The Book Waitress (Book 1, The Book Waitress Series) (15 page)

After hearing a litany of colorful curses and a string of detailed descriptions of what this guy would do to the other if he wasn’t set free, all became quiet.
And then the banging began. She guessed he was trying to break the door down. After about five grunts and thumps, all became quiet again.

Stepping up to her door, she called out. “Hello? Hello, who’s over there? What’s your name?”

“
Holy hell, Camille!
Is that you? It’s me, Derek.”

“Oh, my God!
Derek, y
es, it’s me. I’m locked in a cell.
I don’t know
what’s going on. One minute I’m having lunch with Victor Langdon and the next I’m locked away
in
here
.
Do you know where we are? God
, I’m
so
scared.”

“
Camille, listen to me. Langdon is behind all this. We’re in his basement or dungeon, whichever you prefer to call it. He’s the Mission’s leader. The cult is still active. I believe Nancy, Susan, and the entire Library Board are key members.”

“
Oh, my God.
But why am I here? Why are you here? What the hell do they want from us?”
She pounded her frustration and fear into the metal door with her fists.

“
Camille, sweetheart,
I came to your house to see if you were okay. You didn’t answer your door when I knocked, and a kid across the street told me you’d been picked up. I put two and two together and got Victor. Didn’t count on his woolly mammoth to clobber me and bring me down here, as well. Y
ou’re their extra special gift to Satan. You
’re
to be sacrificed so
Hell’s Portal can open and
he can ascend to this realm
to
rule for eternity.”

Her heart
dropped like a lead balloon
and she sank
to the floor.

“Camille? Camille, talk to me. Let me know you’re okay.”

“I…I can’t. I’m not.
And
I’m not as crazy as I may have thought
.
H
e’
s finally come back for me,
”
she muttered,
still
too stunned
to shake free of the pronouncement
.

“
What are you talking about? Who’s come back for you?”

“Satan.”

“Camille, you’re not making sense.
Why would you think that?
”

“When I was six
,
I nearly drowned in a baptismal pool. Satan reached out to take me, to claim me, but someone pulled me out of the water before he could. He told me he’d be back for me.
When I told people, they discounted it as a near-death dream. But
now,
I see it really happened and
I’m to be given to him. It’s come full circle. You were right all along.
I
finally remember where and when I got this mark. It’s from him. I
am
involved with this investigation of yours.
”
She crawled back into the memory,
tasted
the holy water
made bitter by
Satan’s
dark presence, and felt the burn in her lungs.

“I won’t let them hurt you, I promise. I will find a way out for us both.”

He sounded so sure of himself, but s
he refused to believe
he could do anything to stop Satan from claiming
her, so strong
was
her belief.
“And the boy? What of the boy?”

“I don’t
know.
I think he must still be alive
since they need him
for their sacrifice.
For all I know, he may be down here, too.”

“
You
have to find him. He can’t have us both.”

“He won’t have either of you, Camille. I’ll see to it.”

“That’s very gallant of you, but
you
’re
no match for Satan and his followers.
If you can
find a way
out of that cell, you’ll be lucky to escape with the
boy and your lives intact. S
omeone
needs to
stay here to divert people from going after you
two
. That would be me.”

“Let’s get one thing straight. If I’m getting out of this cell,
you’re
getting out as well, and we can find the boy together.”

Her despair overtook his idealistic optimism and broke her
soul
into a million pieces. Reality appeared to be an untimely, horrible death for Satan’s sake.
She’d believe differently when she saw it.

“Do we know when
we
’re supposed to
be sacrificed
?
I don’t even know
what to
day is. What day is it
, please
?
” she asked quietly, letting tears fall freely to soak her cheeks.

“
It’s Friday.
From
everything I’ve read
,
I think it’s
going
to be on Sunday
, the sixth
.
”

“I really hate the number six.
It’s everywhere. I can’t escape it.
”

A cacophony of footsteps brought their conversation to an abrupt halt.
Camille’s throat nearly closed for the lump that formed there. She
scrambled over to the cot, not knowing what was in store for her.

“Well,
well, well. Now, t
his won’t do.
We can’t have any fraternizing of our guests.
Bart,
take our special guest to the purification chamber
.
She needs to be prepped for her big day.
”

“
Victor!
Leave her
alone,
”
Derek growled.

“How touching.
Our Ms. Dutton has a champion
in Mr. Galloway
, Bart.”

“Sweet.”

“Victor, you’ll never get away with this! I swear it on my life!”

“That seems to be in a bit of a precarious position at the moment
, don’t you think
, Mr. Galloway
?
”

The handle on her door turned as she heard the jingling of keys and a scraping of metal on metal. Light flooded the room as the door creaked open, and then faded as Bart’s massive body entered.

He approached her trembling, huddled mass. “Let’s go.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

He grinned and shook his head. “Yeah. Yeah, you are. Now you can come easy or I can make it easy for you.” He took a syringe from his breast pocket of his suit jacket.

She
could only assume
what the syringe contained,
and
needed to keep
the little
control
she had
of the situation
for her own sanity
.

“Okay. I’ll come,” she hissed, unfolding from her compacted position on the bed. All the while, she heard Derek’s angry crashes of fist
against metal. The p
oor
man
lost his cool and said anything and everything to direct attention away from her. It fell on deaf ears.

Bart produced handcuffs from his pants pocket and shackled her wrists before
escorting
her out of the cell.
“Now that’s a good lamb.”

“Camille!” Derek’s frantic voice pained her heart and soul. But he had to think of freeing himself and finding the boy now, not her.

“Derek, don’t worry about me.
D
o what you must to stay alive!”

“Camille! I
will
find you, and they will pay! Camille!”

Her name
echoed as
Bart shoved her down the dark hallway and away from her only connection to life. Victor raised a hand to stop them then used it to grasp her chin. He moved her face side to side. “No worse for wear, I see.
That’s good. Very good.”

They continued down a dizzying array of hallways until they came to a stop by another room.
Bart sifted through his ring of keys, chose one, and opened the door. The room was larger and reminded her of a doctor’s office. A patient table
, complete
with binding cuffs for wrists and ankles,
was the centerpiece with a bright lamp standing beside it. On the counter were trays of various implements
wrapped in plastic, u
sed for what, only her imagination could conjure.

Her feet wouldn’t take another step, as fear gripped her heart, squeezing and twisting it so tautly that she could barely breathe and found no voice with which to scream. Bart pulled her into the room by her handcuffs, and hoisted her onto the table.

Impulsively, she
struggled against hi
m
,
flailing her shackled hand
s
,
kicking her legs
,
and trying to do damage wherever she could with her feet.
He leaned on top of her, restricting anymore movement, and took out the syringe, pulling the plastic protective covering off the needle.

“No! I’ll stop! I’ll stop. Don’t put that in me.
”
Tears trickled down her face as she fought to still her hysterical body. “
Please, don’t put that in me.” He stopped.

“Behave or I
will
use it.” She nodded silently, and he removed the handcuffs only to secure
her wrists
in new bindings.
He shifted his body off of her
s
and shackled her ankles to the table as well.

“She’s all yours, Mr. Langdon.”
The brute
walked out leaving her alone
with the psychotic mastermind.

Victor
approached her, studying her face, observing her body as though she were a specimen. Could he see the
abject terror she felt with every cell in her body
?
He’d put it there. And she’d never forget
or forgive as long as she had
a
breath to take
.

“Fear and anger
aren’t
bad
emotions, Camille. They can be quite helpful at times.
” He pushed the neckline of her tank sweater
aside to reveal the mark and smiled. “
B
ut you should know the role you are about to play is extremely important to
the fate of the world. If I were in your position right now, I’d feel elated and honored. Satan has called upon you to guide him into this realm.
”

He didn’t know the half of it. Or did he?
She decided to test her theory.

“Is that right? He told you this himself, did he?”

“
He spoke to me, yes.”

“And what exa
ctly did he say?”

“You are the Marked One.”

“I thought Marked Ones were only boys.”

“That’s what makes you so special, Camille. He marked you himself when you were quite young
and impulsive
, or don’t you remember
your
little accident
in the baptismal pool
?”

What could she say?
The events during the accident
,
once thought
of as
crazy
musings
from
a dying child
,
were
now
not so
much
.
Dumbfounded by his knowledge of her encounter with Satan, she could only stare
back
in disbelief.

“O
h, yes, but o
ur Lord and Master has been
anticipating
this moment for quite some time
.
M
any things had to align
first
before he could see his dream actualized.
Now you are here and we have everything ready to make this a most spectacular ceremony.
He shall claim you and the Portal
will
be opened for all of darkness to encompass the world.”

“
As long as there is breath in my body, he shall not have it.”

“Precisely the reason for sacrifice, my dear. Make yourself comfortable while you await your preparations.
I’ll be back to check on you later.”