Casting Shadows

Chapter 13

Chapter 13 (Mikey's POV)

"Where the hell have you been?" I shout at my capricious brother as he struts through the front door as if he did not just disappear for the last six hours.

Frank walks in behind Gerard, dragging an unconscious and bloody Andrew Hurley with him. The main leader looks like his face has been slammed against a hard surface repeatedly until he died. His nose is disturbingly off center and the blood all over his face makes it look like he was pulled out of a horror film.

"Put him in room two hundred and fourteen, tie him to an iron chair, and prepare a bucket of vampire venom with a syringe," Gerard instructs. "Also, alert my private company. I need them to find and kill everyone who escaped today, including any anti-Parade guards who occupied the compound. Iero, I am putting you in charge of making sure that these orders are followed. I want all of them dead. Do you understand?"

Without hesitation, Frank nods his head respectfully and carries Andy away. I swear, Iero is far too obsequious. The only thing is that he follows nobody's orders except for my brother's. Whenever I ask him to do something he just stands there, refusing to do it unless Gerard tells him that he should obey.

"Gerard Arthur Way, answer my question!" I yell as he walks past me as if I'm not even in the room.

He just waves me off and continues walking. Feeling frustrated, I follow him and grab his arm, yanking him so that he faces me.

"What?" he snaps.

"Tell me where you've been. You cannot just walk off like that and not tell anyone where you're going. You know that Xavier is staying here and if he wants you and you're not present, I think we all know that he wouldn't be very happy."

"Alright, listen," he says in a dark tone. He shoves me so that I'm forced to take a step back in order to prevent myself from falling. "You are not the one who's in charge of this dimension, you have no authority over me, and therefore you have absolutely no right to tell me what to do." Each time he says you, he shoves me backwards until my back is against the wall.

"Gerard, stop!" I shove him away from me and I can see the burning desire in his eyes to use further violence. Pushing him back probably was not the smartest thing for me to do. "Why are you so irritable right now? You aren't the only one with pressing responsibilities."

"My wife is pregnant, I just lost one of my highest ranking employees, and all of the other sub leaders escaped, so excuse me if I'm stressed," he snaps at a quieter decibel.

It takes me a moment to process what he just said. I already know that Lindsey is pregnant, but I have no idea what he's talking about in the rest of that sentence. "Gee, what are you talking about?"

He signs and his nose flares in annoyance. In only a little louder than a whisper, he explains to me the events that have taken place, all of which he will be held responsible for if Xavier finds out.

A mixture of worry and anger well up inside of me. The worry is because of how Xavier will react and the anger is because of the fact that my own brother killed Joe, my best friend.

I can feel a chill run up my spine as I try to suppress my anger. "What kind of person kills there brother's best friend?" I spit.

"He was conspiring with the enemy, therefore he was not your friend."

"You still didn't have to kill him!" I shout.

He clamps a hand over my mouth and hushes me. "You are not going to tell anyone about what I have just told you. If anyone asks, you will tell them that I left to execute the other sub leaders and to bring Andy here. You are going to tell them that it went as planned and Pete, Brendon, and Patrick, along with their family members that were imprisoned with them are permanently dead. Am I understood?"