Page 139 of A Wild Darkness

“Not quite.” Silas shakes his head, his finger gliding the rim of his whiskey glass. “Where did you say you got our card again?”

“Andrew Hughes.”

“And how did you know Mr. Hughes?”

“We went to college together.” The lie easily rolls off Sebastian’s tongue.

“Ahh.” Silas nods.

Sebastian continues. “I also was a part of the cabin women’s ring this fall. I didn’t take part in it, but I helped him organize it.”

“Of course.” Silas glances my direction. “To be honest, I trust you both, but we also have another loose end that needs to be tightened up.”

“What do you mean?” Sebastian asks.

“Well, you two must prove yourselves once again. We need to be certain and have our minds put at ease.” He scratches his chin. “And what better way than to have the two of you tie up that loose end for us?”

What?

Sebastian’s eyes narrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Silas glances toward an old wooden door. “Clara.”

The door swings open. Clara appears, pushing a rolling metal cart with a man tied down on top of it. He’s lying on his back with his arms and legs secured at his sides and his mouth taped shut. A gash on his forehead suggests someone knocked him out.

Oh my god.

My stomach drops.

Sebastian jerks his head toward Silas. “What the hell is this?”

The man’s bound mouth muffles the screams while the rest of his body fights against the restraints.

Silas stands with his arms wide, presenting the victim to us. “This is Louis. He is—was a member of our great Black Veil Society.”

A chuckle comes from one of the monsters at the table with us, but I keep my focus on Silas.

“Now, Louis has caused a lot of trouble for us in recent months.” Silas bends to get close to his ear and slaps the side of his face. “It has not been fun. And not to mention one of the sloppiest serial killers I’ve ever encountered.”

“He was going to get caught sooner or later, and that would have brought us all down,” Bob adds, his voice laced with disdain. He must not have liked Louis much.

Silas straightens his back, eyeing Sebastian and me. “So, here’s my predicament. Since you two have only recently joined us, trust is still unstable. And we’ve had this minor problem on our hands for a while.”

“What does this have to do with us?” Sebastian counters confidently. “Looks to me like this was an issue on your hands before Annabel and I joined.”

“It would look like that, wouldn’t it? But since I need to rid my group of this problem”—he gestures to Louis—“I thought why not have one of you take care of him in front of us to prove you’re one of us.”

The palms of my hands are clammy as a cold sweat rips through my body. My eyes fly to Sebastian, but he doesn’t look at me.

The men seated around the table comment under their breath with approval.

Sebastian shrugs. “Fine by me.” He goes to stand, but Silas shakes his head slowly in response.

“Not you.” His voice is dark. “Her.”

And then my soul leaves my body.

The room becomes blurry, and the chatter silences.