AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As I took in the many faces, I noticed some people were still missing. I also realized this seemed to be our group’s thing . . . like a supernatural council that allowed humans in.
“We should make our own organization,” I blurted. “Like Save, but with humans.”
“Would you like to fill us in on the conversation you were having with yourself, son?” Ravage asked.
“I mean, Save kind of fucked us over, but we have enough people to start our own group. Plus, some of the older members, like you or Peach could lead the council for the vamps, Drag for the wolven, and Marcus for the humans.”
Ravage barked out a belly laugh. “You better watch your mouth, boy. Peach will rip your balls off for calling her old.”
“I’m being serious, dude. It’s kinda like we already started one. We just haven’t appointed positions like we had in Save.”
“What does Save mean again?” April asked with a curious look. “Zeke always kept me out of Venom and vampire politics, so I knew very little until I came here.”
“Save stands for Supernaturals Against Venom Elitists. It’s an organization that actively protects vampires and wolven from being used for research. Or that’s what they used to do before we found out some of them were traitors.”
We hadn’t completely cut ties with Save. We currently had Lane and Laren attending meetings and monitoring things, but it was a need-to-know basis. For now, none of the ex-Venom members, other than Lyric, Sage, and Erik, needed to know because we had to do what was best to protect our spies.
“Why do you guys call Venom members elitists?” Nellie asked, causing my attention to drift to her.
“Because Supernaturals Against Venom Cultists doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as easily.”
Her brows clenched at my sarcasm before her eyes narrowed on me. “And why do you call it a cult? Just because we’re inducted into the society by giving blood doesn’t make us a cult.”
Us?
Since being here, the ex-Venom members had referred to the society in the third person, as if they left it behind. But this bitch looked me right in the face and said, “us.”
Even though the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up, alerting me of a possible intruder, I refrained from breaking her neck in front of everyone. Peach would yell at me for not getting more info first, April would probably cry out of shock, plus I might actually feel bad if I was wrong.
Probably not.
My back stiffened and I glanced down at Ravage. His expression told me he had the same feelings I did.
Not wanting to be suspicious, I lowered my ass onto the log next to him and leisurely leaned my elbows onto my knees. “Because that’s exactly what they are, or at least that’s what they portray. Cultic behavior causes vulnerability in its members, or so I’ve read. Once individuals participate in it, it can impact their critical thinking and emotional processing. That shit allows cult leaders to have complete control over their members. Consider this, would Venom be able to function without the masks and cloaks?”
“Absolutely, it could,” Erik answered, before looking toward Nellie. “The cult shit seemed normal until Winnie and I had this same conversation right after we came here. It’s easy to get caught up in the society when you’re raised to believe you’re doing the right thing. Now it all makes total sense. We were brainwashed to follow the leader.”
My gaze went to Sage since her father was the actual leader of the Venom society. She stared at me, then quickly glanced at Nellie, and when her eyes met mine again, I somehow knew she had caught on.
“Not to mention they pay for housing, cars, and still gave us a paycheck,” Steph added. “Which sounds nice, but it’s another way to make the members dependent on them. They would give us the world as long as we obeyed.”
“Is that what this meeting was about?” Nellie interrupted. “Us starting our own society? I thought you found VRC information or something.”
Ravage stood rather quickly, and I did my best to keep my cool. “That’s what we were going to discuss, but there’s a storm on the way, and there’s too many of us to fit in one cabin. We can discuss it later. Everyone better head inside soon.” Without another word, he strolled off into the darkness, and I knew our meeting was being relocated.
Peach turned toward Marcus, laying her hand on his knee. “I need to get the baby from Kimber and Vivi. I told them we wouldn’t be long. Not that they wanted to give her back, anyway.”
“Baby?” April’s eyes sparkled as she scooted to the edge of her seat. “Whose baby do you have, Peach?”
“Oh, she’s a sweet little thing. Do you want to come meet her and I’ll fill you in on how I got her?”
“I would love that.”
Peach peered over at Sage. “I think I left one of the baby’s bags in your Jeep. Can you bring it to me when you’re done here?”
“Sure. I gotta pee first, then I’ll bring it over.” Sage rose from her seat and gave Lyric one look.
“I want to see the baby again,” Lyric said as she stood.
