“NO! We will follow procedure, as we have always done. God will protect us. We are in the right here. Now, go across and grab the one who is connected to all this.” That voice… He was pretty sure it belonged to Father Samuel—his torturer.
Through the steam, Foxx watched them walk out of the hallway across the room.
“We should have just left that one alone! None of this would be happening if Father Donovan hadn’t been stupid enough to go after a hunter,” the priest who seemed to have a brain snapped.
Foxx held back his smirk on hearing that. It sounded like the Guild was stirring shit up. Here’s hoping they found this place in time.
“Wait! They seem too awake…” one man said, sounding confused.
“The pool needs to be refreshed, that is all. Now go, grab the one we need. We will get information from him this time!” Mr. Torturer snapped.
Foxx had to say, these fuckers were pretty stupid, loudly talking about their plans as if they weren’t here. At least he now knew the hunters were active. Fuck…if only Tony had allowed them to be involved…
The child started to cling tighter to him as one of the priests entered the water. Gently, Foxx extracted himself from her hold. And with a small smile, he gave her a slight push towards one of the female vampires who was sitting up nearby. Melody looked upset but went without complaint.
Foxx swiftly moved closer to the edge, near where he’d been before. He moved fast enough that he was sure they barely noticed the movement, the dense steam working in Foxx’s favor.
It was time to show them the error of their ways. And really, if the fuckers were stupid enough to send someone his way while he was unbound and moving, what happens next would be their own fault. Sitting there acting weak, he dropped into his bloodline powers. A smile slipped onto his face, right as the priest was within reaching distance. Without warning, Foxx yanked the man out of the water and into his arms, uncaring as the water droplets burned his skin.
The priest cried out, but it was too late. Without mercy, he snapped the center thread and drained the man dry. Father Samuel reacted, screaming commands.
Seconds later, rain started to fall down, but it was too late. The man was already dead. While the vampires around him cried out in pain, the rain burning them, Foxx didn’t react.
As the blessed water continued to rain down, he locked eyes with the priest who had tortured him. With a smile on his face, instead of turning the man in his arms from husk to ash, he ripped his throat out with his teeth. Blood sprayed across his face, soaking into the pure white gown they’d put him in. Foxx spat out the blood and piece of flesh he’d bitten off, before shoving the body away from him into the pool.
“Come, if you dare! But you better be prepared to die!” he roared. Pushing to his feet, he threw his head back and laughed as the blood spread through the water, tainting it. Father Samuel looked angry and shocked.
His torturer’s shock faded and a fierce glare replaced it. Foxx wasn’t surprised when the steam in the room increased, nor when pools around them began to swirl. They were cleaning the water.
Within seconds, the steam became almost a solid wall, only broken up by the rain that was still coming down. He could hear the others behind him collapse to the ground, one by one.
And it wasn’t that Foxx didn’t feel it. He did. With each moment that passed, his body weakened more and more, each breath becoming increasingly labored.
But still…Foxx remained standing. He remained laughing. Because even with the pain and the weakness, he refused to fall before them. As the life energy of the priest he killed buzzed through his body, Foxx promised himself then that no matter how weak he became, he would kill any who dared to come near him.
Steam remaining thick, the water shifted again, splashing up violently at the speed it was moving. If all that wasn’t bad enough, chants began to rise up from the priests. It burned, inside and out. The crushing sensation was nearly unbearable. His body was covered in injuries at this point. Some, like the burns on his feet, worsening the longer he remained standing. The scriptures on the stone had begun to sear his skin hours ago. But still, he held on, his gaze never breaking away from the one priest.
All the others had fallen, but Foxx, while no longer laughing, persisted on. He wasn’t sure how long he stood there, locked in this painful battle of wills…but eventually, the rain stopped, as did the prayers. The fury in his torturer’s eyes was clear. Father Samuel sent him one last look before storming off with the other priests. Locking eyes with him, he made sure the message was clear; ‘death to all who crossed’.
The minute they were out of sight, Foxx collapsed to the floor, gasping in pain. He flinched at the soft touch of another, only relaxing when he realized it was the child. She crawled into his arms, and he pulled her close to his chest. Holding her up off the cursed stone, Foxx willed some of the energy he had stolen from the dead priest to her.
Melody began to sob into his chest, in both relief and sorrow.
* * *
Tony pushedinto the small office in the monastery and found Harlow standing there, wiping his hands off on a rag looking smug, but otherwise completely relaxed. He wasn’t sure why he was bothering to try to clean them, the man’s hands at this point were coated in dried blood. The only thing preventing him from actually looking like he’d just tortured and killed a few people was the fact that he was dressed in all black. Tony could see the stains though. It would be easy to miss the dark splatters on his boots, and the darker spots on his sweater and jeans.
The priest, on the other hand…his white color was soaked red, his face a mass of bruises…part of his ear was missing. And he had a few missing limbs here or there, all…wrapped up, blood already staining the white bandages. The fact that therewerebandages…either meant that Harlow had done it to keep him alive longer…or because he got what he wanted from him.
Well…at least he was alive, which was more than all the ones before him could say. How much longer he’d survive without actual medical attention…Tony wasn’t sure, and he couldn’t bring himself to care much either. These fuckers were monsters.
“I know where they are keeping them,” Harlow announced.
“Good…let’s prepare and head out,” Tony said with a grunt.
And to think, it only took six dead priests to get to this point…not too bad, he supposed. Could have been worse.
“There is nothing to prepare for,” Harlow said with a growl. “We are all here, and not a single shot was fired. It’s an hour away. Let’s stop fucking around and just go.”
