Page 100 of The Devils Melody
My hands shake, my chest tightening as his words fully register.
“W-what do you mean?”
“And Wren’s father,” Jimmy continues. “Edward Daniels? Turns out he escaped from prison two weeks ago. He’s been running under two identities this whole fucking time. Real name is Edward Daniels but has been going by the name of Dan for the last ten years.”
Dan. Edward Daniels.
My body freezes. The same man. It couldn’t be the same monster that touched me, could it?
Nox stomps on the brakes before my phone vibrates against my ear. Pulling it away, I see a notification from anunknown number. Panic courses through me, my fingers shaking as I tap on the notification.
Unknown: Maybe Big Man doesn't cry, but your girl sure does.
Wren.
Bound, bruised, and chained up like a fucking dog. My vision starts to blur, the adrenaline pumping through my veins at a rate I didn't think possible. Every nerve, every fiber of my being screaming at me, begging for bloodshed.
Big Man.
That fucking nickname. The same name Dan used to call me in the dark, when I would cry and beg for him to stop.
No crying, Big Man. Be good and keep your mouth shut.
The things he told me as he beat me to a bloody pulp for trying to stick up for myself. I slam my fist into the glove compartment, the plastic cracking under my knuckles, thesting barely registering through the wildfire of rage consuming me.
“Kage?” Jimmy’s voice comes through the phone I long forgot about.
“Jimmy, I need you to trace the last message I received from that unknown number. Get me a location,” I bite, barely being able to use words.
“I’m on it,” he says before the line dies.
Without a word, Nox throws the SUV into reverse, tires squealing against the asphalt as we spin the vehicle around, headed back to the warehouse. I can’t think straight. My mind is a storm of images. Wren struggling, the bruises, the chains. I could see the fire behind her eyes, the part of her that refuses to be broken after everything he did to her. Something inside me snaps. I will not fail her.
Nox glances at me from the driver's seat, his eyes telling me everything that couldn’t be explained into words. They don’t need to be exchanged for us to know exactly what we’re going to do. I take a deep, shuddering breath and focus on what needs to happen next. Because rage alone won’t save her, but careful and calculated violence might.
We drive in silence, both of us lost in our own dark thoughts. Every plan we’ve ever made, every target we’ve ever tracked, none of it compares to this. She’s ours now, and I’ll burn everything and everyone in my path to get her back.
Epilogue
THE WRAITH
Drip... Drip... Drip…
Blood pools around my boots, the scent of copper hot and sticky in my throat.
The bodies before me hang from the rafters like grotesque marionettes, their limbs stuck at odd angles from the chains, heads tilted in frozen surrender. Some still have blood to give, the soft, rhythmic taps echoing around the room. The screaming has long since ceased, the fight completely gone from their bodies. They have given themselves over to the pain, to me and my wrath.
They fought it at first, they always do, but that only fueled the rage within me. My knife played along to the rhythm of their screams. The louder they were, the deeper my knife cut. And, oh, were they loud.
That's why two of the four bodies in front of me now hang limp and completely drained. They just wouldn’t shut the fuck up.
Walking over to the body hanging closest to me, I lift my knife and tap the chains, hoping the noise will rouse the pathetic man.
“Come on, Chen. We’ve been at this for weeks and I don't know how much life you have left in you. Seriously, man, I wish you could see yourself right now. You look fucking terrible.”
Chen looks up at me with narrowed eyes for a split second, before hanging his head once more. He’s completely given up, the lack of any fight has me bored with his existence.
“Do you want to end up like your friends Joe and Harper over here?” I scream, waving my knife at the two dead bodies hanging to my left.
