Matt kept his head down during the congregational toast, of which Lucy served him a drink herself. All day he stressed over tonight’s festivities for very different reasons than the rest. In his peripheral vision, Lucy let Justice Lee take her hand as they walked away from the dinner tables. Was this it? And what the hell would he do if it was time? Jump in the way and challenge Justice to a duel?

No. Matt needed to let go. Lucy made her choice clear a few days ago. So why was he still so keenly aware of them walking toward the throng of surging bodies? Fifty thousand people on their grounds celebrated an event that disgusted him. It appeared as if twenty-five thousand of them took part in the orgy within the compound walls. Moans, groans, and cries pierced the night.

The party went wild everywhere. The entire courtyard was marked with glow-in-the-dark paint and illuminated by black lights. Three people ran along the wall naked, covered in body paint and brandishing fire wands. Another six fire dancers scaled one of the highest walls, performing for the guests. Music pounded, mosquito torches blazed, and an unmistakable scent of sweat and exertion filled the air.

Justice led Lucy to the middle of the throng. She hopped on a table with him between her legs. He brushed his fingers in her blond hair. Lee leaned in for a kiss, and Matt crossed the open courtyard.

Until a flash-bang grenade went off in his face.

He cried out and turned away, disoriented. Ears and eyes rendered almost useless for the pain. Warped screams erupted around him as an explosion wracked the facility they occupied. Abruptly, the screams closest to him poured through the ringing in his ears followed by violent guttural heaving.

As his vision returned, Matt watched two Collectors take on an Enforcer. Beside him, a Promoter vomited. Beyond that guy, a Justice and Enforcer lay in a pool of their own sick, clutching their guts, actively vomiting with no signs of recovery. A fire spanned the courtyard between him and the propagation. What the actual fuck was happening?

“New recruit! You did this!” A Collector shouted at him and stomped his way over.

Matt straightened into a fighting stance, ready.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

A knife whistled by and thunked into the guy’s neck, releasing arterial spray all over a white tablecloth.

The redhead spun to find one of the new recruits approaching him. “You were there the night Lucifer recruited me.” Every run Matt went on, Lucy was the promoter. Is that what he meant?

Matt popped his brows at the name, but gave a hesitant nod, anyway. “Yea.”

The recruit held out a hand to clasp. “Let’s finish these assholes.”

Without hesitation, Matt took the offered hand and nodded. “Hell yes.”

Almost every Enforcer, Pleaser, and Collector recruited on Matt’s watch gathered together to butcher CoN members in a breathtaking revolt. He and the new guy took out five each. The rest of the members drowned in their own vomit. Presumably poisoned. Although explosions blasted and fires erupted throughout the compound, the fire to Matt’s back eventually abated.

“Where are you going?” The guy called after him.

Matt shouted back, “I need to save someone!”

“Lucifer doesn’t need our help! She’s got this—”

Did he mean Lucy?!

“Populi autem lux!” Lucy’s voice resonated off the walls.

Matt found her standing on a pile of bodies six deep. Almost all of them sported the telltale signs of death by poison. Aside from the one she presently struggled with. She gripped his light brown hair and sawed at his neck with a machete. Squinting, Matt smirked as he realized she took the machete from his car. Light brown eyes wide in shock, Justice Lee never looked better as she raised his severed head high into the air. Blood poured onto her hated robes, but she didn’t seem to mind.

Lucy shouted, “This evil ends tonight! When the sun shines tomorrow, we welcome a new day. We find Iron Hope, and we follow it to Earth’s salvation. Who will join me?!”

The group of recruited Collectors, Pleasers, and Enforcers cheered. Some cried out “Lucifer!” Others shouted, “Morning Star!” It all made sense. Lucy recruited them. For this.

Lucy pumped her trophy higher, and Matt understood something with perfect clarity. Clumsily, he scaled the piles of corpses, slipping and squishing along the way.

Once at the top, Lucy burst into apologies, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. And that I left you in the dark. It was Xelan’s idea and—”

Matt took her face in his hands and brought his mouth down on hers. He kissed her slowly, enjoying the taste of her soft yielding lips. And the metallic sharpness of blood. He broke for air and enjoyed how long it took her to recover.

Soaked in blood, stood on a pile of bodies, and severed head in hand, Lucy observed, “You are so weird.”

For the first time in three months, Matt laughed. Full, genuine humor.

She smiled at him a little shyly. “Do you still have those condoms?”

Matt swallowed and heard his own voice come out roughly, “I’d like nothing more, but I think we have to go help our friends.”

“They can wait another twenty minutes or so.”