Degenerates: Badlands Next Generation Read online

  Copyright

  DEGENERATES by Natalie Bennett

  © 2019 by Natalie Bennett. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying without written permission of the publisher or author. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in the critical articles or reviews and pages where the publisher or author specifically grant permission.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover Design: COVERS BY COMBS

  Editing by: Pinpoint Editing

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  Upcoming Releases 2019

  Hellions—Badlands Six

  Opaque Melodies-Standalone

  Beauty & Rage-PNR

  Old Money Trilogy

  Blurb

  Reckless. Wild. Legends.

  Adelaide.

  Reckless.

  Debauched.

  Savage princess.

  Zane.

  Wild.

  Depraved.

  Venomous prince.

  One midsummer night that cruel bitch called, fate, decided we needed to meet, setting off a chain of events that would change both of our lives forever.

  Hating him was innate.

  Loving him was unexpected.

  I was the nitro.

  He was the dynamite.

  Together we were catastrophic.

  DEDICATION

  For those with a penchant for unapologetically written, fucked up love stories.

  Reading Order

  Badlands

  Savages

  Deviants

  Outcasts

  Heathens

  Badlands: Next Generation

  Degenerates

  Hellions

  Renegades

  Miscreants

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  If you read up through Savages, expect all that and then some, if you’re new, Degenerates kicks off the next generation of a dark erotic series with an underlying dystopian theme.

  Please know your limitations.

  If you have issues reading about depraved themes and characters with zero morals, this is not the series for you. The relationship between Addy and Zane is NOT one for the fluffy romantics.

  Hope you enjoy!

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Blurb

  DEDICATION

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Playlist

  Family Tree

  PRELUDE

  In Nomine Satanas

  Unus

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Duo

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  TRES

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Hellions

  Hellions

  Translations

  Acknowledgments

  Playlist

  (Spotify)

  Papa Roach—Crooked Teeth

  Bishop Briggs—Welcome To My Darkside

  Jagwar Twin—Long Time Coming

  Coolio—Gangster’s Paradise

  Fall Out Boy—Young And Menace

  Bullet For My Valentine—Venom

  Fivefold—Lost Within

  Billie Eilish—Ocean Eyes

  Juice Wrld—Lean Wit Me

  Aquilo—Silhouette

  In This Moment—Sick Like Me

  Sam Smith—Dancing With A Stranger

  The Weeknd—Wasted Times

  Halsey—Love Is Madness

  The Clicks—Slow Fade

  Breaking Benjamin—Feed The Wolf

  5FDP—When The Seasons Change

  Xande—We’re Bad News

  Meg Myers—Adelaide

  5FDP—Bloody

  Sam Hill—Prey To Jesus

  Breaking Benjamin—Red Cold River

  Sam Smith—Fire On Fire

  Why Don’t We—8 Letters

  June—Body Wars

  Billie Eilish—See Me In A Crown

  Emily Raymond—Hallowed

  Bishop Briggs—River

  BMTH—Crooked Young

  Lacuna Coil—Losing My Religion

  5FDP—Stuck In My Ways

  Bishop Briggs—The Way I do

  Breaking Benjamin—Psycho

  Bad Omens—Hell I Overcame

  Niykee Heaton—Devil

  Eminem/Skylar Grey—Twisted

  Marshmello—Happier

  The Weeknd—Hurt You

  Miley Cyrus—Nothing Breaks Like

  Lil Wayne—Don’t Cry

  Billie Eilish—When The Party’s Over

  Billie Eilish—Bitches Broken Hearts

  Witt Lowry—Wonder If You Wonder

  5FDP—M.I.N.E

  5FDP—I Refuse

  Demi Lovato—Only Forever

  Halsey—Him and I

  Family Tree

  Romero + Cali

  Adelaide

  Lucifuge

  Belladonna

  Grimm + Arlen

  Nyx

  Samael

  Blue+Cobra

  Braxton AKA Butcher

  Cameron

  Lilith

  PRELUDE

  In Nomine Satanas Cum Potentia Inferni

  Badlands

  [Bad-Lands]

  -noun

  1. Often referred to as hell on earth.

  2. A place where humanity has ceased to exist. Cannibals lurk in the shadows. Stronger factions take out the weak.

  It’s a place where the satanic Savages reign supreme, beneath the tyranny of a man revered as the devil himself, a deviant self-made king.

  That same man just so happens to be my father.

  My mother is his queen.

  I don’t mean that in the pet-name sort-of way either, that’s legitimately how she is seen.

  I can’t tell you what the world was like when a government was in place, whole cities weren’t abandoned, and death wasn’t always waiting for you to fuck up so he could harvest your soul.

  Fortunately, I wasn’t born yet because that kind of world sounds like a nightmare.

  What I can tell you is that the Badlands isn’t a place anyone weak hearted would willingly choose to live, and for me, it was home sweet home, my very own wonderland wasteland.

  I’m, Adelaide Deville.

  Savage Princess.

  Satan’s Daughter.

  A tad bit debauched.

  I’m part of the poisoned youth.

  We’re a generation of degenerates.

  We set fire to our insides for fun.

  We cut ourselves open to feel.

  We’re heartless, reckless, and all around fucked up.

  But most importantly, we’re family.

  And I can honestly say t
hat I never had much to complain about. My life was mostly smooth sailing with the occasional bump in the road.

  One fucking night was all it took for that to change.

  Meeting him was a cruel act of fate, something I had never believed in until I quite literally ran across his path.

  His name was, Zane.

  He was wild.

  He was depraved.

  He was a Venomous Prince.

  Hating him was innate.

  Loving him was unexpected.

  I was the nitro.

  He was the dynamite.

  Together we were catastrophic.

  Unus

  fatum

  ducunt volentem fata, nolentem trahunt

  Chapter One

  Unus

  I lived for nights like this.

  The weather was perfect—a much-needed reprieve from the sweltering daytime blaze. There was the peace that came with everything being at a tranquil standstill, and an initiation was minutes away from taking place. This meant new members, and new members meant bigger numbers.

  After growing up in the underbelly of a fucking subway station, I was still rebuilding the broken empire my father left me, and in my empire, every Venom mattered.

  That is, after they proved themselves, of course.

  I was diligent to the point of being over excessive when it came to ensuring that no one faulty got into the family, which is why I absolutely refused to deal with two types of people.

  One: Pussies.

  And two: Disloyal motherfuckers.

  There were a few other immediate disqualifications, but those were of utmost importance. Those were the two that would fuck around and get you killed.

  The Badlands showed no mercy to anyone. It didn’t discriminate against color, faith, or gender. It challenged you to do one thing and one thing only, survive. If you didn’t have the means to do that you died a painful fucking death, often slow if you were lucky it would be fast.

  I had no qualms about snuffing out someone’s life to get what I wanted or ensure my survival.

  Remorse was for people who felt the need to touch base with their conscious. I’d long ago decided I was better off without one.

  That’s where the initiation started to come into play.

  Standing at the edge of the tree-line, I kept watch over Trix, as she worked her magic. Quick as ever, she picked the lock on the front door and entered the shack of a house. Four minutes later she was back on the porch giving a silent thumb up to let us know that we were good to go.

  “You ready, man?” Maliki turned to Ace and asked.

  “Been ready,” he replied, eyes never leaving the house.

  “Alright, then,” I said, pulling my mask down, “Let’s get this show started.”

  The three of us stepped from the shelter of the trees, leaving Tobias to follow behind with the duffel bag.

  Trix patiently waited for us to approach before giving a quick rundown of where everyone was.

  “Just like I predicted, the girl’s room is on the left, parents’ are on the right. They’re all out cold.”

  I peered into the house through the open door, straight down a small, dark hall, and nodded. I’d never doubted her layout theory. Trix had been watching this place for days, and she was rarely wrong when it came to scoping out a target. She knew how crucial the details were to my method of madness.

  It always started with the plotting. We never did anything without a solid plan.

  A plan ensured our asses’ were covered from all angles, and we knew what we were walking into. One could never be too careful.

  Entering the house, I looked around to get a feel of the people that lived here. Behind me, Tobias gently shut the door and locked it.

  “Place looks a lot better on the inside,” I said.

  “Eh, still looks like shit to me,” Maliki responded, keeping his voice low.

  “Everything looks like shit to you, Malik.”

  “Not you, Trix.”

  She rolled her eyes at him and walked deeper into the living room.

  I was fully convinced that if she liked dick, these two would have gotten together long ago.

  I ignored their banter, going straight for the room on the left.

  “Get the rope ready,” I directed Tobias. “You two get mom and dad,” at Maliki and Ace.

  I took the three steps down the hallway and paused outside a door with a frilly pink K on it, listening for any sign of movement on the other side.

  Not hearing anything, I grasped the globe-shaped knob, turning it slowly and pushing it open. I’d expected at least a squeak from the wood, but there was nothing.

  The bedroom smelled like lavender, more than likely due to the candle burning on the nightstand.

  If that didn’t indicate this was a chick’s space, the lace curtains with blue bows, did.

  I shut the door behind me and then went right to the bedside to get a better look at the sleeping girl. Her chest rose and fell in a steady, relaxed rhythm; a mass of brown curls cushioned beneath her head.

  It never ceased to amaze me, all the things someone could sleep through. Or maybe I was just a byproduct of the environment I was raised in. I sure as fuck wouldn’t remain sleeping if someone entered my room in the middle of the night. The slightest sounds woke me up.

  A scream carried from across the hall, and this chick still didn’t budge. She was completely oblivious to the monster’s lurking inside her home.

  I reached down and ran my index finger over her freckled cheek. She was cute in a ragdoll sort-of way.

  Something you played with before popping the head off, shredding, and then ultimately discarding because at the end of the day it just wasn’t all that interesting.

  Her mother’s pleas for mercy as she was dragged from her bed were what finally had brown eyes opening wide. Confusion shadowed her features as she stared up at me, undoubtedly trying to figure out who the man in the mask was standing above her.

  I cocked my head to the side and remained silent, pulse-quickening in anticipation as terror washed her previous expression away. She prepared to scream, sucking in a sharp breath through plump, parted lips.

  “Nah-uh,” I chided, wrapping a hand around her freckled throat. A faint squeak still managed to slip through before I could get a good grip.

  Keeping hold of her with one hand, I used the other to lower my jacket collar, and then to lift my mask, doing so in a deliberately unhurried motion.

  Brown hues wildly searched my face, zeroing in on the Venom brand inked on the side of my neck. Her sclera’s’ went so wide they looked as if they’d bulge right out of their fucking sockets.

  This—this is exactly why I wore the mask in the first place. It had nothing to do with wanting to be disguised and everything to do with gluttonous pride.

  The fear now sweating from her pores was a testament, a sign that the empire I rebuilt was starting to thrive again.

  It was proof that we were no longer the faction being laughed at or considered less than shit on the bottom of a boot because of my father’s blight.

  “Relax,” I soothed, slightly lessening my grip. “No need to start screaming, I’m not here to hurt you.”

  I felt her swallow beneath my palm. Her terrified, uncertain eyes studied my face for a semblance of truth behind my words. She wouldn’t find any.

  Something clattered to the floor in the living room, ending our little staring contest and causing her to jump.

  “What’s your name?” I asked though I could give two fucks what she was called. I simply wanted to distract her from what was being done to her parents—just for a few seconds longer.

  Plus, after doing shit like this for so long you learned a thing or two about knowing something as simple as that.

  Names had power behind them. A person’s name was a connection to their identity and individuality.

  It was the one way to easily get a stranger’s attention and make a random situation seem a tad more persona
ble.

  “Ja…Jamie,” she whispered through trembling lips.

  “Okay, Jamie. I’m going to let you go now, and you’re gonna be a good girl and walk with me to the living room, alright?”

  She nodded her head, two quick jerks of submission. Dropping my hand, I stepped back, so she had enough room to climb from the bed. Not taking her eyes off me, she lifted the blanket from her lower half, exposing a thick pair of creamy thighs.

  Her hands moved at light speed to adjust the blue nightgown that had risen in her sleep, but it still wasn’t fast enough to hide her lack of underwear.

  I pretended not to have seen, keeping my face impassive as she slowly stood up.

  “Wh…” she stopped and took a breath, straightening her spine so that she stood at full height. “What do you want?”

  Clearing my throat, I flattened the smile trying to creep across my face. Her sudden false bravado was almost enough to make me wanna toy with her for a bit longer, but this wasn’t my night.

  “Jamie I already told you, I want you to walk to the living room.”

  She blinked at my use of her name.

  “I promise I won’t hurt you, just come with me,” I assured, using my most convincing tone that had yet to fail.

  This time proved no different.

  Jamie swallowed and nodded again, now inching her way towards her bedroom door. I allowed her to open it and step out into the hall before making any move to follow.

  From the sound that left her mouth, I knew she was going to run towards her parents, which is exactly what Trix was waiting for.

  “Mom!” she screeched, taking off just as I stepped out behind her.

  She never once stopped to consider where the people I’d arrived with were. So, so stupid. At the end of the hall, Trix’ arm shot out and caught her right across the throat. A violent cough erupted from her chest, followed by a yelp as her body hit the hardwood floor.

  “Down, girl,” Trix ordered, kicking her in the sternum when she tried to get back up.

  Seeing everything, her mother sobbed around the wad of socks that had been shoved in her mouth.

  With an exaggerated sigh, I pulled my mask back down and walked the short distance down the hall. “I could have sworn I told you to walk. Look at the situation you’ve found yourself in.”