Page 38 of Encircled in Darkness
Chapter 12
James
My hands rang the steeringwheel as I pulled away from Amaya’s house. Even though the news Devlin just delivered meant she was safe, I didn’t want her left unmonitored until I knew for sure. Cole had been located at a drug house in Portstill by a member of the DeathHounds, and they called Skid. He immediately went to the location and when he confirmed it was him, he called Devlin.
Cole was being moved to our warehouse in Pierce Bluff as I drove back to my apartment to gather my tools. I had a few favorite weapons and for Cole; I planned to get bloody. I would finish the job Marco had me start all those years ago and send him straight to hell.
Parking in the garage, I jogged to the elevator and I ran my hands through my hair as I climbed to the fourth floor. When the door opened, I was on the fifth floor and Elise was standing there with a sly smile on her face. Devlin was standing behind her, dressed in his hunting clothes. He had the same look on his face I felt on mine.
It was time to kill.
“I can’t talk him out of coming with you so I want your promise that both of you will come home safe to me.” Elise said, her eyes glistening as she looked up at me.
I pulled my sister into a hug, her growing belly separating us. Looking over her head, I saw Devlin had a tick in his jaw as he watched her embrace me. I loved her and would die for her, but I never had the same feelings for her that Devlin did. Releasing her, he stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her expanding belly, reclaiming his territory.
Elise leaned into his chest and place her hands over his as he caressed her growing belly. Imagining Amaya was pregnant, her body heavy with our child, flashed in my head and I cleared my throat. They both looked up at me and I smiled.
“I need to get changed. Elise, I’ll bring his ornery ass back in one piece. You have my promise.” I smirked and left the two of them to their private moment.
Devlin showed up at my apartment a few minutes later, letting himself in as I stepped out of the shower. He was leaning against the doorway, with his arms crossed as I dried off and brushed my teeth. Looking up in the mirror, I locked eyes with the man who had been my best friend since I was nine years old.
“We’re going to find out what his motives are before we skin him alive. She’s safe, James. Now that we have him, she’s out of danger. Let’s put this to rest so we can all move on with our lives.”
Exhaling deeply, I walked into my bedroom and pulled on my usual killing outfit. Black pants and t-shirt, bandana around my hair and my shit stomping boots. This was what I wore when I made my first kill, or what I thought was my first kill, and today I would right the wrongs from the past.
Today, Cole Rollins died.
“Let’s ride.”
Devlin smirked and together, we walked out of our building. He drove us to the warehouse and there was a truck and three motorcycles parked outside in the small secure parking lot. Entering the building, we walked past old machinery that hadn’t been used in years and up the stairs to the second level. The smell of dust and mildew hung heavy in the air.
A muffled scream sounded, and the monster’s eyes danced with delight as we walked across the concrete floor. I cracked my neck as we moved into the clearing at the rear of the building.
Tied with his hands over his head, hanging from an overhead chain hoist with his feet barely reaching the floor, was the son of a bitch that had been watching my woman. His eyes were squinted at Devlin and me as we entered the room. The long, thick scar on his face was a trophy for Devlin as he smirked at Cole hanging from the hoist like a slab of meat.
The hate rolling from him was thick as I nodded toward Skid and the two other DeathHounds. Freddie was leaning against the back wall, his silent gaze locked on the back of Cole’s head as he yelled behind his gag.
Walking up to him, I felt Devlin hang back as I snatched the gag from Cole’s mouth. He spit on my cheek, a mixture of blood and phlegm landing on my skin. Wiping it from my cheek with my bandana, I tossed it to the floor and with a return motion, backhanded Cole so hard, I knocked him off balance. The overhead restraints held him on his feet as he groaned into the room.
The pain coming from my hand was familiar as I addressed to him, my tone deadly as the monster stood before him, ready for revenge. “Tell me why you’re watching my woman and I’ll kill you quick.”
He sneered at me and laughed. “Why would I tell you anything? She’s as good as dead, she just doesn’t know it yet. You all are.”
“Strip him.” I raged and stalked to Devlin.
We both pulled out our phones and used the app I had designed to access the cameras in and around our homes. Elise was happily sitting on her couch eating a bowl of watermelon. Devlin chuckled and closed his app. I saw Amaya sitting on the back porch; her phone resting on her lap as she played with Nova.
Cole struggled against Skid and Freddie as the two Hounds stood there, chuckling at how pathetic he was acting. They used military combat blades to cut his dirty clothes from him, nicking his skin as he wiggled. We had yet to figure out where he had been all these years, but it didn’t matter anymore. He was going to talk, or he would die. He’d die either way, but I needed information.
I walked up to a naked Cole, his pathetic dick shriveled up and his bony body pale and emaciated. I could see track marks all over his thighs and forearms, and infections between his toes from shooting up. Meth, coke, or heroine. One of them was riding him.
