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“I told you there was no laundry guy!” Cosmos turns and slaps the nearest brother.
“I’ve done what you did,” Craig smiles. “I’ve saved her from an older man whose lechery lured her into a bed she was not prepared for.”
“Except you tormented and beat Ivy, and she came to me, terrified as to what you would do to her next.”
“Yes, and what have you done to the sweet girl? Left marks, I imagine. Caused her tears, I am certain. Your selfish, desperate need for her has made you precisely the same kind of monster I was, and now you will be humbled, as I was.”
“I am not you, Craig.”
“We will see,” he says. “As the years pass and your hope fades, we will see what you are — and what you are not.” He laughs as he leans toward me down the long table. “You will Never. Ever. Find her.”
I come across the table, almost as fast as Nina would. I grasp him by his collar and I smash my fist into the center of his face with all the malevolence I have at my disposal. I punch him for myself, for Ivy, and for Nina. I do not have long to trash the hell out of him. The brothers, the sensible ones, are already pulling me off him. Their intervention is the only thing that stops me from killing him with my bare hands. His nose is broken. Blood coats his face and is already starting to congeal in his teeth. I hope I’ve knocked some of those stinking yellow nubs down his throat.
I still have one hand on him. I’m not letting him go.
“I will torture you until you tell me. I will make every second of the rest of your miserable life a terrible torment, I promise you that. I am not you, Craig. I will not be broken. I will be dangerous, and I will be cruel.”
Someone is helping him sponge his face off. Someone who feels sorry for him. Maybe even someone who sympathizes.
“I am old. And I am the only one who knows where she is. So if you kill me, or if I die for any reason whatsoever… say, demonic interference… she will perish too.”
I am left helpless in the face of such a declaration. I want more than anything to kill him. No, not more than anything. I want, more than anything, to find Nina.
“I guess we’re looking for the girl again,” Cosmos rolls his eyes. “Just for something different. Bryn’s cock-wetting squad rides again.”
My fist flies again, turning at the last moment to an open palm. I slap Cosmos across his pierced face, sending him sprawling. Someone is going to take a thrashing, and if it is not going to be Craig, it can be Cosmos.
“If you don’t want to be part of the Brotherhood, there’s the fucking door.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Nina
I wake in the sort of way one wakes when one knows that waking up has been a mistake. I am lying in an uncomfortable, overly-starched bed. There are thick straps around all my limbs and my waist, making movement absolutely impossible. When I look down, I can see that there’s an IV in my arm. Taking my blood. There's also a weight between my knees, a warm and vibrating weight that I assume must be a cat.
“You're awake. Good. This wasn't much fun without an audience.”
I know that voice. It’s the voice of a very old man. One I took pity on once and allowed to attend my wedding. He’s at the periphery of my vision. He hobbles into view, wearing an apron with a big smiley face that says, “HAVE A HAPPY DAY.”
There’s something on his face. He’s got two black eyes and a Band-Aid taped over his nose. Looks like someone punched him right in the face pretty fucking hard. I smile, knowing my husband’s handiwork when I see it. Bryn can’t be too far away, hopefully.
“What's happening here?”
“You're being drained for what you're worth.”
I take that piece of information in. It’s bad news. Why is it always bad news? Why am I never safe anywhere, not even in my bed?
“You promised you weren't a demon.”
“I’m not a demon,” Craig chuckles. “I’m worse. I’m a man with an old grudge to bear and a score to settle.”
“And you’ll do it by hurting me?"
He sits down, taking the weight off his feet with an old man’s grunt.
“I’ll do it by hurting him. I know you’re not my daughter. I know you were borne of the angel your mother laid with. It's still cheating, Nina. Your conception was the end of my life as I knew it, and though you are innocent, you must suffer so I may exact my revenge.”
“You were one of the Brotherhood, right?”
“Yes."
“So you know that what you are doing will damn you. It is a sin beyond sin, and your eternal soul will suffer for, well, eternity.” I wish I sounded more like Bryn. He really knows how to damn someone to Hell. I sound sort of wishy-washy, even in this most desperate of positions, wheedling and begging for my life.
