My brow furrowed.
For a moment, my heart stopped beating. I flinched as his hand fell on my cheek, his thumb stroking my cheek bone.
I eyed my bedside table. My gun. I needed my gun.
I squeezed my eyes shut.Fuck! This isn’t real. It’s just a nightmare. I’ll wake up soon and Enoch will hold me. Enochwill calm me down.
The fear on my face didn’t go unnoticed.
“It’s okay, my love. You’ll be forgiven. I promise. You can still be redeemed.”
His voice, he sounded so earnest and…desperate. I swallowed, opening my eyes to meet his blue stare.
“You don’t know how long I’ve prayed for this moment. I thought you were dead. The blood in the woods—my love, I thought you were gone forever.” He sighed and I swallowed, my heart pounding so hard in my chest I was certain he could hear it. “You don’t know the things I’ve done, the lengths I’ve gone to find you.”
A cold sweat broke across the back of my neck.Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
He closed his eyes to sigh before smiling at me. “But you’re here now, and all will be well. This was a test from God. A test of our faith and our willingness to obey. He’s-he’s given me a vision. Rewarded me for my faith and I know how to break this curse.”
My hand trailed to my thigh, and I dug my nails in, the pain sending a momentary jolt of euphoria through my body. I dug deeper.Wake up. Wake up. Wake up, Shiloh!
“I’m sorry it took so long for me to find you,” he breathed, his forehead landing against mine. He sucked in a deep breath. “Please forgive me. Forgive me for the things I’ve done to get you back. I’ll accept the punishment, just know that I don’t regret any of it. We’ll both be cleansed of our sins, be baptized and made new.”
I could feel the blood on my fingers as I curled them deeper still into my flesh. But the nightmare never ended.
“Livy, tell me you’ve not hardened your heart after all this time.”
I swallowed, my mind racing to find the right response.
“N-no. I-I’m so happy you found me.”
The words tasted like acid on my tongue, but he believed them, his lips crashing against my own. My body went rigid as I forced myself not to move, not to react.
Why wasn’t this nightmare ending?
He pulled a breath away, sighing against my mouth.
“How? How did you find me?” I whispered.
He sniffled and one of his tears fell against my cheek. “God’s timing. I never gave up hope. I never believed that you had died. And I was right. God finally revealed to me the truth. I've been searching for you since the night you left, I was worried that you had been taken, but I realized that it had become too much. The curse. It had become to much for you to bear and you returned to the outside world. The demons inside of you must have convinced you of it, I'm sure. But I finally broke down and hired someone to search DMV databases and they found your picture. I know it took me so long to find you, but I’m here now.”
My confusion was mistaken for fear as he continued, “Don’t be afraid. I’m not angry, my love. I know that the demons inside of you couldn’t be controlled before.”
This has to be a dream.
“I know it was hard,” he said, his thumb stroking my cheek in way that made my stomach knot. “I know that this was all a test from God. A test of our faith and our willingness to obey. He’s-he’s given me a vision. I know now how to break this curse.”
He smiled with reckless hope, holding my face closer to his. “My love, I know now what we need to do. I know how to free you from the demons you’ve been enslaved to. We canhave our family we’ve been praying for. At last. We will have our children.”
Something about the way he spoke was different. I couldn’t brush off the fact that if this was real like it felt like it was, his tone, his eyes, the obsession with me hadn’t died in the last three years. It’d somehow gotten worse.
He suddenly released my face, rising from the floor to pull back the comforter.
“Let us start this journey made new. Let us cleanse you before we fly home.”
I released my hold on my flesh, curling my fingers into my fist before he removed the blanket.
No. The bathtub. No.
