Page 33 of Marked for Sin

“So here we go. You don't care anything about me and my feelings, just your fucking family!” Chastity screamed while flailing her arms angrily and stomping away from me.

“I don't care about you? I killed your fucking father so I could be close to you!”

Chastity abruptly stopped and turned around, her mouth trembling, tears filling her eyes. “You killed my father? So you could be close to me? He was innocent, he had done nothing to you and you murdered him? I hate you! Stay the fuck away from me! I mean it, Lust, I don't want to see you, ride with you—I don't even want to smell you or I swear to you I will kill you.” She began sobbing as she made her way back to the compound on foot.

“Chastity! Chastity!” I yelled but she wouldn't reply.

Damn humans! I got on my bike and rolled beside her. Why was I feeling guilty for somethingshedid? What was this? I didn’t have time to try and figure it out. I needed to talk sense into her.

“Chastity, please forgive me.”

She wouldn't even look at me.

I had truly fucked up and lost her forever. The thought cut me deeply. But would she keep her word and get Greed released?

I stopped my bike and watched her get further and further away from me.

I know Pride was not a patient man and would slaughter them all and laugh while he did it. Why did I suddenly care about the humans, anyway? We were Letos. She was throwing me off my game, changing me in ways I wasn’t sure I wanted. I pulled down my visor and headed back home. I wont save them, only they could by letting Greed free.

ChapterTwenty

CHASTITY

My eyes burned as tears kept falling. The man I was beginning to love had killed my father.

Dad was right, vampires are soulless monsters and he only did it to fuck me, not because he loved me. He only cared for himself.

Was he and his sister telling the truth? Would their clan truly come here and destroy us? I needed to talk to the council and now. But how could I tell them that I had been secretly seeing a vampire more so that they could trust me?

I had done the very thing we were forbidden to do, to let down our morals and intermingle with the undead. But had they personally ever met one like him? How could they judge me for how I felt? But this wasn't just about me, this was about saving the compound. Letos vampires were coming and unless I did something we would all be annihilated.

I made my way home after walking an hour. The place was quiet, too quiet. When I made my way into the sanctuary, everyone from the compound was congregated there. I received looks of disappointment and disgust as I made my way to the front to speak to my father’s successor, Doctor White. He opened his arms wide and I immediately walked into his arms.

He had been my fathers best friend since they were children. I laid my head on his white cloak and sobbed as he embraced me. For a split second, it was like my father had come back to life and was giving me another hug. I missed my father so much as I laid there for a moment I imagined it was him holding me, I didn't want to let this illusion go when he spoke.

“What troubles you, my child?” he asked, his eyes so full of compassion and love.

“The prisoner. She has a family and they want her back. They know where we live and they are angry. I'm begging you, let her go back to her family. We do not wish to go to war with them. They are ruthless and will slaughter us like cattle. None of us will be left standing.”

“So the rumors are true, you have been dining with the devil, gave over your purity to a thing of evil!” He stood for a moment and then looked at the congregation before his face turned to one of disgust. “This, my people, is the consequences of what happens when you give into your fleshly desires. You forget what's important, she cares not about you and I, her family. All she cares about is that demon we have chained.”

He walked around loudly continuing to condemn me for my transgressions but I stood defiantly. “Listen, I know some of what you say is true, but they will kill us all and my father wouldn't want this, he wanted us to be safe and to live,” I pleaded with them.

He looked at me with a smirk as he continued his verbal assault on my character. “This is also an example of why you cannot give into your own body. It leads to lies and deception and loss of virtue!”

He grabbed my wrist tightly and I struggled to get away but he was much stronger than me. He slapped me in the face causing blood to trickle down my lip and held my hand above my head.

He screamed for the elders to come. “Purity must be restored for this child!”

“Stop! You must listen to me! They’re coming!” They wouldn’t heed my warnings; they drug me to the altar and tied my arms to the posts and forced me to kneel in front of his pulpit, the place where my father had preached since I could remember—the same place my father had died.

“You have been corrupted, my child, so you must offer a sacrifice of blood. Only then will your purity return,” he declared while shaking his head in disapproval. He turned away and made his ascension to the pulpit.

He stood proudly with his eyes gazing in an unrelenting stare while I began to cry out for mercy.

“Someone, please stop this, this is not what my father would have wanted. Don't do this!” No one listened to me, each one of them continuing their ritual.

The two men carrying whips took several steps away from me as the congregation cheered. I could hear the snap of the whips as they prepared, each one had their own. I knew what was about to come. I had been judged and no matter how I begged or pleaded my punishment was set. I grabbed at the ropes and steadied myself the pain I had only heard about but now was to experience it firsthand.

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