ELIJAH
The family slowly shuffled out of the sanctuary, single woman going through one door toward the women's dorm, single males through another. Married couples were allowed to go back to their rooms together, because it wasn't a sin for them to sleep together.
I didn't have to direct them where to go, they knew the routine, so I took the opportunity to train my gaze on the solitary person still sitting in his seat struggling to understand why I'd brought him here in the first place.
Slowly meandering down the aisle, I inclined my head toward those people who complimented the sermon, smiled when appropriate and carried myself in such a way that nobody would notice my level of excitement. Reaching Gentry's chair, I hovered for a bit before finally training my gaze on him.
"Did you like the sermon tonight? I'll admit it was somewhat tame compared to the normal family meetings." My smile didn't reach my eyes, but it didn't much matter. There was no telling what my features looked like to a man whose pupils were twice their normal size and whose pulse was visible beneath his skin. I watched that flutter of blood flow on his throat and knew he was feeling just fine.
His fingers drummed over his thigh, his expression somewhat strained yet contemplative. "I heard the same thing at the parish, I'm not sure how any of this will help me in my situation. You promised results, Father Hayle. How will you get them by just talking?"
I hadn't promised anything during our conversation earlier that day, but I didn't feel the need to correct him.
"I haven't finished showing you what I have here. A lot of it you'll need to see during the day. You are still interested in the gardens, correct?"
Nodding his head, he was doing his best for it not to appear uncoordinated and jerky. Another hour or so would help his body ease back into a normal state, just in time for him to drive, but until then, I planned to take full advantage of his altered mentality.
"That's good," I replied, "so we'll save that for when we have the sun to light our way. Tonight, however, won't be a complete loss. My family found something very interesting in town and decided to bring it back to show me."
His dilated gaze pinned me in place. "Interesting, how?"
Feigning ignorance, I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm not quite sure, they only told me before I gave my sermon. Would you like to come with me to find out?"
Gentry stood from his chair, perfectly steady on his feet, but his reddened skin still gave away the high blood pressure making him shaky. Waving my hand at my side, I sauntered off without hurry, "Follow me this way."
The excitement thrumming through me was almost too much to bear because I knew what Gentry would now see could only cement him to my cause. Pretending like it was new to me as well as him was an important factor in this game, as it would create the illusion that I was just as shocked as him.
Turning a corner, I led him down a narrow hall, a low sound growing louder as we approached another door. Turning, I raised a brow to Gentry, my mouth cocked and unsure about the peculiar noise. "Does that sound like a man screaming to you?"
He nodded, his concerned eyes darting toward the door.
I made a point to look between him and the closed door several times, before suggesting, "I think you should stay here while I find out what's going on."
Adding urgency to my words, I pivoted on my heel and stepped forward as if to leave him behind, but his hand slapped over my arm, his grip preventing me from moving forward. "I want to see whatever it is."
Looking between the door and his face, I shook my head, still playing up the refusal. I needed him to truly want to see this, to feel as if he'd forced the issue rather than having been led to see something I planned to show him all along.
"I'm sorry, Gentry, but I don't know what's occurring. It could be dangerous..."
"How so? I'm a strong man. I can defend myself."
The screaming became a primal roar. Stifling my laughter, I made a mental note to give Richard a very special reward for whatever he'd done to force a sound like that out of the businessman's mouth. It was pure, undiluted rage bellowing out from the cage.
Without dropping the role of a concerned priest, I turned to place a hand on Gentry's shoulder. "It's not just your physical wellbeing I'm concerned about. In situations such as this, the potential for something I'm sure you've never seen, I'm more worried about your spiritual wellbeing."
"I'm a devout man. God is with me."
"Is he?" I pondered aloud, my lips turning down into a frown when all I wanted to do was grin like a madman. "Your crops are failing. Your home is about to be taken from you by the bank..."
His eyes widened, the dilated pupils like two black mirrors reflecting my face back to me. "That's not my fault. The evil in this world is attacking me. Like you said. But it has nothing to do with lack of faith on my end."
There wasn't an ounce of doubt in his words. Pleased to see he was fully on my side now, that I'd handed him the Kool-aid and he'd swallowed it down greedily, I relaxed my posture and looked at him as if considering whether I would allow him to follow or not. The passage of those several seconds while I stood presumably in concern as to whether to let him walk with me only cemented his devotion to the cause.
Lowering my voice as another roar bellowed from behind the door, I forced so much fear and concern into my voice that Gentry would have had to been deaf and dumb to miss it.
"Fine. I'll let you come with me, but I need you to protect yourself. You need to pray, Mr. Holmes. You need to surround yourself in the Holy Spirit, and if your faith so much as wobbles while you're in there, I need you to walk out immediately, to go far away as fast as your feet can possibly carry you."
His eyes rounded even more, his pupils dilating with fear and uncertainty. Until all color in his iris was gone. "What is going on back there, Father Hayle?"
Breathing out a heavy sigh, I glanced between him and the door, my shoulders shaking with soft laughter that I passed off as fear. "Do you remember what I showed you last night? The woman infected with lust?"
He nodded, his Adam's apple dipping low as he swallowed hard.
"I suspect what we're about to see is far worse than that woman." Pausing, I let that thought sink in before saying, "I hope I'm wrong-"
Another roar sounded. I closed my eyes and opened them again.
"But it sounds like the situation - the evil - is much worse than I realized."
"Dear God," he muttered, understanding sinking in as he turned his gaze to the closed door.
I stepped toward the door, stopping again before touching the handle. "Keep praying, Mr. Holmes. And if you feel yourself sliding into doubt, you need to leave."
He nodded his head and rolled his shoulders back with the resolve to stare evil in the eyes. My fingers wrapped over the handle, shoving down to open the door. The businessman's voice bellowed even louder now that there was no barrier to muffle it.
Stepping through the doorway slowly, I kept Gentry at my back as if cautiously surveying the scene before allowing him to enter. I made a point to lock eyes with Richard where he stood next to the large cage that held the man. He approached immediately, feigning urgency and consternation.
Good, I thought, he set the stage perfectly.
"Father Hayle," he called out, adding such speed to his words that no person would doubt he was afraid. "You have to see this. Thank God you came when you did. The man, he-"
"Let me through, Father." Gentry's voice was resolute in his demand that I step further inside so he could follow. My shoulders and head were still blocking his view.
Richard paused in his rush toward me when I held up a hand. Keeping my face trained on the scene he'd staged, I risked a smile while Gentry couldn't see my expression. It was lovely, so much more than I'd expected.
Stepping back, I forced Gentry to do the same so I could slam the door closed. I rested a shoulder against the wood, my head bowed as I made the Sign of the Cross over my body. Eyes clenched shut, I fought not to peek at Gentry's face. He needed to believe I was frightened of what I saw.
"What is it, Father Hayle? What did you see?"
"I can't take you in there," I breathed out, fear and apology in my voice. "I'm sorry, Mr. Holmes, but I've never seen anything like that."
Chancing a peek at his face, I smiled inwardly to see determined rage written across his expression. By now his interest must have been at its highest, mere curiosity transitioning into a driving need to know he can face evil and walk away unscathed. Hesitant interest had now become full blown belief. Sometimes playing with a person's mind was far too easy, but then I'd had many years of practice.
"Fine. I'll allow you in, but you can't show weakness in the face of what you'll see. You need to stay at my side, Gentry, and if you feel your faith failing, you need to leave. Otherwise-"
"Otherwise, what? Are you accusing me of being weak in my faith in God?"
"No," I answered, shaking my head. "I'm only attempting to prepare you fully."
"I'm prepared," he growled.
Inclining my head, I caved in to his demands. "Then follow me."
Playing into his ego had worked perfectly. He was now prepared to believe exactly what I had to show him. I'd even be willing to bet he'd argue with me if I told him it wasn't a demon infecting the raging man trapped in his cage.
Too easy. The human mind was far too easy to toy with.
Opening the door again, I stepped inside and indicated for Richard to hang back, to remain quiet while Gentry took in the scene. The room was nothing special. Scratched white walls that could use a fresh coat, white tile floors that were also worn down and scuffed, a high ceiling lined by air conditioning ducts and exposed electrical made the space utilitarian in its design. Seated in the middle of the large room that had once been used for storage was a large cage just tall and wide enough for a man to pace back and forth without having to stoop. On a normal day, it wouldn't be a shocking or disturbing sight, but the same couldn't be said for today.
The first feature to draw the eye was the crimson splash of blood on the floors bordering the cage. Dripping slowly from the base, it formed a small pool that spread across the tile, slowly working its way down the grout until small streams went in several directions. A copper scent tinged the air, my eyes dragging up to a drugged man screaming and raging in his cage. Dragging my gaze to another drugged man, I grinned to see his wide eyed reaction.
Too fucking easy.
Richard approached me while Gentry remained frozen in place.
"What is this?" I asked, intentionally speaking loud enough for Gentry to hear. Richard played along perfectly.
"Several of the family members brought him in. He wasn't like this at first, Father, but he got worse almost as soon as he was brought into the compound. We had no choice but to cage him."
It wasn't a complete lie, the man had gotten much worse since being brought in. I had to fight to contain my laughter.
"You should have seen what he did to his own daughter," Richard continued, "I'm surprised the girl is still alive."
She would remain alive, I was sure, at least until Richard grew tired of her.
Gentry was listening as he stepped closer to the cage. His eyes took in the feral man, his head struggling to understand what he was seeing. The drug I'd slipped to the businessman had worked better than I'd anticipated. Turning him into a practical monster, the effect was damn near stunning.
Why any person would intentionally ingest such a substance was beyond me. But they did, those addicts seeking their next high, and they were normally found on the side of the road covered in their own blood or that of a loved one.
His eyes catching sight of some strange lump at the bottom of the cage, Gentry jumped back and covered his mouth with his hand, his skin losing all color as he realized what he'd seen.
I had to jump into character once again to play the shocked and concerned priest. "What? What is it?"
Still covering his mouth with one hand, he pointed at the cage with the other. His voice was muffled as he attempted to speak around his trembling fingers. "H - His tongue. I think he bit off his own tongue!"
Bit off, or had it otherwise removed, I thought. Not that it made a difference. Shit, this was going better than I could have dreamed.
My eyes widened with the proper amount of horror, my hand coming down to rest on Gentry's shoulder. "We all need to leave. We can't stay here and watch this. We need -"
"To put that poor man out of his misery," Gentry finished for me.
My fingers gripped tighter over his shoulder. "We should pray over him. Try to relieve him of whatever evil has infected him."
It was my mistake not to consider the area in which I lived before setting up this particular game. Here in rural Appalachia, there were all sorts of threats to avoid. Wild animals on the search for food, coyotes on the hunt for livestock, venomous snakes coiled and ready to strike when you take a wrong step. Most residents understood these dangers. They took steps to protect themselves, often choosing to carry a weapon that would quickly give them the advantage.
Take an armed man, drug him with an amphetamine and then plant him in the face of danger. It would have been a horrible idea if I didn't love the what occurred next so much. Before I could understand what Gentry was reaching behind his back to do, he'd already pulled the gun from the waistband of his jeans, cocked it and pointed it without giving me a second to get one last word out.
The hammer dropped, and so did Mr. Businessman, the loud blast of the gun nearly deafening me.
Good God, how I fought not to fall apart with laughter. Only the true Almighty could have dreamed up such wonderful results.
My jaw dropped in feigned shock, my hand falling away from Gentry's shoulder as I stared down at the dead man in a cage. "What have you done?" I whispered, my soft voice carrying through the room now that the man was no longer screaming.
The .45 shook in his grip, the realization that he'd killed a man sinking deeper into his mind and thoughts. "I -" Gentry looked at me, his gaze pleading and unsure. "He needed to die, Father. What kind of life is that? Possessed? Without his fucking tongue!"
Turning my attention back to the cage, I studied the dead man, the blood, the bits of skull and brain matter now splattered across the cage floor. A grin tugged at my lips, but I fought it back.
"Is this what you brought me here to see, Father? This...this man possessed by evil?"
"No," I answered after a lengthy pause. "I brought you here to see something else. But, now I'm afraid to show you."
In all honesty, Gentry's decision to shoot the poor bastard was the best gift of all. There had always been a chance he wouldn't believe the show, that he would have gone and reported the compound to his sheriff brother. Having killed the man himself, however, he put him in a position where he had no choice but to convince his brother that all of this was real.
"Show me!" he demanded, the gun now held down at his side. With the grip tightly clutched against his palm, the barrel shook so hard that it tapped against his leg. Even Richard was smart enough to keep his distance while an armed man was in such a fragile state.
My next show was through another door, this one far more tame, yet oh so enticing. I couldn't take him there. Not yet. Not until I knew my beautiful girl would be safe.
"You'll need to leave the gun behind, Mr. Holmes. This is a place of God."
Eyes meeting his, I spoke with a neutral tone. The man was shaking so hard, even the lines in his face were doing the tango.
"You said it yourself, Father. We need to fight. And even you have to admit that man was too far gone to have a chance at redemption. You heard your friend there. They'd caught him doing horrible things to his own daughter!"
"Man can be redeemed, Mr. Holmes, for anything."
"It's Gentry!" His voice was bellowing so loud that I had the urge to either cover my ears or cheer in victory. I hoped he didn't stroke out right there in front of me for how high his blood pressure must have been. Maybe I'd given him too much of the amphetamine. Or maybe I'd given him just enough.
"Fine. Gentry," I whispered, holding my hands up between us like I thought he would rush toward me. "But it is not our place to kill these men -"
"Yes, it damn well is! And if my brother was here, he'd tell you the same." Pointing with his gun, he indicated the cage. "It's things like that that are destroying this small town!"
Halle-fucking-lujah. Before long I would have complete participation and control of this once sleepy town. Those crosses in the back of my sanctuary were going to see a lot of use.
"Fine," I said again, "I'll take you to see what I intended to show. But you have to put the gun down. I don't think all those infected with evil have to be killed. I believe a good many can be saved in God's name."
Our argument was important, the mercy I was pretending to show in my responses. At some point in the future, Gentry will remember back to this moment. He would question whether what he did was right. And instead of suspecting my ulterior motive for showing him what I did, he would remember that I was the one who attempted to save lives. That memory would always be in the back of his mind any time he wanted to question my future plans for this town.
The gun was still shaking in his hand, but the mention of the Lord drew his attention. After a few tense seconds, he nodded his head and placed the gun on a counter along the wall. Turning back to me, he demanded, "Take me to see whatever it is.
My head snapped to Richard. "Is Eve still in the adjoining room?"
He nodded, his mouth pulled in a tight line as he fought against his true feelings about the situation. That big son of a bitch wanted to laugh as much as I did.
I knew he wanted to get back to the girl, and without openly saying it, I gave him my permission. "Why don't you get back to your duties for the evening? I can take it from here."
Flashing a snide grin, he schooled his expression before saying goodbye to Gentry and leaving.
"Eve," Gentry said as I approached, "Is she the woman from last night?"
"She is."
"Is she still-?" His voice trailed off before he could finish the thought.
Crossing the room without answering, I flattened my palm against the cool wood of the door leading to where she was being kept. By now, the poor girl was most likely writhing over the floor. Lack of stimulation, light, sound, touch...in her state, it would have driven her close to the brink of temporary insanity.
Drugs are such a wonderful thing.
Twisting to glance over my shoulder at the man who would unknowingly hand me the small town on a silver platter, I forced a frown over my lips, carefully keeping my voice morose on the subject of Eve.
"It will take time with her. She's not as far gone as the man you-"
I allowed my words to die before completing that thought, my expression to wrinkle with regret and horror. "She's not as bad as him, so you have no need for concern."
The crimson tint to his complexion was draining away, his once wide eyes going back to normal. The effects of what I'd given him were deteriorating now that the spike in adrenaline was calming.
"I'm sorry, Father Hayle. I know you didn't want the man killed." His expression dropped, guilt now rolling behind his focused gaze. I would eventually use that guilt to my advantage. But for now, I'd offer sympathy.
"I think you may have been right to do what you did, Gentry. Perhaps I'm the one who needs to realize when a person's life is to dire to save."
He smiled, seemingly appeased by my hesitant agreement.
"We should keep going. It's getting late and you have a long drive ahead of you."
Opening the door, I flipped on the light, the illumination flooding the room and highlighting the small woman seated in a single chair positioned in the center of the small space. Her long brown hair was disheveled, her green eyes piercing when they finally opened and flicked to mine. Like Gentry, the pupils were large, two black pools reflecting my image back to me.
I wasn't sure what it was about her particular features that drew me to her, that reached out and called to me with the pull of something familiar. In many ways I loved her more deeply than I'd loved any other - but that emotion was cut through with hatred and deep-seated anger.
It irritated me when she wouldn't shut up - and I loathed her when she was so quiet that she wouldn't speak out against anything.
Why did her silence affect me more? Why did her quiet acceptance of an abusive hand make me want to strangle the life from her body?
I wanted to possess her and cast her aside, protect her and punish her just the same. My power over her was a power over something buried in my past, something I knew subconsciously, but couldn't bring to the surface.
The only thing I could state with utter certainty was that now that she'd been used for the purpose of chasing off my brother, no man besides me would ever touch her again.
Eve trembled against her seat, her teeth chattering and clacking together, her breath still a hissed whisper over her lips. Glancing down at her hands, I saw them clenched at the sides of her seat, letting go only to rub over the skirt covering her thighs.
Opening her mouth as if to speak, she lost her voice to see Gentry walk in beside me. Fear shot through the green of her eyes, confusion and need dancing in to become a toxic combination.
"She looks normal to me," Gentry commented as he stepped closer.
I didn't bother looking at him, my eyes locked on a woman that stole the breath from my lungs. She was so thoroughly compliant, so perfectly created for a man like me. I guess that was only fitting considering I was the God who designed her.
"Come here, Eve. I'd like to introduce you to a friend of the family."
Pushing to her feet, her gait was uncoordinated and off balance, but she eventually found her way over, stopping within feet of where we stood watching.
Gentry looked over the tiny woman, his gaze focused and attentive, his throat working visibly as he studied her behavior and mannerisms that would appear normal to the naked eye - but odd once closely seen.
"Why is she breathing like that?"
Clasping my hands behind my back, I shook my head. "I'm unsure. It's better than it was when she first came to us. The treatment has been working."
"Like what I witnessed last night? The whipping?"
"It's a part of it, yes. The punishment. But what I'm finding with this particular problem is that no matter what I do, no matter who I introduce to her, she's oversexualized, ready and willing if you know what I mean."
His eyes snapped to her again, and if I weren't mistaken, Gentry was considering what she would be willing to do for him.
"Let's test my theory, shall we?"
He nodded his head, swallowing deep again. His eyes were unblinking, his body tense.
"Take off your clothes, Eve," I instructed.
She didn't hesitate to unbutton the dress she wore, didn't care who stood in the room watching. A grin slid across her full lips promising everything I could want and more.
The dress slid from her shoulders, lower until it was a pool of cloth at her feet.
Stepping forward, I was careful not to touch her skin with my body, careful not to give any indication that she would do this for no other man but me. "Do you feel no shame for being naked in front of a stranger? Doesn't it bother you that a man looks at you with lust in his eyes?"
She trembled at my closeness, her eyes closing as my breath brushed over her cheek. Standing behind her where Gentry couldn't see, I trailed my finger down her spine, stopping when I'd reached the small of her back. She bucked against my touch, greedy for any small sensation.
"Would you allow any man to touch you? Any man at all?"
Tears welled in her eyes, glistening against the green. But still, she played her part well, knew not to question me, talk back, or even use my name. I'd instructed her earlier to be compliant, to allow Gentry to fuck her if that's what he wished to do. It was just one more way to drag him in, to lock him in place under my control. His guilt over his own actions would render him obliged to every future request I made of him.
"Yes."
Flicking my gaze up at the man standing before her, I welcomed him closer. "Would you like to see for yourself how deep her lust has infected her?"
Nodding his head, he stepped closer, his eyes roaming her body with obvious want, his hand reaching out to run a finger over her exposed breast. Eve didn't move away, didn't flinch or act with shame as he palmed the weight of her breast, his lips parting and his body tensing more with the carnal need he was feeling.
Anger erupted inside me. Anger and a overriding need to push him away. It had been my intent all along to allow his lust to take over, to tempt him into acting in a manner a good Catholic husband would never abide, to then blame her demon as the cause when his guilt set in. I would have claimed it had infected him due to her proximity, to illustrate how easy it was for the madness to spread through the town, but I found the sight of someone else touching her maddening.
Not just maddening...I wanted to wrench his hand off his damn body, stick it in a blender, and feed it to him as a lesson of what happens when you touch something that's mine.
Why hadn't I had the same reaction when the hand touching her body had been Jacob's?
Regardless of the question, I decided against the show, decided that his ease in murdering another person was enough for one night. Snatching at his wrist, I yanked his fingers away from her skin, pulling back so hard, that he had to move with me just to keep his shoulder from being pulled from the socket.
"Careful, Gentry. You are a married man are you not? Her lust is infecting you and you’re allowing it without question. This is what I mean when I’ve said how easily the evil spreads." With an ominous whisper I reminded him just how far he'd stepped out of line. It would have to be enough. If he'd done anything else to her, I would have killed him.
He winced at the remark.
Even that small contact had been enough for him to consider himself a sinner. Even more than pulling a trigger and ending a man's life, he would regret his desire to fuck her. It was a central theme through all religions, I'd long ago realized: that the desire for sex was somehow more of a crime than taking another human's life.
"We should leave," I suggested, struggling to maintain my composure.
After clearing his throat, he agreed with a clipped nod.
Turning to lead him from the room, I only looked back at Eve as he stepped through the doorway. My eyes scanned down her body, coming up to meet her eyes and I wondered about the odd emotions I was feeling.