“The stained glass represents the night Samuel Williams was conceived,” Xander said, glancing up at the artwork in awe. “The night Jehovah visited Anna Williams in her bedroom while her husband was away.”
Wait…? So Xander didn’t actually make that story up?
It was actually real enough for the church to commission someone to create this massive piece of art to show what had apparently happened over two hundred years ago.
But if that was the case, why had I never heard of it? Why had no one—not even my dad—ever uttered a single word to me about Samuel Williams being a descendant of Jehovah?
“If you had come to our scheduled appointment tonight,” Xander said as he walked up the steps to the platform, “you would’ve had everything revealed to you through a special ceremony. You would’ve been washed and cleansed before being dressed in your special ceremonial clothing and taught the sacred practices of Jehovah.” He sighed and picked up a folded piece of white fabric from the corner of the altar. “But since you were disobedient to the Lord’s command, there are no helpers or witnesses to assist with the ceremony this evening. You will simply have to make do with me acting the part of Jehovah and the angels tonight.”
He would be acting the part of Jehovah and angels?
“D-do angels usually visit this room?” I croaked out, my face and hands feeling clammy with sweat.
“In the flesh? No.” Xander said. “But God does have his special servants who are called to act as proxy for his angels. I think Brother and Sister Morris were the ones scheduled to assist with this ceremony tonight.”
Brother and Sister Morris? I pictured the older couple from our congregation. My dad and Megan had gone to visit them on Presidents’ Day weekend, mentioning something about Sister Morris being sick and needing a blessing.
But if everything that went on in here was so secretive, did it possibly mean that instead of going to their house, they’d actually all been here?
Performing another ceremony?
“Do many people have this ceremony performed?” I asked, wondering if what he was talking about was special just for the revelation of the Chosen One, or if it was part of the marriage ceremony.
“All those worthy to be married in the Holy of Holies perform the first ceremony we will be experiencing tonight.” He took a step down and then another from the raised platform. “The second ceremony—the one that needs to be performed under the light of the full moon—is at another level of sacredness. It’s something that only the two of us will have the honor of performing on the altar.”
Was that his flowery way of saying he planned to have sex with me on the altar?
Was that what everything would lead up to?
He stepped off the platform, and when he offered the white cloth to me, I suddenly couldn’t breathe.
I had tried to stall and give the police enough time to get here—but they should have been here by now if they were coming, right?
Was that why Xander hadn’t taken my bag from me? He’d probably known any calls for help would go unanswered because the cell service was somehow blocked in the Holy of Holies.
I darted my gaze around the room, desperate for another door to appear. For a key. For a paper with a secret code written on it that would make another hidden exit open.
I needed some sort of miracle to help me escape before Xander could force me into doing something I had already told my dad that I just couldn’t do.
When I looked back at Xander, he was unfolding the fabric he’d offered me. And when he shook it out to reveal its full length, I saw that it was an old-fashioned nightgown almost identical to the one Anna Williams was wearing in the stained-glass image.
“If you could just put this on, my love, we can get started,” Xander said, offering the nightgown to me again.
And I knew I needed to at least try that door at the back, just to see if it was magically not locked. So I took one step back and then another, but when Xander saw that I was about to run, he let out a deep chuckle and said, “If you’re not interested in making this easy and dressing yourself, I will happily assist you in that part.”
49
HUNTER
“She’s still not answering?”Bash asked while putting on his shoes. When he’d seen the panicked expression on my face as I’d run out of the living room, he’d grabbed his shoes and jumped into the elevator with me.
“Not yet,” I said, shaking my head and dialing her number again. “What if he’s got her?”
“Then we’ll make sure he spends a lot of time in jail,” Bash said. But when he saw the look on my face, he seemed to realize I was actually more worried about how much trauma Xander was going to leave Scarlett versus what would happen to him afterward.
Bash shook his head. “If we hurry, he hopefully won’t have gotten very far. From what I heard, he was really theatrical with his conquests in the past. So if this is supposed to be like one of the ceremonies they perform in the Holy of Holies, I don’t think he’ll skip any of the steps. He seems the type to be thorough in following that kind of ritual to a T.”
I exhaled an anxious breath. “Hopefully, she just lost her phone and isn’t even alone with him,” I said before pressing the button to call Scarlett again.
