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Acolytes following us was a given, especially now with the tension between factions mounting by the day. They would have known I was leaving the second Ice went to retrieve one of the Jeeps. The only time I wasn’t shadowed was when I gave a direct order not to be.
When Cam remained silent behind me, I knew he wouldn’t be sharing whatever it was Butcher had told him until we were alone. It was frustrating as fuck.
Anyone else and I’d have my buck blade shoved up their ass until they told me what I wanted to hear. We didn’t push one another, though. It’d never gotten us anywhere.
During the duration of the drive, which was maybe twenty-five minutes max, the storm broke through. Rain hammered the exterior of the Jeep, causing a pelting noise to fill the silence. There was another clap of thunder accompanied by a bright light ripping across the sky, illuminating fields of overgrown weeds.
Somewhere a bit further up ahead was a driveway leading to the farmhouse and barn. I had been out here once before and knew the place was a shithole, which was precisely why the Savage insignia alone may not have been enough to keep squatters away.
Those kinds of people were like roaches. When there was one or two, more followed, then we had a full-blown infestation on our hands.
I didn’t have the patience to deal with something like that on a consistent basis. I could have the acolytes handle it, but I wasn’t one of those guys who sat on their ass in a round plushy chair and made demands. That would never be my forte. I loved getting my hands dirty way too much to eve
r chill on the sidelines.
Ice slowed and hit the left blinker, so the acolytes knew he was about to turn off. He maneuvered the Jeep into the long drive, easily powering through what had turned to thick, wet mud.
“Hey.” Bella’s hands landed on both of our seats and she leaned forward, squinting as she peered through the windshield. “Look at the ground.”
I mimicked her and shifted closer to the dash. “Someone came through here.”
“Recently,” Ice confirmed, coming to a stop a few feet away from some obvious tracks.
The rain made visibility slightly more difficult than usual, but I didn’t see anyone outside, which meant whoever made these had more than likely found their way inside of the rundown farmhouse already. Or…
“I can check the barn,” Ice volunteered, cutting off the headlights.
“Sounds good.” I shouldered open my door and stepped out into the rain. Bella, Cam, and the acolytes did the same.
Within seconds my jeans were stuck to my thighs and my shirt was drenched, boots sinking into the sloppy terrain.
“What should I do?” Bella asked, reaching the front of the Jeep just as I passed by the bumper.
A pained shout echoed through the air, cutting off what my reply would have been. I swept a hand through my hair to move it off my forehead and took a second look around.
“Stay with Cam.”
“But—”
“And you cover them,” I directed at the approaching acolytes before they could attempt to follow me. My sister restarted her protest, but I was already walking away.
I headed towards the back of the house where I believed the sound had come from. Ice was right beside me, keeping an eye out for any movement. Off to the right was the barn, somehow still standing despite half of its roof being caved in.
I’d heard that my mom and Aunt Arlen had been chained inside of it some years ago. I think that’s why Dad kept the decaying property around. He had a twisted sense of sentimentality when it came to family values.
We were almost to the side of the house when a loud bang echoed from behind it. A flash of lightning followed, illuminating a little girl running towards us. Ice immediately held an arm out to stop me from going any further.
I shoved it out of the way and kept going. “Bro, it’s a little girl…” I trailed off as she charged right past me, damn near slamming into my shoulder. “What the fuck?”
A second figure emerged right after. I couldn’t tell what their gender was, but they were much larger than the tiny thing that had just ran away from them.
They froze the moment they saw us, jumbled excuses rapidly falling from their mouth.
“I got this,” Ice grumbled, approaching them with a slow, lazy gait.
“I didn’t know she was with you,” they pleaded, tripping over their own two feet.
Ice crouched right beside them, and without another word, he drew his three-pronged icepick and planted it in their jugular. It was his signature kill. Quick, efficient, and somewhat bloody. The person on the ground coughed and sputtered, choking on their own blood.
