Chapter 20
Cassidy thought she might be losing her mind after killing a man yesterday. She stared at her reflection. She wore a long white dress, simple, plain and utterly terrifying. Her head looked disconnected from her body, as if she truly failed to recognize herself.
David was insisting she was ready to take her vow.
It’s not like he was giving her any choice in the matter, but she didn’t see the point in explaining to him how that negated any value in taking the vow at all.
He was acting more strangely today than in the whole time she’d been here at Longwood Ranch, talking to himself and swatting at imaginary bees around his face.
Her eyes went to the clock. It was early—only six in the morning—and he was pushing her to hurry up. He paced behind her. “We need to complete your commitment ceremony before we leave for Seattle.”
“Why?”
He looked at her like she was the crazy one. “So you can be my bride.”
The last twelve hours were a blur. She’d stood in the shower for what seemed an eternity letting the water carry Thomas’s blood down the drain, wondering all the while how Austin had fared with his wounds from David’s throwing star and if Julianne and the baby would be all right.
She’d all but fallen into bed only to be awakened several hours later by a woman from The Community holding the white dress, claiming to be there for a fitting.
It was still dark outside at the time.
But it was the helicopter that really pushed David over the edge. He shouted to himself in barely intelligible ramblings about doomsday and God’s revenge against the sinners and nonbelievers.
He stopped just as suddenly as he’d begun, only to peer at her strangely. “You’re all that I have now.”
“You’ve been through a lot in the last two days, David. We don’t need to go to Seattle today. You should rest.”
He stormed across the room to her. “Do you think the wrath of a God scorned can wait?” He backhanded her across the face.
She held her aching cheek, still sore from when Lucas hit her the night before to stop her screaming.
“Come now. It’s time for your vow.” When she didn’t stand up immediately he grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to a stand, holding her in front of his body. “You’re going to look so beautiful dangling from the Space Needle.”
Her mouth dropped open. Could he really mean what he’d just said? David was bizarre and he clearly had psychological problems, but she never thought he was quite this mad. She couldn’t even imagine he was sincere. “What are you talking about? Let me go.”
He held on tightly. “A spectacle of biblical proportions. The sacrificial virgin hanging close to death, only to be pulled back to safety by the suffering of sinners.”
The look in his eye could only be described as joyful. Terror unlike any she’d ever known flashed through her body like an electrical pulse. “You’re scaring me.”
“You should know God’s wrath. Then you will be afraid.”
“God is good. He’s loving and kind.”
“That’s what sinners tell themselves.” He let her go abruptly. Her hands were shaking.
He narrowed his eyes, as if searching for some flaw in her face. “Come to the porch. I have the font waiting.”
He really believes he’s talking to God. He’s really going to do this.
Was it possible? The Space Needle had to have tons of security. He couldn’t just take her out there and…
Her train of thought made her physically ill. She couldn’t finish.
She followed him begrudgingly through the house and onto the back porch. A marble birdbath filled with water sat in the center, a golden pitcher inside it.
The font. Like a baptism.
Except this guy’s a certifiable loony who wants to kill me, instead of a priest.
She felt the unfortunate need to giggle at the absurdity of the situation and she bit down hard on her tongue to keep from laughing.
There wasn’t anything funny about this.
In that moment she missed Austin so intensely she wouldn’t have been surprised if he could feel it across time and space. Her mouth pulled down hard at the corners. He was gone and he wasn’t coming back.
Not in time, anyway.
For a moment she allowed herself to feel self-pity, wishing she’d been the one to escape. But even as she had the thought she replayed her decision from last night in her mind and knew she’d make the same one a hundred times over again.
Julianne was safe. She was with Austin and he would protect her. Maybe he’d come back for her before David took her away.
He could be nearby right now, just waiting to make his move. Or had he taken Julianne down the mountain? The helicopter surely must have been from them and she prayed Austin hadn’t been on it, hadn’t left her so completely. She squeezed her eyes shut.
He said he’d come back for you.
David pointed at the deck beside the birdbath. “Kneel.”
She was sobbing openly now. Her knees hit the wood deck hard. Surely it would leave bruises. Everything was experiencing was bound to leave it’s mark on her forever, and she only hoped she would survive.
He put his hand on her head, his fingertips pressing too hard into her scalp, and she tied to pull away from him.
“Hold still!” he said.
Austin. Where are you?
David poured icy water over her head, drenching her clothes and face. David pet her head like a dog and she cried harder.
“Look at me,” he said, his breath foul and directly in front of her. She kept her face turned away. He yanked her hair harder. “Look at me!”
She met his eyes, the look in his like pure evil. “Do you Cassidy Lane vow to become one with The Community? To consider the needs of the group before your own, and to do God’s bidding, no matter how difficult?”
She crossed her fingers behind her back like a child telling a lie and said a silent prayer.
Please forgive me. I don’t know what else to do.