Page 41 of Blood Claims (Garnet Dagger Mafia #2)

“Vic, over here,” Tal said, giving me cause to get closer to where the remains were. The face had been partially covered, thanks to the polaroid that had been stabbed into the head of the man. A picture that had me gritting my teeth so hard, I thought they would shatter.

“It’s Nessa,” I said, after ripping it from the man.

Our girl had been hanging on that hook after being hit, her face showing damage after what was no doubt a few blows received. It was the most painful fucking thing I had seen in my life, and that wasn’t a statement made lightly, for there had been many.

“And here is the fucker that did it, no doubt,” Tal said as my eyes left our girl and hardened at the sight of Avellino, the man himself. His features were badly battered, but there was enough there to recognize the fucker.

“Fuck,” Tal hissed, before his hand grabbed my jacket as he stood next to me. I first looked to him to see his eyes now rooted to a spot on the wall in front of us. As next to a large hole in the plasterboard was a message.

One written in blood.

The blood of our enemy slain.

“Mary Mallon 1938… what the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Tal asked, looking to me as my mind spun in a million different directions.

“Why do I recognize that name, Tal?” I asked.

His murderous glare was focused on the body, and it spoke volumes as it was supposed to be our kill. But we could be pissed about that later, as we needed to figure out what this fucking message meant. Our one and only fucking clue!

“Fuck if I know,” he admitted, but then suddenly remembering we were in the magical age of technology at the palm of our hand, I pulled my phone from my jacket. Then I typed her name into google and sucked in a quick breath.

“It’s Typhoid Mary,” I told him, making his eyes widen as he finally recognized the name.

“The one who was the cause of all the outbreaks in the 1930’s?”

“Yeah, and she was also the one who was forced to spend the rest of her life in quarantine…” I answered as my eyes still scanned what the search engine had to say.

“On North Brother Island, yeah, I remember it, it was all over the newspapers back then. But what has that got to do with our girl?”

“I think we are going to find out, and there is only one place we will find our answers,” I told him, making his jaw harden.

“The hospital… fuck, but now I think about it, her nightmares must have been set in the same place… a rundown building… that could easily have been the hospital,” Tal concluded, and I had to say, it sounded more than likely.

Which meant we no longer had a villain in her nightmares to contend with, but finally the potential of a name to put to the hatred. One I had a feeling we would only know after first playing his game. Which was why we were soon back in the car so as we could…

Get our asses on a fucking boat!

“Where the fuck do we even look? We could get fucking lost in this place!” Tal complained, and he wasn’t wrong.

Because after getting our asses to a marina, we would have paid whatever the cost to get us on a fucking boat in the middle of the night.

However, the second we heard the words, it’s prohibited property , I decided on a new tactic.

Something that started when I pulled my gun and pointed it their way.

Then I was quick to say,

“I will shoot the next fucker who tells me no… now, who wants to die and who wants to live?” Hence why we were on a boat minutes later, heading to the restricted island deemed off limits by the city.

Well, city officials could go fuck themselves, as nothing would stop us from getting on this island.

A place we were fucking hoping we would find our girl.

But like Tal said, how would we know where to look? The buildings looked near completely overrun by nature.

“Wait, whoever left the clue wrote her name specifically… right?” Tal pointed out.

“Yeah, and the date she died,” I added.

“It must have something to do with her then, or he would have just written North Brother Island if all he had wanted to do was get us on this island.”

“You’re thinking it was wherever they kept her?” I asked, and he looked back to the main building and said,

“It must be. Is there anything online… anything about where she died, or any articles about it?”

I got out my phone and started tapping like a fucking crazy person until my heart started hammering.

“You’re right! Fuck, Tal, you smart fucker!”

He grinned before getting closer so as he could see for himself what I had found. A fucking picture labeled,

‘The Tuberculosis Pavilion lobby, which was part of an infamous quarantine unit where Typhoid Mary died’.

It didn’t take us long to get there, using the shape of the windows to pinpoint where on the building it was likely to be. And as soon as we stepped through the broke doorway into the room, I held up my phone comparing the two.

We had found the right place.

A place that didn’t take us long to realize was missing an important factor, as there was no evidence to indicate she had ever been here.

“Then why have us come here… fuck this hunting for clues bullshit!” Tal roared, slamming his fist into the wall as his fury hit.

And I wasn’t far behind him. It just felt as if we were wasting time.

But then when he pulled his hand free of the crumbling stone, his eyes focused on something behind me.

A bloody handprint on the doorframe leading into the building.

And like fucking crimson crumbs to follow, we both walked inside.

Walked into a new version of hell… and one we couldn’t understand had finally caught up with us.

The unbelievable.

The fucking impossible.

The fucking mistake!

As this time, there was no mistaking the possibility. Not when it was written in the blood we would recognize anywhere. A blood that connected us all.

Brothers in blood, as well as in name.

Blood that should no longer exist.

Not when we had once killed him. Killed the man who had destroyed our family.

Our brother.

As we weren’t really twins. We just became so that day. The day we killed our triplet. The oldest brother and next in line for the throne. The reason he no doubt killed our father. Killed our mother. Ripped apart our family. The stain on the family name of Erebus.

The one who had always been the most powerful of us all.

Who held the most darkness.

But now, Vasileios was back from the dead.

And what was worse… he had our girl.

As there it was, confirmed in his own blood, written across the wall for us to find. A simple warning… but one that spoke of so much more.

One that spoke of…

The promise of revenge.

“We will see you soon… brothers.”