ELIJAH
I arrived at the compound about to explode from the rage that was a seething, rolling inferno inside me. Who the fuck thought they had the right to take Eve away from the parish without me? What son of a bitch was going to die for daring to touch something that was mine? I hoped it was one of the women, hoped like hell it hadn’t been some stupid brother that thought Eve could be touched by another male hand, but when I walked inside and questioned the family, they all looked at me with confusion behind their expressions, not one of them knowing where my wife had gone.
Richard had already walked the young girl to the cabin to assist her in the exorcism of the demon, so I was left alone to wander the compound and come to one conclusion. It wasn’t just Eve that was missing, I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of her brother, Joshua, either.
Winding my way through the empty halls, I was in route to the men’s section with thoughts of murder echoing in my head. That stupid little fuck couldn’t possibly have made it far with Eve. I knew my wife well enough to know she would fight him the entire way as soon as she realized he wasn’t bringing her back. Joshua didn’t have a car, didn’t even know how to drive one if he did, so the only way he could escape would be on foot. He would have no clue where he was going either. I’d ensured that by keeping the family at the compound rather than allow them to travel freely around the county. I would find that son of a bitch and I would drag him back here by his damn eyelids so that he could answer for daring to act against me.
Reaching his small bedroom, I opened the door and looked around at the bare minimum furnishings. A simple bed, a cross on the wall, a stack of clothes all the same style and color that the entire family wore. There was nothing out of place, nothing surprising, but that didn’t stop me from tearing the room apart. After going through everything that was out in the open, I flipped his mattress of the bed and found the Bible that lay beneath.
My eyes locked on the book as every curse word I knew flew from my lips. Snatching it from the hidden place he’d kept it tucked, I flipped through the pages to find small notes written into the margins, notes that revealed that by reading these words, Joshua had figured out that everything I’d taught had been bullshit intended to elicit fear and judgment.
More fury arced through me, the sudden influx painful and barely contained. I wanted to break every fucking thing in this room just to release some of the anger I was feeling. Doing so would only draw the attention of the family, and I couldn’t afford for them to see me lose control. Pacing with the Bible in my hands, I took steadying breaths in an attempt to figure out how I would get my wife back and bring Joshua to his knees.
A thought chased through my mind, just the merest whisper, that perhaps Joshua hadn’t been alone. And when that little tidbit began speaking louder, I realized quickly that I had to find my wife and end this bullshit before everything I’d worked for was ruined.
Dropping the Bible to the floor, I kicked it so hard that it bounced off the walls, some of the pages fluttering as they tore away from the bindings. Setting off down the hall, I ignored the family members that I shoved out of my way and slammed the door to my office when I was alone inside. I picked up the handset of the phone so quickly that the cradle fell from the desk and crashed to the floor.
The phone on the other side rang only a few times before a gruff voice answered, surprised that I’d called before our nightly meeting.
“Father Hayle,” Sheriff Holmes answered, “why are you calling?”
“We have a problem, James. How big of one, I’m not sure, but it needs your immediate attention.”
Grunting into the phone, he must have been moving around to get to a quieter place. Behind him I could hear the voices of police officers and secretaries, the typical clitter clatter of an office space as people bustled about their duties on their computers and others machines. A door clicked closed and his end went silent except his deep baritone voice speaking through the receiver.
“What kind of problem?”
“My wife is missing. Eve, the woman I cleansed so that I could marry her. You know who I’m talking about.”
He didn’t answer immediately, but eventually the deep drawl of his voice refilled the line. “Do you know where she might have gone?”
Shaking my head, I realized he couldn’t see me. I started pacing the floor of the office, not giving a damn that the cradle of the phone was dragging along on the ground behind me. “I have no clue. I know that her brother, Joshua is also missing. I also suspect they had help. Neither of them could have made it far on foot without being noticed.”
More silence fell between us before he asked another question. “What kind of help do you think they had? Are we talking normal shit or something spiritual?”
A bark of laughter burst from my lips but there wasn’t anything funny about that sound. “Remember when I told you about my twin brother, Jericho, the evil son of a bitch that tried to pretend like he was me when we were kids? He may have found me, James, and if so, if he has been watching, then he knows that Eve is my wife. I fear for her safety and her purity if that evil asshole got his hands on her. I need every man you have out looking for my wife. And if you find Joshua or even my brother, you need to tell your men to bring them to me alive. I’ll stay at the compound so there’s no confusion. It’s like I told you before, he’s not just my brother, he’s my identical twin. If he’s with them, I’m sure they could walk down the street without anybody blinking an eye or knowing the difference.”
James breathed out heavily. “I’ll put the men on it that I can afford to lose right now. I can’t make it too apparent that I’m working with you at the compound. You know that. I can turn a blind eye, Father Hayle, and I helped convince the town that what you’re doing is necessary when faced with the kind of evil we’re battling, but I’m not immune to the County’s regulations either. The men I bring you aren’t recorded as having been arrested and I don’t need some curious son of a bitch lifting rocks and figuring out that I’ve been doing things under their nose. You get me? I have a few men I can trust and they know this county inside and out. If anybody is going to find your wife, it’ll be them. Hopefully, they haven’t gotten far.”
My hand clenched around the phone and I had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming. “Thank you, James,” I spat out, “I appreciate the kindness. I don’t want any harm coming to my wife, and you and I both know this is the evil striking back at us. We have those fucking demons on the run and now they’re out to get both of us. If I were you, I’d worry about the women in your household as well. You may want to tell them to go over to your brother’s until you can get home to protect them. Don’t forget about what happened to the nuns only a few months ago. We wouldn’t want the same fate to fall on your wife or daughters.”
James bit out a curse. “Yeah, I hear what you’re saying. I’ll send the men out now, and I’ll tell my family to get over to Gentry’s. Thanks for the warning, Father. I’ll let you know when my men have located Eve and her brother.”
The line went dead and I dropped the handset of the phone to the ground, kicking it against the wall much like I had the Bible in Joshua’s room. Those slimy sons of bitches better find my wife before I completely lose it and fly off the fucking handle.