“Do what you,” he pauses as he struggles to get the words out from his pain, “feel you need to do.You know that removing one will only put two more on the board.”
“And I’ll make it my life’s mission to eradicate every single one.”
Eoghan ignores me as his eyes drift from me to Gavel.“Hello, Father.Still sucking dick?”He makes a noise in the back of his throat.“Oh, that’s right.Your little butt buddy is rotting in the ground where your kind belongs.”
Considering his recent chest wound, Gavel moves faster than expected.He snatches up the hammer and swings.The claw latches onto Eoghan’s throat and cuts off his evil cackle.Gurgles come from Eoghan as Gavel braces a foot on the altar to anchor himself.Then he yanks to the side with a grunt and rips the claw through the front of Eoghan’s throat.
“Homophobic piece of shit.”Gavel spits on his son’s face, not an ounce of remorse on his own.“Nobody speaks against Darragh so degradingly.It’s twenty-twenty-five.People can love who they want, for fuck’s sake.”
The light fades from Eoghan’s eyes, and a piece of the darkness inside me fades with him.
I turn to Diana.She’s staring blankly at where her husband lies dead, her body shaking, her skin pale.
She doesn’t flinch when I tear the tape from her mouth.
“Who are you?”she whispers.
I pull my gun from the holster and place the barrel between her eyes.“I’m the monster you all created when you let them bend me over the altar and steal my innocent soul.”
There’s no hesitation when I squeeze the trigger.
Just like with my father, my soul feels different when there’s no light left in her eyes.
Whoever said murder isn’t therapeutic is a fucking liar.
“Joker, call for some safe houses for the victims.See who we have in the area.Malice, you and the others make sure all the corpses are stacked in one room and then soak this fucking church in gasoline.We’re going to watch this motherfucker burn before we leave.”I holster my gun and roll my head along my shoulders, then I turn to Gavel.“You doing okay?”
He’s taken a seat on the steps of the altar, his hands shaking.His eyes are full of pain when he looks at me, and I can’t tell if it’s from his gunshot wound or from having to kill his own son.
“Yeah.Chest is hurting like a bitch.”
“And him?”I ask, nodding to Eoghan’s body.
“I did the world a favor.”He sighs, dropping his head between his shoulder blades and closing his eyes.“I never wanted to take my kid out.No parent should have to do that.I was supposed to love him, but how the hell can I love something so fucking evil, you know?I just wish it didn’t take his mother so long to see it.It’s fitting, if you think about it.I helped bring him into this world.It should be me erasing his evil from it.”
Not long after I came to Gavel, I asked about my grandmother.He explained that she fell in love with someone else.That man helped her see how bad Eoghan actually was, and they left the church not long after she realized it.It was about two months later when they were both killed in a car crash.It was ruled accidental, but Gavel and I had our suspicions when he found out that their brakes were cut.There wasn’t much we could do from here, though.Eoghan told me once that she could see the ungodliness in me and that’s why she never wanted anything to do with me.Then she was just dead, so it’s not like I could ask her anything about it.
“How are you, kid?”he asks quietly.“You taking out your mom and all?”
I snort.“Takes more than just pushing me from her cunt to be my mother.The way I see it, I just took the trash out.”
There’s an apology in his eyes for the hell I endured in this godforsaken place, but he doesn’t say it out loud.We both know he has nothing to apologize for.He showed up when it mattered.He rid this world of the monster that haunted my nights for so fucking long.
Hannibal comes over and squats in front of Gavel.“Let me check your chest.”
Gavel scowls at him.“I’m fine.”
“Sure, you are.Doesn’t mean I ain’t going to check to be sure,” Hannibal says, not the least bit intimidated by the fierce look on my grandfather’s face.
I laugh, wrapping fingers around Gavel’s shoulder gently.“I’m going to check on all the kids.Get them ready to move to the safe houses.”
“Is there anyone in law enforcement here that we can trust to help facilitate?”he asks.
“Doubtful.Looks like the church had most of them on the payroll.We can’t take that chance.If it wouldn’t land us all in prison, I’d walk into that department and open fire on all the ones we knew for sure were guilty.They won’t do anything with all this because they’ll be worried their involvement in this sick operation will come to light.It will, just not until I know we’re all safe.We’re going to rip them apart, just like we will this entire fucking sex trafficking ring using churches as fronts.”
“It’s going to be hard to get them to trust us,” Cyanide adds.
“My charming personality will win them over.”
