Satan’s Torment

by Dylan Keefer

  Bryce shook his head. “So, it was here the whole time. None of this had to happen.” “No.” Micah nodded to Ted who grudgingly took number one and four back to the deposit boxes. Micah caught Bryce’s eyes. “I need to you to listen to me. The police are out there, and you’re not going to escape them—at least not all of you.”

  Bryce frowned but followed Micah's gaze to his sister who was standing close by. Realization hit her and him at the same time. Macy shook her head violently. Without any regard, she peeled her mask off. "No! No!" she said. "I'm not letting you do this?"

  “He’s right, sis,” Bryce said. “They don’t know how many were involved, but they definitely don’t know a girl was.”

  “But they do,” Macy pointed to the hostages. Micah looked at everyone. All of their eyes transfixed on the scene that was going on in front of them. Bryce wasn’t sure what to say to that.

  “There were only three men.” Micah looked at the owner of the voice. It was the mother of the little girl. She stood up slowly and pulled her daughter up with her. She nodded to Micah. “There were only three men.”

  Some of the others in the bank stood up and echoed the same phrase. Micah gave a sigh of relief. He turned back to Bryce.

  “I will make sure that she gets out okay, and that she gets the serum to home to your mother. You have my word.”

  Bryce nodded slowly, and Macy grabbed him in a hug.

  Micah felt a presence next to him. Shit! Eli’s smug look hit every nerve in his body. He had forgotten about Eli. He had forgotten about the one person who truly deserved to be taken in today.

  “So, you have to choose,” Eli said. “You take me in, and you risk her being caught,” he said nodding to Macy. “You get her out, and I promise you, I’ll get away.”

  The hostages would be immediately checked over and questioned. The girl would be found out without a problem. He wouldn’t be able to shield her from it. Eli could walk out and disappear without a problem. This was the choice. What was more important?

  The others returned with the box and the serum. It was handed to the girl after it was explained what was going to happen. Father and brothers embraced their sister one last time, and then walked to the front of the bank, and set down their guns at the door before walking out—hands in the air.

  Raine put down the phone. For some reason, she couldn't help it, but she started to cry. She couldn't remember the last time did cried—like really cried. It had been years. Tai walked up to her. He stood next to her for a few seconds before she laid her head on his chest and he wrapped his big beefy arms around her and just listened.

  “I feel like a child,” Raine said. “Why am I crying?”

  “Cu Mon. You reely want me ta say it?” Tai asked. Raine sniffled and wiped some tears away.

  “What? Say what?”

  Tai chuckled causing his belly and chest to shake like a small earthquake. “You love him.”

  She let the tears settle, and for a moment, thought about how many ways she wanted to protest this statement. But she couldn’t. It was at that moment that she realized the last time she cried was when she lost Donnie.

  “You’re right. I think that I do—love him.” Tai pulled her away and looked her in the eye.

  “Loaʻa iāʻoe ke aloha i ka wā e Ailani aiʻoe.”

  Raine shook her head. “What does that mean?”

  “It means,” Tai said, “ dat love wi fin you wen you need it da most. And you—ma fraand, need it.”

  Raine smiled. Punching him on the shoulder, she placed a hand on his shoulder. “You should probably go back to the bank. I’m sure Ailani has his hands full.”

  “Where you goin?” Tai frowned.

  “I—I need to take an Uber somewhere. I’ll call you though. I’m going to need your help with something soon.” Tai frowned. “Don’t worry. It’ll all be clear in time.”

  Chapter Six

  Eli's head jerked up. His eyes grew wide as he looked around to get his surroundings, but-but… It was dark. His racked his brain to figure out what had happened. He remembered being in the bank when those idiots had surrendered themselves to the police when they walked out of the doors of the bank. Police had rushed them and secured them while several rushed inside and ushered out the hostages including him. He wasn't sure what Micah Duscane was going to do about getting the girl out of the bank without being noticed, but he had gone out of the back with her. He hadn't stayed around long. In the confusion of reporters, police, EMTs, and the crowd gathered around the barriers put up; he had walked out of the area. Forget the car; no one would trace it back to him. It was registered under a fake name and fake address. No one in the bank knew who he was and probably didn't recognize him. He wasn't the center of attention most of the time. It was Micah.

  He had walked far enough away, caught an Uber, and gotten dropped off at home. He had gotten inside of the front doorway before---it all went blank.

  His wrists were tied. His feet were, too. Eli sat in a chair similar to the one that he had left in his basement. Actually, as his eyes adjusted, he found that he was staring at the same set up of his basement. The exact same layout. The—exact same basement.

  A light came on, and his suspicions were confirmed. It was the exact same basement. He was trapped in his basement. He struggled at the ropes that were constricting his limbs.

  A cough to his left caught his attention. She was in a chair just like him—constricted and bound. He couldn’t see her face right away, but she had dark hair and fair skin.

  “Hey!” he yelled. “Hey!”

  What happened to Heather? What happened to him? He shook in the chair and tried to slam the chair down on the floor to break it. Nothing. Well, almost nothing. The girl next to him began to stir. First, it was a groan, and then some slight movement.

  “Hey, wake up!”

  The girl jerked awake and looked around the room just like he had when he was trying to get his bearings straight. When she turned to him, she gasped. Of course, he did, too as her facial features became more recognizable. It had been so long since he had seen her. Her innocent and gentle eyes looked at him.

  “H—Hanna?” He croaked out. Tears started to well in her eyes when Eli spoke.

  “Eli? Eli, is that you?” When he nodded, she started to weep. “Oh my god, Eli! Eli, my brother!”

  “Hanna! Why are you here? What are you doing here!”

  “I brought her here.” The voice was disguised. It seemed to be coming from a speaker somewhere in the basement. Eli didn’t want to give whoever it was the satisfaction of seeing him sweat. He hated being in the vulnerable position. The voice didn’t seem to care. “I brought her here to play a game.”

  “Let her go. If you don’t, you’ll have to do with me!”

  “Eli,” Hanna said. “Help me.” “Hanna….”

  “You’re in no position to beg—although I enjoy it,” the voice said. “Are you ready for the game?”

  “Go to hell!” Eli belted at the top of his lungs.

  “The game is called who deserves to live.” Eli’s fist clenched behind his back. The voice continued. “You just have to decide who deserves to live—you or your sister.”

  Eli sat there. He refused to answer. This was stupid. Whoever this idiot was going to pay dearly for this.

  “Eli, I’m scared. What is this?” “Hanna, I—I don’t’ know.”

  ‘You need to make a decision, Eli. Quickly. There is a gun that is trained on her and will fire within two minutes if you don’t.”

  “You’re bluffing!” In response, a gunshot echoed throughout the basement causing him to jump. Hanna screamed.

  “I don’t joke,” the voice said. “The fact that you have purposely not seen her in years, or the fact that your mom cheated on your dad leaving the family devastated, or the fact that you have never felt true love. You feel worthless. You feel like—you are alone.”

  “Whoever you are, I’m going to kill you.” “Not the name of the game, and li
ke I said, your time in running out. You still have to choose.”

  “I’m not going to…” the gun fired again. This time, he saw the shot land just feet in front of Hanna. “Fine, I choose…” “Wait—maybe we should switch this up first. What if we ask her?”

  Eil looked over to Hanna. She shook her head. “Please don’t hurt him. Please don’t hurt my brother. Don’t. I love him.” “He doesn’t deserve your love! You fool!” A third gunshot rang, and Eli watched as Hanna and her chair toppled backwards on the floor. “No!” Eli screamed. The scene just kept replaying before his eyes. “No! No! No!”

  “If only you could save her now,” The voice said as if he could open the basement door. It was clear and crisp. The voice modulation and disguise was off. Eli’s eyes widened when he recognized it. It couldn’t be. There’s no way. He heard the footsteps come up to his chair and started to shudder. Raine’s face appeared masked by the dim lighting that night appeared in the basement. Her eyes fixated on Eli as he stared at her in disbelief.

  “No,” he said with something of a comical revelation. “This isn’t right. I’m dreaming.”

  "No, you aren't," Raine said. She reached out and pinched his bare arm. Eli winced. "See, not dreaming."

  She stood before him now. Looking in between him and his sister. Eli growled an incoherent phrase before letting out a stream of curse words. Raine smiled. It wasn’t one full of gloating. It was one that empathized with his position.

  “There is no way this is happening?”

  “What?” Raine nudged his leg with her foot. “There can’t be a way that I’m here, and I’ve lured your sister here? I think you and I both know that I can do a lot of things. A lot. Especially, when you have help.”

  There was more movement coming from the side of Eli. What he saw next made his jaw drop. Heather, the girl he had kidnapped, drugged, and tied up in the basement, was standing in front of him with a grin on her face.

  “Remember me?” she said. Raine put an arm around the girl. Eli looked over at the fallen body of his sister, and it wasn’t there. The chair was there, and the ropes. Raine coughed. “I believe that you’ve met, Heather. She’s a good friend of mine. We met at a spin class.”

  “No,” Eli said softly. Raine nodded.

  “See, she takes acting classes as a theatre student. She is really good at it, don’t you think?”

  No,” Eli said more forcefully. Raine continued.

  “It was easy for her to create some sort of character that would draw you out. A woman that cheated on her fiancé. Who had a faithful person waiting for her even though she was a slut—a whore—someone who didn’t deserve love.” Eli shook as he listened to her. “It was easy. Get her to attract enough attention to where you would make her your next victim. I planted a tracking device on her, and when you were away thinking that you had a mouse in your trap, I was able to make sure that she was free. Then we just needed to find out what your weakness was—or rather who.” “But—but…” Eli didn’t know what to say. For once, he was lost. The game was no longer in his control. Raine knelt down in front of him.

  “What? But she looked like Hanna?” Eli felt himself nodding in slow motion. Raine nodded along with him, and slowly produced a syringe. She stared at it for a moment.

  “Do you remember when you kidnapped my fiancé and injected him with poison? Do you?” Raine watched Eli’s eyes look at the syringe. Meghan continued. “I had just enough for you.”

  “You’re lying,” Eli spat. Raine shrugged.

  “I guess that you’ll have to take that chance; either way. You’re done, Eli. I win.”

  Eli's anger got the best of him. He jerked just enough to topple him over. As he laid on the floor, he watched Raine, who had turned her back on him. She let Heather go up the stairs first and then followed.

  “This isn’t how it works,” Eli said.

  "It doesn't," Raine said turning briefly just to have one last look at him. Their eyes met, and for a moment, Raine remembered what she went through because of him—wrong—because of her. Sure, he was twisted and demented, but she had accepted his depiction of her. That was going to change.

  “Don’t you leave me here!” Eli growled.

  Heather walked up the stairs, and Raine followed. “Goodbye, Eli.”

  She ignored his screams and yelled and opened the door to the basement and came face to face with the dozens of police officers that she had called to the scene when she was sure that Eli was truly there. Of course, Tai was there, and Ailani.

  “Well, you did it,” Ailani said. “You caught him.”

  "I wan some alone time with da foo," Tai said. "I'll teach him something dat he ain't neva gon forget."

  They all respected her request to let Eli stay down there for a bit before going down to officially arrest him. She wanted him to know what it felt like. She wanted to know that he would have some understanding of what it felt like. She wanted—what she couldn’t get there. For what she really wanted, she would have to go to him.

  Epilogue

  Her apartment had the perfect balcony. It was the best view and her favorite place to hang out. Micah sat on one end, and she on the other as they reviewed the events.

  “You got her out?” Raine asked referring to the girl, Macy, whom Micah had sacrificed landing Eli for. He nodded.

  “She should be on a flight back home—with a cure—at least we hope it works.” There was another pause which had already happened several times that night.

  “Sorry, I didn’t tell you about what I was planning with Eli,” she admitted. Micah shrugged.

  “Sorry, I didn’t tell you that he was in the bank with me.”

  “I guess we’re even then,” she laughed. “We finally caught him.”

  Micah nodded. He took a sip of the coffee that she had made and smiled. “He made

  me realize something, you know.” Raine turned her attention to him. “He made me realize that I was too afraid to be the hero. I was too afraid to realize that you deserved my love.”

  Had he just said what she thought he said? Raine looked at him. “What do you mean?”

  “Raine, you know what I mean?” Micah laughed. “You and I have been doing this dance where you feel like you don’t deserve my love, and I don’t feel like I’m good enough to be that man for you. Well—um—that stops now.”

  Raine stared at him. “I think that’s a really good idea. How do we do that?” Micah pushed himself away from the side of the balcony over to her. He was within inches of her body, and she gulped hard as she waited. Their lips touched, and all Raine could think about that moment was that she never thought she would feel this way again. It wasn’t just having someone. She needed to know that love was possible again—from someone else and from her.

  Micah pulled away from the kiss. “Was that okay? Or was it….”

  He didn’t have time to say anything. Raine brought him back in for more. She had found love, and this time, she wasn’t going to let go.

  About the Author

  Dylan Keefer is a web designer / developer by day and a writer by night. He’s basically a modern day superhero, using code and words to breathe creativity into reality. On a more serious note, he has been writing from a very young age and has always been pursuing the dream of writing professionally. Everything he does is in pursuit of that dream. He writes light-hearted as well as dark themed stories across multiple genres. His stories involve psychological struggles or moral dilemmas of the human condition. If you like those themes and the idea of questioning what it means to be human, then it won’t matter what genre the story is; he will make you a believer.

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  Also by Dylan Keefer

  Series

  The Blood Rite Saga

  The Blood Empire: Episode One

  The Blood Princess: Episode One

  The Blood Princess: Episode Two

  The Blood Princess: Episode Three

  The Blood Princess: Episode Four

  The Chronicles of Gandos

  The Sword of Light

  The Aurora Chronicles

  Child of Winter

  Lake of Prophecy

  The Raine Michelson Files

  Angel’s Poison

  Demon’s Match

  Satan’s Torment

  Britney Allen: The London Crime Syndicate

  Blood of Babes: The Slasher Files

  Standalone

  Lost in Space

  The Lone Survivor

  Mr. Buddy Bot

  Evelyn