Chapter 13
I knew Amy was close to spilling to her sister, close to blowing up all of this. Even worse, Amelia seemed to know something was up. I saw the way her smiles were fake, saw the way that laughter was forced.
This couldn’t stand. Either her sister would have to be brought into the flock, or she’d need to perish. She wasn’t as bad of a sinner as some of the women I killed, but when I hacked that internet of theirs from the apartment bathroom, I came to know she had a porn addiction. It was bad enough.
Now was the issue of Amy thinking she’d get a phone. No way in hell was I really letting that happen. Not when she was this close to breaking from just one visit with her sister.
I’d been too lax, I realized. The Lord was testing me, testing my resolve, and this needed to be remedied.
Dropping Amy back at home, I waited until nightfall before returning to the Dean residence, wearing black gloves that would mask fingerprints.
And Amelia was understandably confused to see much, especially without her sister.
“Hey Jacob, what are you doing here?” she greets uneasily, stepping aside to let me in.
I walk into the apartment, making sure she shuts the door before I delve further inside, to the living room. My blade is already ready. But I keep my back turned to her; waiting.
“I’m here to make an offer,” I say.
She chuckles nervously. “An offer like what?”
“For your salvation. Join me and Amy in making a new world, following the Lord as we should.”
Amelia stares as I slowly turn, keeping the blade concealed beside me where she can’t see. “What are you talking about?” she demands.
“The way, the truth,” I deadpan. “Or do you feel repelled by such because of your demonic practices?”
“I knew there was something up with you. With her disappearing like that! You took her for some religious bullshit,” she says angrily. “I’m calling the cops on your ass.”
She turns to walk towards where her phone sits on the kitchen counter near a spell jar, but I’m faster.
I stab her in the back, and she cries out.
Look at it this way, with her dead, at least I won’t be wasting money on those cancer treatments. I stab again, and she screams. Blood sprays over my body. I’ve grown used to it by now; hell, I crave it.
But Amy will be disappointed if her sister dies…
I pause, knife in the air, and slowly lower it. Hm. Maybe I could have gone about this better; taken her by force.
But with her bleeding like this, people are bound to notice. Good thing it’s dark. I think I saw an alleyway nearby that we can slip into on the way to the car. Parking wasn’t too terrible this time.
And so, that’s what I do. I carry her limp body with me through the shadows, careful to avoid any pedestrians.
The drive home is filled with pained sobs and moans that make me roll my eyes. Well, if she had just listened to me and not threatened to call the cops, this wouldn’t have happened. If she wasn’t such a liability.
I take her to the barn behind the house, turning off the headlights so Amy doesn’t know I’m here.
Bringing her sister into the barn, I shut and bolt the door behind me.
Now… time to get to work.
I prop her body up against one of the wooden beams, using nearby rope to tie her wrists to another beam above us.
“Why are you doing this?” she moans in pain.
“Because you said no. If you accept my offer to join us, I will undo your binds and take you inside to your sister. But only if you agree to repent.”
I lower myself down to look at her at eye level.
“You’re not going to take away my Amy. Not by a longshot. Calling the cops? I don’t think so,” I tsk.
I stand at my full height and begin pacing circles around her in the hay of the barn. Nighttime shadows blanket the area in darkness, but moonlight filters in through a few windows.
“You can’t just… keep us here like this,” Amelia groans, struggling with the blood seeping from her body. “You won’t get away with this.”
I smile then, a real smile. “I already have. Do you really think people are going to suspect a former priest? Do you really think I keep the same MO every time I kill? That I don’t wear gloves in public spaces?” I flash the black gloves I’m wearing.
“You’re a monster,” she sneers.
“I’m the son of man,” I snap in return, readying my knife again. “And you’re going to join us. Amy would be too upset if I killed you.”
“Fuck you!” Amelia spits.
“Very well,” I croon. “You asked for it.”
I dig my blade into where her lower arm connects to the elbow, eliciting an agonized scream. I slice deeper, and deeper, then grab my signature saw.
The forearm is nearly dangling from her elbow now by just the bone. Blood and tendon threaten to give way, the former splashing and making a puddle at my feet as she sways on the rope connected to the beam above our heads.
“Say you’ll repent, and this will all end.”
“N-n-never,” she quivers, barely able to speak. “I answer to God, n-not you. ”
I take the saw and grab her wrist with the other hand, drawing more screams from her lips as I dig the blade into her bone and flesh.
Bone is a bitch to cut, and I know I’ve said this before, but it’s sooo worth it to feel the raw terror in the air, to hear the pain drawn from her vocal cords like a sweet, sweet symphony.
“I am God in the flesh,” I sneer. “Repent, sinner.”
When the forearm comes off, I leave her dangling from the beam by the rope, her feet lax on the ground and barely able to hold her weight any longer.
I toss the forearm in the hay to my right, ready to work on her leg next. I have a small fireplace in here, where a stoker sits within the flames, and I grab it to cauterize the wound. She shrieks when the burning metal makes contact with her flesh, and I can’t help the smile that comes to my lips—it’s a burn she’ll feel worse in Hell if she doesn’t join us.
Finally, she passes out from the pain, and I roll my eyes. So weak , so pathetic .
I toss the stoker back into the flames, sending a flurry of some of my chickens as they flutter away in droves to one of the stalls. They squawk along the way, and I sigh.
I’ll return tomorrow to see if her little temper tantrum is over, whether she’s ready to see the light. Changing into a set of clothes I kept here for precisely an event such as this after hosing down with the garden hose, I return to the main house.
Amy is waiting for me in her bedroom, and I can’t help but wonder if she heard the screams from the barn. I did work to soundproof that thing when I built it, so it should be fine, but you can never be too careful.
“I think tonight I’d like you to sleep with me in my room,” I tell her. “I think we’re ready for that.”
The truth is, I want her close. I have a snake wanting to take her away from me, and I’m sure it’s the Devil working in the flesh of those around us. But I’ve worked to nip—or saw—her sister’s reservations in the bud.
The problem is that until she’s truly gone, I don’t think this issue will be either.
Would Amy really have to know if I killed her sister? How would she really find out unless I told her? She’s not allowed to leave the house unless I allow it, and I can always just keep her locked up. Then again, she’d likely have questions.
“That’s… fine,” Amy says to my request, though she sounds nervous. We’ve never slept in one bed before, and I think tonight is the perfect night to start.
Guiding her to my room, I smile slightly at her little ‘collection’ I brought from her apartment with her sister.
I love her fascination with death and decay, with preservation and new life. It’s like repurposing something that otherwise would have rotten away and making it new; giving it a second chance.
It’s like what I’ve done with her. She was once a terrible sinner on the road to Hell, and I’ve given her new life following the Lord.
When we both slip into bed, I’m surprised at how nice it feels having someone else present here with me. My dreams are usually plagued by nightmares and visions, part of the reason why I believe what I believe, but perhaps the comforting touch of another can help stave off the darkness.
Yet as we lay here together, as the shadows beckon from all corners of the room, sleep takes me, and it is anything but pleasant.
Another night of dwelling in the dark.
But I’m used to it by now.