Page 84 of Soulless Rivalry

“You sure that’s where he lives?” I asked my brother, who stood right next to me.

“Positive.”

We both started walking, careful not to step on dog shit or puke. The inside was even more rundown if possible. Used condoms were strewn on the floor; it reeked of piss and empty syringes were everywhere.

Once we came in front of apartment 5B, Dom and I shared a look before he knocked.

Noises came from inside, like someone was stumbling and hitting furniture to come to the door. When it finally swung open, a man who looked forty but should have been barely twenty-six faced us.

“Sam Mindings?” I asked, unsure that we had the right address.

The man looked at us carefully, before his fearful gaze fell behind us as he inspected the hallway. He looked scared, like he was waiting for someone to spring out of the darkness and attack him.

“Who’s asking?”

“You might not recognize me,” Dom started, “but we used to share a room… back at the Academy.”

At the mention of our school, the man’s gaze shut down and he moved quickly, intending to slam the door on us. I was quicker though and wrenched it open, so that both Dom and I could enter. My brother shut it behind him while I grabbed Sam by the lapels of his shirt and pushed him against the wall, making sure he wouldn’t budge.

His eyes widened and he looked scared out of his mind, putting his hands up in defeat and shaking his head. “I haven’t told anyone! I swear, I swear I haven’t!”

He looked crazed, and after sharing a glance with Dom, I decided to let go of him. His legs couldn’t even support his weight and he slid down the wall silently, mumbling incessantly about how he didn’t tell anyone.

“Hey, listen to me,” Dom crouched to be at eye level with him. I decided it was best of me to let him do the talking. “We’re not here to hurt you. We just want answers.”

Sam looked like he didn’t know whether or not to believe him. “Answers regarding what?”

“The Order.”

Gulping, the stranger started shaking his head. “I—I can’t say anything about that. They’ll know if I do. They’ll kill me.”

“I can guarantee you, they won’t know because we won’t tell a soul. Plus it’s us you should be scared of right now, not a bunch of fuckers who attack women to feel more powerful.”

Sam thought about it, a look of anguish etched onto his face. “T-they started killing again?”

“They never stopped.”

He swallowed thickly before sitting up straighter, fiddling with his pants. “After Stacy’s death, they agreed not to anymore, they said they’d find another way if I didn’t talk,” he said in a small voice, sounding almost like a child.

“Well, your generation might have found another way, but ours didn’t. Four girls in less than three months.” I counted Mia in because it was pretty clear from the stolen coroner’s report in my possession that she had been one of them. The modus operandi was the same, too.

A strangled sound came out of Sam and he squeezed his eyes shut like he was trying to erase an unwanted memory.

“So we need answers. We need to know where they meet so we can intercept them. We need to know how they operate. And you’re the only one who can help.”

“You don’t understand, they’re everywhere. Four sacrifices arenothing, that’s barely half the recruits. They meet up all over the castle and travel through it using secret passages.”

“How do they choose the girls? Is it random? Do they befriend them first, gain their trust before they choose them as a sacrifice?”

Sam looked at me like I’d grown a second head. “You think new recruitschoosetheir sacrifice? You think Ichoseto kill Stacy? That I evenknewit was her?” His voice was rising in anger before he gave a dark, humorless laugh. “You fool. Do you even know what a sacrifice is?”

“What does that mean?”

“It means we don’t know until the deed is done. That’s how we prove our loyalty to the brotherhood, by trusting them blindly, showing them that we would do anything to be one of them.” He glanced between my brother and me. “On sacrifice nights, we all… we all participate. In any capacity, some morethan others. The more eager you are, the more chances you have of going high on the ladder of success.”

Something didn’t sit well with me.

“You gang rape them,” I came to the conclusion, given how carefully he’d tried to choose his words, and when the color drained from his face, regret crumpling it until he started crying, I knew I was right.

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