Chapter 13
13
E lodie
By the time the Lykan pulls up to Club Empire, my brain is mush. Every time I forget the sensation in my pussy, the balls move, and I clamp my muscles down, awakening my arousal all over again. My nipples are hard and pointy, chafed by the silk of my dress. I want to grab Jaeger and devour him.
It’s not possible to be this horny and survive.
I keep glancing at Jaeger’s lap, where his pants are tight. I haven’t cum, but neither has he. Not even when he used my mouth. He’s been denying himself alongside me.
It doesn’t make me feel better.
Club Empire isn’t what I’d expected. For one thing, it’s not flashy at all. There’s no sign on the front door announcing the kinky delights inside. It’s in a black building with a formal entrance fit for any sort of business.
I’ve heard rumors about this place, about the platinum membership that costs a hundred thousand dollars a year—or was it a month?—and about the playrooms where the rich and famous go to live out their deepest, darkest fantasies.
And now I’m here. With a member of Fraternitas.
The old me is wondering how in the hell I got here.
The new me is too horny to think straight. I guess that was Jaeger’s plan all along.
The valet comes up to open Jaeger’s door, but Jaeger holds up a hand for him to wait.
Jaeger pulls a set of white masks out of his pocket. Mine is lace to match my dress, and his is plain. He ties the ribbon around my head.
“You ready?” he asks me.
I swallow, staring at the red carpet lining the sidewalk leading into the club. A couple in fine evening wear strolls up and disappears inside.
He takes my hand, and I grip it, hard.
“I’ll be with you every step of the way,” he promises. It should calm my trepidation, but it stokes it instead.
What am I getting myself into?
Jaeger opens his door and tosses his keys to a valet before coming around to pick me up. Before he does, he says, “One more thing.” He stoops to fasten a white ribbon around my throat.
“What…” I go to tug at it, and he catches my hand.
“Do not remove it.”
“What is it? What does it mean?”
His eyes are dark, framed by the white mask. “It means you’re untouchable.”
“What?”
“Everyone can look, but if they try to claim what’s mine…” He traces the ribbon collaring my neck. “They die.”
I suck in a breath. He settles his hand around my throat, squeezing lightly. I feel the imprint of his grip even after he takes his hand away.
I cling to him as he carries me into the club and a cloud of expensive perfume. He sweeps through the foyer, passing the other guests, and heads upstairs, clearly familiar with the place.
I’m grateful he’s carrying me. My ankle is wrapped, and I’m wearing soft silk slippers that match the dress. I could probably walk, but it’s nice to have Jaeger take charge, even though the movement makes the silver balls roll back and forth inside me.
I clamp my legs together. My clit pulses to a silent beat.
Upstairs is a bar, smelling faintly of cigar smoke and cloves. The mahogany booths and velvet curtains remind me of Inferno. Against one wall is a long bar of polished wood, with unlabeled liquor bottles backlit against the mirror. The liquid in the bottles ranges from every shade of whiskey—rich amber to pale gold.
Jaeger sets me on a padded stool next to a high table in the far corner and heads for the bar. I keep still, becoming one with the shadows. The place is full of people in expensive finery, billionaires and socialites here to see and be seen.
Fortunately, no one looks at me. I check everyone’s hands, looking for skull rings, but only find two.
The men wearing them are in a booth, tucked into the shadows. They’re both in black tuxes, blending in with the rest of the party. One of the men is fair-haired, with a long, lean build that speaks of the fit and muscular body underneath.
The other man is shorter but built like a boxer. He’s dark-haired with deep shadows under his eyes. He looks comfortable in his tux, but his hands are tattooed with the jaw and teeth of a skull, and his skull ring is unlike any I’ve ever seen. Diamonds glitter in the skull’s eye sockets and on the skull’s head is a crown.
I’m staring. At members of Fraternitas, no less. I tear my eyes away. Jaeger is still at the bar, leaning in to speak to the bartender.
I sense someone’s eyes on me, and I turn back.
The shorter man has risen out of the booth but pauses to stare at me. His dark gaze narrows on my neck. I shrink back when I realize he’s looking at the ribbon Jaeger placed there. His expression is blank, but panic rises in me. I get the sense that this man’s blank expression is the last thing many have seen before they die.
The second man rises and stands with the dark-haired man. I recognize his pale, narrow face and colorless eyes. It’s St. James. He raises his chin, acknowledging me.
My heart stops beating. My hand goes to my throat in an automatic gesture to protect my vulnerable neck. These men are apex predators, and they’ve clocked me. The urge to rip off the ribbon and throw it away is strong, but I’m in Jaeger’s world now. I can’t be weak.
I lower my hand and clench my fists, and the moment passes. The man with skulls on his hands breaks the stare and heads for the door with St. James following him.
St. James is high up in the ranks of Fraternitas. Everyone I know of follows his orders.
So, who was the man with the crowned skull on his ring? And why was he looking at me like that?
Jaeger appears at my side, holding two glasses filled with red liquid. I relax when his big body blocks my view of the rest of the room.
“Good girl,” he praises me. I realize I’m fingering the ribbon at my neck again and drop my hand. “You’re doing well,” he adds, making me think he saw the whole thing.
“Who were those men?” I ask. I should be smart and keep quiet, but I can’t help it.
“That was St. James. You know him.” Jaeger answers right away. He did see it. He brought me here to be seen. “And the man with him is Damien. The Devil.”
And now I know the man called “the Devil” has a real name, and it’s Damien. Great. Honey will be ecstatic.
Be careful , Daria’s warning comes to me.
“Why did you bring me here?” I ask. I have to know. Ignorance won’t save me anymore.
“Tonight is a very special night. We’re here to watch a ceremony binding one of my brothers to his elita .”
I squeeze my legs together. I’m so desperate to cum I might submit to a ceremony. “Just watch?”
“Just watch.”
I don’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed.
“It’ll be okay, bunny. I’ll be with you the whole time. Here.” He sets a glass to my lips. “It’s juice,” he tells me when I hesitate. “Nothing alcoholic.”
I take a sip, and he’s right. Something sparkling is in it that makes my tongue tingle, and there’s a complexity to the flavor like they added a shrub of some sort.
Jaeger’s drink looks the same.
“You can drink,” I tell him. We’re in a bar, after all.
“I’ll drink what you drink,” he says, and even with my aching core and the nervousness gripping me, his solidarity warms me through and through.
I lean close to him, and the balls shift inside me, making me dizzy. I end up clutching his arm, my forehead pressed to his shoulder.
“What’s wrong?”
I swallow. “The balls… they’re…” I can’t explain how I feel. I gaze at him in a silent plea for mercy.
“My poor bunny. Being so good, suffering for me.” He strokes my face, and I bite back a moan. “Don’t worry. You can cum soon.”
“When?” My cunt is swollen. One touch could get me off.
“When I say so. Not a moment before.” I shut my eyes, and he whispers in my ear. “Do this for me, bunny, and I’ll give you the world.”
When I open my eyes again, the bar is clearing out. People are drifting toward the door.
“Come.” Jaeger tosses back his drink. He offers me the rest of mine and when I refuse, he downs that as well. “The festivities will start soon.”
We head back downstairs, this time by elevator. The doors open into a packed room, several stories high and lit by a massive chandelier overhead.
The elite of New Rome are here, in tuxedos and ball gowns and a few in catsuits of patent leather. Weaving through the crowd are club submissives in black and red corsets, teetering on red-soled stilettos.
Jaeger carries me through the crowd, heading to the far wall where there’s a large gilt chair set on a small platform. Still holding me, Jaeger sinks onto the red velvet cushions. The elevated height puts us head and shoulders above the crowd, and I can see everything.
A few heads turn our way, and I jolt upright in Jaeger’s arms. Most people are wearing plain black or white masks or more elaborate ones glittering with jewels. But not these men.
They’re wearing different sorts of skull masks. Some black, some white, some silver. The effect is chilling.
“Jaeger,” I whisper, more to make contact with him than anything. I stare across the room at a huge guy in an executioner’s hood painted with a skull. His face and hair are covered, but there’s a spiderweb tattoo on his hand.
It’s Kaiser. And he’s glaring at me.
“Don’t be afraid,” Jaeger murmurs. “Smile and wave.” I do, but not being afraid is easier said than done.
In the center of the room are more people in different sorts of skull masks, gathering around another platform. They’re all wearing skull rings.
The masked man closest to us has shucked off his suit jacket, showing off his shirtless torso. He’s in a black vest that leaves his burly arms bare, and his arms are wrapped around a tall, slim woman. It takes me a moment to place her, but then I realize—it’s Odette. I’d recognize her perfect dancer’s posture anywhere. She’s elegant in a dress of midnight blue, which makes her brown skin glow. Her ballerina bun showcases her graceful neck.
The last time I saw Odette, she was wearing a black ribbon around her throat, a dark blue jewel hanging from it. Now, it’s been replaced by a metal collar, either silver or white gold, with what looks like the same blue jewel. The gemstone matches the one in the man’s ring.
It’s just like Honey had told me. I wish she were here so she could explain what I’m seeing.
Now that I’ve noticed Odette, I can pick out more figures besides the men in masks. Some are wearing black ribbons around their neck. Some of the ribbons are white.
One woman is wearing a red ribbon around her throat. She’s to my far right, kneeling near the wall. She has dyed burgundy hair and a black ball gag in her mouth, and her arms are secured behind her in a red leather binder. She’s in a matching red leather bustier that leaves her breasts exposed. Her nipples are pierced and linked with a chain. The masked man beside her is holding a leash that leads to the chain.
My breath catches. Jaeger notices and leans in. “Like what you see?”
I swallow. I should look away, but I’ve just noticed the woman’s eyes. They’re open, but both the iris and the pupil are a uniform black. She must be wearing contact lenses that black out her vision, in addition to the rest of her bondage.
“Bunny?” Jaeger’s waiting for me to admit my interest.
I give him a shake of my head and turn away. But I can’t deny my pussy is throbbing harder.
The room is growing full as more people stream in. Murmurs sound from around the room, but when St. James steps onto the center platform, everyone falls silent.
“Dearly beloved,” he intones and chuckles erupt like it’s a joke. “We’re gathered here for the commitment ceremony of two of our cherished members. The one called Asmodeus, and the one he will claim. Sarah.”
A man in a silver skull mask steps onto the platform. He’s shirtless, with a red dragon inked across his rippling muscles. I can’t make out his ring or any other features besides his long black hair.
“Sarah.” Asmodeus holds out a hand and helps a young blonde woman onto the platform. She’s in a short, white dress. It’s simple and almost see-through, more like a silk slip than a dress.
A lot like the one I’m wearing now.
Once she’s on the platform, Asmodeus points to a spot in front of him. I suck in a breath, my belly quivering. Biting her lip, Sarah goes down to her knees. She gazes up at the masked figure looming over her, her eyes wide with expectation and fear.
Her hand drifts up to touch the ribbon around her neck. It’s black.
“Hands behind your back,” Asmodeus commands, loud enough for everyone to hear. Sarah obeys, and he leans in, saying something more that the rest of the room can’t hear.
“Do you like this, bunny?” Jaeger shifts so he can whisper right in my ear. “Does it make you wet?” He doesn’t wait for my answer, just reaches under my dress, between my legs and checks. I suck in a breath, my stomach tightening. The balls move inside me. I grab his wrist, but I can’t stop him from touching me.
“Jaeger, there are people here.”
“No one is watching us.” He starts stroking me, and my body, orgasm-starved as it is, crows with excitement. I cling to his arm, more to steady myself than to stall him.
His finger finds my clit and circles it. A little more pressure, and I’ll cum.
St. James is announcing more to the room, but my ears are filled with a buzzing sound. Even as my attention is on Jaeger’s finger, I can’t take my eyes off the proceedings.
A club submissive steps onto the platform and goes down on one knee, offering up a pillow with a silver collar on it.
Asmodeus steps behind Sarah and removes the black ribbon. There’s a jewel on it that I didn’t notice before, but I can’t see the color. He slides the jewel off the ribbon and takes up the metal collar.
Jaeger bites the tip of my ear, and I shudder. I’m so close, but he seems to know that. His finger retreats.
“Don’t come. Not yet.”
To take my mind off the intense ache between my legs, I ask, “What’s happening?”
On stage, Asmodeus has threaded the jewel onto the metal collar. St. James orders Sarah to present her neck for collaring. She gathers up her hair.
“He is claiming her as his elita. His chosen one. She will belong to him in every way, and all of Fraternitas will be loyal to her as she is to him.”
And is this what you want us to do? It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask, but I just watch as Asmodeus fixes the collar around Sarah’s neck. Bending, he grips her blonde hair and draws her head back so he can kiss her.
The men in masks pump their fists to the sky. “Fraternitas.” They chant. Jaeger secures me in one arm and joins them, shouting, “Fraternitas. Fraternitas.”
Their shouts die away.
Asmodeus is already helping Sarah down from the stage.
St. James raises his hands for quiet. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Pandemonium.”
The room plunges into darkness. Music blasts from the corners, a deep bass beat that makes the hair on my arms rise. Colored lights crisscross the space, turning it into a dance floor. Figures in the crowd glow with neon threads. The corsets worn by the club employees are outlined in green and pink glow-in-the-dark piping. A few of them are holding floggers that glow red.
One by one, door-shaped arches light up on the walls to the left and right of us. Four stories of rooms with see-through sections reveal the people in each room and the activities they’re engaged in. Bodies twined together, kissing, embracing, fucking.
I shouldn’t watch, but I can’t tear my eyes away.
Jaeger’s hands roam over me. My overheated blood, set to simmer, starts to boil.
“Jaeger…”
“Shhhh, bunny. Give in to me.” His hand covers my breast. I lean back into him, arching into his touch.
At the closest door, a masked figure presses a smaller person against the wall and rams into them from behind. In the next, a figure stands fixed to a St. Andrew’s cross with their limbs splayed, while a second figure holds a whip, and a third fists a large, prominent cock or dildo jutting out between their legs.
Jaeger slips the strap off my shoulders, drawing my dress down so he can bare my chest. I struggle, caught between trying to push him away and pulling him closer. He pins me against him, securing my wrists behind me and turning me sideways across his lap, bending me back against the arm of the chair. The position allows me to see the room while he plays with my bare breasts. He bows his head to take my nipple into his mouth.
Electricity shoots through me, making me gasp. I’m pinned and helpless, watching people writhe on the dance floor in front of us. The room has cleared out somewhat as couples, throuples, and pods go upstairs to private rooms. The rest of the crowd has turned into a mosh pit, with a few couples in a clinch right in front of us. Two men have a lady locked between them, and one of them kisses her while the other unzips her ballgown, stripping her as I watch.
Jaeger sets his teeth at my nipple and bites down. I jerk as if I’ve been shocked.
A young man in a white lace mask like mine runs from another man in a gold mask. The pursued looks back at his pursuer but trips and falls. Two figures in long-beaked plague masks emerge out of the shadows. They grab the young man and hold him so the man in the gold mask can take hold of him and drag him away.
Another throuple, consisting of a tall man in the center, who’s leading two half- naked submissives by their leashes, strolls past me. The submissives are in chastity devices—one in a cock cage and the other in a smooth silver belt—and their hands are bound behind their backs. A tremor goes through me when I realize I know the man in the middle. It’s Atticus. He winks at me and turns to tug his pets to him and accept their worshipful kisses.
The room has turned into an orgy right in front of my eyes. The men in the skull masks have disappeared, or they’ve taken off their disguises. I search the room for them or their collared partners but don’t see them.
I have bigger things to worry about. Jaeger’s kissing my breasts, but his hand between my legs has stilled.
I push at Jaeger’s head, and when he raises it, I cup his cheeks and kiss him. He hums, leaning into the kiss, bowing me back over his arm. His lips slide to the corner of my mouth and drag downward. He sucks on my nipple, and I cry out.
I’m shaking with the need to cum. My inner muscles clench around the weighted balls, and arousal surges through me, making me delirious. I’m so close.
Jaeger raises his head, laser-thin lights crisscrossing his face. “Do you want to cum like this? In front of everyone?”
I shake my head, but my hips are surging upward, seeking his touch. I might not have a choice.
He grips my pussy lips so hard I cry out. It hurts so good. “Beg me, Elodie.”
“Jaeger, please.” I’m sobbing. So overwhelmed by the lights, the pulsing music, everything about this night.
He releases my pussy, and the pain dies away, along with my hopes for an orgasm.
Jaeger stands up with me in his arms but turns and sets me down on the chair. I shiver without his warmth, feeling lost.
He leans in, cupping the back of my neck. “Are you going to be good for me?” His fingers twist in my curls, tugging a little, sparking a stinging sensation along my hairline.
The rest of the room, the booming bass and flashing lights, all fade away. There’s only the two of us.
I lick my lips. “I want to cum.”
“Soon.” He squeezes my knee with his free hand.
“I hate you,” I tell him. He smirks, but I’m seized with the need to tell him the truth. I catch his face between my palms. “I didn’t mean it. Jaeger, I…” I stare into his stormy eyes, unable to say the rest. I crave you. I want more time with you in the penthouse, cuddling on the couch. I want to be the one you whisper secrets to in the dark.
But I’m afraid.
His gaze softens. “I know.” He brushes his lips over mine. “I love you, too.”
He knows.
A sense of peace falls over me. Jaeger isn’t the man I would’ve imagined falling for. I didn’t choose him; he chose me. But every man in my life has left. Maybe a man who won’t let me go is what I need.
“I love you,” I tell him because I can’t go another second without telling him.
He pulls away, looming over me, and a chill falls over me. Something’s about to happen.
“You need to be brave now. And very, very good.” He blankets my eyes with a blindfold, plunging me into darkness.
Panic makes me thrash. “What?—”
He sets a finger to my lips. “Not another word. Or I’ll need to gag you.” He waits for my nod and gathers my hands, binding them together with some sort of soft rope.
Then he fits something over my head. Something covers my ears, muffling the sounds around me but not quite silencing the pulsing music.
I fight another flash of fear. He’s taken away my vision, my ability to use my hands, and now my hearing. I remember the woman in the armbinder with the red ribbon.
I open my mouth and remember what he said about the gag. Still, I squirm when he touches me. He lifts one of the soft covers off my ear long enough to say, “Shh, bunny. Don’t struggle. Save your strength. You will need it.”
Then he replaces the covering, leaving me caught in my own dark world. I can only flex my wrists in the bindings as he picks me up and carries me somewhere. He has something planned. I don’t know where we’re going. I can only guess—upstairs, to the bar? Or into one of those illuminated rooms to put on a show?
I only know I’ll be with him. He’s promised to stay by my side.
I told him I love him, and I mean it. I don’t know when he became the one person in the world I can lean on.
I only hope he doesn’t let me fall.
Jaeger
The bass beat and sounds of dancers fade into the distance as I leave the ballroom and head into the bowels of the building. There’s another secret elevator at the end of a hall. This one doesn’t budge until I give it a voice command and angle my hand for a hidden sensor to scan my ring.
And then we’re descending, far below Club Empire, to a place only Fraternitas knows. Into the Abyss.
Growing up on the streets, you quickly learn of the secret passages under the city. There’s a whole world under New Rome—old pipes, subway systems, and underground rooms. It didn’t take us long to realize we could have free run of the place. When you’re small and insignificant, no one notices when you disappear. It’s a street kid’s greatest weakness—and our greatest strength.
Father Francis taught us world history and how empires rise and fall. Damien and St. James were the first to understand that whoever rules the underworld rules the streets. First, with smuggling routes, then the illegal gambling and fight clubs, and, when Fraternitas had obtained enough wealth and control to make us powerful, the whole city.
Now we rule above ground, but we’ve never forgotten the place that made us. It’s ours to lose, so we must keep it and use it for our most secret meetings and rituals.
And now I’ve brought Elodie here. My brothers need to know what she means to me, and she needs to understand what Fraternitas truly is. The best way to do that is to show her and show them all.
I stride quickly through the dank tunnel, following the lost light. I know the way by heart and reach a section lined with grime-covered subway tiles and turn right. The way grows darker. I’m in the oldest part of the city, long forgotten.
Elodie is shivering in her thin dress, but she doesn’t make a sound. It’s not fair to put her through this, but she has to know what Fraternitas is. I’ve dedicated my life to them. They took my violent impulses and gave them purpose. And now they’ve given me Elodie.
I’m breaking our greatest laws by bringing her here, but St. James is the one who set all this in motion. I’ve never gotten a birthday gift before, and he gave her to me. On the streets, the first lesson you learn is to hold on to what you have. He learned that lesson just like I did. He can’t blame me when I refuse to give her up.
Voices echo in the distance. I’m getting closer to my destination.
Light spills up a set of gray-green steps. I descend into the brilliant blaze, moving slowly until my eyes adjust. We’re on a narrow ledge, a balcony of sorts, overlooking our ritual space. Damien calls our meetings “church,” and it’s both ironic and accurate. This is where we meet, plan, and vow our allegiance to one another. On nights like tonight, it’s where we spill blood.
I sit down on a low ledge that will give us a view of the proceedings, with Elodie in my lap, rigid.
“You must be quiet,” I warn her and lift the blindfold to direct her terrified eyes to the dark sanctuary below us. “The ceremony is about to begin.”
Elodie
I can tell the moment we’re not in Club Empire anymore. The smell gives it away. It’s the smell of dark underground places. Mold and sewer drains. There’s a clammy chill mixed with random blasts of heat and the faraway, screeching and rumbling sounds of a subway.
I huddle against Jaeger’s strong chest, hoping he doesn’t set me down. The farther he walks, the more my fear grows.
Then he carries me down a set of stairs to a warmer space, where the air holds a faint trace of a smokey scent, like incense.
There’s another scent under the smell of smoke and spices. Something fetid with a metallic edge.
The blindfold lifts, and for a moment, my senses are overwhelmed with light. I blink and take in Jaeger’s features. He murmurs a warning to be quiet and something about a ceremony. Panic rushes over my skin, chasing away the chill.
Jaeger brought me to a cavernous space lit by candles. We’re up in the corner, overlooking the rest of the huge rectangular room. It’s like we’re in a booth at a theater, and all the action is happening below us.
I peer over the ledge and bite back a scream. The room is filled with people, and every one of them is wearing a skull mask. Some are in street clothes. Some are wearing black robes. The sinister effect is the same. They fill the room, taking their places in rows and rows of benches. It’s so quiet I can hear a candle guttering in its holder.
No wonder Jaeger told me to be quiet. I don’t think anyone knows that he and I are watching. I don’t think I’m supposed to be here. I can’t see from this vantage point, but I’d bet my hundred thousand dollars that all the figures are wearing rings.
The walls and floor are all black stone, shining like obsidian and reflecting the amber-gold light. There are fireplaces built right into the walls, and a strip of gas flames runs all the way around the room.
At the front of the room is an open space lined with standing candelabra and a stone circle filled with dark water—a small pool.
And I realize what this place reminds me of. The smell of incense, the rows of benches laid out like pews, the ceremonial space at the front of the room: it’s all a depraved imitation of a church. Alcoves line the walls, just like at St. Xavier’s, but instead of figures of the saints, each alcove holds a skull mask, spotlit with eerie amber light.
In the altar area at the front of the room, a group of robed figures gather. I shouldn’t be staring— I shouldn’t be here— but I can’t look away.
Among the group, one stands out. Blonde hair, pale skin. It’s Sarah in her new silver collar. In the darkness, her white dress shines like a beacon, and she’s being led by a silver leash that’s held by the man with dragon tattoos. Asmodeus.
A shorter man steps forward in a black mask stylized into a skull and wearing a crown. He raises his arms and chants something in a language I don’t recognize.
“That’s Damien.” The ghost of Jaeger’s whisper reaches my ears. “And St. James.” He points to a robed figure blending into the shadows behind the pool. “You know Asmodeus. He’s one of the Seven the Devil appointed as his generals.”
Oh gods. I don’t want to know all this. There’s another robed person beside Damien, sitting in a wheelchair. They have a slighter frame, and when they offer up a ceremonial dagger, the sleeves of their robes fall away to show colorful tattoos. Green vines with thorns, weeping roses the color of blood. I recognize the tattoos. I’ve seen them before on the woman who runs Inferno.
“Lucy,” Jaeger confirms my suspicions. I flex my forearms in their bondage, wishing I could run.
Another woman is standing nearby, a hood keeping her face in shadow.
“That’s the Devil’s woman,” Jaeger’s murmur stirs my hair. “His elita. I’d tell you her name, but he’d kill me. He’s extremely protective of her identity.”
The ceremony continues with the Devil and Lucy leading. Asmodeus leads Sarah to the head of the pool. Lucy hands him a goblet, and he orders Sarah to drink, holding the cup to her mouth. She’s shaking, but she drinks and then holds the cup for him to drink.
Then he uses the dagger to slice her palm and his, and they exchange some sort of vows. Another robed figure steps forward to lead them in this, his voice deep and level as he recites the Latin phrases. The words bounce off the walls but are meaningless to me. It’s clear the ceremony is as formal as a marriage, but in this upside-down world, who knows what sort of vows are being spoken?
But I know I’ve heard that voice before. The man speaking is hidden under a deep hood, but I can imagine him in my head: bearded and in a simple cassock, wearing a wooden cross.
Father Francis. Why is the priest here?
A door slams open, echoing in the space. I jump, and Jaeger hugs me tight. “Watch,” he says.
Two men in executioner hoods drag someone forward. Their captive is a man in a suit. He’s gagged and struggling, his hair standing on end as he thrashes in their arms. They muscle him forward and force him to his knees near the pool in front of the priest and the Devil. Both officiants step back, leaving only Sarah and Asmodeus.
Sarah steps in front of the man, who fights harder when he sees her. Asmodeus moves to help hold him down and bend him back over the pool.
My insides turn to lead. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I have the feeling it’s not going to be good.
Lucy rolls her wheelchair forward and hands Sarah a dagger. Silver glints as she turns it over in her hands. She looks so frail in her simple white dress.
But her face is calm when she steps forward, gripping the knife. A tremor runs through me, and Jaeger holds me fast.
She leans in and says something to the man. He shakes his head but can’t move much more than that. Asmodeus rips the man’s shirt open, baring an expanse of pale flesh, and nods to Sarah.
With both hands, she raises the knife high and slams it into the victim’s chest.