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The Deacon strolled behind Valerie and Kyrie, placing a hand on their shoulders. He leaned into Valerie and nuzzled her. “No. Zombies don’t exist. What purpose would they have? Mindless, flesh-eating beings. I do love their stories. They tell the best stories.”
“They who?” I asked.
The Deacon smiled wide, and I realized how silly he looked in the dead of night with his glasses on. As if he read my mind, he reached up, pulling them from his face. His eyes were closed for a second, but when he opened them, I saw they were white. But were they unseeing?
I saw scars, too, across his eyelids. As if he’s tried to cut them out. His grin was pointy, menacing. “Humans, of course,” he said.
“And what are you?” I asked, trying to keep him talking.
I wanted Sorina there—to have her by my side to fight whatever this was. But she’d told me not to go in, and I wondered if I was on my own.
The Deacon chuckled, taking his hand off Valerie. “But hasn’t she told you? Hasn’t the little traitor warned you about the bogeyman? Well, her bogeyman anyway. She likes to tell stories, too, you see. And I’ve watched you. Your coupling. Your feeble attempts to satisfy her hunger. You cannot quench it, boy, that thirst. You’ll never give her what she needs.”
“And what is it she needs?” I asked, seeing a flash of red in the window behind him.
“Revenge for her supposed slights.” The Deacon laughed. “I’m sure she told you all about our history.” I shook my head involuntarily, and the Deacon caught it. “Oh, so she hasn’t been so forthcoming. You’ve fallen far, and she is still on the first step. Reach up all you want. She’ll never fall down that dark hole for you.”
“How do you know Sorina?” I asked, glancing down at Kyrie. Her tears stained her cheek and wet the cloth in her mouth.
The Deacon stepped to the other side of Valerie, swiping her hair from her shoulder. He knelt down, bringing his mouth to her neck. She moved ever so lightly, inviting him in.
And when he opened his mouth, I saw the long, sharp, needle-like points at the tip of his incisors. He grazed them over her neck, and she sighed, black eyes blinking. His own were closed, but I didn’t dare believe he couldn’t see everything in the room.
“I know Sorina in ways you’ll never know her.”
I changed tactics, waiting for Sorina to make her move.
“Why are they here? Why is Valerie here if this is about me, you, and Sorina?” I asked. “Why have you been spending so much time with her? And why Kyrie?”
“Because you love them. In your own way. Kyrie was never next, but the way you took to her … I couldn’t help it. That was a sweet bonus. It’ll be your punishment for misbehaving. And Valerie?” The Deacon laughed. “Valerie’s mine. She’s always been mine. She’s just finally come home.”
“Then what happens next? Who makes it out of here alive? What the fuck do you want from me?” I asked, stepping closer.
“I want you to choose,” he said.
“Between who?” I asked.
The Deacon smiled. “The women you love, of course. What a gift, right?”
“What is?”
“To love these women, when you thought it not possible. After everything they’ve taken from you. I know what happened in California. What a beautiful teaching, just as I’d hoped,” he said, smirking.
“A teaching?” I asked, the wind knocked out of me.
“Yes, the flesh has a long memory.”
“I didn’t want it,” I gritted the words out. One word lodged in my throat.
Rape.
The Deacon laughed. “You’re so like her.”
“Who?”
“That’s the question. Who will you choose, boy? Who?” He stepped to the side, and my eyes landed on Valerie and Kyrie again. My heart hammered in my chest. I foolishly wished my friends were there as I stepped forward. Before I could take another step the Deacon made a noise, alerting me I could go no further.
“Just let them go, please,” I begged.
