Page 91 of Beast: Part Two

Running through the garage, we reach a point where there's nowhere else to go. There is a wall in front of Corbyn. He stops and turns around with his hands above his head. A smile planted on his face.

“You’ve reached the end of the road, Corbyn.”

“That I have. But I must admit, I’m glad to finally meet the great Nathaniel Otello.”

I keep my gun aimed at Corbyn. It’s startling to see how similar we look. I’ve met some of my siblings and none of them resemble Corbyn as much as me. Even his dark blonde hair matches mine, although not nearly as long. The eyes are the exact same.

“My brother talked so highly of you. That should have been my clue to what he did. I guess I should thank you for raising my son.”

“I didn’t raise your son,” Priest argues. “I raised mine.”

The smile falls from Corbyn’s face for only a moment before he plants it back in place.

“I hope there are no hard feelings about the whole excommunication thing. Really, you guys had outgrown that organization. Honestly, I did you a favor.”

“If you wanted to do us a favor, you and your royal club would keep your hands out of the Church.”

Corbyn laughs. “You think it would make a difference? Even if we left the Church to its own devices, we would still have power over you. Money rules the world, Nathaniel. Have you not realized that? Your own government is run by the Royal Crown. The American people haven’t picked a president since Washington.

“The Crown has always handpicked your leaders. When you get in that booth to decide Democrat or Republican, it never matters because we have already chosen. We have always made the laws and the rules. We are the power behind the world. Even if you kill me, we will still reign supreme. You are fighting a losing battle.”

Nothing Corbyn said came as a shock to me. I’ve always known money and power ran the world. Corbyn is correct, the Royal Crown will always have a hand in the Church. There is nothing we could do to change that. Even if we killed Corbyn and got reinstated, we can’t take down the Royal Crown.

So what do you do?

“Priest, we’re heading to you,” Seth says in the earpiece.

“Your time is up, Corbyn,” Priest announces. “I hope your money serves you well in hell.”

I go to pull the trigger, but something catches my attention out of the corner of my eye.

“I think you might be mistaken, Priest,” Corbyn sneers as I spin around.

“Priest get down,” I shout the words as Victoria fires her weapon.

I fire back at her, hitting her in the chest. She stumbles but doesn’t fall, letting me know she’s wearing a vest. The sound of screeching tires has me turning just in time to see a red Hummer nearly barrel into me. I jump to the side to avoid being hit.

Corbyn and Victoria run to the truck and jump in.

“You should have stuck with me, son,” Corbyn shouts before shutting the door.

The truck pulls away. I leap to my feet and fire the gun at the back window. The glass doesn’t even break. I chase after the Hummer.

Just then, Seth, Hawk, Maksim, Many, And Fem run around the corner. They see me shooting and fire at the truck as well. It never slows as it disappears out of the garage.

“What the hell happened?” Seth shouts. “I thought you had him?”

I ignore him as I spin on my heels and rush back to Priest. I come up short when I spot the blood surrounding his head.

I freeze in my spot. My body becomes numb. It’s almost like I’m having an out of body experience. It isn’t until Fem screams beside me I finally rush back to myself.

“What’s going on? What’s happening?” Zel pleads through the earpiece.

“It’s bad, brother. It’s really fucking bad,” Seth replies somberly.

chapter Twenty-three

Hospital

---