Phoenix Rising: The Veiðimenn Mob, Book Two

Thirty-One

There was no reason for Kennedy to be so excited over being able to get away with torture and murder. She glanced around the room, her sky-blue gaze landing on the boy she'd grown up with. Keeping an eye on his body language, she could tell he was up to something.

"Hey," he grinned.

She frowned at him, "Shouldn't you be upstairs with your fiancée?"

Phoenix's grin fell from his face, "You've lost me."

Declan snickered from his place at the table as he glanced between the friends. "She has a point, kid."

Phoenix shook his head. "No way. I want to see what the Cherry Bomb of the crew is capable of in the cruelty department."

"Seriously? what's with the new nickname?" Kennedy asked as she crossed her arms.

Phoenix chuckled as he replied: "Memphis was complaining that you're a ticking time bomb waiting for someone to light your fuse. Jaxon added that he should take into account that you’re a hot-tempered red-head, so Memphis started calling you a Cherry Bomb."

"If he doesn't stop pushing my buttons, I'm going to blow him up," she muttered as she followed him. "Nix, I’m not so sure I want you to see what I’m going to do. I’m not myself when I’m doing s**t like this, and I won’t be able to take it if you decide to hate me."

He shoved her lightly, "Hate you? Kenni, we've known each other for years, but I've never seen you let loose before. You're the only one that has never, to date, lost your temper on me in any way. I want to see what you can do."

Keeping a perfectly straight face, Kennedy said, "My sister and I have good lives with the Veiðimenn, I owe you and your family - our family - my life. It’s a debt I can never repay, but I have made a decision."

Phoenix nodded, "I know. You’re choosing your Club. It’s understandable. Can I still count on you to have my back?”

“Of course, you do,” she answered. “Once I take the helm, my Scorpions are yours to command. They will work for me, but under the Veiðimenn banner.”

Her eyes lighting up like a kid in a candy store, she stared at the man Trace dragged into the room. Trace forced the man to kneel at her feet, his dark grey eyes glinting. They would finally see what the little girl they took in was capable of.

Callum stared passively at her, but his eyes were hard with warning. He raised his head to look directly at her, "I allow you to do as you wish, Ms. Rubin. If I decide that you pose a threat to us, I will take the required measures. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir," she replied automatically.

As his father's heir, Phoenix sat down in the empty chair on Callum's right. Laughing at his best friend, he goaded her, "On a scale of one to ten, how pissed off are you today?"

"Eight," she said as she snapped the whip with a slight flick of her wrist. “I broke a nail breaking Craig’s face after school.”

Using the handle of the whip, she tilted the man's head upward and snarled at him. Her eyes glinting with the light of icy retribution, she said, "I've waited so many years for this opportunity. At the risk of sounding clichéd, what comes around goes around, Fabian."

Shaking his head, he glared at her. The familiar shock of red hair and the tauntingly clear, pale blue eyes made him think for a moment. Where had he seen her before? “Go to hell, bitch.”

Kennedy smirked, "Guys, tie him to the St. Andrew's Cross for me, please?”

Trace grinned at the girl. Winking at the one person other than Ambrosia that would have rambunctious guards standing ram-rod stiff, he answered her heartily. "Anything for you, Princess."

As they fastened his wrists and ankles to the cold, X-shaped cross, she watched him begin to realize they weren’t playing around. He paled as the straps were clipped into place. Finally, Fabian broke his silence. "What the hell is going on? I've done nothing!"

Kennedy didn’t speak as she flicked her wrist, letting the whip sink into the flesh of Fabian's back. She listened as he hissed in pain, loving the way it sent shivers of excitement through her lithe body. The whip whistled through the air as she landed blow after debilitating blow to his body.

She dropped the whip to the floor, picking up a bottle of clear liquid. "I was nine years old, and I was hiding in a cupboard while you, Xavier, Peter, Nolan, and Winston killed my parents. You beat my father to within an inch of his life after you cowards ganged up on him. Then,”

Laughing sardonically under her breath, Kennedy continued in a deviously pleasant voice. “Then, just to break his spirit, you beat and took turns raping his wife, my mama, right in front of him. I heard what you said before shooting them both, too. ‘This is what you get for naming that brat as your successor’. Sorry to say, but I’m a helluva lot more psycho than my father ever was."

Fabian gasped, panting from the pain. "I remember that day. Yeah, she cried for her babies."

Kennedy smirked, squirting diluted lighter fluid over his bloody back. At first, he was quiet, but then he started screaming in agony. She smiled, “Move him to the chair, please.”

"b***h," he spat as the guard helping her shoved him onto the steel chair. He yelped, hissing in unbearable pain.

"If I don't need to break out my phone to search Google for the meaning, I'm not insulted. Thanks for recognizing that I'm a brassy individual that causes headaches, though," She stated blandly.

Fabian paled as she selected a pair of garden shears off the table of random equipment. "Are you crazy?"

She shrugged, "Yeah, but my friends like my level of insanity."

Grabbing his left hand, she locked the shears around his first knuckle and pressed down steadily. His eyes watered, bulging as he bit back another scream of pain. Just when he thought he would pass out, she took a short iron rod from one of the guards, the tip glowing bright orange.

The stench of burnt flesh filled the room as she held the rod to each finger, searing the wounds closed. "We can't have you bleeding to death before I'm ready to kill you, can we?"

When she was done with that, she took a small break to figure out what to do with him next. When she finished the water Declan handed her, she smiled.

Declan smirked over at Callum, "She's a natural."

Ignoring his brother-in-law, Callum turned to his son, "Have you ever noticed her go through with threats to the team?"

Phoenix shook his head, "No, never. Yo, Ken, you ain’t turning on us, right?"

"Boo, this treatment is reserved for parasites like him," Kennedy replied. She grabbed another strap, forcing his jaw open before hauling out his teeth one by one with a pair of pliers.

"Stop! Please, I’m begging you. Please stop," Fabian pleaded when she finally set the pliers aside and released the strap holding his chin. His words were incomprehensible through the font of blood coming out of his mouth.

She sneered down at him, "You know, that's the same thing my mother asked just before you killed her. I thought I would never get this chance, but you messed up coming at my brother’s and sisters of the Chapter."

Again, she walked over to the table, this time she picked up a thin scalpel. She grinned over at Fabian. "I'm going to give you the Glasgow smile."

Tears streamed down Fabian's face as he finally realized that this would be his last night alive. Francis’s child had grown up, and she had an unquenched thirst for revenge.

Kennedy watched as the last of the life-light faded from his eyes with a satisfied smirk on her face. His head fell forward limply as his heart finally stopped.

Declan approached cautiously, making sure to stay within her line of sight. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good," she murmured in reply as she put the blade down. "Can I miss a few more days of school, Declan? I really need to clear my head and take some time to visit my parents graves."

Taking the teen into his arms he held her close. "Yeah, kiddo, you can have the rest of the week off."

"I'll take her, Uncle," Phoenix said, jumping to his feet. He wrapped his best friend's arms around his neck as she leaned against his back.

She laughed softly, "Do you still want me around, or am I too much of a psycho for you?"

"Ask me that again, and I'll drop you right now," Phoenix retorted. "Nothing's changed except for the fact I now have a better understanding of your darkness. I had no clue you were that into torture, but please don’t ever offer to demonstrate on any of us, okay?"

She giggled, "Don't make me tell your mother what really happened to the goldfish we had."

"Hey!" Phoenix exclaimed. “They were already dead when I dissected them.”

“Yeah, from overfeeding,” she snorted. “I’m getting blood on your clothes, Nix.”

“I know. Romie’s probably going to ask me about it since she’s actually helping Mom with the kids right now. That said, what do you want me to tell her?”

Kennedy yawned, “The truth. Always the truth. It’s a bitter, yet necessary evil in our world.”

Callum watched as his son carried the girl out of the room. Deep down, he knew that she would never hurt her friends. She was too smart to make that kind of mistake. Trace walked over to him, shaking his head, “What a deadly little thing she turned out to be."

“Declan?” Callum wondered as they walked out of the room. He watched his brother-in-law closely, searching for any sign of betrayal.

“She’ll be fine,” Declan said.

Nodding, Callum said, “Good to know.”