Three to Fall (Saint View Slayers vs. Sinners #3)

29. Ice

29

ICE

THIRTY MINUTES EARLIER

F ang gave me a disapproving glare as I stopped a rental van in front of the Slayers’ gates. The big man’s deep scowl was nothing I hadn’t seen before. It scared the fuck out of most people, me included, when I’d first joined the club. But I’d come to realize he was actually one of the nicer guys here.

At least he didn’t lie and promise me things he’d never had any intention of following through on. Like Hawk and War.

I gave him a nod as a greeting.

He didn’t return it. “Where the fuck have you been? Hawk and War were looking for you earlier. They have something they need to discuss with you.”

“What?”

Fang stared at me. “I ain’t the prez. Not my place to say.”

I didn’t know why I’d bothered asking. I already knew. I was surprised my bags weren’t already packed and waiting for me at the gate. Surprised they were even giving me the courtesy of telling me to my face that I was out.

Anger boiled inside me, hot and uncontrollable every time I thought about Hawk’s smug expression and War’s condescending frown. Both of them judging me for every little thing I’d done wrong.

They didn’t get to do that anymore. The Lord was the only one who could judge my sins.

Fang glanced at the van. “Where’d you get that?”

I shrugged. “My bike broke down in town. Borrowed the van from a friend so I could get the bike back here without calling a tow truck or for one of you to bring a club van down.”

Fang nodded. “Go on then. Prez is already gonna be pissed you’re so late. Don’t make it worse by fucking around out here.”

I got back in the vehicle, driving it through the gates and watching them close behind me in the rearview mirror.

“Sinners must be reborn to cleanse their sins,” I muttered at Fang’s figure getting smaller in the reflection. I waited until he was out of sight, driving the van slowly down the unpaved driveway toward the clubhouse, trees and shrubs either side of me lit up with golden hues while the sun sank.

I steered the van off to the side of the driveway, well before the parking lot or the clubhouse came into sight.

Right next to the dating app I’d first met Tulip through, my phone home screen had a surveillance app. It was one I used daily while sitting on the front gate, bored out of my brain, watching for dangers that almost never appeared. Security cameras had been strategically placed around the perimeter and throughout the compound in key areas. There was no sound, but the camera by the front door of the compound showed that’s where everyone was. Kids playing on the lawn. Adults sitting around drinking or talking or dancing.

The Lord had brought them together like that, I was sure. Grouping them to make what needed to be done easier.

For the first time in years, my head was calm and my eyes clear. I had a purpose. I knew what had to be done. Josiah had given me that clarity I’d been seeking in all the wrong places.

There was no camera monitoring this part of the driveway or the woods either side. I double-checked the app, making sure I couldn’t be seen.

Nothing on the screens.

I just had to hope Fang hadn’t noticed my van hadn’t made it all the way down to the parking lot. I paused for a few minutes, waiting for his voice to come over the walkie-talkie and ask if I’d gotten lost or something, but there was nothing but silence.

A small smile tugged at my mouth. The Lord had my back. I was pleasing Him, and He was making my steps easy. I put my AirPods in my ears, hit play on another of Josiah’s episodes, and let his words fuel my steps, each one bringing my soul closer to the salvation I so desperately needed.

There was no bike in the back of the van. A lie that had fallen so easily from my lips now that I was back here, with the demons from Hell on the gates and men who did their bidding within.

I was a sinner too. I knew that. I’d been led astray as easily as Kara.

As easily as Tulip.

I put one of the large containers in the back of the van into a backpack, strapping it to my back, ignoring how heavy it was and the way the liquid inside sloshed around. Hefting the other two containers out of the van, I set them down in the dirt, fitting funnels to their openings so the fuel inside wouldn’t dump out all in one spot.

The sounds of the party were loud and filtered across the early night air as I slipped into the woods, leaving a trail of clear liquid on the ground behind me.

I stomped through the undergrowth, not bothering to be quiet or careful because the music covered my footsteps and the greenery was too thick here for me to be seen.

I knew exactly how close I could get to the clubhouse before I could be seen by the surveillance system.

I didn’t need to be close.

Not yet.

I moved quick, making a wide circle around the group, stomping through the trees with Josiah’s encouragement in my ears, his words all fitting together so perfectly it was like he’d created them just for me.

The gasoline in the two hand containers ran out quicker than I thought it would, and I swore beneath my breath.

But I couldn’t use the container on my back and I had no others.

It would have to do.

I stepped away from the trail of accelerant, wiped my hands off on a rag, and then fished a tiny box out of my pocket.

The match scratched against the side, the little flame lighting up the end instantly.

I tossed it to the trail of liquid, eyes widening when the flame whooshed along the fuel, lighting up a wall of flame.

I waited for them to notice.

Three.

Two.

One.

The first scream pierced the night air, sounding exactly like the Devil escaping the souls who had him trapped.