Page 8 of Deviants
As people began to cheer, I looked back to see the man and woman with the ropes around their necks being stripped of their clothing by a few robed volunteers.
As soon as they were fully nude, Cobra and Grimm, both began lifting them into the air. Romero forced the man in front of him to look down, and started speaking again.
“Disloyalty will not be tolerated.” He placed the edge of his blade on the back of the man’s neck, and then looked up when the bodies now fully lifted, beginning to sway.
The pair struggled for air as the nooses compressed around their tracheas, squeezing their carotid arteries and blocking the oxygen from their brains. They fought hard, writhing and kicking out against the weight of their own bodies being entirely supported by the neck and jaw.
Two robed men stepped forward on either side to help Grimm and Cobra keep them suspended; everyone else continued to chant.
Romero watched with an inexpressive look on his face, keeping one hand on the back of the man’s neck still kneeling at his feet. I knew he was impressed by the hangings because I was impressed my damn self.
Their deaths were anything but quick. They both suffered through a painfully slow process of strangulation.
The pressure from the blocked oxygen continuously mounting with nowhere to go caused both of theircapillariesto burst, making them break out with red and purple splotches as the skin bled from underneath.
It took approximately ten minutes for their hearts, brains, or lungs to decide enough was enough and give up. They became nothing but limp scarecrows with fixed, bulging eyes.
Romero’s voice ensnared my attention again, and this time I heard him crystal clear.
“You’re either with me, or against me.” He shoved his knife clean through the back of the man’s neck with one fluid motion, severing his spine. His coal black eyes flashed to mine, and I swore he knew I’d been watching all along, making me wonder if his last words were solely meant for my ears because he’d said them to me before.
His followers began to chant their earlier words louder now,Ava Satanas, over and over again, growing higher in volume with each repetitive cycle until it seemed to echo through the ruined city.
Tito was seconds away from having a meltdown, and I was frozen in place.
The power Romero had over me with just a single gaze was daunting. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, and everything around him faded away.
It was an overwhelming déjà vu to get lost in him like this again, a stark reminder of the magnetic, indefinable bond that was between us, like a flicker of a flame in the dark, one that had been lit so I could find my way back home—because home had become wherever he was.
I knew it wasn’t one-sided. The asshole looked like he was smirking at me. I wanted to go to him; Iwouldhave gone to him, but he turned away again and the ashen little pieces of my brain-dead heart followed right behind him.
He turned his back on me so he could talk to the brunette Arlen claimed was her sister.
When she laid her hand on his shoulder, I promised then and there I would remove every single one of her fucking fingers.
The atmosphere shifted after Grimm and Cobra let both bodies carelessly drop to the ground. As soon as they cracked against the asphalt, a large flag unraveled from the old stoplight and I found myself staring at a Sigil of Baphomet, the official symbol of Satan. The Hebrew characters running counterclockwise around the ring framing the goat head had been made to spell out Romero’s name.
If I hadn’t already known the man I was enamored with was the king of the Savages—a satanic cult masquerading as a gang—I sure as fuck would have just been made aware.
One prominent question still took precedence over all the others. What the hell was he planning? So lost was I in my tumultuous thoughts that I missed the two people in masks who had broken from the crowd and were charging right for us. Tito didn’t.
“We need to go!” He jerked me backward so hard my arm almost popped out of its socket.
“That hurt, you dick!” I stumbled, catching myself whilst trying to pull away from him.
Seemingly not satisfied with my reaction, he picked me up despite all my protests, no doubt garnering the full attention of the crowd, and booked it back into the woods.
CHAPTER FOUR
Iwasn’t a huge fan of guns. They curdled creativity and ended people too quick. I liked taking my time when I killed, savoring the affliction of pain, but I wasn’t in the mood to play right then, so I pressed the barrel to her palm and pulled the trigger, burning a perfect hole right through it.
Cobra’s good arm slightly jerked from the kick-back. She screamed, and I sincerely hoped it was loud enough for Cali to hear.
She’d been right in front of me and I turned away.
I never did dumbass shit but I suppose there was a first time for everything—and a last.
I knelt down and pressed the warm, now crimson barrel right to Beth’s trembling mouth, telling her to shut the fuck up without needing to say a word.
