Page 94 of Anathema Codex

“Oh no, dear friend,” she says, her body swaying slightly again. She lifts a hand to the sky, and I follow briefly with my eyes before lowering them back to her. “We don’t need narcotics to embrace the way of the Light. We simply drink from the Cactus of Ambrosia and let the energies of the Earth around us take hold.”

I grit my teeth.

So they don’t do drugs, they make their own and drink it down. Makes perfect fucking sense.

“Listen, bitch,” I bark, closing the gap between us and pointing a finger in her face. “I didn’t get your fucking charity case off drugs so you could fucking get on them.”

Trixie gently moves my hand to the side as she rests her head on the kid’s shoulder, the psycho-bitch smile never leaving her face.

"He has more anger than you, but don’t worry. You brought him to the right place, and we’ll help him as best as we can.”

I run a hand over my chin and glance at Red who’s looking at me with those damn adoring eyes of hers.

It would be so easy right now to let her take down the newly crowned Queen Bitch of the Desert, but I want more answers.

And I want her to fucking know who it’s from.

“Let’s try this again,” I say through gritted teeth. “Iam Lakyn Meyer. You remember the Den back at the Light of Lucifer? Sybil? Hail Goats? The burden you fucking left on me after you killed Sergio on your little quest to become Satan’s Favorite Superstar?” At this point, I’m shouting at her, my body is shaking, and I’m angrier than I’ve ever been in my life, but I don’t know what else to do with all of the pent-up rage that’s building inside of me.

“No, my child,” she corrects as she reaches forward and places a hand to my cheek.

I jerk back violently. The way she kept Ichabod smacked up on that road trip, fuck knows if she’s got cactus water hidden somewhere in her goddamn hand and I refuse to be one of these drugged out assholes.

“This is Lakyn,” she continues as she rests her head on the kid’s shoulder. “You’re his father and he brought you here to bathe in the Light. There are no burdens in the desert, no death or decay. Only love.”

Fuck this.

I snap my fingers toward Red and get ready to see the best performance of her life. I’m sure she’s been aware of being in Trixie’s shadow the entire way here and I bet she’d take her down with pleasure. But when nothing happens, I cross my arms over my chest again and glance over my shoulder.

“Come on Re—”

I turn around completely and narrow my eyes as I scan the newly gathered crowd in confusion. Red’s nowhere to be seen. Either she slipped away to look around or one of them slipped her something and she’s off joining the hippie dwellers of the desert.

Fucking hell.

“You know what sucks?” I begin conversationally as I reach into my pocket for a smoke. I pop one between my teeth, light it, then turn to face Trixie and the kid. She’s looking up at him with such affection that I’m about to blow chunks all over both of them. “You don’t deserve this.” When she looks over at me again, I gesture around with a hand. “Of course, you never could help but one-up me as best as you could at every turn. Cults have always been my thing, Trixie, and look at you go. Rubbing your glories in my face again.”

Trixie smiles at me as she finally lets go of the kid and places both of her hands on my shoulders.

I look down into her drugged out eyes and grit my teeth again. She’s gonna end up owing me a trip to the dentist by the time I get out of this goddamn place.

“Mr. Meyer, you’re welcome here,” she assures me with a nod. “There’s no reason to harbor such anger and hatred in your heart. Lakyn brought you to me to help you. I welcome the challenge and look forward to helping you find the good inside of you.”

I grab her wrist and clench my hand around it like a vise, but she doesn’t even flinch. “What did I tell you about putting your fucking hands on me?” I growl at her, giving her rough shove away from me.

Her laughter sounds like a set of chimes being tickled by the wind and, at this point, I’m ready to just fuck off back home since Red isn’t around to split her goddamn head wide open. She leans her body against the kid’s then looks up at him with a smile on her face. “He thinks that he’s Lakyn. That’s funny, don’t you think?”

But not before I try at least one more time.

“You met Ichabod when he was fifteen years old. It was just before his sixteenth birthday. You were seventeen going on eighteen. I was at home, far away from this bullshit, probably fucking a really fine piece of ass—but that’s neither here nor there. You found him digging around in garbage to feed his junkie family and you took him to get pizza that day. Then he met you that night for a cookie or some shit and you guys celebrated his birthday. You repaid the favor by making us all celebrate your twenty-first in a goddamn van going on a magical adventure to kill Sergio—who you handed Ichabod to on a silver platter I might add—all so you could ‘ascend’ and be Satan’s number one bitch. Any of this clicking in that muddled brain of yours?”

A sympathetic smile appears on her lips as she shakes her head. “I’m sorry but I don’t know anyone named Ichabod. I’ve never wanted to glorify a deity, and I don’t recall any of this, but they sound like delusions, Mr. Meyer. If you drink from the Cact—”

“Go fuck yourself,” I snarl, cutting her off as I flick my smoke at her face, then turn on my heel.

“Don’t worry, Pops!” the kid calls out after me. “I’ll make sure that she’s taken care of!”

I choose not to listen to him because, if I do, I’ll fire up the truck and run them all over on my way out of here.

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