Glancing at Heather, I spot her and know she wants to go through the window. She chews on her bottom lip, her hands balled into fists, obviously working hard on restraining herself and keeping her word to us.
Bella lets go of her arm.
“I’ll go in and let you in. Pace yourself. We are going to get them.”
Heather nods her acceptance as her eyes fill with unshed tears. Before meeting us, she would’ve handled this on her own with absolutely no regard for her own life. This is a struggle for her, and I’m so fucking proud of her my heart could explode.
Knox smirks at me, and I can’t help but grin in response. Bella climbs through the window, gracefully, barely making a sound before she comes to the door and opens it for us.
We walk in and take in the space. Standing in the kitchen, I glance around the dingy space, dishes piled high not even rinsed.
Heather freezes, fear visible in her eyes as she shakes.
Bella squeezes her hand and Heather blows out a cleansing breath.
“If the Prophet sees this mess, the punishment will be severe. It makes me wonder if they aren’t expecting him.”
Killian takes her hand and kisses her knuckles.
“This first. The Prophet next.”
We walk into a large living room and go left down a long hallway and hear a woman talking.
“Lord, we thank you for the gift of love. As women, we will make ourselves available to our men according to your word.”
As we get closer her voice becomes louder.
“The Lord came to our Prophet and issued a new order. You cannot enter a marriage until age twelve. Training will now begin at eight years old so you are ready to be an obedient wife when you reach physical maturity.”
Bones puts his hand on the doorknob and glances at each of us, one by one we nod and he opens the door. We flood into the room, guns drawn as we spot the woman who was speaking.
Heather’s mother.
The room is filled with prepubescent girls, all kneeling, several of them obviously pregnant. The sight before us is disgusting.
Bones holds a gun to the woman’s head. Her eyes are wide as she trembles slightly.
Knox walks behind her as planned and zip ties her hands behind her back.
“Where are the men?” Heather asks and her mother remains silent.
Bones slides the barrel of his pistol along her jaw.
“Answer her question or I’ll blow your fucking face to pieces.”
Close to sixty innocent children glance around the room, tears falling down their faces. Small hands shake as one brave girl cries out.
“Please don’t hurt the Prophetress.”
The what? So now she’s a prophet too?
“Jesus Christ.” Heather says under her breath as we all assume the Prophetress is her mother, a female prophet. It’s all bullshit piled on top of bullshit. Yet these kids believe it because we only know what our parents teach us. Those are the people with the most control. Children are innocent and easily molded. These poor kids are completely brainwashed. It never occurred to me before that they wouldn’t want to be rescued until now. They aren’t relieved to see us, Heather included. They are petrified. For these children we aren’t heroes.
We are the monsters.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
KNOX
