Anarchy (Deathstalkers Book 10)

by Alexis Noelle

  That’s when I realize something else. I’m completely naked.

  What the heck is going on?

  I hope that Mikey didn't hang up when I called him, and he realized that I was in trouble. Please God let him be on his way.

  The door opens, and I see the Prophet walk in. "Luke 15:24, For this son of mine, was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." He stops directly in front of me as a smile crosses his face. "Welcome home my prodigal wife."

  What did he just call me?

  "You were lost, but now you'll be able to be saved. I am here to ensure that." His hand runs down my side, and I try to jerk away, but there is nowhere for me to go. “Before I can make you mine we must cleanse you from your demons and the indiscretions they convinced you to do.”

  He walks behind him grabbing something off the table. It looks like a bottle of something. He cocks his hand back and then surges it forward. Something cold hits me, I brace for pain, but there is none. It must be holy water. He closes his eyes starting to chant while continuing to douse me with the liquid.

  “We drive you from us,

  whoever you may be,

  unclean spirits,

  all satanic powers,

  all infernal invaders,

  all wicked legions,

  assemblies and sects.

  In the Name and by the power of Our Lord Jesus Christ,

  may you be snatched away and driven from the Church of God and from the souls made to the image and likeness of God

  and redeemed by the Precious Blood of the Divine Lamb.”

  When he stops, he turns back toward the table picking up something else that had been lying on the table. When he faces me again, I see that it looks like a whip. Instead of it being one strand it has many, and it seems like there is something hard at the end of each strand.

  I start to shake my head, to plead through whatever is covering my mouth but he raises his hand, and he brings it down striking me, and I scream. It burns like a lit match to my skin.

  “Be gone, Satan, inventor, and master of all deceit, enemy of man's salvation."

  Strike.

  Give place to Christ in Whom you have found none of your works;

  Strike.

  give place to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church acquired by Christ at the price of His Blood.

  Strike.

  Stoop beneath the all-powerful Hand of God;

  Strike.

  tremble and flee when we invoke the Holy and terrible Name of Jesus, this Name which causes hell to tremble,

  Strike.

  this Name to which the Virtues, Powers, and Dominations of heaven are humbly submissive,

  Strike.

  this Name which the Cherubim and Seraphim praise unceasingly repeating:

  Strike.

  Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord, the God of Hosts.

  Strike.

  My lungs burn from screaming and tears are flowing down my face. My entire body is drenched with blood, and it feels like I have a million holes shot into me.

  "Now my wife, since I have gotten the demons out of you let me explain a few things. You and I are now joined in our spiritual union. I have forgiven you for fleeing out of sadness and confusion. We will now start new." He walks closer to me. "You will make a great vessel for the next Prophet. I have seen it, and so it shall be."

  My body is so weak that when he touches me, I can barely try to move away.

  "No use to fight it. This is what is meant to be." He pushes a button on the wall, and the cross the is standing me up begins to move, so I am lying flat. He gets on his knee in front of me, bowing his head. "Heavenly Father, I come to you today and always your loving servant to ask of You a request to be able to conceive a baby. This is a reward that I will cherish with my life. I thank you for the blessings I have and for the blessing I am about to receive. I believe in Jesus's name and do not take him for granted. I love you Lord with my whole heart, and I know I am not forsaken or forgotten. Amen."

  He opens his eyes smiling at me, and I try to squeeze my legs together, but as his hands brace on my thighs, I'm not strong enough to fight against him. He climbs on top of me, and I beg for him to stop even though he can't hear me. I beg for my life, my release, my innocence to not be ripped from me.

  He pushes into me, and I scream from the pain of it. My skin is already so tender from the whip, and now all I can feel is pain side of me also. I try to move, try to squirm but I can't. I'm tied down with nowhere to escape to and no way out.

  He continues to move in and out of me, and I'm going numb. The only way to survive this is by tuning it all out.

  I think of Mikey, of how it felt to be in his arms. I relive the first date we had that day at the movies.

  I’m so sorry for leaving, for doing this to us.

  Chapter Twenty

  Mikey

  After six hours of searching, we finally have a lead.

  Tracker talked to the owner of a gas station, and he said that there had been a large area of land bought a while back and that he tends to see the vans all coming from that same direction. He didn't know the address, but he did know the general vicinity.

  We are heading that way now, and my stomach couldn't be more in knots.

  She has to be okay.

  We find the community and I breathe a sigh of relief. It is small and entirely surrounded by a metal fence. I don't wait for anyone else while I grab the bolt cutters out of my car and use them to clip a hole in the fence.

  "Tank, you need to wait." Whip is saying from behind me, but I'm not waiting for anything. I'm going in there and getting my girl. Hearing someone coming I raise my gun, and once they round the corner, I'm aiming.

  “Who are you?” the man says.

  “Your worst nightmare unless you tell me what happened to the girl that was brought here today.” I am struggling to keep my composure right now.

  "No one was brought here today." The man replies but his voice shakes, and I know he is lying.

  “I will burn this place down little by little until I find her.” I raise my gun ready to do away with these two when the girl yells.

  “No, she’s at the Prophet’s house. You should all leave her alone though. This is what she needs, what she wants.”

  That voice.

  "You. You were in the car." I look at her, and her eyes widen. I send a bullet into her skull, and before he can move, I do the same.

  Whip turns to Tracker. “Get someone to tell you where the Prophets house is.” He holds his hand up stopping me from moving. “You need to get your shit together. We will find her but dial it back some. Trust me I fucking get it but calm down.”

  I look at him ready to blow up at him, but I realize that he does get it. Deep down I know he's right but trying to get a hold of the emotional hurricane inside of me right now is no easy task.

  "Whip." Tracker calls for us, and we both follow him. "His house is at the back of the community. Stands by itself so it should be easy to find. Thinking we should go around the perimeter."

  I nod, "makes sense. Thanks, brother."

  We start to follow the fence line around the community working to alert as little people as possible to our presence. The sun has been down for at least a half hour, so it's easy not to bring too much attention to ourselves. After about five minutes the house comes into view. It's a free-standing white house without neighbors on either side.

  I stop and look back at Whip. “I’ll go in and start looking for Emma. Looks like there are two stories and a basement. I’ll hit the top floor with Tracker. You and Torch go downstairs and have Cutter stay on the first level and keep watch.”

  Everyone moves at the same time heading for the house.

  I took the upstairs because it's my worst fear. If that asshole has her in one of the bedrooms, I'm not going to be able to control myself.

  The house is simple, no decorations, no pictures. I head up the stairs seeing three doors. The first is an empty bedroom. The seco
nd door is another bedroom, and when I open the door, an older man sits up in the bed. "Where is Emma?"

  He just looks at me. “You cannot take my wife. It was said that I was to have her and she will carry my child.”

  My heart stops.

  No.

  “At this very moment, the conception could be taking place. Leave us in peace." He motions toward the door.

  I raise my gun putting a bullet right through his head.

  “You shouldn’t have done that yet. We should have held him till we had all of the information.” Tracker looks over at me.

  "Maybe, the only information I needed was what he just said." I push past him and toward the other door when Cutter calls my name. I move to the stairs and seeing his face is all I need. He's white as a ghost, and he can't meet my eyes.

  They found her and its bad.

  “Where?” I head down the stairs as fast as humanly possible.

  “Basement, but you need to brace yourself. It’s bad.” Cutter claps me on the back.

  I run toward the other set of stairs. Once I reach the base, I freeze. Emma is lying a wooden beam, naked. Whip and Torch are at her feet cutting the rope that is binding them to it. She has cuts covering almost every inch of her, pieces of the skin hanging off where they are the deepest.

  I run to her crouching near her head and brushing the hair from her face. “We’re here now. I’m so sorry for letting this happen. I should have been there. I should have never let you leave.”

  “Here I grabbed this for her from upstairs.” Tracker hands me a blanket.

  I take it from him and cover her before wrapping it around her body. "Someone go grab the truck. I toss the keys to no one specific, Whip catches them and then hurries upstairs. I lift Emma up, and she groans as I pull her to my chest. Given the state of her body right now I'm sure any movement at all is hurting her. "Someone call Doc and have him get to the club asap."

  Carrying her up the stairs and toward the front door, I see the headlights of the truck pull up. "Cutter opens the door for me, and I climb in with her."

  After about ten minutes in the car, she starts to wake up, moaning in pain.

  Her eyes open, “you…found me.”

  "Always baby, I will always be here for you. Told you that before. We're gonna get you taken care of."

  Her eyes close again as we race back to the club.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Emma

  Pain.

  It’s all I feel.

  Everything hurts.

  I try to open my eyes, but they aren't listening.

  “I have her sedated, I think it’s best for a few days while her body heals.”

  I don’t recognize that voice.

  “Thank you.”

  Mikey.

  I feel someone grab my hand. "I'm not leaving your side till you're better. After that, I'll still be here every day, to the point you’ll probably get sick of me.”

  Never.

  "I love you, babe."

  Love you too.

  ***

  I have an itch. I try to lift my arm to get it, but the pain is unbearable.

  A scream tries to come out, but I think it sounds more like a growl.

  I strain just to open my eyes but this time they listen.

  Mikey is looking down at me. "Hey, gorgeous." He gives me a smile, "welcome back."

  I try to talk, but my throat is so raw.

  “Try not to talk. Doc said there is some damage to your vocal chords.” He sits down next to me. “Said it was probably from…screaming.” He brings my hand to his mouth playing a kiss on it. “I’m so sorry. I should have followed you that day. I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

  I shake my head. "No." The sound comes out as a croak, and it hurts so bad that I wince.

  “Babe, please don’t talk. Here, I’ll get you something.” He disappears for a minute then comes back holding something. “When Doc said he didn’t want you talking we grabbed one of these.” He holds up a dry erase board and a marker.

  I smile at him, although I don’t know that I could move well enough to use it right now.

  I choose just to mouth the words ‘love you'.

  “Love you more than I think you realize beautiful.”

  I feel myself falling asleep again, but it’s useless.

  ***

  Four days later

  A scream rips through my body as the doctor is telling me to push.

  There is a nurse to my side cheering me on.

  I look to the other side for Mikey's face, but it isn't him.

  "Push my dear, it's time for you to give the world its next prophet."

  My eyes spring open, and my heart pounds against the wall of my chest.

  I look around and try to slow my breathing.

  You’re safe. He isn’t here.

  Mikey is still by my bed, his head resting against the chair and his eyes closed.

  The board and the marker are by the bed even though I haven’t had the energy to use them. I move my arm to reach for them and while it hurts it’s not unbearable.

  Picking up the pen I write, I love you. On it then place it back next to me for when he gets up.

  The door opens, and an older man walks in. "Good to see you awake for one of my visits. I'm Doc, I've been taking care of you."

  He leans down using the stethoscope to listen to my heart. He shines a light in my eyes and then pulls the blanket back. "You have a lot of lacerations, I have them wrapped, and the healing process has already started. I treated them when I first saw you, so I'm hoping you’ll get minimal scaring for it. Your vocal chords were badly damaged, but I think they already told you that. If you need to talk I would say it needs to start out slow."

  I nod in understanding.

  “Make sure during this time you lean on someone. Recovery is twenty percent physical and eighty percent mental.” He offers me a kind smile before leaving.

  The sound of the closing door causes Mikey to wake up. He looks over at me, and I hold up the board. “I’m so happy that you’re feeling better babe.”

  “Sit…up” my voice is almost unrecognizable.

  "Don't talk, I don't want you to hurt yourself." He grabs a few pillows. "Put your arms around my neck, and I'll help you sit up."

  I lift my arms and try to hide the fact that it hurts like hell. When he lays me back down the pillows are behind me, and I'm sitting up halfway.

  “Better?” I nod my head in response to his question. “How do you feel?”

  He hands me the board, but I push it away. I want to talk to him. "Doc said…I could talk."

  "He was in here? Guess I passed out at some point." His hand rubs his face, and he looks exhausted.

  “Why don’t you go get some rest.” I look up to see Lucy standing in the doorway. “I can sit with her, plus I feel like we have a lot of catching up to do.”

  Mikey looks over at me, and I nod letting him know it's okay.

  He bends down giving me a kiss. “I’ll be back in a little. Love you.”

  Lucy sits down next to me. “I can’t believe that…I wanted to tell you…” her hand covers her mouth. “I’m just so sorry.”

  "Everyone keeps saying that." I cough, and she passes me a glass of water. The cool sensation in my throat feels amazing. "It was my fault. I left." If I keep taking drinks between each sentence, it's bearable.

  “Do you want to know everything?”

  “As much as you want to tell me.” Knowing what I went through I don’t want her total about it if she isn’t comfortable.

  She starts to talk about how she had reconnected with my mom after she left. How she tried to save her. She tells me that she's got scars on the inside and the outside from what happened to her and that she had actually been pregnant and lost the baby. By the time they figured out my mom was behind it, Lucy was blinded by anger and a need for revenge. "To this day a part of me wishes I knew she had you before I did that. I wish I had taken the time to think about my
actions."

  It makes me think about Lizzie. Did she know what was going to happen to me? Was it their plan all along? “Do you know what happened to the girl who took me there in the car?”

  “From what I understand think that the both of them are gone.” Lucy places her hand on mine. “I am someone who has been where you were. I get it. You are going to go through a ton of different emotions. Just know that you can’t blame yourself for any of this. Everyone is held accountable for their own actions.”

  “If I hadn’t left…”

  "No." She scoots closer. "That's what I mean. You will have nightmares. You will have scars in many different ways. If you let them control you, then you're letting the bastards that hurt you win."

  I know that she’s right.

  The problem is knowing it and feeling it are two entirely different things.

  Epilogue

  Emma

  It’s been one month since I was taken.

  Looking in the mirror, my wounds are still healing. The angry red marks reminders of every piece of pain I endured at his hands that night.

  Mikey has been trying to help me through it, and I love him so much for it. Everyone here has been amazing and so willing to help. As crazy as it sounds this whole thing has brought aunt Lucy and I closer. She's been with me every day, helping me work through the nightmares and the memories that I don't even know if I could to talk to Mikey about. I see his face when it's brought up, and it hurts him, he still blames himself.

  I always felt like something was missing my entire life, but I feel like I’ve finally been able to find it.

  I was missing a real family.

  One who would lay their lives down for you at the drop of a hat.

  Now I have it.

  The door opens, and Mikey comes in. "Hey, gorgeous." I smile back at him. "How do you feel like getting away for a weekend?"