Four #2
“You feel sorry for them?” I’m appalled she could. After everything they’ve done and were going to do to her. It’s hard to believe anyone could have remorse for them. Crouching next to Cassio, I pull the zip ties from my pocket and bind his wrists and ankles together.
“It’s human life,” she finally replies.
Picking the priest up after taping his mouth and eyes shut, I frown at where she stands.
“Not all human life is salvageable. Some people need to die.” I’ve seen it over and over.
There is true evil in the world, and I have no doubt as to my position within it.
Eliminating people whose sole purpose is to cause as much agony as they can before getting caught gives me pleasure.
“Yes, but shouldn’t that be up to God if they live or die? You do not speak for the universe on whether they’re good or bad. You can’t be judge, jury, and executioner. It’s not your place.”
“Not my place.” Shaking my head, I walk away. At this point, she can follow me, or she can stay. I don’t fucking care. The only thing I do care about is killing this mockery of a priest and getting back to Isabel.
“Wait!” I hear her call as I’m halfway up the stairs, leading out back to where I have a car waiting. “Where are you going? What am I supposed to do?”
Stopping, I turn to stare at her motionless at the bottom of the stairs, candlelight making her appear almost ethereal. “Whatever you want, Daia. You can do anything.”
“I’ve devoted my life to God. To serving Him.” She sounds confused.
“Then do that. Or do something else. Runaway. Go home. Find your family.” She looks back at the death lying behind her. “Where are you going?” She takes one step, then another, then pauses.
“To get Isabel and go home.”
Another step. “What about Father Cassio?”
“He’s coming with me.” Two more steps.
“To die.” It’s not a question, and I don’t need to confirm it for her. “Could I come with you?”
This girl is fucking exasperating. “That was the plan until you started protesting.” She talks too fucking much.
Turning back, I head out the door. I hear her following me, so I slow my gait enough for her to catch up.
“No more questions. Listen and do as I say.” I see her nod her head from the corner of my eye as we enter the trees behind the graveyard at the rear of the church.
Making sure the coast is clear, I unlock the car and tell her to get in, while I drop Cassio’s body in the trunk.
Slamming it shut, I settle myself in the driver’s seat and casually pull away.
When my phone rings, I hit the bluetooth button, and I’m surprised at what the voice on the other end says.
“We have the girl.”
“And?” I can’t let them know she means anything to me.
There’s a pause. “If you want her back, you must leave Rome. Leave the church alone for good.”
Glancing at the detonator in the cup holder, I ask, “And if I don’t?” I’m calling their bluff.
“She…dies.” That pause in his answer tells me all I need to know.
“Too late.” I laugh as I press the button that sets off the explosives I planted in the chamber where they do their cleansings.
I know there are no civilians in there because I cleared it out first then locked all the exits.
The street isn’t busy enough to worry that anyone will be hurt by the controlled explosion either. “The church is crumbling as we speak.”
The sounds of the mostly brick structure collapsing echo through the phone line, which tells me they’re close by. “She’s dead,” he hisses.
“I still have Father Cassio…”
They won’t do anything to her while I have him.
“Fine. A trade. Him for her.”
“I was paid a lot of money to kill him.” I need to stall them so I can find Isabel first. I won’t put her in danger, but I won’t hand Cassio over either. It appears everyone is going to die today.
“She’s worth much more. A virgin. Innocent to the ways of a man’s touch. She can be molded into the perfect submissive.”
My bark of laughter bursts out. “What makes you think I haven’t already?” They don’t need to know just how much I enjoyed losing myself in Isabel’s body. The perfect way she moaned for me, came apart in my arms like stars exploding. How her pleasure fueled my own.
“What do you want?” another voice says, and he sounds resigned to the fact I have the upper hand, except that only ramps up my suspicions.
As I catch police cars whizz past, heading towards the church, I hear them loud on the phone as we pass a small house, and I slow down before turning the corner.
“That’s easy. Your heads on a silver platter.” Hanging up, I grab my bag from the backseat and order the sister, “Do not leave this car. Do not open the doors. Do not engage with anyone outside this vehicle. Do you understand?” Daia’s head nods up and down. “I need to hear the words.”
“Stay here; don’t get out. Wait for you.”
“I’ll be back in ten minutes.”
“With Isabel?” Fear creases her eyes and thins her lips.
“With Isabel.”
Getting out, I lock the doors and sling the bag over my shoulder. I don’t care how many of them there are, they’re all dying today. Not a single man is going to be left alive when I’m through with them.
Isabel
I can hear raised voices even through my chattering teeth.
Frozen to the bone, my captors’ anger penetrates through the walls of the frigid room.
Never have I felt this kind of fear. The unpredictability of their actions is most terrifying.
Occasionally, one of them comes into the room and whispers vile things in my ear, or they’ll touch me or hit me.
The longer that passes between interruptions, the worse I fear it will be when they decide what they’re going to do with me.
It’s a mind game. One I don’t wish to play.
I don’t believe they’re working alone either. I think it’s more than just them. I know Brothers Ephrem and Judas will be called to action. They always are, and I saw them when Pace hastened me away from the church. They’re coming; I know they are. It’s only a matter of time.
Stomping erupts above me, and for a minute, I almost believe it’s Pace here to rescue me until I hear it. Hear him.
The voice of pure evil.
Brother Judas.
He’s been watching me for years, touching me in ways I know he shouldn’t since I was a small child.
He’s the devil in disguise, with a charming smile that would fool anyone not looking beneath the surface.
He even makes Sister Hildegard nervous, which I’ve never seen from her before with anyone else.
Breathing deeply as I hear his heavy steps coming down the stairs, I brace as the door opens and the lights turn on. The bag over my head softens their brightness. “Did I hear you allowed a man between your legs, Isabel?” His question sends chills down my spine.
I don’t respond. Whatever I have to say will only make it worse.
Concentrating on my breathing, I have the urge to pray, but everything I thought I knew is being called into question, because certainly if there were a God, he wouldn’t allow what is happening to me.
He’d intervene, and whatever Judas has planned wouldn’t be accepted.
As he tears the covering off my head, I blink rapidly to try and clear my vision and focus on him rather than the stars dancing in front of me.
The light is blinding, and when I see Ephrem enter the room and pick up the hose the other two sprayed me with earlier, I begin to sweat.
It wasn’t just cold, it was downright painful after a few minutes.
Like I was being stabbed with tiny icicles.
“Well, did you?” Judas grips my chin assertively, forcing me to stare him in the eye. As much as I don’t want to answer him, I know I must. I shake my head again, and I’m met with a backhand so sharp, I hit the ground still tied to the chair. My head bounces off the floor, and I feel dizzy.
When Judas reaches down, grasping a chunk of my hair, using it as an anchor to drag me upright again, my stomach revolts, and I fight not to vomit all over him. Yanking my head back with that same grip from behind, he presses his cheek to mine and asks again, “Did he take you?”
“No,” I lie.
His free hand moves around to my chest, still naked from when the other men stripped me down, and fondles one breast with a bruising hold, squeezing until I whimper from the pain and attempt to pull away.
“You’re lying to me, little miss. Were you a whore for him?
Laid down naked for him; spread your legs like a greedy little slut? ”
“No,” I cry when he twists my nipple until I feel like he’s going to tear the skin.
“How about we find out? Since you’ve taken one man, it shouldn’t be a problem that you take another.” I feel his hand moving down my body until it’s between my legs. Trying to shut my legs doesn’t work. I’m completely helpless and at his mercy.
Gritting my teeth and tensing my body, I work to ignore the way his fingers attempt to explore my womanhood.
The way he probes at my entrance. Laughs in my ear as I do my best to pull away from him.
When his fingers slam inside me, tearing at the delicate flesh only Pace has been entrusted with, I scream loud enough to wake the dead.
I feel his fingers moving, feel them pumping in and out, and I can’t hold back anymore. I throw up all over his arm and my lower body, and I’m unable to stop.
Not when he pulls free and punches down on each thigh so hard, I swear my bones must break, not when Ephrem sprays me with the freezing water, and not when Judas punches me in the side of the head, knocking me onto the ground again.
Suffering from the assault, all I can do is stare at the men laughing at my plight, ignoring the distress I feel, and watching as tears flow freely from my eyes.
Pace, where are you? I suddenly wish telecommunication were real because I need him like I’ve never needed anyone in my life.