"One of the times I snuck into your house, I packed a few things. Clothes, mostly." He snickered and went for his own bags to dig out clothes. I dressed quickly and joined them.
"Okay, now, show me what exactly that creepy altar is out there.”
We went out into the main room and they gave me the rundown of why the altar was set up, and what ritual would take place once they’d collected all their items needed. I’d been right. They were dabbling in dark magick. And they wanted me to join them.
“Yours won’t be bad. Kansas’s was nothing.” Constantine grinned. “Mine was brutal. Surrounded by the Family, flaying me alive.” He shuddered as his hands went to his chest, where it looked like someone had performed an autopsy on him. “But we won’t have to do that with you.”
I winced at the image being brought to my head. Constantine, so young, so frightened, being held down and cut open, dying right on the table, only to be brought back and able to not get hurt or die?
“You underwent this ritual too?” I asked Kansas, who nodded and stepped closer. I rested my hands on his chest and traced the scars I knew were there.
“I did. But it was far less brutal for me.” He tilted his head to Constantine. “He stabbed me through the heart just once.” He shrugged. “I closed my eyes and then woke up and was changed. Everything was already done and sewed up.”
“I woke up to my dad still pulling the needle and thread through my abdomen.” Constantine snickered. “Fucking psycho.”
"Like Frankenstein," I whispered.
Constantine grinned. "Exactly. That's why my username to watch you online is—"
"Ministersmonster!" I gasped, recalling the name. "That was you?"
He nodded.
"What about the Minister?" I shook my head. "Why did he have to keep killing to heal himself, but you guys can do it on command?"
They shared a look and then told me about how the Minister had refused to do it on himself.
“He tried my mom, and she died. So he spent the next ten years preparing to do it again with me. He got it right the second time.”
I ran my hand along the silk sheets prepared on the table. "And you want me to do it too? How can I trust that you aren't just going to murder me?"
Kanas cleared his throat and toyed with his septum ring.
"Eisley, do you think either of us would come back to this place willingly just for shits and giggles? We're back because we want to make sure we are finally bonded together forever. When Constantine approached me about it, I was skeptical too, but then he continued to show me that not only was he telling the truth, but it wasn't all that bad." He threw up his hands. "Now's the time. We're all finally twenty-one. We go through with this and we'll live forever with each other."
"Promise?"
"Promise?" Constantine laughed and cupped my face in his hands. "Princess, we don't have to promise. This is guaranteed. We are going to go out there, slash your little fake friends up, get what we need, and then we're going to fuck you on this altar until you die from dehydration, then bring you back to do it all over again for the rest of our miserable fucking eternities. Got it?"
His eyes blazed with passion. He believed every word of it and so did I. Okay. I was in.
I swallowed and nodded. He let me go and smiled.
"Now, let's get you home so you can work on an alibi, and we can get this shit done."
"Alibi?" I stumbled over my feet, and Constantine sighed. I looked back and saw Kansas still in the same place as he was before. Was he not coming?
"You go.” He waved us on. “I have to do some planning.”
"If you insist." Constantine then crouched and pulled me into his arms. I let out a small squeal of delight as he carried me up the stairs and back to our cars. "I'll be back in an hour," he tossed back to Kansas.
“Planning?” I asked Constantine, wrapping my arms around his neck.
“Yeah, we’re trying to figure out what to do after we’ve performed your ritual.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, wife, we just killed like fifteen people. We’re gonna need to get the fuck out of Shelley Vale asap.”
