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Sophie let out a strangled sob, shoved her shoes on, and hurried out. But the garden was empty. No Max. The side gate banged mockingly in the gentle wind.
Fuck. There had been more than one Demonios on their trail that night. They had taken Max. She rushed out the gate into the street.
She looked up and down. The road gazed emptily back at her. It was dark now, night time had snuck over them. Streetlights were on, there was a hushed evening calm on the little residential street.
She felt in her bones. They were both gone. Max and Phantom. One taken. One lost.
She looked again, up the street, peering into the gloom to see even the slightest flicker of movement.
But all she saw was empty darkness.
He didn’t have anything to say. He didn’t have anything to think. The world washed over him like a wave on the beach. And he was a pebble, tiny, insignificant, at the water’s mercy. It made no difference to him if he was at the top of a surf or at the bottom of the ocean. Phantom wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere. He didn’t mind if he stopped existing.
Nothing mattered anymore.
She was a fairy, not meant for him, not meant for his world of darkness. His time with her had been nothing more than a dream. A trip to NeverLand. He was back in the real world now.
He hated himself. He wanted violence. He could slash and stab. He could kill. Phantom wanted to taste blood. He wanted to hunt and kill. Nobody hurt Sophie. Nobody hurt her family. Especially not himself.
He was The Darkness. He was the fantasme de la muerte. He was death itself.
Her ringing phone cut through the darkness like Phantom’s knife cut through an artery. Sophie jumped and fumbled in her pocket. But she let out a sob when she saw who it was. Not Phantom with flame emojis between each letter. Instead, Colt.
“Colt?”
“Sophie, are you hurt? Are you okay?” Colt’s urgent voice came back down the line. It sounded like he was moving, breathing heavily.
Sophie frowned. “You know? Max was taken-”
“Sophie, Demonios have contacted us… ransom demands, we repay the money, they’ll give us Max back. They’ve given an address, it’s a warehouse in Stockton, then they’ll take him to El Paso if we don’t meet them and give back the cash-”
“I’m so sorry-”
“Hey, it’s okay-”
“This is all my fault, Max might not have been taken-”
“Don’t do that, no ifs Sophie, come on, you need to be that flamethrower now,” Colt’s voice cut in.
She took a breath.
“Phantom was on duty guarding you tonight-”
“He… there was more than one Demonios, he killed one Demonios but I thought he was going to kill my brother and I got mad… then he disappeared but we realized Max was missing, too-”
Colt barked orders to someone else, she heard other people talking urgently in the background. “I’m putting you on speakerphone…”
She could hear the Police Sergeant’s voice. “Fuck, Colt, I’m here to help, what can I do?”
“Get Ash to get the guys together, brief them all, and follow our six. Looks like we’re going to Stockton,” Colt’s voice sounded stern.
Sophie cut back in. “But the money… my cousin gave me the money… I spent it, I bought stuff for my shop, there’s nothing left of that money!” Sophie said desperately.
“Okay, we’ll buy you out, Sophie, the MC will invest, you’re family now, anyway. Phantom’s woman, you might as well join the family business, too. We’ll get the money together, we’ll go and meet these Texan Demonios dicks. We will rescue your brother, we’ll pay them and them tell them to fuck off.”
Sophie sobbed a breath down the phone.
Carmelo’s voice echoed down the line. “You think they’ll let it be after that?”
