Chapter 32 ABBEY #2
She’s terrified, that’s for sure. There are dozens upon dozens of leather clad bearded men, none of whom look savoury. There are guns, knives, cigarettes and tattoos. All the things the church preaches is the work of the devil.
If that’s the case then I’m a devil worshipper for sure, but I know better than to listen to that rot.
These men are dangerous, there’s no doubt about that. But there’s honour amongst them.
Does exposure to this count as rehabilitation for my sister? Probably not.
Moving to me, Ringo hands me the papers, a frown furrowing his brow.
“Take a look at some of the names on that list. You might recognise some.”
I’m assuming it’s my parents’ names, so I nod and take them before he turns and moves out to stand in front of everyone, stepping into his role as President.
“There have been three traitors in our club, working behind our backs, and doing the very thing we fight against,” he starts, and my eyes drop to the papers.
I immediately find Delany. Priscilla and Colin. I’m not surprised, but it still stings. As well as Karl Stone with Elizabeth’s name in brackets with a question mark.
I then go through the entire list, stiffening as I see more names I recognise.
Some are high-level politicians, and my mind flicks back to when Smitty told me he knew the state was going into another lockdown. He really did have connections in high places, and I bet they are the same ones that are on this list.
I spot a couple of celebrities amongst the hundreds of names, but it’s the others I recognise that has my veins turning to ice.
Hill, Terence & Viktoria.
Not a surprise since they were the previous owners of this land who ran a sex club from their home. The same sex club Rhys and Shaun got tangled up in, but it’s the names underneath that gets me.
Bates. Brian and Julie.
I shake my head, frowning. The surname Bates is familiar to me since it’s the maiden name my mum used… but it isn’t her real maiden name. She just made it up, because it’s really Banes.
It’s not just the surname that has me. It’s the names, Brian and Julie. I know those names. I recognise them from the news reports after everything came out about Rhys and the sex club and… shit. Brian Bates was Rhys George’s biological dad… surely it’s just a coincidence.
Glancing up, I see Ringo still talking as he paces, anger contorting his features as he points to Tups, but I can’t hear anything he’s saying.
All I can hear is the blood rushing past my ears.
When I look at my mum, I find that she’s been gagged, and I frown… When did that happen?
I can’t even make sense of things right now, because this list… I have to keep reading.
Ryland. Christopher. (Fox Pines Catholic College)
My eyes widen. Ex Principal Ryland? Holy shit!
I don’t know why I’m so surprised after what he allowed to happen to Lexi, but now it makes total sense. He was a predator.
All of these people are predators.
When my eyes roam down further, tears instantly burn the backs of my eyes when I see the names at the bottom.
West. Maxwell. (Ruth: out-of-pocket / turnout / drug controlled)
West. Mike. (ex. Con. Category 1 risk)
No.
Shit… Lexi’s dad and her half-brother. They were evil men, but knowing my grandfather was a part of who they became makes me feel sick to my stomach.
“What does this mean?” I whisper to Jols, pointing to the words next to Ruth’s name, and Jols leans closer to read it.
“Oh, ummm… Out-of-pocket means disobedient or not accepting of the rules,” she explains quietly next to my ear.
“Turnout means forced into prostitution, and drug controlled means pretty much what it says. She was controlled with drugs. Probably had her so out of it she couldn’t fight, and maybe didn’t even know what was happening. ”
My breath hitches, and I feel like throwing up.
Lexi… her mum… she’d told me a bit about stuff that came out, but not that. Does she even know?
“I’ll take them, Abs. You don’t need to worry about that list right now.” Jols eases the papers from my grip, and I nod, fighting back tears as I try to refocus, the sounds of thumping fists over chests gaining my attention.
“The club has voted,” Ringo calls. “I hereby strip Spud and Tups of their membership, and punishment will take place in the dungeon at sundown.”
I don’t know what that means, but Tups starts begging as he gets dragged off in the direction of the dungeon, while Spud remains quiet like he’s already accepted his fate.
I’m not entirely sure what just happened, but now that all eyes fall on my grandfather, I focus on my husband, trying to get all thoughts of Lexi’s mum out of my head for now.
I have my own mother to deal with. And grandfather. And sister.
“You really are a bunch of barbarians,” Banes mutters, and the Sadist standing behind him whips his gun across the side of his head, nearly making him tumble sideways.
My mother cries out to her father, and I realise her gag has been removed, but Ringo speaks again, stealing my attention.
“See that wall over there?” He points to the memorial wall over by the tree. “You are responsible for every man that died.”
Banes scoffs, using the back of his wrist to wipe off the blood trickling from above his ear.
“Their deaths were an obvious sacrifice to make room for pure vessels.”
“You’re so delusional!” I blurt, stepping forward, my gaze flicking to my mother, who curls her lip at me, and then to my sister, who is still crying, even though her glare is cutting.
When I glance back at my grandfather, he is wearing a smirk.
“I am not delusional, Abigail. I have faith that all will work in the favour of Symme. Your daughter will be mine, and pure life will flourish.”
“She’ll never be yours!” I scream, and his smirk gets wider as he stares up at me, before his lids flutter closed, and he starts chanting.
“In fire we trust. In blood we bind. In silence, we serve. In wombs, we rise. Let the vessel yield. Let the line endure. Let Symme look down and find us worthy.”
“Shut up!” I yell, recognising the chant I never understood until now. “She’s not yours!”
“She is the new vessel,” he says with more confidence than he should have, and a chill ripples up my spine.
Is Bobbi safe right now? She has to be. Devon has her hidden away.
“I thought I was the vessel,” I snap, needing him to stop talking about my daughter that way. “Isn’t that what you wanted me for?”
“I did once, yes.” He nods, still so goddamn poised even kneeling in the dirt with a gun to his head. “You’re too tainted now. You’re only good as a sacrifice to bless the new yield.”
“Yield?” I ask, having no clue about the garbage he’s spewing.
“Life, Abigail. Life inside the vessel.”
“You’re deluded!” I snarl, spinning away to try to rein in my building temper, and he starts chanting again, and this time my mum and sister join in.
“Who brought this vessel?” Banes calls, and in unison, my mother and sister call.
“The line.”
“Who takes this vessel?” he calls again, and Maggie and my mother follow.
“The flame.”
“Who protects the seed?”
“The blood,” they chant.
“Who owns the child?” he calls, and my traitorous family chants.
“Symme.”
“Shut the hell up!” I scream, charging towards him, ready to swing a punch, but then he holds his hands out to me, like I’m going to run into his waiting arms.
“From sin she bore, in pain she yields,” he calls. “The heir to rise, the fire to seal. Not hers, nor his, this child is the flame. Of Symme it grows. Of Symme it came.”
“Shut the fuck up!” I yell, wanting to punch him but terrified of getting any closer. “Don’t preach your cult shit here!”
“Symme, hear me!” He looks up to the greying clouds hovering low in the sky, blinking as the first drops of rain start to fall.
“Flame of the First Blood, do not let this flesh betray its purpose. I am your breath. Your chosen. Your prophet without equal.” He holds his hands up to the sky, like he is the one making it rain.
“Death is not mine. Death is for the impure, the unshaped.”
Shaking my head at his brand of crazy, I stumble backwards, running into Ringo’s firm chest, his hands coming up to rest on my shoulders.
“Want me to shoot him now?” he asks, but I shake my head, holding my hand out instead, knowing he’ll know what I want.
“Rise in me!” Banes calls. “Stitch bone to bone. Bind my marrow to the flame. Let my blood command the body. Let my will reject the grave.”
The heavy weight of a gun gets placed in my palm, and I wrap my hands around it, hearing my mum screaming for me to stop.
“This womb of the world is mine to rule!” Banes calls, eyes open as he stares up at the sky, blinking each time a drop of rain hits his face.
“My lifeline will not rot. My seed will not fail. I am Symme’s eternal tongue.
I speak, and the world kneels! I bleed, and the world obeys!
If I die, the world will burn for daring to outlive me! ”
I already knew he was delusional, but this God complex is truly disturbing. He actually believes he is a higher being.
I step closer, Ringo’s hand falling away from my shoulder, and Banes’ eyes snap to me.
“No. No. No!” he panics, flinching as his gaze falls to my gun. “Symme, listen to me! Please! I am not finished. My work is not done! This flesh is not permitted to fail me. This heart beats because I command it to!”
Suddenly, my mum starts chanting, and Maggie quickly joins in.
“The line. The blood. The flame. Symme.”
“The line. The blood. The flame. Symme.”
“The line. The blood. The flame. Symme.”
“Do you hear me, flame?!” Banes bellows up to the sky, arms spread out, palms facing the clouds.
“I carved your laws into children’s bones.
I bled your scripture into wombs. I broke my children to build your kingdom.
I am your right hand. I am your chosen mouth. I AM THE BLOOD THAT BINDS THIS WORLD!”
“You are the scum that rots this Earth,” I snap, having enough of his bullshit, lurching forward as the Sadist behind him steps away.
I shove the barrel of the gun under his chin, and his dark eyes meet mine as he continues to pray.
“I will not die! I will not rot! I do not go into the dark like common men!” he hisses when I jam the gun harder, forcing his head back, yet still he prays. “Pull me back, Symme! Stitch my soul tight! Feed on the weak! NOT ME! Don’t you dare take me! Don’t you—”
The squeeze of the trigger feels so right in that moment, the crack like a whip, echoing across the clearing as blood sprays up like a fountain, before showering down on my grandfather’s lifeless body that slumps down onto the gravel.
Hysterical screaming takes a moment to pierce the bubble I’m in, but when I refocus on the here and now, I recognise the grating sounds. My mum and my little sister, Maggie.
Glancing over at my mum, I see her struggling against the hold two Sadists have on her arms, her eyes trained on her father now lying dead.
I feel no remorse for what I just did, nor do I feel the anger of my monster. I just feel right.
That man was toxic. His venom reached so much further than I could have ever imagined. There is no place in this world for people like him. And there’s no place in this world for people like my mum, so I lift the gun again, and aim it directly at her.