Page 24 of Vows & Violence
Poison nods, her jaw set tight. “He’s not hiding anymore, he’s recruiting. That means we strike now, hard and fast, but smart.”
Everyone agrees and nods until Scissors leans forward. Her voice cuts through, “What about the spiral? What about the flash of white we saw last night?”
I don’t answer. Not because I’m afraid, but because I don’t know how to explain what happened to me, or if they’ll believe me if I tried.
Wendigo speaks up. Her arm is wrapped in gauze. Her face is half in shadow, but her eyes are sharp. “Vale called you ‘the key’, Phoenix. You froze up after the flare hit. What the hell happened?”
All eyes shift toward me. I hate this part. Not the pressure, but the exposure. I stare at the scarred wood on the table. I think about the way Vale smiled before he vanished. The way the flash of white swallowed everything, how to spiral hummed in my bones like it knew me. I don’t want to say it, but silence will fracture more than my ribs.
“I don’t know what it is,” I say with a flat voice. “The spiral, when it lit up, it wasn’t just light. It felt like it was inside me. Like it was, waking something.”
Scissors narrows her eyes. “You saying this is psychic now? Supernatural shit?”
I shake my head. “No. I’m saying it’s connected to Val and to me. I don’t know how or why. He called me “the key’, but didn’t say what I unlock, or what gets unleashed if I don’t.”
The air goes still. Gypsy’s hands stop tapping.
“And you’re just telling us this now?” Wendigo asks with a quiet but sharp voice.
I meet her eyes. “I was trying to keep you alive. We almost lost Ghost. We could’ve lost all of us. You think I wanted to bring some mystical bullshit into the middle of a gunfight?”
Poison finally speaks, calm but edgy. “We don’t run from the truth. Even the fucked up kind.”
“I’m not running,” I say. “I’m warning. If Vale’s not done, neither is whatever power he tapped. And if he wants me, then we don’t get to ignore what’s coming.”
Poison nods once. “Then we use it. Whatever this is, we twist it back on him. Gypsy, Viper, track those supply lines. See who else is in bed with Vale. Scissors, Wendigo, prep recon options. We find his next base and burn it before it breathes.”
Everyone starts moving, preparing for what’s to come. As I turn away, I catch the look in Scissor’s and Wendigo’s eyes. It’s not doubt, but it’s caution.
Like I’ve become something they can’t quite trust, and maybe their right.
We’re almost ready to go when our earpieces come alive and MV’s mechanical voice cuts through. “One of the kids I take care of is gone. They vanished off the grid. Their last ping was in Mississippi in a roadside motel outside Ellis Creek. Poison, Phoenix, it’s starting again. You need to get there.”
Before any of us can respond, MV disappears. My blood turns to ice. MV doesn’t use words like vanished unless they’ve already tried every back door and bypass in their arsenal. If a kid's off their radar, it’s not a glitch. It’s a trap to lure MV outfrom behind their computer and face this head-on. Our job is to protect MV and not let them expose themselves.
Poison meets my eyes. She doesn’t look toward the hallway, doesn’t ask where Ghost is, and I don’t offer. He’s still sleeping, and I left him there for a reason. To protect him.
Poison’s jaw is set, her eyes cold and sharp. “Roll out in ten.” She turns to the rest of the club. “Vale’s expanding. If he’s targeting MV’s kids, then he’s not just building an army, he’s sending a message.”
Chapter Twelve
Phoenix
The Mississippi sun hasn’t risen yet, but the road sweats like it’s already noon. The engine of my bike hums beneath me, steady and low, but my grip on the throttle is tight.
We’ve been riding in formation for hours. Poison leads the pack, Scissors close behind with Gypsy running comms. Viper and Wendigo cover our six. I’m just behind Poison, where I can see every flick of her hand, every twitch in her shoulders. She hasn’t spoken since we left. She doesn’t have to. Her fury speaks loud enough in the way she rides, fast, controlled, like the pavement owes her something.
But no matter how fast we move, my mind keeps drifting backward.
To him.
To Ghost, still asleep in that room, wrapped in sheets that still smell like us. I left him with Kitty, safe, armed, and completely unaware. I didn’t even say goodbye. Just slipped out like a shadow, because the second I saw that message from MV, I knew I couldn’t bring him into this part.
I told myself I did it to protect him.
But the truth is, I also did it to protect myself. Because if something happens to him out here, I won’t survive it.
So I left him behind. And now the guilt rides shotgun, louder than my engine.
