Page 106 of He Who Sleeps

Rix rolled his shoulders and stood up. “I don’t know about you but I have had it with the bullshit around here. They want killers...let’s give them killers.” He grinned savagely. “Emerson, tell them what you found last night.”

Emerson looked to them. “I didn’t wanna say yet without hard evidence...”

“What is it?” Jack offered.

“Elders are expendable, or so the priests said when I questioned them last night. They are not the head of the organization. We, as the main devotional team, are. Elders were put in place to guide, but everything was supposed to be through us. It was around the same time they stopped with the dual devotionals that Elders went into power.”

“Fuck.” Jack shook his head. “So all Elders?”

“I think these fucks took it too far. Those from our father’s time were largely in a guidance capacity. And all Elders before our fathers were once a devotional team.”

"So we kill them all." Easton said it quietly, but his voice didn't waver. "Tonight."

"Put the word out," Finn said quietly. "Everyone we pre-gamed needs to know it's going down tonight."

"On it, boss." Leo was practically vibrating in his skin as he headed for the door. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can all go home."

“And fuck up the world of the asshole that took our lady,” Rix said. “And if I find out that it was one of these fucks, I’m burning the world down.”

Jack looked to Finn and then to Emerson. “Em, how will this affect the Solstice sacrifice? Is this even a thing?”

Emerson grinned. “It’s a thing, but not tonight. It’s got a window, as long as it happens before Midwinter, there will be no repercussions.” He looked to Finn. “We kill everyone tonight that is a problem, get on that plane, save our girl, then go to the mountain house...and worship.” He grinned. “And I have a better rite for that, too.”

"I say we drain every last one of those fuckers into the well," Finn said. "Sacrifice made."

“Ooh, that’s perfect,” Jack said. “Though we need to come back to the better rite.” He winked. “How long?”

Rix turned from his friends and rolled his shoulders once again, pulling his fingerless gloves from his pocket and slipped them on. The situation was tense but they did tense well. Was it going to be sloppy? Probably. Were they going to have the element of surprise? Absolutely. They had already spent too much time there as it was, and they were only moderately closer to the answers they needed. The original plan was to keep a few of them alive for answers but answers weren’t as important as their lady being safe.

So first they burned down the organization, and then they burned Philly to the ground to find her.

Chapter 38

Petra opened her eyes, blinking several times as the world around her came into focus. Head swimming, she came to consciousness with the events that put her into this position fresh in her mind. No bleary confusion. No, she knew that she had been taken, just not where or by whom.

And she knew her guys were a world away. If she was lucky Wilma would call Carter and they would come, but until then, she needed to be smart, listen and wait, because it was entirely possible she was going to have to try to save herself.