Page 29 of He Who Sleeps

"Plague is just before you," Leo said. "Snake is next. Then me. Then Goblin."

He nodded. “I’m going to do something different,” he offered, “something to see if the energy she gives me is different. Leo, you know I have been thinking about shit a while, and the difference in energy and such, right?”

"Uh...no, you didn't mention that. But sure." He smiled encouragingly.

“My dad...he was convinced when I was younger that there was more to it all than just sacrificing for the Dark God.” Leaning against the rock, he settled in. “Since we were inducted and sent out, I haven’t been able to put any theories into play, but there’s so much we don’t know. I remember my father’s library, chock full of books and journals from through the ages. I don’t know what happened to them, Leo, but I feel like they were taken away so I wouldn’t read them. It got me thinking about energy transference, and when we found Petra, about the difference in the energy from a willing woman, one that accepts and embraces who we are and what we do.” He walked over to the well, looking down into the frothing mass. “Even if the Elders don’t accept it, I think we need to see where this goes past these two nights. I think, and I can’t be sure because it’s theory, but I think she’s a missing piece to our crew. She’s...” He struggled for the right word and then chuckled. “She’s accepting in a way I didn’t expect. I mean she’s not averse to our lifestyle; she didn’t even fucking bat an eye when I explained a bit of what we are, didn’t roll her eyes about He Who Sleeps. She accepted it, and accepted it as something that is true in order to be with us.

“Leo, she’s special. I think she’s made for us.”

"It's possible." Leo moved to sit on the steps. "I mean, I'd be hard pushed to believe in a god and not also believe that He moves in mysterious ways. He has clear power over our lives. It wouldn't surprise me if He brought her to us that night we first found her. Especially since his reach is strongest on those days. But it does make you wonder what the Elders' agenda is. Or how many groups have killed their perfect mates because they didn't offer the choice of death or pleasure."

"Exactly!" Emerson exclaimed. "I remember, my father read that in the early days of The Order, some groups had more than one woman, one woman for each man, but he believed that some groups were so blessed by Him that they were in perfect harmonious balance and only needed one woman to be with them all."

"But why wouldn't the Elders want us to know that?" Leo frowned. "Surely it's safer than killing? Every time someone disappears, law enforcement starts to investigate. Even with all our training about hiding bodies and confusing forensics, at some stage someone is going to slip up. It's the law of averages. And the minute the FBI starts looking hard at The Order, we're fucked."

Emerson looked at him. “The group before our fathers’ group were caught,” he said with a frown. “And each of them had holdings, millions in assets and accounts. As soon as they were caught, The Order seized all of it. My father, hell yours, never let their assets get outta control to the point they were hoarding millions and I wonder now if it’s because they were scared it would make them a target for the Elders. They never did figure out how the group before them slipped up, but it only takes one anonymous call from someone in the know for the boys in blue to start joining the dots, ya know?” He gave Leo a meaningful look. “You know I don’t trust the Elders, especially when they insisted on the ancient rites to pass the group from father to son...all but Ghost’s father. I don’t know if I’m just paranoid, but...” he sighed.

"Do you think they'll refuse to let her stay, then?" Leo asked.

“Frankly I don’t care if they do. I would kill the council if need be, even Stephan, to keep her.” A cold breeze blew through the rotunda, giving him goosebumps. “And with all my paranoia, it’s not something I’m ruling out. I want her; you want her. I believe she completes us as a group.” He looked to his friend again. “Don’t get me wrong, man, she scratches an itch, but there’s urges she won’t ever satiate. Will I stop slicing throats? No. Same as you won’t stop your needs. But what she’s giving us is more potent than the blood sacrifices ever were, and nothing says that that energy can’t be harvested year round...except for the Elders. There’s so much we don’t know.”

"What if..." Leo paused, a look of disbelief on his face as though he couldn't believe what he was about to say. "What if the Dark God sent her to us to force us to challenge the Elders? Think about it. We're all stone cold killers and are currently the biggest and most powerful group out there. So, He gave us Petra, knowing that eventually we'd ask the Elders to keep her and that if they say no, we'll burn them to the fucking ground."

“And now we are on the same fucking page.” Emerson grinned. “I remember once my father talking about cleansings, and trials decades ago, when The Order was going in the wrong direction and He Who Sleeps intervened directly. We’ve never seen anyone in The Order getting killed by The Order, aside from our fathers getting skinned during the ancient rites, but there’s nothing to say the Dark God wouldn’t intervene again if he wasn’t happy with the way things are going.” He shrugged. “Maybe this is our trial to cleanse The Order.” Or maybe they were just psychopaths. Either way, Petra was important.

"I don't know." Leo looked troubled. "I don't know how our fathers did it. If anyone tries to skin me, they'll die in the attempt."

“They were die hards that believed in the system. The only one that questioned it was my father...” he trailed off and frowned. “Shit.”

"What?" Leo looked up, surprised by Emerson's vehemence.

“Leo, I need to look at my own journals but...” He swallowed. “I’m pretty sure their sacrifice came soon after my father went to the Elders with his questions.”

"So...you think that if Devil goes and asks the Elders if we can keep Petra, they might demand we all sacrifice ourselves to the God?" He shook his head. "They wouldn't. We haven't had kids yet. They can't afford to take us out, not when we're providing enough energy to froth the well. It's one thing to play politics, but The Dark God would be pissed."

“No, I think we are too important right now, and they feel like they have their hooks in deep.” He frowned again. “Stephan speaks to Ghost much more since we found Petra. And I feel like he’s giving us information, but it might be two-fold. They wouldn’t ruin their own luck and good fortune from Him. They do need us; there is no one close enough to our age, or our bloodlines, to take over.

“And it wasn’t a fluke that our fathers all ended up with women at the same time. I know they were attempting to ensure blood legacy with us being the next in line. But maybe that sealed their fate as well. I mean, have you ever heard of any group taking the initiative like that? And then we, as a group, find Petra, who is willing and we all want her? You know damn well the pact with her involves pleasure, but it didn’t need to. If any of us weren’t into her, she would have to endure the pain of it, alone. But we all want her replete and thinking us gods.”

"They might not be happy with us only finding one woman," Leo pointed out. "She's not going to have a baby with every single one of us. We don't even know if she wants kids, and you know how important they think blood legacy is."

“Who is to say she wouldn’t?” Emerson grinned, the idea of a child with her living rent-free in his head. “But you are probably right in that respect. I just can’t help but feel that we are missing things, that it’s right in front of our faces.” He sighed. “I think we need to get through tonight, rock her fucking world, and then, when dawn hits, tell her we are keeping her.”

"Well then we need to speak to Devil," Leo said. "We can't make her promises without our fearless leader on board."

“Well then, let’s go and have a conversation while he’s still in his afterglow.” Emerson grinned.

"I like the way you think, brother." Leo grinned and rose to his feet. "Let's go find him."

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