Out Of The Shadows (HADES) (Whiskey Bend MC Series, Book #4)

The silence of the night was shattered by several huge explosions in and around the clubhouse. The walls shook and debris fell from the ceiling as Caden got his bearings back. As he did, the ceiling buckled and the light fixture came down on his head. Pain burst through him and he grabbed his head in agony. The glass shattered leaving tiny cuts all over Caden’s face and arms. Grabbing his weapon, he opened the door carefully and peeked down the hall.

Smoke rolled from the main room and heard several groans coming from there. Making his way slowly and carefully down the hall, he peeked around the corner and searched the carnage he found here.

Percussion grenades had taken out part of the outside wall and as far as he could see, another one exploded inside the room. There were bodies all over the place. Everyone in the room when they went off was either injured or knocked out by the explosion.

Caden swore as he looked around the damaged area. He saw Lucifer crouched over his wife and Hades was lying near a knocked out Hope. Aries wasn’t far from his Luna but he found Ethan’s body slumped in the corner of the room. He was covered in dust but there was a line of red trickling from his left ear.

The only ones missing was Cole and Charlie. He hadn’t passed them in the hall so they must have been in another room or outside when Drake tossed the grenades. He could only hope they were still alive and could help at some point.

“Are you ok?’ Charlie asked him asked him, after he came up from behind him.

Caden nodded then shook his head. “Have you seen Cole?”

Charlie studied his injures and shook his head. “Are you sure you’re all right? You don’t look so good.”

“I’ll be fine. The explosion brought down the light fixture and I just happened to be underneath it when it fell.” He shook his head then groaned as the pain shook his world.

“I was in the john when I heard the first explosion. I have no clue where he was.” He nodded toward the door. “How bad is it out there?”

“I think he achieved his objection. He got the whole room. I’m hoping they’re all still alive at this point. Right now I can’t tell.” He closed his eyes for a minute. He opened them in time to see a shadow come through the front door. The shadow was moving around the room as if he were checking out the bodies, looking for someone in particular.

Caden lifted his gun and shot where he saw the shadow. Charlie used the distraction to go to the other side of the doorway and saw the shadow backing away. He slipped to safety just outside the blown off doorway.

Caden and Charlie heard Drake chuckle and call out loudly, “Caden. Charlie. Are you there? Are you both still alive?”

They heard him moving around outside. They couldn’t see him but they followed the direction of his voice. “Caden, how is it you’re still around? I mean really, what does it take to kill you?” Drake started laughing. “You guys thought you had me, didn’t you? You thought I would fold like a baby, didn’t you?”

Then Caden and Charlie smelled the smoke. Drake had started a couple of garbage cans on fire dragging them as close to the front door as possible. The smoke poured inside the club growing thick and burned their eyes and throats. They couldn’t hear Drake move around anymore and that gave them some concern.

Coughing and choking on the smoke, Caden knew he had no choice. He aimed at the windows next to the front door and shot off a couple of rounds. The windows weren’t shatterproof and they exploded with the force of the bullets. Shards of glass showered them. A few minutes later, most of the smoke was gone.

Charlie slid around the corner and kept to the shadows of the wall he made his way closer to the door. He couldn’t see anything and swore. He turned back to face Caden. His gun was drawn across his chest and Caden had a feeling he was going to charge to the front door.

Caden kicked out his foot and caught Charlie’s attention. He shook his head. He didn’t want the other man to take any chances. Cole was the only chance they had. If Drake got to him, they would all die. Caden didn’t know if he could stop him.

“Caden, are you still with me, man?” Drake called out.

When Caden didn’t answer, Drake called out again, “Caden? Damn it answer me or I’ll have to go in the back in there and cut one of those women.”

Caden remained silent.

“I wonder which one I’ll bring out. Let me think for a minute. Should it be Hope? No, she’s no fun anymore; I’ll probably just end up cutting her throat. She’s ruined what I hoped for her anyway, but I still can’t allow her to live. Maybe I’ll try the cute little red head. Yeah, she’s a little spit-fire.” He paused and waited for Caden to respond. “Should I go get her, Caden? Her man is probably dead you know. The blast caught them all unaware just like I planned. You can’t hide behind the MC anymore.”

“Leave her alone,” Caden growled.

“Ah, you are still with us. Good, I’m glad,” Drake said.

“Oh yeah, why is that?”

“Because after I kill Charlie, you and I are going to dance,” Drake promised.

“Are you going to lead or am I?” Caden asked. “Never mind, I’ll lead, I never could follow.”

“Cute, Caden, real cute. I’m going to enjoy slicing you up. Have you ever seen an autopsy? The knife starts about the middle of the chest and slices down to the groin. The second cut slices across the width of the chest and opens up the skin. Then they cut out your organs.”

“Why are you telling me all this crap?” Caden was tired of listening to the sound of Drake’s voice. The timber and intonations in his voice were almost that of a lover talking to his mate.

“After I kill Charlie and Hope and that weasel of a brother of mine, I’m coming back for you. Now normally, they do autopsies on dead bodies but I’ve always wanted to do one on you. Don’t worry; I’ll revive you just to hear you scream when the knife cuts into your skin. I wouldn’t want you to miss any of the action.”

“You have an awfully full list there. Besides, you won’t get the chance, you sick bastard,” Caden growled. He slid around the corner of the doorway and moved down the opposite side of the room Charlie was on. They might stand a chance if they could get Drake between them and take him out.

He poked his head up and peeked out the window. He saw Drake standing right there, just outside the door. He caught movement and saw Charlie on the other side of the door doing the same thing. Drake must have seen him too as he lifted the knife and when Charlie peeked out the window, he jerked back quickly but not quickly enough.

He screamed in pain as the knife laid his face open. Charlie rolled around the floor, holding his face as the blood poured out on the floor. Drake rushed through the portal and knelt beside him raising the knife again.

A shot rang out and a bullet hit Drake.

Drake screamed as the bullet pierced his upper chest as he rolled away from Charlie and back out the door before Caden could get off another shot.

“What’s the matter, Drake? Weren’t you expecting that?” Caden called out.

“Quite frankly no, I didn’t think you had it in you,” Drake called back.

Drake had trouble speaking. The pain of being shot again must have been getting to him.

“You didn’t expect me to let you kill him did you?” Caden called out again. He was trying to move toward where Charlie was laying. He threw out his good hand, grabbed Charlie’s leg and tried to drag him back behind the only cover they had. Charlie’s body was dead weight and was hard to move one handed, but Caden finally had him behind cover. He was unconscious now. The bleeding had finally stopped. Caden quickly checked his neck for a pulse. He was still alive.

Caden glanced at the glass for any sign of movement but found none. “So Drake, now what are you going to do? We seem to be at a standoff.”

“Not really. I’m not hurt enough not to kill you and everyone else. I can still walk away from all of this,” Drake bragged.

“Not bloody likely,” Caden promised, still looking for movement in the glass. “I don’t think you’re going to walk away from this as easily as you think.”

“Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong,” Drake told him confidently.

“You still have to get past me.”

“That won’t be so tough.” Drake’s voice was further away now and Caden turned his head to the right. He heard movement over in the corner of the room. He was concentrating so intently on listening for Drake’s movements he missed seeing the door to the room just opposite the threshold of the hall open. He missed the glint of Cole’s gun as it poked out of the open door.

“Oh yeah,” Caden called out. “Why is that?”

“I do believe you’re out of bullets, my friend.”

“Are you willing to bet your life on that?” Caden growled.

Cole knelt inside the door. He couldn’t see into the main room because the lights were still out. He waited until someone talked again to get a fix on their position. Caden, he could tell was over by the counter, but he couldn’t tell where Drake was.

Cole reached out a hand and felt along the wall for the light switch. As he snapped the switch on and off but the lights never came on. Then he saw a shadow move and the moonlight coming in the shattered window showed his brother Drake.

The ones he didn’t see was Caden and Charlie.

He watched his brother looking over the bodies piled up wherever they fell when the grenades went off. When he reached where Hope and Hades were he stopped and knelt beside them.

He pushed Hades off her and he grunted but didn’t seem to wake. Drake didn’t pay him any mind but Cole did. He noted the other man tensed and cracked his eyes open a bit. Cole wanted nothing more than to kill Drake with a bullet but he was too close to Hope so he waited to see what Hades would do next.

Drake raised the knife in his hand and with a glare of satisfaction on his face was bringing it down to Hope’s throat.

~*~

Hades growled loudly and swept his hand up to Drakes chest. Only at the last minute, did he see the hunting knife in Hades’ hand. Hades slid the knife under Drake’s ribs and then pushed it up into his chest. Twisting it, he felt the blade cut deep into the other man’s heart.

Drake’s eyes went blank with surprise then the blinding pain set it. He couldn’t even scream, yet his mouth opened. The pain only lasted seconds as his life slipped away rather quickly.

Hades stared into his eyes. “I just want you to… Shut. The. Fuck. Up!” He gave him one final push and Drake fell away onto his back.

Hades flopped back down and held his head groaning.

Hope was next to him and she began to stir while moaning as she slowly awakened. She tried to sit up but couldn’t quite make it.

Hades opened his eyes and looked at her. “Are you okay, babe?”

Looking at Hades, she smiled slightly. “Yeah baby, I’m ok.” Looking around the room she asked, “What about the others? Are they all right?”

“Hell, I don’t know.” He sat up slowly and holding his pounding head, he looked around. “I just wanted that mouthy fucker to shut up! My heads hurts.” At the sight of his brothers crumpled on the floor Hades’ heart began to pound heavily. He crawled over to Lucifer and held his fingers to the other man’s throat. He found a steady pulse and Hades dropped his head down. “Thank god.”

The other brothers were beginning to wake up just then. Groaning and moaning could be heard from all over.

Lucifer lifted his arm and began rubbing his forehead. Jessie groaned as well.

Cole entered the room and lifted on the lights, but the power had been knocked out by the grenades. He turned and disappeared down the hall again only moments later the light came on again.

The men all moaned and a few curses were growled as the group came together and woke from their forced naps.

Lucifer sat up and began to look around frantically. When he noticed Jessie lying next to him he gently gathered her in his arms and rocked her back and forth. Murmuring her name over and over she began to stir in his arms.

When she opened her eyes at first, she looked confused as to why she hurt so bad, then he looked up at Lucifer and grimaced. “Oh god,” she cried out as her hands went to her belly.

Lucifer frowned. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

Jessie felt tears welling in her eyes. “I don’t know—the baby?”

Lucifer’s frown deepened. “What baby?”

“Oh sweetheart, I didn’t know how to tell you…”

“Tell me what?” he growled.

“I’m going to have your baby.” She hung her head.

Lucifer tipped her chin up to face him. “You are?” He licked his dry lips and moved his hand to cover hers. “My child?”

Jessie nodded. “Are you upset with me?” she whispered.

Lucifer gifted her with one of his rare smiles. “No sweetness, I’m not upset.”

“I just hope the baby is still with us after all of this.” She began to tremble. Looking around the room she asked, “Is everyone else ok?”

Lucifer gaze around but everyone seemed to be waking up okay. “I think so.” Then his eyes went to Charlie and Caden. “Although we seem to have some injures, but the cops are still alive anyway.” He turned back to Jessie and smiled. “Maybe we should get you to a doctor and make sure the baby is all right.”

“Ok.” She gulped. She turned her head and gasped when she saw Drake’s body. “Is this finally over then? He’s really dead this time?”

Hades turned his head to her and said, “Yeah he’s dead. I just got so tired of him talking! I mean shit, just do something already instead of talking your dammed head off!”

Lucifer shook his head. “Damn Hades.” He chuckled.

“Good.” Jessie laughed. “I don’t think the world will miss him, in fact it’s a better place without him.”

Hades helped Hope up and held her to his chest. “I do know it will be quieter that’s for fucking sure.”

Hope lifted her head from Hades’ chest. “Amen to that.” She looked up at her man. “You saved me. Thank you so much.”

Hades frowned. “Why are you thanking me?”

Hope swallowed hard. “No one has ever gone out of their way like that for me. You risked your own life to save mine.”

“You’re my woman, I’m not gonna let anyone hurt you.” He paused and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “That goes against everything I believe.”

Hope smiled and leaned toward him. “You’re my hero.” She whispered as she leaned in to kiss him.

Hades grinned. “No I just did you a damn favor by shutting that asshole up.” He then crushed her mouth under his. When he broke the kiss, he struggled to catch his breath. “I ain’t no hero, babe. I’m just me, a broken soldier. A man whose dreams haunt him. Nothing more, but nothing less either.”

“Well, you’re my hero and nothing you can say will make me think differently.” She snuggle.

~*~

A couple of hours later the whole group was resting after being checked out at the local hospital. Some of them had already gone home. Charlie and Caden had been admitted for observation after the doctors had stitched their wounds.

Lucifer and Jessie were in radiology getting a scan to find out if their baby was still with them. Everyone was waiting on pins and needles hoping it would be good news. The police were still questioning the group and Caden was in his room with Ethan waiting for Jake and Lori to arrive. Now that the threat was over, they were on their way to collect their son.

Hope and Hades knocked on Caden’s door to check on him. When Caden looked up, he smiled and motioned for them to come in.

“How are you doing?” Hope asked nervously.

Caden smiled. “Don’t worry I’ll be fine. When the light came down it hit my head and the doc thinks I might have a slight concussion that’s all. He said I could go home in the morning.” He looked over at Ethan. “We’re actually waiting for his parents to get here.” Glancing over at the clock he said, “Which if I know my partner that should be any minute.”

Hope looked over at Ethan and smiled. “How are you doing young man?”

Ethan grinned. “I’m ok. The explosion knocked me out for a while but the doctors tell me I’ll be just fine.” He grinned at her. “Uncle Caden says it’s because I’m a Dylan, and that’s I’m as tough as my dad ever was.”

Hope laughed out loud. “Yeah well, I think some of that toughness you learned from your uncle Caden as well.”

Ethan’s grin grew as wide as his face. “You could be right about that.”

“The question is how are you doing Hope?” Caden asked.

Hope smiled at him and held onto Hades a bit tighter. “I’m doing good. I can finally breathe again. I got myself a good man and I still have Chloe, in fact we’re on our way to pick her up. With Drake dead, I’ve the world by the tail and that feels so wonderful.”

Caden smiled. “Good, you deserve this.”

Hades nodded. “She deserves more than what I can give her but I ain’t letting her go so she’s stuck with me.”

Caden chuckled. “I don’t think she minds that one little bit.”

Hope grinned. “You’d be right about that.”

~*~

Demon stood braced against the wall and watched his uncle Charlie sleep. The doctors had assured them all Charlie would recover completely. He only needed rest and a blood transfusion to replace the blood he lost at the clubhouse. His aunt Sarah sat in the chair beside the bed quietly knitting while she waited for her husband to wake up.

“Hey Sarah, you do know that Charlie’s is going to be just fine don’t you?’ he asked her quietly.

“Yes Demon, I know,” she whispered. “That doesn’t mean I don’t worry about him. I’ve lived with that man for forty years now. I’ve watched him fret over a case, I’ve seen him kneel down to comfort a crying child and I’ve seen him take a swing at a drunken man to get him to stop doing something bad. I know his job is dangerous and I know he’s been hurt before. I have loved him through thick and thin.” She paused her knitting and gazed at her husband with loving eyes. “He’s such a part of my life that I can’t imagine living without him. Each time he gets hurt, I can see a little bit more of the life draining out of his eyes. We aren’t young anymore and I want him to slow down and enjoy what life we have together a little bit more. As far as I’m concerned, he’s done his duty to this this town and everyone in it. I don’t say anything because this is the man Charlie is. I would never ask him to change for me or anyone else.”

“I understand that feeling now Sarah. It’s the same with Shiloh and me. I can’t change my past but with her I can now see a future for both of us.”

“I love that girl of yours Demon. Charlie is getting a new lease on life working with her in the store of hers. He likes to be useful and since he retired, I have prayed I would never be sitting in the hospital like this again.”

“Sarah…” Demon groaned.

Sarah held up her hand. “Don’t say it kiddo. You couldn’t have stopped him from getting involved in this case if you tried. Neither could I. He’ll recover from this with nothing more than a scar on his face. It could have been worse.”

Charlie slowly raised his hand and laid it on top of her hands.

Sarah paused her knitting and turned to find Charlie’s eyes open and watching her.

Grabbing one of her hands, he brought it to his lips and gently kissed her fingers. “I do love you woman. More than life itself and as long as I breathe, I will love you a little bit more every day we’re together. Just like always.”

Sarah got to her feet slowly. Leaning over the bed, she leaned closer to his face. With her free hand, she cupped his jaw. “I love you too old man. I want to grow old with you some day, but that day is not today darlin’. You and me still got some time together and I want every day we got left.” Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips to him.

Demon pushed himself away from the wall and quietly left the room.