Fear the Wicked (Illusions Series Book 2)

by Lily White

  My beautiful sister was silent as she walked beside me, completely comfortable beside her older brother that had always looked out for her. She’d never been one for constant conversation and I was thankful for her silence because it gave me the time to think. Was she strong enough to walk the distance to the hunting cabin? Would she complain and fight against me once she found out I didn’t intend on letting her return to the compound?

  It couldn’t matter. If I had to knock her out and drag her, I would.

  Approaching the forest, her arm tightened on mine, her head swiveling back to glance at the parish. “Aren’t we going a bit far? Elijah will worry if he can’t find me.”

  I patted her hand with mine, a friendly smile pulling at my lips. “Elijah knows you’re with me. I told him before I found you inside the sanctuary.”

  The lie appeased her and she kept pace with me, unconcerned by the distance we traveled away from the safety and security of the building.

  While my thoughts were distracted by the questions racing through my mind, I felt Eve break away from my hold suddenly, her eyes rounding and her mouth pulling into a smile as she hurried her steps toward the woods. Confused, I chased after her, my eyes locked on her rather than on what she was running toward.

  I should have paid better attention to my surroundings, should have listened to the name that fell from her lips the instant she let go and ran away from me.

  If I’d done so, I wouldn’t have been taken by surprise when the hard barrel of a gun was pressed to my head and a deep voice growled, “Either you two are coming with me, or I take Eve and leave your dead body for the family to find.”

  ELIJAH

  After the night at the compound where Richard and the sheriff of this small town lent their hands in nailing a man to a cross and lifting him above the pews of my sanctuary to let him die slowly, the sheriff and his brother, Gentry, had been instrumental in bringing the town around to my cause, in convincing them that the only way to combat their misfortune was to destroy the evil infecting this area.

  In truth, there was no special evil they had to worry about, nothing remotely different than that suffered by the rest of the world, but in the weeks they’d distanced themselves from the news, television shows and other lifelines to the world outside this rural area, the townspeople had sunken deep into my insanity, the seeds planted in their heads over the months I’d played the part of parish priest finally blooming into hysteria that I would use to my ultimate advantage.

  While standing by the altar, I shook the hands of the idiots who truly believed I could deliver Heaven to them on Earth, the ones who thanked me endlessly while not realizing that they were being used as a means to my end. The deaths were stacking up, the nightly ceremonies we held while sacrificing the poor condemned souls that hadn’t done anything to deserve the methods of their death, and the entire time, I documented the town’s activities via the security cameras I’d installed and kept hidden from the family. Not one person knew their faces were recorded for eternity taking part in the cruel and heartless destruction of liars and thieves, rapists and other such violent types.

  Eventually, the destruction spread to the parish itself and I made sure to record those scenes as well. Once my plan was finished, once I had all the evidence I needed to show that true evil existed beneath the guise of religion, I would finally have my revenge against a Church that had learned over the centuries how to hide their disgusting crimes.

  I wasn’t the only man benefiting from the hysteria. Richard, too, enjoyed the fruits of our labors, having his fun and taking his time to help exorcise the lustful demons in the younger girls who believed me when I told them that their impure thoughts would become their destruction. The fact these morons so easily believed me only proved what I’d believed about the faithful all along: It wasn’t peace and kind manners that led them inside the parish doors each Sunday to hear the message of God, it was the belief that they gained power and protection by subscribing to a fantasy that someone beyond the Earthly plane gave enough of a damn about them to influence their fate.

  Nobody gave a damn, not Christ and not the Father. Because if they had, I wouldn’t have been used as a fuck boy for holy men my entire childhood. I wouldn’t have been a punching bag for a father who was so far gone in his beliefs that he didn’t see the abuse as anything more than an unfortunate necessity to remove the sin from my body.

  He’d thought he was saving me from myself without realizing he was weakening me for the true wolves that lived inside the parish, using me for their hidden sins while reminding me there wasn’t a soul on this Earth who would believe me if I reported them for what they’d done.

  It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. Men such as them had existed since the beginning of the Church in ancient times. And it was for that reason alone that I had to endure the abuse and humiliation in order to become the monster who would be strong enough to destroy them all.

  The parishioners saw their way out of the parish, one by one, slowly wandering off to their bleak little lives believing they watched something truly holy this Sunday at the parish. Richard stood beside me wrapping a robe over the newest young woman who believed wanting to kiss her boyfriend was enough of a sin that she needed to turn herself over to the Church for redirection. It was a new type of confession I’d given the parishioners, a public repudiation of their own thoughts, hidden desires and beliefs. They were truly stupid – all of them.

  Once we were alone and Richard was practically drooling over the young woman that stood at least a foot shorter than him, I turned to find the woman who had become my obsession.

  Eve was growing back into a healthy body, the weight she was regaining forcing her body to round at the hips and breasts, her skin no longer ashen and sallow, but full of life with the rosy glow that always graced her cheeks. She was truly obedient to me now that she believed I’d destroyed the last demon plaguing her and had made her my true and proper wife.

  However, when I scanned my eyes through the sanctuary, over the pews, past the walls filled with paintings and other religious symbols, I came to the realization that Eve was nowhere to be found.

  My head snapped to Richard. “Have you seen Eve anywhere?”

  He dragged his filthy gaze up from the poor girl who had no clue what would happen to her. No, he wouldn’t kill her, wouldn’t damage her in any way that drew attention, but he would free her of the purity she carried while promising her it was the only way to remove her sin. His eyes searched the room before he shrugged a shoulder. “She was here just a minute ago. Waiting for you like always near the hallway back to the rectory. Maybe she went in your room to wait for you.”

  Eve knew better than to be out of my sight, but perhaps she assumed the safety of my bedroom was good enough. My legs were moving in the direction of the hallway while I belted out, “Stay here in case she went somewhere else and comes back. I’ll go check the rectory.”

  My feet couldn’t carry me fast enough down the narrow corridors leading to the small, boring room Jacob had slept in for twelve fucking years while convincing himself he was a good man. As I turned one corner, walked down another hall to turn another corner, I thought of my wayward brother and laughed to myself at how easy it had been to oust him from his holy throne so that I could take over the town he’d worked so desperately to lead to a light that didn’t exist.

  In truth, I’d always harbored ill feelings toward my brother. I’d regretted that we were twins, believed that, in the womb, he had somehow reached into me to steal the strength away so that he could harbor it to himself. He had been the one to stop our father’s abuse, he had been the one to avoid being used as a human pincushion for those sick fucks who walked around feeding religion to a large parish.

  At one time I’d envied my brother, and during the times when we shared women, I’d believed I was the superior brother because I had been the one to take the women first, to steal their purity and watch it drip down my cock as the crimson evidence of my r
ace to their finish line. Jacob never argued who would take them the first time, and I’d believed it was because he understood that I would fight him for that honor, but then as the years passed by and as I watched him transition into the worst kind of monster, I understood that, to him, it had never been about stripping the good little girls of their virginity, it had always been about who would control them in the end.

  They may have fucked me with sweet smiles on their bullshit faces, but their eyes had always been locked on my brother, their hearts becoming his as soon as he stepped up to take what remained after I was done with them and transform it into the perfect slave.

  It was Jacob who had taught me what to do with Eve, and it was Jacob who I could thank for the perfect woman I’d created from the girl I’d met when she was first brought into the family.

  Perhaps I should have thanked him for that one small favor, but I couldn’t find it in myself to forgive him. Still, even with the hatred I held for him and the anger that coated my tongue each time I thought about the unfairness in our young lives, I couldn’t bring myself to kill him. I still harbored something inside me that needed my brother alive, I still loved him despite the way he’d sat with our piece of shit mother and had listened to my cries.

  My father would beat me until I couldn’t stand any longer and neither my mother nor my twin could find it within themselves to climb down those steps into the basement to free me from the violence of a madman.

  Reaching the bedroom door, I slammed my hand down on the knob, twisting it as I shoved the door in. I’d gotten one foot inside by the time I had a full view of the room to realize Eve wasn’t here as I’d hoped she’d be. Quickly crossing the small space, I peeked inside the bathroom to find it empty as well.

  Rage crawled through me, clinging to my bones with desperate fingers begging to ignite into the intolerable heat of pure, undiluted fury.

  I was practically racing on my way back to the sanctuary, my eyes sharp and my muscles tight across my body. Richard was standing in the same place, patiently waiting for me to return with the good little girl standing still in front of him.

  “Did she come back here?” I asked, practically screaming.

  Richard shook his head, his eyes rounding as he came to the same conclusion as me.

  Throwing my hands out, I directed him to the back hallways of the parish, while I ran toward the front. “Find her, Richard. I don’t give a shit if you have to tear the walls down until she’s found. If we don’t find her inside the parish, we’ll search outside. Where the fuck could she have gone?”

  Richard lumbered off to do as I said while I peeked a head inside the kitchen to find it empty. The offices and bathrooms were empty as well, not a soul to be found in any of the small rooms of the parish.

  Within minutes both Richard and I were outside scanning the large yard and the woods beyond, my fury ratcheting higher until all I saw was red.

  “What do you want to do? Is it possible she went back to the compound?”

  I shook my head, completely irate that she’d wandered off without me. As soon as I found the son of a bitch that led her away, I’d be sure to nail his body to one of my crosses.

  “You better hope she’s at the fucking compound. If not, I will kill each and every son of a bitch inside this town until I’ve found my fucking wife!”

  JACOB

  My foot was planted firmly against the gas pedal of the truck, the tires screeching along the asphalt as we peeled off onto roads that wound their way through the Appalachians. Eve was as compliant as ever, her eyes filled with hopeless adoration for the brother she thought I was. Every so often, Elijah’s name would roll off her lips like a reverent prayer as she wrapped her arms around mine and tried to pull it from the steering will.

  I’d expected the man who was walking with her across the field to put up more of a fight, but instead, he’d taken one look at me and nodded his head, wordlessly following me into the woods without complaining that I’d just stuck a fucking gun to his head. I’d recognized him as he led Eve from the building, knew he was one of the assholes who had stood in the room staring at my naked cock while Elijah carried on about how I’d killed a member of their family. Obviously, that shit wasn’t true and I was still in shock for having a woman sitting beside me that for months I’d believed was dead.

  As we wound our way along the road, I thought about how convenient this entire abduction (that I’d never actually planned) had been. After Mass had ended and the parishioners filed out of the building, I’d moved quickly to hide in the tree line hoping for the opportunity to have a moment with Elijah alone. But then Eve stumbled out on the arm of this guy and it was like he was leading her right to me. I couldn’t help the way I’d stared, couldn’t stop the way my heart had clenched in my chest only to pick up its pace as they approached. I felt something for this woman that I couldn’t name, and the something that eluded me every time I tried to identify it had come to life to see her face, to know that she wasn’t just another one of my victims.

  “What’s your name,” I asked the guy sitting quietly by the passenger window, Eve settled in place between us on the bench seat.

  She turned to look at me with confusion lining her face, answering for the man before he could get a word out. “What are you talking about, Elijah? You know my brother, Joshua.” A nervous laugh filtered over her lips, her green eyes staring up at me like I’d lost my fucking mind.

  Breathing out, I clenched my fingers over the steering wheel so tight that the blood drained from the knuckles leaving the skin white. “I’m not Elijah.” I wouldn’t play the same games with her that I’d played when she first arrived at the parish. The poor girl was sick in the head and I hadn’t helped her by playing along. I knew that now, knew that in order to save her from my twin who had lost his fucking mind, I had to burst the bubble that had been built around her. Sheltering her from the truth wasn’t the way to free her from the bullshit lies that had created her.

  “Not this again,” she breathed out. “Have I done something?”

  Dragging my eyes from the road for only long enough to stare down her brother, I jutted my chin in his direction and said, “You know who I am. Why don’t you do the right thing for your sister for once and tell her the truth?”

  I would have sworn the asshole would argue, but instead, he sighed heavily and turned to his sister. “Eve…” his voice trailed off, the flicker of anger obvious behind his eyes. “Sedra, I mean.”

  “No!” Eve’s body stilled at the mention of her real name. “You won’t call me that. I haven’t been Sedra since the day I married Elijah. Sedra was a stupid girl. A faithless brat that was full of sin. Elijah freed me of that-“

  Joshua surprised me when he reached out to take his sister’s cheeks between his hands and turned her face toward him. “Sedra,” he repeated, his deep voice calm, yet authoritative. “I need you to listen to me without arguing for once. I need you to really listen, okay? There’s something you don’t know. A lot you don’t know, actually, and it’s time you found out before it’s too late. Please. You have to trust me when I tell you that Elijah has been lying to you for a long time. He’s not as holy as he says. He’s been hurting you, Sedra-“

  “No!” she screamed, her arms flailing and damn near hitting me in the face. “I won’t listen to this! Not again! You won’t do this to me again!”

  The truck swerved as her arm knocked against mine, and as I corrected it to keep up from driving off a fucking mountain, I raised my voice to grab both of their attention. “Get your sister under control now before I kill all three of us by wrecking!”

  On one hand, I was still in shock to see Sedra alive. On the other, I was in shock that this son of a bitch seemed to agree with me about his sister and was going along with what I wanted. And if I’d had a third hand on which I could balance some emotion, it would be gratitude to discover that I wasn’t alone in the realization that Elijah had become a fucking monster.

  Poor Joshu
a had to practically pull his sister onto his lap to keep her from knocking me out with her flailing hands, but eventually he got her under control and was holding her in place with his arms wrapped around her.

  “Listen to me, Sedra. Elijah is not who you think he is. That man over there, the one driving the truck is not Elijah. His name is Jacob Hayle. He was the priest for the parish before Elijah made him believe you were dead and chased him off. Elijah let his own brother fuck you just to get what he wanted, so I’m sorry, sister, but you’re not as pure as you think you are. This entire thing has been a game so that Elijah could take over control of the parish without the townspeople knowing.”

  Sedra’s eyes flicked to me, the green orbs rounding with recognition before the brainwashing and lies slipped in to make her scream again. It wouldn’t be easy to convince her of the truth, but that couldn’t be my problem. I was here for one reason only and that was to stop whatever games my brother was playing from ruining the town and destroying the lives of the parishioners I’d spent years trying to help.

  I knew my brother was insane, and after learning about what happened to him when we were young, I understood why. But that didn’t mean I could feel pity for him and allow him to destroy other innocent lives. Hating the thought of having to harm him in order to get him the help he needed, I was willing to do whatever it took to ensure more people weren’t hurt because of whatever end it was he was trying to achieve. There were better ways to handle what happened. And going on killing people and making them believe in evil wasn’t one of them.

  “We need to get off the road,” Joshua screamed just to be heard over the voice of his sister. “She’s not going to stop flailing. We have to get her somewhere we can calm her down so she’ll listen.”

  Well, fuck. I hadn’t intended on taking anybody captive, so I hadn’t thought of finding a place where I could hide and wouldn’t be found. “We can go to the police,” I suggested. “We could tell them what we know and send them to that damn compound so they can raid the place.”