He lifts his eyes. “Then, Natia, you are fucked. Not even the devil can help you.”
34
Chapter Thirty Four
Natia
Having a Taurus in your life is a blessing. You can count on them in difficult times. Being a Taurus, however, can be a bumpy ride.
The housing gives way to a more classic vision of Hell. Nooses hang from gallows, most filled with writhing bodies. Stretching racks pin people in place, their eyes shining with terror and pain. I sink back inside my cloak, nestling my body close to Archan as a shiver runs down my spine. I know they deserve whatever is happening to them, but it doesn’t make it any easier to swallow. Suspended in the air by his feet is a naked guy. Two demons stand on either side of him with a two meter straight saw held between his legs. Bile burns the back of my throat as the man’s scream splits the air. I turn my head away and fight the urge to close my eyes. Everywhere I look, suffering calls out to my human nature. I chant in my head that they deserve it.
“Help me,” a child’s voice whimpers. My head snaps to the left and focuses on a boy no older than thirteen.
I struggle against Archan for him to release me. “Let me go,” I whisper as the boy’s big blue eyes widen at me. I dart my gaze over the child, trying to understand what is happening. He’s in some sort of harness over the top of a cone, the tip posed under the struggling child.
Archan grips me tighter. “Stop, Natia.”
Lucifer looks between me and the child. “I told you not to interfere.”
“What could a child have possibly done to deserve this?”
Lucifer’s gaze narrows, then he sighs. “That child was a fifty-three-year-old pedophile; he tormented sixty-eight children in his time. The youngest was two years old. His greatest fear is being a helpless child and subjected to the same horrors he rained down. This is a throwback to his childhood.”
I shake my head and cover my mouth as my mind wars with itself. “He was abused?” I ask as we pass the whimpering child.
“His father is also a resident here. But being abused isn’t an excuse.”
I drop my hand and glare at Lucifer. “Of course, I was just trying to understand.”
“You have the biggest heart I have ever known, Natia, and that forces you to reason with the universe why such things happen. But you cannot reason with evil. It is an insidious disease that coats someone’s soul. Many crimes can be explained, even murder is often committed in the heat of the moment—a lover scorned or a mother protecting her babies. But these people here have no faith, they are beyond redemption.”
I suck in a shuddering breath as Archan squeezes me tight, like he’s trying to hold me together. “Not everyone deserves to be saved,” he mutters as we pass the men and women being tortured. I know these images will feature in my nightmares for years to come.
“We are being followed,” Nathan says as he pulls up to our left side.
“For the last mile at least,” Zee adds.
“But they haven’t attacked?” I ask. “Why?”
“They are herding us towards Terrorism,” Lucifer concludes. “And straight into an ambush.”
The distinction between Sexual Violence and Terrorism is subtle; it isn’t in the torture devices or the cries for mercy. It’s the blanket of helplessness that seeps in the air, the terror that torments your mind, and the fear that invades your heart. Terrorism is a godless place constructed to break down the strongest of souls. But there is a saving grace. The mansion is a few hundred yards away.
I grimace and wrap myself in Archan’s warmth, grounding myself in the soul bond and his love. The horses clip clop through a central courtyard where lanterns hang from the posts, swaying in the breeze.
Shadows move up ahead, blocking our path. I glance around, the other exits have been cut off. “Run or fight?” I ask.
“You need to ask, Locks?” Duncan says as he pulls his horse ahead then slides off it before offering a hand to help Marsha down.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Archan says.
I glance over my shoulder. “I never do anything stupid.”
Jed snorts as Archan hands me off to him. “You always do stupid shit, but it keeps things interesting.”
I huff as everyone joins us. Lucifer reaches into god knows where and materializes my twin swords. I grin at him and hold my hands out. “Thank you.”
He glances at my hands, then my eyes. “Do you forgive me?”
