Another test. He was making sure that I was telling the truth, but I would always tell him the truth. Always.
“What I’m sure Garrett Masters didn’t know was who they truly were, although I’m sure it was simply because he wasn’t told. The price of this game is stupidity, and the Leaders do that quite well. The Delepski’s had once worked for us,” he revealed, that lilt slowly coming back.
Every ounce of my attention was locked onto his words. Worked for who? For Azrael and his family? No, that meant they were a part of his world, and I couldn’t imagine someone from my world being a part of his world. Those pieces didn’t align.
“I was young and assumed they worked for us because of certain aspects of their business, when in reality, it was due to others. During a short assignment, I joined the mountains and his little fox as they cleared out that church. We killed the entire congregation. They were there for diamonds, but me? I was there to simply spill their blood on their ‘sacred grounds’.”
I felt that thing between my legs flutter, my heart following in suit.
“We went after them for one reason, when in reality it was for another, and we left them alive because….” He drew out the ‘s’, humming all the way. “I suppose we were feelinggenerousthat day. I thought it strange, but who am I to question the orders of ourGod?”
My breathing had picked up slightly as his words grew more feral.
“Months went by, and I continued to attend, things were as quiet as they could have been until the mountains fell for a wilting flower in need of water. They always target theweak,” he purred. “Targeting them in hopes to weaken us. I haven’t solved that piece of the puzzle yet. Why them?Whythem?”
I settled deeper onto the floor, spreading my legs a little more, hardly breathing now.
“Hiring guns to taunt and tease and kill just to throw us off our tracks, not realizing that they had already let a snake into theirholy building. Tick tock,” he bit. “And then they did something asstupidasstealing her in the night. Weeks turned into months before their branch mysteriously caught fire, but the damage to the razor-sharp wild rose had already been done.”
They had hurt her. She hadn’t been a Favorite; she had been family. They hadhurt her. I felt that burning ice grow in my chest. Why would they hurt her? That wasn’t fair!That wasn’t fair!
“We couldn’t let that go unpunished, could we, little sinner?” he asked threateningly.
I felt my head move. The motion was quick, a brief shake, my neck tensing, my teeth clamping together.
“You’re right,” he murmured, something like pride in his voice. “We killed them all, but the church in Moscow still managed to rebuild. Why? Because I had beendistracted. Distracted by the request of the assignment. Distracted because I had been ordered to let them live. I missed enough of them, and they rebuilt their institution in the same city where we just opened a new program.”
Program?
“The seventh church is less than a year old now, and they couldn’t attend because they were still rebuilding, but I’m surePastor Masters made sure they were aware of the discussions that happened while they were away.”
He did, I knew that for a fact. I tapped my finger, telling him so.
“Ah,” he sang. “Good. It isn’t just the churches though, is it, little sinner. We’ve got many branches too. Daylighters walking around the streets of this world, spreading their good message in order to find more like-minded people. It’s funny,” he went on. “How closely things align when given the same blueprint.”
I heard the shuffle, the click, and then the ticking of that watch, and I felt my heart skip.
“No, please don’t leave, I want more time.”
“Time will never be our friend unless we force it to be,” he said to himself.
Click.
“You’ve done well today, little sinner. Next time you feel the need to paint, do so in your bedroom between the hours of 2pm and 5pm, hide your art under the bed.” I heard him stand. “No one will find it there.”
A moment later, those branches slid around my jaw, forcing my head up and my eyes closed.
“Things will get worse now. The spades will feel threatened, their spears will come out, their ranks will close around the kingdom, locking out anyone they feel doesn’t belong. They will hide their secrets far deeper than ever before, but they will always need their transporter. Deliverer of theirmerchandise.It’s their addiction, doll, and that’s what will get them killed.”
If I was supposed to feel fear, I didn’t think it came. The only thing that sang within me was that excitement. Not the same kind that I had felt last week, but something much heavier. Something filled with the same electricity that he had brought in with him today for our session.
Whatever he needed from me to complete his plan, I would give him. I would give him everything if it meant he always came back. He had given me glimpses of his little world and I wanted it all.
28
Azrael
February 20th, 2023
