Page 6 of Beast: Part Two

“I need fresh air,” I lie as I turn to walk out the door heading back outside.

“Beast, sit,” Priest demands.

I blink, and when I open my eyes, I have Priest pressed against the wall with one hand around his neck and my blade pointed at his chin. Hawk is at my shoulder trying to pull me away. I don’t even recall moving.

“Let me out, Gabriel,”the sinister voice pleads.

Pushing away from Priest I shut my eyes and focus on breathing. In through my nose, out through my mouth. The same way I learned as a kid in the training program.

“Where are you, mother?”I call out to the now silent voice.

“Mother’s not here anymore,”the other voice taunts.

I slam the palm of my hand against my forehead. “Get the fuck out of my head,” I growl.

Sudden movement behind me has me looking over my shoulder.

“Everything alright?” Lucien asks, as he scans the room thoroughly.

“Yeah, everything is fine,” Priest answers rubbing at his neck.

Hawk looks over to me, tilting his head to the side. “Are you good, brother?”

I nod before I answer out loud. “I’m good.”

“Liar.”The word is followed by laughter.

Just then, Zel, Many, and Albany walk into the room.

“Where’s Gabe?” I ask immediately. I need him to keep me sane. His presence silences the voice in my head.

“We have him situated upstairs. He’s watching one of the Spiderman movies. I already have Iron Man loaded to play next. He’s good,” Zel explains.

I nod, thankful for their help. Albany walks over to Priest. She touches his reddening neck. He shakes his head at her and whispers something that I can’t hear. My face heats and shame turns my gut.

When Priest looks to me, I look away. My gaze focused on the white plain walls.

“How are we looking on surveillance?” Priest asks Lucien.

Doc’s place was already secure, but when we got here, Lucien added a little more protection. Technically, we are still on Church property considering Doc is a working member of the Church.

“I have every camera in a 20-mile radius working for me,” he looks down at the tablet in his hands. “So far, nothing looks out of place.”

“Alright, the place is locked down, my grandson is entertained, and Summer is in Doc’s care, it’s time to regroup,” Priest says taking a seat. “First, Beast, I want to know what happened? How did we get here?”

Sighing, I run my hands through my hair. “It started five years ago. I got a menu about a John Doe. Turns out he was an ex-agent. He called himself Gambler.”

Priest’s eyes narrow. “I’ve heard of him. He went rogue when I was still a young Deacon. What does he have to do with anything?”

I quickly explain the conversation I had with Gambler and the information I got from him. I tell them how I tracked Jason Averil and how it led me to Timothy Smith. And how that ultimately led me to Corbyn.

“So let me get this straight. The Church has been taking hits for rich assholes?” Zel asks sounding disgusted.

“Yes,” I sigh.

The room goes silent. They are all reflecting. I don’t blame them. Learning that information messed with my head as well.

I took pride in what I was doing. Knowing that I was killing people that deserved it, helped sate the evil inside me. However, finding out that I may have killed an innocent person just for the personal gain of an entitled prick, makes me feel like the vile demon mother always said I was.

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