“I-I...” I struggled against the bite of pain in my wrist.
“One more word, and I’ll have your head on a pike,” William threatened. “I will make an example out of you if I must.”
“William!” Gloria exclaimed.
She and Mama gathered around us, closing in tight, as William pressed the ring onto my finger.
The stranger sauntered toward the altar leisurely, jaw clenched. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
“What is a stranger like you going to do about it! She is nothing more than spoiled goods anyhow. What is her value to you?” William barked. To the priest, he demanded, “Say the fucking words.”
The priest, still bearing his holy object, clambered down from the altar, much to the displeasure of William, and approached the stranger. “I know what you are and violence in the holy sanctum is strictly forbidden.” He flashed the idol into the man’s face. “In the name of thoserevered be—”
The man grabbed the priest, shoving his head aside to reveal his wrinkled neck. Long, ghastly teeth protruded from his soft lips and plunged deep into the priest’s flesh, nearly ripping him in two.
In a flash, my dreams became nightmares.
Our congregation gasped, panic rising, with bodies scattering to the fringes of the church and screams echoing in the sanctum.
The man dropped the priest’s lifeless body, blood pooling, as empty eyes rolled toward us.
Blood coated the strange beast’s mouth, his hands stained crimson as he tilted his head toward the sky to reveal to the nonbelievers the sin he committed for all to witness.
Screams erupted, and the doors of the church were thrown back. Many rushed onto the street, crying out for anyone to save them from the hellish beast inside.
William dragged me toward the back door of the church, only to be faced with the man blocking the exit. “You will not have her! You—you monster!”
With speed so blinding, the man snapped his arm, twisting it as his screams filled the drenched sanctum.
I pressed shaky hands to the wall, a coughing fit bubbling to the surface, needles scraping my insides, while terror further climbed. Bile and blood rose in my throat, my legs finally giving out.
Tears escaped as I wheezed out, “I’m not ready.”
With bloodied fingers, the creature tilted my chin, and the terrified reflection of me stared back within his pupils. “Please—I-I—don’t want to die.” I coughed into mygloved sleeves.
He took my hand and pressed it to his lips, cradling it like before. His mouth opened and then closed.
Miriam ran up behind him and struck him in the chest with the athame, the slick knife sliding into soft flesh.
“Leave my sister alone!” she cried, withdrawing the knife with a sickening squelch.
The man’s head fell to the blooming wound under red fabric before he chuckled. Swiftly, he gripped Miriam by the throat, her blue eyes wide and filled with absolute terror.
I trembled, mouth dry, transfixed on Miriam’s ashen face. “No, please, let her go. I’ll do anything.” My voice cracked as the metallic taste coated my mouth. “Just let her go.Please.”
He regarded me, then released her.
Miriam scurried next to William, throwing herself onto him. She sobbed into his chest, which he did not react to. He clutched his arm, his muscles tensing, scowling either from pain or anger.
No one dared to come any closer to the stranger and me.
“Come closer,” the stranger said.
I obeyed. My legs shook with every step until I was standing inches from him. I braced myself, eyes shut tight, as I expected him to do the same to me as he did the priest, draining me dry upon the altar.
I was startled instead by the touch of careful fingers against my face, tucking a loose strand of black behind my ear and twirling the end of it in front ofme. Cloves and spice mingled with the austere stench of death, pressing down on the tightness of my chest.
“Don’t be afraid.” He leaned in, a hand brushing dark curls back, exposing my neck.
