But I knew he cared. I could feel it. Feel the pride wafting from his skin, feel the shift in his soul. He was happy.
I made him happy.
Mr. Nasson shrugged. “Oh, you know, the usual. She was trouble, always breaking the rules, never doing what was required of her. I like a good fight, but I like obedience more, and dealing with a Favorite, even the Blessed One, who can’t seem to go a day without a lashing isn’t something I want to deal with. Although, you might not feel the same,” he chuckled.
I didn’t have to look over to know his smile had sharpened. Azrael straightened his spine. “If I wanted a dog, I would have gone to the pound,” he answered. “And isn’t it just like someone of this foundation to talk down on something after he lost it, but then again, I suppose you can’t be a good sheep without spreading false testimony the moment things don’t go your way, hmm? Good day, Mr. Nasson.”
I matched his steps, moving away from the man, uncaring of what he said about me. The only person I wanted to impress now was Azrael. The rumors Thomas spread about me, the talk around the church? I didn’t care. I was Azrael’s now. How they felt about me didn’t matter as much as it had before.
“Good job, little sinner,” I heard him hum when we were out of ear shot. “He did have tar in his soul.”
I felt the smile touch my lips then. I knew I was going to be good at this, and now I knew what the tar looked like. It would be far easier finding it now.
~ ~ ~
The service was different than Pastor Masters’ services. It was still out of the Good Book, but it wasn’t as abrasive. Pastor Julias talked more in suggestions rather than absolutions, but the people listened all the same. Intently and willing to die on the fact that the words in their book were true.
They didn’t sing today, which I was a little disappointed by because I so desperately wanted to hear him sing, but I also liked watching the people too.
They all acted sogood. As if they were God’s perfect little warriors, but their Back Hall doors looked just like the ones in my church, and at one point during the service, Pastor Julias dismissed the children for a ‘kids program’, and they went right through those very doors.
I had watched after them until the last smiling child disappeared before my attention returned to Pastor Julias, my eyes hard. I didn’t know who the Leaders of this church were. I didn’t know who their sons were, so there was no way for me to tell who was waiting for them down that hall or what they would do once the doors were shut.
And there was nothing I could do to stop it from happening.
Still, I couldn’t stop thinking about it as we sat there and listened to the Pastor preach. What were they putting those kids in? What stories were they telling them to make them feel safe while they stroked their cocks to images of them? Where were the parents that sold them to the church? Were they smiling? Happy that they didn’t have to worry about taking care of their children anymore? Were they out spending the money they had gotten from their heftydonation? Had they disappeared out of the city forever or were they sitting in the congregation today, uncaring that their children would forever be changed.
When the Pastor dismissed us, the children were still in the Back Hall. People started getting up, turning to their friends, and my eyes were still on that door.
“We can’t stop what’s happening now,” Azrael said softly in my ear, “but their reckoning will come.”
I kept my hands in my lap and very subtly spelled the word out.“KI.D.S.”
“They will be shattered in ways that might never heal, but they will be alive, allowed to choose just as you are.” He stood. “We need to talk to one last person before we leave.”
Judge Ruiz.
I followed his motions, stepping behind him when the crowd of people became too much for me to remain by his side. Every eye I looked into, they all had tar. They were laughing and jovial as if their children were not in the Back Hall right now being watched and recorded. As if it wasn’t something to be worried about, and why would they be? Until Azrael walked through the front doors of my church, they had had nothing to fear.
It took us a few minutes to find him, to wait until he was done with the conversation he was having, but eventually, he excused himself and approached us, probably because of me. That was the excuse of many who came up to us. They all wanted to see the Blessed One. The one everyone coveted. They couldn’t help themselves.
“Mr. Thorin,” Judge Ruiz greeted. “I heard you were visiting. How is your new marriage going?”
“Fine,” he answered. “We’ve decided to visit a few different churches for the next several weeks, see how they’re run.”
“All about the same, I assume,” he replied, sounding almost bored, “but I’ve been meaning to get in contact with you anyway, so I’m glad you’ve come. Pastor Masters said you were a transporter for the whole district.”
Meaning all the churches in the country. It was common knowledge, and a perfect excuse as to why he had been gone so often over the years. If he had been on other missions, being a transporter allowed him to be gone, but I had wondered where the people he had transported ended up. I knew he couldn’t save them all, but I also knew he had to have saved some of them. He was Azrael, he wouldn’t have let them all go.
“I am,” he answered coolly.
“Great. Are you free tomorrow? I need help transporting someone.”
“One person?” Azrael thought about it. “The price would be high.”
“How about in return, I’ll give both you and your Favorite free entrance to my new museum.”
I went very still. A museum?
