by Tara Brown
I want to scowl at her and rage and tell her how wrong she is. I want to run back to the room and lay on the bed with him. I want to let him have me. I want so many things. Mostly I want Michelle to be lying to me. I think of the many ways in which this could be her laying a trap.
None are as convincing as him being on his parent's side. Screw him.
I smirk at her, "I can play this game with him. Meet me at the truck in like half an hour."
Michelle looks worried and Mona looks excited.
I leave and walk back to the room. My insides are burning in pain. I open the door and close it softly.
He glances at me, "She okay?"
I shake my head, "No it's bad. Blood clots and other stuff."
He gags, "Oh my god."
"She is like peeing blood and cramping on the toilet. It's pretty typical stuff."
He looks green, "Oh wow. I don’t need to know this shit."
I smile inside. I climb on the bed beside him and snuggle into him. He wraps an arm around me and kisses my forehead. He doesn’t pay attention to it. He watches football for a second.
I start tracing the pattern on his shirt. I trace it and think about taking his clothes off. I notice him adjusting his position. I lift his shirt and trace the pattern of the writing on his side. The words feel magical. They are obviously a part of what he is. There is no denying it. The heat coming off them is intense. I lean forward and kiss the words.
"What do these say?"
He is lying back and enjoying my attention.
He lifts his head, "What?"
I blush, "The words?"
He looks confused and shake his head, "I don’t know. I've just always had them. They're in Latin."
I raise my eyebrows in surprise, "You have a tattoo and you don’t know what it is?"
He looks back at the TV and shakes his head again. "My whole family has them. Probably something about the vow they made to God to vanquish evil." He grins like it's a joke.
I'm not convinced.
He pulls me back into him. I continue to trace the letters delicately.
He looks down at me. I can see fire in his eyes. He bends and presses his lips onto my cheek.
I pull away. "No."
He looks angry, "You can trace my tats and I can't kiss your cheek?"
I shake my head and pull his shirt back down. His abs flex and he turns on his side. He kisses my neck and whispers, "I think you want me Rayne. As much as I want you."
I grin and let him start something I have no intention of finishing. His hands slide up and down my body, making nerves stand on end. He cups my ass and pulls me up. He rolls and I'm on top of him.
I let him have it. I suck as hard as I can. We're kissing but really it's a battle of strength. He is blocking and kissing and I'm sucking and kissing. He's better at it than I am. He becomes the wind tunnel again.
I feel him grind against me. He's turned on.
I grind back, teasing him more. He moans and cups my ass and presses me into him. I sit up, like I'm riding him and grin.
He shakes his head, "You can push it too far Rayne." His eyes sparkle.
I move like I want to get off but he holds me there. His fingers dig into my legs.
"You are killing me."
I want to retort, believe me I have comebacks for this moment. I've been plotting them since we met. Instead I smile sweetly, like I'm clueless.
He growls and sits up. His lips meet mine with a crash. His passion explodes and I suck. I pull from him. It's not sweet. It's sour and gross. I pull away and cough. He frowns, "Oh my god Rayne you have to learn how not to do that when we kiss."
I cough and grip my belly. I roll on the bed and moan.
He rubs my back, "Are you okay?"
I shake my head.
He lies with me and snuggles me.
"I'm sorry. I don’t mean to hurt you."
I nod and tremble. He hugs me but I can feel him pressing himself against me. He can't stop himself.
He readjusts himself and looks at me, "You mind if I go take a cold shower? I can't snuggle you like this."
I shake my head and curl up. I close my eyes.
He kisses my cheek and walks to the bathroom. He closes the door and when I hear the shower I open one eye.
I wait until I can tell the water is hitting his body and leap from the bed. I take his keys and wallet and run out the door.
They're already sitting at the curb.
I click the lock and we all jump in.
I start the SUV and throw it into reverse. I am driving out of the parking lot when I see him running out in a towel.
Chapter Seventeen
The priest is a friendly man. He has chubby cheeks and a kind disposition but I still don’t trust him.
His eyes are hiding something. I don’t know what but there is something missing from the conversation.
"So which one of you ladies is the Sin Eater?"
Mona raises her eyebrows at him and nods. He sighs, "You have a very long hard path ahead of you my dear. Essentially you need to destroy the five devils and then your parents. It will reset the evil and the balance will be restored."
Michelle sits in the corner quietly.
He glances at her and frowns, "I can't help but notice the evil inside of you. You're energy is a mess." He sounds like Willow. "You are at a desperate point in your life my dear."
She nods and swallows, "I have sinned father. Greater than any sin possible. I betrayed someone. Someone I loved like a sister." She looks at me and I shake my head subtly.
He takes her hands and shakes his head, "No my child. Anyone who repents for his or her sins can be absolved. Anyone."
She looks down and whispers, "I don’t think that includes me. I made a deal with the devil. A deal that he still expects payment for."
He rings a bell on his desk. A nun walks in.
"I think this young lady would like a tour of the Cathedral. Perhaps even some tea. On the ladies side." He leads Michelle to the nun's hand. She takes her and leaves the room with a slight nod. Michelle is sobbing again.
He closes the door.
"She has Lucifer himself within her. We cannot speak in front of her. I'm surprised she hasn’t betrayed either of you yet. He holds her soul." A grave look crosses his face.
I look at Mona and nod slightly.
Mona looks at him and nods, "She has betrayed us already. We forgave her for her betrayal, but now we kind of think she's lying every time she opens her mouth."
"I see."
He pours a cup of tea and offers it to me and Mona. I take it, but wait for him to pour a cup for himself. When he does and takes a sip, I drink a sip of mine.
He watches me and smiles, "So the five devils are not hard to get. Simply use her as bait. Starve her and they will feel her need. They will come. When they open their mouths to give her the sin, you cut their head off. It must be their head. Instant death is the only way to ensure the sin goes with them to hell. If they suffer or bleed out, the sin seeps back into the air and then back into the earth."
I frown and look at Mona, "Starve her?"
He nods, "A little torture maybe too. She needs to be suffering and starving. They feel the need. They will come one at a time. She cannot take more than one feed a month, if that. Three months is better, four is the best."
I watch Mona's face, "Can we track them?"
He nods, "Yes. They typically live in the worst places on earth. The epicenters of sin. Hell on earth if you will."
"How do we find Lillith and Lucifer?"
He shakes his head, "If I knew that I would already have ended this myself."
I put my tea down and bite my lip. "What happened last time? In the dark ages?"
He shakes his head again, "I don’t know, but I know the Sin Eater died. Not the devils."
I stand and hold my hand out, "Thanks. You've been a lot of help."
He frowns, "Surely you can't be ready to leave already?" He fusses with th
e teapot.
I watch his face and look at Mona, "Tie him up." He looks panicked.
She already has a huge urn in her hands. She smashes it over his head and rips the phone cord out of the wall and the back of the phone. She ties him up.
"How did you know?"
"His eyes. He kept looking at the clock. I guarantee Wyatt is going to be here any second."
She looks over, "Great."
While she ties him up, I rifle through the drawers.
"I'm starving."
I nod, "Me too. This is such bullshit. Honestly. We should be at school right now. Having fun and getting drunk."
She laughs and runs her fingers through her long brown hair "No kidding."
I feel nervous and sick about leaving the room we're in. I'm terrified he is standing in the hall or holding Michelle as bait.
When I look at Mona, her eyes tell me she feels the same way. She walks to the door handle and looks back at me. I nod and together we stroll out casually. I turn the lock on the inside and close the door. I am instantly scanning the massive cathedral. I don’t see him or Michelle. Just people praying.
Walking through the pews and seeing Jesus staring at me, makes me feel considerably worse about knocking out the priest.
"Where do you think they took her?"
I shake my head and look around. The church is actually a cathedral. It's several times the size of the churches I never went to back home. Willow has a thing with churches. Obviously finding out she is a witch makes that more clear. She always came up with some story about the priest or minister. I always believed her. Even now I cannot doubt her.
But now I see the burnings and hangings and torture of the witches, pretty much guaranteed I would never be allowed to go.
I walk in front of Mona and climb a set of stairs I had seen from the corner. The red carpet and weird smells creep me out. It's overly warm in decoration and temperature. Part of the sales package, no doubt.
I can't help but notice the carving of Jesus in the hall when we reach the top of the stairs. He looks exactly like the girl in the book.
My skin shivers. It remembers what it felt like to hang by my arms.
We walk around the balcony but I don’t see Michelle or Wyatt.
"I'm getting worried."
Mona nods, "What if they took her and are torturing her. He sensed the devil in her. What if the nun did too?"
I don’t want to imagine what a church would do to a girl who used to be a boy and sold her soul to the devil. It's pretty much everything they hate all wrapped in a pretty Barbie-esque package.
I look out the balcony window to my right and see a garden. It's in fall bloom. Leaves of every color are everywhere.
"There's the garden."
We turn to go down the stairs but my stomach twists.
"So did Wyatt know where they were keeping me?"
Mona shakes her head, "No. I don’t think so. He said he could…" Her eyes widen. "Shit." The color is gone from her cheeks, "He said he could sense you. The handfasting."
I wince. I knew it. I should have known it.
"Warwick." The word tastes bad in my mouth.
She looks confused, "What?"
"When I was in Warwick, he knew I was there. Somehow. The Nixie swam me far from him. Like a two-hour swim. There was no way he could have known that I was there and yet, I was walking down the road and felt this twisting feeling in my stomach. I ran and hid just as he drove by me."
She looks at my hand resting on my belly, "You feel that now?"
I bite my lip, "I do."
"Shit."
I nod.
We look around and creep up to the wall where the overlook is for the balcony.
My stomach lurches when she points discretely, "There."
He is trying the handle on the priest's door. He is not alone. There is a man and another girl with him.
"Shit." I whisper. He turns and looks around. I pull her away from the wall. We are both shivering.
"He wanted to save me right? He never wanted me chained to the wall? It was genuine?" I whisper into her clenched body.
She nods, "I believed he was devastated. His mother and everyone wouldn’t talk to him. He was screaming and saying that it wasn’t time. They told him it was for the best. I have no idea what it meant but I know he was outraged."
I pull her back from the wall and we duck and run. There is another stairwell. We creep down the stairs.
I run. I don’t know where to run but I do. Mona pulls out her phone and starts texting.
"Really?" I almost shout, but contain myself. I'm trying every door handle we pass but they're all locked. Damned untrusting religious people.
"Michelle says leave. She sent me a text saying she's staying. She wants to stay and find herself."
I roll my eyes, "Shit. They're going to take her and torture her."
Mona frowns, "I sent her a message he's here. She said she's going to the women's only section now. It's strictly forbidden for him to enter."
I laugh. It's funny. "Hopefully God doesn’t remember who she is, or was."
The only door that opens for us, leads down into the dark. The stairs are old and decrepit. We slip in and I look out into the hall as I close the door. I turn the latch on the door.
"I can't see." She whispers and reaches back for me. I slip past her and hold her hands. I can see clearly.
"You don’t want to. It's friggen creepy in here."
I feel her tense. That was probably the wrong thing to say.
The stairs bring us to a large cement room.
"It's like an unfinished basement. Nothing down here." I whisper into the silence.
I see a door in the corner. I pull her along. She walks like she's impaired, tripping over nothing.
Her hands are trembling.
"It's okay dude. There is nothing down here. I'm not kidding. It's just us and a concrete room."
"Okay. You can see for real right?"
"For real. There is a door over here. Just a sec." I let go but she holds my shoulder with a grip that feels like it's ripping my skin open.
I turn the old-fashioned door handle.
I push my weight into the thick wood.
The door scrapes along the old floor.
Her fingers dig into my skin.
"Easy. That hurts."
"Sorry." She is shaking brutally.
The door opens into a tiny tunnel. It's skinny and looks as I imagine the Underground Railroad would have. I pull her through the narrow opening, "It's small but it seems like it's a tunnel. It must lead somewhere."
I close the door behind us. My stomach twinge is worsening.
"He's following us I think. Or he's directly above us."
She grips my hand. I can feel sweat on her palm. I want to pull my hand away but I too would be shitting my pants if it were her leading and me following.
I wipe old cobwebs out of the way.
"No one comes down here. The cobwebs are older than us."
"You're really bad at this shit dude. Try telling me cheery shit."
I laugh quietly and pull her through the thin tunnel. The walls are made of old bricks and crumbling mortar.
"We are going to die in here." She whispers.
I squeeze her hand, "Stop being a baby. This leads somewhere. It has to. No one digs out this much dirt without a reason.
The tunnel twists and turns without any actual corners, just meandering like a river would. Finally after what feels like hours I see light ahead.
"Look."
"I can't see anything dick."
I laugh, "Light up ahead. You'll see it in a minute."
The light floods the tunnel. I don’t feel good about the end of the tunnel. I feel sick with nerves.
She stops gripping me like she is going to peel the skin off of me, as we get closer to the light.
"What is that?" She asks.
I can see it clearly, "A grate."
She is looking around horr
ified, "Is this what it looked like the whole way?"
I laugh again, "No, this is worse."
The cobwebs are thick and new and I am freaking out inside. I lean back and strike at them with my foot, kicking and flailing.
"This is like one of those horror shows."
I pause, "Just a sec." I close my eyes and take a breath. "Can you hear me?"
"Yeah?" I shush her and swat at her.
"Can you hear me? Is he near?" The air isn’t sparkling or whispering. I strain but still can't hear them.
"Shit." I look back, "I can hear the dead if I listen hard enough. They can't come on holy land though. We're still at the church."
She grimaces, "The graveyard. I guarantee it." She looks up and starts to panic, "They're right above us. The dead. I bet they are."
I grab her shoulders, "Calm down. The dead aren’t so bad. Trust me. It's the living that suck."
We get right up close to the door. It looks like a grate but it has hinges. It has a latch on our side. I open the latch and push. The door doesn’t move. I push harder but nothing.
Mona pulls a tube from her pocket and starts squeezing it onto the hinges.
"Lip gloss."
She rubs the hinges with her fingers, spreading the gloss everywhere.
She slams into the door and rocks it back and forth. The metal makes a screaming noise when she pulls in.
"Pull, not push."
She pulls the door. The metal doesn’t scream again, thanks to the lip-gloss.
We step out into the light of day. She squints but my eyes don’t need to.
We have stepped out into the graveyard, literally from a hobbit hole in the side of the hill.
I pull the grate shut and look around. The grounds are stunning. Colorful trees and headstones line the leave-covered grass.
I look behind up to the cathedral.
It looks gothic and cool from this distance.
"Wow I have no idea how to get to the parking lot."
I look at the stream to the right of us that leads into the forest, "We're going that way."
She looks at me and shakes her head, "I hate you right now."
I glance at her ballet flats and nod, "It's cool. I get it. I hate me most days."
We crunch along the trees and rocks. The church gets further and further away.
"I don’t really hate you. I just wish you were normal."