The Sacrifice (The Covenant) (6 page)

Chapter Seven

Sarah woke to the sound of moaning. Her own moaning.
She looked around and realized she was sideways. In a car. Laying somehow. She jerked her head right and gasped in relief at seeing that woman. They’d gotten a ride with her.

“Oh thank God.”
The lady gave a huge sigh of relief. “You both started to freak the hell out like somebody on hard drugs or LSD or something.” The woman glanced over her shoulder and Sarah managed to follow her gaze to a sleeping Micah on the backseat next to the boy, also fast asleep, upright with his head against a pillow.

Sarah moaned with the vicious throb in
the left side of her body. She looked down shocked not to find a giant ax embedded in her shoulder. She’d been shot with an arrow.

“I nearly called the police, I’m not gonna lie.
You can thank my son for talking me out of it.” Sarah was in too much pain to care about any of it. “He kept tellin me. Don’t call momma. He’s a good man. He’s okay, he’s a good man.”

A wave of agony gripped
Sarah’s muscles and she fought to listen.

“
I says to him, ‘honey, how do you know he’s good?’ You know what he said to me?” Sarah waited, unable to lift her head or answer. “He said to me—big as you please—‘an angel told me.” A few seconds of punch line passed and the woman laughed. “And I say to him, ‘when? When did an angel tell you?’ He says, ‘I had a dream before we left. We gave a man a ride. I was scared. But an angel said not to be scared. He was good.’

The
amazed finality of her words indicated the story was over, and utter relief washed over Sarah. It was a sign to her. She’d been worrying for the past few days if God was on their side still. She hated doubting but damn it was hard. “Thank God,” Sarah managed in one of her moans. She licked dry lips and thought about Micah. “He is good.”

“Well, all I know is, my boy is special. He has a gift of sight.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “A lot of people say he’s troubled but…” she shook her head
with a proud confident smile before nearly mouthing, “he ain’t.” She continued to shake her head while muttering over and over, “he ain’t.”

It dawned on Sarah in that instant that she displayed signs of… denial. Shit.

It didn’t matter. Whether or not her or the child were troubled made no difference at this point. Staying alive was the main theme. And if that came by the hands of a troubled woman and her child, thank God for them.

The woman regarded her several times. “You need to get that arm looked at. I’m really on schedule believe it or not. To meet my husband, I mean. I called and told him I was gonna rest. He was glad, he didn’t like me driving the whole way. So, I was thinking I could stop at a hotel and you guys could get cleaned up. Does that work for you?”

Sarah’s body shook like a leaf now. What the fuck was wrong with her? “Sounds like a plan.”

“Ohhhh, honey, you sound like you’re in a lot of pain. I’ll get some aspirin for you when we stop.”

Aspirin. She needed one of her shots she gave to the mentally insane when they became run-away nuts.

Micah suddenly bolted up in the backseat,
roaring for air like he’d been underwater a torturous amount of time. Sarah wanted to comfort him, talk to him, but she couldn’t move.

“Sarah!” He leaned over the seat and barely touched her shoulder. “
God, I need to get that out of you.” His rushed words made her whimper. She shook her head worried he’d do it right then. She couldn’t take that.

“We’re just minutes from a
motel. My name is Nancy by the way.” She went on to explain to Micah her plan and why she was doing it, ending her story about her son in hushed whispers like before.

“Thank you,” Micah
whispered in utter relief before turning to Sarah. “Hold on baby. I know it hurts.” He reached over the seat and held her hand tight. “The drugs are wearing off, that’s why you’re shaking.”

She nodded, fighting the violent tremble in her body that rattled her jaw hard enough to break teeth.
It was more than the drugs though. She didn’t really know much about arrow wounds, but her guess, infection was the biggest worry at this point.

“Are you okay?” Sarah barely managed the words as she locked her gaze on Micah.

He squeezed her hand, panic edging his eyes. “I’m fine. He only hit muscle. I’ll heal fast.”

She nodded, glad he understood exactly what she wanted to know.

True to her word, the woman drove them to a motel and parked them on a remote side. Micah got out and looked all around, went in the room and came back with a towel. He wrapped it around her shoulder, hiding the arrow as he helped her into the room.

When the door was shut, he turned to the woman. “I need you to go to a pharmacy and get some things. Can you do that?”

She nodded and hurried to the table and returned with the motel paper and pen. “Shoot.” She waited to write the list of supplies.

Sarah forgot the items he whispered to her the second she heard them. The pain was getting difficult to bear. She sat in the chair, body locked and rigid, fighting to hold herself together. She wanted to cry
but was afraid to; she might not stop.

Sarah lost track of time.
She opened her eyes and Micah was there, talking softly and carefully. He gave her medicine. A lot of it. She took it without question. The next time she came to, Micah spoke the same way. “Sarah. I’m going to have to remove the arrow now.”

Fear jolted her.

“Shhh, okay, you’re fine sweetheart. Listen to me love. I’m going to lay you on the floor because I need a solid surface. I want you to remember who you are. You’re a doctor. A strong woman.”

Dear God, t
his was going to hurt. She wanted to nod but she couldn’t. The most she could do was comply with her transport to the floor with Nancy’s help.

Had Micah t
alked to Nancy? Explained what he was going to do? Where was the boy? He didn’t need to be there. She tried to find him.

Again, Micah seemed to read her mind. “He’s sleeping.”

Sarah went back to fighting the pain, her body rigid again as she trembled on the floor now.

“I need you to sit on her upper legs. Right here.”

At feeling the weight of the not so small woman on her legs, a sob of terror escaped Sarah. Micah’s mouth was next to her ear. “I love you. I need to check to see if the arrow is in bone. I’m going to try to twist it just a very little.  I want you to hold on here.” He moved her hands to the bed rails on the left and right of her. “Hold
tight
Sarah and do
not
let go.”

Micah
looked around and snatched the pad of paper from the night stand at her head. “Bite on this.”

Sarah obeyed his
demand, desperately needing his fierce strength and resolve. She bit down on the pad of paper and stared at him, panting through her nose. She gave him several
hurry and do it
nods and Micah firmed his mouth and focused on the arrow.

Pain exploded in her shoulder and Sarah let out a close-mouthed scream, gripping the bed and biting
down. The agony came in slamming waves and reduced her to sobs as she thrashed her head.

“Fuck!” Micah wiped his arm on his mouth then locked tear-filled eyes on Sarah. “The arrow is embedded in your shoulder bone.
And I
have
to pull it out.”

Sarah bit down on the
paper as wailing shrieks escaped her. Like her body knew it was something bad even if she didn’t. She shook her head, begging.

“I have to,” he gasped,
crying openly. He looked back at Nancy. “Hold her good.”

Sarah fought to calm down but her body
screamed and thrashed with dread. She gripped the bed and clenched her eyes tight. Micah put one hand over her chest, his fingers splayed wide, and pressed her firmly to the floor. Sarah’s shoulder jolted forward with the force of his yank on the arrow and pain obliterated her body and mind. The last thing she remembered was peeing on herself and needing to vomit. Then darkness.

Thank God, darkness.

***

Micah paced around the bed Sarah laid on. Praying. He wanted to ask Nancy for help
with the praying thing, but didn’t know what to ask. The little boy’s name was Troy. Micah had begun to think God was on their side until he questioned the boy about the dream he had. Turns out the angel he talked to was all dark and black looking. Dread quaked in Micah’s bones now that Sarah had one foot in the grave from that fucking wound.

Nancy
left. The plan was, she’d go see her husband and stop back on the way home to check on them. Micah had found a local auto-glass shop in the phone book and sent her to fix the back glass and get them a few supplies before leaving. He’d given her enough money for her to pay for a week’s stay. Nancy informed the manager that her brother and his wife would occupy the room until she got back.

That was the plan Micah told
Nancy. But the real plan was they were leaving. They couldn’t stay in one spot for more than a day if he could help it.

He just needed Sarah awake. And then he’d get her to call that cousin of hers. He needed
him to come fetch them ASAP.

He sat on the bed and turned on the TV, looking for local news, hoping to learn something that would give him a hint of where they stood. He wondered about
Revyn for the millionth time. Wondered how he’d died. If he’d suffered long.

He needed to find out from Sarah about all her extended family. They needed to be warned. He went to the bed and sat next to her, taking her hand in his. Burning up still. She
required fucking antibiotics and there were no twenty-four hour places opened and it was only seven-thirty in the morning. She could maybe reach her cousin. “Sarah. Sarah wake up love.”

She moaned and whimpered.

“You need to wake up. I’m going to need you to call an antibiotic in for me in a little bit. For an infection.”

She fought to open her eyes and finally stared at him, dazed.

“It’s for you. But you have to call it in for me as a doctor. You have an infection from the arrow wound and need antibiotics. Will you be able to do this for me?”

She barely nodded. “Water.”

Micah flew to get her a drink and helped her sit up. It’d only been six hours since he’d pulled that fucking arrow out. He’d never cried over something so much. He even had Nancy in tears.

“Right now,
I need to talk to your cousin in the FBI. Can you give me his name?”

Her brows furrowed. “Shawn. Talbot.”

He kissed her forehead and cheeks. “I love you. I’m going to call him and I’m going to need you to talk to him. Okay?”

She nodded.

After telling her exactly what she needed to say to him, Micah got the phone and dialed the FBI office where he worked. He paced the floor while she talked to him, his gut twisting when she gave the name of their hotel.

She handed him the phone and Micah got on
, his stomach in knots still. “I just need to hear this from you,” a deep voice said. “What the fuck have you gotten my cousin involved in and how do I know you’re for real?”

Micah gave him enough dirty details about some of their unsolved crimes until he
r cousin was silent. “Good enough?”

“I’m on my way. Make sure she stays alive. Don’t go out.”

Micah hung up and sat heavily on the bed. He believed him. He knew because Micah heard the terror and dread in his final words. Good. That’s exactly what he needed him feeling.

Micah called the pharmacy next.

Chapter Eight

Sarah woke to an unfamiliar face. She finally panicked when she remembered ugly details. “Shhh, it’s me, Shawn, your cousin.”

“I’m here.
” Sarah grasped at Micah’s soft words with her mind and reached for him. Shawn moved out of his way and Micah knelt next to her and kissed her hand.

“
Here’s the medicine.” Shawn handed him the antibiotic.

“
Get the pain medicine. It’s on the counter. Ibuprofen and Tylenol. Get both. And grab that can of topical wound spray.”

Micah gave Sarah the antibiotic then the pain medicine.
He soaked her wound with the numbing spray then settled next to her and took her hand between his. He’d been feeding her soup out of cans and bottled vitamin water every fifteen minutes. He looked at Shawn who stared at him with a near enigmatic expression. Micah didn’t really blame him.

“You look like shit,” Shawn muttered.

The generic words took the edge off of the awkward satanic situation. “Thanks.”

“How about you go take a shower. I’ll sit with Sarah. Catch up.”

There was something in the man’s tone that didn’t sit right with Micah. Distrust. There was nothing he could do about it. Shawn needed to hear it from Sarah. “You need to warn the family. They need to hide.”

“I have. They’re safe.”

Micah lowered his head, sure there was no such thing with the coven.

“Don’t worry. This isn’t the movies where stupid cops don’t take shit serious. You gave me enough information to set the entire FBI on guard.
They’re as safe as they can be, given who and what we’re dealing with.”

Micah
’s gut loosened a bit at seeing at least he’d taken it as serious as it was.

“Go shower sweetie.”

Micah leveled his gaze on Sarah, his body wilting with the need to stay close to her. He hated her out of his sight. “Okay.”

She blew him a kiss with her right hand and winced then turned her attention to her cousin. “Sorry it’s been so long.”

He shrugged. “It beats a family reunion.”

Micah listened at the bathroom door, smiling when she laughed softly. He finally climbed into the shower, willing himself to let
the water do what it needed. Wash away everything. In his mind, on his body. In his dirty soul. The hot water was painfully orgasmic as it hit the million wounds covering him. He didn’t remember ever being that tired and exhausted.

He stood in the stream with his head hanging, hands bracing the wall. He
remained that way until the water became lukewarm and his legs could barely hold him up. He cleaned himself as quickly as he could and got out the shower.

Micah
wrapped a towel around his waist and paused at Sarah’s laughter. His gut tightened, torn between an odd jealousy and joy at the sound. Jealousy won over when he heard the words
kissing cousins
out of Shawn’s mouth. He listened closer.

“You kissed all your cousins,” Sarah said.

“Yes but I only wanted to kiss…”

Micah didn’t make out the rest of the words but Sarah’s laughter following
only made it worse.

He opened the door and walked out, forgetting he only had a towel.

“Feel better?” Shawn asked from the chair he’d moved next to her bed.

Micah had eyes only for Sarah though, needing to see what she was thinking and feeling
while talking about such things with another man. Whatever she’d been feeling was replaced with a raw heat in her blue eyes as she devoured him. “You certainly look amazing.”

The
bold words wiped away his fear and put him at ease. He suddenly felt like the patient in her office that first day when she’d openly lusted at him without realizing. “Thank you, doc.” He eyed Shawn. “So what’s the plan?”

“Bring them down,” he said
. “All of them. Finally.”

“I don’t know how that’s possible.”

He nodded and shrugged one shoulder. “We’ll get as many as we can then.”

Micah
begrudgingly appreciated the commonsensical quality of the man. Not an arrogant know it all gun waving lunatic getting people killed. “We need to move her out of here. We can’t stay in one place.” He eyed Shawn, hoping he had some ideas.

“I have a place off the grid
. One of our safe houses. About a six hour drive from here.”

A realization dawned on
Micah until his spirit wilted inside him. There would never be any place or any time that he’d feel safe with Sarah. As long as the devil was alive, they’d be in danger.

***

Micah sat with Sarah on the couch at the safe house, gripping her hand.

“What?”
She looked to Shawn and Micah in disbelief. But really, how did she not know that?

“Sweetheart
…” Shawn leaned forward with both hands clasped, brow full of tenderness. “He’s done a lot of bad things.”

As true as that was, Micah felt dirtier than ever, guiltier than ever, stupider than ever, while sitting there with her kissing cousin explaining how horrible he was.
He knew he’d have to answer for his crimes. Sarah stared at him, a look of betrayal in her eyes.

Micah stood, suddenly unable to breathe.
“Prison is the last thing on my mind, Sarah. Forgive me.” He paced and rubbed the back of his neck. “Getting you out alive and keeping you that way is what’s important.”

She gasped, a sound of offended incredulity
and Micah spun to her. “There was never a get out of jail free card in this. Getting out of hell was priority number one. Living through that was priority number two. Remaining alive after that, is now priority number three.”

Her face slowly morphed with the horror of that end reality. But to him, prison was paradise. What he worried about
was how very impossible staying alive was likely going to be.

“We’ll try and get his sentence as shortened as we can,
sweetheart.” Shawn went to the couch and sat next to her, pulling her into an embrace then hit Micah with a glare. “The question is, does he deserve less for dragging you into this hell.”

Micah
stared at him, speechless with a guilt that left him furious. He hated that the bastard was right. Micah went back to pacing unable to stomach the constant verbal and physical affection Shawn lavished on Sarah. And Sarah’s naïve “
it’s not his fault”
earned him monster of the millennia award, delivered straight from the hate filled stare of her sweet kissing cousin.

***

Seven days in hell it felt like. A noose tightening around them. Stuck at a safe house feeling about as safe as a rat in the devil’s laboratory. They were being watched. Baited. Fed. Fattened. For the slaughter.

At least Sarah was healing. Thank God. But Micah wanted her in a vicious way. His body hurt, his mind and soul groaned in silent agony not being able to make love to her the way he wanted. He needed to obliterate her with passion and sear her sweet spirit to his. He slept wanting her, he woke wanting her, his entire existence was saturated with the dire need for her. He couldn’t look at her without seeing her thighs open wide before him, without smelling her secrets scarred into his psyche, hearing her moans, feeling her desperate cries against his lips.

And then Shawn’s little
evil confession happened. Fury slithered into his body as he braced his palms on the bathroom shower wall, recalling her cousin’s blasphemous words. “
Sarah and I were tight,
” he’d said.

Micah had
managed a halfway civil chuckle. “
Kissing cousins?
”

Shawn hit him with,
“A lot more than that. But, it was a long time ago.
”

Those words ate through his core like an acid. No matter how he told himself she didn’t want him or love him and that it didn’t matter,
Micah was burning. He planned on having sessions about it with Sarah when she was feeling better. Problem was, her kissing cousin clearly still had the hots for her. It brought out monsters in Micah straight from hell. The need to kill him grew with his need to claim Sarah in dominance like some animal. Not exactly something he should do to a woman in a fucking arm sling while running from Satan’s passé.

And dear God,
that bitch Tabitha that came along like a spider, aka Shawn’s partner. The whore slowly gnawed away his threadbare control. Why was she even there? What was the
point?
She made him want Sarah more than anything. Walking around hanging out of everything she wore and openly flirting with him. It made Sarah so insecure, which made Micah need to love her harder. Sarah thought her insecurity wasn’t showing but Micah saw the decadent candy in her pretty eyes. Every time the woman brought him something, which was every five fucking minutes, it was there in Sarah’s face. Even though he refused the woman’s everything, Sarah was threatened.

A
sick little subconscious game quickly developed. Sarah trying to meet his every need in advance. And the little intimacy he granted Sarah had become a huge rejection session. It didn’t matter how many ways he assured her it was so her body could fucking heal, she grew desperate, trying to out-do him in their foreplay games he allowed, sucking his cock with a frantic hunger. And knowing what she really hungered for had Micah wound up so fucking tight with the need to give it. She
needed
his dominance. She
craved
it like a life line. It meant everything to see him come undone all over her, to see Hell bow before her perfect tiny feet.

And that bastard Shawn. He
thought his “cousin status” gave him touching rights with Sarah. From flirty innocent tickling to hugging for any and every goddamn reason.
Oh you look tired, let me touch you. Oh you look depressed, let me touch you. Oh you look sad, you look great, oh look I’m horny, let me touch you.

Micah
craved to fucking touch him.

And then when
Micah finally expressed to Sarah how much he hated him touching her? She fucking
defended
the prick. “And how would you like it if Tabitha touched me like that?” he’d asked.

Oh, her
fury
. “Don’t even
say
her name in the same sentence with you and the word
touch,
” had been her sweet response. And really it was so fucking sweet. The illogical jealousy turned Micah on so much he had to go jack off.  

But if Micah wasn’t
mistaken, Dick Head and Twat Face were plotting to divide them. As far as he was concerned, everybody was a suspect in the Devil’s Domain. And both of them had their foot in door of his lair, whether knowingly or not didn’t matter. The devil didn’t need willing participants in his schemes, he was quite fine with manipulating the human nature in abject oblivion.

Micah got out of the shower and cursed when he couldn’t find his underwear. He wrapped a towel around his waist and opened the door a crack. He heard Sarah in their room and made a dash for it.

Their door opened and out walked Tabitha. God. Damn. “What the fuck are you doing in our room?”

She scanned his body
, an appreciative smile curving her lips. “I was delivering something for your girlfriend.” Wearing only half a tank-top, she pouted her bottom lip and jutted her braless tits at him.

The second bathroom door opened
across from them and of course out walked Sarah. Without her arm sling. “Where’s your arm sling?” Micah asked.

“It feels fine.”
The words gritted through hard lips.

“We got ourselves a group huddle here, or what?” Shawn
cock-strutted around the corner then looked at Sarah. “Good, you decided to take it off.” He stroked her arm, looking at it and nodding before chucking her chin with his thumb. “I’m ready for you to taste test the guacamole. I think I did a pretty good job. You feel better?” Micah couldn’t get his eyes off of the bastard’s hands still rubbing on Sarah. And the way she
let
him.

Maybe that’s because
Sarah was too furious to notice. She eyed Micah and the anger in her blue gaze was so intense it actually made him feel
guilty
. Amazing since it should be him pissed with her letting that kissing cousin grope her every second of the day.

Sarah
shoved her way through and Micah caught her arm. “I need your help with something.”

“I don’t want dinner to burn.” She
jerked out of his grip and walked off.

Shawn raised his brows and hands
before turning and following her.

“I can help you.”

Micah smirked in open disgust at Tabitha’s sultry offer. “No thanks.”

In the bedroom, he quickly dressed,
ready to confront this bullshit. With their lives at stake, he was living a soap opera. Fucking insane. He was ready to leave and go to another country. Yes. That’s what he needed to talk to her about, that’s what he needed her help with.