Her Soul for Revenge Chapter 5

Jeremiah (Victoria's twin brother)

“Don’t worry, my dear. All is as it should be.” Jeremiah's voice was calm, almost soothing. He smiled down at me and lightly touched my cheek with his cold fingers. I jerked away, tugging against the arms still holding me in place.

Lilith Ashford

Jerked away, tugging against the arms still holding me in place.

Lilith Ashford

“What the fuck is this?” I yelled, my voice shaking. “Let me go. Tell them to let me go.”

Lilith Ashford

Jeremiah shook his head, like I was a child making a ridiculously unreasonable request.

Jeremiah (Victoria's twin brother)

“God has called you, my dear. It has waited for you for a very long time.”

Lilith Ashford

I laughed, but it wasn’t funny. None of this was funny. My heart felt like a fist pounding against the inside of my ribs, trying to escape its prison of bones. “Stop,” I said. “Stop it. This isn’t funny. This isn’t fucking funny.”

Lilith Ashford

Jeremiah turned, lifted a mask from the pulpit behind him and placed it over his head. He became another empty-eyed skull, and the woman in black peered down at me, examining me carefully.

random girl

“What is your name?

Lilith Ashford

Lilith!! Lilith Ashford I struggled, panting. “And I know you!shouted at them, hoping it would rattle them. I didn’t know what they were doing, but I knew their names, their faces. I could tell someone. I could name them guilty. But guilty of what?

Lilith Ashford

You're Heidi Laverne! I know you

Lilith Ashford

Heidi nodded slowly. “She is the one It seeks. It calls her name.” “It calls her name.” The entire congregation murmured in unison behind me.

Lilith Ashford

My mind was spiraling. There were bizarre patterns on the walls, infinite looping geometry in the floorboards, in the pores and freckles across Heidi’s face. She stepped back, and from within the folds of her black dress, she drew out a knife and handed it to Jeremiah. It was like a part of my brain turned off. Some part of me, the part that still had logic, saw what was coming and flicked a switch, shutting me down.

Lilith Ashford

It shut down the part that wanted to scream. It shut down my frantic struggling, so I wouldn’t waste my energy. I went still, and silent, and only tears streaked down my face.

Jeremiah (Victoria's twin brother)

“Brothers and Sisters!”

Jeremiah (Victoria's twin brother)

“Long has God blessed us with Its mercy and patience, long has It awaited this night! Tonight, we begin to fulfill the oath of our ancestors. Tonight begins a new era upon earth. Tonight, the first sacrifice goes to the Deep One.”

Lilith Ashford

“Amen,” the congregation said in unison, and a deep shudder of revulsion went straight to my core. I could only stare at the knife, its blade catching the fire’s light as Jeremiah turned it slowly in his hands and knelt before me.

Lilith Ashford

My voice was a trembling whisper. “Please.”

Jeremiah (Victoria's twin brother)

“Do you know the story, Lilith

Jeremiah (Victoria's twin brother)

“Long ago, three men were rescued from the tragic flooding of the mines. Only three. The only survivors amongst dozens.”

Lilith Ashford

“I’ve heard the story.” I was weeping, staring at the blade. Knowing something awful was going to happen, and I could do nothing to stop it, had turned my limbs numb with dread. “My grandpa used to tell me, because his great-grandpa was down there —”

Jeremiah (Victoria's twin brother)

“And his great-grandfather survived,”

Lilith Ashford

With one smooth motion, he cut open my t-shirt. Humiliation rushed through me, unbearably hot on my skin but sickeningly cold in my stomach. I squirmed against the hands that held me as they tugged the ruined shirt off me, begging softly, “Please, please, no, please…”

Jeremiah (Victoria's twin brother)

“Your ancestor was spared. God’s mercy must be repaid,”

Lilith Ashford

And then he began to slice into my skin. My mind went black. Only Kent Hadleigh’s voice permeated the void I’d fallen into.

Jeremiah (Victoria's twin brother)

“Your soul was promised to the Deep One, my dear. Six generations have passed, and the oath must be fulfilled. Three lives spared, three souls given.”

Lilith Ashford

The congregation echoed, “Three lives spared, three souls given.” I was screaming, my voice ragged, “No, no, it’s just a story, it’s all just a story, it’s not real! It’s not real! There’s no God in the mines. It isn’t real!”

Lilith Ashford

Why were they doing this? Why? Adults weren’t supposed to believe the stories; they told them to scare little kids. Teenagers told their own scary variations as they drank cheap beer in dark places. It wasn’t real. The cuts burned, searing into my skin as if the knife was blazing hot. My own blood was smeared across my chest, and the sight made me so light-headed that I fell deeper, deeper into that protective dark void. The next thing I was truly aware of was being carried through the rain. It was freezing cold on my skin, washing rivulets of blood from the cuts across my chest. What had they done to me? What the hell had they done?

Lilith Ashford

Were they going to kill me?