The Sacrifice (The Covenant) (5 page)

She covered them with both hands and he rolled his gaze up to hers, ready to take control. She gasped and pointed a warning finger at him. “Please. Let me see to your wounds and I promise to do whatever you want after.”

Micah grabbed the base of his cock and squeezed, opening his legs. “You promise?”

“I—”

Panic seized Micah and he flew off the bed, shoving Sarah behind the small couch as he reached the shotgun next to the table. The door burst open and Micah blew a hole through the first dark figure. “Run!” Micah turned the gun into a bat and swung at the next threat, praying Sarah did as he said. Praying there weren’t many of them. He counted four Hell Hounds. A scouting party. Hope fueled him.

Two down.

Micah grappled with one and execution instincts took him. He maneuvered him into a choke hold and dug his fingers into his trachea, setting off a series of panicked thrashing. He locked his legs and stole his knife then plunged it into his heart.

Sarah’s scream slammed him with terror. He spun to the last Hell Hound holding a knife at her throat. Micah held his enemies blade, rising slowly. Take her alive. That was the directive or she’d be dead.

It would be the first and only time he was grateful for their sick sacrifice rituals.

He slowly moved to the right and his enemy turned with her. She was his shield now.
The hound knew his seconds were numbered. He knew he was dead, his every breath a countdown to zero. That’s what you did when you stood in opposition to The Executioner. “Don’t bother praying.”

The man shoved Sarah toward him
and ran. Micah threw his blade and the bastard grunted and stumbled, reaching for the knife buried in his spinal cord.

Sarah squealed and covered her mouth.

“The death was clean. Not cruel.” Much to Micah’s disappointment.

She grabbed him. “We need to leave. They’re going to come, get dressed! Hurry!”

He kissed her. “Those are my lines, sweetheart.”

“Oh God, Micah, hurry.”

They both saddled up then Micah stripped the men, bagged all their weapons, and disabled their tracking gear. He looked at the bodies, and a fit of rage took him. Sarah screamed as he diabolically carved them up with the knife. When he was done, he straightened, winded.

“Why?” The word sobbed out as she looked at the carnage.

“The crucifix in their chests tells them I’ve seriously defected.” He heaved and looked around. “Their un-clean deaths say I’m still The Executioner. And I’m very fucking pissed.”

Micah grabbed her hand and hurried away from the cabin, zigzagging in the woods. Using the compass, they
ran in a general south westerly direction. They needed to go where it was warm. It was the end of summer, and getting caught in that part of the country in winter would be tragic.

Chapter S
ix

“Oh God, stop.”

Micah turned at Sarah’s weak plea and looked all around. Dread kept his adrenalin at peak levels. All he had to do was imagine what happened if they got caught. If they were sacrificed, the torture would be the worst part. He’d kill her first. He dropped the bag and held her, looking around, panting for wind. “We can’t stop. We have to keep moving.”

“Don’t you think…” she coughed into his chest, “that we lost them?”

“I think they’re hot on our asses, that’s what I think. I think any moment the trees or the ground will open up and all hell will rain down on us and they’re going to take your life in a horrific way.”

She whimpered and gripped his shirt. “Don’t let them Micah.”

He looked into her upturned face and swallowed agony only able to nod. He stooped and grabbed the bag and pushed on. On and on and on until Sarah collapsed from fatigue. Fuck, they had little food and water. He needed to ration carefully.

Micah put her against a tree after checking the area. He still felt like it’d be just his luck that they were bit by a snake or some other random shit while running from the Hell Hounds. He put the water to her cracked lips and she drank without opening her eyes. He got the thermos of left over cat soup and made her drink a little of it.

He sat next to her and pulled her into his arms so she could rest. Fifteen minutes. Night was coming. He needed to find some place to hide.

Micah fought the exhaustion pulling
at his eyelids. If he fell asleep, he’d never wake up in fifteen minutes. Sarah was out cold in a deep sleep already and he stroked her head, thanking her God. He still couldn’t see Him as his. Didn’t feel right in the least.

Micah thought back to the first time he’d met
Sarah in the hospital. He’d played the lunatic quite well. It was the first time he’d attempted anything like it, but everything about the thirteenth wife had to be unique. At least to him. It was a kind of celebration to be done with the tradition he’d grown weary of. They’d all succumbed to him so easily before her. Just as she had. Only with her, she was a little too smart. He’d wanted a challenge for a change. Not just an emotional female with flashing sexual buttons he pressed to make her his robot. All of them had been so predictable and easy. And the depth of their faith was never deeper than his coin or cock could purchase.

Micah thought about
Shelly. No, Sheila. Wife number seven. The only girl out of the twelve before Sarah that hadn’t worked out. They’d moved her to a psych ward when she’d fallen into depression. Micah never thought much about it before. Why had she fallen into despair? What was she so troubled about? Was it the whole rejecting her faith?

Something told him yes. That’s exactly what it was. She tried to go back and the demons tormented her.

Micah had thought it good in a way that his seventh wife was a bad egg in the end. The irony fit his life. The remaining of the wives lived happily married with kids somewhere. He knew that because if they defected he’d have been required to execute them. That was his duty as Husband of the Wives in their little Order.

If he made it through all of this, he needed to check on that poor girl.

He shook his head in wonder. Why hadn’t he ever once considered the purpose of it all? More power, yes, but why hadn’t he considered the implications of their actions, their coven’s principal? To find Christians and get them to renounce their God that he’d been told was just another power Player. If he was so harmless, why did they go through such great lengths to get humans from Him?

Micah checked his watch and kissed Sarah’s temple. “Wake up sleepy head. I love you,” he whispered
, pressing kisses along her cheek next.

“You need to sleep,” she moaned.

“I will. Soon.” He helped her up. “It’s going to get dark soon, we’ll go a little more and find someplace to sleep.”

She stumbled forward. “Good. The trees are looking a lot like five star hotels.”

Micah shouldered the bag, his kitty cuts oozing with the movement. Terror zapped his spine as a blast of wind from an arrow streaked across his cheek. Micah jerked Sarah into a full run, heading for the sound of the water he’d heard for the past hour. Dread slammed him when he reached a cliff. He looked all around for a place to hide, searching over the ledge.

“You can’t escape the Hunter,
brother.
”

Micah jerked
right. Scythe was in the trees. Hiding. Son-of-a-bitch. An arrow jetted toward him and Micah roared in pain when it slammed into his shoulder. Sarah screamed, looking around for the bastard. Fuck, this was it. He wasn’t going to let him take her. Micah yanked the arrow out, fear sending his adrenaline into overdrive.

“Sarah,” Micah whispered.

She looked at him, her eyes frantic. “Tell me what to do, tell me!”

“I can’t let them take you. They’ll make you suffer
and die very slowly.” Micah roared as another arrow tore through his leg. He was maiming him. 

Sarah screamed and cried,
wrapping her arms around him to protect him.

“
Sarah, I love you.” Micah unsheathed his knife. “I’m going to do it quick baby. You won’t hurt. I promise.”

“Micah!” she
screamed. “I don’t want to die!”

He clenched his eyes. “I can’t
fucking let them take you.”

Sarah ran toward the trees
with a shriek of agony. “You can’t have him!” She spun around and stared at Micah, her eyes wide and wild with desperation. Micah’s heart accelerated at seeing her intent. She ran at him and the notion of plunging to their death
together
gave him a near rabid joy. He opened his arms, eager for the slam of her body into his.  

They sailed over the edge and Micah clenched his eyes tight, holding her in a death grip with his limbs, not wanting anything to rip them apart. Then he prayed for the rare chance they’d
survive the jagged jaws of rock and hit the sliver of water at the bottom.

But Micah braced for the impact that would kill them both.
The impact that would end it all. Would he be with her after death? Where would he go? Would he be allowed in Heaven?

A violent jolt knocked the wind from him and ripped Sarah from his embrace. She screamed and Micah realized she held his legs. He was caught on something. By his jacket.

“I’m slipping!” she gasped.

“Grab my pockets!”

She struggled and Micah prayed whatever held him continued to. A loud crack split the air and they both plummeted down. Micah landed just next to Sarah with another jolt, only
three feet
below. Relief and joy burst from his lungs in several gasps as he scrambled with her as close to the wall of the mountain side as he could, looking around. The air misted with the roar of falling water everywhere. He looked up and saw the century old root sticking out of the mountain side he’d snagged on.

The hand of fucking God himself as far as he was concerned.

Another round of relief gushed out of him in a sob. He pulled Sarah close and she clutched him back tight, crying into his chest. But there was no time to be grateful. The Hunter wouldn’t stop until they were found. They had to move.

***

Sarah’s body trembled as they felt their way in the dark. She was terrified and cold. Micah was slowing. He was exhausted. She was dizzy and fought off confusion. He’d been hurt she remembered. Where was the hunter Micah mentioned? Was he gone? Why were they still walking? Would they ever stop? Maybe they should just finish it and get it over with. Lay down and die together. And rest.

Anything but what they endured. The agony of the wait. The dark wait. The cold, wet,
endless wait.

Sarah ran into Micah’s backside and
fought to clear the clouds from her brain. “What?” she mumbled.

“A road.”

A road? Her heart began to race.

He took her hand and pulled her along
quickly. A few yards from the large ditch at the edge of the pavement, he pushed her against a tree. “Listen. I’m going to need you to flag the first vehicle down, okay? I can’t afford for them to not stop. If it’s a woman, I want you to have her take you—”

“No, no, no, I’m not leaving you.” She shook her h
ead frantically and gripped his arms.

“Listen!” He
gripped her roughly. “You have no choice.”

S
he clawed at his arms when he tried to set her away from him, wailing, “I have a choice, I have a choice! Please don’t leave me, please, please, pleeeeeeease.”

Micah
stared at her in silent torment before crushing her in an embrace. “Okay. Shhhhh. We’ll go together.”

She sobbed into his chest. She wouldn’t leave him. She’d die with him.

“Shhhh.” Micah jerked right. “Lights. Get ready.” She wiped her eyes and he led her to the ditch, searching the darkness behind them. “Stand in the middle of the road with both hands up above your head, okay?” he whispered, pushing her toward the ditch. “Now. Go.”

She stumbled into the ditch and fell, then quickly clambered out and into the road, doing as he said. She didn’t have to pretend to be battered and desperate. “Stop,” she whispered, raising both hands above her head as the headlights became blinding.

She sobbed when the vehicle idled a few yards away and a female voice called, “Mam?”

She
shielded her eyes from the lights and Sarah’s shoulder jolted with fire, forcing a screaming shriek from her lungs.

Micah was
suddenly there pulling her to the driver side of the car. “Move! Move!” he roared to the woman in the driver seat while pushing Sarah in. The car jolted forward and glass shattered behind them. “Stay down!” Micah pressed Sarah to the seat as bullets suddenly whizzed and thonked against the car.

Oh
God protect us!

***

Micah did a hundred down the highway, praying to see swirling blue lights in his rearview mirror so they could get an escort to town. He glanced at Sarah who still whimpered and held the base of the arrow embedded in her shoulder. “Don’t move it. As soon as I stop, I’ll get it out.”

“I…feel weird.”

Micah did too. But he recognized the feeling in his body and taste in his mouth from years of training and hunting with that bastard Scythe. He thought he was fucking Apollo. Literally. “It’s just a sedative. Try to sleep.”

She gave a frantic whimper and shook her head. Closing her eyes was the last thing she wanted to do and he didn’t blame her
.

“Mommy, who are those people?”

Micah’s heart jolted in his chest at hearing the voice of a young boy. Fuck. He slammed his hand on the steering wheel. A
child!
He needed to get these people to a hospital and drop them off. “Mam, I’m so sorry.” He glanced back to the mother. “We’re in a bit of trouble. You have any idea where we are?”

She held the head of maybe
an eight year old to her chest, looking around wide eyed and stuttering like she’d lost the ability to speak.

“You were on your way somewhere?” he helped.

“Hartford.” Her voice quivered then she cleared it. “Hartford, Connecticut. To meet my husband.”

“
He’s going to be a fireman.” This from the boy.

“That’s fantastic,” Micah said to the boy, checking his mirrors. “
How close are we, mom?”

“I-I-I think like… about a hundred miles. Maybe.”

Micah couldn’t believe how far they hadn’t gone. Seemed like they’d walked across several states. Fuck. Hartford wasn’t far enough away. Sarah whimpered next to him in pain and he grabbed her hand to give her something to squeeze. “Do you have a cell phone?”

“I… I do. In the console. Below the radio.” The indecision in her voice said she’d hoped to hide that fact. 

“Mam, I promise you, we’re not going to harm you or your son. But the people who are after us are…” he looked in the rearview mirror at the boy’s dark wide eyes. “They’re not nice people. So, I’m going to have to drop you off at a hospital and I’m going to have to take your car. I have money to give you. You’re welcome to call the police and report me as soon as I drop you off. We could use the help.”

“You can… call them now.”
It was more of a hopeful plea than a suggestion.

“Baby?” Sarah gasped the word at him, her brows furrowed with sudden fear.

“I can’t call now.” The lines on the road suddenly slithered like snakes and Micah jerked the wheel.

“I’m
seein… shit Micah.” Sarah’s head lolled.

Oh fuck.
He’d laced the arrows with a hallucinogenic. “Mam. Please.” He fought to think past the sudden vertigo hitting him and slammed the brakes to avoid driving off the road. “You need to drive.” Micah managed to slur, holding on to the steering wheel.

“Micah!” Sarah exploded in fighting and screaming. “They’re on me! Help me, get them off!”

Micah struggled to reach for her. “Illusion,” he gasped, watching her face morph into the devil’s laughing sneer. “Illusion.” The last thing Micah remembered was the face of a boy, peering down into his. His tiny whisper made its way into his mind before darkness sucked him into a vortex of nightmares, “You’re the man from my dreams.”