Page 8 of Be My Sacrifice
“What’s it going to be, Ezekiel?” Noah questions, one of his disgusting fingers sliding across Dinah’s bloodied skin. “It’s too bad I never got a taste of you, Dinah. I wonder if your cunt was as good as your mother’s?”
At the mention of her mother, a blaze ignites within her, and she begins to fight against the hold on her hair and swings her arms.FIGHT, BABY! Fight for me and for you, Dinah! Don’t stop fighting!
She stares daggers at Ezekiel, her last bit of defiance not to go meekly into her death. “You are the… worst of them. You have betrayed… people who would have… protected you. People… who loved you. You’re nothing… but Brotherhood scum.” A ragged gasp leaves her lips. “Death… will be a kindness… you don’t deserve. Gabe is… lucky… to be at peace away from you. He would… be disappointed, disgusted. Pathetic. Traitor.”
NO! I will not fucking lose her. I can’t live without her, and if she dies, I need to make sure I follow her into the next life. I refuse to be parted from her, even in death. An animalistic roar leaves my mouth as I fight with everything I have left to reach her.
My soulmate. My reason for breathing. My beautiful Nightstar.My love.
“NIGHTSTAR! Don’t you dare fucking leave me!” I yell as I throw myself against the force of the bodies, trying to prevent me from reaching her. “I’m going to fucking kill you, Ezekiel!”
“Atasi! Fuck! No!” Abe manages to break free, and he throws himself against Ezekiel. “What have you done, Zeke? What the fuck have you done? Don’t do this, please!” He’s dragged back by four men, yanking and forcefully lifting his heavy body off the ground before slamming him down again.
“Do it, Ezekiel, kill the sinner. Remove her stain from this world. The Brotherhood commands you. I command you. You must keep the Order safe from her sins!” Noah’s voice booms with derangement.
“KILL THE WHORE, EZEKIEL! RID YOURSELF OF YOUR SINS! If you don’t kill her now, Ezekiel, our agreement is null and void. Abraham will die here, a sinner and traitor just like her, and I will have his body burned. Both of them can go meet the fires of hell together.”
“Kill her, Ezekiel. Do it, or Abraham dies!” Noah’s shrill voice blares across the room, urging him to end my Nightstar’s life.
I push a guard out of my way, just in time to see Ezekiel lean forward, and whisper something to Dinah, too faint for me to hear, before he plunges the blade into her stomach, and her body jumps with the impact.
“NO! NO, NIGHTSTAR!”
“ATASI, FUCK! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”
“If…” A gasping sound fills the air, and it’s almost as if the whole world stands still. “If… you… ever… cared for… me.” The sound of my Nightstar choking on her own blood has my heart plummeting. “If… if it… was… ever… real. Promise… me… you’ll protect them.”
“NO, PLEASE, NO!” I beg, unable to process that she may be gone. That the last words my Nightstar will utter, before submitting to death, are worries for mine and Abraham’s safety and not her own.
She can’t be gone. She can’t leave me. I don’t want to live without her.
Chapter five
The Liar
Abe
“If…”Dinah’spain-filledvoicefills the air, and my heart bangs against my chest, ready to wage war on the whole world. “If… you… ever… cared for... me.” The sound of her choking on her words, and the blood pouring from her mouth, has me frantic. “If… if it… was… ever… real. Promise… me… you’ll protect them.”
No! What the fuck has Zeke done?How could he betray her, betray me like this? How could he follow through with his father’s demands, regardless of if my life was the threat used against him? Doesn’t he understand that she is everything? That without her, nothing else will matter. I will never forgive him, not in this life or the next.
“I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU, ZEKE! YOU’RE DEAD, YOU HEAR ME, DEAD!” I shout, still trying to get to Dinah, even though I can no longer see her, too many guards are now in the way. Anguished sounds are leaving the other man in the room, who might have loved her more than any of us. He sounds like a feral animal, ready and willing to take on the whole world to die at his mate’s side, and I can’t blame him. The truth is, without her and knowing now of Zeke’s betrayal of Gabriel and Dinah, I want to die with her too.
Just as Zeke stumbles back to his feet, the reality of the horror he has just committed plainly written across his features, an explosion sounds, rocking the walls and floor of the room. Thick gray smoke begins to infiltrate the space, making breathing hard. Noah’s men start to panic, and I hear the word ‘rebels’ leaving their lips, as some of them begin to scatter like the cockroaches they are.
Just as I’m finally making headway to release myself from their grip, and make my way to where I last saw Dinah, another explosion sounds, this one right in the room, making the walls shake with its ferocity. The loud sound makes my ears pop and forces me down to my knees with a scream, as I place my bloody hands over my ears in an attempt to mute it. There is so much smoke, that I am choking on my own breath. The room fills with more bodies dressed in darker clothing, with masks over their faces.What the fuck? Who are these fuckers?
Noah’s men scramble to try to fight them off, but it’s like pigs heading to the slaughter. They are taken down one after the other, without mercy or hesitation. If I weren’t losing the fight for oxygen, I would fucking cheer these newcomers on.
I have to get to Dinah and see if she is still alive. My heart begs with everything left in me, for her to be still breathing.I can’t lose her, not now that I finally have her.
The thought crosses my mind that I should try to get to Zeke. Zeke, whom I have spent my whole life loving and by his side, only for him to betray everyone we ever cared for in one foul, cowardly swoop. I should kill him for his part in murdering my Atasi and Gabriel. The reality that sinks in my gut is that I don’t know if I can. Even with everything he has done, the horrific deception he has perpetrated against Dinah, I don’t know if I can take his life.
The thoughts are ripped out of my head, as a few of the newcomers come to fight off the guards still constraining me. I catch a glimpse of them fighting the guards still surrounding Sammy, and Dinah, before Dinah’s lifeless body is lifted over one of their shoulders like a sack of potatoes, and I lose sight of her.
“DINAH! NO, fuck, bring her back! Where are you taking her?” I push my way through the thickening smoke, and try to follow after her. My fists strike out repeatedly, uncaring who I hit as I try to return to the room’s entrance. As I continue to make my way through the room, I spy Zeke fighting for his life against a large figure, and rapidly losing. I can’t make out if it’s a rebel or not.
Fuck! As much as I want to punish him and see him bleed, I want to be the one to do it, and I won’t allow some random fucker to see that he pays for his treachery. I turn in my course and head in his direction, everything in me yelling to chase after Dinah, but before I can reach him, someone shouts my name, and I’m hit with something hard on the back of my head that has me stumbling to my knees, and my vision instantly spinning, as darkness tries its best to take me.