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Jeremiah grabbed her roughly and she managed one brief scream before he slapped his hand over her mouth. The other two men moved to help him, and she was fighting them hard — fighting them like she feared for her life.
Without Kent in charge, what the fuck had the Libiri become?
They dragged her into the SUV, shoved into the back with the two men as Jeremiah got back in the front. They began to drive, and I started the engine again. I had to see where they took her. But as I followed, doing my best to keep a distance from the vehicle, a cold, hard feeling settled in my stomach.
When the SUV drove out of Abelaum, heading north along the bay, I realized where they were taking her.
This was the road to White Pine.
I should have driven back to the house. This wasn’t something I should have gone near without Zane. But I didn’t want to risk losing them. I had a suspicion about what they were going to do, and if I was right…
If I was right, things were going to get very bad, very quickly.
Three lives spared, three souls given, and one of those souls was meant to be Jeremiah or Victoria. Jeremiah had already made it clear he had no intention of laying down his own life.
My trepidation grew, and I widened the distance between my car and theirs. Zane was soon going to wonder where I was, and with any luck, he’d track me out here by scent. If the Libiri sacrificed Victoria, there was no telling how strong the God would become, and in turn, how much more power the cult would have.
I’d never thought it would come to this, but I couldn’t let Victoria Hadleigh die. Not like this.
By the time I made it to the end of the narrow, twisting dirt road in the woods, the SUV was already parked and empty. It wasn’t the only vehicle there either. At least a dozen others were parked along the road, all of them empty.
I pressed my back against the seat, gripping the steering wheel. I had to stay calm. I couldn’t lose my nerve. My memories — those flashing, intrusive, painful bursts of memories — had to stay firmly in the past where they belonged.
Moving as quickly as I dared, I followed the path toward St. Thaddeus cathedral.
44
The air was heavy with the scent of a bonfire and the damp, rain-muddied dirt. The smell of the smoke triggered harsh, demanding stabs of fear inside my chest — fear that weighed me down like anchors hanging from my shoulders. But I couldn’t go back, not now. I couldn’t let another sacrifice happen.
Muddy footsteps covered the old wooden stairs to the cathedral’s tall front doors, the chain that usually bound them unlocked and set aside. There was a murmur of voices within, but I didn’t dare get too close to the doors. I had to find another way in.
When we were teens, Victoria and I used to sneak through the back door that led through the kitchens. If you were any kind of young deviant growing up in Abelaum, you’d end up at St. Thaddeus eventually. We’d come here to smoke, drink, or fuck our latest crushes in the dark corners behind the pulpit. It had felt blasphemous and edgy, our own little taste of stolen freedom. We’d been here a dozen times before the day Victoria led me through those doors and I found out our secret place wasn’t so secret at all.
The old kitchen smelled of dust and mold. Puddles of rainwater sat stagnant on the destroyed wooden floor, and dust covered the empty shelves. Another door separated me from the nave: just one door, between me and the cult waiting outside. My heart was pounding, nausea rising. The more I thought about where I was, the heavier the wave of light-headedness that overtook me.
This wasn’t a memory, this was reality. This was the here and now. But God, I wished Zane was with me. His presence would have calmed me, it would have given me the net of protection I so desperately needed.
The old boards creaked behind me, and a ragged breath sent a shiver up my back. I swallowed hard, squeezing my eyes shut tight for a moment. I didn’t need to look back to know the Watcher would be there. Stalking me, waiting for its opportunity. Waiting for the moment when my fear would become too much, and it could push me into that deep, dark, dangerous void of my nightmares.
Zane had said to ignore it. I wasn’t even going to fuckinglookat it.
I exhaled aggressively. I was in control. I just had to stay calm.
I crept toward the door, and slowly eased it open to just the slightest crack. The dancing light of a fire filled the nave, casting eerie shadows up the old walls and over the steep, broken ceiling. I couldn’t see anything toward the front side of the church, but I could see the pulpit. It was surrounded by lit candles, perched upon a mountain of their own wax that had built up through the years. There was a murmur of voices and shuffling feet from the nave, the crowd of congregants just out of my sight.
Jeremiah leaned against the pulpit, dressed in a crisp white suit, looking out upon his congregation. It was his now, there was no doubt of that. I’d known killing Kent would throw them into chaos, but I hadn’t anticipated Jeremiah would react so quickly and so...violently.
It was like he’d been ready for it. Like he’d been waiting. This wasn’t the outcome I’d been looking for. I’d been anticipating a few weeks of power struggle within the Libiri, as all those vying for the top spot tried to make their move.
But Jeremiah had already put himself into position as their leader. He had his men behind him, young men who I assumed were his classmates; people he’d sucked into his lies, who craved the kind of power he offered. The power to snatch a woman off the street with no repercussions.
I hated Victoria, but it made me sick to see her tied up at their feet. Her jacket was gone, her shirt was torn and she was covered in mud, as if she’d fallen on the way here. She was gagged with a dirty cloth in her mouth, and her lip was bleeding. She was behind the pulpit, surrounded by people. There was no way in hell I could get to her.
“Brothers, Sisters,” Jeremiah suddenly spoke, his voice echoing around the cathedral and silencing the crowd’s murmuring. “It’s time.”
I had no way to stop this. If Zane were here, we could have slaughtered them all, we could have laid waste to this mess once and for all.
But it was just me and my knife, and that wasn’t enough. Goddamn it, it wasn’t enough.
