Page 239 of Savior
Forcing myself to avert my eyes from him, I glance around at the damage a couple hundred rounds of bullets can do in half a minute. The black tinted windows across the front of the bar are all blasted out, except for a few jagged black shards still hanging behind the torn up wooden slat blinds, hanging now from broken cords. Tables and chairs, knocked over and riddled with bullet holes also. One of our prospects is still on the ground, clutching his bleeding arm.
Had the Twisted Throttle been open for business tonight, there would be a stack of bodies beside Snowy.
Viking rushes back into the bar through the steel door, along with Diesel and Chopper. They don’t appear to be injured, either.
“I got off a few shots, that van’s sporting bullet holes but they got away.” Viking says, out of breath as if he just ran a marathon. “Should we go after them?”
I over hear Viper asking the prospect how bad he’s hit. Thankfully, it’s just a grazed arm.
“I need to check on Vanna and Cherry.” I say, the tone of my voice sounds off and distant, even to myself. I turn to hurry down the corridor, trying to shake off the shock of what just happened.
One moment, a celebration… An attempted massacre, the very next. Life really can change in an instant.
As I enter the hallway that will lead me to the rooms in the back, to Vanna, Rusty is rushing towards me, hands up in a strange gesture of surrender.
“Dean, the girls are fine.” he says, but there’s something very off about his placating demeanor.
“Move! I need to get to Vanna!” I need to see for myself that she and Cherry are unharmed. The hail of bullets came in through the front windows from the street. None of them could have made it to the back rooms, but I need to know for certain. I need to see her for myself, hold her in my arms, for my own fucking sanity.
“She’s not here, Dean…”
… What?
“The fuck you mean, she’s not here?”
The fear in his eyes… The way his throat bobs in a hard swallow… The sweat at his temples…
“Dean… I need you to listen to me…” his voice nearly cracks, shaking as badly as his trembling, raised hands are.
A prickling cold, snakes up my spine as realization hits me… And a murderous rage takes possession...
Legion’s minion doesn’t even try to fight back. I grab him and slam him up against the wall.
“Where is she?”
He doesn’t answer me fast enough.
I grip his cut in my fists tighter, driving my knee up into his balls. His body wants to crumple to the floor in pain, but I don’t let him.
“Where is she?” I shout this time, slamming him against the wall so hard, the air rasps from his lungs.
“He took her… He took them both…”
“Both?” Axel is suddenly by my side. “Cherry and Vanna?”
Rusty’s sorrowful gaze meets my glare again. “He swore no harm would come to them… But that it had to happen this way…”
Jesus Christ… It’s always been Rusty, hasn’t it? The one who had access to the club house. The one who could have easily stolen my switchblade from my room to use that night Serene was destroyed… The one who made sure the security cameras didn’t catch anything… Always so eager to put himself near Vanna. Could he have even been the one to take the photos of her as well?
I drag him by his cut, past Axel, back into the Twisted Throttle, where I shove him towards my remaining brothers. They look at us, confused, but now we’ve got their full attention.
“You fucking piece of shit! You’ve been a Demon all along, haven’t you?”
Rusty looks around nervously at my brothers, before he brings his attention back to me. “No… Please, Dean, listen to me…”
“I should kill you! Right here... Throw you down on the ground beside our fallen brother, and pump you full of fuckin’ lead!”
Unable to contain my rage, I slug him in the face, knocking him further into the massacred bar room. He falls backwards over a broken stool as my brothers circle him.
