“I won’t let you do this,” Varius said and kept his gun aimed at the Reverend. “You’re a fucking lunatic. You keep hurting innocent people, and I won’t let you hurt an innocent woman.”
Sometimes you had to cut the head off a snake to get it to stop. Live feed or not, he would do what was needed. Ideally, it would involve taking the bastard alive and making him talk about how he was able to control the townsfolk before. Or even better, who had helped him with that.
A man like this didn’t come up with ideas beyond what was in front of him. Controlling the townsfolk had involved thought, planning and technology the madman couldn’t have come up with on his own.
Even his current plan seemed beyond him. Getting Jill Hope there had to be the work of someone else. The Reverend might be charismatic, but this took more than that. Luna Lodge needed to know who else was helping him.
“Your threats mean nothing here in the house of God,” John said, “‘the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.’ Hold strong! We shall cleanse this earth in Gods eternal flame, and those that are truly of the Lord will pass through unharmed. Only those who are not steadfast in their faith should know fear.”
Several of the men shifted from side to side looking not near as sure as their leader.
Varius kept his attention on John. He could work with this. Even if his followers were nuts, they didn’t seem to be the mind-controlled mob he’d witnessed before. That was useful to know at least. Whatever tech that had been used was apparently limited in range.
Loud feedback sounded from outside. The room stilled.
“This is the police! We know you’re in there. Come out with your hands up. We have you surrounded.”
Chapter Eighteen
“What are you waiting for?” Reverend John yelled from next to Lena. “Stop them. If they are not with us, then they are against us. To oppose us is to oppose the will of the Lord!”
One of the men standing behind Lena, the one that had spoken about Dave before, was the first to say something.
“They ain’t abominations. You want us to go out and fight the police?”
She could tell the good Reverend was losing his people. It might be one thing to take out a hybrid and his girlfriend, but she doubted anyone there wanted a war with the police.
“Didn’t you hear me?” John yelled. “They stand on the side of Satan. They are trying to stop everything we’ve been working for. We must stop them in their tracks. They have made their choice, and they will suffer the consequences for it. We are the light. What we do is righteous.”
Lena glanced over at the cameraman, who had been following the whole thing. Likely every other news station in the country was following the story. A nation’s eyes were collectively focused on a raving madman telling his followers to attack law enforcement officers.
She watched in horror as the Reverend’s men pulled out their guns.
“Give up,” Varius shouted, his gun still trained on the crazed man next to her. He could squeeze the trigger and finish off Reverend John.
She knew why he wouldn’t take the shot. She could already see the headlines now. Hybrid murders unarmed man on live news. It would go around the globe and only create more of a mess, no matter how much John deserved it.
“No more from you, serpent. We’ve wasted too much time,” Reverend John said. “You won’t shoot me. The Lord is protecting me from your evil.” He raised his arms and lowered them in a swift movement. The room erupted with the sound of gunfire.
A hail of bullets blasted through the windows out front, followed by the police returning fire.
Lena ducked down, trying to find Varius, but he’d dropped out of her view.
A rough hand clenched hard onto her arm. She cried out in pain.
“Their interference is but an annoyance,” the Reverend said. “Our time is running out. It’s time for you to pay for you sins and come out cleansed on the other side. Your soul is more important than your life.”
She looked around, desperate to find the one man that could save her.
At the front of the church, police pushed into the room and took cover behind the pews. Several of John’s followers lay on the ground, groaning or not moving at all. The police were winning. She just had to find a way out.
With all her might, Lena stomped Reverend John’s foot. She felt the crack of bone under her heel and twisted hard out of his hands. But the Reverend held firm. His steely fingers only dug further into her soft skin.
“Pain is temporary,” he yelled. “My righteousness will bring me by the Lord’s side for eternity! Do you think you can stop me when fire could not?”
Unable to twist free, she did the only thing she could think of. Lena lunged at the man and bit the arm holding her hard.
This time, he screamed. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, she didn’t let go. After all her pain, her suffering, her fear, there was no way in hell she was letting this crazy bastard get away with his plans.
His fist slammed into her cheek. She could feel her mouth start to loosen but still clung to him with everything she had.
“Lena!” Varius shouted from somewhere in the room. The crack of a rifle firing followed. She knew he was trying to work his way closer.
Another blow hit her cheek, and this time she let go. Her head spun with the impact, and her stomach lurched.
“Fucking bitch!” Reverend John screamed. “Did your abomination lover teach you that?”
Lena slumped to the floor, her eyes not quite able to focus on the man standing over her.
“We end this now,” he said, his voice just loud enough for her to hear. “You will be cleansed by fire.”
She heard the click of the lighter. A small flame drifted in and out as she tried to not pass out.
This was it.
“No!”
Two loud cracks rang out in quick succession. Two red spots blossomed against Reverend John’s white shirt. She blinked, her head still trying to catch up with what just happened.
In an instant, Varius appeared and pulled her close to him. Lena could feel the flames nearby, likely the floor where they had tossed the gas on her.
“Need to get you out of here,” he grunted.
Lena placed her hand on his chest and was shocked to find there was blood.
“You’re hurt,” she said.
Varius scanned the room and ignored her concern. “I’ll be fine.”
Then he ran. He grunted as he moved through the church, the impact of something else hitting him. Once outside, he sprinted over to where several police stood.
“Take her,” he said.
One of the men had her sit in the grass behind the car. She opened her mouth to say something to Varius, but he ran again, back to the church that was now engulfed in flames.
Jill and her cameraman stumbled out the front door, and they walked until they not far from her.
“Tell me you got all that,” Jill said, coughing.
The cameraman nodded.
“Good, keep recording.” Jill fluffed her hair with her hands.
Varius raced through the room. The heat scorched his skin, but he had to help them. There were too many of them that didn’t make it out, people now trapped by the fire.
He passed by Reverend John’s body, which now lay there consumed by the flames he created, a fitting end.
This time he wouldn’t pop back up to threaten Luna Lodge or innocent people. Varius found no pity in his heart for the evil man.
A man lay on the ground coughing. It was one of the men who had been holding Lena. There was a part of Varius that just wanted to leave the man, but burning to death wasn’t a way to go.
Besides, they need any intel they could get from him. With John dead, they were no closer to identifying his allies. He hoisted the man up over his shoulders and carried him like a sack of potatoes.
The lectern was nearly engulfed in flames, but a file there sat nearly untouched. Varius shifted his weight and tucked the file inside his vest.
He rushed outside. The building was starting to creak now. It wouldn’t be long.
Running out of time, he tossed the man as carefully as he could a safe distance. He knew the sheriff was still in the church somewhere.
The man had his back when the gunfire broke out. If it weren’t for him, there was no way he would have been able to get Lena out of there safely.
“Sam!” he shouted.
He heard someone cough from under a few pews.
Varius tossed them out of the way. He found the sheriff underneath, blood pooled beneath his thigh.
“You save her?” Sam said.
Varius gave a nod and helped the man to his feet.
“You’re a damned fool,” Sam said and coughed loudly. He covered his mouth and nose with his arm.
“A damned fool that’s about to save your ass,” he said with a smile.
Sam grimaced as he walked. “Well, I think you better hurry.”
The church gave a deep groan. A rafter nearby crashed to the ground. He could see the roof weaken. A bit longer and the whole thing would come crashing down.
Varius pushed them to the door. His own wounds burned as he did so.
Nearly five feet from the door, he felt it. The ground shook and with one final leap, they sailed through the open door as the building crashed behind them.
He rolled over onto his back. It was hard to breathe. Pain spiked through his chest. The bullet that he had taken in the chest must have hit his lung.
A small hand pressed against his cheek. Varius turned his head to find Lena there beside him.
“You’re going to be just fine,” she said. Soot streaked tears streamed down her face as she spoke. “You shouldn’t have come! It was too dangerous!”
Varius smiled up at her. She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Angry and worried, crying over him. Being loved by such a wonderful person was more than he could have ever hoped for.
“I will always come for you,” he said. Each word and breath was a struggle. He didn’t have much longer. He could feel it. “You are my love.”
The world faded around him until her voice was the only thing left.
“Just hold on.”
It sounded as if he were underwater, her voice the only thing getting through to him.
“Fight damn it!”
Chapter Nineteen
Breathing hurt. His lungs burned a little as he sucked in more air.
Varius cracked open his eyes. The bland panel ceiling didn’t really tell him much, but the beeping certainly did.
He turned his head to the side a bit and found just the slight movement made his whole right side ache.
The first thing the noticed was the soft chestnut hair spread out next to his hand. Lena slumbered, head resting against the bed as she slept.
He moved his hand a little and found hers wrapped tightly around his.
Her eyes blinked open a few times before she really focused in on him. She sat up and stared at him in awe.
“You’re awake,” she whispered.
He moved a little but stopped when she placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t move,” she said sternly.
He chucked and felt the tug of the muscles on his back.
“How long have I been out?” he asked.
Lena scooted forward in the chair she had been sitting in.
“A week,” she said quietly. “It was touch and go for the first few days. Rachel had to operate to remove the blood in your lung, extract the bullet and sew up the hole. Plus, you’d inhaled a bunch of smoke, and…” She sighed.
Varius stared at her as if she were speaking a different language.
A week? How the hell had he been out a whole damn week?
“After that we had to sedate you so your lung would have time to heal. Luckily the bullet you took in the back didn’t hit anything. Rachel thinks it might have gone through someone else before it hit you.”
“Sedate?” This was all starting to sound like a massive joke.
Lena nodded. “Your blood pressure kept bottoming out. You would wake up and try to move. It was the only thing we could think of.”
He didn’t remember any of that. The last thing he remembered was lying on the ground dying.
When he looked back over to Lena, she was shaking.
“You can’t do that,” she said. “Tell someone you love them and then try to die.”
“I wasn’t really trying—”
She pressed her lips together and pointed a finger at him.
“Next time you try to die you better be sure to let me have a say as well,” she said.
He tried not to laugh at the ridiculousness of her statement. It wasn’t exactly like he wanted that to be the end, but when he looked into her eyes, he saw the worry that had been building up the last week.
“What would you have said?” he prodded her. “What would you have said before I tried to die?”
She huffed loudly. “I would have told you not to, obviously.”
He chuckled again and groaned at the strain it caused.
Lena leaned over him to check on the wound. Having her close enough that he could smell her soft tropical scent made him feel like he was home. Varius reached up and stilled her hand against his chest. She turned her pretty doe eyes to him.
“Is that all?” he said, his voice husky with want.
“I love you,” she whispered. “I love you more than I ever thought possible to love another person. When Rachel and Paige explained the whole Vestal thing, I thought they had lost their minds, but the more I thought about it, the more I knew. You were the other half me. Two parts that make a whole.”
She carefully brought her lips to his. The kiss was soft and perfect in every way. Varius pulled back to look at her. His woman. He opened his mouth to tell her everything he’d held in his heart until then but stopped when the door to the room opened.
“Oh, good, Sleeping Beauty decided to wake up with a kiss.”
Rachel grinned at them both as she stepped into the room, Titus close behind.
“You know it took a horse tranq to knock your ass out. Thought we were going to have order some elephant tranquilizers.”
Varius frowned. He didn’t much like the idea of them knocking him out.
Lena walked over to Rachel, and they conferred over his charts.