Chapter 60: A captive audience (violence/death warning)

The gunshot shook Brent out of the stunned anger he had been stewing in only for him to realise with horror that one of the civilians, the pretty ones, had been shot.

Point blank. No hesitation. No fear of repercussions. They were dead, and the screaming in the room seemed to feed the fuckers, the murderers who were before them.

Brent felt his heart harden as the E.A.G. member who was holding them began to celebrate. He was laughing, hand raised so he only had one on his weapon. Cheering like they had done something good. Great.

Brent felt his stomach roll before he took a deep breath, centered himself, and fucking went balls to the wall.

He reached for the gun, no hesitation on his part either, and pulled it out.

Three shots fired off in rapid succession. Each one hitting his target. Three bodies collapsing to the floor. Brent felt no remorse. Not a single ounce, and when the man holding a gun to him turned, angry, Brent shot him too. He didn’t even flinch as the blood coated him, splashing him in a way that should have brought others to their knees.

Too bad for them, Brent was used to seeing death and decay.

There were a few more members still on the platform, but Esper Parker was already moving. Brent had no idea what his powers were, hadn’t even asked, so when the light began to literally be sucked out of the area around them, it caught Brent by surprise.

He didn’t know that many Dark Espers. Esper Parker was only the second he’d heard of, the other one being the impromptu leader of the D.E.C. in Kellen’s hometown.

With that, Brent began to grab the gun from the man he had already shot, knowing that Esper Parker knew what he was doing. There were only two of them, but fuck everything if Brent was going to let them do this to him or his people.

One person was dead. An innocent. Brent would gladly get more E.A.G. member’s blood on his hands if he could. In fact, he was feeling rather bloodthirsty as it stood.

Esper Parker had gathered the other shitty members who had attempted to take over this party. However, Brent was fairly certain that there were more in the audience and Brent, being Brent, wanted to put on a show.

So, he grabbed a mic. Making himself a target, but he didn’t care. He had blood covering half of him, he was already a target.

“Hello everyone.” Brent wasn’t attempting to sound cheerful, this was a damn warning. “So glad that everyone could gather today. Sorry for the disturbance. My friend and I here are doing our best to clean up the pests.” Brent said, and he might have smiled at that. What he made sure of was to keep his eyes under control. There was no way he was going to let that slip.

Not when he was sure that that was exactly what someone in the audience wanted.

Brent sighed.

“I’m not from around here, or should I say, it’s been a while since I’ve been home so I wasn’t aware of how bad our pest problem has gotten. I will remedy that immediately.” Brent hung up his mic and turned to the gathered E.A.G. members. He was sure that they normally got caught and brought in. Probably ’interrogated’ and he was sure since his brother was a power in this city, they were released.

Brent wasn’t going to let that happen. Not on his watch.

He could tell that people were horrified at what he was about to do. Only Esper Parker stood by, his eyes devoid of sympathy, as Brent shot every single one of the members in the head. He didn’t flinch as he did so.

As far as he was concerned, it was either them, or him.

It was only after the public execution that his brother and Colby even dared to show up. Brent was sure he’d gotten to others to safety, keeping them away from Brent’s hands. It was also clear that he had shocked his brother.

When he saw his brother’s gaze, it wasn’t the same calculating look he was used to. There was a bit of fear mixed in. After all, Brent knew that if he shot his brother right now, the empire would crumble.

No one would be conniving enough to replace him.

Brent did consider it for a moment, the pull of getting rid of a problem he’d always had was very tempting, but he held off.

As far as he knew, his brother hadn’t actually killed anyone yet. As far as he knew. Brent had just taken the lives of several people, but they were known for killing ’his kind’. It was self defense and he could argue that.

If he shot his brother right now? He was rich, famous, and a civilian. There was no way he could get away with that kind of violence towards him. Not at a party like this. It was the exact same reason that his brother had attempted to kill him right now.

Brent made sure that when he locked eyes with his brother that he knew. He knew that Brent knew what he had attempted to do, and that it was the worst decision that he could have made. He watched as the cocky, confident brother faltered for a moment.

“Brenton! My dear brother! Are you alright?” He asked, putting on the fake smile, the forced concern in his gaze making Brent more sick than the fact that he’d just killed people.

“You wouldn’t want to touch me, brother. I’m covered in blood and…other things.” Brent told him, wiping his face with the back of a gloved hand. Tragic that the gloves were going to have to be thrown out.

This was why he always wore black, anyways.

His brother halted a few paces away and Brent could feel the way that Colby was staring at him. Like he was seeing him for the first time. It was clear that Brent’s brother was doing the same thing. They had thought he was a weak Guide.

They were sorely mistaken.

“Brenton, let’s get you home. I’m sure today has been quite the shock, so why don’t I-”

“I am sure that the police of this region probably have questions for me, so I will be going with Esper Parker here to answer them. You wouldn’t want to get in the way of these monsters kidnapping and killing someone and getting answers, would you?” Brent’s gaze was dead as he stared at his brother. Daring him to counter him.

His brother shifted uncomfortably. They were still on the stage, after all, and it wasn’t like the place had been fucking evacuated for everyone’s safety. Everyone could hear what was going on, at least the ones at the front.

His brother was more concerned about his image than he was about having control of Brent. He backed down eventually, but it was clear that he was unwilling. Brent could tell that Esper Parker next to him was ready and willing to fight for him if his brother had put up a fight.

It was good for everyone that he had. Brent still had an itchy trigger finger.

“I can’t stop you from turning yourself in, so-” Brent’s laughter cut him off.

“Turning myself in? Are you fucking serious? They would have killed me if they knew who I was.” Brent told him, serious, and watched as his brother faltered.

“No, they wouldn’t. You’re a James, Brenton. No one would-”

“Why do names matter when they are a group of terrorists, brother? What are you trying to say? Are you saying that the James family is involved with the E.A.G.? A worldwide terrorist organisation? A group that has tried to assassinate my best friends’ father? Who have succeeded in doing so to several other well known couples?” Brent asked and watched as he squirmed.

It was the first time he was able to hold his brother’s feet to the fire, and it was in such a public space. It was clear that his brother did not want to have this kind of confrontation with Brent right now, but Brent was going to make him either back up, or shut up.

Those were the only two options that Brent was going to allow.

His brother saw that he wasn’t going to win. The bloody gun in his hand was probably also a good hint to what could happen, even if both Brent and his brother knew that Brent wasn’t that stupid. It was probably why he was so afraid.

The way that Colby was looking at Brent, like he was ready to grab his brother and go at any moment, made Brent smile.

“Of course the James family has nothing to do with terrorists, Brenton. That’s an insane thing to say.” His brother defended. With how much conviction he spoke with, Brent almost believed him. Brent’s smile warmed significantly after he heard his brother say that.

“Good. That would have been such a shame, wouldn’t it have been? I would hate to have to make my family my enemy.” Brent said it clearly, because this? If his brother had truly tried to kill him this way?

There was no coming back from it. Brent could deal with him taking an arm, marking up his face, even beating him. But actually trying to dispose of him and getting others involved? Getting others killed?

Brent would not stand for it. He was one thing, the innocent civilian who had been murdered was another.

The sounds of sirens could be heard finally and Brent let out a harsh breath.

“You should get out of here, brother, unless you want your photo taken with the police in the background. Colby, make sure he gets home safe.” Brent told him. Colby almost nodded, then froze upon realising he had almost listened to Brent for even a second thought. Brent smirked, then watched as they left.

Esper Parker stayed with him, close by as the police entered and slowly began to clean up the area.

“I messaged my Captain as soon as I had a second.” Esper Parker whispered to Brent. “She’ll be here soon. She’ll also be delighted to see you.” He told Brent and Brent gave a stiff nod. He could feel how the others were looking at him, like he was a monster. That was when he let his eyes glow a bit. The green fading in favour of the sky blue that was the colour of Guides.

That way no one could say that he was ’just a civilian acting out of malice’. He was a Guide, defending his people. It was clear then that this was an act of violence, but also in self preservation. How many of his own had this group killed? How many had they gotten away with?

They could retaliate, but Brent wasn’t some shrinking violet. Knowing that Kellen was fighting for his life in that fucking gate trying to save people meant that Brent wasn’t going to just lay back and be silent. He was going to fight back. He was going to do what he could.

If he was over here, why not make the E.A.G. feel fear for the first time in a while? All because of a pretty little Guide with a prosthetic?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep