by David Beers
VERONICA LOOKED AT TOMMY PHILLIPS. His mouth was taped shut just like hers. The only person in this place allowed to speak, apparently, was Christian’s mother, who sat on the opposite side of Veronica. She wasn’t tied in the same manner as Veronica. Her arms were bound in front, while Veronica’s were wrapped around her back.
Tommy was tied differently than both of them, his arms around his back like Veronica, but attached to his bound feet as well—twisting him in a way that looked awfully painful. He wasn’t conscious yet. Veronica had watched the woman drag him in, surprised at how easily she moved him. What the hell was she doing? Collecting everyone Christian knew?
Veronica almost couldn’t believe she’d found herself in a spot like this again. She supposed this was her own fault, though, in a very humorous and fucked up way. She kept hanging out with people who dealt with psychopaths for a living.
“I wonder what she’s doing,” Christian’s mother said.
Veronica turned to look at her but could only shake her head. This all seemed too surreal to be true; it couldn’t possibly be happening again.
“That Luke fellow. She’s going to crucify him upside down, I think,” Mrs. Windsor said. “She doesn’t like you too much, either. I think I’m going to make it out of this, though. She seems to be a fan of mine.” The older woman smiled, and Veronica realized she was only half joking. “She thinks I’m basically Mother Mary, a Saint in her eyes … are you Christian’s girlfriend?”
Despite her fear, Veronica would have smiled if there wasn’t tape across her face. She nodded.
“I know this doesn’t bode well for your relationship, but if you make it out of this, try not to think too harshly about him. He doesn’t have any other ex-girlfriends like this, I promise.”
Veronica laughed into the tape and tears came to her eyes. She saw they were in the older woman’s as well, and they started crying and laughing together.
Both stopped seconds later when the padlock moved outside the closed door.
The woman opened it all the way for the first time. She tossed Luke’s body in, blood leaking from the top of his head, over his ear, and onto his chin. A lot of blood. A horrible bruise combined with a swelling knot had risen on his skull, right where the blood stemmed from. His body bounced slightly as he hit the floor, and then remained still. Veronica could see him still breathing, but that was the only sign of life Luke gave.
Next, the woman walked in Christian. She moved slowly, almost gingerly, as Christian had to hop with the way his legs were tied. He squinted to block out the overhead light; he didn’t appear hurt, though his legs and arms were bound the same as Luke’s, which were the same as Veronica’s, but different than Tommy. The three of them all had their arms in front of them—only Tommy was tied in that acrobatic state.
Veronica’s eyes found the woman, and she was smiling as she walked in her savior.
“You’re going to luh-love this, Christian. I just know it.”
PART III
THE BOOK OF TITAN
CHAPTER 24
L uke’s mind went black for a period of time, though he didn’t know how long. It slowly woke, though, even if he remained unconscious. (While the human brain doesn’t operate like a computer, the best way to understand Luke’s is through comparison.) His mind began a system check first, trying to understand what was wrong with the body it controlled. Though conscious thought would later label the injury to his skull as a fracture, his mind immediately recognized the damage. The fact that it could perform the system check revealed that there wasn’t any swelling of the brain, which was the most dangerous threat for someone like Luke Titan.
His mind did finally wake him, and as consciousness took hold, he didn’t open his eyes. He didn’t move at all or make a single sound. He remained motionless in the same way he’d been while unconscious.
Someone was dragging him across the floor, and from the feel of the hand, he knew it to be Lucy. The Priestess. She clearly wasn’t happy with what he’d done to her earlier—though, she should be thankful. He wrapped everything up in a bow, just as he had with Bradley Brown.
After subduing Christian, Luke tied him up, then Tommy. He killed the security guard, then carefully erased all data from the security systems before shutting them down. Next he carried Tommy over one shoulder, Christian over the other, and placed Tommy in the back seat. Luke’s strength was most comparable to that of an ant, though perhaps he wasn’t capable of lifting something ten times his body weight. The limitations weren’t with his muscles, but his skeletal structure—as his bones would break under the pressure.
Tommy was bound well enough that he wouldn’t be able to attack Lucy on the way to the storage unit. Luke had dropped Christian in the trunk, and then went to Lucy. He wrote a brief note and pinned it to her.
Go to the car. Everything is ready. - The Demon
He then went to the car himself, first bound his legs, and then his arms, then hopped in the trunk next to Christian, closing it down behind him.
As he awoke now, his talk in the trunk with Christian came back to him.
It had been productive. It showed Luke the boy was where he wanted him, mentally.
Luke had predicted his own current state, though perhaps not the brutality of Lucy’s attack. She certainly wanted to make sure Luke had no more chances to disable her.
He felt his arm being tied down to a piece of wood. The woman pulled tight on the metal wire and his bones nearly creaked under its pressure. His other arm went on next, being strapped to the cross that the woman had created. Luke’s head slumped to the side, as though he were still unconscious.
He listened for more movement, but heard none. Christian and the rest were still, no one speaking.
It was time.
Luke opened his eyes and let out a slight groan. The pain in his head was extravagant, or should have been. Luke’s control over his own mind was such that while he felt the pain, his body followed his refusal to allow it to affect him. The groan was little more than acting.
He blinked a few times, seeing everything he needed immediately, but keeping up the charade.
He lay horizontal on the large cross. The bucket of dried cement was about a foot from his head, lying on its side with the cross stuck inside it. Lucy had been a busy beaver.
“Christian,” the Priestess said. “I know you don’t understand yet, but this is all for you. I think you will gih-gih-get it after I’m finished. Your muh-mother already does.”
Luke looked to Christian, sitting against the wall in between his mother and girlfriend. His mouth wasn’t taped shut, only Veronica and Tommy’s. He didn’t say anything, but his eyes found Luke. No recognition of what had happened rested in them, so it seemed Lucy hadn’t spoken about the FBI office. Perhaps she didn’t want her savior to know how badly she had messed up.
Christian’s face was stone, and Luke appreciated that. For the first time in the boy’s life, he was seeing horrible things and not showing emotion. Luke knew he felt emotions right now, though—the primary one being rage.
“Hi, again, Lucy,” Luke croaked out. “How are you?”
“Buh-buh-better than you,” she stuttered.
Luke chuckled.
The woman moved to the cross and with both hands, pushed up the two hundred plus pounds. Luke hung upside down, his body immediately sagging toward the floor, the pull on his shoulder joints beginning at once.
“How are you, Veronica?” Luke said, forcing a smile onto his face as blood rushed to his fractured head.
She began crying.
“It’s okay. I promise. It’ll all be okay. Isn’t that right, Lucy?”
“Not for either of you.” The Priestess turned around and looked at Veronica. “I haven’t decided what to do with her yet.”
“I’m sure you’ll work it out,” Christian said.
Lucy took a step back.
“This is what you think I want?” Christian continued. “My friends and loved ones tied up and ready
to die?”
It didn’t take a genius to understand the route that Christian would take; it was also the one Luke planned on.
“It’s fuh-for y-y-you,” Lucy said, her voice cracking.
“Did you even ask me what I wanted?”
Lucy’s head shook back and forth in tiny movements. She wasn’t saying no, but couldn’t understand what was happening and that was simply her body’s reaction.
“No, you didn’t, Lucy. You never even thought to ask. Do you think you know better than I do, as to what should happen?”
“Wuh-wuh-what are you talking about?”
“QUIT STUTTERING!” Christian’s voice erupted through the enclosed space, his rage finally spilling out into the world like black, flaming oil.
Lucy whimpered and took another step back.
Christian pushed himself against the wall, then pushed himself up so that he stood. His legs were bound far too tight to walk, but he leaned against it, his hands in front of him.
“Untie me.”
Lucy shook her head.
“UNTIE ME!”
“I cuh-cuh-can’t. Not until I’m finished with him. You have to see it fuh-fuh-first.”
Christian looked down at the floor, and when he spoke, his voice was death personified. “If you don’t untie me now, when you’re finished, I will kill you in the most horrific possible fashion.” Lucy tried to interrupt, but Christian kept going without looking up. “No. Let me tell you what I’ll do. I will slice your tongue in two, so that you can still try and speak, but your language will make your stutter appear like a gift. I’ll take your skin off slowly, over the course of days, and staple your eyelids to your skull, so that you have to watch. You’ll finally die as another disciple did—I’ll boil you in a vat of oil. Either free me, or your fate will be worse than the man you’re crucifying.”
Lucy’s head shook so fast it was almost vibrating.
Luke watched it all, highly interested, but still dispassionate. This was only the beginning.
Lucy bolted toward the open door. Once outside, she pulled it down, and Luke heard the padlock slam into place.
Luke closed his eyes and let out another groan.
CHRISTIAN WATCHED the door slide down and listened as the woman locked them all inside. He turned to Luke.
“Hold on.” He hopped carefully over to the cement bucket that held Luke suspended in the air. “This is going to hurt.”
“It’s been a day of hurt,” Luke said.
Christian lowered his shoulder at the wooden cross and shoved hard. The bucket started tipping, but threatened to remain upright. Christian leaned on the cross and fell with it.
The sound of the wood hitting the concrete echoed off the surrounding metal walls. Christian rolled off Luke’s arm and stared up at the ceiling.
“Mom, are you okay?”
“I’m okay, honey. Dr. Titan is the one hurting, I think.”
“Veronica?” Christian said. “How about you?”
He looked to her and saw her nod.
“Tommy is still out?” Christian couldn’t see him from where he lay.
“It appears so, honey,” his mother said.
Christian let out a sigh. “That didn’t go like I wanted.”
“It went better than the alternative,” Luke said. “At least I’m not hanging upside down anymore.”
“What do you think she’s doing?” Mrs. Windsor asked.
Christian didn’t know, hadn’t even given himself time to consider it. He had lost himself for a moment while screaming at the woman, threatening her. It had been …
“Exhilarating.”
Christian saw the other standing next to him. His eyes were black, and he still smiled as if someone had hooked his lips’ corners to his ears, stretching them much wider than could possibly be sustained. Blood pattered down around Christian’s head on the floor.
Some of it splattered against his face. Christian didn’t care.
“What are you looking at?” Luke said.
“Nothing.”
“Are you sure?”
Christian turned his head to the side and found Luke staring at him.
Does he know?
Luke knew something, that was sure. His face said as much.
Tommy groaned, and Christian rolled on his side, kicking his legs so that he could see his other partner.
“Tommy? You awake?”
Another groan, and Christian saw Tommy try to speak, though the tape across his mouth kept him from doing so. They all sat in silence as he slowly worked it off, scraping his face against the ground until the tape peeled away. Road rash set across his cheeks, but he gave no sign of the pain.
“Whhhatt the fuck happened?” Tommy slurred out.
“She’s got us.”
Tommy looked around the room, seeing the other people here with him. “Luke, you okay?”
“I’ve had better days.”
Tommy groaned again. He couldn’t sit up with the way his arms were tied to his legs, couldn’t move much at all. “Where is she?”
“She just left,” Christian said. His face lay against the ground, and he realized that he’d rolled into a puddle of blood. Not Luke’s or his own, but the dripping apparition’s above him.
“She’ll be back,” his other self said. “She’s probably praying to God, and when she’s done, she’ll come kill everyone you love.”
Christian tried not to look up. He didn’t want Luke seeing it, or anyone else for that matter. This apparition was no different from the times his mother or shrink showed up to offer advice. He had to ignore it.
“Do we have any kind of plan?” Tommy said.
“No,” Christian answered.
“Yes you do,” the other said. “You know what you need to do. You’ve got to kill her, just like you’ve planned. Only, you might not be able to do it with your hands.”
The lights above went out for the first time, casting everyone into darkness.
CHAPTER 25
L ucy didn’t understand what was happening. A whirlwind of terror had erupted inside the storage unit, Christian’s mouth its source.
She knew God was pain. Daddy taught her that, but was His sword also pain? Was this supposed to be happening?
Lucy had cut the lights off inside the storage unit, wanting them unable to see a thing. She knew it was dangerous leaving them all in there alone, but she didn’t have any choice. She had to think, had to talk to God. When Lucy started renting, she had found the metal cord connecting the power source on the side of the building. She had left a pair of hedge cutters next to it some time ago, wanting to be prepared.
She snipped the cord, knowing it meant she wouldn’t be able to turn the lights back on. That was fine. Their blindness was more important than her sight.
Lucy had heard the bucket topple over and knew that the demon was no longer facing his fate.
Fate. Christian told you your fate would be worse than his, yet you didn’t listen to him.
Lucy stared at Titan’s car, the moon above casting its glow off the smooth metal. She needed to get away from here, to find a place to pray. She would come back tomorrow night, if God spoke to her. If not, she would wait. Christian could bake in the heat just like the rest of them, and if they all died, then Lucy had been mistaken. If the cops showed up, then Lucy had been mistaken.
This was in God’s hands until He gave her direction.
STOP STUTTERING!
Tears came to Lucy’s eyes as she remembered Christian’s harsh words. His angry words. Her father had said the same to her so many times, and she had never been able to listen. She had never been able to stop.
Christian shouldn’t talk like that. Maybe to others, he was the sword after all, but not to her. It made no sense.
Lucy got into the car and drove off. On her way home the sun began rising, and she took some happiness in knowing that the temperature inside the storage unit would grow hotter. Perhaps they’d die and God would show her a different
path. Perhaps Christian would melt in there.
Don’t think like that!
She parked the car a mile from her apartment, not wanting anyone to see her driving something so expensive. She wanted no interruptions for what came next.
She walked to her apartment, the sun fully up now. She wanted to sleep but knew she couldn’t. She first needed to seek God. Lucy wasn’t going to work today and knew that meant she’d lose her job, but what did a job matter right now?
Lucy entered the apartment and went to the closet. She had bought the whip when she first bought the apartment, but hadn’t used it. How many years had it been since she and her father had taken something very similar across their backs? A decade maybe.
Lucy undressed and folded her clothes before placing them on the bed. She knelt at the bed’s foot, letting her bottom touch her heels. She brought the whip up in front of her and looked at it. It wasn’t the cat-o-nine tails that she and her father had used, but Lucy knew that with her strength and enough focus, she could reach God.
She raised the whip in the air and slammed her arm across her chest, the leather strap slapping down on her back. Pain raged across her flesh, but she didn’t slow. She had to keep going.
Again the whip went up, and again it came down. Over and over, until she felt her back grow wet and her arm tired. Then, as Daddy had taught her, she switched arms and started again.
Finally the pain grew too much, and her vision hazy.
Lucy smiled as she fell to the side, blackness taking over and allowing whatever God she believed in to enter her.
HOURS PASSED IN THE DARKNESS, but there was no doubt that the sun had risen outside. The heat crept up on Christian, and everyone else inside the small building, like a thief—ready to steal the water from their bodies.
Christian hadn’t moved at all, but his shirt was soaked. Not only from the blood that still dripped from the other’s hands and mouth, but because of his sweat, too.
