“No. I mean I’m going to kill them with a shotgun.” He lifts the flashlight to look into his bag then picks up his opened, half-bitten protein bar. “I’ve never used one before.”
Watching him eat without a care in the world reminds me of Sasha. I miss the little nutcase and hope fuses to my voice as I ask, “Do you know where the Wards are?”
“Everywhere.” He takes another bite. “Nowhere. They don’t show their faces. They’ll wear those masks people wear in movies when they’re pretending to be someone. Like the one where the man dresses like a nanny to see his children.”
“Youwatched that?”
“Little demon likes it.” He shrugs. “Anyway, they’ll wear them all the time. Lucille is the only one who always wears those annoying shoes. I hate those shoes,” he whines to himself before taking another more forceful bite.
Delilah leaves Lennox to come to my side. I give him a tight-lipped smile as I nod my head. He said it’s his turn to die. I don’t know what it means since he promised there’ll be no one coming after us, but I can see the change in him. When I was a child, he was quiet. Now he’s exhausted as he guides the woman towards the mouth of the tunnel.
I hook my right arm around Delilah’s shoulders as Daigon flicks the light to the tunnel, then into his bag to take out more snacks like a toddler. The crunching and rustling wrappers keep making me think it’s Sasha, but there’s no whining about how hungry she is or shit-talking.
Any hope I had of her being here is demolished when we reach the stone basement with steel-doored cells. It’s not the reminder of prison making my eyes widen as we still at the threshold, it’s the fucking carnage. The stone is stained with fresh blood. Multiple guards are piled in the corner of the hallway, their mirrored masks cracked and their clothes slashed from the person who tore them to literal sheds. There’s so much blood it flows through the natural grooves in the stone.
“Nice.” Daigon whistles in appreciation, stepping over their dismembered bodies. Delilah leads us up the stone staircase too fucking easily. She doesn’t even pause to check we’re going through the correct door, like she’s comfortable with the layout. When we enter the kitchen, it’s as red as the basement with smears on the floor and blood dripping down the window. How many fucking guards did she have here?
My wife is crazy as she skips over the dead bodies, through the hallway into the living room, then ignores the motionless bodies of her grandparents and Helene to snatch something off the piano.
Sinclair Leroux, Delilah’s grandfather, has aged like mayonnaise left in the sun. Cordelia, her grandmother, isn’t anybetter as she sags in her seat. But it’s not until I look at Helene I notice their eyes are moving.
“You’ve been given paralytics?” I laugh, prodding her cheek.
Daigon goes further as he pushes the tip of his finger into Sinclair’s eye when he can’t blink. My powerful wife pushes him out of the way, glaring up at him. “You get her.” She points at her grandmother. “He’s mine to kill. Get out of my way.”
“You’re like Ruby,” he huffs as he steps around her, dropping his bag on the floor. “Always telling me what to do, taking my toys away.” He smiles into Cordelia’s face. “Do you want me to close your eyes?” Then uses his first two fingers to roughly pull her eyelids down before laughing, pulling one up. “Peek-a-boo.”
I’m fucked up because I laugh. I can’t help it when he’s a giant doing creepy shit. Sasha desensitized me to all manners of crazy. There must be something about The Dollhouse that makes everyone who’s lucky enough to escape find humor in the most insane acts. Fuck, she’d love this. She’d be all excited about the violence, then hum to herself while playing with their bodies. I miss the crazy little shit.
Delilah tries to drag her grandfather off his seat, but she only manages to smack his head off the hard floor, prolonging my laugh. I don’t know how long the drugs will keep them like this, so I leave her to do damage while arguing with her brother-in-law. I go into the kitchen to the cupboard of perverted shit. With the whip, collar, chains, and gag laid over my arm, I go back to the living room.
“Daigon, help me,” she seethes, crossing her arms over her chest, glaring up at him.
He takes a deep breath as he looks over her head at me. “You’re not going to be staying with us, are you?”
I shake my head.
“Good. I already have to put up with one of you since Scarlet turns up whenever she wants. You, troublemaker, are banned from my property.”
“Shut up. You can’t stop me from seeing my sister. She’ll kick your ass when I tell her.”
“The Leroux effect,” he says to me.
“I told you,” I say softly. “There’s nothing you can do about it, apart from going along with what they say.”
I fall in love with my wife for the umpteenth time as she snaps, “I’m not a Leroux. I’m Delilah Xandros, so shut up. Pick him up for me.”
He carelessly throws Sinclair over his shoulder as I restrain Helene. Her glare is murderous, so I close her eyes. Leaning closer to her, I whisper, “Now you’re in the shadows, and your son is going to die. Everything you built on the blood of innocence will burn along with you.Myparents will get you on the other side.”
If Heaven is real, there’s no visiting hours. Those are reserved for Hell, because every soul that reaches the pearly gates is owed justice that no one else can give them.
I walk over to the domed atrium as Daigon forces Sinclair’s deadweight onto the needled bench. He keeps hold of the old man’s shoulder as he points at the piano. “Ruby said you played. You should teach the little demon because she uses the keys as if they’re drums.”
Delilah’s smile is radiant as she softly says, “I’d like that.”
He steps back, allowing Sinclair to fall backwards, the needles tearing through his skin. On his way out of the room, he grabs Cordelia’s thinning hair then drags her outside, slamming the door behind him. The front door is abruptly pushed open, and I keep Delilah behind me as I watch the door, waiting for the masked bitch to enter or Rowan. Cordelia sweeps the floor behind Daigon as he holds up one hand, muttering, “Forgot myfood.” He hugs the backpack to his chest as he walks back out with Cordelia still trailing along.
Delilah’s entire body shakes from the force of her laugh as she smothers the sound in my bicep. She manages to collect herself enough to wheeze, “She looks like the doll.” Her choked laughter makes her voice squeaky as she folds in on herself. “When they’re broken…and have one eye open.”
