Chapter 37 Azrael #3
In the front row with Thomas, she was mostly protected by the rules that state only those in the highest standing with the church could sit up there, but back here, anyone could. Including the pussy-hungry Pillars who hadn’t gotten a taste of her in years.
The only way to prevent this was to have her sit a foot in from the end, so as not to allow anyone room to sit on her right side.
I took my seat on her left and leaned my cane between she and the end of the pew to prevent any desperate men from squeezing their way in.
I’m sure there were people trying to greet me, but I paid them no mind. Before she was sitting next to me, only a handful of people only ever said ‘good morning’ and that’s how I liked it. Anyone else was just a nuisance.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught movement, pulling my gaze over to Scarlett’s carefully folded hands.
Her finger was lifted slightly, pointing at something.
Tracking the motion, I found that she was gesturing to one of the Hymnals.
I pulled it out and opened it to a random page. “This is what they sing from,” I answered quietly. “You should have already known that.”
She tapped her finger, and I studied it, my eyes narrowing in thought for only a moment before realization dawned. “You’ve never seen them. “Yes, they’re quite old. They smell of must. Luckily for me, I don’t require holding them. I know all the songs they sing.”
A slight muscle twitch. Something that could be interpreted as either her comparing me to them even further or something as innocent as the knowledge that I even sang.
I chose the latter to respond to.
I shut the book and returned it. “Yes, I do sing. It would look strange if I didn’t.”
Her spine straightened a hair, her hands flexing ever so slightly.
“You can sing all you want, little sinner,” I hummed.
We sat through a miserable service. I mean, they were all miserable, but this one was particularly bad.
Garrett was allowing his stress to leak into his words, people kept glancing back and whispering about Scarlett, making comments about her new seating arrangement and what it could mean.
When Garrett finally made the announcement, congratulating my new engagement, something I assumed he had already told the Leaders, there was a quiet uproar of those who worked within the church, while the civilians clapped, congratulating us quietly.
When the Pastor was done with final prayer, he asked Thomas and I to join him on stage.
I noticed how smug Thomas was from where I sat in the pew, and I felt that anger fester under my skin. Whatever they had talked privately about was about to be announced to me, and I had my suspicion that I wouldn’t be able to stop it.
“Be warned, little sinner,” I said under my breath, “every story shifts, sometimes in ways I do not expect. Remember what I told you,” I added just before we reached the stage.
We stepped up onto the stage, Thomas looking over her in disgust. “Whores in church,” he muttered under his breath.
I shifted my gaze to Garrett. “Will your boy ever become a man?”
Garrett was looking at Thomas, displeased.
“I have my doubts, and if he speaks like that again, it will be him who is punished.” He turned to me.
“Today is the last day Scarlett will be given to the Leaders,” he reminded me.
“So, in respect to the man who has trained her and taken care of her all these years, Thomas will be the one walking her back and changing her to get her ready for them. You may go into the changing room after she’s been delivered and wait for her to return. ”
My smile grew. “Well, I wouldn’t dare disrespect the boy who trained her.” I stepped back, Scarlett matching my steps despite hearing what they had said. Contrary to Garrett and Thomas’ looks, it was exactly what I wanted.
I turned to her, lowering my voice, knowing exactly what they were saying; a betrothed treating their Favorite with decency.
Blasphemous in their eyes. “You are coming back to me,” I told her.
“Remember that when he takes you away.” It was less than ideal, but sacrifices had to be made.
After this, she would be all mine. I would continue to give her the voice she never had, and she would tell me everything I needed to know about this church to take it down completely.
There would be no resurrection this time. “Tick tock goes the clock, the church will not rise. Tick tock goes the clock, it’s only a matter of time.”
~ ~ ~
I snapped my watch closed and turned back to the door, waiting for her to return.
“Tick tock tick tock tick—”
My grip around my cane tightened as I lifted my chin and held it behind my back, crossways, wondering how long it would take me to get across that hall and slice their necks straight to their spines.
“Let it fester,” that voice told me. “Let it grow and sharpen you for what’s to come.”
My head twitched to one side before righting itself, my eyes locked on that door without blinking. This was needed. It was needed to move on, to progress, to grow. It was needed to sharpen me. A test from their fake god.
I had passed every test. I always passed my tests, and I would not fail this one.
She was nothing more than a source. A cache of information.
An unformed weapon waiting to be put in the fire.
A woman I had watched for years, uncaring of her future until when?
When did things shift? When did the story change?
I didn’t like when the story changed.
“Tick tock tick tock tick to—”
I released a low laugh, slowly pulling the deer head from the cane itself, hearing the slide of my blade against its sheath.
It was just the Leaders in that room. Just the Leaders and dear, precious, little Thomas.
Every single room was soundproofed, and it would take me no time at all to replace the camera feed.
Perhaps I would make it look like a murder suicide.
It was completely believable with how…attached Thomas had grown to the girl.
He could lose it. He could snap. He could kill everyone in that room and take himself with them before I stepped in and ‘saved the day’ by saving the precious Chosen One.
“Tick tock tick tock tick—”
The door opened and I immediately snapped the blade back into place, but it wasn’t Thomas who walked in first, per his usual habits, it was Scarlett, and she didn’t walk in, she stumbled.
Despite a lifetime of training, a lifetime of my instincts, my feet moved of their own accord, stepping forward and catching her just as she collapsed.
She fell against me, but didn’t catch herself, her training not failing her.
I tightened my grip around her so she wouldn’t slip and looked down at the top of her head before looking up at Thomas who stood in the doorway with a smug look in his eyes.
“I’m going to miss that mouth of hers. Don’t worry, she’s already puked in the other room, she should be empty now.
Pity. It’d be nice knowing she was still filled with all of us while she had her session with you. ”
I felt my lip twitch and immediately shuffled her to one side so that I could reach over and slam the door shut.
I dropped my cane to the floor and leaned back, one hand wrapping around her arm, the other reaching for her face.
I tipped her chin up, her eyes closed, tears streaming down her cum-covered bright red cheeks.
Impossibly red.
I turned her face to either side, finding the outlines of fingers on each one.
I laughed, the darkness within me ebbing and flowing, crawling up my bones, wrapping around my mind. I was the only one who could touch her like that. Me.
“Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock.”
I carefully swung her up in my arms and carried her to the chair, setting her down in the extra-large basin I had gotten for her to replace the one we had used last time.
It was the worst I had ever seen her. Bright red marks, bruises, handprints, everywhere there was open skin, and there was a lot of open skin.
Thomas had put her in a leather bralette and a leather skirt, her thong higher than the hem of the skirt.
Everywhere it touched her skin, it had rubbed her raw.
Her hair was a tangled nest of rats and cum. I knew she had been wearing ponytails, but I couldn’t see them. It would take quite some time getting it all out.
Her lips were swollen and bright red, cum covering her face, along with the tears and trails of vomit.
The sinister fog within me slithered over my bones, squeezing my lungs. “How dare they do this to my property,” the voice sang. “They talk about their god’s vengeance, his wrath, how fearful they were of it. They had yet to know true fear.”
“Never again,” I promised her, stepping up behind her. “Let the anger rage within you, let the storm brew,” I hummed as I began the process of cleaning her up. “Let the raging sea stir and awaken. We’re going to make them pay for this, we’ll make this world anew. Tick tock tick tock tick tock.”