Stolen Redemption

by Michel Prince

  “I’m sorry to interrupt,” I said, and Kiriana cursed.

  “You didn’t cut yourself again, did you?” Nye asked as he flipped his hands over and wiggled his fingers to check for the coinciding damage Others experience from injury.

  “No.” Kiriana let out an exasperated sigh. To me, she asked, “Is he doing better?”

  “He’s roused.” I swallowed hard and then turned to look over my shoulder. “Kiriana might we…Um…”

  “Nye, honey, would you mind if I…” She placed the knife down, and Nye visibly calmed.

  “Yes, I’ll finish this.”

  We walked toward her office. “I’m sorry if I took you from something.”

  “Only killing the compound with my cooking. If nothing else my heart rate has dropped.”

  “Cooking makes you nervous?”

  “No, it makes Nye nervous and since he’s my Other, my heart beats in unison with his. Even when he tries to pretend he’s calm I can feel his anxiety, but it’s sweet that he tries to mask it.”

  Kiriana opened her door and sat in her chair. I stayed at the door.

  “Are you a vampire?”

  “No? Why would you think that?”

  “Because you seem to be waiting for an invitation.” She waved her hand toward the chair. This time I sat in the overstuffed chair. Reaching for the throw pillow I held it to my chest. “There’s quite a bit of commotion today.”

  “I’m not sure what it means.”

  “Neither does Schmitty and he’s been at over a dozen closings.”

  “Has Damarion given you any indication?”

  “If he knows anything he’s not talking.”

  My fingers knotted together and for the first time I noticed I hadn’t eaten in a day. Growling came from my belly and I attempted to hide the noise. Kiriana reached in her desk drawer and retrieved a candy bar.

  “Here.” She tossed the bar, and I caught it.

  “Sweets aren’t really my thing.”

  “You need something to eat. Just put it in your belly. Nye won’t be done cooking for an hour.”

  “Do they need me out there?” I asked and played with the polypropylene wrapper surrounding the chocolate. “I’d hate being distracted by…”

  “Tell me about him.”

  “Who?”

  “Vince DeTello. I saw the files you pulled on him, the questionable death of that teenager, but that doesn’t tell me about him.”

  “I don’t know him. He’s a stranger.”

  “Yet you’re risking all of us for someone who will be missed in town.”

  “Unlike Damarion?”

  “The Deumos initiated the investigation on his disappearance. The town would have moved on.”

  “He wants to protect me.” My voice caught on the words. “From what I do not know.”

  Kiriana sat at her desk and rested her head on her hand. The silence seeped between us and I squirmed.

  “It’s ridiculous, you know. Protecting me?” I stood up and crossed to the other side of the room. “What does he need to protect me from? I saved him today. I mean, he froze at the sight of that bantling.”

  “The first bantling you saw, what was it?”

  “A rabbit.” I shivered at the memory. “I was hunting with a man named Rodney, I think. He caught sight of this flash.”

  “You knew there was danger in the area. You expected it.”

  “Yes.”

  “I saw my first bantling after Dilana shot me by accident. In pain, wounded and on the ground, I saw Nye scoop up this thing and stab it. Ashes flew everywhere. I was petrified.”

  “You want to hunt or at least you seemed to be fighting with Nye before you found out about the baby.”

  “Esther, he was caught off-guard. He would have protected you if he could have.”

  My hand wiped at my cheek and found wetness. This wasn’t about Vince. He’d failed me once. Then again, he didn’t fail me. He had no reason for me to believe in him or need him.

  “Who protected you when you were young?”

  “My father and mother.”

  “That makes sense. As you got older, who was there for you?”

  “I don’t know why I came to talk to you.” Coldness covered my body as acid burned its way up my throat.

  “We doing this again?” Kiriana sighed and leaned back in her chair. “Esther, your father was a preacher?”

  “Yes.”

  “What denomination?”

  “New Life Revisionist.”

  “Christian base?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did they believe in forgiveness?”

  “I suppose.”

  “I want to give you an assignment.” She retrieved a notebook from her desk and slid it across to me. “Tell me in your own words why you had to kill yourself when your mother could have earned absolution after your death. Then I want you to describe your demonic possession.”

  * * * *

  Detective Vincent DeTello

  “If you touch me with that needle it’ll end up in your eye,” I warned Dr. Ashworth.

  “Is it this particular one? Because I’ve already injected meds and drawn blood from you multiple times in the last few hours.”

  The dark circles under the doctor’s eyes made me think he was the only doctor in this…Looking around I saw the normal sheeting that surrounded a medical suite in smaller hospitals. Rolling bins, an ECG, and monitors were on either side of my full-size bed. Yet aside from the raised back on my bed that allowed me to sit, this wasn’t like any hospital in the area. And I’d never heard of Dr. Ashworth. None of this made sense.

  Pain shot down my right arm when I attempted to raise it. My shoulder felt as if it was on fire and a knife was digging into the joint. The pussy scream I released made me glad for Esther’s absence, although she was the only one here who might possibly give me a straight answer. Here I was promising to protect her and couldn’t even handle a minor cut.

  “I don’t like needles.” I gritted my teeth at the doctor still threatening to stick me.

  “How about I dull that boo-boo you have there first?” He pulled out a green sucker on a stick like you used to get at the doctor’s office. “I heard you like these.”

  I snatched it more because my oral fixation demanded to be quenched and sadly Esther was not in the room.

  “Good.” The doctor lined up a different needle like he was throwing darts in the pub and plugged my arm good. This time I bit down and let the numbing agent do its job. Then he walked to the other side of the bed and put a tourniquet around my biceps. As my vein popped he felt around and went all vampire on me.

  Three vials later I tried to determine if my light-headedness came from the drugs or loss of blood volume. Either way I needed to keep my wits about me.

  “What is this place?”

  “That’s for Esther to tell you. She’s the one who broke the rules and brought you here.”

  “Rules? What rules?”

  The doctor took the vials and left the room. I listened for other patients or staff, but heard none. With a swish the curtain flew to the side, but all I could see behind a very pregnant Kiriana George were other curtains.

  “You are friends,” I said as I used my left hand to reach for the water. The medication must have given me cotton mouth.

  “Me and who?”

  “Esther.”

  “Friends would be a stretch.” Kiriana placed her hands on the arms of the chair next to my bed and eased down into it. “Esther isn’t one to have friends.”

  “Why is that?”

  “I’ll let you know when I find out.”

  “How do you plan on doing that?”

  “We talk, my undergrad was in psychology, although I’m far from an expert.”

  “Your husband said he worked with people suffering from depression. Is that what this facility is?”

  “Not exactly…then again, it is. Dete
ctive DeTello, there’s many things about Esther, my husband, and I that you can’t know.”

  “That just has me thinking warrant.”

  A sly smile crossed Kiriana’s face as she leaned back in the chair and rubbed her belly.

  “I don’t like threats.”

  “Is Nye really your husband?”

  “Why would I say we were married if we weren’t?”

  “Not sure. Seemed as if you might be in the same situation if not worse than Esther.”

  Kiriana continued to rub circles on her belly as she stared me down. She was no longer the compliant helpful person she’d been a few months ago. Now she seemed to be hiding something the same way Esther did.

  “What happened to the other women?”

  “Who? Damarion’s sister.” She said the word with air quotes.

  “You don’t believe Nemesio is his sister?”

  “Tell me about the other women,” she deflected. “What happened?”

  “Tell me where Damarion is.”

  “In my dungeon,” she stated as if it were common knowledge. Hitching her thumb over her shoulder she offered, “You want me to get him? I’d bring him up here, but security procedures are a bitch here.”

  “Fine, joke, that’s your way out of everything, isn’t it?”

  “Kiriana,” Esther’s soft voice caught us both off-guard. “I’ve finished what you asked.”

  Esther kept her eyes down.

  “Thank you,” Kiriana replied and took a notebook from Esther. Shifting in the chair to get her bearings, she finally pushed up and then approached Esther. “You should sleep.”

  “I don’t need it,” Esther replied with a hoarse voice. “I will be ready when you need me.”

  “That’s not why. You’ve been removed from rotation.”

  “Why?” Esther gasped as if Kiriana had sucker-punched her in the gut.

  “What you just did was extremely taxing. I don’t want you falling apart later.”

  “It was nothing.”

  “You have to deal with Detective DeTello. You’ve been assigned to him until he’s left the compound. He is your responsibility.”

  Kiriana cupped Esther’s hand in hers then looked back at me. With a knowing look she nodded good-bye and left. When Esther took the unoccupied seat next to the bed she still did not look up.

  “Esther?”

  “Yes,” she softly replied.

  “Look at me.”

  She complied as if she didn’t have a choice but to oblige my order. Her violet eyes now had red rims and were completely blood shot. This wasn’t from exhaustion like Kiriana suggested. My knee jerk reaction was to pull her into my arms and console her until I could go kill whoever hurt her. Instead when I moved I felt a new sharp pain on my side and on my chest. I might as well be tied down with all the good I was at this point. Biting back the pain I swung my legs over the side of the bed in one move with all the grace of a drunk fourteen-year-old.

  Esther’s reflexes hadn’t dulled as she instantly shot up and helped me steady myself. When her hands touched my shoulders I no longer felt the pain. My eyes travelled up from her belly to her breasts, which had a fullness I’d not noticed before. Then again looking past her eyes had become a problem for me. They caught and held me in a way that had me missing the rest of the woman before me. Steadying myself by placing my hands on the slick leather covering her hips didn’t help the spinning in my head.

  “Vincent,” she said, and I looked up to see her soft pink lips speaking to me. “You’re injured.”

  “I need to get up.” Pushing with my good arm I wobbled until Esther placed her arm around my back and I suddenly felt unstoppable. “How much are you losing because I’m here?”

  “Losing?”

  “Money, how much? I’ll pay for your time.”

  “I wouldn’t even know what to charge.”

  “You should know your going rate.”

  “I do not get paid monetarily.”

  “Room and board?”

  “Among other things.”

  “Like what?” She was practically a slave.

  “Salvation. I do what I do so I can one day walk among the others who earned their place with the angels.”

  Chapter 8

  Esther Benson

  VINCENT’S sudden anger scared me. Maybe he was possessed as I was. It confused me as did the words he was sputtering.

  “Esther.” His eyes pleaded with me as he held tight to my upper arms even though I knew it had to be killing his shoulder to keep it at that angle. “Demons, saving your soul, I don’t know how you got in with this cult, but that’s what it is. Do you know what a cult is?”

  “Yes.” Of course. I’d heard that accusation since I was a small child. Our commune was thought to be one, but it wasn’t. We were free to leave and more importantly my father wished many would and thankfully they did. Only I was not allowed to leave because my demons could hurt others. A pain shot through my eye and to the back of my skull. Instantly my hand shot over my eye and pressed as if that could get rid of the offending demon trying to emerge.

  Vince’s words and Kiriana’s project were causing memories to come back. The demon took control of me even as I tried to suppress the rage.

  “I work for God. He is going to rid me of the demon I was born with.”

  “What demon?” Vince asked.

  “The one that made me like this,” I snarled and tore at my coat until it no longer covered me. “Do you not see? Are you not drawn to my body? It is to you. I can feel the demon pressing against me.”

  “Esther.” Vince cupped my face in his hands. “Your eyes pulled me to you.”

  “The devil’s eyes. Who comes into this world—?”

  “Your eyes are recessive, but somewhere in your family I’m sure there was another violet-eyed beauty.”

  “Beauty,” I spat. “That is what I am. Vanity that leads to lust. A churning in our bellies that draws the two of us together.”

  “How many men have they made you be with?”

  “Men? Partners?”

  “Yes, partners.”

  “I’ve been moved all over the world for the past forty years. The number is great.”

  “You can’t be more than twenty-five.”

  “When I died, yes.”

  “Died?”

  “I’ve said too much.”

  “Esther, there are no demons.”

  “You were bit by one.” I unsnapped the light gown he wore to reveal the stitches. “And here.” I dropped the gown around his hips to uncover his torso.

  Of their own accord, my fingers traced the stitching and deep purple skin of his left pec where the bantling had scratched. There were three marks surrounded by a grape-colored paw print.

  “Why did you distract me?” I snapped, retrieving my hand at the same time as my sharp words emerged. “Do you think what I do is a game? It’s life and death.”

  The dark hairs on his chest and belly made the demon in me swirl with desire. My body ached to feel this man and touch him for more than mending purposes.

  “Because of you I will not be out there fighting.”

  “The newborns?”

  “Yes, the bantlings. They are uncontrollable when they first emerge unless the Deumos is there.”

  “Deumos?”

  “A female demon.” Did this man know nothing of the world around him? “They retrieve them.”

  “So they are on the side of good?”

  “No,” I scoffed, appalled at the thought.

  “You said they controlled them.”

  “Just to bring them home and nurture them. Then they return to become a scourge on the world, but in human form.”

  “Were you one?” he asked and might as well of pierced my heart with a knife.

  “No…how could you accuse me…?” My hand came to my chest as I searched for breath.

  Taking my hands in his, he spoke
softly as if to calm me down. “You said you were possessed. That to me spells demon.”

  Why in forty years had that not occurred to me? Kiriana and her mind games. My whole existence, my whole being was in question. No longer did I have a path or understanding for the world I was in.

  “Esther?” Vince asked as I sat beside him.

  “I’m like a child on their first day of school.” I heard my voice, but it didn’t seem like mine. Instead it was an innocent void of knowledge. “I was raised to believe a certain way, Vincent. All these years hence I’ve believed the same. Only now am I learning the difference. It frightens me.”

  “Now here is the girl in the oversized sweater.”

  “What do you mean?”

  ““When I first met you I thought, ‘here is a lost child.’“ His hand cradled my face. “Now I see a woman. And being a woman does not mean you are a demon. It means you have a mind of your own.”

  Screams from my father’s pulpit echoed in my head. The sins of Eve, Mary Magdalene. Lot’s wife and all those who resided in the walls of Sodom and Gomorrah. Original sin, the fact a woman laid with a man…but we were told to be fruitful and multiply. How could you do both…how could I?

  “This is not a cult,” I said with certainty. “But I am not sure of where I was raised.’

  “Where was that?”

  “The New Life Revisionists.”

  “I remember hearing about that place. The FBI shut them down in the early eighties.”

  “Did my father form a new church?”

  “Your father was Jebediah Benson?”

  “Yes.”

  “That can’t be. He and over half his followers blew themselves up rather than be disbanded.”

  “My father would not kill himself. It is against God’s tenants. He made me…”

  The room swirled and I fell against Vince’s sore shoulder, but he did not wince. Instead he reached his left hand around me and pulled me closer.

  “Esther, can you get me a computer or is that not allowed?”

  “Why would it not be allowed?”

  “Most people like you are kept sheltered.”

  “What do you think I am?”

  * * * *

  Pivane

  Somewhere around hour five when LaDressa unleashed her wings, sending all of us but poor Eliza running from the room, did Eliza understand she wasn’t dreaming? The nightmare was real. Sad. I liked Eliza, still did, but I was sure any sexual encounter would end up being forced and, contrary to my reputation, that was not my thing. Sure, a few women have died after a night with me. At some point they had a smile on their faces. That was the best I can do with weak humans.