My bark of laughter bursts out. “What makes you think I haven’t already?” They don’t need to know just how much I enjoyed losing myself in Isabel’s body. The perfect way she moaned for me, came apart in my arms like stars exploding. How her pleasure fueled my own.
“What do you want?” another voice says, and he sounds resigned to the fact I have the upper hand, except that only ramps up my suspicions. As I catch police cars whizz past, heading towards the church, I hear them loud on the phone as we pass a small house, and I slow down before turning the corner.
“That’s easy. Your heads on a silver platter.” Hanging up, I grab my bag from the backseat and order the sister, “Do not leave this car. Do not open the doors. Do not engage with anyone outside this vehicle. Do you understand?” Daia’s head nods up and down. “I need to hear the words.”
“Stay here; don’t get out. Wait for you.”
“I’ll be back in ten minutes.”
“With Isabel?” Fear creases her eyes and thins her lips.
“With Isabel.”
Getting out, I lock the doors and sling the bag over my shoulder. I don’t care how many of them there are, they’re all dying today. Not a single man is going to be left alive when I’m through with them.
* * *
Isabel
I can hear raised voices even through my chattering teeth. Frozen to the bone, my captors’ anger penetrates through the walls of the frigid room. Never have I felt this kind of fear. The unpredictability of their actions is most terrifying. Occasionally, one of them comes into the room and whispers vile things in my ear, or they’ll touch me or hit me. The longer that passes between interruptions, the worse I fear it will be when they decide what they’re going to do with me. It’s a mind game. One I don’t wish to play.
I don’t believe they’re working alone either. I think it’s more than just them. I know Brothers Ephrem and Judas will be called to action. They always are, and I saw them when Pace hastened me away from the church. They’re coming; I know they are. It’s only a matter of time.
Stomping erupts above me, and for a minute, I almost believe it’s Pace here to rescue me until I hear it. Hearhim.
The voice of pure evil.
Brother Judas.
He’s been watching me for years, touching me in ways I know he shouldn’t since I was a small child. He’s the devil in disguise, with a charming smile that would fool anyone not looking beneath the surface. He even makes Sister Hildegard nervous, which I’ve never seen from her before with anyone else.
Breathing deeply as I hear his heavy steps coming down the stairs, I brace as the door opens and the lights turn on. The bag over my head softens their brightness. “Did I hear you allowed a man between your legs, Isabel?” His question sends chills down my spine.
I don’t respond. Whatever I have to say will only make it worse. Concentrating on my breathing, I have the urge to pray, but everything I thought I knew is being called into question, because certainly if there were a God, he wouldn’t allow what is happening to me. He’d intervene, and whatever Judas has planned wouldn’t be accepted.
As he tears the covering off my head, I blink rapidly to try and clear my vision and focus on him rather than the stars dancing in front of me. The light is blinding, and when I see Ephrem enter the room and pick up the hose the other two sprayed me with earlier, I begin to sweat. It wasn’t just cold, it was downright painful after a few minutes. Like I was being stabbed with tiny icicles.
“Well, did you?” Judas grips my chin assertively, forcing me to stare him in the eye. As much as I don’t want to answer him, I know I must. I shake my head again, and I’m met with a backhand so sharp, I hit the ground still tied to the chair. My head bounces off the floor, and I feel dizzy.
When Judas reaches down, grasping a chunk of my hair, using it as an anchor to drag me upright again, my stomach revolts, and I fight not to vomit all over him. Yanking my head back with that same grip from behind, he presses his cheek to mine and asks again, “Did he take you?”
“No,” I lie.
His free hand moves around to my chest, still naked from when the other men stripped me down, and fondles one breast with a bruising hold, squeezing until I whimper from the pain and attempt to pull away. “You’re lying to me, little miss. Were you a whore for him? Laid down naked for him; spread your legs like a greedy little slut?”
“No,” I cry when he twists my nipple until I feel like he’s going to tear the skin.
“How about we find out? Since you’ve taken one man, it shouldn’t be a problem that you take another.” I feel his hand moving down my body until it’s between my legs. Trying to shut my legs doesn’t work. I’m completely helpless and at his mercy.
Gritting my teeth and tensing my body, I work to ignore the way his fingers attempt to explore my womanhood. The way he probes at my entrance. Laughs in my ear as I do my best to pull away from him. When his fingers slam inside me, tearing at the delicate flesh only Pace has been entrusted with, I scream loud enough to wake the dead.
I feel his fingers moving, feel them pumping in and out, and I can’t hold back anymore. I throw up all over his arm and my lower body, and I’m unable to stop.
Not when he pulls free and punches down on each thigh so hard, I swear my bones must break, not when Ephrem sprays me with the freezing water, and not when Judas punches me in the side of the head, knocking me onto the ground again. Suffering from the assault, all I can do is stare at the men laughing at my plight, ignoring the distress I feel, and watching as tears flow freely from my eyes.
Pace, where are you?I suddenly wish telecommunication were real because I need him like I’ve never needed anyone in my life.
CHAPTER5