Angel put the knife away and held up Bex cut that still had her blood smeared over the crest.
“When Bex comes home she can come back as a full blown member…”
Angel was interrupted as murmurs made their way around the room… was he saying he was patching in Bex… the Ol’ Ladies?
He looked around the room assessing everyone's reactions and then turned to the women around me. “If you’d have us, I would like to formally offer you roles within this organization. I don’t know how it will all work yet, I don’t have all the answers, but I think you might help with that.”
Dani stood, a surprised if not slightly exasperated look on her face, “What… I… how would that work?”
Angel smiled at her, “You wouldn’t need to prospect, I think you’ve more than done that. But you will need a road name…”
Murmurs spread across the room, but Angel continued, “...If you choose to patch in, and it isyourchoice, we would assign you a road name as we would any brother patching in and… well the rest needs to be figured out.”
Angel looked away from Dani, his eyes landing on every brother in the room, "If you don’t like this change, if you don’t like the new directionI am taking this club in… you can walk out the door. One time offer, because if you stay… you stay with the knowledge that women will be treated as equals, will be given seats at the table and a voice, a vote.”
Angel stood there silent for a few minutes, letting the weight of his words settle over everyone. Only two brothers got up, shaking their heads, taking off their cuts. They quietly handed them over to Angel and walked out the door.
Angel looked down at his hands and then let the cuts fall to the floor. Stepping away from them he addressed the room again.
“Now that is done, we have business to attend to.” He paused, looking at Mara for a moment and then back across the room. “Today is the day Razor takes his last breath, if you would like to be there when that happens you have an hour to meet me at the shed.”
No one spoke until Meg broke the silence, “What about Lacey and Carmen?”
Angel looked at her, “Lacey won’t be leaving the shed alive, she is barely hanging on as it is. But I do want to try and get more information from her if we can. Do you have any suggestions for that?”
Meg looked surprised for a moment and then a look passed over her face that I couldn’t read, “Cypher should talk to her, be the one. He’s good at lying, he can tell her he’s there to help her…”
She was interrupted by Cypher, “Meg I won’t do that. I am not going in there and I have nothing to say to her.”
Meg shook her head, looked down at her lap and then lifted her head, chin held high… “Fine I will do it.”
Cypher made to move closer, but Angel held up his hand, Cypher didn’t stop, trying to push past Angel, but Angel placed his hand on Cypher’s chest, but he was looking at Meg. “Good, thank you… Now as far as Carmen is concerned, I spoke with Marisol…” At that Axel perked up in his bed, she hadn’t been to see him once. “...She agrees that Carmen knows too much and can’t be trusted…” he cleared his throat and then finished answering Meg’s question, “None of our guests in the shed will be leaving it.”
Aliveis what he didn’t add to the end of that answer.
Angel studied the room again before turning and then tapping the door before leaving the room, “Church is over.”
Calling an end to our past and bringing in our new future as Dawnbreakers Brothers and Sisters.
CHAPTER 35
CLUTCH - JUDGE, JURY AND EXECUTIONER
The shed was unnaturally hot for mid October, but it wasn’t really the heat that was the issue, it was the smell. The stench of death that clung to the walls, signalling the reaper was waiting.
The room was a large square space, with poured concrete and a few strategically placed drains. No windows, nothing to let in light or let sounds out. Harsh fluorescent lighting strips bathed everything in a sharp bright light. Everyone knew that if you entered the shed as a guest, you didn’t leave it whole and usually not alive.
There were more people in this room than there had ever been before. Usually only a few of us handled what went on in this room. But it seemed that almost everyone wanted to see Razor take his last breath. Maybe for some it was like a final cleansing of the old, of our wrong doings and betrayals. For some it was to make sure the boogey man was actually dead before taking that breath you'd been holding.
Marisol still hadn’t left her room, Dani offered to stay with her after she and Four talked about her stepping foot in the shed. The older Dr Hart stayed with Axel, along with a couple of prospects.
Angel had brought Razor to the centre of the shed, while Lacey and Carmen were still chained to the chairs at the back of the room.
I don’t know how Razor was still standing, he swayed slightly and then steadied himself, his head low, eyes on the floor. Angel nudged him, asking, “Any last words?”
Razor didn’t move, didn’t react. His eyes stayed glued to the floor. I thought he would stay like that till the end, but then a calm voice came from behind me and his entire posture changed.
She didn’t raise her voice, she didn’t rush. Soft footsteps came up beside me and Mara came into view.