The Bound Angel (Sacrilege Rising: Book 1)

Chapter Thirty

Meredith hadn’t left that long ago, but Mike was already missing her. And it wasn’t just how her ass looked as she sauntered out of his room. She was fun. Funny. Smart. She made him feel good.

The memory of that first night they hooked up came back, and the way she made him laugh just as easily as she turned him on. They could have dated, in another life. She’d make a great girlfriend. Or… maybe this life. If they could all figure this thing out, the logistics, the awkwardness, their need, maybe it could work.

Their need. What a thought. And it really was need he saw in their eyes. To have that kind of power over a person was as dangerous as it was intoxicating. Just thinking about Meredith begging, her voice carrying husky, shameless desire, was making him hard again.

That was another thing about Meredith. It was almost more fun pleasing her than the other way around. He liked when she rode him. He liked going down on her. Not that he didn’t like those things with Emma and Allie, but for some reason it was different with Meredith.

Allie triggered something dark and primal in him. It was the face she made when she thought someone was doing something stupid, which was most of the time. It was the way she talked down to people. The way she taunted and teased. When he was around her, he felt a darkness simmering just beneath the surface, like an ocean of lava waiting to erupt. He loved putting her in her place. He reveled in breaking her.

To be clear, he would do neither of those things if she didn’t want them, too. That was a line he wouldn’t cross. As soon as it became anything more than a bedroom kink, he would put a stop to it.

But would she even say anything if he pushed too far? That was the worry. For as rude and mean as she could be, Allie didn’t deserve actual punishment. It always had to be in service to the relationship, and it was important that they spent quality time together too. But Allie brought out a side in him that was darkly thrilling.

Emma was also unique. They each were, of course, but these last weeks were the first chance he’d had to really consider. Emma was his friend. His best friend. And this whole thing had flipped that friendship on its head. They didn’t hang out anymore, not really. He couldn’t remember the last time they’d watched a movie, or gone to the pub, or done anything other than have sex.

But life changed. Relationships evolved. He missed their friendship and hoped they could get it back, but what they had now was great too. With Meredith, he enjoyed giving. With Allie, he reveled in the taking. And with Emma, well, he didn’t quite know how to put it. Where Allie pushed his buttons and encouraged him to dip his toes in the dark water, it wasn’t like that with Emma. What he really loved was seeing her wild side come out.

She was always so proper when she spoke. Graceful when she moved. Elegant in how she acted. Her outfits were always coordinated and well put together, and she was polite to a fault. It was fun seeing this other side of her, this side that talked dirty and flirted. He didn’t want to break Emma, he wanted to unleash her.

Mike knew these things weren’t necessarily healthy, for any of them. Which was why it was his responsibility to keep it all in check. To keep them all balanced, and not just with him, but with each other, too.

His phone vibrated. It was Meredith. She left her keys in his apartment and wanted him to bring them down. But… huh. There was a weird typo in the text. That was unusual for her. She was so used to sending professional emails for work that it carried over into her texting. Mike shrugged and pulled on a pair of jeans and a tee shirt, then began searching. It wasn’t that big; he should be able to find a set of keys.

The tables and counters were empty. The spots under the pillows and blankets were bare. He found a tiny pair of underwear and briefly wondered whose they were, before shrugging and tossing them in the hamper, but no keys. And Meredith wasn’t answering his texts. Maybe she was talking to one of his neighbors. She made friends everywhere she went.

He didn’t want to go down empty-handed just to be sent back up to look again, but there was nothing else to do. It wasn’t his fault. It was genetics. There was no way that every man was similarly and coincidentally bad at finding things by chance. He’d received that scornful, incredulous look more than once when asked to find something and for the life of him couldn’t do it, only for one of the girls to spot it within seconds. It was either genetics, or they purposely hid things just to make him feel stupid. Either way, it wasn’t his fault.

The sun shone brightly as Mike stepped outside, enough that he had to shield his eyes until they adjusted. But when they did, he was confused. Meredith wasn’t there. He expected her to be waiting in the lobby, or just outside, but it was empty. Just two black cars parked outside his building. Well, one car and one enormous SUV, the kind with tinted windows that chauffeured rich people around. Just as he began to wonder who would drive a car like that in this part of the city, the rear window rolled down, and he froze.

Meredith was in the back seat. Her eyes were so wide he could see the whites all the way around. A cloth was tied around her mouth like a gag, and her arms were tucked awkwardly behind her back.

Mike was moving before his brain could finish processing what he was seeing. Adrenaline spiked when he saw Allie and Emma in the car too, both in the same restrained positions. The SUV had three rows, with the girls in the middle and burly looking men in the front and back.

Before Mike could reach for the handle, one of the men in the front growled, “Get in.” He nodded to the black sedan parked behind the SUV.

“Go fuck yourself,” Mike snarled back. “You can’t just fucking kidnap people off the street! Open the god damn door!” He jerked on the handle hard enough he thought it was going to snap off. But it didn’t budge, and the window began to rise. The girls stared at him with panic on their faces, squirming to get free.

“It’s okay,” he breathed, trying to convince himself as much as them. “I’ll figure this out. It’ll all be okay.” Panic rose through his stomach and into his throat. He turned back to the men in the front and shouted, “What the fuck!?”

The last thing he saw before the tinted glass blocked his vision was unfiltered terror in the girls’ eyes. His mind raced, discarding options as quickly as they came. The street was empty. There was no one to call for help. His phone was up in the apartment, anyway. There was nothing heavy lying around to break the glass.

With panic setting in, he quickly walked to the second car. He didn’t want to leave the girls, but couldn’t think of anything else to do. Three more hulking men were waiting inside. They nodded to the back seat, and when he sat, the door closed with a thud. It felt like a prison cell. The driver tilted the rear-view mirror until their eyes met, and Mike recognized him as the same driver that picked them up from the warehouse after Liliana’s scheme. Of course she had something to do with this.

He demanded, “What the fuck is going on?”

Nobody answered, and the sedan smoothly pulled away from his apartment.

***

Silas rose from his squat. The chalk outline was as near to perfect as he could manage. Not that it needed to be perfect. Intent and will were more important than procedure, but being precise didn’t hurt. He looked over the candles next. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them filled the nave, more than he’d ever used, lighting the room with a warm, ambient glow.

So much fire made him nervous, but it was necessary. Fire contained primordial power. It took mankind from neanderthals to the dominant species of the world. It lit the spark, literally, for the entire human civilization, and it was essential for certain rituals. Fire burned barriers. Fire cleansed.

He willed his hands to stop shaking. He was running on fumes, having gotten little sleep lately. The reasons for that were twofold. First, he was simply anxious. Tonight was the culmination of an enormous amount of work and planning, in service of a future that looked very different than the present. With the power he would soon command, he could do anything. With the Dark Lady by his side, or, rather, at his feet, he could rule the highest circles of power. He could make kings quake in fear and topple governments. For the first time in a long time, Silas was excited. Second, the physical and mental strain of these last weeks were taking their toll. Preparing the ritual that would bind the Dark Lady to himself, with contingencies upon contingencies, required enormous sacrifice.

Each time one of his flock made the necessary offering, watching the light behind their eyes go dim, it felt like a splinter of his soul was broken off. He normally bounced back from these things quickly, but after performing mass rituals on a nightly basis for weeks, he now felt like a ragged shell of himself. But the moment was nearly here, and something as trivial as fatigue would not stop him.

He paced the long, empty aisle, checking and rechecking that everything and everyone was in place. It was simply how he operated. Measure twice, cut once. The display of wealth on the altar was as symbolic as the candles and the chalk. What was about to happen here required a grand production.

The coming events unfolded in his mind while he worked. The boy was the key. If he could be made to see sense, then everything would go smoothly. And if he couldn’t, well, that was the point of contingencies.

The location was significant too, with its tall ceilings and wide nave. Both for its physical dimensions, which could become important, and also its connection to the past. In the occult world, symbolism was everything. This place was a callback to the night the boy received her bond; a reflection of the events that happened there.

The time was almost upon him, but not yet. He watched the sun sink toward the horizon through stained glass, smears of colorful light playing against the candles’ ambient glow. Silas looked up to the rafters, which were mostly hidden by shadow, and dared any of the eyes looking back at him to resist his will. None did. None could.

What would he do first, he wondered. Break the bitch in and put her through her paces, of course. And who knew how long that would take. Rumors of beings like her were as rare as they were inconsistent. Her kind lurked in the shadows, rarely declaring their intentions outright. But the one thing they all had in common was the promise of overwhelming, mind-numbing pleasure. Silas was looking forward to uncovering the truth of those rumors.

But enough of that. He had not yet succeeded. He still needed the boy. Thoughts of the future were distractions he could not afford. He steeled his mind and fortified his thoughts. These next few hours would set the course for the rest of his life, so for now, the rest of his life could wait.

Silas squatted near the chalk circle again, his weary legs protesting. Just as he was beginning to reexamine its shape, a car door slammed outside.