Dizziness and euphoria swamped Pippa, and she swayed. Her muscles started to relax one by one.
“Interesting.” Isaac removed his leg and settled her back against his chest. “I aimed for a muscle, which would take around five minutes to have an effect. Looks like I hit your vein instead.”
What? She tried to blink. The interior of the van was warm and cozy. She didn’t feel any pain. What was happening? “Drugs?” she managed to gasp.
“Heroin,” Isaac said, his mouth close to her ear.
She chilled. He wasn’t like Malcolm. Mal was better. Much. Where was he? “Let-let me go.” She couldn’t move. Her body felt like dead weight, and her head lolled on her neck.
“No.” Isaac opened his knees, and she fell down onto the floor, still enfolded by him. But now he could see over her head. “My beautiful creatures sent from God, I love you all so much.” He nodded. “April, please hand out the sustenance.”
April opened a mint tin and took a pill before passing it on to the next woman.
“What is that?” Pippa slurred.
“Courage, and something to help us all relax,” Isaac said, his voice deepening in the way she remembered from childhood. “You don’t need any.” He chuckled at his own joke. “What you do today is in God’s name. You’re fighting His fight, and you will be rewarded in Heaven.”
Her mother smiled, but the happiness didn’t quite reach her eyes.
The van hit a pothole and jostled everyone inside. Pippa’s mom fell sideways and quickly righted herself.
“You are my greatest accomplishments, and before the day is through, you will be angels,” Isaac said.
Pippa couldn’t think. Thoughts moved in slow motion through her brain, and she could almost see them go. But she couldn’t grasp one. She tried harder. “This isn’t right.” Her voice sounded very far away.
The van pulled over.
Isaac nodded. “You all know where to go. Faustyna?”
The beautiful redhead drew a cigar box off her lap and handed out what looked like garage door openers. She read the sticker on each carefully before handing it to one of the women. “These are the buttons to heaven.”
Buttons to heaven? Pippa snorted. Talk about crazy. Her eyelids closed, and she had to fight to reopen them.
The door opened, and the women all climbed out. Her mother paused at the last moment and turned to her. “Mary, I hope you understand. You were made for this. Always.” She smiled and shut the door. Then quiet. Just Pippa and Isaac and the driver.
“Go,” Isaac said.
The van pulled out into what sounded like a busy street.
Pippa shook her head against his chest. He sighed and pushed her off him. She struggled to sit and then barely was able to balance herself, her skirt lifting to her knees. She tried to pull it down, and he grasped her hands.
“Let go,” she slurred, swaying with the effort.
“No.” He slapped her face, and the echo repeated through her head several times. A pain in the far distance pricked her face, but she couldn’t quite grasp it. “Concentrate, Mary.”
She blinked, staring into those amber eyes that had haunted her for so long. “You’re just a man,” she murmured.
He smiled. “We both know I’m more than that.”
“I don’t like your smile,” she blurted out in slow motion. “Never have.” She waved her hand, and then dropped it to the floor. Not like Malcolm. He had a great smile. So handsome. But she shouldn’t say his name. She knew she shouldn’t. Why? Huh. Why was that?
Isaac slapped her again, and this time her face hurt.
She tried to focus on him.
“I made you. Everything you are right now, I made,” he said, leaning toward her.
His claim struck her as funny, and she laughed. Oh, it might be the drugs, but who cared? “You’ve never meant anything to me,” she whispered, knowing there was no way that could be the full truth. But she’d never give him the satisfaction of knowing that for years she’d feared the sound of branches against windows was him coming to find her. “You don’t matter, Isaac. You never have and you never will.”
