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“Ahhhhhh!”
Claire immediately jumped into my side, gripping on to my arm as she tried to become as small as possible.
The Malevolent turned their heads away from us, directing their attention to the source of the screams.
The screams of a woman.
I already knew who it was.
I grabbed Claire’s hand. “Come on.” I tugged her across the clearing, past the torches, past the sculptures.
“Ahhh!”
I made it to the cabin and put her inside. “I’ll be right back.”
“Where’s Mom?” She ran to the bed, searching for her. “Mom?” She moved down the hallway, her voice breaking because even a seven-year-old could figure it out. “Mom…”
I grabbed my dagger from beneath the mattress, ready to carve a demon and put him on a platter. “I’ll be right back, alright? Stay here and be quiet.”
Tears streamed down her face, her eyes squinting, her arms folded over her body.
I couldn’t console her. Not when those screams were still in my head. “I’ll be back.” I left her behind and jogged past the stone statues and burning torches, a line of smoke rising to the sky.
Her screams came again—screams of agony.
I sprinted up the steps, weaved through the cabins, headed to the place where my hand had been sliced, as quickly as possible. A sea of Malevolent swept across my gaze, white bone, antlers, dead eyes.
I made it to the dais.
Beatrice was tied to the cross, her back exposed, her demon carving a bloody knife into her back.
“Oh my fucking god…”
The other demons were there, sitting together in their black robes, the Malevolent on the stone benches behind them. With stoic expressions, they watched, as if this horrific act were no different from a commercial you watched without really paying attention.
Amon was in flowing black robes, tall and muscular like Forneus, his bloody knife now at his side. He was brutish, with shaved hair that made his scalp only have a shadow. He had small eyes in a wide face, a big mouth, thick cords down his neck.
The dagger was in my hand, but my courage failed me.
I was scared.
I couldn’t pretend that I wasn’t.
This was the most disturbing shit I’d ever seen.
It would haunt me for the rest of my life.
Amon must have been finished because he put the dagger on the dais, the blood dripping to the stone. “I will find your wings, Angel.”
Beatrice collapsed, her body held up by the leather bands.
There was nothing I could do. I stayed in the distance by the trees, my dagger still in hand.
Amon gestured to the Malevolent.
They moved to the cross and untied her, her shirt ripped open and in bloody tatters, her chest bare. They grabbed her and carried her, more a corpse than a person.
I was in shock, unable to process the brutality.
All I could do was breathe.
In.
Out.
Fuck.
But it wasn’t over. Amon watched them carry Beatrice away. “Bring The Divine.”
Claire.
No.
Fuck no.
Oh Jesus Christ.
I took off at a sprint, making myself visible to anyone who looked in my direction, but I didn’t care. The cattle heads turned and watched me, watched me push my body hard, shove aside the branches that scratched my face on the way, weave between the cabins and slip on the mud. I got to my feet and took the stairs, missing my step at the bottom and rolling into the dirt.
I pushed up and kept going.
I wanted to help Beatrice.
But I had to get to Claire first.
The cabin came into sight, and I sprinted to the door and flung it open. “Claire! Come here!”
Claire moved into my vision, wearing a terrified expression.
I held out my hand to her. “Now.”
She was too scared to move.
“Don’t make me ask you again!” I rushed inside and grabbed her by the wrist, giving a hard tug.
She began to cry. “Mommy!”
I started to run, dragging her with me, headed into the darkness of the trees. “I need you to run, Claire. Now!”
“Mom—”
“Now!”
She finally moved. Finally stopped crying.
I grabbed a torch and sprinted into the tree line.
It was dark as shit and I couldn’t see a goddamn thing without it, so I didn’t have a choice.
Run. Run. Run.
Without direction or understanding, we moved, but she slowed me down.
She just couldn’t keep up with me.
I halted and dropped to my knees. “Hold this torch high for me.”
“What’s happening?”
“Hold it high.” I raised her arm. “Don’t drop it, okay?” I picked her up, heavy in my arms, but the adrenaline overcame it and I moved faster than we had before. The torch gave some light, helped me move through the trees instead of smacking into a trunk, but it also illuminated the Malevolent around us.
They were everywhere.
“Fuck.”
I stopped and changed directions, giving it all my all even though I knew how this would end.
I couldn’t save her.
I halted when I came into a line of Malevolent, their terrible eyes reflecting the lights from the torch, their bodies close together like a wall.
