55. Sirena
SIRENA
I practiced with my hatchet all night. Church set up a spot in the basement, and I threw it repeatedly, him guiding me with Shadow. Mirage had left. He said he was scouting and working on more information and needed to speak to the wolves.
I didn’t think he actually talked to them; however, he was full of surprises.
“You did good. I’m proud of you,” Church said, kissing my neck as I threw the hatchet for the last time, exhausted to my bones.
I closed my eyes, relishing in the feeling of his lips on my skin.
“I want to watch you fuck Shadow,” he murmured in my ear. “In her blood. I want to watch him make you come for me. Can you do that, specter? Bathe in her fucking misery for me? Fucking revel in it.”
I kissed him in answer, making him groan softly.
“Let’s go to bed. Tomorrow is a big day for my little killer.” He lifted me into his arms. I thought we’d go to his bedroom, but he walked me straight into Shadows and stripped me naked before removing his clothes and crawling in beside me. Shadow joined us, his clothes piled on the floor next to Church’s.
We didn’t have sex, we just lay together, basking in what would soon be a night we wouldn’t soon forget.
But these demons deserved nothing less than my hatchet. I was doing the world a favor by ridding it of them.
* * *
I stood shrouded in black, wearing my white mask next to my guys, who wore the same outfits. My hatchet was clenched tightly in my hand as we lurked in the shadows.
“Keep watch. Let nothing in. Let nothing out. Kill anything that comes close,” Church said to Ashes, Stitches, and Sin. “Take up your spots. We’ll meet you in the clearing.”
The guys departed, leaving me with Church, Shadow, and Asylum, who flipped and said he had to be a part of this.
I held my hatchet tighter.
“We don’t kill here, specter,” Church said softly. “In the clearing, OK?”
I nodded.
“Let us take her down, then you can have all the fun you want.” Church brushed his lips against mine before moving past me. Shadow grabbed my hand and squeezed it before we crept through the darkness and into the church, where we knew Sister Esther would be doing her nightly prayers.
I wasn’t sure at what point I’d slipped and become this person, but if I had to put a finger on it, it was the moment Jerry decided to hold me down in my bed before he beat me with his leather belt. I think that who I would eventually be was born in those painful moments.
Someday, I’d pay him a visit and teach him what being beaten with a belt felt like.
Right now, it was Sister Esther’s turn.
I followed the guys into the cathedral and paused, watching Church stop at the stoup and dip his fingers into the holy water. He made the cross sign on his forehead and body before striding forward. Asylum and Shadow did the same thing.
I did not.
Today, I was god and had no one left to pray to.
“It’s past curfew,” Sister Esther said, turning from lighting her candles, a frown on her old wrinkled face. “Take those masks off. Get back to your dorms before I call the headmaster to deal with you.”
“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?” Church said softly. “That’s what you do, isn’t it? Call Sully and have him deal with us unruly nut jobs.”
“Mr. Church? Y-Your father would be disappointed to know how you treat the staff?—”
“My father,” Church shouted, “can fuck himself. Just like you can.”
He surged forward and pulled a black bag over her head. She screamed and writhed, trying to fight him off, but Church was too strong. I watched, fascinated, as Church got the bag tied around her head with Asylum’s help before jamming a syringe into her neck. She went limp against him.
“Old bitch,” Church muttered, pushing his messed-up blond hair away from his face with his black leather glove.
“Should have drugged her first,” Asylum chuckled, lifting her over his shoulder.
“I like when they struggle,” Church answered.
“Me too.” Asylum whistled and hauled Sister Esther out the church's back door and to the woods, us following.
We didn’t speak the entire walk.
Asylum dropped her into its center when we reached the clearing and stepped back.
“She’ll be waking any moment,” Church said softly.
He was right. A few minutes later, she stirred, clawing at the bag on her head. Church snatched it off, and she stared up at him.
“What is this? What are you doing?” she demanded.
“Did you have my sister taken?” I asked, moving to stand before her as she swayed on her knees, her graying hair a wild mess, and her habit gone.
My guys created a circle around us, all wordless in their all-black clothes and white masks.
“Who are you?” Sister Esther called out, her voice trembling.
I pulled my mask off and stared her down.
“Miss Lawrence.” She licked her cracked lips. “You’re talking.”
“I’m punishing,” I whispered. “Answer my question.”
She looked wildly around the dark clearing, taking in my guys in their menacing forms. I could easily pick them out, but she couldn’t. However, if she were smart enough, she’d know it was the watchers with me. She’d already gotten Church’s name right.
“It is our job to punish the wicked,” she said. “Your sister is a whore, Miss Lawrence. A sinner. Our job here?—”
She didn’t get to finish her sentence. I cracked her so hard across her face that she fell sideways. A cry from her rang out as she held her face where I’d struck her.
“Did you have my sister taken?” I repeated.
“I-I was following orders. It is our divine right to punish the wicked. To treat them so they are better suited for the world?—”
I kicked her hard in the ribs, sending her to the ground in a crumpled heap, gasping for air.
“Who else helped you?” I kicked her again. “Who?” Another kick.
She wept, clutching herself, her rosary in her hand. She started praying. I ripped the rosary away and wrapped it around her neck, twisting it so tight her eyes bulged and she clung to my hands.
“Who fucking helped you?” I said in a dark, low voice. “Give me a name before I send you to meet the fucking devil.”
“F-Father V-Vance. H-He always h-h-helps me.”
I released the rosary, and she went to all fours, choking in air.
I grabbed my hatchet from Sin, who had been holding it for me, and stood over her.
“I’m going to give you something more than what was ever given to your victims,” I said softly. She stared from the hatchet glimmering in the moonlight to my face, understanding dawning on her.
“Your last rights,” I whispered.
“Y-You’re a monster,” she cried out. “Filth! A w-whore like your sister! You deserve to die just like she will!”
“Tell the devil when you see him to move over,” I whispered, leaning down to speak into her ear. “Because there’s a new monster in town.” I straightened and began reciting Psalm 23. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake…”
Sister Esther scrambled to her feet, trying to escape, but each time she tried to break the circle, my guys pushed her back to the center.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” I stopped in front of her and swung my hatchet. It landed with a solid hit on her neck. The blood spurted over my face and body as I lost it, hacking her into bits until her screams died away into the night, a gentle breeze settling through the clearing, my guys not moving an inch through any of it.
My watchers.
“Amen,” I whispered.