Page 32 of Sinful

She led me out of the house and down an alley that ran behind it. From there, it was a short walk down to the river that flowed beyond the east side of Alderwood.

We settled on a smooth log seat by the water’s edge, the cool air of the wilderness wrapping around us in a cold embrace. The moon cast a silvery glow over the rippling water, illuminating the dense forest on the other side, and the stars above were bright and clear, their brilliance undimmed by city lights.

“It really is beautiful out here,” I said, looking over at Rose. She was the most gorgeous thing in sight.

“It’s like my father always says. Alderwood is our very own paradise,” she replied. She tilted her head and cast a curious glance at me. “You said you could explain your appearance in my vision.”

“Yes. During my undergrad, I was—”

“Undergrad?”

“Sorry. My first university degree, before I went to law school,” I said. I kept forgetting she wasn’t a member of the modern world and therefore wouldn’t understand every single word or term that the rest of us used for things. “During that time, I was a member of a secret society.”

“Oh.” Her eyes widened. “That sounds intriguing.”

“It’s a brotherhood of sorts. An exclusive group of fellow students. You can only join by invitation,” I explained. “There’s more than one society, but each one has different traditions.”

“What’s the point of it?”

“It’s like having a second family. They watch out for you, and you watch out for them. So, for example, one member might be able to help you out with a job if you need it.”

Rose raised a brow. “That just sounds like a normal group of friends to me. So what’s the secret?”

I chuckled. “I’m getting to that. Like I said, each society has their own traditions and practices, and most of them are kept secret from non-members. The society I was in carried out certain practices that most people would think of as… intense. Overly so. It was basically a glorified fight club.”

“A fight club?” Her nose wrinkled. “Does that mean you physically fought other people? Or did you just watch others?”

“We’d fight each other, yeah.”

That wasn’t all we did, but she didn’t need to know every single detail.

In reality, we terrorized people in our city. We went on ‘hunts’ which involved us seeking out anyone who had dared to cross any member or challenge our authority, and we didn’t just beat the shit out of them like childish playground bullies. We’d play mind games and set traps to instill fear in our targets; a fear that would end in bloodshed once we finally decided to drop the hammer and come for them. By the time we were done, they knew not to mess with any of us ever again.

It was brutal and twisted, and it probably hardened our minds a little too much, but it forged an unbreakable bond between us.

Rose frowned. “But… why?”

“The point was to make us all resilient through the shared experience of violence crossed with camaraderie. Resilientandformidable,” I said. “And it worked. We were an unbreakable brotherhood. Even though it was years ago, I still trust all those guys with my life, and I always will.”

Rose’s nose wrinkled. “Hm. All right.”

“I know how strange it must sound to someone like you. But to us, it was normal,” I said. “Anyway, we had initiation rituals for new members. I guess that’s sort of like the proving rituals you have here.”

She nodded slowly. “Ah, I see.”

“During the initiation rituals, we would dress in black and paint ourselves to look like specters. We did that to unsettle the new recruits. Make them see what they were getting into.” I rubbed my jaw. “I know it doesn’t soundthatscary at first. It’s just face paint and black clothes, after all. But trust me, when you’re only eighteen, and you’re already nervous because you have no idea what’s coming, and you get tied up with a bag over your head, shoved in a van, and dumped out in a dark cathedral filled with candles, creepy music, and a hundred guys with skulls for faces… you get scared. At least most of the guys do.”

Rose frowned. “You weren’t scared during your initiation ritual?”

I set my jaw and looked out at the water. “I’ve gone through worse. So no.”

“Oh, of course. Your mother’s—” Rose abruptly cut herself off, and she lowered her voice to a murmur. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought that up.”

My stomach tightened. “It’s fine.”

“Please, continue with your story.”

“Well, that was pretty much it.” I turned back to her. “I don’t know anything about this Entity of yours. But if I had to guess, I’d say he showed me like that in your visions to warn you.”

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