Page 32 of Temptation
“Yes, friends. You think you would be up to it?”
“Maybe.” I smirked. “What do I need to do?” This time I turned to the side and looked at him. Elation, some sort of happiness, lingered at the edges of his being, and I felt better seeing honesty reflected at me.
“For starters, meet us at the riverbank where Kane’s weekend house used to be. Tonight, at eight.”
“Tonight.” I nodded.
“At eight,” he repeated. “I’ll explain everything once you get there.”
7
ASH
Crispy cold airkissed my cheeks as soon as I stepped outside of the catacombs. The chilly November air was relentless in its pursuit to freeze us all to death, and I didn’t even want to think what it would be like when the real winter finally arrives. I’d only ever heard stories of suffocating snow and gray skies, but I was yet to experience the same.
I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my hoodie, thankful that I wore it last night. I still had more questions than answers, but I at least felt better knowing that I wasn’t the only one who understood that what the Order did was not okay. I couldn’t even remember how many times I thought that maybe it would’ve been better to alert the police, to let them know what was going on in the sleepy little town, but every time I even brought the idea up, my uncle would disagree.
“Judah has them all in his pockets,”he would argue, and I would relent, too jaded to fight it.
Because I wanted to see his blood. I wanted to see him suffering just like all those poor people he killed. I wanted him to know the meaning of genuine pain.
The one that ran soul deep, whose scars you couldn’t see, but you could feel them every single day. Then I would kill him, just how he killed my parents.
As years passed, I was starting to forget their faces, and it fucking scared me. We didn’t have their pictures. We didn’t have memorabilia, because everything burned down along with the house and all the dreams I had as a kid. Truth to be told, I didn’t give a fuck about the house, or their wealth.
But I did give a fuck about the fact that Sebastian would never know what they looked like. He would never know how our house smelled when our mom baked cookies, or how happy we all were on Christmas Eve, when they told us stories about Santa. Those were the scars I carried deep within, and until I avenged them, I wouldn’t feel at peace.
Maybe I was a hypocrite, considering that they too were part of the Order, but they were my parents. They were the only people that loved me with no reservations, and I owed it to them to see this through. I owed it to them to fulfill everything I promised to Sebastian.
He fought me every step of the way, but even though he called for them when he was younger, even though he cried during the night, begging me to give him his favorite blanket, he would never know the real pain of losing them, because our pain was not the same.
It was different not knowing and losing something, because you couldn’t remember what it felt like having it. But I knew what it felt like when we were a family. I remembered how happy we used to be, and I would never forgive these monsters for taking it all away from me.
I shook my head, calming my racing heart, and pulled the hoodie over my head as I snuck around City Hall, hoping that no one would see me. The sun was nowhere to be seen today, while the clouds littered the sky, shrouding the town into a depressive state. On the outside, it looked like any other town, with mountains and forest surrounding it, but until you lived here, until you felt what they were capable of, you would never know what kind of monsters lived in Winworth.
I remember being afraid of monsters underneath my bed, and my dad checking for me, telling me that nothing was there. I wished now that those were the only monsters I ever knew, because the real ones were much worse than anything my young mind could’ve imagined.
The smell of the snow in the air sent chills all over my body, and I started walking faster, putting much needed distance between me and City Hall. A couple passed next to me, and I couldn’t help myself but wonder if they were there last night as well.
The catacombs were filled with people, and while I saw some of their faces, the drugs they put in those drinks made everything else hazy. I was on edge, waiting for the next bad thing to jump out from the bushes I passed, and when my phone started buzzing in my back pocket, I almost did that.
“Fucking hell,” I cursed and pulled the device out, all the while walking toward the parking lot where I parked my car.
An unknown number appeared on the screen, and for a moment, I hoped it would be Sebastian or my uncle. I never told them where I was going, but something told me that my uncle knew. He hugged me a bit tighter last night. Held me a little bit longer as if he thought I wouldn’t come back.
I kept looking at the screen as I crossed the street, the honking from far away only barely pulling my attention away from my phone. Ever since I came to Winworth, I’d become wary of unknown numbers and shady people. When you walked on this side of the law, you had to learn to live with the constant notion that somebody might be out to get you.
My thumb hovered over the small phone icon, my mind contemplating if I should answer it. I already had enough madness to last me a lifetime, and I wasn’t exactly sure that I could absorb any other news today. Especially if they were equally fucked up as what happened last night in the catacombs.
But I did.
I swiped to the right over the screen and pulled the phone to my ear.
“Hello,” I murmured.
“Took you long fucking enough,” Indigo barked, and my entire body went lax at the sound of his voice. “What were you doing, boy? Jerking off? I almost sent half of our team to Winworth to make sure that you didn’t die. Where the fuck were you?”
“I-uh,” I stammered. “I didn’t know whose number it was.”
