Page 167 of Lock Up the Darkness

~Asher~

Always expect the unexpected.

I’d prepared for things taking a sour turn on many fronts.

With Amethyst not reacting well to being duped and finding us in Revenant’s place. I’d considered that resulting in her reacting harshly and desperately, leading to her requiring having her hand forced in unsavory ways.

With the Head Infidels somehow getting wind of this against all rhyme and reason, despite all the precautions I’d put in place, all the evasive tactics, and them then forcing one hell of a violent showdown.

But this… even I hadn’t seen it coming.

What the fuck was going on?

Who were these fucking interlopers?

What was their agenda?

And, more importantly, how the shit had they found out about this meet?

As I fired off another shot, straining to see through the heavy downpour, taking down another one of them with a perfect head shot that had… whatever it was… dropping like a ragdoll, I scanned the remaining nine to see if there were any defining features, any giveaway as to who or what they were.

They absolutely weren’t the Infidels.

All of them were clad in the same uniform, floor length silver cloaks with blank white face masks shielding their identities, masquerade-style performance masks. I was predominantly immune to eeriness and an intense creep factor, given who I was, and who my father was, but this, seeing them coming out of the woods, a sea of creepy masks coming at us, it definitely gave off a vibe that hit hard.

In my peripheral vision, I saw Jonah roar and throw his arms out either side, then tackle two of them to the ground in one shot, taking them down in his usual brutal way. But then another four came out of nowhere and descended on him.

I ducked as one of them took another shot at me. I twisted and came up, snagging their arm and slamming it down on my knee. They cried out as I shattered it in several places, then kicked them across the wet grass. Before I could finish it, the air shifted and I spun into somebody trying to tackle me. I shifted my weight, bent at an angle, then snagged their cloak as they hit, and threw them over my shoulder. More movement had me spinning to see two more coming. I fired off two rapid-fire shots, spraying their brain matter across the forest floor.

The one I’d thrown over my shoulder was already back on their feet and coming at me.

As I went to deal with that, my intention to get to Jonah who was being overrun and pummeled into the ground, another four sprung from the trees.

I fired off a shot at one, dropping another dead fucking body.

But then they hit, one of them slamming me face first into the side of the house. My lip split at the scrape against the brick and I tasted blood on my tongue.

They were calling to my bloodlust in a major way.

I could feel the intense pull from that dark and twisted part of me to give in.

But I knew if I did I’d lose all sense of reason and strategy.

The resistance was compromising my fight, though.

I tried to turn to get a look at Jonah, but my opponent yanked on my hair, then used it as leverage to smash my face into the brick again, scraping my eyelid, my forehead, my cheeks.

“Who are you?” I gritted out.

“The Heretics.”

I wasn’t expecting a direct answer.

It meant they wanted me to know.

Or they thought me knowing wouldn’t matter—that they’d win out here.

“What do you want?”

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