Page 116 of The Devil

“Mercy. Mercy.”

“Mercy?”

He nods, pain etched on his face.

“Seems I’m fresh out.”

“There’s another one. Almost got away.” Cassian’s voice cuts through the moment. We both turn to find a soldier dragging Councilor Senna back into the chapel.

“What do you want to do with him?” Cassian asks.

I look at Senna, at his mean little face, that mask I knew I’d seen in the Great Hall on top of his head, forgotten in all the commotion.

He looks around the room, eyes landing on Jameson. His terror is visible on his face.

Good.

I stalk toward him and snatch his mask away. I study its’ cruel face. I haven’t seen it since I killed my grandfather. Holding it now, it’s not panic I feel. It’s something else.

“You want to play games with me, Councilor?” I ask. “You sick prick.” I hold the mask up.

“I don’t know what you mean. I swear it.”

“You had someone wear this. Or maybe it was you, but I don’t think so. Too short. But you thought to do it to fuck with me.”

“You’re mistaken, I assure you.”

“Am I? Then how did this mask end up here at all? I thought you’d destroyed everything that had to do with my grandfather.”

“I did not… recall I simply… wore a mask.” I see his guilt as he tells me his lies.

I snort. Shake my head. Because it doesn’t matter. Holding this mask now, looking at it, it’s just a mask, something for weak men to hide behind. I toss it aside. My grandfather is dead. I killed him. The mask is nothing. It holds no power over me. Unless I allow it to and I do not.

But there’s still what he did to Sev.

“Jet. Time. What do we want to do here?” Cassian asks.

I look at my brother. “I say we shut down this chapter of The Society. Burn it to the ground. What say you, brother?” I ask Sev.

“Fire,” Sev says, taking a step toward Senna. “It’s fitting, don’t you think, Councilor?”

“An eye for an eye. The Society’s doctrine,” I say.

“I am not a part of this chapter,” Senna says, looking to Cassian. “I have no control over what they do here. This ceremony?” He shakes his head, looks at Robertson’s and Jameson’s dead bodies. “It’s not our way. You boys know that.”

“But that’s just it. We’re no longer boys, Councilor,” Jet says. “And it’s time you pay for your sins.”

“I am a Councilor of the New York branch and as such, I demand to be released!”

“Do you?”

“If you murder me here, they will come for you. The Society will come for vengeance.”

“Murder?” I cock my head. “We would never…” I cross to the altar to where one of the few remaining candles is. I pick up the taper the priest used to light them all earlier and touch it to the flame. “What murder? You really shouldn’t light so many candles in such an old place. It’s dangerous.”

I touch the flame to the tapestries on either side of that wooden carving and there’s a flash of heat as the two instantly go up in flames. The fire spreads quickly, but I’m not taking any chances. I light another tapestry on fire.

“An accident in the midst of your little ceremony. All the bodies burned up.” I shrug my shoulders. “Happens with these old places, am I right?”