Fear the Wicked (Illusions Series Book 2)(76)
While my thoughts were distracted by the questions racing through my mind, I felt Eve break away from my hold suddenly, her eyes rounding and her mouth pulling into a smile as she hurried her steps toward the woods. Confused, I chased after her, my eyes locked on her rather than on what she was running toward.
I should have paid better attention to my surroundings, should have listened to the name that fell from her lips the instant she let go and ran away from me.
If I’d done so, I wouldn’t have been taken by surprise when the hard barrel of a gun was pressed to my head and a deep voice growled, “Either you two are coming with me, or I take Eve and leave your dead body for the family to find.”
ELIJAH
After the night at the compound where Richard and the sheriff of this small town lent their hands in nailing a man to a cross and lifting him above the pews of my sanctuary to let him die slowly, the sheriff and his brother, Gentry, had been instrumental in bringing the town around to my cause, in convincing them that the only way to combat their misfortune was to destroy the evil infecting this area.
In truth, there was no special evil they had to worry about, nothing remotely different than that suffered by the rest of the world, but in the weeks they’d distanced themselves from the news, television shows and other lifelines to the world outside this rural area, the townspeople had sunken deep into my insanity, the seeds planted in their heads over the months I’d played the part of parish priest finally blooming into hysteria that I would use to my ultimate advantage.
While standing by the altar, I shook the hands of the idiots who truly believed I could deliver Heaven to them on Earth, the ones who thanked me endlessly while not realizing that they were being used as a means to my end. The deaths were stacking up, the nightly ceremonies we held while sacrificing the poor condemned souls that hadn’t done anything to deserve the methods of their death, and the entire time, I documented the town’s activities via the security cameras I’d installed and kept hidden from the family. Not one person knew their faces were recorded for eternity taking part in the cruel and heartless destruction of liars and thieves, rapists and other such violent types.
Eventually, the destruction spread to the parish itself and I made sure to record those scenes as well. Once my plan was finished, once I had all the evidence I needed to show that true evil existed beneath the guise of religion, I would finally have my revenge against a Church that had learned over the centuries how to hide their disgusting crimes.
I wasn’t the only man benefiting from the hysteria. Richard, too, enjoyed the fruits of our labors, having his fun and taking his time to help exorcise the lustful demons in the younger girls who believed me when I told them that their impure thoughts would become their destruction. The fact these morons so easily believed me only proved what I’d believed about the faithful all along: It wasn’t peace and kind manners that led them inside the parish doors each Sunday to hear the message of God, it was the belief that they gained power and protection by subscribing to a fantasy that someone beyond the Earthly plane gave enough of a damn about them to influence their fate.
Nobody gave a damn, not Christ and not the Father. Because if they had, I wouldn’t have been used as a fuck boy for holy men my entire childhood. I wouldn’t have been a punching bag for a father who was so far gone in his beliefs that he didn’t see the abuse as anything more than an unfortunate necessity to remove the sin from my body.
He’d thought he was saving me from myself without realizing he was weakening me for the true wolves that lived inside the parish, using me for their hidden sins while reminding me there wasn’t a soul on this Earth who would believe me if I reported them for what they’d done.
It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. Men such as them had existed since the beginning of the Church in ancient times. And it was for that reason alone that I had to endure the abuse and humiliation in order to become the monster who would be strong enough to destroy them all.
The parishioners saw their way out of the parish, one by one, slowly wandering off to their bleak little lives believing they watched something truly holy this Sunday at the parish. Richard stood beside me wrapping a robe over the newest young woman who believed wanting to kiss her boyfriend was enough of a sin that she needed to turn herself over to the Church for redirection. It was a new type of confession I’d given the parishioners, a public repudiation of their own thoughts, hidden desires and beliefs. They were truly stupid – all of them.
Once we were alone and Richard was practically drooling over the young woman that stood at least a foot shorter than him, I turned to find the woman who had become my obsession.
Eve was growing back into a healthy body, the weight she was regaining forcing her body to round at the hips and breasts, her skin no longer ashen and sallow, but full of life with the rosy glow that always graced her cheeks. She was truly obedient to me now that she believed I’d destroyed the last demon plaguing her and had made her my true and proper wife.
However, when I scanned my eyes through the sanctuary, over the pews, past the walls filled with paintings and other religious symbols, I came to the realization that Eve was nowhere to be found.
My head snapped to Richard. “Have you seen Eve anywhere?”
He dragged his filthy gaze up from the poor girl who had no clue what would happen to her. No, he wouldn’t kill her, wouldn’t damage her in any way that drew attention, but he would free her of the purity she carried while promising her it was the only way to remove her sin. His eyes searched the room before he shrugged a shoulder. “She was here just a minute ago. Waiting for you like always near the hallway back to the rectory. Maybe she went in your room to wait for you.”