“Flame! Look at me… please…” I could hear Maddie’s voice in front of me. But it was weak. I closed my eyes trying to push him away, to push the voices away. But they wouldn’t leave. They were there. They were always there, waiting. Waiting to strike when the flames came back. When the evil returned to my blood.
A moan tore from my mouth through gritted teeth. My eyes snapped back open. Maddie stood back against the wall of the living room, watching me with wide eyes. Her chest was pounding hard, and my stomach rolled.
“You can’t fucking go,” I roared again, my eyes blinking too fast. Then I felt it slide across my chest. Felt the slippery skin slithering across my skin, the flames following its path. And they couldn’t do that to her. They couldn’t hurt her like that. She’d suffered enough.
“Flame?”
“And they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them…” The poison. I could feel the poison trickling down my throat. Then it burned. And I couldn’t move.
“Flame… please… you are scaring me.”
I fought to stop the heat in my veins. My feet ground to a halt and I looked at Maddie. “No church. I can’t let you go there. You’re not fucking going there!”
Maddie took a step toward me, but I could see her hands shaking, I could see her lips trembling. I didn’t want to hurt her… “I need to save you…”
Maddie stopped. She took a deep breath and asked, “Save me from what?”
“Them,” I whispered, my hand lifting to her face. Maddie’s eyes went huge as she watched my hand, then I ripped it back, digging the tip of the blade into the skin to make it stop. The evil inside wanted to hurt her with the flames.
I couldn’t let it.
“They’ll hurt you. With serpents and poison, and—”
A knock on the door cut off my words. Maddie watched me. I watched her. “You’re not fucking going!” I bit, and dug sharp fingernails into my palm.
The knock sounded again. “Maddie?”
Mae. It was Mae’s voice.
“Flame,” Maddie said too quietly. I inched in closer, backing her against the wall.
“You’re not leaving.”
Another knock. Louder this time. “Maddie? Are you okay?”
But I never looked away from Maddie’s face. Maddie who was now staring at the door. She then looked to me. “I need to speak to her.”
I crowded her in against the wall, my hands towering over her head as my palms hit the wall. “No,” I ordered in a low voice, “she’ll make you go. And I can’t go in. I can’t fucking go in!”
Maddie’s gaze searched mine. Finally, her shoulders sagged. “I won’t go,” she whispered. “I swear. But I have to tell Mae. I have to tell her I will not be accompanying them or she will bring Styx. And… and I do not want you hurt.”
My arms didn’t move from their cage, but Maddie moved forward and I jumped back before she could touch my chest. She walked to the door, her hands still shaking. I walked right behind her.
Maddie’s hand hovered over the doorknob, and on an inhale, she opened the door. Mae, Lilah and a young kid were standing there.
Mae looked at her sister, then me. “Maddie? Are you ready?”
“I… I will not be coming,” Maddie informed. Mae’s eyebrows pulled down.
“Why not?” Lilah asked.
“I have decided against it.”
The kid, avoiding looking at me, said, “Maddie. I should very much like you to come. I… I would feel better with you all there.”
I saw Maddie’s shoulders stiffen. Before she could agree to go, I snapped, “She’s not fucking going!”
The kid stumbled back into Lilah’s chest.
“Do I need to get Styx?” Mae asked Maddie.
Maddie inhaled a quick breath. “No. Please. Just let me stay.” Maddie glanced back. “Just give me today and tonight.” Her attention snapped to the kid. “We shall go tomorrow.”
‘No!” I roared and lifted my blade to my chest, cutting the flesh over my heart.
“Please, leave,” Maddie begged her sisters. Then the door shut.
But all I could think was that she was going to church tomorrow. She was going to that fucking place.
He’s a fucking retard, Mary. I need to speak to Pastor Hughes… he has evil living within him… he has flames in his blood…
His voice was in my head. His hands were undoing his belt. My skin prickled and my cock hardened at the sound. My feet paced, then led me toward the cellar’s trapdoor.
She left because of you. Your evil blood chased her away, you retarded little cunt...
“No…” I hissed, palming my cock in my leathers. I dropped my blade to the wooden floor next to the cellar’s trapdoor.
“Flame, no…” Maddie’s quiet voice spoke from across the room. But I could already feel him standing behind me, his jeans pulled down. I could smell the alcohol on his breath, and I could feel his blade running down my back.
“Flame, please. Do not do this. Not again. Do not take yourself back to that place. To the darkness.”
Lifting my head, I growled, “I am darkness. I am pain. I am motherfucking death.”
“No!” Maddie called, lurching forward as I kneeled down and ripped open my zipper.
A shout ripped from my throat as I felt his sharp blade slice down my spine. The flames. We’ll get the retard's flames out… I heard in my mind.