Page 16 of Bloody Valentine

Tears fell down my cheeks, and my sister was lying unconscious on the ground, blood on her face and dress. I forced my feet to move. I couldn’t fail. I may as well put the rifle to my head and pull the trigger myself…

A knock on the door jolted me from my memories, and I shook my head, walking to answer it. It was Phoenix.

“Brother. Do you have the details I asked about for the charity event? What is the gossip surrounding the Divine right now? I am about to take Hayes on another hunting trip. I need him to understand that he can’t fucking run. Look what happened to me. If the council does that to him…I will kill them all.”

Phoenix nodded his head, his lips in a fine line. “Yeah, Mads, The Divine is talking about Vivian. They are getting anxious that Valentine’s Day is coming up soon. There are some people saying they wish your dad were still in charge.”

I laughed without humor. “Interesting. I had been in charge for fourteen years, yet still, some members of the council wanted the barbaric, useless old ways. I have had continuous victories with each reaping. There has never been a better success rate of sacrifices since I picked up that dagger.”

Phoenix nodded again. “I agree, my brother. I hate your old man. You know that. He’s the reason all these fucking ghost stories surround the university. When your dad was in charge, he was so blasé. He didn’t care about keeping The Society a secret when it came to getting his perfect sacrifice. You brought some form of order to the Divine.”

I sighed. Old fucking men would never see a reason for change. The cognitive dissonance was too strong for them to see success. The other founders’ descendants were angry at me, too, but I wondered how much of that was lack of power. I could erase their positions as fast as they received them.

Some of these members were practically babies.

It was a fucking shit show to try to teach these people all over again. Every year, I was losing brain cells with every hunt I had to show. And worst of all, my brother should be the next leader, but if he didn’t get into the program, he would ruin it, and it would be a complete loss.

Another line would take power…or worse—my father.

“Thank you, my friend. What of the preparations for the ceremony? Is everything ready, minus Vivian?”

Phoenix made a sound through his teeth. “Well, not exactly, but it will be. Just need to remind some people of their place. Won’t take long.”

I smiled, and I expressed my sympathies to whoever needed an adjustment from Phoenix. I knew firsthand from our sparring that the man could hold his own. He was one of the few men in this world I actually considered a friend. He knew as well as I that you couldn’t escape your fate. Ours was written in our blood.

It always would be…

Chapter six

It was way too late at night to sneak around in the library, but here I was, using the computers in the darkness. The librarians had all left, and the lights were shut off for the night. I was only able to sneak in here through an open window, but I needed to know what was up with this place. Was it always a shit show?

The paper in my pocket burned with my thoughts of revenge. The asshole treated me like cattle. Well, the joke was on him. Tomorrow, I was going to buy his stupid ass at the auction and lead him to social slaughter.

Your anger will set the path of your fate. Run child…while you still can.

I jolted from the whispered words in the air, swiveling my head from side to side to see who was there.

Nobody but me…

“Who are you? Are you really my grandmother?” I said, my hands shaking as I peered into the dark areas of the room. The only light I had was the moon from outside and the glow of the laptop screens.

Apparently, this was a one-sided conversation with a ghost. They didn’t want to respond when I talked to them. It was exclusive to spoken omens only.

“Okay then,” I mumbled.

I typed another search in the browser, waiting for the screen to load and show me the old-school black-and-white images of news articles.

Vivian Valentine and fourteen other women have gone missing.

Vivian Valentine and fourteen other women are thought to have been murdered. Ongoing investigations by local police show no traces of any of them leaving the premises alone from Valemtum Drive.

Saint Valentine and the other husbands of the missing wives said they were unsure where the women were, and their alibis were each other.

Fourteen women were murdered in a ritualistic manner on Valemtum Drive. Husbands are not commenting on the evidence found of their wives’ bones on the grounds.

St. Valentine and his fourteen companions have commissioned the building of a university on the old burial ground of the slain fourteen.

St. Valentine and his late wife, Vivian, leave their fortune to their fourteen sons.

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