Page 9 of Beast: Part Two

“Corbyn really underestimated your intelligence.” Maksim smiles at me before continuing. “Like I said, he got the idea from the Church. When he was younger, he went on a spree, dropping his sperm off in any woman that was willing and able. Once the babies were born, he swooped in and took us the moment we were no longer dependent on our mothers.

“From the time I was three years old, I was trained to be a killer. He raised us to be his own personal bodyguards. He stripped us of our identities and brainwashed us, turning us into mindless, loyal drones. Many of my siblings have laid down their lives for our father.”

“It sounds like a cult,” Albany says.

Maksim nods. “Oh it is. Thankfully, I stopped drinking the Kool-Aid and started to see Corbyn for what he truly is, a narcissistic psychopath.”

One would think hearing about their father for the first time would elicit some type of emotion. However, I felt nothing hearing about Corbyn. If I’d died and never knew who my real father was, I wouldn’t have cared.

“What got you off the mind control juice?” Lucien asks the question that was on my mind as well.

I’ve met the others. The way they speak of Corbyn is like hero worship. As if he’s some god or something. Even when Maksim and I first started communicating, I noticed that even though he was warning me against the “bad guys” he was still protecting them. The loyalty to Corbyn runs deep. So, what changed?

“Four months of the worse torture you can think of.” The darkness that clouds Maksim’s face tells a very dark story. One I know all too well. Whatever he went through in those four months pushed him to the point of almost breaking.

“I was captured by one of my father’s enemies. Daily they took me out of my cell to…” he pauses before clearing his throat. “Play with me. Thankfully, I was able to escape.”

No one needs further description of what play means. We’ve seen and done some terrible things for information.

“Why change your loyalty?” I ask. “If you were able to escape and go back to Corbyn, why go rogue?”

“I survived,” he says. “The rule is, if you are captured, we are supposed to end ourselves. Because I didn’t die, he felt I betrayed him. I was sentenced to three years in lockdown.”

“Lockdown?” Zel asks.

“It’s similar to what Beast had to do for those five years. But imagine a small pit dug into the earth that is only wide enough to lie down in. No sunlight and only a hole to shit and piss in. Twice a day you’d be fed bread and water. I refuse to be locked down, so I broke out.”

“And then you found Beast?” Priest asks. “Why?”

A slow smile spreads across Maksim’s face. “Little brother has always intrigued me. Corbyn would often mention the son that got away. He often pits us against you by telling us of your accolades and our failures. He made you our enemy without us ever meeting you.

“When I left, I went in search for you. At first, I thought I’d kill the chosen son and find favor with Corbyn again. But the more I discovered about you—about all of you—I realized I didn’t want to go back to Corbyn.”

The room goes silent. I look at Priest, and he’s watching me closely. I can’t understand the look on his face. My emotional Rolodex is no use to me right now. Does he want to know how I feel about this? I’m not even sure how I feel yet. Right now, I’m numb.

“I have a question for you,” Maksim says to Priest. He leans up in his seat placing his elbows on his knees. “It has always interested me how you were able to get to Beast before Corbyn. How did you do it?”

There is a second of hesitation before Priest speaks. “When I was a kid, I broke into the Church headquarters. They had just come and recruited my little brother. I wanted to know more about the organization, and admittedly, I wanted in.”

This is the first time any of us have heard the story of how Priest came into the Church. I always thought they recruited him the same way they recruited us.

"I made it all the way to the top floor of the building before they caught me."

“You broke into one of the most secure buildings in NYC? How old were you?” Hawk asks.

“Ten,” Priest replies with a grin. “When I reached the top floor, I stumbled upon something I should never have seen." The Pope was bent over his desk, with who I later realized was a well-known judge behind him. Let’s just say they were getting really acquainted with each other.”

“Oh shit,” Lucien blurts. “That’s how you found favor with the Church?”

Priest grins. “The Judge had just been appointed an associate justice on the supreme court by a very conservative republican president. The judge himself had a very public stance against homosexuality. His entire platform was based off him being a devout Christian and family man. If I were to have exposed him, well it wouldn’t have ended well.”

“Why not just kill you?” I ask. “You knew their secret. It would have been easier.”

Priest nods. “I’m pretty sure it crossed their minds, but the judge wanted to know how I got up there. I explained it to him, and I told him that I didn’t give a shit who took what up the ass, I just wanted to know how I could join their organization.”

“I could see a young Priest saying that.” Zel laughs. My brothers join in.

“Both the judge and the Pope took a liking to me.” Priest continues. “The judge told me if I vowed to never tell a soul what I saw, he would make sure I made it into the organization. The rest was history. I did favors for him and the Pope throughoutmy time as Deacon. One of those favors was when I was sent to kill Fem’s mother.”

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