Page 100 of Her Soul for Revenge

I’d been thrown down alive. They’d throw her down alive too. There was still time to stop the sacrifice.

45

I kept off the trail, sprinting through the trees. I had my knife out, at the ready — God, I was a fool to come out here without a gun. But I was going to lay low. I knew what I had to do. Once they threw Victoria down, I’d wait for them to leave, then bring her out. What the hell I’d do with her then, I didn’t know. I’d always thought I’d kill her without hesitation. I’dtriedto kill her, years ago, and gotten locked up for it. I wanted her dead.

But not like this. Not when I’d done the same shameful, hypocritical shit as the rest of those cowards. I’d watched them cut her and done nothing. As much as I hated her, as much as I wanted to put a knife to her throat and bleed her out, I wasn’t going to let her vile God have what It wanted.

I wasn’t like them. I was better than them. I was better than watching horror in silence.

I wasn’t going to let the Libiri succeed. I wasn’t going to stand by while they pleased the Deep One with even more suffering.

I was soaked to the bone, but I was close: numerous talismans dangled over my head, suspended on bits of knotted twine, spinning in the wind. It was truly storming now — the rain coming in torrents, thunder rumbling. I could see white cloaks ahead, stark between the trees.

The mushrooms covered nearly every inch of ground here. I crouched down, creeping slowly forward, crushing them underfoot with every step. They released a pungent scent of rot, squishing disgustingly under my shoes.

“Come on, Zane,” I whispered to myself. “Find me. Fucking find me so we can kill these bastards.”

If he could get here in time, we had all of them in one place. We could take them all out, we could end this and destroy them all.

I kept to the shadows as I tried to get into a position to see past the sea of white cloaks. They all had their masks on: bone white stag skulls, the eyes black pits. It was haunting how still they stood, how calm they were, all gathered around a place so drenched in evil it made my skin crawl just to be close to it. Had they convinced themselves this feeling of disgust was beautiful, like they had convinced themselves suffering was noble?

I was thankful for the rain and thunder muffling my footsteps as I crawled through the underbrush. The smell of rot and death was unbearable, thick in my nose and cloying in my throat. Finally, I could see Jeremiah standing before the open maw of the mine shaft. He wore his mask too, and Victoria was on her knees at his feet. She was bleeding, her shirt ripped away to make room for the awful, ragged marks cut into her skin. They’d removed her gag, and although her voice was raw, she still screamed at them.

“You can’t do this to me! I know you,I fucking know all of you! You’re wrong, you’re all fucking wrong!”

“Keep carrying on, Sister, and we’ll start to think you’re defying God,” Jeremiah said.

“Fuck this! Fuck all of you! Dad would have never let this happen —”

“Oh, you don’t think so?” He knelt down, and Victoria jerked away from his hand. “Dad told us since we were in the cradle that one day, one of us would go. You’reblessed, Victoria.” It was hard to tell with the mask and the roar of the rain, but I could have sworn I could hear laughter in Jeremiah’s voice.

He knew it was all a lie, but he carried it on because it gave him power. It allowed him to stand there proudly with his sister in the mud. It allowed him to feel untouchable. My hand tightened on the knife. It didn’t matter what God he served. It didn’t matter if he thought he was blessed or chosen or whatever other bullshit he concocted.

He was going to die like his father.

“Is she not blessed?” he yelled toward the crowd as he stood. “Who among you would rush forward to offer yourself to the Deep One? Who here isn’t a coward before God?”

There was a beat, then another, and for a moment, I thought no one would step forward. I hoped I was about to watch them all turn their backs on this. But then…

“I would!” A white cloak stepped forward. Faceless, nameless. “I would give myself to God in a heartbeat. I would be honored to be so blessed —”

They didn’t get to finish. Jeremiah sunk the knife into their chest up to the hilt. He caught them as they fell to their knees, holding them close. “Then you’re blessed indeed. The Deep One has blessed you. The Deep One will take you into eternity.”

Not one of them moved. There were a few fervent murmurs of “All is as it should be” as Jeremiah dragged the bleeding acolyte toward the mine. He stood before the shaft and pulled off his mask, holding up his victim with his fists knotted in their cloak.

“God! Hear me!” His voice cracked as he screamed. “I offer you a soul, unbidden! I offer a soul in devotion, in worship! I ask for nothing except your blessing!”

He shoved his victim into the dark. There wasn’t even a scream, and the rain covered the sound of them hitting the water below. It was as if they simply fell into an abyss, and would be falling for eternity.

Victoria was weeping now, shaking her head. Jeremiah’s cronies kept her from crawling away.

Jeremiah spread his arms before the dark. He was breathing heavily, his white suit stained with blood. He closed his eyes, tipped back his head, and yelled, “Deep One! Bless me!”

It was as though everyone there collectively held their breath. Waiting...watching. I stayed low next to the trunk of the tree, but movement at my feet made me look down.

Mushrooms, sprouting up rapidly around my feet. A shudder went up my back, like a cold finger trailing along my spine. The wind howled around me, and with its howling came something horrifyingly familiar, a voice I’d heard too many times before.

But this time, It wasn’t calling my name.