Page 137 of Juniper Unraveling

“Where are you going?”

“To make a deal. One that I hope will end all of this.” I wrench my arm away from her and stride toward the entrance of the tunnel.

Abandoning his carving, Ratchet stands to block my passage, and I shoot a glance back at Red. At her nod, he steps aside, and I slip down the dark rabbit hole once again.

Whimpers bleed from the other side of the closed door, and I enter the room that must’ve served as a kitchen back in the hotel’s heyday. Across the room, Damian is tied naked to a large iron structure that looks like an old wood stove. The black Legion uniforms lay in a heap, well out of his reach, along with their guns, walkie-talkies, and masks. Pools of desiccating blood are scattered across the floor, seeping into the thick bed of dirt that covers the stone beneath. Damian’s face is hardly recognizable, bloodied and beaten.

“’The fuck?” He tips his head, as I approach, and when I crouch in front of him, he scrambles backward away from me. “Stay away! D-d-don’t touch me!”

“I’m not going to touch you, Damian. I’m here to talk.”

What little I can make out of his eyes is wary, shifting back and forth. “Just … kill me. Please.”

“No. I’m not killing you, and no one is going to touch you.”

“He will! He’s coming back! He … h-h-he fuckin’ … monster! A demon from hell!”

“Ivan’s done far worse, and you know it.”

Damian stares back with an incredulous look on his face, which turns grim. “He skinned him. In front of me. Please let me go. Just let me go. I won’t tell anyone you’re here. Just let me go.”

“I can’t. I’ll talk to him. He’ll spare you.”

“He fucking skinned him! And he made me eat his heart! Sick fuck!”

It feels as if I’m swallowing a rock, as I tamp down the guilt of having watched Rhys’s fist punch through Ivan’s chest, and that sickening crack of bone that will forever haunt me. “Damian, listen to me.”

“You’re all a bunch of sick fucks!”

“I’ll talk to him. No one will hurt you, I promise.”

“I hope every one of you bastards burn! I hope Legion finds you all and burns you alive! You twisted fucks!” A barky wet cough spurts a glob of blood onto his lip, and he throws himself forward in a violent, seizing fit that sends a torrent of red colored vomit splashing at my feet.

I rise up from my crouch, backing away from him and the urges calling to me, telling me to do the right thing.

“I hope you all burn! Burn!”

* * *

I follow the path to the tinaja, where Rhys sits kneeling at the edge, splashing water onto his face. His hand shoots to his holster as I approach, and when he catches a glimpse of me, he exhales and releases it.

“I saw everything.”

With his back to me, he rolls his shoulders, but doesn’t say a word in response, so I continue.

“I know why you did it. It was my fault. I did that to you. Just like I made you kill all those people whose skulls you sleep with now.”

His head kicks to the side. “He hurt you. So I hurt him.”

“And he deserved it. But that’s not you. That’s not the Six I remember.”

“I already told you I wasn’t the same boy you knew. You don’t let your enemies walk in this world unless you plan to face them twice.”

“I want you to let Damian go.”

“So he can go back to Legion and tell them what I’ve done? Tell them exactly where to find us?” He turns his attention back to the water and scoops a handful in his palm. “You’re crazy,” he says, splashing it onto his face.

“He called you a monster. He thinks you’re some kind of desert demon. They’ll just think he’s delirious. You don’t have to send him off with his walkie-talkie and a care package. Leave him at the mercy of the desert. He’ll never make it, anyway. He’s not a survivor.”