Page 14 of Savage Queen (Blood Empire 3)

“Come on, a lighter, matches... anything,” I grumble, feeling a wave of dizziness take over. I don’t have much left in me. I just need to take care of this and get home, then everything will be okay.

At least that's what I’m gonna keep telling myself until it becomes true.

I rifle through the kitchen, finding a drawer that's full of junk. “There’s gotta be a fucking lighter in here somewhere,” I mutter, pulling out the drawer and dumping it on the counter. I shift through the crap, holding my breath as I find a little red lighter. Grabbing it I test it out; it lights right up. “Fuck yes,” I sigh when I see the little flame pop up.

Walking back outside, I put the lighter between my teeth and grab the gas can, dumping its contents around the house starting with the front door. Once there's nothing left, I take the lighter from my mouth, producing a flame before mic dropping it. Everything ignites immediately.

“Burn you motherfucker,” I cackle. “This time I know you’ll stay in Hell where you fucking belong.”

Getting in the car, I start it up and back down the dirt driveway. Once I’m at a safe distance, I stop and watch the house go up in flames. Perks of an old rundown place, it burns fast.

When the fire has taken out enough of the house for my liking, I get the fuck out of there.

“Well, now... just to find out where the hell I am,” I say when I get to the end of the dirt drive. “Left or right?” I mutter. “I should’ve seen if he had a fucking cell phone with GPS,” I mutter. “Fuck it, left it is.”

Flooring the gas pedal, I take off down the road. “Let’s get some music on in here.” Turning on the radio I play around with the stations until I hearWanna Beby the Spice Girls.

“Oh, hell yeah!” I say with a grin, while I start to sing along with the song. “Come on Triver, this song is a classic. Sing with me,” I say, leaning over to move his jaw. “If you wanna be...” then his jaw falls off. “Fine, I sound better anyways,” I mutter, tossing the chunk of his face onto the floor.

I drive for a while before seeing a sign that says‘Angeles National Forest’. So that’s where this fucker took me. Makes sense why I’m out in the middle of nowhere.

Following the signs, I make my way to the highway.

“Hope I don’t get pulled over,” I laugh. “Not sure how I’d explain why I’m naked and covered in blood with a severed head next to me. Not to mention that if they did a search and found the dick in the glove box. You know, that one may be hard to explain too.” And oddly enough, this isn’t surprising for my life. It kind of feels just like any other day. But normally, Idohave clothes on.

I’m not sure what time it was when Triver brought me upstairs, but the sun is sinking fast in the sky and soon, it’ll be dark out. I see another sign telling me I’m not too far from home.

“You know what I’m excited for?” I ask Triver’s head. “A hot bath, my soft bed, and a fucking steak that I get to enjoy in fucking peace without you flipping a table, like a toddler throwing a tantrum. You do know that was a little dramatic, right? And what did it get you? Dead. Well, that’s not exactly why, but I should’ve stabbed you a few times in the name of a perfect piece of meat.”

“HOME SWEET HOME,” Isay as I pull up outside of the mansion. Getting out of the car, I go around to the passenger side and open the door. “You’re coming with me,” I tell Triver’s head, gripping a handful of his hair. “And you.” I grab the severed dick. “I must say, you're the smallest in my collection.”

Ignoring the fact that I’m naked, I walk over to the keypad for the front gate and punch in the code. The light turns green, and the little side door opens.

As I walk up to the house, I see that it’s dark, no lights from any of the front rooms are on, not even the outside lights. “Odd,” I say. “It can’t be so late that everyone is sleeping, can it?”

I wonder what everyone has been up to these past few weeks. Did they look for me?I know Evie did. And what about Neo? Where is he? I have a feeling Beast took over like I did. And from what happened last time we skipped town, I’d expect to be walking into a bloodbath, especially considering someone kidnapped me this time.

How crazy is that?Someone kidnapped me. Twice in my lifetime, and both by the same man. Fucking universe needs a swift kick in the ass.

“Ha! Well, I’d like to see you come back and try for a third time, buddy,” I chuckle, holding up the head. “Fuck, I’m not sure if you looked better before or now. Both were pretty fucking ugly if you ask me.”

Opening the door, I hear voices coming from somewhere within the house.

“I don’t know how much longer we can keep him locked up. I’ve already given him as many people as I can to keep him entertained before I have to dip into Queenie’s back list. And she’s not gonna be happy if we take from her D-Day line-up again.” Dean’s voice meets my ears.

“Well, we can just let him out and hope for the best then.” Axel’s sarcasm is thick.

“What else do you want to do then?” Dean snaps back.

“No need to worry,” I say walking into the kitchen where I find them all sitting around the table. “I’m back now.”

Their heads snap over to me all at once, but it takes a moment before matching looks of horror take over their faces.

“Axel, be a doll and find a jar for this,” I say, tossing the severed dick towards him. It lands on the table in front of him with a sick splat. He gapes at me, then down at the dick, then back up to me.

“And, look... I brought a souvenir. I’ve never taken a head before. But I’m not sure if it’s salvageable; his jaw came off in the car. I shot him at close range, so not much is left really anyways.” I shrug. “But he kind of reminds me of the shrunken head from Harry Potter,” I muse.

“Harlow,” Cass’s soft voice says as I look up. They seem to all be either in shock from seeing me here, or they’re smart and reading the room right because running at me while talking a mile a minute is not how you handle me.

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