The Devil's Masquerade: The Poison (29 page)

Chapter 36

Ryan

Today, for the first time I am confident and have no concerns about our target. Sam’s reassurance gives me every reason to believe that I can do this without issue. Today we hit Savage and hard. We organize four areas, four corners, Elijah, Terrence, and Kayla – despite us all telling her to remain home, Kayla shares her corner along with Reginald though and Dwayne takes on the last corner. Elijah spent most of the day accusing me of goofing off for not offering to control an area; I humor him with a forced smile every time but continue to keep my plan to myself. I leave the rendezvous point only giving Kayla a smile and a Jayzon swagger that she has become accustomed to. Thankfully she doesn’t ask but only gives me a roll of her eyes with a simultaneous sigh.

The setup goes smoothly and everyone makes it to their places without any issues. I wait as they all get into position and organize their pounce but before they go too far, I step out into the clearing and walk straight up to the two men guarding the entrance. I can see Elijah out of the corner of my eye swinging his arms and cursing me with every finger and hand gesture he can make in my direction. I hold back my smile and ignore him as I eye down the two men and demand what I want. Once I am in within a few feet of them, they lay down their weapons and open the door for me and my friends. I continue on while the others follow me in. There is no resistance until I get further in and find a bright-eyed man with a snorting problem. He rages at me with a flying kamikaze style attack from above my head. I pull out my gun and shoot him in between his bright raging eyes.
I don’t know how to deal with that bullshit yet.
“You should have invested in a gun my friend. They work faster,” I say, smiling all as I go deeper and silently order people out. There is information everywhere, but I verify that I have cleared the area before I go looking for the blade. I clear the tunnel from end to end and go back to investigate the different rooms off the main corridor.

“Hey asshole!” Elijah yells, stomping his way towards me. “Do you think you could have filled us in on your plans to invite yourself in? You know, to save us all the planning and the overloading of guns and shit.”

“I wasn’t sure if it was going to work, and if I had told you, you wouldn’t have believed me. Would you?” I ask him.

“No, I guess I wouldn’t have. It is a little … well … Hey! Stay out of my head,” Elijah snaps. “You can’t do that too can you?” he asks, looking me over.

“Maybe.” He looks back at me with concern.

“No, you can’t. Otherwise, you would know what I am thinking right now.”

“You’re thinking ‘I wish I had a drink before I left the house to come here,’ but I don’t have to read your mind to know that, Eli.”

“Wow, you do read minds. Jackass!”

“I’m the jackass? You should have seen what I got you to do last night. I had to practice on someone, Eli. Don’t worry, the only thing you did was strip down to your underwear and walk around quaking like a duck.” He looks at me with his jaw dropped to the ground. “I took a few pictures if you want to see later?” I say before breaking into a full smile.

“That’s funny, Fucker. Real funny. You wait. Just wait. One day, I’m going to die, and I am going to haunt your ass forever,” he says, shaking his finger at me. “Where are you going?” he yells.

“Looking for a reason for this room. There doesn’t seem to be anything of real value in here, and there were at least twelve men patrolling this room.” As Elijah and I search the room, Kayla walks in and looks us over. “Are you going to yell at me too?” I ask her.

“No, I assumed you were going to do that. That’s why I came,” Kayla says.

“You knew, too? Why didn’t you say something?” Elijah asks her.

“Oh go quack off,” she say, winking at me.

“What?” Elijah stands back swearing at us both. “Oh you two are real funny. That better not have happened.” Kayla pats him on the chest with a wink before moving me out of the way and looking around. She sits on the floor and crawls to a spot under a desk. Elijah pushes me, and I punch him and receive the same until we both realize Kayla didn’t come back. “Where did she go?” he asks as we both lean down and look into a dark hole. “Kayla?” Elijah yells.

“What?” she says, jumping back through the hole and causing us both to fall backwards. “Idiots,” she says, shaking her head. “Come on. Stop fucking around.”

Following Kayla, I slide through and come to a place where I can stand up and remove her from the front of the pack. She huffs but doesn’t put up a fight. She seems happy enough remaining in front of Elijah. This section of the dwelling is dark, unfinished, and gives new meaning to
creepy as fuck
. None of us speak. We barely breathe, it’s as if we are afraid to make a noise, to be heard by whatever monster may be creeping behind these walls. There is a sudden shuffle, and I hold back as someone ahead breathes out, and then… nothing. I know someone is there, but they are more silent than we are. Standing tall, I concentrate on listening until I hear the breath again. “Come out and …”

“Come out? You locked me in here! Don’t fuck with me anymore Dennis!”

I rush forward and come face to face with a man locked away in a cell. “Who are you?”

“Who are you?” He steps closer and stares into my eyes. “You are a Savage but not one I know,” he sings out cocking his head to try and figure it out before he can be told.

“My Father was Dante. I am a Jayzon, not a Savage,” I declare.

He sighs, “And may I ask why you have come to visit me today, Mr. Jayzon?”

“Our intention was not to visit you but to invade Savage’s stronghold.” I look him over as he laughs.

“You mean to tell me you found this place all on your own? Not possible,” he laughs.

“We might have had a little help,” I say, making sure not to give anything away not that he would believe it if we told him.

“More than a little. Savage himself would have had to of led you here, and since I know that is not possible, then it would have to be someone as close to him as you can get. So who might that be?” He thinks hard. “Galena wouldn’t dare betray her father. No one else knows but his children. Saldean is long dead and so is Dante. I doubt Nicholas has been told yet. Hmm… I am curious who could possibly be so brave to betray Dennis this way?”

“Our dog,” Elijah chimes in with a goofy smile.

“Your dog?” The man asks.

“Never mind how we found it. Who are you, and what are you doing here? You obviously are not someone he cares for which makes you interesting enough to us,” I say

“My name is Gideon Stark. I was Lord of the Sixth. My role over the years has been one of peacekeeper and maintaining honor amongst the Lords. Dennis has been a friend of mine for a while, but now that I disapprove of his plans, he has decided to shut me up until he succeeds in overtaking every realm he can, or rather until he holds a majority and no longer has to listen to anyone. Once he is too powerful to be dealt with, I assume he will let me out, at which time I will be forced to abide by his rules or face execution. I have no idea if I will be able to return as a Lord or as a minion. Galena has taken over my realm, and I assume Dennis has intentions of taking over another realm for his newly found grandson.” He pauses, looking us over. “You don’t look like an army of any realm; I am still confused on how you found me?”

“We found you by accident. We were hoping that this place would help give us more information about Savage.” I pause, wondering if I should tell him our full plans, but something tells me I can trust him. “We are specifically looking for a blade with the family crest on it. Do you know where that is?” I ask. Gideon laughs.

“If it exists, I assure you, no one knows where it is but Dennis. Are we going to continue this tea party or are you going to let me out of here?”

Kayla steps forward and asks, “Is Nick okay?”

“Is he okay? In what way? He is strong and powerful and sure to provide Dennis with a prevailing dynasty. He is nearly unstoppable and one of the reasons I was hoping I could reason with Dennis rather than engage in this war he desires so much. Nicholas’s allegiance to his grandfather is unbreakable at this point, and the two will have no problem destroying everything in their path.”

“Not possible. Nick would never align with Savage. He hates him,” Kayla says forcefully.

The man leans forward and looks her over carefully before asking, “Now, who are you? You are much too desirable to be from the same family.”

Elijah steps in front of Kayla and answers, “She is none of your business.”

“Well, she is clearly the most powerful one here, and none of you even seem to realize it. My dear, I was instantly weakened by you, and considering your good faith gesture of telling me honestly why you are here, I will tell you that whatever she asks me I would be unable to tell you anything but the truth. I don’t know who you are or where you come from, my dear, but I am honored to meet you,” he says as Kayla peaks between Elijah and myself.

“Yeah, well, nice try Romeo, but were not buying it,” Elijah says.

“If I understand your purpose for being here, then I assure you we are after the same thing. My goal was to get Dennis to stand down against another Lord, but he refused and sent me here to keep me quiet about his plans. Now, I need to rise up against him, but the only way I can do that is to be released from my prison.” Elijah and I eye each other, trying to decide what to do. “You will not be able to hold onto this facility much longer. He will fight for it, and you alone will not be able to overpower him. I would think you only have a limited amount of time as it is, so if you please, make a decision quickly. I will sit over here with my reading until you do or until you are forced to join me in here.”

“What is your name again?” Kayla asks from under Elijah’s arm.

“I already told you, Gideon Stark. I was Lord of the Sixth, now I am simply Gideon, your humble prisoner.”

“Where will you go if we let you go?” Kayla asks.

“Good question. I have nowhere that has not been taken over, and I think it would be a good idea if Dennis is not aware of how I escaped, or who released me. If he thinks another Lord, one in particular rescued me, then he will be on edge and it will give me, us, some time to plan. If you will let me come home with you, then I can contact said Lord, and we can band together for our common goal.”

Kayla rushes forward, “Our goal is not simply to defeat Savage but kill him and enable my husband to return home.”

“Nicholas is your husband?” he asks, and she nods. Suddenly, Gideon’s desperation beams back at us with his bright eyes swirling. “You will need my help! And I need yours for sure,” he says staring straight at Kayla.

“Release him, and let’s get the hell out of here,” Kayla demands before walking away.

“Kayla? Kayla, shouldn’t we discuss this?” She waves her hand at me and keeps walking.” I look to Elijah for some sort of support.

“Don’t look at me, no one listens to me, apparently I am only here to be the handsome one.” He says honestly.

“What?” I look back at the old man as he smiles at me. I find a way to open the cell and let him out. He graciously walks in front of Elijah and I and seems to be okay for now. “You are not hotter than me.” I say to Elijah as we walk back.

“Are you serious, have you seen you and now look at me. Not saying you don’t have good points, but me, Son, I got it all.” Elijah says nodding happily.

“Shut up Eli.” I say, shaking my head when I hear him laugh.
I don’t know why I encourage him.

Chapter 37

Kayla

I decide not to take Gideon and all of our findings home where he can be seen, by Franky in particular. Instead I take advantage of the expansion we are in the midst of doing on Pagelle. Exie won’t be happy, but I think the place is perfect to keep our new friend entertained and occupied, not to mention the club can only be accessed from one way right now making it easy for me to put guards on him.

It is prime time right now and Exie is less than thrilled to be a part of another one of my plans. Her perfect Exie expression of disapproval awaits me at the door. “You know I am seriously considering being best friends with someone else. Someone with less drama, possibly a soccer Mom of some sort, someone who drives a minivan and whose biggest worries are whether or not they will have a Fruit Tea or a Frappuccino, not will I break in to this facility to get the information I want, or will I simply torture these people over here until they tell me what I want to know. Hmmm, I think it will be a Frappuccino tonight.” Laughing I kiss her cheek with a smile and notice her brief smile before she huffs and walks away.

I motion back behind me and lead the way to the back and around our dancers as they prepare for their next show. “Hello Ryan.” Melanie says with a swooning smile as we pass by. She has always had a crush on him. He smiles back but seems to be more interested in Elijah’s reaction.

I grab them both by the collars and force them forward. Gideon’s wide smile as he bounces his way through is humorous but not needed right now. “Gideon, please.”

“What is this place? I like it.” He says continuing to dance his way into the back.

“This is where you are going to be staying for a while. I can’t imagine anyone looking for you here.” I say.

“I’m not staying with you?” Gideon asks.

“I don’t think that is a good idea, we are surely being watched by Savage and you will be spotted there pretty quickly. I have made arrangements for you to have a decent setup to sleep and live in for as long as we need. I have security for you and of course there is always entertainment if you like but please keep a low profile and the girls are not to be touched …
ever
.” I emphasize clearly in his face.

“I understand perfectly.” He says stepping back on his heels. “She is scary.” Gideon says as Elijah nods theatrically until he catches my raging eyes.

“So what now Gideon, how can you help us?” I ask.

“Well I need to first make a call to a friend, a Lord, Lord of the Fifth, his name is Amery Luvis.” Gideon says.