Chapter 33 ABBEY
“Who is Brian Bates?!” I scream as I storm forward, my gun raised at my mum, whose face is red in anger, tears wetting her cheeks, sneering at me.
“You wicked bitch!” she cries, not even caring that I press the barrel of my gun to her forehead. “You killed him! You killed our saviour! The world will rot now, all because of you!”
“Mum! Stop!” Maggie screams from the other end of the row of containers, being held back by one of the men, and a Doxy. “Just pray! Symme will protect us!”
I nearly choke on my scoff as I glare over my shoulder at her, but Maggie’s tear-filled eyes are determined as she starts to bloody chant again.
“The line. The blood. The flame. Symme.”
“The line. The blood. The flame. Symme.”
“The line. The blood. The flame. Symme.”
Shit… she’s so far gone. Rewiring her brain is going to take a lot. I don’t know how to do that, but I’ll make sure I can find someone who can. She’s never even had a chance to learn what’s on the other side of this.
Normalcy. Freedom.
Shifting my glare back to my mother, I ask her what I want to know again.
“Who is Brian Bates? He has the same surname you’ve been using as your maiden name. How are you associated with him?”
She scoffs, her glare locking with mine as her lip curls in disgust.
“You mean who was Brian Bates?” she snaps. “Because he’s dead.”
“So you do know him?”
She draws back, and before I know what’s happening, she spits in my face, the warm wet droplets slapping my skin, leaving me in momentary shock.
“He’s none of your concern!” she screams, and my patience snaps.
I grab her by the front of her blouse and drag her to me until we are nose to nose, my gun shifting to her temple as I bare my teeth.
“Who the fuck was he?!”
“He was your uncle!” she screams back in my face. “We used the same fake last name when we were both banished!” she yells, spittle flying from her lips. “That useless man nearly exposed everything when he got caught!”
I launch back from her, air getting trapped in my lungs for a moment, and I fold in half, trying to breathe.
“Angel.” Ringo’s hand is on my back in an instant, his warm gentle touch reminding me that I’m not alone. “Let me do this for you.”
I shake my head, air finally seeping in, and my glassy eyes meet his.
“Rhys is my cousin.” I breathe, a sense of calm washing over me.
What happened to her was horrific. I don’t even want to think about it, but all that aside, her biological father was my uncle, and the quirky girl who stepped up to replace me as Lexi’s best friend when I failed her is actually my cousin.
I would never have known, and I doubt she knows either.
Ringo’s frown is a little amusing, but Jols steps forward with the papers, pointing to the name, which I assume is Brian’s, and I can tell by his wide eyes that his brain starts to catch up.
“You…” I trail off, shaking my head in disgust at my mother as I wrap my head around the damage my bloodline has caused. “Your father… your family… are nothing but toxic cultists,” I tell my mother, and she instantly tries to spit on me again, but it falls short, hanging off her chin.
“When I get free, I will gather the congregation and take over my father’s work so we can rise up and make this world pure.”
A laugh slips from me. “When you get free?” I scoff. “You think you’ll escape this fate?”
“Of course,” she sneers, and Maggie’s chanting cuts off.
“We have the work of Symme to do!” she cries. “Let us go!”
I roll my eyes at my sister before turning my attention to the Sadists holding my mother in place.
“Cut her ties and let her go.”
Their brows shoot up, and gasps fill the air around us.
“Angel?” Ringo asks, and I glance over my shoulder at him.
“She thinks she’ll be set free, so it must be true. She needs to do the work of Symme,” I sarcastically deadpan, and then roll my eyes.
A smirk tugs at the corner of his lip, and he crosses his arms over his chest, nodding to the Sadists to do as I’ve asked.
My mother has the audacity to look smug as they cut through her binds and release her, but the moment she takes a step towards Maggie, I hold up my hand and shake my head.
“Not her. Just you,” I snap, bobbing my head in the direction of the clearing. “Off you go.”
For a moment, my mother looks a little baffled, her eyes darting between me, Maggie and the clearing.
“If you get past the boundary, I’ll let Maggie go too,” I tell her, and those evil eyes narrow as she jabs a finger at me.
“If you don’t, Symme will rain hell down over you and this cesspool!”
I nod. “I expect nothing less.”
She frowns, clearly thrown off by my change in direction, but when I don’t budge, she finally takes a wobbly step forward. And then another. And another.
Each step she takes gets faster, and within seconds, she’s running, glancing over her shoulder every few metres to see if I’m coming after her.
“You just gonna let her go?” Jols asks, but I shake my head, sighing.
“Who wants to go hunting?” I ask loudly, and when I glance around at the Sadists, smirks start appearing on their faces.
“Have at it. Chase her. Scare her. Torment her. Make her piss her pants. Hell, slap her around a little if you like, but don’t kill her.
” I turn back to see her halfway across the clearing as the falling rain starts to get heavier. “That’s my job.”
“Fucking oath!” Vender bellows, and the moment he starts bolting across the clearing, over twenty men follow, war cries bursting from them as they make chase.
I hear my mother scream when she realises they are coming after her, twice as fast as her legs can carry her, and I turn back to face my husband as I blink past the rain.
“I want her to know what it’s like to be so terrified that you actually think your heart is going to stop beating.”
He nods, reaching for me, and I step into his chest, letting him embrace me as we get drenched by the chilly downpour.
“Why are you doing that?” Maggie sobs. “Just let her go.”
“She has to pay for what she’s done, Mags. That’s just how it is,” I mutter, not sparing her a glance.
“I HATE YOU! YOU ARE NOTHING BUT EVIL! A TOOL OF SATAN!”
“You say that like it’s an insult,” I snap, stepping back from Ringo’s chest, and I can tell he’s reluctant to let me leave our little bubble. “I don’t want to be like you and Mum, Maggie, so if that means I worship the devil, then so be it.”
She spews more hate at me, still being held in place, this time with a Doxy on each arm, all of them looking like drowned rats. It’s starting to get icy cold out here, and steam billows from our mouths as we breathe, but this has to happen now, despite the weather.
I turn my attention back to the clearing to see Vender chasing my mother into the treeline, her screams echoing across the clearing to us.
“What do you want to do with Maggie?” Ringo asks quietly, and I peer up at him as he steps back to my side, his eyes trained on the chase despite the rain soaking his clothes.
Even his beard is dripping.
“Let’s keep her alive. See if we can’t find the old version of her in there, somewhere.”
He nods in agreement right as a pained scream floats across the clearing to us.
I should feel bad, right? Bad that my own flesh and blood is being traumatised right now?
Maybe this isn’t right, but it feels right to me.
It feels just.
We wait for a while, and Jols brings Ringo a stool to sit on, which reminds me that he’s injured. I’d kind of forgotten. He hides it so well around his men, but right now, there are only a few here with us, while the rest are tapping into their primal play, just without the addition of sex.
Those who have radios check in every now and then, letting us know what’s happening, but I zone it out. I don’t actually want to know what they do to her. I don’t care. I just want to know that before she died, she was truly terrified.
Forty minutes later we get a radio call that my mum has no fight left in her, so I order them to bring her back, and one by one, the Sadists appear in the treeline, stepping out like they’ve just stepped straight out of Hell.
Shit. Sometimes I really do forget how scary these guys are.
When Vender and JD appear, dragging my mother between them, Maggie starts howling.
Maybe I should send her away for this part, but then again, maybe she needs to see this. Maybe she needs to be reminded of what happens when you pick the wrong side.
The rain has eased to a light sprinkle, but the chill is almost painful now, and I try not to let myself think about how cold I am, otherwise my teeth are likely to start chattering.
When the men get closer, Ringo stands, pretending he’s not in agony, and he comes back to my side.
“Angel, please let me do this part. I don’t want you carrying this weight with you.”
Glancing up at him, I find him already looking down at me, our eyes locking instantly.
“I love you for wanting to protect me, but I need to be the one to do this.”
His eyes dance between mine like he’s trying to read my mind and see if I’m lying.
I’m actually not, which he must see, and his nod comes right before he leans down and presses his lips to my hair.
It’s such an innocent gesture, yet makes me feel cherished, and I’m about ready for this bullshit to be over so we can go inside and get warmed up, and he can cherish me some more.
Everyone needs this over. It’s taken far too many lives. Caused too much damage. It’s time for it to end so we can all move on and start rebuilding.
As the men get near with my mother in tow, I spot scratches over her arms and a few on her cheeks, like the trees and bushes attacked her, but I don’t see any swelling like she’s been beaten.
“Gave her a good scare.” Mex grins at me. “Pants are pissed, just as you requested.”
My gaze darts down to spot the dark wetness staining her khaki pants, trailing down her inner thighs. It almost blends into the rain and mud coating her, but knowing what it is, and why, has me quietly satisfied.