Chapter Eighteen

Flame

It"s almost time for Church. Blaze"s just gotten back to sit with Cam, who"s had a great day with Tech, learning about what Tech does for Devil"s Inferno. According to Tech, Cam seems to have a natural ability with computers and what Tech"s teaching him. If it"s something Cam wants to pursue in the future, then I"m all for it. I just want him to be happy.

Leaving Cam and Blaze to hang out, the rest of us move into the room where we hold Church. It"s a massive room within The Clubhouse that only patched members are allowed into unless an exception"s made due to a serious situation. Inside the room, there"s a large rectangular wooden table that sits at the front of the room, which the Officers sit behind so that we"re all facing the rest of the room. The rest of the room"s just made up of chairs where all the other members sit. Wrath takes his seat at the center of the table, and all his Officers take their seats around him. Shadow"s directly on his left, with Piston and Ink sitting in the seats next to him. Eagle"s sitting directly on Wrath"s right, with Rock and Blade next to him. My seat"s next to Ink. This way, the rest of the Officers are boxed in between the two Enforcers. It"s an added layer of safety, just in case anyone ever gets any ideas to try and harm them. They"d have to get through me or Blade first, and we're not Enforcers for nothing.

The other members have started to fill the empty seats around the room. I watch as they enter, noticing Jake"s the Prospect at the door. I can"t help but smile. He hardly ever speaks, but he"s going to make a solid brother. He never fails to do what"s asked of him, and he works harder than most people I"ve ever met. He"s making sure all the members hand over their phones, whether they like it or not. The only person allowed any electronics in this room is Tech, for obvious reasons. Not even Wrath keeps his phone.

When Spot tries to enter without giving up his phone, Jake catches his arm, stopping him.

"Phone now,"Jake demands sharply.

"Fuck off, Prospect."Spot snarls as he tries to force Jake to release him.

What he hasn"t realized, as his back is to us, is that he"s gained the attention of the whole room by arguing with Jake. We all wait to see what happens next.

"Phone,"Jake says while holding his free hand out.

Spot"s not listening, though he"s trying to force Jake to release him so that he can still enter.

I look at Blade at the opposite end of the table, which is closest to the door. He nods and stands, making his way over to the door. He"s going to go and deal with whatever Spot is attempting to pull right now.

"Give him your phone, or you"re not entering this room." Blade states from behind Spot, his voice brokering no argument.

"W-what?"Spot splutters while acting confused by what Blade"s said.

"You heard me. Hand it over now; it"s the rule. No exceptions. I don"t know what you"re trying to pull right now, Spot, but I"d think about your next move very carefully."Blade says in a deadly voice, we"re not messing around today.

Spot quickly hands his phone over to Jake and scuttles past Blade with his head down, avoiding looking at anyone. Jake nods his head at Blade as he puts Spot"s phone with the rest. Blade makes his way back over, and we hear the doors close. Jake will be standing outside, guarding the room until the meeting"s finished.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Spot quietly talking to Lanky. They"re both now on my list of people to watch; they"re acting shifty as fuck but trying not to draw any attention to themselves. Also, why would Spot even try and get his phone in here? It makes no sense; he knows the fucking rules and that they"re heavily enforced. He had to know he wasn"t going to get away with it, so why even try?

Everyone soon quietens down when Wrath bangs his gavel to start the meeting.

"Right, this isn"t a normal Church, so we won"t be going through all the normal reports. This is specifically to talk about the newest threat we"re facing."Wrath starts.

"Now I"m sure you"ve all heard about the trouble we have had at both Devil"s Garage and Inferno"s recently. From what we"ve been able to gather, someone"s decided they want to cause us trouble, but that"s not their endgame; that"s just their side goal. Their actual goal is to take out me, Shadow, and Flame. From what Tech was able to find out, the person behind this is a woman, and she feels we three have done something to harm her in the past. Originally, we didn"t have a clue who it could be; we have so many people who could"ve claimed we had harmed them in some way, but now we"re pretty sure we"ve figured it out."He stops talking and takes a breather.

We"re all discreetly watching the reactions of everyone in the room. Spot has wide eyes at what is being said, but not so much in shock as in fear. Yeah, he knows something; it looks like we might have found mole number two. Wrath takes a sip of water before continuing to speak.

"I"m sure you"re all aware by now that my son"s here. I had no clue he existed until Flame found him at our gate beaten, but his arrival has actually given us the answers we needed about who"s out to get us."

He stops talking and looks over at Shadow next to him, who just nods his head before he continues for Wrath.

"When myself, Wrath, and Flame were still in high school, a new girl started at our school, and she immediately befriended Wrath. Her name was Claire McGivens. What none of us knew at that time was that she"d been planted in our lives by her father, Ian McGivens. He wanted to take over some of our businesses and also kill Blaze in hopes that he could become President of Devil"s Inferno. Obviously, the guy had no clue how an MC runs because if he did, he'd have known that if he did end up killing Blaze, he still wouldn"t have been the one who became President. I found out what they were doing when I broke into their house one night and decided to snoop around. I never fully trusted Claire; something about the way she acted just never sat right with me, and I decided to investigate. That night, I found a lot of information in her Dad"s office, including how they were going to use Wrath to lure Dad to them and then kill him. As I"m sure you can imagine, I wasn"t happy with what I"d found."

Shadow stops for a moment as his voice becomes laced with anger.

"I managed to take photos of everything I found, which I sent to Flame, as I didn"t want to worry my Dad until I had found everything I could. However, I didn"t get out of the house before Ian and Claire came home, but I did manage to blend into the office and hide. They had no idea I was there, and when they started to discuss what Claire had done that night, I recorded it. Tech, can you play the file, please?"

Tech just gives Shadow a nod and clicks play. Immediately, I hear the recording I heard so many years ago.

"So, have you managed to get in with one of Blaze"s boys?" Ian asks Claire

"Oh, yes, Daddy, Jackson. He believes my little innocent act, and he seems to be struggling with something internally right now. Not that I care about that, but I managed to use it to my advantage. I got him drunk tonight, totally took advantage of the situation, and slept with him. It"s a good job he"s hot, or I would"ve hated every moment of it. Anyway, what Jackson doesn't know is that his little gay friend Hunter caught us in the act. He looked so heartbroken to see us going at it. So I think we can safely assume that I should be able to isolate him enough from his lapdog for you to use him to get to Blaze."

We can all hear her laughing after she finishes speaking.

"Oh, child, you"re good; you couldn"t have planned it better if you tried. That should cause a decent rift, and hopefully we can isolate him enough for our plans to work. We need a way to lure Blaze, and his son"s definitely the way to go. It"s widely known that he"d do anything to protect either of them."

"Sure, Daddy, it was no hardship for me. I can"t wait for you to kill Blaze and take over as President. I'll get to be an MC Princess, and everyone will be so jealous. I"m going to bed now. I need my beauty sleep before I see Jackson again tomorrow. Goodnight Daddy."

"Goodnight, sweetheart. I promise you"ll be a Princess soon."

Tech ends the recording, and I know my face is blank. I"m not going to show any of these fuckers any emotion. What happened back then did fucking hurt me, but I got over it pretty fast when I found out what they had planned for Wrath and Blaze.

"I left after Ian did and took the recording straight to Flame, so he could hear the truth about what had happened. Then we both went and let my Dad and Wrath hear it,"Shadow explains before I take over the story.

Calmly, I begin to speak. "After the truth was exposed to us all, we made our play against them. A play they didn"t expect. Blaze decided that we could be the ones to deal with them when we asked. Wrath came up with a plan that he wanted implemented. So, while Claire was at school with Wrath and Shadow the next day, I went to the McGivens' house and caught Ian unaware. Claire wasn"t suspicious about my absence because she knew I"d seen her and Wrath together, assuming it would cause issues between us. I tortured Ian for all the information I needed so there wouldn"t be any surprises left behind once he died. Once he gave me all the information I wanted, I set him on fire, alive. I wasn"t going to kill him quickly, not after what he planned to do. After I finished my part, I sent Wrath a text that it was done, and he confronted Claire."

Wrath then takes over the story once more. "I confronted Claire when we left school that day. I"d spent the entire day playing along like I knew nothing about what they"d planned. Even though I couldn"t stand her being anywhere near me. As I was walking her home, I told her that we knew what they were planning and what she"d done. When we got to her house, which was engulfed in flames, I whispered it was over; her father was gone, and she needed to run. We never heard from her again. Until now, it seems." Wrath concludes.

I"ve been watching Spot this whole time; he"s now white as a ghost and swallowing hard.

"Tech."Wrath says, indicating he wants Tech to take over and tell us what he"s found out.

"So far, I"ve found out quite a bit since Prez asked me to specifically research Claire. Claire lives two towns over in Royal Creek, where we know the person behind everything"s based. She"s also got a little crew courtesy of her drug dealer boyfriend. They"re small-time thugs with long arrest records. According to what I"ve found on the dark web, they"re looking to hire someone to take all three of you out who won"t fail but haven't had any luck yet. It seems no one is willing to take out Devil"s Inferno"s President, Vice President, and one of our Enforcers." He stops talking to chuckle, which causes everyone else to chuckle too.

Once everyone is quiet again, he continues, "She"s got quite a bit of money, which she inherited after her father died. She"s using it to fund her vendetta. She"s also got a half-sister on her mother"s side who no longer has anything to do with her after Claire threatened to kill her after she tried to save Cam from a beating he was getting in front of her. Don"t ask me how I found that information, as it wasn"t easy and I won"t tell you. Jasmine, that"s the sister; lives here in Devil"s Point if you want to send someone to talk to her. That"s all I"ve got so far, but my programs are still running." Tech informs us all.

"Thanks Tech. What you"ve told us lines up pretty well with everything Cam"s written that he remembers; the only major difference is the information Cam provided about our traitor Snake. As you"re all aware, Snake attacked Cam. It turns out Snake"s the brother of Claire"s boyfriend and has been betraying us for years. He"s going to severely regret that. That"s all for now. Watch your backs out there and work your contacts; you never know what they might hear. Dismissed."Wrath says before slamming down his gavel, indicating the end of the meeting.

Everyone gets up and files out of the room, collecting their phones from Jake. I slowly follow behind Spot at a distance so that he doesn"t see me. I really want to see what he"ll do after what"s just been said in Church. Spot slips outside The Clubhouse, walking towards the back of the parking lot.

As I follow, I see that he"s already got his phone up to his ear, talking to someone.

"They know everything!"He shouts down the phone.

"No, shut up a minute and listen to me! They know it"s you behind the attacks! For fuck sakes, woman."He mutters, going silent while listening to whatever she"s saying.

"Yes, I know Cam"s missing! Well, I wouldn"t say missing, as he"s fucking here with Wrath! You fucked up!"He tells whoever he"s talking to, who I"m guessing is Claire by what"s being said.

He hangs up the phone, muttering something under his breath that I can"t hear.

He starts to walk off back towards The Clubhouse, having no idea he"s being followed. It seems that I wasn"t the only one suspicious of Spot, as out of nowhere Shadow appears in front of an oblivious Spot and injects him with something. My guess is a sedative, given how quickly he drops to the ground. Shadow must"ve asked Doc for it at some point. Now that was smart thinking. Personally, I was looking forward to knocking him out the old-fashioned way, but this is just as handy. I walk over to where Shadow"s chuckling, bend down to scoop Spot over my shoulder before following behind him to our holding area.

When we enter the holding area, I see Blade"s already here waiting for me, as we"re going to question Snake. He raises his eyebrows when he sees who"s over my shoulder. I just shake my head and drop the traitor in the empty cell beside Snake's. Now Snake doesn"t look happy about Spot being here at all. Did he think Spot would come to his rescue? It looks like that hope"s shattered now. Shadow nods at us both, turns, and leaves. Clearly, he"s not interested in watching what we"re going to do to Snake, which I find a little unusual but don"t comment on. He obviously has something to do with how quickly he"s leaving.

Eyeing up Snake, I ask Blade, "Where do you want to start?"

"I want to string him up and play with my new knives; I want to see how sharp they are. This is the perfect opportunity to test them out."Blade gleefully says.

I enter Snake"s cell and pull him out by the rope that is tying his wrists together before I hook him up to the ceiling. Once he"s hooked up, Blade hits the button on the wall, which lifts him into the air, leaving him with just his tiptoes on the floor. Backing away from Snake, I can"t help the chuckle that escapes; he looks terrified. He knows he"s not getting out of this alive. He"s a Devil"s Inferno traitor, and we don"t take kindly to traitors. He"s also got to have realized Cam would have talked, and we know everything he"s done.

Standing against the wall, I watch Blade walk over to the work table, where he"s obviously put the new knives he wants to test out. I can"t hear what he"s saying, but he seems to be talking to his damn knives. I swear he's fucking crazy. Who the hell talks to their damn weapons?

Blade picks up a knife, walks over to Snake, and quickly cuts away all his outer clothing, leaving him just hanging there in his underwear. Snake isn"t gagged, but he hasn"t said a word. I can"t blame him; he"s currently strung up with both Enforcers here to work him over. He"s got to be fucking terrified of what we"re going to do to him.

"Now, Snakey Boy, where shall we start? We both know you"re going to tell us everything, but you need a little pain after putting your hands on our newly found Prince. So where, oh, where shall I start?"Blade sounds ecstatic.

Blade takes his knife, places it at the top of Snake"s leg, and slowly presses down, stabbing him before pulling it down, cutting into him as well. Snake starts to scream, and I can"t really blame him; that"s got to hurt.

"Now Snake, what"ve you been telling your brother and his bitch of a girlfriend?"Blade asks while spinning his knife in his hand.

The blood at the end splatters around the room with each spin. Snake doesn"t speak, just keeps staring ahead. He obviously has something to prove.

Blade just laughs and repeats the same move on Snake"s other leg. Then he plunges the knife into his gut. There"s no doubt that Blade is missing everything vital, as he knows exactly where to put his knives to cause either damage or death.

"Now, are you going to tell us?"Blade asks, losing all the humor in his voice.

"Why would I tell you anything when you"re just going to kill me anyway?"Snake replies with defiance in his eyes.

"Well, that"s easy because if you answer our questions, we"ll kill you quickly. You don"t answer, and we"ll drag this out and make it as painful as we possibly can."Blade snarls, takes his knife, and plunges it back into Snake's gut, just above the last wound. Snake does cry out this time.

"Hey Flame, want to come and do something to stop this bleeding? We wouldn"t want our friend here bleeding out now, would we?"Blade asks with a gleam in his eye. He's done this exact thing before, so I know exactly what it is he has in mind right now.

Walking over, I pull out my trademark lighter, flicking it on in front of Snake's face.

"Which one needs doing first?"I ask Blade.

"Hmmm…the top one seems to be bleeding the worst out of the two."Blade states.

I flick my lighter on and hold it over the stab wound; all I can smell is burning flesh. With my lighter directly over his wound, it cauterizes. Snake screams before he passes out from the pain.

"Pussy."Blade says as he walks away to grab some water to throw over our guest to wake him.

Walking back with a bottle of water, he uncaps it and throws it in Snake"s face. He comes to with a splutter.

"Now, are you going to talk?"I ask him.

"Yes, I"ll tell you everything,"Snake tells us, sweat pouring down his body. He"s clearly in a lot of pain. Good.

"I joined Devil"s Inferno originally just to be part of the club; I had no ulterior motive. Four years ago, my brother started seeing this chick. I thought nothing of it at first. Yeah, my brother"s a dealer, but he"s a good guy, a good brother. He seemed happy and in love with her. When I met her, I was immediately taken in by her beauty. She got this sort of gleam in her eye when she saw me in my kutte, but I ignored it; she was my brother"s woman. Anyway, we got talking, and they asked me to be there inside, man. They told me her story, about how you all murdered her dad for no reason, and I knew I had to help her."Snake starts to explain.

I can"t help the laughter I release. They fucking played him like a fiddle.

"Did you ever think to fact-check her story?"I ask sarcastically.

"No, why would I? Why would she lie to me? There was no reason for it. Anyway, I did what they wanted, I found out whatever they needed, or at least tried to. I was happy to do it. What my brother didn"t know was that we had been seeing each other behind his back for the past three years. I couldn"t help but fall for her after I found out what she"d survived at all your hands. I"d have done anything for her."He sounds like a love-sick fool.

"What about Cam?"I ask.

"Oh, that winey piece of shit. He"s Claire"s personal punching bag. She hates the little fucker, not only for looking exactly like his father but also because he was born. She didn"t realize she was pregnant with him until it was too late. She only kept him in the end because she knew he"d be a great weapon to use against Wrath. She even let me vent my anger on him sometimes, and it was fucking fantastic."He tells us.

"Anything else?"Blade asks while moving towards the switch that will lower Snake back down.

"No, just that you"ll regret killing her dad in the past and me now. She"s coming for you. Everything I"ve done will be worth it to give her the revenge she seeks."He laughs.

Blade hits the switch and quickly moves behind Snake. As soon as he"s low enough, he slits his throat with no hesitation. Snake gurgles out his last breath, and then he"s just hanging there, his lifeless eyes wide with shock.

"Leave him there for now,"I tell Blade. "It'll give Spot something to think about when he wakes up."

We both go into the adjoining room, where there"s a selection of clean clothes and showers. It"s time to clean up and get back to my family. My work"s certainly done for the night; one mole"s dead and the other"s locked in a cell, and will be joining him in death soon.