Page 88 of Forgive Me For I Have Sinned

Walking inside the church, I had the younger members cover Jesus nailed to the cross and the altar. The higher leaders of the Order take their seats. There are eight chairs with an oversized black cloth covering each seat.

"Where are the rest?" old man Caruthers asks out loud.

Mr. Bedford, my father, grandfather, and uncle remain quiet. Gia, Jess, and Veronica are all home with armed security. The sixty-seven members of the Consortium file in each of the pews, wearing plague masks just like mine. I'm one of the few that announce that I'm part of it.

"Why are we here, Alaric."

“In front of you...” I pause when I hear grunts and rustling of paper. "I apologize, it is not Page Six with some juicy gossip but something that pertains to someone very important to me."

I hear chuckles. "We see," Caruthers says.

They don't, but they will.

"What are you doing?" Dorian asks in a hard tone, sitting sideways in the pew.

I inwardly smile. "Canceling your contract," I reply. "Didn't you hear, I kill people?"

I copied pages from the book in the library with the rules on Prey and the rituals, passing them to the higher members of the Order. I can tell which ones are aware, which means they have seen them. You can tell from their expressions when they look at something familiar. Something they have seen. But like my grandfather warned, I can't kill everyone. Not yet, anyway, just the important ones.

Strategy is key.

"Veronica is Prey and wasn't born into the Order as some may think."

"He's lying!" Dorian bellows.

"Son." Caruthers points at Dorian sitting in the front pew. His face is so red; he looks constipated, trying to take a shit, but I don't miss the way he tries not to grimace from the pain. "One more outburst, and I'll throw you out." Caruthers turns to me. "Continue."

"Even if she is recognized by a member of the Order, she is still Prey, and Prey chooses."

"That's true."

"Well, it is well-documented the night she lost her virginity that she chose as Prey without the mark. It means she's mine. Some of you have stood by and conducted rituals for sins committed by coercion and manipulation of Prey, which is forbidden in the Order."

"I'm afraid it's too late, son. She has the mark and has been initiated for years."

I nod, so the twins remove the coverings and hear gasps and coughing. "Son, are you insane?" Caruthers snaps. He's the oldest member on the voting board of the Order.

"I’m afraid Dorian's father, Mr. Devlin, and his cohorts have been busy with their pricks in their hands." I point at Caruthers's wrinkled face with his eyes full of anger. "To answer your question, I'm afraid I am," I smile, "but you already know that."

"Riodrick," Caruthers calls on my grandfather.

"It's justified. He already married her, and she's pregnant with his child."

"I see," he says solemnly.

I smile like watching all of the old farts trying to avoid looking at the eight men with their cocks stuffed inside their mouths and their eyes missing from inside their skulls.

Dorian is kneeling on the floor, watching his father's head with his cock stuffed in his mouth with tears running down his face. He looks up at me. "You motherfucker."

"I've been called worse, but I'd be careful if I were you." I look up at the higher members, addressing them with the facts. "Dorian Black knew she was Prey that night when she chose and interfered with a higher member’s decision and then had you all vote under false pretenses. She has been enslaved as Prey under manipulation. Our law states either way that her true master is the one she bears a child to or is impregnated, so I married her. She's mine and a Riodrick-Riordan by law. Married in this very church. The death of the eight was voted in favor by the founding fathers. I just sped things along."

“Is this true?" Caruthers asks, turning to our fathers.

They all nod in agreement, and the gauntlet is thrown.

The Consortium members walk outside the church silently, and I follow, watching Dorian hastily head toward the parking lot with a limp in his step.

"What do you want to do to him?" Valen asks.

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