The Axelridge Series Book 4 Griff's Red Card
Chapter 25 The Nightmare Of Eddie Manning Part 1

(Chapter song ‘What A Wonderful World’ by 2WEI)

IVY

With Griffin at home recovering, he asked me to go get an update on Eddie.

He’s been on the operating table for few hours now and we've been anxious to hear news if my solution to saving him worked.

I wish we didn’t have to do that. It’s a terrible cure for demon possession. The only other options I’ve found is for the host to fight back, but if the soul is black enough, that won’t be an easy fight or if there is one at all. Sometimes a bullet is more humane.

The risk is death. A head shot is not good for a shifter or anyone for that matter. The rate of recovery is very low. My hope is that the bullet didn’t fragment and he will be clear of all the silver. If we get it all out, he can heal quickly.

After searching for the floor he’s on at Falcon Ridge Memorial, I walk briskly to the waiting room where Finn and the other Alphas are waiting impatiently.

“What’s taking so long?” Marcus growls and pushes off the wall he’s leaning on to pace the floor.

“Jax is working as fast as he can, Marc. Brain surgery isn’t easy.” Finn says from a seat.

“Hi, guys.” I walk up and replace a seat next to Noah.

“Hey, Ivy. How’s Griffin?” Finn asks.

“Recovering. He took half a bottle of tablets and fell asleep. Not before telling me to tell you “Eddie better be alive or I'll have all yer arses!” I’m sorry, my Irish accent is terrible.” I smile.

“Don’t worry. So is Griff’s.” Noah leans down to me and chuckles.

“It’s not that bad.” I chuckle back. I look around at the concerned faces. “Any updates?”

Finn shakes his head. “Not yet.” He sighs and rubs his forehead. “It’s been hours.”

“I may not know, Jaxton, personally, but I know him professionally. He’s a wonderful and talented medic. My brothers looked up to him. Eddie will make it.” I encourage.

“I hope so.” Finn says.

The sound of a breath being blown out has us all turn our heads just as Jax walks in pulling off his blue surgeons cap.

We all stand with anticipation.

He looks at us all. “Eddie’s fine.”

We all blow out collective sighs of relief.

He walks in and sits with us. “I had to remove some damaged tissue and fragments, but it looks like he’ll make a full recovery, though we won’t know if there’s any permanent damage until he wakes up.”

“Thank you, Jax.” Finn says low.

Jax leans on his knees. “Don’t thank me. I shot him.” He lowers his head.

“You did the right thing, Jax.” Marcus says as he sits beside his friend.

He rolls his eyes to Marcus. “Did I? There wasn’t any other fucking solution? What if he can’t walk? Or talk? What if it fucked his whole…” He lowers his head and rubs his neck.

“Jax it was either him or Alistair. Even if he comes out of it damaged, it’s better than the alternative.” Finn says.

“What’s the alternative?” I ask.

Jax looks at me. “Lock him in a room and watch him tear himself to fucking pieces.” He growls with disgust, gets up and walks out into the hall.

I turn my wide, unblinking eyes to Finn. “What’s he talking about?”

“It’s a long story…JAX!” Finn chases after him.

“Let’s go see if we can see Eddie.” Noah says as he stands and reaches out a hand to me.

“Sure.” I accept his hand and stand up.

We walk into the hall and Finn is talking with Jax who’s hanging his head.

“Is everything alright?” I ask.

Jax nods. “He should be in recovery. This way.”

We follow him to the recovery side of the hospital and he leads us to a room at the end of the hall. We stop at the observation window beside the solid wood door. Inside, Eddie is sleeping with tubes in his arms, nose and mouth. His head is covered in a white bandage. His skin is pale and pasty. He doesn’t look good at all.

“A shot like that is almost 100 percent fatal. He’s lucky to be alive.” Jax says. “I have to order bloodwork. I’ll be back.”

Finn nods. “At least he’s not suffering like he did last time.”

Noah rubs his nape. “I don’t think I could go through that again.”

“What happened?” I shouldn’t pry, but for my own situation with demons, curiosity is getting the better of me.

Finn wraps his arms around his waist and glances at Noah. Noah hangs his head.

Finn steps up to me. “Before I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone. You also have to promise to not freak out.”

I cinch my brows up. “Of course. I promise. As far as telling anyone, I wouldn’t even know who to tell.”

“I’m sure you’d think of a few people once you hear.” Noah mumbles.

Finn lowers his head then glances at Eddie. “Edward Manning is actually Edward Thomas. He’s not from Topin Valley. He’s not even from Axelridge.”

I look at the man in the bed then back at Finn. “Where’s he from?”

“A town outside of Falcon Ridge called Caitlan.” He says.

Now, I’ve been through the Midwest a bunch of times with my mother and nothing’s registering. “Never heard of it.”

“You wouldn’t. No one would.” He whispers as he glances at Eddie again.

“Why not?”

“It was a small town. 75, I think. It wasn’t even on the map. But the main reason you wouldn’t hear about it is because 25 years ago, the entire town was murdered in a single night. Eddie was the only survivor. He was 10.” Finn locks with my eyes and I see pain rise in them.

My jaw goes slack and my heart breaks. I turn to Eddie as my brows stitch up. “Oh my God. That’s horrible. Who killed them?”

I see Finns reflection in the glass. His turns his eyes to Eddie’s room then he flicks them to mine in the glass. “He did.” He swallows.

Ice cold shivers run over my whole body as my head slowly turns to him and our eyes meet. He looks like he just confessed to murder himself.

“A 10 year old…murdered…75 people…” My breathing speeds up and I feel sick as I try to understand the impossible implication he just said.

“Before you say anything. He didn’t do it on his own.” Finn tilts his head to me and holds a hand up.

I search his eyes. “Alistair.”

Finn presses his lips together and nods.

I suck in a breath. “What happened?”

Finn turns to the glass. “Eddie was born a Gamma. It's not a bad thing, but his family was strict because of it. His dad didn’t want to piss off the Alpha so, he kept his family under his thumb. It's not easy being a Gamma, you get judged a lot more harshly, but it wasn’t until his father hurt himself so bad at work, that he had to retire and the Alpha demoted him to Omega. That’s when things got worse for the family.

Eddie was too young to care, but his father took it really hard. He felt he was being punished in some way so, he found religion. It quickly became a sick obsession that he dished out on his entire family. His mate, Eddie and his two sisters. It seemed everything was a sin. Everything was corrupt and everything was Eddies fault.”

“How was it Eddies fault?” I ask.

“It wasn’t, but his dad needed something to blame for his situation. He wasn’t replaceing his reasons in his new found religion so, he figured the boy must be the problem. He thought Eddie was bringing the family down from the righteous pedestal his father wanted them on so, tried to force the sin out of him, according to Eddie.” Finn says as he stares into the glass.

I’m almost afraid to ask. “How?”

“Beatings mostly. Solitary confinement. Verbal and emotional abuse.” His brows furrow. “He was 5 fucking years old. I would have killed them myself.”

“Them?”

“His mother, too. She allowed it. Followed through with punishments. Encouraged it, even.” Finn takes a breath.

“What kind of mother does that?” I whisper.

“One that didn’t want to be the focus of his fathers violence, mostly. Self preservation.”

“Disgusting.” That sick feeling I have increases as Finn continues.

“Over time, Eddie was so broken, the other kids saw it. Of course, kids being kids, that made him a target.”

“No.”

Finn nods. “Years of beatings at home, then beatings at school, it scars. The torment from the people who are supposed to be your pack, leaves you with all kinds of thoughts in your head. Even if you’re 10. He wasn’t in a good place at all.”

I try not to tear up as I hear the story go on, but with every word, my heart breaks more for Eddie.

He hung his head. “The next part was hard to believe at first, but when I looked into his eyes as he told it, I knew it was true. It was at that point, I decided he needed my help.”

“What is it, Finn?”

He prepares himself. “One day, after a particularly active day of being bullied, he was grabbed by some kids and locked in a locker. Dumb kid shit. We all have that story, I know, but it was what happened after that makes me believe today that we made the right decisions.

Eddie was terrified due to the confinement his parents put him through. He screamed and pounded on the door until the janitor stopped just outside the locker. Eddie begged him to open the door. You know what that mother fucker did?”

“Don’t…” I don’t think my heart could take it.

Finn clenches his jaw. “He left him there with the words ‘You probably deserved it, Omega.’ Then he closed the school. Eddie was locked in a locker in the dark with no way to escape. A 10 year old, terrified little boy wasn’t enough to sway the adults of the town all because he was a fucking Omega.”

“Finn.” My fingers rise to my lips as I try to keep from crying for the little boy in my head being so scared.

“That was the beginning of the end for Eddie. According to him, as he stood crying in the dark, he remembered hearing laughter then weird noises. He remembered calling out for help. He remembered the locker filling with black smoke. He said he felt it move around him. He heard it. It knew his name.”

“He came to him.” I breathe.

Finn nods. “Alistair promised Eddie he wouldn’t hurt anymore. He promised him he would take his pain. He promised to help him. All Eddie had to do was let him in. Eddie was helpless, alone, broken beyond belief. He had no idea what he was agreeing to, he just wanted it to end.” Finn shakes his head as his eyes glass over. Noah raises his head and takes a deep breath then walks away. I see this hurt him just as bad.

“He said yes.” I turn to Eddie again.

“He agreed to let Alistair in with the promise to hurt his dad just as he hurt him, but what he didn’t understand was demons lie. Demons…take things too far. Demons are too fucking strong to stop.” Finn’s voice cracks as he explains the events as he knows them.

“There was so much black in Eddie that Alistair fed on him like he was fucking buffet. He broke Eddie out of the locker then broke him out of the school. Eddie was a scared 10 year old boy with a fucking nuke in his chest and the first place he was dropping it was at home.

First…he tortured his father in some sick fucking ways which I will spare you from. Next, his mother for allowing it.

Let me make this perfectly clear, Alistair did this. He used Eddies pain to kill his parents. Eddie didn’t do this.” He scrubs a hand down his face then rubs his neck.

I lick my top lip as I nod that I understand.

“Eddie, he tried to shut him down after that, but he wasn’t strong enough. He watched as his own hands moved on to killed his sisters. He begged Alistair to stop, but the fucking monster enjoyed it. He tortured and killed his entire family then he killed…” He drops his head.

“Everyone else.” I whisper with shock.