8. Rain

W alking to the front door, I find the lights are dimmed and E isn’t here. Looking around, I can feel him but I can’t see him. As I go to open the front door—perhaps he is on the other side—a hand wraps around my mouth, and an audible gasp from my mouth follows. With a racing heart, I squeeze my eyes, thinking, Who is in my house?

Fuck.

Rogers.

My leg moves backward, looking to donkey-kick whoever the fuck is behind me, but my foot is met with a solid frame because their legs are together.

I kick them again, hoping maybe I’ll hurt them or take a knee out. After a couple tries, nothing. Then a sinister chuckle echoes in the space.

Instead of panicking, I start focusing.

His scent gives it away.

It’s him . My baby E.

Just fuck, why am I so paranoid?

My heart pounds against my chest so hard and rapidly that I can hear it in my ears. Opening my mouth, I bite down on his hand, which is still covering me.

“Hmm, I like it rough, little bat,” he teases, then licks my ear.

“I’m going to let go of your mouth. But I need you to bend over and touch your toes for me. Can you do that? Will you be a good girl for me?” His voice is rough and seductive and I am on the edge. My thighs push together and pussy drips as “Good girl” leaves his lips.

Slowly his hand inches away from my face, and I lick it before it’s too far away, feeling possessive, marking what’s mine.

“I’m not going to fuck you.”

Blowing out a heavy sigh, I believe him. Bending at the waist, I can feel my skirt rising against my bare skin with each inch I move. His hand comes up, gripping and squeezing me as a faint growl can be heard. His thumb moves over the bite mark tattoo he gave me in Blackwood, and shivers crawl up my spine as he circles it.

My voice shakes as I question, “E, what are you doing?”

I can feel him smiling at the question.

“What if Rogers walks by?” I’d be absolutely mortified.

“He left a while ago. He was only here dropping something off for me earlier. Stop changing the subject and keep still.” E’s tone has become more harsh. He grips my ass cheeks now, it starts to hurt the harder he squeezes.

That’s when I feel it, his spit, as it runs down the center. It is promptly followed by a cool, hard object entering inside of me. My body immediately reacts, clamping around the intrusion. It’s the strangest feeling of being full.

E bends over me, whispering, “You will keep it in all night.” I nod my head in response, as my brain is still processing what just happened.

The heat from his body is lost as he stands. I follow him slowly. The taller I stand, the more I feel it, the butt plug.

“Why did you think Rogers was here?”

Shit.

“Your dad called. To check in. He mentioned Rogers heard a commotion. I told him it was fine.” I play it off coy, to not upset him or add to his stress.

I turn on my heel and take his face in. Reading him is a part of understanding him. E looks uneasy.

“Rogers needs to mind his own fucking business and to stay in his goddamn lane.” As his final word is spoken, he grips his bat, which I completely missed leaning against the front entrance wall, and walks around me, opening the front door. “Come, little bat, we have a date.”

The streets are empty. Businesses closed and the streetlights shine bright.

Reaching into the back seat, the plug moves with my body as my bottom rubs against the seat. Fuck, this feels good. As I go to grab the black rabbit masks, E stops me, “Not yet.”

Turning back around, I sit, looking forward with pressure from the plug mounting. I need to stand up. But instead of getting out of the car, E pulls out his phone and starts to scroll.

What in the actual fuck?

Clearing my throat, I try to get his attention, but he ignores me.

Gazing out of the window, something catches my eye in the side mirror. Sitting forward, squinting my eyes, I see someone walking toward us. It’s dark, making it harder to tell who it could be or what they are doing.

“Francesca just posted on her social media. Amateur. She’s down the street, showing us she doesn’t give a fuck what night it is. What a child.”

Nodding my head, my eyes remained focused on the person, I murmur, “E, someone’s coming our way.” The words leave my lips slowly, filled with curiosity.

“Let’s go.” The car door opens, and E gets out before closing it behind him. The weight of the car shifts now that I am the only one inside. Even the tiniest movement causes the plug to move inside of me. Unable to stand this much longer, I follow suit and stand on the sidewalk. E is there, waiting for me, bat in hand. Faint clicks fill the silence surrounding us. As I look in the direction where it’s coming from, I see an older lady with a walker casually making her way toward us.

Confused, I look at E who seems unfazed.

“Master Elijah, you have returned,” a soft voice declares.

As she gets closer, I can make out her features more clearly. She is a shorter lady, with puffy white hair and a silk orange scarf around her head, tied under her chin. Pale skin, wearing a long brown skirt with brown loafers and a matching brown long-sleeve top. Her walker is the showstopper. Only meters away now, I see her walker is blinged out with purple gems, and it is officially the most wonderful thing I have ever seen. Frameless glasses sit low on her nose, with little to no makeup on other than bright pink lipstick.

As I take in this magnificent female, hoping that I am that cool when I get older, a thought occurs to me as I am wearing my white short skirt. “E, will people see what I have in?” I mumble under my breath, so she doesn’t hear me.

“Don’t care. But if I catch them looking, I will gut them alive then make them watch as I drape their intestines on you, like a necklace. You would look fucking beautiful. Crimson red running down your silk skin. Staining your white top. Fuck me.” E pauses. His eyes hood as he bites his lip with his fangs while taking me in. “Then I would bend you over and fuck you raw.” His voice is husky, and lust drips off each word.

Clenching my thighs together, my lips tingle and the need to grind against the plug is strong. Anything to tickle that spot, I’ll do it. My clit piercing pinches, it only causes my body to react stronger.

Stepping closer to me, E wraps his strong, tattooed hand around my throat, above my collar, and threatens, “Don’t you fucking dare try to cum. I’ll latch a tiny gold leash from your new jewelry, force you onto all fours, and walk you around all night as my pet. Do you understand me?”

Smelling his musky scent, ecstasy ripples through me.

My tongue reaches out to his jawline and I slowly lick him. E’s five-o’clock shadow is rough against me. But he tastes so fucking good, I wish it was his salty cum instead, but this will tide me over.

My breath dances on his skin as I whisper, “I understand.”

His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows. I know if I were to reach my hand down to his cock, it would be rock hard. Before I get the opportunity to do so, someone clears their throat next to us. Breaking this moment of intense sexual tension.

Looking over, it’s the older lady.

E steps back and looks at her nonchalantly. “Greta”

She smiles while rummaging through the bag sitting in the basket of her blinged-out walker. “Master Elijah. Welcome home.”

Greta then looks at me. “Rain Sinclair, I have been waiting to meet you.”

Her statement confuses me. I only just arrived, how does she know me? As I wait for her to continue to speak, a warm gust of wind dances around us. My hands hold my skirt down as I worry. Back home, this drastic change in weather could mean a tornado, but in Vail, I have no idea. My eyes look at E, seeing if he will react with concern. He doesn’t. This must be okay.

“The weather adapts to them every ten years. Never fails. The Reckoning is not to be disturbed. It is a rite of passage.”

Nodding my head, I don’t respond. Instead, I’m waiting to hear what else she may share about this evening. I wonder if she is a part of The Exodus?

“I have something for you, Master Elijah. I’ve been waiting twenty years to give you this. Now come here, boy, and hold out that hand you just had around Rain.”

Is this his grandmother, maybe?

E steps closer to Greta. Bending at the elbow, he holds his hand out and watches her carefully.

A silver object is being passed to him, and it looks familiar. I step closer, intrigued.

“Oh, my word. Is that…?” My breath hitches as I realize what she's given him.

A flat bar on one side, then ridges on the other make it so it fits over the fingers like a glove or a four-finger ring. Attached to the flat bar are five sharp claws. These claws would sit on the inside of the hand, resting slightly between each finger. They are meant to penetrate through skin and muscle as your hand wraps around your victim. It’s called a bagh nakh, which loosely translates to ‘tiger claw’. This seems to be an antique. And it is in perfect condition.

“It is Ms. Rain. I knew you had a passion for antique torture devices and that this would be perfect for tonight.”

Elijah tilts his head. “The fuck you two going on about?”

Greta ignores him. “Enjoy catching your prey, she’s waiting for you up the street with that bothersome Pawn. Perhaps he could disappear tonight as well.”

With that, she winks at me and continues to walk past us.

Wanting to see the claw device closer, I go to reach for it, but E beats me and holds it behind his back. Fucker.

“Who was that?” I question, trying to distract him.

Shaking his head, he knows my next move before I even do. “Greta. She knows about The Exodus. She was invited to join, initiated as a Disciple years and years ago, but she declined. Not wanting to be consumed by the life, but she loves watching and knowing about it. Greta sees it all. Never rats. So, they leave her alone. Greta has never been a risk like my cousin, Francesca. Her family was never a part of us, but she showed interest—potential, as my dad would say. Greta is one of the most fearless people I know. It’s a night of terror and chaos and she is casually out for a stroll, giving me a claw. Legend.”

Nodding my head, I take it all in as my mind races with more questions, to which I want the answers.

“We are in deep with everything to do with Vail, I told you that. Nothing happens that we don’t know about. Counterfeits, gambling, drugs, police, judges, mysterious disappearances, infiltrating and planting people in places we need them. We can get in anywhere. And, if you are in this business and become a threat, you meet your maker. Me. And now you, little bat.”

Fuck.

This is much more intense than my father’s cult, The Chapel. Worry washes over me, the anxiety of the past day catching up as it all hits me.

“You will feel better once we get to the cabin. Where we will both finally get to play.”