Page 39 of Unholy

Thomas points in the same direction. “This has some of the coolest stuff in it I have ever seen.” I’m caught off guard. why is Thomas snooping around Sinclair’s property?

My stomach drops, and alarm bells begin to go off in my head. “I don’t think this is a good idea, Thomas,” I say hesitantly.

Stopping in my tracks, I go to look around. Something feels off, and before I am able to take another step, hands fly over my mouth and a knife is raised to my neck.

“Keep walking.”

Elijah.

Rolling my eyes, I humor him. He won’t hurt me. Nathaniel would be pissed and Greta would kill him.

Thomas uses the special scanner to unlock the shed and opens the door, and Elijah pushes me in. The space is cold, dusty, and not well-maintained.

“Sit,” Elijah demands, so I do by hopping up onto the exposed counter space.

Thomas closes the door and darkness welcomes us.

“I watched. I noticed, and I don’t fucking like it.” I can feel the venom dripping off each of his words; he hates me, and I fucking love it.

“Aw, you don’t like me playing with Daddy?” I say sarcastically, completely unfazed by him.

An evil cackle erupts from his direction. “Play with my daddy all you want, but get your leeching claws out of him.”

Thomas clears his throat. “Boss, he has purchased her a kitten.”

“Snitches get stitches, Thomas, surely Greta taught you that?” Karma was right, Thomas is a very naughty boy. I follow up, asking, “Where do your loyalties lie?”

“Ah, yes, Ms. Vandenberg. With the Antichrist and anyone who is a part of my efforts to remove Dalton from his throne.” His words are shaky, he's nervous now.

Elijah slams his hand down next to me, and shouts, “This is my interrogation.”

So, I invite him to continue, “As you wish, please proceed. But, Thomas, you should know, technically, I am your Queen; remember that the next time you are tempted to be disloyal to Greta and the family.”

“You will never be recognized as Queen. The days of The Exiled are numbered. And if you insist on being called Queen, then I am forced to wonder, whose side are you loyal to?”

He’s quick.

Turning my scare tactic against his servant against me.

Well fucking played.

“My cousin, Greta, and oddly fucking enough your family.”

I can feel his breath on my face now, Elijah has leaned forward. “Watch yourself, I don’t always wait for permission to play.”

Then it occurs to me. This is just a boy protecting his father. Not wanting to see him left hurt and heartbroken. He’s noticed this arrangement is different from the others and is catching on possibly without realizing it and unable to properly articulate his feelings.

And, to be honest, I don’t even know what this is.

“At least I got a kitten instead of pills.” I take a low blow at his deceased mom, not wanting to let on to what I have just figured out. And Nathaniel isn’t the one hurting me… because I am hurting myself.

Emotions rush up my face, I can feel my cheeks warm. Closing my eyes and holding my breath, I push them all the way back down. And I am grateful we are in the dark.

“I killed her. I hated her. He gave her pills to keep her tolerable. Then my step-father in his culty cloak and mask continued feeding mom’s habit because he felt the same, found her intolerable. He only used her to get to me, his weapon.” Hiswords are soft and spoken against my skin, they send a shiver down my spine. At least he had a mother, but he doesn’t have the capability to even understand how lucky he is.

I feel the cool tip of the knife against my throat once more. “I will kill you if you aren’t careful. My dad doesn’t always give me permission when I play.”

His final threat packs a punch, because I know he means it, Elijah has no reason to lie. We sit in silence, letting his words linger in the space around us, when the ringing of a cell phone interrupts it.

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