She grunted and snarled, the sound of splattering blood music to my ear. “I was trying to help.”
“No, you wanted to have someonenicecheck up on me. You were trying to control a situation that you don’t like. This is not for you to control, daffodil. Don’t think you can play any sort of game with me and win.”
She released a breath, and I heard another gunshot sound in the distance. “Look, we’re kind of in the middle of something, so I’ll cut straight to the point.”
“Oh, goody,” I hummed.
“You found favor in a girl locked up in a church—”
I froze in my tracks, that dangerous rage slithering through my body, causing things to twitch while my sense of control slowly slipped away.
“—surrounded by people who have done nothing but beat her into submission since she was a girl.”
I could hear the rushing sound of an unforgiving ocean roar in my ears.
“I know that you’re certifiably insane, Azrael, and that you can probably relate to her the best out of us all, but that girl needs real help. Greyson is the best man for the job.”
Thatfuckingcub doesn’t know the first thing about—
My mind started sparking in savage shocks of death, my heart beating hard against my cracking ribs. I was losing control. They were taking it from meagain.
“They’re going to ruin it,”that voice deep within me sang.“They will ruin everything. Five years of work,”it laughed maniacally,“all for not. He will win. He will win. He will win and kill them all.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“You need—”
“Don’t tell me what I need, daffodil,” I said, my voice not my own.
She went as silent as a rabbit under the eyes of a snake.
My entire body buzzed with the rage burning through me. I could feel the currents sliding through my veins, shocking through my mind. “You forget who I am. What I am. I don’t care what you are to me, if you interfere with my world, I will rip your intestines out of you and use them to strangle you until the life has drained from your eyes and then I’ll peel back your skin and stitch it to your precious little owner before I slice his smile open ear to ear and let him scream himself to death. You will meannothingto me if you ruin what I’ve done. Find your place in the hierarchy and remember, dear darling daffodil, that that placeis far below me.” I hung up and called upon the rose, that chant echoing in my mind.
“Tick tock goes the clock.”Over and over again, just like it had in that asylum.
“This number is new,” she said in way of greeting.
I laughed, the chill creeping down my own spine. “Thisfamilypresses and presses and presses until the whole world shatters. They need to remember their place,” I told myself. “Tick tock, tick tock. You want to play with the ace, little chess player, then pack up your pieces and come play. Sharpen your thorns, soon the queen of the board will meet the Queen of Hearts and the whole world will turn red.”
She was quiet. “How long do we have?”
I pulled out my watch, watching the secondhandtick-tick-tick. “The clock runs out at half past midnight on the 20th.”
“Who is coming?”
I watched that secondhand move.
“Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock.”
I snapped the watch shut. “Whoever understands that the next time they break my rules, I will tear them apart piece by pathetic piece.” I hung up, my grip tightening until I felt the screen crack, slicing into my skin.
“Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tockticktockticktock…”
27
Scarlett
February 19th, 2023
