Page 6 of Like Grim Death: Part One
Silence is the only sound.My brothers stand by my side, the five of us forming a circle, joined by the three remaining members of the 6, and…others. Others in the black hooded robes etched with silver snakes; mine and the rest of the Unsaints with a purple skull instead. Though in the absolute darkness of the room, I can see none of these details.
The scent of incense causes my chest to tighten. My eyes close, involuntarily, like I can shut the past away if I don’t look at the present.
But it doesn’t work that way. It chases me, all the same.
Inside my mind, I see smoke swirling to the ceiling. I feel my stepmother’s heavy pants against my throat, her nails raking down my chest. So many times, I wanted to squeeze her neck until I felt it crack. Until she fell into a lifeless heap on top of me, a solid and unmoving weight. I wanted to come inside of her as she died. I wanted to bury her with the reminder of one thing in her corpse.
Me, me,me.
When I came, and I would, it was to a flash of violence playing out in my brain. Snapping her neck, stopping her breathing, my forearm barred over her nose until the bones gave way beneath the pressure. She was screaming my name in my fantasies because she was losing her useless fucking life tome.
I swallow the memories. The desire to wreck her.
It’s over now. And two of the three people who love me most in this world did that. Murdered her, violently.For me.
A hum begins to fill the room. A cold chill runs down my spine as I blink in the dark, trying to ignore the thick, herbal scent filling the inner sanctuary of Sanctum.
No, I realize. It’s not a hum at all.
The notes of a piano. This underground room is as large as the entire cathedral; I have no doubt a piano is tucked into a shadowy corner of the space, and since we were escorted down here in nothing but blackness, it could’ve been here all along.
I wonder though, who the fuck is playing it.
The music is high and cheerful, in the strangest way.
Then the notes drop.
Maverick, to my left, sways toward me, his shoulder brushing mine, like a reassurance. I clench my teeth, my head bowed, the hood of my robe pulled low over my eyes. The fabric feels itchy, despite the fact I’m dressed beneath, in all black.
I hate these ceremonies. I hate the 6. And I hate how I don’t know everyone in this fucking room. But my uncles rank far higher than I do, regardless of the fact I’m the son of a formerDominusand the current leader of the Unsaints.If they don’t want to give us anything, well, we get nothing.
Next month though,November,things change. Elijah informed me as much. Apparently, having a child is some kind of factor in rising through the ranks.
I just wonder what sort of hell I have to endure in silence before we get toOrtus.
The melody is haunting now, and I’m aware of the gun stowed in the back of my pants. A breach of protocol, but Elijah has been off his game lately, and no one bothered to check me for fucking weapons when I came in here just before midnight.
Someone starts to chant alongside the music of the piano, and I’m surprised to hear Russian instead of Latin. But I know what the single word means, regardless of the language.
Rebirth.
Over and over again, a low voice, singular, because the rest of us dare not speak. I have no doubt I’m not the only one with a fucking weapon, and the 6 always know just how to keep us in line, guns or not.
My mind flicks to Lilith. Rain. My entire body grows rigid, and I have to take long, deep breaths to keep myself here, in this room; my presence support of something I’m not sure I believe in any longer. Something I’m not sure I ever did.
My wife. My son.That’s my fucking religion.
I want to go home and worship.
The chant picks up, harsher, more voices joining. Those of the 6. Lower. Darker. The pianist plucks one final, dark note, and the voices have no lull as the echo fades. No break. Just the single Russian word, over and over and—
Silence.
The voices stop all at once, startling me with the quiet.
Something flares behind my closed eyelids, vivid and red, like a spark of light.
I open my eyes, but it’s gone. Vanished. Only the scent of smoke mingling with incense any proof it had ever existed at all.
