Briar Valley: The Complete Duet

26. Killian

CHAPTER 26

KILLIAN

DEAD MAN’S ARMS – BISHOP brIGGS

“Fucking traffic,” I snarl.

Staring at the line of vehicles blocking the motorway leading back into Wales, I lay my hand down on the horn, blaring the queue of red lights. Fucking assholes. I knew this trip was a shitty idea.

“We’re going to be late.” Zach stares ahead at the queue.

“Call Aalia, and let her know. Arianna will be waiting up for us.”

“Phone’s dead.”

“Mine’s at home,” Willow adds from the backseat.

Her head is resting in Micah’s lap. She spent much of the trip back from London napping after her eventful morning. He leans down to nuzzle her hair and kiss her forehead.

“We’ll be home soon. I’m sure they’re all fine.”

“I hope so.” Willow sounds worried.

“Arianna’s safe with Aalia and the others,” Zach chimes in. “We’ll be home in a couple of hours. Go back to sleep.”

I watch Willow curl her hands into her chest in the rearview mirror. She falls back asleep as we crawl through the traffic. The miles pass by at a snail’s pace, stretching the journey on for twice as long as it usually takes.

“What did you think about that woman?” Zach asks quietly.

I focus on the traffic ahead. “She struck me as pretty shady, but Willow seemed to trust her. We’ll see if her intel pans out.”

“I don’t love that we’re putting all our bets on some random woman’s information from twelve years ago.”

“And you think that I do?” I cut past a dawdling motorist to move ahead. “She’s our last resort.”

“I hope you’re right. I’m not sure how much more of this Willow can take.”

“She’s stronger than you think,” Micah counters from behind me. “Look at what she did today. Sabre would have nothing if Willow hadn’t gone in and spoken to Elaine for them. She did amazing.”

“Micah’s right,” I agree. “Willow did that, not them.”

“I know she’s strong,” Zach claps back. “I just wish she didn’t have to be quite so strong. Isn’t that supposed to be our jobs? Being strong for her?”

“No,” I correct. “It’s not anymore.”

“Huh?”

“Coddling Willow has never done us any good. She’s a strong, independent woman, and that’s why we love her. We have to let her do this how she sees fit. Today proved that much.”

“Jesus, Kill. Did you have a fucking personality transplant?”

“Shut it, kid. I’m just telling it how it is.”

“Well, you’re freaking me out with all this mature, non-egotistical talk. Anyone would think you’d been hit around the head.”

“Feel free to walk back to Briar Valley,” I growl at him.

“That’s more like it.”

Lapsing back into silence, we crawl through the traffic inch by painful inch. Willow doesn’t stir again, lightly snoring from her balled-up position in the backseat with Micah.

By the time we arrive in the rural, rugged mountains that house Briar Valley, hours have passed, and we’re all desperately tired. Zach and Willow’s eyes fling open when I slam on the breaks at the sight ahead of us.

“What in the living fuck is that?”

All of us strain to look out of the window as awful, shocked silence reigns throughout the truck. Rising high above the forest of fir and pine trees is a billowing, black cloud of smoke.

“A campfire?” Micah says hopefully.

“That’s no campfire.” I rev the engine and take off. “It’s an actual fire.”

Racing up the mountain road at breakneck speed, I guide us over bumps and rocks, moving far faster than safety would usually allow for. Willow goes white as a sheet when she spots the smoke.

“What is that?” she asks in a rush of panic.

Micah holds her to his chest. “We’re not sure.”

“Shit! Arianna’s up there!”

“Everyone is,” I state grimly. “If that smoke’s coming from town, we’re in serious trouble.”

Turning onto the mountain pass, we begin the descent into Briar Valley. Immediately, the air becomes thick with black smoke so dense, it’s like tar is seeping through the car’s vents. Soon we’re all coughing.

The woods are hazy and speckled with black ash, choking all remaining wisps of light from the early evening shadows. We’re still moving fast but having to navigate the poor visibility and woodland.

“Motherfuck,” I blurt out as we hit a rock.

It scrapes along the bottom of the truck, eliciting an awful, metallic screeching sound. Bouncing to the next bump, we move from obstacle to obstacle, dodging trees and smoke in all directions.

By some miracle, we reach Briar Valley relatively unscathed. The visibility reaches an all-time low as billowing black smoke infiltrates the air, choking everything in its path. No leaf or petal escapes untouched.

I manage to guide us through the smoke, and as the trees thin out, the source of the chaos becomes clear. Wild, rampant flames stretch so high into the sky, they must kiss the heavens.

Fire is burning bright ahead of us, as if the devil himself has deigned to visit us and reign down hellfire. Wood, furniture and carpet are being consumed in a greedy roar of pure evil.

Lola’s cabin.

Up in flames.

“No,” I utter in horror.

Everyone stares ahead—gobsmacked and horrified. Her cabin is unrecognisable through the destruction, the structure being eaten alive by fire. I can just make out the shadows of people in the clearing around us.

Slamming my door open, I immediately double over at the rush of heat and ash that greets me. It sears my lungs—crisping, infecting and metastasising into a red-hot cancer.

“Stay inside,” I yell at the others.

Zach completely ignores me and hops out. “Not a chance!”

“Kid!”

“Move,” he shouts.

We run around the truck together, trying to fumble our way through hazy, smoke-filled air that wraps around our throats like burning-hot barbed wire.

“Killian!” someone yells.

At the edge of the property, Ryder and Albie are attempting to fight the flames. We’re too remote for fire trucks to get up here, so we have some equipment for ourselves.

Fire extinguishers and powdered foam are no match for the hellish beast that’s invaded Lola’s home, set up shop and decided to burn the entire damn thing to nothing but ash. We’re powerless.

Willow appears from the car, a hand clenched over her mouth. “Where’s Ari?”

Ryder points towards Rachel and Miranda’s cabin. “The schoolhouse with the other kids.”

Taking off, she runs at full speed to find her daughter. I’m glad to see her away from the flames, and I wave for Micah to follow after her to keep her safe. Willow shouldn’t have to see this.

Picking up a fire extinguisher, I can’t even get close enough to use it. The heat is sweltering, a tidal wave of fire and ash sweeping over us all, spitting and writhing in all its God-like fury.

“What the fuck happened?” I scream.

Albie wipes his sweaty forehead. “Doc raised the alarm a couple of hours ago. Place has been burning ever since.”

“How did it get so out of control?”

“By the time we got here, it was too late,” he shouts back. “It was already out of control. Someone must’ve laid the place with gasoline.”

“Someone?” Zach bellows.

With a grim expression, Albie points towards the corner of the property where a wooden sign has been hammered into the ground. It’s a real estate sign, embossed with a company name.

SANCHEZ REAL ESTATE.

That wasn’t there this morning when we left. I have to fight the urge to smash someone’s fucking face, and right now, I couldn’t care less whose it is. That motherfucking bastard did this.

Sanchez.

We all watch the flames crawl closer, consuming the sign until it crumbles like the rest of Lola’s cabin. Sanchez’s name curls up and vanishes in a puff of smoke.

“How? We have patrols!” I bark at them.

Ryder jumps back when flames spit out at him. “Whoever did this was in and out fast. They must’ve left their vehicle in the woods and come in on foot to dodge the patrols.”

Vision hazing over with red, I stare up at Lola’s legacy… burning. Nothing left to show for the woman but handfuls of hot ash and treasured possessions turned to a fine powder.

She’s truly gone now.

“He knew this cabin belonged to Willow’s grandmother,” I spit out. “He fucking knew this was all she had left. And he burned it anyway. I’m going to peel the fucking skin from his face!”

That damned letter.

He warned me to stay away. Fuck, he warned us that Briar Valley would burn. But that didn’t stop us from poking the devil regardless and stupidly expecting there to be no consequences.

This is it.

The consequences of our actions.

Morning light reveals the extent of the damage, unfiltered and unapologetic. While birds chirp and the sun rises, Briar Valley mourns the loss of its heart, cruelly torn out at the root.

Lola’s cabin is gone.

I suppose we should be thanking some God or another that Mr fucking Psycho didn’t decide to go on a burning spree all over town or manage to get to Arianna.

He went for the jugular. The heart of all our lives, the soul of our memories. This place represents the entire family, and he’s shredded us all down to our cores, leaving everyone behind to pick up the pieces.

It’s gone.

Kicking a pile of ash that I think used to be a dining chair, I continue picking through the rubble that’s still burning in places. Rainfall came early, knocking out the last of the flames before they spread.

A smouldering wreckage is left now. Unrecognisable as the building it once was, Lola’s ghost no longer has a home to haunt but a disaster zone instead.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Albie swears as he stares across the smoking wreck. “It’s like something off the TV.”

“Doesn’t feel real, does it?”

Shaking his head, he continues picking through the rubble. “I can’t believe it’s gone. This cabin was the first thing to be built in this town.”

“And the first to go.”

“Don’t say shit like that, Kill.” He cuts me a glare. “We ain’t losing anything else around here.”

I gesture towards the smoky remains. “Didn’t think we’d lose Lola’s cabin either, did we? But here we are. Fuck, Al. Open your goddamn eyes.”

“My eyes are open well enough, son. And I’m telling you that we ain’t losing anything else.”

Scoffing at him, I turn away only to find Willow standing in the town square, her hands over her mouth. She stares at the place where Lola’s cabin once stood.

Pulling off my gloves, I slowly approach her, trying hard not to set her off. She looks dead on her feet, and her eyes are puffy from crying the night away as we watched the cabin continue to burn.

There was nothing any of us could do but let the fire burn out once the rain began. Saving the remains was impossible without heavy machinery which simply can’t handle the drive into town.

“Baby.” I pull her into my arms. “Go home. You don’t need to see this.”

“It’s gone. Everything. All of it.”

“Please, Willow.”

“All those memories.” She hugs her midsection. “Just gone.”

Sighing, I kiss the side of her head. “I know, princess. There’s nothing any of us could have done. It was already too late.”

Rather than sobbing her eyes out for another second, her expression hardens into cold, righteous fury. “He did this. After everything… all the threats… he actually did this.”

“He’s a sick bastard, Willow. We knew that.”

“But to send his men to do this? To burn our home?” Willow grits her teeth. “That fucking reptile. I’m going to see that he rots behind bars until he begs for death to come and relieve him.”

Stomping away in a cloud of anger, she catches up to Micah outside of the schoolhouse. People are gathered inside for breakfast and coffee, needing the moral support of the whole community.

Ryder exits and trails over, his phone in hand. “Ethan and his team are on their way up to investigate. I told him there isn’t much evidence left.”

“That fucking sign,” I snap, my hands tightening into fists. “I know what I saw. His men were here, and they did this.”

“We know, Kill. This has Sanchez written all over it.”

“Fuck! That asshole was here!”

“We don’t know that,” Ryder tries to placate. “He most likely sent his lackeys to do it. They were here before, pissing on our land and throwing their weight around. I doubt he’s even in the country.”

Despite knowing he’s probably right, I can’t help imagining Sanchez waltzing onto our property and setting the cabin alight with a big ass fucking smile on his face.

He would’ve taken so much pleasure in doing it, but I know there’s no chance he would’ve left without taking Arianna with him. That’s why he can’t have possibly done this himself.

Peeling his face off won’t be enough retribution. I want to nail his fucking hide to my wall like a hunting trophy and spit roast the rest of him. That son of a bitch won’t get away with this.

Ryder drops a hand on my shoulder. “We should go inside and wait.”

“No, Ry. I need to clean this shit up.”

“There’s nothing else to be done right now. You’re mourning. Come and join your family.”

“I don’t need my fucking family!”

“Yes, you do,” he shouts back. “Because that is what they’re here for, you hard-headed asshole! Now march yourself inside, and be with the town. We need you right now. Willow needs you.”

Taken aback, I stare into his pain-filled eyes. He stares right back, letting me see just how deep this cut has wounded us all. We’ve lost the last remains of our leader, and nothing will ever bring them back.

“Fine,” I grumble.

Letting him guide me away from the ruins, I take one last look over my shoulder at what remains of Lola’s legacy. Albie refuses to budge, still staring at the ash, his tears silently falling.

Mark my words...

This will be the last thing Sanchez ever does. I’m done letting him hurt my family and get away with it. Fuck Sabre. Fuck the investigation. Fuck all of it.

I’ll kill him with my bare hands.

He’ll never hurt my family again.