Page 22 of Dominion

“We’re almost there,” Claudio said as he started moving the car again, but it did nothing to calm down my nerves or to stop my knee from bouncing. Cillian exhaled heavily, and I knew that I was probably rocking his seat with my movements, but it was either this or crying.

I didn’t want to cry. Not yet. Maybe not at all if Ash and Dylan were okay.

My face was pressed in the space between Cillian’s seat and the door of the car, my eyes scanning the road we were taking. Fallen trees graced the sides of the road but judging by the state of the old country road, someone was taking care of it. There was no way in hell that it would be this easy to drive over it if cars weren’t constantly passing by.

The knowledge that others went this way to head into the Red Manor chilled the blood in my veins. Human depravity knew no bounds, and I couldn’t imagine the monstrosities happening on these mountains surrounding Winworth.

Secrets of this area made me sick to my stomach. Just when I thought that we’d uncovered everything, something new came up, reminding me that the darkness wasn’t just a wayward thought when people spoke of this area—it was the core of Winworth. It was a living, breathing thing, spreading its long talons all over the town, where the spilled blood of all those innocent souls cursed the grounds long before I was born.

I wondered how many corpses we would find if we started digging on these mountains.

I wondered how many families mourned their loved ones, forever lost in the dark abyss of this area.

I had no idea if it was the history or the things that had happened after the first five founding families arrived, but one thing was sure—these were no sacred grounds. The saints were long gone, leaving the demons to play their wicked games, and we were in the middle of their hellish playground.

But not for much longer.

Not if I had anything to say about it.

This misery that cloaked Winworth, this foul stench of darkness and the taste of wickedness I could never get rid of as I was growing up, it would all be gone. Judah and his minions would pay for all the sins they had committed.

The car stopped, again, the sudden action making gravity pull me toward the front of the car. If it wasn’t for Cillian’s seat, I would’ve flown right through the windshield.

“What the fuck, man?” I groaned, pulling myself back. “I almost broke my neck.”

“We’re here,” Claudio announced, and the atmosphere inside the car immediately dropped. I couldn’t see the manor in front of us, nor could I see anything other than a clearing on which all the cars stopped, but there was another road, leading higher up into the mountain. The first SUV started slowly moving, turning right, its taillights disappearing between the thick trees surrounding what I could now see was another smaller road.

“Where are we going?”

“Hiding,” Claudio replied matter-of-factly, following after the first car where Chiara was located. One thing I’d realized since we met all these men that flooded the safe house where I was hiding was that none of them spoke much. In all honesty, they were here to do their jobs, but I wondered what kind of life they led if all they ever did was this.

I had a feeling that extraction wasn’t their usual agenda.

“Calm down, Sky,” Cillian murmured, turning slowly to look at me. “This is all part of the plan.”

“I am calm,” I argued, but we both knew it was a lie. I could taste the nerves in the air, the anxiousness, the tension snapping between all of us. It wrapped itself around my heart like a band, tightening more and more with every new mile we crossed, slowly cutting off the blood flow through my heart.

“You’re lying, darling,” he drawled. “But it’s okay. They’re going to be okay. They’re strong.”

You don’t know that, I wanted to say, but the words died on my tongue when we came into the darker part of the woods, parking right next to Chiara’s car. She was already out, dressed head to toe in a black tactical uniform, with a cigarette dangling from her lips. The puffs of smoke disappeared into the thin air every time she exhaled, her eyes never leaving the incoming convoy of cars. I was surprised that we weren’t found by now, but then again, I wasn’t the one planning this entire thing, and there was a reason for it.

Knowing me, I would bang on their front door and demand to see Judah, but we all knew how that would end.

He wanted me. For whatever sick reason he had, he wanted me more than he wanted to continue his little dynasty. I had no idea what kind of sick, twisted game he was playing, but something inside me told me that we were far from over.

This was all just the beginning of the infinite game he would play, and if we didn’t stop him, there would be no life for the three of us. At least there would be no life as we wanted to have.

“Wait here,” Cillian said, opening his door and stepping outside, letting the cold gust of wind trickle inside the car. Goosebumps ran over my skin, and even the thick thermal jacket I had on did nothing to fight off the chill. I forgot how cold it could get in this area, and with the snow, it only became worse.

December was the worst month in Winworth, with short, gloomy days, and long, dark nights, but the freezing cold—that’s what made everything so much more unbearable.

I wanted to protest, to jump out and follow Cillian, but I had promised I would stay in. I promised I wouldn’t move from the car no matter what I heard or what I saw. So, I stayed in my spot, like a petulant child, waiting for the rest of the guys to tell me what was going to happen.

Francisco followed shortly after Cillian. I had no idea that he was even awake.

Mixed voices from outside filtered inside the car, but I couldn’t understand what they were talking about. Maybe it was for the better. Maybe I shouldn’t know.

Claudio stayed inside the car with me, but if I was a bad conversationalist, he was worse. I could see his brown eyes in the rearview mirror, following the movements of the men outside, listening promptly to whatever was being said in his earpiece. Only once did his lips lift on the side, proving that he wasn’t a robot.

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