Page 139 of Stitches

CHURCH

We raced through the night, it all too reminiscent of the night we’d found her in the mausoleum. The wind was cold, and the snow had started falling again.

In the distance, we saw Sin and Asylum.

We caught up to them quickly.

“What did you see?” I demanded, shaking Asylum as he tried to remain upright.

“Fucking hell. She’s so hurt,” he managed to choke out. “I-I can feel her pain. It’s so much. He hurt her.”

“Who?” Stitches shouted. “Fucking who, Seth?”

“I-I don’t know. I can’t see him.” He shook in my hold, looking like he might throw up. I’d never seen him this way before. It was unsettling.

“We need to check the clearing,” I said, releasing Asylum who sagged against Sin.

“Come on.” Ashes ran away from us, sliding as he tried to not slip on the ice.

We all followed, Asylum and Sin slower.

When we reached the clearing, it didn’t take a genius to see there had been a struggle. The snow was disturbed, and it looked like she’d fought and ran.

“Come on, baby,” I whispered, pulling a flashlight from my pocket and shining it around. I spotted the trail of footprints, and jotted along it through the darkness.

“R-Right. Go right,” Asylum called out from behind us.

I didn’t bother to question him. I turned right just as the footsteps did.

She’d been chased. She’d tried to escape.

“Where?” I demanded.

Asylum vomited somewhere behind us.

“Fuck, he’s channeling her or something,” Stitches managed to say.

“It’s good that he is.” Ashes moved quickly next to me. “It means she’s alive.”

That should have brought hope to my heart, but it only made my fear grow. It meant she was suffering.

Not again, baby. Please, not again.

The tracks broke off suddenly, going in different directions. Whoever had been here, wanted to confuse us.

“Asylum? Which way?”

“I-I don’t know,” he groaned. “We have to split up.”

I swallowed hard. “I’ll go straight alone. Stitches, you and Ashes go right. If anything happens…”

“We’ll be vigilant.” Ashes clapped me on the shoulder before him and Stitches darted off into the night.

“We’ll go left,” Sin said.

I nodded.

“Dante, she’s strong. She’ll be OK,” Sin said, his face stricken with the same fear I felt.

---