Page 178 of Savior
“Oh, Vanna… What happened?” Cherry asks, pulling me into her arms and hugging me tightly.
I try not to cry as I whimper, “Where’s Dean?”
“Hey… hey… wake up…asshole.”
I hear the raspy voice I’ve come to recognize as Legion’s, somewhere near. Opening my eyes, I lift my head to glance around. I’m a little dazed, having been cracked in the head and rendered unconscious. I can tell I’m in some kind of a mid-sized, rundown steel shed. There’s a camping lantern in the corner, illuminating the space. My fucking wrists and arms are killing me. The fabric of my shirt’s been cut away, and my arms are chained, high above my head. My feet are barely touching the ground. Glancing up, I realize I’m hanging by the rafters of the old structure.
Attempting to determine what wiggle room I’ve got, if any, the chains around my arms bite into me rather uncomfortably, and I realize, there’s barbed wire wrapped around them as well. Any bit of movement is meant to cause pain.
“Well, fuck.” I mutter, looking back at a sneering Legion as he lights up a cigarette. “To what do I owe these fine accommodations?”
He pulls a long drag as he admires my current state of affairs. Exhaling the smoke, he blows the tail end of that drag in my direction with a sinister grin. “Plenty. I assure you.”
With a slight nod of his head, one of his four Demon goons steps up to me, and I brace my core for the blow I know I’m about to receive.
He’s a big motherfucker. Wearing a ski mask that only reveals angry blue eyes. His black clothing is taught across his muscles. Long sleeves hiding any identifiable ink. With a chuckle, he slugs me in the stomach. Hard.
“Not so tough now, are you, Lancelot?” the thug mocks me as I try to catch my breath. His voice sounds vaguely familiar, but before I can think any further about it, he slugs me again.
Between the throbbing in my head, and just now almost having the wind knocked out of me, I’m instantly pissed off. With the surge of adrenaline fed by my rage, I ignore the pain in my arms from the barbed wire weaved chains, and reflexively grip them, pulling my body up. I slam both feet into his chest, rocking the big fucker backwards, damn near into Legion.
“Fuckin’ pussy!” I spit at him.
He looks to Legion, as if asking permission for something. Legion already looks bored, pulling another drag from that cigarette before he casually replies, “A deal is a deal.”
The big prick grabs one of the dirt encrusted old shovels leaning up against the rusty wall, and comes at me again. I grip the chains once more and let my feet take the brunt of his swing. But there are four of his goons, and I know I’m fucked...
For several brutal minutes, I fight them off as best I can, taking hits from every angle. Until Legion calls his Demon dogs off me.
Resting between attacks in this painful predicament is difficult. I’m trying to conserve what strength I have left in my arms and in my core. I don’t know how long he plans to keep me here. If he plans to let me out of here alive, at all, or have me beaten to death. As I glare heatedly at Legion, breathing heavily, I’m barely aware of the wetness running down my arms. I don’t have to look to know it’s my own blood from the biting chains.
“You’ve got heart. I’ll give you that.” Legion says, looking me over. “It’ll be that much more gratifying to break you. There’s still a lot of fight left in you... Good.”
“Come a little closer... I’ll give you a personal demonstration.” I pant, spitting the blood that’s pooling in the corner of my mouth at the ground near his motorcycle boots. He chuckles, flicking his ash back at me. “Dismiss your minions, let’s handle this man to man. It’ll be a much fairer fight, now that you’ve had me worked over.” I challenge him, though I know it’s useless. I’m the fool that let him get me right where he wants me.
“That was just a small taste of what I’ve got in store for you, Keegan. An amuse bouche.” A grin slides across his face as he pulls a knife from the inner pocket of his cut. He holds it up so I can see him flip the switch on the pearl handle, extracting a long, double edged, pointed blade. A stiletto style switchblade. Even looks like it was made in Italy. Nice.
Too bad it’s about to fuck up my night.
“It isn’t my guys you should be worried about.” Legion continues, that smile fading as he glares intently at me now. Those creepy grey eyes boring into mine. “I want you to listen carefully to what I’m about to say to you… This is a very significant moment in time.” He takes a few steps closer to me, using the tip of the knife to force me to lift my chin so that I’m practically looking down my nose at him. “Do you hear me?”
“I fucking hear you.”
“There isn’t a soul you care about, that is beyond my reach. And I will use every. Fucking. One. Of those pawns against you. I’m going to take everything from you… I’m going to destroy you in every possible way… Your brotherhood… Your livelihood… Your whole fucking little town! I’ve already opened the Gates of Hell in your precious Bermuda County. Those whore houses were expendable. What I have planned for you, Dean Keegan… What I’ve been orchestrating all this time… It’s going to be Biblical.”
Biblical... “You really did kill Preacher, didn’t you?”
Legion expels that sinister, low laugh before he continues. “I’m going to have you on your fucking knees. Willing to do my every bidding. Willing to sell me your fucking soul.”
“You’re barking up the wrong tree.” My soul is spoken for. It belongs to Vanna. Along with my body. My mind. My heart…
My sweet Vanna… Our baby, Ace… Thank God I’ve already left her everything...
“We’ll see.” He grins, bringing the cigarette back to his mouth, pulling another long drag from it as he studies me. “I’ve already taken something from you tonight. Something that will eat away at you. Something that lets you tell yourself, you aren’t damned like the rest of us. I can see it in your eyes. You already realize it’s over.” Legion says, that demonic sneer on his sharp featured, sinewy face. He doesn’t have to clarify his meaning. I already came to the conclusion on my own, the moment I realized I walked right into an ambush.
I can’t dwell on this now. I’m in a world of shit. And I need to buy myself as much time as I can. I need to keep him talking, while I figure out a way to get my ass out of this sling.
“I don’t know you, Legion, what is this all about?”
