When the smoke finally cleared, there were a lot of dead, but all the dead were the enemy. There were several of our men and the Crypt Keepers injured, and the one guy critically injured was one of the Crypt Keepers.
It was Eric, the guy I punched in the bar. He had survived being shot several times and was rushed to the hospital.
Fuck, I felt more than bad now for what I had done and wondered how Kara would take this. I knew the two of them had history, and it was only my jealousy that had caused me to get a hot head and treat him the way I did. The Saints owed him a lot right now. He had risked his neck to help Kara and us in turn, and now he had literally almost died for us. And with all his wounds, he just might.
I helped the Crypt Keeper Prez see to the injured and then we inspected the dead. They wore the patches of the Shadow Order, so it confirmed they had finally joined the fight as I suspected. I knew this wasn’t the whole club— there were maybe only a dozen dead. “Let’s gather the bodies, pile them up, and set them on fire. We’ll have a bonfire tonight to celebrate this worthy alliance. I was wrong about you Midnight Saints. When you give your word, you keep it, and I appreciate what you did here. This could have gone a whole different way without your help.”
“Glad to be of service,” I said, shaking his outstretched hand. “I’m sorry about Eric. I hope he survives.”
“Thanks. I think he’ll be fine, we got him help fast enough. Again, thanks to you and the Midnight Saints.”
I called Kara and filled her in.
“We have some wounded, but no fatalities. We did kill twelve Shadow Order. Come down to the park, we’re having a bonfire to celebrate our victory. Oh, but first, you should know Eric was rushed to the hospital. He was shot several times. Crypt Prez thinks he’ll make it, but I thought you would want to know.”
“Thanks. I’ll go check on him tomorrow. I’ll catch a ride and we’ll meet you at the park.”
“Well, I think we showed our loyalty tonight. If shit goes down, we know now the Crypt Keepers will have our backs just as we had theirs. Kara, I’m sorry he got hurt. Really, I am. Tell him I said I hope he has a speedy recovery.”
“I will.”
The bodies were piled up, their leathers and helmets removed, then we poured gallons of gasoline over them and lit them up. We drank beer and celebrated as the remains burned. The bikes would be stripped of parts and those would be divided up between members of the clubs.
We were still at the park when the sun came up. The fire died out by then, and we gathered the ashes and bone fragments and filled a couple trash bags. Those went into the dumpster behind the bar. Then we all got some much-needed sleep.
I had another wet dream about Kara, so it was finally time to admit to myself I was catching feelings for her. I just wasn’t ready to admit that to anyone else, especially not her. Especially not when she could have feelings for someone else, someone who was getting sympathy for being in the hospital right now most likely.
I hated the fucking thought, but I had no right to keep her from him. I had been an ass.
“So Maxum now knows the Crypt Keepers have an alliance with us, and apparently he’s not all that thrilled by it. Bold move to send the Shadow Order after them,” I said at breakfast, a much better one than I was used to. Seth had stayed with me here while Austin had gone back to the clubhouse to hold things down there. With Kara visiting the hospital and me here, I didn’t want the clubhouse and the rest of the members unprotected.
“So, how are we retaliating?” Seth asked.
“We’re not. We’re lying low, and we’re going to see what his next move is. He just lost a dozen men, let him lick his wounds for a while.”
“A dozen out of a thousand isn’t that many. He can bounce back pretty quickly from that.”
“Yeah, he could, and we’ll be watching for when he does. If he sends another dozen after us, well, we’ll just add those to a bonfire pyre like we did the last group. I’m done letting these fuckers run away. From now on, they attack, they die. This is officially war. That’s what last night was, a declaration of war, and well, I’ve accepted it. We’re at war, boys. That was just the first official battle. Kara and I couldn’t have been prouder of the way it was handled. This war is going to test us, but if we’re smart and careful, we just may make it out no worse for wears. With that said, I have some new rules. No one, and I mean no one, leaves the clubhouse without, one, a weapon, and two, at least one buddy. The Shadow Order and the Blue Diablos are out there just waiting to pick us off, so we’re not going to give them any chance to do that. I will be informing Austin and Kara of this, and I am sure they will back me up.”
After breakfast, we loaded up and headed out back to our clubhouse, hoping the Crypt Keepers were safe for now.
The atmosphere in the clubhouse hadn't changed much— there was still excitement in the air. Everyone was
