Page 118 of Temptation
Houses on both sides hugged the road. Their lights were off, and I couldn’t wait to see how this sleepy town was going to react when I burned down everything they ever loved. I was going to start with City Hall, but I had no doubt that this side of Winworth was filled with maniacs just like Judah.
They stood idly while Judah tortured me throughout the years. I was certain that at least some of them knew, yet they did nothing. They stood idly when my mother died, and even though I didn’t know all the details of her death, I could bet that they all knew what was going on.
They robbed me of my childhood. They robbed me of my real parents.
Now I would rob them of their precious, little Order.
Judah wouldn’t expect me to come back now, and I was counting on it. He always thought I was too weak to do anything, to fight him, but it was only because I thought it would be easier to go along with what he wanted.
I was a coward who didn’t want to get hurt even more, but that coward died tonight along with Ash and Dylan. Judah should’ve killed me when he had the chance. He never should’ve underestimated me.
I drove next to my school, glaring at the walls that brought so much pain. The cemetery wasn’t far away from here, and maybe once I was done, I would go there. I wanted to see the crypt one last time before I left this world for good.
“Sleepy little town filled with monsters with dull teeth.” I laughed.
Judah thought that taking Dylan and Ash from me would end up with me cowering before him, but he was wrong.
My demons were loose now, running free, doing whatever the fuck they wanted, and they drove me here. They pushed and pushed and pushed, and I was too tired, keeping them at bay. I wanted us to burn the world if that’s what was needed to avenge Ash and Dylan.
My entire life I tried appeasing other people, playing by their rules. Be a good daughter, keep Judah’s secrets, suffer in silence, but I wasn’t doing that anymore.
Judah could control Winworth, he could control the police, but one thing he couldn’t control was social media. And people were going to know. Everyone would know what he did.
My fingers gripped the steering wheel tighter as I turned right to the parking lot in front of City Hall.
Water dripped from the streetlamps as I parked, and I realized I wasn’t the only one here. Car after car was parked closer to City Hall, and a wicked smile spread over my face, knowing what it meant.
They were having a gathering tonight.
There was no other reason why so many cars would be parked in front, but if my assumptions were true, Judah wasn’t here.
Turning the ignition off, I pushed the door open, and pulled out the lighter from my back pocket as soon as I stepped into the cold November air. A little bonfire never killed anybody, right?
I walked to the other side of the car and opened the door. Red canisters stood on top of the backseat, their bottom smeared by Rowan’s blood that dripped on the seats. Kane would either have to get a new car or he would have to do some real deep cleaning of this one.
I bent down and started pulling them out, one by one, until all six of them stood next to my feet. I couldn’t carry them all at once, so I picked two of them up, and started walking toward the back entrance that we used to go down to the catacombs.
I repeated the same with the remaining four, and once all of them were in front of the door, I stopped for a moment.
The wind whistled around me, playing with my hair, and I inhaled deeply, memorizing this moment. Memorizing the part where I shatter their world just how they shattered mine.
With determination, I lifted the two canisters and pushed the door open with my shoulder. The staircase, as always, was illuminated by the candles hanging on the walls. The musky scent ever present in the air tickled my nose, but I pushed through it and started walking downstairs.
Judah and his cockiness were going to be his downfall tonight. He should’ve placed guards here. He should’ve made sure that the security of this place was much better. I knew he had people who liked to manhandle us, just as they did me the other night, but he was so sure of himself, of his power, that he never even thought of placing guards at the entrance.
I placed the two canisters at the bottom of the stairs and rushed back upstairs for the two more, leaving the remaining ones in front of the door. The Great Hall, as Dylan called it, was on the right side through the hallway, while the chambers of Red Maidens were on the other side, along with the common room.
And then it dawned on me.
Aigira.
I couldn’t let her die here with them. She tried to help me. Tried to warn me. She was the one who told me about my mother, and I knew she wasn’t here because she wanted to be.
I turned around and started walking toward their chambers, remembering the way to the room where I slept when I was here.
But she was nowhere to be found.
“Where are you?” I asked myself as I went through the rooms, but all of them were empty. “Dammit.”
