This One’s Not Clean || CLOSED
Blue eyes danced over a mess of untamed curls as he crouched next to her. He and some of his men had been hunting down this cabin for awhile now. They’d gotten good word that there was a rather large stash of ammo and weapons here. What they hadn’t been prepared for was the young woman taking up residence inside. Lucky for them, it didn’t look like she’d been quite prepared for them either. At least, not right that this moment.
“Search the house. Find what we need. When you’re done, burn it to the ground. I want nothing left.” John stated to one of his men. The peggie nodded, and John lifted her into his arms after he’d checked her pulse. One of her men had knocked her out, but she’d taken down two and put up a hell of a fight first.
“It’s your lucky day sister,” he hummed, though his words fell on deaf ears for now.
“You can, and will be saved by the grace of the father. We found you, and now we can save you from yourself.” As he spoke, he put her in the back of one of their vans. Within the hour, they’d be back at the compound, and he would be able to introduce himself to her properly.
@inviciousx
The Baptist’s words brought her back down. For a moment, she almost felt as if she were taking with a fellow human being. “God help us.” Caroline muttered, though nothing uttered allowed right now was remotely private. She watched him turn the page, fuming that her anger hadn’t caught on like the wildfire she’d hoped for. Despite the pain she expected to encounter soon, the hunter relaxed.
“Anyone could…” When she heard her voice, it was eerily calm, even to her own ears. “You know who I think knows most deeply of hell? God.” Caroline shifted slightly, beginning to notice gentle white lights glimmering in her vision. “What?” The hunter pressed her eyes shut and shook her head slowly. The motion felt heavy but pleasant, but she remembered her rage from moments ago and wqnt e to be angry she could no longer reach that heat. Her eyes searched the room in confusion until she landed on the face across from her. “Oh.” she chuckled spitefully. “The bliss ‘is gonna set you free.’” she said quietly, recalling the lyrics from the pirated radio station broadcasting across the county. Caroline closed her eyes again and nodded. “Dirty move for a ‘pure’ man.”
“You wanna know what I think? I think there’s no right or wrong in this fight. There’s just us. Humans. I know you’re brainwashed, and that’s okay. I can’t change that. But if you really brushed up with these holy figures, you’d give up these fantasies too. Just like I did. So what’s it gonna be for me? ‘Heretic?’ ‘Agnostic. . ?’” She paused. “‘Pride?’ Just cause I’ve seen beyond the veil you folks use to kill my neighbors? Cause if things were reversed, and I had you in my chair? I’d write ‘traitor’ on your forehead. Cause you just don’t get it. For every soul you take, hell grows stronger. That’s all there is to it. John.”
A hum left John’s lips, almost thoughtful. It was funny how she thought he put himself on a pedestal. Or at least that was what it seemed. “I never claimed to be pure, sister. I too have had to atone for my sins, and I assure you I’ll continue to. So long as we are on this earth and breathing, until we pass through the gates of Eden, we are all sinners, and we all have to atone. To be made clean,” he stated, though he added as an afterthought, “Some of us just start before others.” His atonement started early on, and he supposed he had his mother and Joseph to thank for that. He did thank them though. They had brought him to see the light.
Listening as she continued, he nodded, letting the book slip closed in his hands. “You might be right about that…. about God knowing more of hell than anyone. He created it after all. He created everything we see, and that we do not, so naturally he would know the most of his own creation.”
Blue eyes danced over her seemingly delicate features despite the fire that kept trying to ignite in her eyes. It was like the sparks when you struck a match that just couldn’t catch flame. Flying in whatever direction they might land without bursting into a true flame. The bliss had dampened it enough that he hoped it would keep her placid for awhile at least.
Caroline inhaled heavily and blew the air out through her lips. Though she was bound to a sturdy chair, she had the sensation of rocking, like laying down after a night of drinking. Her hands rolled in her restraints reflexively, searching for a weak point, but even that effort felt weakened by the Bliss’ unknown effect.
Caroline lifted her head from the chair with a huff. “And I used to think Baptists were annoying.” she breathed angrily, yet grinning like a murderer. She hated the pale blue eyes that looked back at her calmly. She wanted to tear apart the tapestry of tattoos that his body was made of. But she knew: the only good time to escape was when the captor’s guard was down, and that was something she’d never achieve in this room. The air was too thick with misery.
“I looked at your Hollywood sign from my window, you know. For weeks. Then I saw the commercials. And I thought: you know, here’s a guy who’d be better served as a televangelist. Probably recruit more people too. Folks round here don’t really respond to the ‘massacre the neighbors’ strategy. You ever thought about hosting a bake sale instead?”
“Those who walk the narrow path to heaven are often opposed by those around them. They think they’re safe in their comfort. Their noncommittance.....” he stated. He’d set her book down, but it was all but forgotten in his mind. He kept thinking over the pages he’d read. The reality of demons being so.... integrated with people. So close to humanity.
“I’ve never been afraid of upsetting people. Just because they don’t want to hear the truth...” He breathed, stepping closer to her. “You know this isn’t to hurt you. I derive no pleasure from the pain I bring you. Only in the salvation in delivers. I want to help you get to Eden sister, but it’s easier for you if you work with me, and not against me.”
His tattooed arms crossed over his chest as he watched the way she looked at him, the hatred in her gaze. “Now, I need to understand... How did you come to know these things, these creatures so closely. I need to know how you came into possession of this knowledge.” He had a feeling it wasn’t something mortal men should know.
