Page 7 of In God's Name

“Apollyon it's three in the morning why are you-” I’m abruptly cut off as he begins to speak again in an eerily calm voice.

“Once its prey has found its way into the web, the black widow will use his legs to wrap the victim in its silk. The widow will then haul it over to a resting place on its web, where it can thensink its fangs in and inject its venom.” His breathing grows into a sigh, and suddenly it feels as though my skin is crawling with the same creature he's speaking about. I sit up and turn on my bedside lamp, glancing down at my skin to be safe, even though I know I wont find anything.

“Apollyon, what’s going on?”

“It seems you have an insect in your web, Kameron. I sure do hope you can find the pest before things get taken too

far and I'm forced to make sure the blame lands on you and not my empire.” And with that, the line goes dead. The silence grows in my room until it’s suffocating, leaving me with lungs begging to expand. My mind races with images of the kill, wondering what I missed. The thoughts swirl together with the dreams I had for my future. The idea of settling down, starting a family, becoming the man my parents would've been proud of, mixes with the idea of me on death row.

Suddenly the buzz of a message coming through my phone slices through the thick air. I open it up and see a name.

Lilith Jones.

Chapter ten

Lilith

It’s been fifteen days since my brother died and I’m more drained than I’ve ever been. Leah and I have spent countless hours combing through every little thing we can find about The Garden. All we’ve managed to dig up so far, besides information about the clinic here, is that John had been pushing to become a partner. Between his personal notes that were stashed away in his apartment here and the interviews of him online, it seemed as though he was leaping up the ladder. Some even went as far as to call him Apollyon’s successor. But no matter how hard we looked we couldn’t find anything from Apollyon on the matter.

“Lil,” Leah lets out an exasperated sigh, “I don’t know. I’m not sure we’re going to get much further with what we have. Have you tried reaching out to Madison?” A chill runs down my spine at that name. Madison is John’s ex wife, who still managed with fifty percent custody after she had been arrested for domestic violence. “No Leah. And like I told you before, I don’t want her to be a part of this. She’d be no help anyway, I can guarantee that.”

Shoving myself back into the paperwork sprawled out in front of us upsets Leah enough she excuses herself and heads into my kitchen. This little investigation of ours has

completely consumed my life. I lost my job, I can’t eat or sleep, I’ve done nothing but pour myself into this. The least she could do is trust that I want answers just as badly as her. That I wouldn’t push away an idea unless it was absolutely necessary.

My emotions begin to bubble up to the surface again as I stare at the words in front of me. It’s time for a break Lilith I think to myself. “Leah,” I call out, “I’m going out for a bit. You’re welcome to stay, but I think we should regroup tomorrow. Maybe a break will do us some good.”

“Sounds good Lil,” she responds as she strolls out of the kitchen. Her afro is pulled up by a yellow ribbon, Jacob’s favorite color. She’s been wearing it everyday since the murders.

“Call me if you need anything, okay?” I whisper as she pulls me in for a hug. She gives me a soft smile in return before heading out of the door. I can’t imagine the strength it takes to carry on the way she is.

“What’s a pretty little thing like you doing all dolled up and alone?” I ignore the creep and keep stirring my drink, letting my brain pretend if I stir hard enough the guy next to me will get sucked up. Yup drunk Lilith has definitely made her arrival. I rarely drink as I try to live as sin free as possible, but my life is crashing around me so here we are.

“What’s so funny?” the creep questions. I slam my mouth shut covering it with my hands. Oops, I didn’t realize I was audibly laughing.

“Okay!” I clap my hands together and begin to stand up, “time to go home.” The guy’s hands land on each of my shoulders,pushing me back down into my stool. His grasp on my shoulders tighten as he leans down until his lips are brushing my ear.

His bad breath floods my nostrils as he says “I think it’s best if you stay here. I’ll take you home in a bit.”

“What a fucking loser move,” I allow my voice to continue to grow as I speak, making sure I gather peoples attention. “I don’t know you. Get your fucking hands off of me and learn how to brush your fucking teeth.” The vulgar words feel horrible on my tongue as I spit them out. But I had always been taught to make myself as vile and gross as possible in dangerous situations like these.

His hands drop to his sides as he stands back, “Whoa, what's your problem? I was trying to be nice.”

“No. You were being a predator. Get away from me.” At this point I’m yelling but I couldn’t care less. One in three women are sexually assaulted at some point in their life, and I'm not going to allow this guy to think what he’s doing will be accepted.

As the loser goes to rebuttal, a shadow of a man towers behind him. “You heard the lady,” Elijah's voice filters through the chaos, “I think it’s time you head home.”

“Whoa, hey man,” the guy turns to Elijah, raising his hands to show he means no harm. “I’m sorry bud, I didn’t mean to concern anyone. My girlfriend here has had a bit too much to drink. She’s just mad I’m cutting her off.” He adds a

small chuckle at the end of his sentence, really trying to sell his point.

Elijah eyebrows raise in sarcastic shock, “Girlfriend you say. How long have you two been together?”

“What’s it been, babe?” The creep glances back at me. I’m too dumbfounded by the fact he’s trying to convince anyone we’re together to speak. “I believe we hit two years next week,” he finishes off, smiling up at Elijah.

“Oh really? Damn, considering Lilith here works for me and sleeps with me you'd think I would've known about a serious relationship of hers.”

I can’t help but let out another bout of giggles as the man’s jaw drops and looks dumb founded. He stumbles away from us. After watching him fumble his way through the bar and out of the door, I finally turn my attention to the beautiful man in front of me. I throw my head back and groan when he shoots me a stern look and sticks his hand out for me to take.

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