
“I guess it’s our lucky day.” My eyes skimmed over Aurora, Dawn, and Samael.
Three other proselytes were all a respectable distance away from the scene currently playing out.
“Isn’t that the new guy?”
I didn’t answer her. I charged across the clearing and got right in Amo’s face before he could swing the sledgehammer held tightly within his hands. I shoved his chest hard enough that he was forced to take a step away from Mack.
I’d been so focused on us piecing together an efficient exit strategy, I’d nearly forgotten all about this guy. He wasn’t at the top of my list of things to worry about. Still, I should’ve known something like this would happen. Seeing him on the ground, helpless, his hands held up to ward Amo off, was infuriating.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Amo grinned, showing two rows of teeth I was seconds away from knocking down his throat.
His gaze moved to the person now standing behind me.
I didn’t need to turn and look.
I knew the feel of him anywhere.
“I told you she’d be ungrateful, no?” Amo spoke over me.
“Am I supposed to thank you for being a raging psychopath?”
“No, but you could thank us for giving a shit about you.”
Us? Who was this us he spoke of?
He winked like the arrogant ass he was. Just as I was about to lunge at him, a strong arm slipped around my middle and hauled me backward, right over Mack’s body.
He cried out as my boot collided with something bloody and white. I took a good look at him. His left leg was bent at an awkward angle. The right had a sharp piece of bone sticking clean out of it.
That had to be what my foot had just connected with. Blood dripped from the open wound to the dirt.
He lowered his head to the ground and shut his eyes. His complexion was ashen, and heavy pants came from his chest. I gave Amo a look that let him know exactly what I thought of him.
“Why would you do this? He didn’t do anything wrong!”
“He looked at you as if you were the elixir to life,” Samael replied flippantly, his cool breath fanning the back of my neck.
“So, you break his legs? Is that going to help clear his vision?”