Page 153 of Heartless Heathens

Even though I had built a wall of ice around my heart, preparing myself for this moment, he knew how to crush his way through it with ease.

“I’m leaving. I might buy all your pretty little churches and set them on fire before I do though,” I threatened dryly.

He flared his nostrils at me, meeting me halfway as he lifted his hand up like he was going to strike. That’s when Sonny came from behind and wrapped the rope around his left wrist and Corvin followed suit with the right. They spread his arms into a T and he lost his footing, falling to the ground on his back. He yelled, tugging at the restraints but they just pulled him along, dragging him across the aisle past the pews while Frollo screamed pitiful curses.

“End this nonsense now you heathens! AGNES! SOPHIA!” His voice boomed through the chambers of the cathedral.

Sonny’s dark chuckle came in low at first but eventually turned into an unhinged sort of laughter, pulling another rope around the archbishops neck and dragging him upwards onto the altar.

“It’s funny that you think we’re the ones in charge here. No one’s coming for you old man.” Sonny’s eyes met mine once he spoke the words into the headmaster’s ear.

I could see the rage building in his expression as he fought against the boys’ hold on him. Sonny climbed up on the altar and began to kick at the life-sized cross that hung above it, each kick shaking it loose, closer to falling off the wall.

“What has that witch done to convince you to do her bidding?” he spat out and I stepped closer. “You whore yourself out to them? Just like your mother, a nothing whore.”

I winced at his words again, reaching into my holster and feeling the smooth stone surface of my knife. Maybe it was the gemstone’s soothing properties calming me down, or maybe it was the thought of sinking the blade into the man I’d once hoped would let me call him dad.

Maybe it was both.

“She does have a magical cunt,” Felix said and Corvin laughed along.

I stood inches from his face while he continued to thrash and seethe. Sonny’s efforts weren’t in vain and the cross came crashing down to the ground.

“I bet you sleep with all three of them, don’t you? Filthy fucking whore.” For some reason the insult didn’t dig so deep with my guys standing there, helping me through this.

“Sometimes all at once,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him with a smile on my face.

Sonny swiped his feet under the headmaster’s, forcing him down on his back once again. His head hit the floorboards with a hard thud, and he cried out in pain. Sonny and Corvin took the opportunity to tie each side of the rope to the cross. His arms stretched out to a T and he yelled obscenities, calling me a cunt all while begging me to let him go.

“You sure it’s clear?” Sonny asked Felix.

“Everyone’s out.”

“Lift him up,” I told them.

They picked the heavy cross up together and rested it against the wall. I pulled the knife out of its holster, thumbing the shiny opal before revealing it completely.

“Romina. Wait Romina.” He began to barter. “I’m your family. Families fight.”

“We weren’t family. Family takes care of each other, they look out for each other, they’d do anything for each other.” I looked over to my guys, each of them so broken and so perfect in their own way.

Just like me.

“You hid me away, you took everything from me.Why?” I begged, pressing the tip of the knife to his chest and cutting through his priestly robe.

I flattened the palm of my hand to his chest and Korina slithered out from the inside of my sleeve. Her tongue flickered against his skin before she muscled her way up his shoulders, coiling her tail around his neck.

“Romina! Stop this! Untie me, we can talk about this.” He was panicking, frozen with fear and dripping in sweat.

“ANSWER ME!” I screamed with rage, and she hissed at him before sinking her fangs into his shoulder.

He screamed in agony.

“Don’t let her do this, she’s insane. She hasn’t been properly exposed to people; she doesn’t understand the consequences of her actions,” he shouted, thrashing in place against the cross.

“Oh, she knows the consequences.” Felix smirked, crossing his legs and leaning against a pew as he made himself more comfortable. “You showed her when you sent your boy into our home to drown her.”

“Why?” I screamed again in his face, this time pressing the tip of the knife to his bare sternum.