Page 63 of Possess Us
Xion.
He’s been bound to the chair. His wrists are tied to the armrests and his ankles to the chair legs. A steady trickle of blood travels down his temple, landing on the dark wooden floors. He looks right at me with cold and uncaring eyes. Just as he always did. His suit is perfect. Old-fashioned, with a matching waistcoat and pocket watch. But then he is over a hundred years old despite his body looking no more than mid-thirties.
I stop as I enter, seeing him strapped down. Helpless. Suddenly, he looks so much smaller.
He looks at me, then the others, all without moving his head, as if we’re not worth even moving for.
‘This is your doing, I take it?’ His voice drips with disapproval. ‘Typical. Only a woman would be such a fucking idiot.’
Pain saunters towards him, lowers his head so he is level with him, and snaps one of his fingers upwards.
Xion refuses to scream or show any sign of pain past a slight grunt.
‘Insult her again, and I will remove your tongue,’ Pain warns.
‘You cannot kill me. I have your dark master’s protection. I am immortal.’
‘I said I would rip your tongue out. Not kill you. So hold your tongue because if you don’t, I will.’
Xion's gaze slides back to me.
‘After all I have done for you, this is how you repay me? Repay us all?’ He gestures to the three others. ‘They are our legacy, and you allow them to be possessed?’
‘They were parasitic little bastards,’ I hiss back. ‘They hurt me. Abused me.
‘You are a conduit. Your very existence is to be a vessel between us and the demons. They chose Pain, Fear and Lust. So you had to endure the same to access the power. I do not make the rules, girl.’
‘I never asked to be-’
‘Our deal with the lord of Hell is as old as the gospels. We serve and we worship, offering souls to Lucifer and tribute to the demons. And in return, we receive their gifts.’
‘Youreceive gifts.’ I step closer, rage filling my entire being. ‘I get raped and beaten!’
‘Your suffering is demanded. To lead and have power is what is demanded of the Brotherhood!’
‘Power built on a little girl’s tears.’
‘The saltier the better.’ He sits back, chin high and defiant. ‘I have a deal with your unheavenly father. We serve him and Hell, offering souls of the innocent in return.’ He looks at the three men who I have stolen from him. ‘When he discovers your betrayal and abandonment of your position, when he learns you walk in the mortal world-’
Pain snaps another finger, making him grind his teeth together.
‘You can snap all my fingers, demon,’ Xion snarls. ‘But when Lucifer learns of your betrayal, it isyouwho will be broken and screaming.’ He nods in my direction. ‘It will be her.’
Pain steps back and looks at me, waiting for my next move.
I have waited so long for this moment. To win my freedom. To face my monster and make him see… to understand everything he has made me endure.
But as I look at him, tied to a chair, his organisation all but slaughtered and his three successors lost to the demons I unleashed, I know that no matter what I say or do, he won’t care.
He will never see anything he has done as wrong.
He will never say sorry.
I walk towards him. Thunder and lightning crash beyond the window, the storm raging on our very heads.
My demons stay close, watching us both with bated breath.
I stop close. I smell Xion’s cologne. His sweat. I see it beading on his forehead and the vein in his temple bulging.
