Page 2 of Prince of Darkness

2

OLIVIA

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Vee asks as she hands me a flashlight. I take it from her, turning it off and double-checking the batteries before I shove it into my bag with the rest of my crap.

Vee’s grandpa being some crazy doomsday preppers is coming in handy for once. He was so sure the wrath of God would be coming one day that he stocked up on everything he thought he would need. Unfortunately, he didn’t live to see that day.

I never understood the man’s logic. If you ask me, he should be happy he kicked the can before God’s wrath could get to him. He might have called himself a preacher, but I don’t think any god is going to be letting that horrible man into any sort of heaven. And I want no part of any heaven that would allow him entrance.

“Yes. I’m going to prove to my brothers and Dad I can do this.” Vee bites down on her bottom lip. Something she does when she wants to say more but holds it in. It’s what she’s been taught to do by her family. To keep their secrets. “Vee.”

I give her a look that saysOut with it. We’ve been best friends since kindergarten. I can read her better than anyone. She glances around her small bedroom, making sure no one can hear whatever it is she’s about to say. No one else is here.

Vee moved out of her grandfather's house right after we graduated from high school. I don’t know how she did it, but she managed to talk him into letting her move into one of the trailers on the back side of his land. He’d always been so strict and controlling I was shocked when he said okay. He liked to keep everyone close so that he could keep them under his thumb.

He has dozens of trailers all over his two hundred acres of land. He always had new random people showing up and staying in them.Hadbeing the key word. We're not sure what is going to happen to all his stuff now. Maybe I’ll finally be able to talk Vee into moving in with me at my dad’s. Something I’ve been trying to do since her mom died and she got stuck with her creepy freaking grandpa.

“You’re afraid of the dark,” she whispers, making me smile.

“Spiders too,” I add, making us both tremble.

“See! This is a terrible idea. We should forget the whole thing and stay here. Watch movies or something.”

“We’ll have Thor. He’ll keep us safe.” I point to her Saint Bernard. He lifts his head from off her bed. He’s taking up the whole dang thing.

“He can’t stop the darkness.”

“That’s why I have the flashlights,” I remind her. She gives me a skeptical look. “It has to be tonight. It’s my best shot to find out if Eddie is even there and collect information for my brothers so they know if they need to get a search warrant. Or if they need to be searching somewhere else altogether.”

Every Saturday night the Ravens have a giant party in their massive clubhouse. It’s my understanding that a lot of the members actually live at the house. Eddie Harris is one of those members, and he’s been missing for two weeks.

By missing, I mean no one knows where he is. He jumped the $100,000 bond that my family's company is going to get hit with. I overheard my brothers and dad speculating he'd be laying low in the Ravens clubhouse, but they can’t be sure.

This is the perfect opportunity for me to get them that answer and prove to them I can do this family business stuff too. I’m over being stuck in the office all day. I want action. They never let me do any of the field work, saying it’s too dangerous.

“I love you, Ollie, but I’m pretty sure all of your MC knowledge was learned from romance books.”

“Hey!” I huff. She’s starting to sound a lot like my brothers.

“I love those books too! So I’m totally not judging.” She holds her hands up. “I’m just saying it’s a three-mile trek from here to the backside of their compound. In the dark. Do you think you’re going to slip in the back door or something?”

“How else am I supposed to get inside?”

I was hoping to blend in once I got there. To find a side entrance or something. All I need to do is spot the guy. There is no way Eddie would let me take him in. Plus, there’s the small fact that I’m walking into an MC club, and I’m pretty sure the members aren’t going to let me take Eddie from their property.

“Why can’t we go in through the front door?” I open my mouth to give her an answer, but I really don’t have one. To be honest, it had never really crossed my mind. My brothers are always stealthy and sneaking up on the people they’re searching for.

“Like go to the party?”

“It’s not a bar, right? Do they check IDs?” Neither of us are twenty-one.

“How would I know?” I chew on my bottom lip. It does sound more logical to go through the front door. The more I think about walking three miles in the dark, I realize I wouldn't make it. My fear of the dark stems from my own mother.

Apparently, she took off with me one night when she decided she was leaving my dad. She’d driven a few hours out of town and got us booked into some hotel, where she left me. I ended up trapped in a closet or something. I don’t recall any of it, but since then, the dark freaks me out. I just know the darkness scared the crap out of me.

“These places let pretty girls in. We just need to get dolled up.” I stare at Vee.

“Seriously?”

---