Free Chaos Conquers All by A.A. Askevold

her own demons with no warning and no expectations. She’d planned on saying goodbye to them somehow, but maybe it was better that she put some distance between them. In less than twenty four hours she would be gone and it would be better for them if they hated her for it rather than mourned her loss.
     
    Nikki sat down next to the unconscious blonde and closed her eyes. The uncomfortable semi-conscious drift that she’d had, hadn’t really satisfied her body’s need for sleep. She was going on forty eight hours without any real shuteye. If she was going to go through with this plan of hers she needed to let go of her conscience and slide into that dark place that was lying in wait for her call. She focused on Black, on what his brother and Roach had done to Sheila; on what that piece of shit and Lenny had done to all those women; on what Black had let them do in this house he paid for; on what he threatened to do to her family. That bastard deserved to have his world destroyed, to have the one pure thing in his life tainted. The darkness began to roll through her like a slow thick fog.
     
    “Are you sure you want to be the one to do this?” Tex asked her finally breaking his silence.
    She’d made the statement after Doc had given her instructions on how to keep Daisy under and how to bring her out. Nikki turned her attention to him. As their gazes met something passed between them. Nikki felt it tug at the darkness inside her. It was the shared knowledge that the pair of them would do whatever it took to get the information they needed from Black, despite what it might cost them. That she would not have to walk this dark path alone even if her motivation was different.
     
    To a degree she’d seen that inside Tex. His dark and broody nature leant itself towards death, destruction and chaos and maybe, if it weren't for Trace and her, Tex might've turned out just like Cole. The idea made her mind spin momentarily but now was not the time for those kind of thoughts. She gave him a nod of her head and he turned his attention back to the laptop he was setting up. Nikki set to work untying Daisy’s bindings and fixing the chains around her wrist and ankles. Now they just had to wait for a signal from the others.
     
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    Tex sent a quick message to Trace letting him know that Nikki had appeared. He was still pissed at her and the massive void of silence between them only made things worse. He didn’t trust himself to speak to her about where she’d been. It would only end in a massive confrontation and right now that was the last thing they needed. When he’d finally spoken to her the look in her eyes had called to a part of him buried deep down. She was in that dark place, the place they all went when they had to do bad things. He’d always tried to keep that part of him under wraps around her but things had changed. Things had changed extensively and this new ground they were standing on was fragile. He didn’t do fragile and he was sure it was gonna break apart underneath him with every next step he took.
     
    He heard the ting of metal on metal and turned his attention from the laptop back to Nikki. He watched her as she locked the manacles around Daisy's wrists and ankles with deft fingers. She'd known exactly where to position them, where to find the links in the floor for the ankle cuffs and how much chain she needed to hoist Daisy in to position. Her familiarity with the restraints gave him a glimpse of what she had done with that man.
    "You look like you know what you're doing?" he commented before he could stop himself.
    She shifted her gaze to him and something in her eyes made his blood race.
    "It's not exactly my first rodeo," she replied.
     
    He knew that to be true and while he didn’t want to think about that bastard hurting her, he couldn’t help his mind wandering further down the shadowy halls of his dark side. He wondered what she would've looked like naked, bound