Justus (12 page)

A dozen people moved forward,
holding woods in their arms, they deposited the wood into a growing
pile. A few other men started dousing the wood pile from plastic
kerosene containers.

“No,” Justus shouted. More
men closed on him as he spoke. “You said you would take me. That
wasn’t the deal, you son of a bitch.”

John gave a satisfied
smile.

“And we are taking you. They
will face the cleansing before meeting their maker,” he said with
great joy. “We do this to save their souls, but you, infernal
creature, you will know true pain before you meet yours in Hell.”
He rubbed his chin. “Maybe, just maybe, if you go to your death and
repent, they’ll be so moved they’ll accept the Lord’s grace, and we
won’t have to do the cleansing. That’s up to you, abomination.”

His grin suggested she
wouldn’t escape the fire no matter what Justus did.

Paige let out a cry. She felt
her knees shake as she slumped to the ground.

“Show him no mercy,” John
said.

The crowd descended on him
like vultures. The thump of punches, kicks, and grunts filled her
ears.

She couldn’t bear to look and
squeezed her eyes shut as even more people arrived to join the mob.
Seconds later, a wave of heat passed over her. She opened her eyes.
A roaring fire now feasted on the wood. She was surprised that
they’d already lit the fire. The savages just intended to throw her
in she guessed.

An old-weathered face moved
in front of her own, but she continued to stare past it to the mob
of men who now blocked any view of Justus.

“You need to stand,” the old
man whispered to her.

Her eyes came into focus on
the familiar voice.

“Mr. Cobb?”

He had a shotgun slung over
his shoulder and was frowning.

“Stand, or we won’t be able
to save him,” he whispered.

Paige stood, her legs shaking
as she did.

Mr. Cobb glanced around.
Everyone was focused on the beating of Justus. He quickly leaned in
and cut the zipties with a pocket knife. Lena, who had been quiet
beside her, linked their hands together behind their backs.

“They want to burn you,” he
said. “How messed up is that? I’m not going to let some mind
control garbage mess my town up. I’ve been ready for this crap for
my whole life. The freak is going to want to do it himself. He
comes over, you shove him toward the fire with everything you got.
I’ll get your fella.”

Paige gave a short nod. At
that moment, she wanted nothing more than to watch that bastard
burn in his own flames. He wanted purification, she’d give him
purification.

She watched John with hatred
in her eyes as he kept his attention on the mob beating Justus. He
was the cause of all this with his hunting of the hybrids. And he
dared to claim he was doing this for God? He was soiling her faith
with his disgusting crusade.

Lena gave her hand a squeeze,
and Paige turned to the terrified woman.

“I’m sorry I got you into
this,” she said.

Lena shook her head. “I’m
sorry I didn’t do more to help. I didn’t know things were so out of
control.”

“Isn’t that sweet?” John
said, looking over his shoulder. “The traitors to humanity and the
Lord have bonded, even as they await death.”

Paige turned her eyes to him.
Bile worked its way up her throat as she tried to control herself.
He needed to be just a little closer for her to get the leverage
she needed. His smug arrogance would be his downfall.

“Whoever says he is in the
light and hates his brother is still in darkness,” Paige
shouted.

John’s face turned red as he
moved toward her. He stopped when they were nearly nose to nose,
trembling with rage.

“How dare you put me in with
those filthy Devil-spawn abominations,” he nearly screamed at her.
“They are demons sent by the Prince of Lies! They are not our
brothers.”

Paige gave a sweet smile.
“You’re right,” she said. “They are better than you.”

With all the strength she
had, Paige shoved the nasty man into the fire. He screamed as
several of the mindless towns people tried to fish him out.

“Go,” Mr. Cobb yelled, his
shotgun now in hand. He raised it. “Get to the field. I’ll get
him.”

She nodded, trusting a most
unlikely savior.

* * *

Justus sucked in breaths
as the blows continued to rain down, the rest of the world lost to
the pain. His side and leg ached where the bullets had hit him the
other day. Something wet dripped into his face, and he was sure it
was blood. He struggled to hold back the side of him that had been
kept in heavy check since he’d escaped the Horatius Group.

Someone screamed, and he
jumped at the sound.

“Paige,” he whispered, unable
to see around the fists and feet pounding him.

No. He couldn’t wait. They
were going to burn her. If he let them finish him off, it wouldn’t
save her.

A loud roar erupted from
him.

The men surrounding him
stepped back.

“Fuck, look at his eyes,” one
man said. “Why are they all black?”

They backed off slowly, some
trembling. Not so brave when he was resisting apparently.

“Fuck this,” another man
said. “I say we shoot him.”

Justus snatched the man and
lifted him by the throat, squeezing, but not crushing his throat
just yet.

“I’d like to see you try,” he
growled out.

Justus swung the man around,
knocking down three other men with the limp man.

A gunshot rang in the night.
Several people shouted.

He heard the click of a gun
behind him and instinct fully kicked in.

Justus whirled around,
swinging his foot as he did so. Contact was as expected. A loud
crunch followed.

Something tapped him on the
shoulder, and he turned to deal with the next man, growling.

“Wait!”

An old man with a shotgun
held up a hand to him as if he could stop him. He stepped
forward.

“I promised Paige I’d help
you,” the old man said. He looked around at the bodies scattered
around. “I guess you really didn’t need help.”

Justus stepped toward the
man, the yells of other people around reaching his ears.

“Where is Paige?”

He could hear the growl in
his voice. Nothing would be right until he could see her safe.

The man pointed to the back
of the house. He could see several men were running in that
direction and knew there were too many of them to guarantee her
safety.

Something wasn’t right. He’d
taken out the men around him, but where were the rest? He heard
shouts and screams around and started to turn.

“You look like shit.”

He turned to the side of the
house and found Titus staring at him with a few other Luna men.
People from the mob lay on the ground, unconscious, but apparently
not dead, judging by their breathing. Titus raised a brow.

“This is me,” Justus
growled.

Titus nodded. “Makes sense,”
he said. “I always figured you were from the assassin squad. Do
what you need. We’ll clean up here.”

Justus nodded and moved
toward the field.

“I have to get to Paige,” he
said but stopped when Titus placed a hand on him.

“Don’t hurt the townspeople,”
Titus said. “They aren’t part of this.”

Justus jerked his arm away
and glared at the leader of the lodge.

“Bullshit they aren’t.”

Titus shook his head. “They
aren’t part of Reverend John’s men. They are in a hypnotic state.
They’re innocent tools. Besides, you kill a lot of innocent people,
it’s going to cause way more trouble for us in the future.”

A hybrid with a scarred face
stepped next to him. He recognized Lucius, even if he hadn’t dealt
with the hybrid much at Luna Lodge.

“Shit,” Justus said, some of
his fire dimming. “How do we know if they are a part of this or
not?”

A man charged at them.

“Look at small dick here,
thinking he’s got a chance,” Lucius yelled with a snort.

“Fuck you!” the man
screamed.

Lucius pulled out his gun and
shot the man. Then, he turned back to Justus.

“That’s how you know.”

Justus gave a nod and
sprinted off into field. He had his other half to save.

Chapter Sixteen

Paige raced with Lena
through the field. The townspeople that had once been waiting for
her had moved to deal with the arriving hybrids, and she was glad
she didn’t have to fight with them as well.

“You can’t escape me, Paige,”
Reverend John shouted behind them. “The fire has failed to take me
again. The Lord smiles upon his warrior.” Even as he yelled it, she
could hear the pain in his voice.

Lena whimpered as Paige
pulled them down to take advantage of the tall grass.

“We’ll be fine,” she
whispered. “All we need to do is make it to the forest, and we can
hide there till this is all over. The Luna hybrids will end
this.”

Lena nodded.

Paige listened. The cold wind
shifted through the grass and trees, rustling all around them

She cursed her lack of
super-hearing.

They moved again through the
grass, and she only hoped they were still heading toward the woods.
Not being able to see over the tops, it was hard for her to
navigate.

Something moved in the grass
near them. Paige pointed to the left, and Lena followed her.

Suddenly, she jerked to a
halt. Her hand slipped from her friend’s as she screamed out.

A dirty man held her hair in
his hand. He pointed his gun at Paige.

“You make one fucking move,
you cunt, and I’ll blow both your fucking brains out.”

He gave a sick smile to her
as he did so.

“The boss will be proud of
me,” he said. “Catching both of you. He’s gonna make you pay for
that fire stunt.”

A loud roar ripped through
the air, and for a moment, she was almost sure it must be
Justus.

Instead, another hybrid
jumped through the grass at them, his tanned skin and dark hair
just a blur as he rushed the man. She didn’t recognize him.

Paige backed up to give him
room.

The new hybrid kicked the man
hard in the stomach. He snatched the man from the air before he
fell and then threw him even further. The man landed with a loud
grunt and moan off in the distance.

Paige wrinkled her nose as
smoke assaulted it. Glancing around, dark and gray clouds rose all
over the field, fueled by fire ripping through the grass. The
hybrid moved in her direction, but she shook her head.

“I’ll find a way around,” she
said. “Please find Lena.”

He gave a sharp nod before
racing through the grass.

Paige moved further into the
field as the flames chased her. She coughed and covered her mouth
as she tried to find the path that led to safety.

“He makes his messengers
winds, his ministers a flaming fire.”

A voice rose over the crackle
of the flames. She shivered knowing who it belonged to.

“You could have been a
messenger, Paige,” John shouted. “We could have been the arm of the
Lord, but you’ve chosen the infernal path instead.”

Paige gagged at the thought.
“I don’t really like the way you choose to worship.”

A loud laugh from behind sent
her whirling in that direction. She found herself face to face with
the crazed zealot, his clothes blackened and skin bubbling in new
spots. She winced, surprised he wasn’t screaming out in pain. He
held a make-shift torch in his hand.

“And you think your love will
be accepted by our Lord?” He gave a knowing smile as if he were on
a personal level with the higher power.

“I think we are all Gods’
creatures.”

John laughed, his voice high
and strained. He paced around her, setting the grass around them on
fire with his torch.

“God’s creatures? Satan’s
spawn are not of our Lord.” He stepped toward her. “I have lived
through the fire. Twice. God has chosen me, saved my life. He has
appointed me as his minister, his arm on this Earth.”

“God didn’t appoint you,” she
spat out. “You decided to live your life by hate and got what you
deserve. You’re a lunatic pretending to be a holy man.”

John narrowed his eyes at
her, his hatred clear. A laugh burst from his lips.

“We’ll see who gets what they
deserve,” he said and waved his arm around them, “and if you can
survive the cleansing flames as I have.”

* * *

Justus coughed and
covered his mouth as he made his way through the smoky field. The
raging fire had him worried. It seemed the closer he moved, the
more townspeople in trances he came across.

Varius stepped into view
through the smoke. Lena lay limply in his arms.

“Paige’s back toward the
flames,” he said. “She was trying to go around, but I’m not
sure.”

Justus nodded. “Take her to
safety and then gather some of the others to get these people out
of here. With the way they are, they’ll burn to death and not even
see it coming.”

He didn’t wait for Varius to
reply and raced off into the rising flames.

A man jumped out at him.

“Die, you demon.”

Justus tossed the man to the
side as if he were a rag doll.

Nothing was going to keep him
from her. He didn’t care if he had to go through a dozen of those
men.

A shot rang out. He could
feel the bullet rip through his shoulder. The pain sliced through
him, and instantly he knew that the bullet had been laced with the
wolfsbane.

“Fuck,” he grunted but kept
running.

The fire leapt high into the
air, crowned by smoke choking out the last rays of the sun.

“Paige,” he shouted.

Another shot rang out. This
one ripped by him, missing his head by just an inch.

A faint cry from the ahead
reached his ears. A curtain of flame blocked him.