Chapter 18
The priest—and I had no doubt that was what he was—walked me to his car, and once he had me in the passenger seat, he zip-tied my hands. I tried to kick him but missed. He punched me in the stomach.
“Keep quiet, Mr. Fields.”
The minutes snapped by like the flares from my flash. Stars were dancing in front of my eyes. He got in and started the engine. The radio was playing rock. He was sticking to the speed limit. The car smelled worse than him. I was scared I was going to die.
He drove to a motel at the other end of town, not a long drive, but long enough for me to freak out. The motel wasn’t a fancy tourist location, so there were few people, few cars in the lot.
“Some colleagues of mine stayed here, but they checked out very early this morning. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
“I don’t know you. I don’t know what you want from me.” My voice trembled. I sounded like a liar.
“No, you don’t know me, that much is true. But unless I’m mistaken, I saw your bloody footsteps right where a demon slayed three of my brothers. Are you going to tell me you don’t know anything about that either?”
He didn’t sound angry so much as… He sounded like he was enjoying this, me squirming, him talking.
That scared me more than screaming would have.
I thought how lucky I had been to call my dad.
I thought how me dying would ruin his and Don’s plans for the holidays.
I didn’t want to hurt them, I badly, badly didn’t want to hurt them.
“What? Cat got your tongue, Mr. Fields? Never mind, then.”
“You can let me go and I won’t tell anyone. People will come looking for me.”
“Not before we’ve had a chance to chat.” He got out of the car.
I hiccuped shallow breaths until he was at my door, pulling it open. He grabbed my bag, then me. I knew I had to try screaming as soon as I got out, but before I could, he hit me in the stomach again, and I almost blacked out this time.
The next thing I knew, he was yanking me through a door, into a room. Fuck. I didn’t want to be alone in a room with this guy. I wanted Auris to come for me, but he might not come looking for me for hours. A lot could happen in hours. I started crying.
The priest left me on the filthy, smelly floor and walked to the small bathroom. He turned on the water, then came back and dragged me into the bathroom by the zip ties that were biting into my skin.
“No,” I said, but my voice was paper thin, the breath still not back in my lungs after he’d punched me.
“Let’s see if you’re under that thing’s influence. The weak ones are easily seduced, and you’re weak, Mr. Fields, I can tell. I’ve dealt with many like you—pretty boys who don’t honor the life they were given.”
He pulled me up and pushed me into the bathtub that was filling with water. I struggled to get out, and all it got me was another punch to the gut.
I clung to consciousness. It was hard. I don’t remember every moment, every second, I just remember that I was close to passing out, scared, and—it’s better that I don’t remember all of it.
Eventually, the water was high enough for him to push my head under. He did.
He was reciting a prayer over me. The words made no sense to me—Latin?
He let me up. I coughed, sucking in sweet air. I tried to fight, but my body wouldn’t cooperate. My limbs had gone floppy and uncoordinated, and he was so damn strong.
He pushed me back under, holding me there where panic and fear lived.
After too long, he let me up for air. Then he did it again. And again. And again. I lost track of how many times he did it.
I was coughing. My lungs hurt. I was disoriented. My eyes were burning, and his fingers were digging into my skin. I had nothing left to fight with, no energy to make this man stop, and at some point, the realization hit. I would die in a shabby motel bathroom, drowned in the tub.
Would Auris find me? Would he cry over me or rage? Would he tell my dad?
The drowning went on. My throat hurt. My lungs hurt. I struggled, oh, I struggled as much as I could, but his arms kept pushing, and they were like lead on my chest. I’m not sure whether I gave up eventually or whether I was just too drained to move anymore.
“Tell me about the demon,” he said finally, holding me up instead of pushing me back under.
I tried to make the best of being able to breathe before I said, “You’re…the…demon here.”
He didn’t like that at all, and it showed on his face, that ugly, wicked face. When he pushed me under again, he grabbed me by the neck. I thought of people drowning kittens. I think I came close to blacking out for good. At that point, darkness would have been bliss.
“Where are Father Morgan and Father Richards?” he demanded the next time he held my head above the water.
For all the odd things to notice, I looked at some mold-infested grout, and thought, I don’t want to be in this filthy bathtub, I don’t want to die here.
I don’t want to be found in this filth. Then I saw the shower curtain, and it reminded me of the scene in psycho, and I remembered reading somewhere that they’d actually used chocolate for the blood.
What an odd thought to have so close to dying.
“Tell me,” he said. He wasn’t yelling, but the edge to his voice was unmistakable. There was pleasure there.
“They left.”
“Left and went where?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see them go.”
“Those who walk the path of beasts are barely more than beasts themselves.” He pushed me back into the water.
I would never see my dad remarry, I wouldn’t be able to do Christmas after all, and I wanted to apologize. I wanted Dad to know I was sorry for not spending more time with him and Don, for not being in touch more during lockdown.
I wouldn’t be able to finish my photos and do something with them, something worthwhile. No one would see them now, no one would be able to see what I had seen in them and discover something that mattered to them.
Those photos were good. This man would destroy them. He would destroy all the evidence that Auris and I…that we’d met. That we’d fallen for one another.
My body grew heavy, and it was hard to think.
The arms that held me under let go of me suddenly, but I couldn’t push myself up to where there was air to breathe. Things got dark and cold.
I was lifted up and out of the tub.
“Ethan!” Auris. Auris?
I heard his voice, but I couldn’t make out the words. My vision was all flashes and shadows. Focusing on any one thing was difficult. There was a lot of movement, and then I was lying on a dirty towel on a bathroom floor that wasn’t much cleaner.
The movement ebbed away, and I heard wet cracking noises, then Auris’s voice again. Then I blacked out for good.