Heart Recaptured (Hades Hangmen #2)(59)
Mae sighed and gripped the bridge of her nose. “Lilah, nothing our people said is true! Everything they—Prophet David, the elders, the disciples—preached was false! Prophet David was a false prophet! The Bible warns of this. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves—Matthew 7:15. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Matthew 24:23-24. We were deceived, sister. We lived a lie. You are still living that lie!”
“That is what is false! Look at us! What Prophet David and the elders said of us was true! Look at my face.” Lilah pointed to her beaten face and flinched as she pressed her finger against her bruised cheek. “It was done by women who could not resist me. I cannot keep living this way, Mae. I want to be free. I want to be saved! I seek salvation. I have seen too much evidence of our curse on men to know our prophet was indeed correct. I am not corrupted. I am inherently evil, as are you!”
Mae clenched her jaw and said, “You trust scripture so much, sister. You trust Prophet David’s words so much that you are blind. Open your eyes and see their lies, break free from their controlling bonds… live! You are free!”
Lilah panted with the exertion of her distress and shook her head. Mae glanced back at Styx, a painful expression on her face. Turning back to Lilah, Mae said, “And the Lord said to me: ‘The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds…”
Lilah froze, tears falling free, and looked at Mae. “No, you are wrong. You have to be wrong!” Lilah whispered, devastation obvious in her timid voice.
“I will never go back to that life, Lilah. I have true freedom with Styx. I have a life with Styx!”
Lilah began to sob.
“Lilah…” Mae cried, but Lilah wiped away her tears and held up her hands. A weird calm coming over her.
“Sometimes I do not even recognize you as a sister anymore.”
Mae sucked in a sharp breath and her eyes filled with water. I could see Lilah’s anger immediately drop and, when Mae turned on her heel and began running to the entrance of the club, Lilah quickly followed.
Styx released me and set to go after Mae, but this time I pulled him back. “Stop. Let the bitches work this shit out themselves. Lilah ain’t listening to no f*cker about this Prophet David or The Order shit. Mae needs to set her straight. Sometimes I think I’ve got through to her. Then something happens to set her off rolling around the ground, spurting gibberish or just outright freaking out. We both know this was all gonna come to a blow at some point. Lilah’s brainwashed to shit and only Mae can get her out of it, no matter how much they seem to piss each other off.”
Styx sighed but slapped me on the back in agreement.
“Mae! Stop!” Lilah called out as she ran after her sister. Mae whipped around to face her, both of them dead center in the yard, the light from the garage like a spotlight on them both.
“Anyone got lube? Or a shitload of mud? These hot bitches are fixin’ to fight, and I want front row seats! I’ll come just watching them slide over each other’s tits… or trib. Fuck, let the bitches scissor!”
Styx and me as one turned to face Vike, who stood brazen as all hell with tissues stuck up his nose from where I broke it. Styx growled out a warning, pulling out his German knife from his boot, licking the blade. AK dragged Vike back by the shoulders through the circle of brothers and bitches and took him out of our sight.
“I’m gonna murder that f*cker,” I spat, a wave of jealousy taking root. Vike didn’t talk about Lilah that way.
“You gotta get through me first,” Styx signed back, causing me to smirk.
“Lilah, please leave me alone,” Mae said dejectedly, pulling everyone’s attention back on them. “I have no idea what else to do for you. You have been here living outside of the faith; it is the only place for us to be. We have nothing; they never let us have anything that was of substance. I have done everything within my power to make you comfortable, as has Styx, Ky, Beauty, Letti, all of the brothers, but I am at a loss now.”
Mae reached up to her cheeks with her hand and brushed away her tears. “I thought I was saving you by taking you from the commune, the place where we were stripped of our childhood and told repeatedly that we were evil. We both watched Bella die on that cold prison cell floor and we both know it was at the command and bloody unclean hands of Brother Gabriel, yet you are determined to return to that place. But I have said it to you a million times, sister. There is nowhere and no one left to return you to.”
Mae stepped closer to a very still Lilah and, cupping her cheeks, said, “I am not your jailer. I am not going to keep you here against your will. I love you more than my life and I just want you to be happy.”
Lilah sniffed and I knew she was crying again, her hard-ass attitude gone to vapor. My gut was tight as I waited for her response. Would she wanna leave us? Because no way on this earth was she going anywhere. I wouldn’t f*ckin’ allow it. The bitch was mine now whether she knew it or not; she was mine to keep.
Raising her head to face Mae, Lilah opened her mouth, and I stopped breathing. “I—”
Suddenly, from behind the gate, bright lights blared and a huge explosion sounded. The metal gate blew off its hinges, flames and debris bursting into the air.