HEATHENS

KSN PRESENTS

AN EXCITING, HEART-THRILLING BEGINNING OF

THE HEATHEN SAGA

HEATHENS

A Dark But beautiful

CHAPTER

COPYRIGHT © 2019 KSN

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS BOOK, “HEATHENS’, MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED, DISTRIBUTED OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER. ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED AND OWNED BY THE CREATOR OF THIS WORK(KSN) AND ANY UNAUTHORIZED COPYING, BROADCASTING, MANIPULATION, DISTRIBUTION OR SELLING OF THIS WORK CONSTITUTES AS INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS BOOK, “HEATHENS’, MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED, DISTRIBUTED OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER. ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED AND OWNED BY THE CREATOR OF THIS WORK(KSN) AND ANY UNAUTHORIZED COPYING, BROADCASTING, MANIPULATION, DISTRIBUTION OR SELLING OF THIS WORK CONSTITUTES AS INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT.

DEDICATION

THIS BOOK IS HIGHLY DEDICATED TO MY BROTHER, WHO INSPIRED ME TO PUT IN ALL EFFORTS IN CREATING THIS FANTASTIC FRANCHISE AND WRITING THE VERY FIRST CHAPTER.

Prologue

Murder of 1960 & Meeting Josiah

New Orleans. There was a still quietness down in the rain forest. In their rightful minds, they both knew what sin the Devil led them into. Moriah, 16 years old and her 15-year-old “partner-in-crime” Josiah were silently dragging a corpse into the Lake. The body was identified as their distasteful gym teacher who forced his students to do 40 push-ups in the hot, burning field every Monday and Friday morning as punishment. Everyone had enough but only these two young criminal minds had the courage to step out and do what needed done.

The gym teacher was out getting gas for his truck when little Moriah popped out of the boot to slash his throat with a small kitchen knife she snuck out of mama’s house while little Josiah popped out of the back seat to hack him with a small hammer 10 times across his face. It was a hack/slash contest to prove who had the fatal instinct. Fortunately, both, simultaneously, were poised to eliminate the gym teacher although they never knew each other or had ever spoken to themselves. Was this a love-at-first sight reunion? Did they finally find each other? Those questions illuminated on Moriah and Josiah’s faces as they stared each other dead in the eyes.

Josiah was completely hostile to everybody, even girls, as Moriah was the shy, introvert type but very devious and daring. The partners-in-crime didn’t hesitate to carry out their plans and finish the job. Both helped in taking the dead gym teacher to the rainforest but as they dragged the corpse, neither Moriah nor Josiah were interested in making friends. The looks on their faces were “get the job done and disappear”. Despite the awkward moment, the two murderers dumped the body in the Lake and seemed to be thinking like one body. Moriah wore gloves as she wiped the blood clean off the wind shield of the teacher’s vehicle-her specialty in cleaning, while Josiah did so for the ones that stained the car tires.

In awkward silence, Josiah drove the truck into a ditch near the Lake. A perfect crime executed by two simple teenagers thought Moriah and Josiah, smiling. But just when things got too awkwardly quiet, “We never see each other again, or cross each other’s paths. We do whatever must be done to keep this quiet. Understood?” Moriah looked at Josiah’s eyes and whimpered timidly, “Got it”. The two departed, walked separately from themselves out of the forest.

All that time Moriah was completely shy, not even making an attempt to stare into Josiah’s cold eyes. As she walked back home, Josiah’s voice haunted her. There was a subtle chilliness in the voice, sounded like the Devil just spoke to her.

Lying in bed, Moriah started smiling again. The voice of Josiah spoke to her, revealing the beginning of a new criminal career for little timid and shy Moriah.

CHAPTER ONE

MAGICIAN, SERIAL KILLER, MURDER TRIAL, PRISON BREAK & PAINFUL LOSS OF 1998

New Orleans in the 80′s. A disastrous hailstorm had killed over 69 of the population. Moriah, in her prime, was finally engaged to her lover Josiah Wilder during the aftermath of the disaster. Years after the murder, Moriah saw that there had been something very attractive about Josiah that made her want him. Josiah had taken away Moriah’s timid nature and changed her into a wildcat. Josiah, however, had secrets Moriah was too inquisitive about. As a teenager, he practiced the dark arts of magic from a fellow magician named Preston. Now that he was married, Preston taught Josiah the use of dark magic on people.

It wasn’t until that fateful day Josiah decided to become a fulltime magician. He worked day and night at a local circus, using sorcery for petty crimes like pickpocketing and stealing anything expensive to gain extra money. Besides this, Josiah became popular and was later hired in top class circus, even hosting his own show. Moriah was possessive of Josiah, literally killing any woman that came close to him or any woman that talked to him. The violent nature of their criminal lifestyle was no burden to their love.

Then Josiah took his game to a whole new different level. Not only his use of dark magic but something even more sinisterly dark had threatened the love he shared with his wife. This thing was not ever to be mentioned by the lips of anybody because it was neither human.

But life’s a bitch after all. Love is blind, especially when the Wilders made a terrible mistake by murdering law enforcers Sam and Lillian West. The Wests were known to be one of the richest law enforcers in the country during the 80′s till they were targeted by the serial killers. Their dirty police officers knew they had no chance of getting away. The long case of the murder of Sam & Lillian West made the couple a famous pair and Josiah was known as the murderous magician of the century.

For the death of the Wests, the Wilders were a about to face a life sentence but they both knew it wasn’t going to go down like this.

Moriah, her husband and her elder sister Pearl were cooped up one fatal day hiding from the law itself. It had been seven days after the huge murder trial of Sam & Lillian West and the couple made bail. Moriah, brown curly haired, stern faced, deep blue t-shirt and leather jeans had been huddled into a corner of her sister’s bedroom quietly sobbing to tears. She played one of her top songs from Woody Shaw titled, ”Blackstone Legacy" on the old record player but couldn’t force herself to forget the world and dance to the rhythm. Anxiety pressured Moriah the more when she eavesdropped on the conversation between Josiah and Pearl. Their voices greatly audible through the parchment walls like a siren of an ambulance ringing into Moriah’s eardrums. The music wasn’t loud enough to drown their voices.

“You’re going to run and hide. Like you’ve never done in your entire life, you understand?“, Pearl spoke with a very stern tone.

“Why that tone in your voice, Pearl?“, Josiah shot back, “You don’t trust me anymore?”

“No. No. No. It’s not that. She’s not herself right now. Didn’t you see the way she looked at you before she entered my room?“, Pearl replied, “Something’s wrong with her and I need you to go very slow on her. Don’t pressurize my sister.”

Pearl and Josiah budged into Moriah’s personal space with sudden fake faces. Without hesitation, Moriah barked at the two, “I want to listen to the song. Its my favourite song, alright?! Just give me a few fucking minutes to dance alone. Please!”

,“We’re not here to stop you, sis”, Pearl answered smoothly.“I wanna dance with you,” Josiah said, as he held the arms of his wife and held his face close to hers. He gently forced her into a kiss that wiped her tears from her cheeks. Then suddenly, the words tumbled down on Josiah like a mountain from Heaven. “I’m pregnant”, Moriah spoke quickly. Pearl’s eyes suddenly widened like they were about to explode from the sockets. Josiah immediately went to the record player to change the song before roaring again. “CONGRATULATIONS, MORIAH!“, Pearl yelled as she and Josiah both cuddled Moriah into a two-way bear hug. “So that was it right? You were just keeping us in the suspense a few hours ago right?“, Josiah blurted out in haste. Moriah still kept a stern face as though she wanted to kill the moment of happiness for her husband and big sister. “If we’re gonna have kids of our own. If this is the beginning of the Wilder family, then we better get the hell outta here fast.” “You bettcha wer’e getting outta here, honey. We’ll be long gone before the next morning comes”, Josiah assured his wife with gleefullness.

Hours later, time was imminently running out. Heavy rain was unleashed unto the town in a dark evening and flooded the corners of the street. Moriah and Josiah, concealed in hooded raincoats, were hustling through the shower fall with haste into an unknown scrapyard which was near the woods. The couple buried something peculiar into the sand as though it had been a briefcase full of blood money..but it wasn’t. It had been something very dark.

“How do we know no one’s ever going to find IT?“, Moriah asked him.

“Relax, honey,” Josiah whispered to his wife, holding her head in his arms and kissing her with embrace, “Look at me. IT’s never going to be found. Never again. Alright?”

“Okay. I know,” Moriah answered feverishly. Josiah hushed her to keep up the pace when sirens were heard from a mile distance. Running from the forbidden sight, Moriah turned her back to give one last look at IT. The look on her face read that she trusted not a single word her husband spoke, that they would eventually meet IT again sooner.

At exactly midnight, police officers swarm their home and invaded their sleep. A long manhunt for the couple was held after one of their dirty cops, a snitch named Ronald Jenkins gave them up, revealing all the victims the couple murdered at different locations.

As the New Orleans police manhunt went on, Josiah and Moriah ran away to London with new identities. Once there, Moriah had given birth to the firstborn son Erin Wilder. The family hid in a fancy hotel, a presumably quiet place where they could find a way to continue their criminal activities. The fake ID’s didn’t last very long when the British Police force identified the couple as the notorious Wilders.

The hotel manager eavesdropped on a conversation between Josiah and Moriah. The couple were arrested on Erin’s third birthday party for their infamous killing spree. Due to the infestation problem in prison, Josiah and Moriah were placed on a ship of prisoners being transferred. For weeks, the Wilders finally came up with a plan of escape. It was not as simple as they presumed though. One mistake could have cost them their lives. But yet it did. A catastrophic prison break broke out in the ship. The inmates proved to be competitive for the prison guards there as countless had the spirit of freedom within them.

With guns blazing, 40 inmates were killed along with 20 prison guards. All this was however, Moriah and Josiah’s fatal distraction. The couple fled unto a safety boat piloted by a friendly prison guard and left peacefully away from the violence. Landed safely on shore, without thinking, Josiah disarmed the guard of his gun and shot him.

As the couple took their time to think further, the guard crept out of the water and attacked Moriah. Unwilling to harm his wife, Josiah let go of the gun. Moriah kicked the guard in the nutsack and went for the gun. The guard hurled dust into Moriah’s eyes and was about to disarm her but Josiah run into the guard, unintentionally running into the way of gunfire, Moriah accidentally shot her husband in the neck.

Dust still remained in her eyes as she shot the guard as well. By the time Moriah opened her eyes, she made a scream only God could hear. Josiah was losing blood. His wife covered the gunshot wound on his neck dearly, desperately shouting at Josiah to hold on to dear life. Moriah saw the guard was still crawling away and shot him in the head four times hard.

For a moment later, Josiah was gone. Everything happened very fast, it was impossible for Moriah to replay it in her head. As she dumped Josiah’s body in the ocean, Moriah knew what she had just lost and knew there was no time for mourning. She was now a widow. A single mother. Alone. The Wilders were dead. A sad and depressing non-criminal life with her children was about to begin.

CHAPTER TWO

ORIGIN OF DEAN WEST

Heathens. Present day. 2017. Dean West, the now adult son of the deceased Sam & Lillian West, angrily stormed out of a nightclub having been kicked out for assaulting and abusing a fellow party-goer and his girlfriend. Dean was not just a sophisticated man, but the Mayor of Heathens himself. After years of struggle, he met his fiancé Jessabelle in France who later became his wife. Politics was and had always been Dean’s strong suite but he never retired from his excessive drinking and borderline personality disorder. Unlike any normal family guy, Dean hated children and never urged for an adoption.

He was just checking into a hostel he was staying at the time due to a heated argument with Jessabelle. Three prostitutes as well as four glasses of Martini and champagne were ordered for the drunken mayor. A couple of hours waiting, the drinks had arrived but one of the girls appeared at the door. Dean’s face suddenly had the expression of a high school nerd talking to a hot, popular girl for the first time. He remained silent as the girl sat next to him and introduced herself as Sia as she started undressing. As soon as Sia stripped half naked, Dean started to lose consciousness.

Both were transported to another realm. The Glass House. “We’re here”, Sia muttered softly to his ear. The realm appeared to be filled with mirrors, water flowing backwards, birds flying from a vertical direction, the ceiling was a sky of crimson red though they were in a conspicious Glass House. Dean laughed at this, believing all this to be LSD put in the Martini. Other girls appeared from each of the mirrors, their faces looking very much matured. The next minute, Dean realized he was naked and paralyzed on some ritualistic ground. A large pentagram suddenly carved itself on where he lay perpendicular.

The leader of the girls, a black- and white-haired woman came forth and introduced themselves as a clan of witches known as The Damned. A large sisterhood formed from eons ago. She went on ranting about their divine plan to corrupt humanity into believing in a new religion. To deceive the world into believing a new savior had been reborn and that Dean was the “chosen one”. Simply put, the way the sisters interpreted their plans would give you the idea that this had something to do with the Apocalypse. The clan danced a ritualistic dance as Dean’s face started to deform as well.

The following months after the ritual, Dean had completely lost memory of his encounter with the Damned. His face had been cursed with a supernatural power so deadly that anyone who stared at his face would die instantly. This was just the beginning of true fear in Heathens. To contain this evil, Dean concealed his cursed face with a silver glass mask in order not to harm his wife Jessabelle. As years passed by, Jessabelle was driven insane by this power. The whole city was at Dean’s mercy, as well as the criminal underworld. Dean was political, vigilant and self-righteous. He hated and despised all criminals in the world.

Everyone, both poor and rich, weak and strong eventually started to ask themselves, “Is Dean West really a god?“. A man whose face could kill an entire population in the whole world was not something to be taken lightly. Eventually, Jessabelle was so influenced by her husband’s insane political and superhuman power, she influenced him to burn down the Heathens church and rebuild it with idles of Dean.

It was now named the Church of Dean West. This wasn’t a surprise though. Jessabelle was a full atheist from childbirth, descending from a family of atheists and as much as she hated religion, God and loved all works of the Devil, she loved Dean more than herself.

Even though he had to hide his inhuman face under a silver mask, she made love to him every day and night, anytime, anywhere. By his side every time, she supported him and told him never to forget his purpose. Jessabelle was both principle of Heathen High and High Priestess in the Church of Dean West. Dean’s Cult believed in him due to the fact that he was a hero. Dean single-handedly murdered all criminals of Heathens. Midnight crusading was his specialty.

Silently walking in the neighborhood in a hooded form, nobody would ever hear him or sense his human presence. Dean sneaked into the homes of every criminal, thug and mobster and murdered them. Sometimes in their sleep, and mostly in front of their families. During their smuggling operation at night, Dean would appear in the shadows like a creeper.

All he had to do was to take off his silver mask and they all died just by staring at his inhuman face. The people referred to him as the god of Heathens because despite his psychopathic tendencies to murder, he was still political, gentle, patient and malevolent. Dean West was all over the papers; New York Times called him a celebrity. Not everyone understood the name “god of Heathens”. They clearly thought it to be a comical joke.

The revelation of the Church of Dean West became viral on the media. Eventually the whole world heard about it. On talk shows, Dean would lie about how he got his abilities. He would tell them he ran his face into an electric pole in a car accident during a storm near a facility and the lightning was what caused him to have such power.

Scientifically, it was a different origin story. Dean knew well that was not how he got this curse. He couldn’t recall anything of his encounter with The Damned at all. The ritual dance, the half-naked lady, the weird dimension was all diminished from his memory. All he could visibly recall was a blurred memory of the half-naked prostitute, the martini and the last whispering words “We’re here”.

Now, in Heathens, Moriah Wilder, an aged woman in her sixties sat at the bench of the train station playing the very guitar her deceased husband Josiah gave her on their last anniversary together. From the age of 12, Moriah was talented with the guitar. She hid in the music world for a very long time. During her prime years as an infamous serial killer, during all the violence and murder, during the intense lovemaking with Josiah, the music she played was all she heard in her head.

The rhythm acted as a channel of vibes in which Moriah would just act and never stop. Moriah stopped for a little while to open her eyes just in time to see Emma Wilder about to jump into the railway.

Even as she dashed to stop her youngest daughter from falling, the music still played in Moriah’s head. “You little numb sack! How many fucking times have I told you the trains aren’t giant toy cars! You will die.” Moriah stared dead in her daughter’s little eyes so intimately and intense, tiny Emma was lost of words and passers-by looked nervous as the sound of Moriah’s voice gave a warning that they dared not stare. “I won’t do it again, I swear.” Intimidated Emma finally squealed. “Where are your siblings?” “I don’t know.” Onlookers thought Moriah was about to hit Emma for a split second. As soon as Moriah turned her back, onlookers looked away back to their business as Moriah dragged Emma away.

Watching the news were less busy bystanders and teenagers Dani, Erin, Lucious and Piper Wilder. Erin, the brawns amongst them was the oldest, Lucious, the second oldest adopted African-American son who kept a religious character, Piper, the third oldest son and then Dani, the fourth oldest daughter and a Goth chick. Moriah and Emma joined them as they watched the silver-masked Mayor Dean West, the mythical man, and his stunning beauty of a wife Jessabelle by his side, give a speech on the media.

“How long does he wear that mask?“, Dani asked with a bit sarcasm. “As long as people don’t stare at his horrible face”, Piper replied. “So does he eat?“, Luscious joined. “He barely kisses his wife”, Dani chuckled. “He’s even got his own church where they worship him. How cool is that? ” “That’s just a rumor, Dani.“, Luscious shot back at his sister. ” Dude, you know the whole world is talking about it?” Piper replied. “If this guy’s technically a false prophet...“, ” Dude, there’s no rapture, no trumpets sounding from the fucking sky, or the sea turning red happening yet okay?” Erin spoke harshly at Lucious.

Moriah, standing behind could only feel the fear but not the doubt in Erin’s voice. “Erin. Let Lucious feel free to talk about Bible stuff. If he’s a believer and you’re not, that’s perfect. You don’t ever attack your brother on his faith in religion. Understood?” Erin gave a horrible grin. Dani stopped her,” Mum, do you think it’s a good idea that we came to this city. Aren’t you a bit scared of what people are saying goes on around here?” “No”. Moriah’s answer was down straight, Dani raised her eyebrows. ” Start moving.”

The Wilders were now in Heathens, a city free of criminals but feared by a supernatural man named Dean West.

CHAPTER 3

Heathens was beyond the word different, thought Moriah and her children who were chaffed in a Mercedes down town. As they drove past sad-happy faces, little boys wearing Dean West masks like it was Halloween, golf courses and flirting teenagers, Moriah got flashbacks of her making love to Josiah in the front seat nude in public. Moriah loved that man with all her mind, heart and soul, it was as though his spirit was watching her from Heaven. The statue of Dean West was a thick, tall and muscular version of the real king of Heathens himself and only Moriah was the one to wonder how many tiring, slavery years it had been built.

As Moriah sneered non-verbally at Dean’s intimidating figure, the little Emma glared and admired the chariots of black and white horses that patrolled the streets. They were the city’s very own friendly neighborhood chariots of the Heathen Police Patrol. Something no other city had had for a long time. An hour later, the family finally settled down in the new apartment they had earlier rented. Luckily, the current owners had died in an unspeakable accident.

Their plans were different. Moriah only came to this city for one reason only; to start a new life and desert the dark past she and Josiah dwelled in years ago. Piper planned to start a new life as a normal high-schooler, Erin’s was to follow his own desires, Dani’s was to lay low, while Lucious’ was to find out more about the Church of Dean West, whether it had just been a stupid rumor or not.

It was on a sunny, dark afternoon where Piper, Lucious and Dani took the day off at the carnival without Emma, who solely decided to wonder in the streets alone staring at the Chariots. As the dullness that filled their new arrival in Heathens got worst, Piper couldn’t hold back the one thing that ate him up inside.

The sight of a couple existing in his presence gave him the shivers. His eyes, at that very moment, watched clowns and magicians do their thing in the crowd, but his heart looked back at his dreadful past with his psycho killer of a single mother in Queens. Everything had been as it was. Black & White. Nothing but zero memory of hugging or kissing that cute girl or exchaning of the Flirting Language.

The adult couple said the romantic things to eachother right beside him and to kill the moment, Dani and Lucious came to their brother’s rescue.

“We should seriously burn this place to hell,” Dani gloated, hanging her arm over Piper’s shoulder as though they were a couple, with Lucious joining in, “What d’you think, bro?”

“I’d totally agree with her, man. This place sucks,” Lucious muttered loudly, “You okay, little man?”

“Just thinking,” Piper admitted coldly in a self-defence state.

“He’s just thinking,” Dani taunted, her Gothic smirk illuminating, munching on popcorn.

“Wanna guess how many times those guys have missed their shots?“, Lucious diverted the matter to a gang of boys taking rounds at dunking a man hurling insults into the water but missing effortlessly.

“Even Emma can throw a hit better than those losers,” Dani went on, “Hey. You think mom’s not gonna murder us when she finds out we let the kid on her own?”

” ‘Course, dumb dumb. Erin’s gon’ snitch.” Lucious pointed out.

“Nah, he won’t,” Piper spoke,” That half-man ain’t a snitch anymore. Believe me.”

“Erin’s always a snitch, lil’ bro,” Lucious shot back, giggling,“That boy hates the idea of us.”

“Piper, have you forgotten the fiasco in Queens so soon?,” Dani growled at her sibling,“That mentally decapitated brethren of ours is the exact duplicate of our mom. She’s sinister. He’s sinister. They’re both sick.”

“Ain’t no way to talk ’bout mom like that, Dani,” Lucious spat at her,” She deserves some respect at least. She single, lonely and depressed to hell. No woman like that’s got what it takes to take care of five teenagers.”

Just when things got interesting, Moriah was finally welcomed and helped by their new neighbor. The brother of former deputy Wallace Jones who was one of the most trusted corrupt cops Moriah and her husband ever had. There was an awkward pause between the two until someone finally uttered words.

“Hi….Moriah? Is that really you?” the man asked. “What do you think?” Moriah’s tone was as though she was talking to a child. “Oh, this is a very pleasant surprise to finally meet you. My brother had been talking about you ever since he passed. Forgive my awkwardness, I’m Randall. Randall Jones. Wallace Jones’ brother. Come inside, please.” As she entered, something about his apartment smelled very familiar. Just like how their old house had been from the 70′s.

“Divorced?“, she inquired curiously as she stared at the frame of his wife. “Oh no. She’s in the hospital. A bad case of cholera after she returned back from South Africa.” “Well, I wouldn’t say I’m sorry for her, but I really am,” Moriah chuckled, ” When did Wallace die?” ” It was twelve years ago. A tragic accident took his life.”

The two sat and talked over bottles of beer. They both spoke like they had already known each other for weeks. “I don’t think it’s good idea that you and your family came here, Moriah,” Randall finally spoke feverishly but clearly,” It’s not like the 70′s anymore, where my brother nearly risked everything to help cover your crimes. The mob, cartel, gangsters, smugglers, serial killers, corrupt cops. They’re all dead. This city is clean of criminals. Everyone like you. Gone.” Moriah looked puzzled but kept silent. “Heathens is now a crime-free haven, Moriah.” ” I’m moving on, Randy,” Moriah finally answered, ” I’m now an aging widow and not looking forward to causing any more trouble. I wanna be a singer, and to do that, I need to be somewhere safe. A safe haven.”

For a while, Randall stared awkwardly at her as she sipped her beer then went on, “You know who runs this city?” “Yeah. Dean West. That’s his name, right? The Man in the Mask? With that intimidating structure of a statue he’s got uprooted in the streets? Dunno much about him.” “You’ve been hearing the great legendary stories and rumors about him, haven’t you?” Randall continued,” About why he always hides in the mask? Why people believe he’s actually “God” in person?” “I don’t believe in God, Randy. Neither do I believe in the myth that there’s actually one in person.” Moriah spoke with a sincere heart.

Randall paused then went on, “All I’m saying is if you want to survive in this city, you keep your head very low and stay out of trouble. Because the Man in the Mask has eyes on every single living person in Heathens. Whether dead or alive, whether day or night, he watches and roams around the four corners of the neighborhood like the arrow that strikes at night.”

No matter how Randall spoke with skeptics, Moriah just smiled at him. Wallace Jones was Moriah’s closest friend but now it was as though the name itself had gone extinct from the face of the Earth. Before Moriah left, her last words were, “I’m moving on. The past is the past. I’m going to be a singer now. Just remember that.” As Moriah walked away, the Jones she was just speaking to turned out not to be what everyone was expecting.

Randall suddenly and metamorphically transformed into a woman. She changed into a more decent guise, a bank manager with glasses, as she walked into a mysterious glass house down the street. The woman entered the room where other eight women with all different identities had assembled.

One a ballet dancer, a prostitute, a nurse, a stripper, a teenaged girl, a librarian, a fashion designer and a thug. These women all came for the same reason. The bank manager was known as Samara, the “Queen Mother” of the Damned. ” It is time we start adapting to our identities more intensely.” Samara began. The nurse was Selina, the teenager was Sinara, Salma the librarian, Sia the stripper, Sage the designer, Sybil the thug, Sule the dancer and Sil the prostitute. The tenth sister had been their bedridden Satifar. Apparently, Satifar was dying of an old age even though she looked very young in physical form. ” I’ve got a question though,” Sia spoke vaguely, “How much longer are we going to keep hiding in this glass house?”

“What are you blubbering about, Sia? Do you have a problem with the house?” Samara inquired. “Yes. I mean it’s so visible. Everyone can see. If you want a perfect hiding place for a coven of witches, I suggest you do it somewhere no one can get suspicious.” Samara smiled. “Go fuck yourself,” Sybil, an Irish sister, shot back. ” Always think you’re smarter than the whole clan. You stupid piece of shit.” “It’s logic, dear sister. I am the only smart one here.” Sia smiled and muttered to herself. Sybil glanced up and down at Sia. “You’re a stripper”. “Both of you interrupt me again, I will remove your tongues.” Samara stated. ” I think Sia might have a point. This house is too conspicuous. Whose idea was this, anyway?!” ” Salma’s”, Selina spoke, only to have the nurse stare at her with evil, red glowing eyes.

“Salma can’t talk, you imbicle.” Sybil snarled. “Never mind. Now, the reason I called us here is to inform us that Moriah Wilder is here.” The sisters paused for a while and had expressions as though they were babies at a Pythagoras theorem math class. “Moriah Wilder?” Sule spoke with her French accent, ” Do we know her?” “I’ve never heard of her before in my life.” Sybil muttered, as Salma looked as though she wanted to speak for the first time.

“She was an infamous serial killer in New Orleans from the 70′s. She and her deceased husband were. Those two were not a force to be reckon with back then. Her husband, a high-class magician, used and manipulated dark magic to kill rich people for their wealth. What’s more disturbing is that they had dirty cops protecting them. Covering their crime...they all admired this couple.” “Well she’s an old woman,” Selina chuckled,” She’s retired right, now isn’t she? I mean what do you expect us to do? Be afraid of a stupid old lady?”

“She’s single right? She’s probably looking for some young stud to get laid with, Samara.” Samara slapped Sybil’s nose across her face so hard it echoed around the glass house. ” Moriah didn’t come to this city for a retirement, or to sit at group therapies, or for a new life. She’s come here to continue where she and her husband left off. She believes she can, but she will not. Moriah is a complete psychopath. The same psychopath that got away with murdering the mother and father of Dean West. To even the odds, we must inform him of her arrival in Heathens and give him the opportunity he’d always looked for. To get his vengeance.” Samara scanned her sisters but only Sinara.

“Sinara, you’ve been awfully quiet.” Samara went close to her.” Are you okay?” Sinara, being the youngest of the Damned, said feverishly,” I think it’s a good plan.” Even though they were completely doubtful of Moriah being a threat, the clan agreed and went back to their disguises. While this coerced, Moriah paced down the streets through the Heathen Police Patrol chariots and stood right next to the masculine figure of Dean West.

Flashbacks from the 70′s then rolled in her head, Wallace Jones was the fifth wheel when it came to dating women. Moriah personally knew this as she always watched him jealously sit down at the bar and listen to his friends at the Department talk about their wives and children, and how much they loved them. Moriah knew when a woman was using Wallace and she made sure she murdered every one of them who thought they could get away with it. Lighting and smoking her cigarette, Moriah took much time there was to understand the physique and many myths of the Mayor. When nothing made much sense of it, she departed with less frustration.

Late in the night, when the Wilders including the whole neighborhood were trapped in deep sleep, strangers in dark, velvet robes and masks similar to Dean West’s silently walked the alley to a meeting held in the Church of Dean West. Emma, who had been the only one awake, witnessed this through her sleepy eyes but all she knew was that it was only a dream. The reality was that the Cult of Dean West were planning something big in the cold of the night.

CHAPTER 4

Moriah sat down playing her guitar, singing “Smooth Operator”, a song by Sade. An artist she admired back in the days. She got up to play the actual song on her record player before reaching out for her shotgun she keeps in the wardrobe. The music played as she stood before Dani, Piper, Erin, Lucious and Emma, bound, tied up and gagged next to each other. Inside Moriah’s eyes was a hidden evil. It was black as the night. Dani, Piper, Erin, Lucious and Emma screamed and cried for help as they tried to escape death.

Moriah pointed the shotgun and said in an evil, demonic voice, “I fucking hate all of you. You all make me sick”, before shooting Dani in the head. Her brains splattered all over the walls of the living room. She shot Piper in the face, Erin and Lucious as well. Emma fought with her life to run away but a demonic Moriah dragged her back. Emma cried and pleaded for her mother not to kill her, but demonic Moriah laughed as she pulled the trigger on her little girl. Moriah jerked awake from the nightmare like a pistol. She grabbed her rifle, which was next to her pillow and pointed it in the air and then outside the window. Was it her pills or were they signs of a psychological breakdown. She began to wonder if this was PTSD, but she was no soldier.

For nights she has had many nightmares of murdering her children in different ways. Each dream, she was not herself but eviler and criminally insane. Maybe God speaks to her after all. In the morning, she grabbed her guitar and glasses of wine, sat in her couch and played “Smooth Operator”.

Emma silently sneaked up on her wearing her white gown and brown bushy hair, looking like she was Regan MacNeil from “The Exorcist”. “Boo”, Emma squeaked behind Moriah, who never jerked or reacted for a slightest inch. “Was that the best you can do, little piggy?” Moriah smiled at Emma, who felt a little embarrassed. “You wanna scare someone, you have to do better.” “Mummy, I want ham and eggs.” Emma whined with her adorable beady eyes. “Listen to this new song I wrote.”

Emma loved listening to Moriah’s music in the morning. She sat next to her mother, who played and sang her own lyrics off head. “Bleeding....I’m bleeding for feeling so lonely...I’m waiting....waiting for you to come hold meee...And I knoww...that you’re waitiing foorrr me too.” Moriah’s voice was like an angel rising from the river. Emma admired the voice but spoke too soon,” Hey. You stole that song.” Moriah chuckled.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. But this doesn’t mean I haven’t made other songs.... My own songs.” “I think your songs are great, mummy.” Emma said in an angelic voice.

“Now go change that silly Halloween costume and come on down, you watch too many horror films.”

“But I like it. I do look like the girl from The Exorcist don’t I, mummy?” Moriah remained silent.

After Moriah fixed Emma her breakfast, they both had their early morning routine firearm training. Moriah was the type of woman who wouldn’t want her daughter playing around with soft girly dolls, she preferred her holding a 9mm in her back pocket every day. After having her hair shaved short, Emma was forced by Moriah to dress like a tomboy anytime she was in public but at home, she could only wear a wig.

Children made fun of Emma, but Moriah made sure she dealt with that problem. At the same age as Emma’s, Dani, Piper, Erin and Lucious were taught firearms but Erin had the best marksmanship, which earned him a chance to train in a military camp. His best interests was to be recruited in the army someday.

Meanwhile, Mayor Dean West led a life as a vigilante and political narcissist. Known for his sly, hidden movements and perfect guise, the people knew crime was completely extinct from Heathens. Dean’s power turned him into a malevolent psychopath with a superhero status, invincibly walking around, stalking and murdering anyone who committed any petty crime. It was one night at a supermarket where a teenaged boy in roller-skates dared to shoplift, unaware Dean had secretly pursued him.

A woman caught the boy red-handed and screamed in awe, “You stole! A sinner! He stole!” The whole store froze and gazed at the kid with faces of sympathy. Dean, in his hooded form, immediately appeared from his guise and assaulted the boy. The way he beat up the boy stunned the customers.

He took off his mask simultaneously as everybody looked away or closed their eyes. The boy gazed at Dean’s demonic face and died on the spot. “Burn the body. He will not be buried nor will he be mourned. Anyone who mourns for this sinner will die as well.” As Dean spoke and left, the store gave an applause. The people had been corrupted into believing Dean was actually their god. Literally, Dean became worst.

At their own home, a family was visited unannouncedly by a hooded Dean. “Your son was cheating in an examination today. He has to pay the price.” The boy’s parents were sympathetic but were forced to shed no tears. Dean took off his mask to kill their son and that was that. “Burn the body. He will not be buried nor will you mourn your son. If you mourn him, you will die as well. Now kneel.” The father and mother knelt before Dean like dogs being commanded by their master.

Everyone close to him suffered the same fate as well, including his wife Jessabelle. Dean had kept a close eye on Senator Birch Freeman’s personal, abusive relationship with his wife and daughter. One sign of abuse from Senator Birch, Dean would beat the living daylights out of him with a crowbar. Recently, some people had grown tired of Dean’s psychotic murder crusade and dictatorship and decided to step up to him.

A hidden, demonstrative group of Dean West-haters known as the Terrorists emerged to prove that crime still exists. Police officers led by Lieutenant Thomas Riley had been hot on their tracks. The Terrorists hid and planned to detonate a bomb in both the Church of Dean West and the bank laundering Dean’s money but all attempts had been failures thanks to the Cult of Dean West.

The Damned, however, were alerted about this but their leader Samara was enraged at Dean, who forgot his role and was thoroughly distracted by Jessabelle. It was finally their anniversary and both had taken their time away from Heathens to reflect on their life together.

They made love the whole day and night, refusing to let go of each other in bed. After taking a shower together, they ate at fancy restaurants since Jessabelle had been a woman of high-class and admitted to be a lousy cook. The only error was that Dean couldn’t take off the mask to eat and so took his meals back home and ate in an isolated room where his face wouldn’t harm Jessabelle.

Alone, a depressed Dean would tell Jessabelle,” I wish I could kiss you again, sweetheart. I want this curse to go away so I can kiss you again.” Jessabelle, comforting him would say,” One day you will, Dean. Someday I’ll look in your eyes again and none of us would bother about you killing me.” Jessabelle’s words seemed so unreal to Dean.

The only warmth and tenderness in Dean’s soulless body was his wife. Always supportive of any action he took, whether it meant having to murder a bunch of people who commit sinful acts in front of him. Jessabelle never believed Dean was a psychopath, but a hero struggling to maintain sanity. Meanwhile, Samara alerts her sisters about the recent death of their bedridden member. In the morgue, the eight circled the corpse and stared with emotionless grief.

Minutes later, they snatch the body and walk into the glass house. Their sister’s corpse lay perpendicular on a pentagram symbol as the coven stood in circle with white robes. After Selina delivered the eulogy, the sisters held hands and incited an incantation in which the deceased’s soul was placed inside a medallion held around the wrist of Samara.

Like mouth-to-mouth recitation, Sule sucked out the soul and smoked it out like a cigarette. It was a beautiful scene. A rite of passage for the Damned as they stepped into the life after death. A moment of silence was observed for the rest of the ceremony. Sinara, however, was the only first to exit the burial grounds in a haste, wandering off to Heathen Alley after making damn sure she was not followed or none of the Sisters noticed her disappearance.

In her strikingly, toxic deep blue robe, white silk ponytail hair, blood red eyes, the young Wiccan had herself eyeballing the friendly neighbourhood restaurants, people, kissing couples, dogs and more kissing couples, paying no attention to the gritty gestures and gossips the busy mothers or women made of her ridiculous Halloween-costume in the sunny day. Then a distraction caught her attention. In the witch’s view, you’d see attractive bare-chested middle-aged guys doing the Bobby Schmurda dance, but that wasn’t what excited her.

Moving amidts the mouth-watering girls whose eyes were glued to the hoodrats, Sinara glimpsed at a female Heathen Police officer who couldn’t seem to get her Chariot to calm down. When the horse tore through a chanting crowd, knocking almost everyone out of the way, the woman realized her Chariot had turned into a matadore’s bull. People, Sinara muttered to herself in a sigh, You’ll never understand them. The screaming officer’s body was at near point of soaring in midair as the Chariot stampeded all over the corners of Heathen Alley.

“Somebody, help me! Don’t just fucking stand there!” The officer cried, but before idiotic bystanders would even budge, the Chariot was just a slight second from being slammed hard against an incoming, hammering truck across the road. Sinara only uttered silent words and closed her eyes, like she was praying to her false idol. The witch had opened her eyes to reveal bright white, as well as the out-of-control horse’s which had turned the same colour. It immediately ceased commotion and took a slow motion pace turning back from a random death.

Under Sinara’s command, the Chariot calmed down and the officer hopped off the beast right down to her knees, believing an angel had just descended but the call wasn’t from Heaven. Sinara walked away and donned her hood quietly, the girls and boys still peeping at eachother as though nothing had just happened.

“Showing off again, aren’t we?”

The Wiccan felt a hand on her shoulder.

“I thought I wasn’t being followed. You tricked my instincts?” Sinara wondered.

“No. Your insticts decieved you, lil’ sis,” Sia, the stripper gloated, “So which cheap restaurant are we wondering off to now?”

"I want to be alone,” Sinara hissed at her fellow witch.

"We are going to the Burger Shack to grab a bite,” Sia insisted in a mocking voice.

By the time she knew it, Sinara found herself with her bestfriend in the Burger Shack joint grabbing a bite of their best burgers, milkshake and caramel cream but Sinara barely touched hers. The temptation to wander and stare aimlessly at numerous young couples flirting and kissing. Sinara was suffering from it at that very moment. Looking back at her past in the 90′s living with Sia, there was zero memory of her hugging or kissing a cute boy and exchaging of the Flirting Language.

“When are we ever going to have that, lil’ sis?“, Sia wondered aloud, holding both Sinara’s clenched palms and tenderly warming them.

“Stop staring at them. It’s no use. You’re just hurting yourself,” Sia warned her fellow witch from experience.

“How can you fight it?“, Sinara shot back,” When you know these people are everywhere in your life?”

“I just don’t look, Sinara,” Sia replied in a scolding tone,” It’s not difficult. Just think about your favourite things, besides that.”

Sinara teared her eye from the annoying disturbance of the kissing galore and began to share wild thoughts with Sia.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?“, Sia smiled. Evening finally fell and the two witches left the joint to torment the couples outside the dark.

CHAPTER 5

data-p-id=c5d469d10c7f274cd8512781692b41fd,When Heathen Alley’s corners were caught in the dark of the night, Sinara and Sia, the only two creeping shadows stalked the bodies of a couple heading home. One of their incantations, a spell which silhoutted themselves completely from the average human eye, was put to good use.

The couple, hardly noticing anything, stopped to take a minute of tenderloving moments. A dark and creepy place was the perfect domain for the time of their lives. Before the boy and girl could kiss, something had bitten both of them on the lips. The couple started itching tediously as though caught by a supernatural virus. Tiny pimples appeared on their mouths. They panicked, squirmed, and fled the scenary. Sinara and Sia took off their silhoutte forms and laughed their hearts out, remembering the night was always young.

An hour later, they remained silent as the night. Sia wanted to try as hard as ever to share in Sinara’s secret, dark thoughts.

“Do you really think our coven is evil?“, Sia inquired.

Sinara turned to give her a hostile look.

“Yes, I do”, she replied.

“You’re not planning on leaving, are you?” Sia forcefully inquired.

“I have to,” she replied again.

“Even if it means abdandoning your bestfriend?“, Sia inquired again.

“Yes”, the Wiccan replied, sounding more darker this time.

Sia stopped talking to stare at the stars then began bursting in a random laughter so vague, Sinara as well burst into the same dumb cackling before they both left.

After escaping all the deaths, Dean West could finally sleep peacefully with Jessabelle. It was on the fatal night, where Dean was telepathically succumbed into a fortress of the Glass House. Trembling from weakness, Dean was soaked with the blood of all his victims and bound in chains with his face unmasked. Although he knew this wasn’t real, Dean could neither see nor feel his face. The witches circled around Dean in a sinister movement.

data-p-id=d91fddcda1679e3562eed358d111c1e0,“Please, let me go...“, Dean cried, “Take this curse. Take it away, please....“.

“We’re not done, Mr. West,” Samara spoke tenderly, ” You are ours for as long as we decide to use you.” “I don’t want to do this anymore! Kill innocent people! Kill a teenager.... this isn’t who I am supposed to be! Why won’t you let someone else bare this curse. I’m…… I’m not worth it. I’m not the man for this task...”

data-p-id=b7581538d750035c979eed23a1cbe957,“It is your purpose to serve the Damned, Mr. West. Our bond is unbreakable. You can’t run from us. Ever”, Samara shot back, “There is a threat in the city you must eliminate, Mr. West. A woman and her children. You must find them or if you don’t, no one in the city will see Heathens as the true haven they now live in. You are her savior, Dean.”

data-p-id=10ca29815fb7a8bed376a46b5188551c,“What are you saying? What woman and children? I killed...I killed every criminal in the city like you said I would.”

data-p-id=a1b9a1c25b2956cc9d4681864dd20086,“The woman who killed your parents has returned, Dean”, Samara’s words stunned Dean and put him in a little trance. “What are you saying?”

data-p-id=b6a2fd88ae65093a724eed326281f097,“I am telling you the truth, and what only your ears and eyes must hear. Do you remember the Wilders? The infamous murderers from your past? The trial?”

data-p-id=3ddc7aee4dbe603b18af062b6a956b8e,“B-but... they’re dead, aren’t they?“, Dean spoke in a tone like that of a baby, “They’re in prison. Where they belong.”

“We all thought they were, Mr. West. But the time has come for us to know we are surely wrong. You know what this city must do to criminals like her. Find her. And when you do, do not spare her. Claim your vengeance.” Dean’s consciousness descended back into himself as he jerked awake. Heaving and gasping for air. He did not want to wake Jessabelle.

data-p-id=1c39545fd49b77a05f805c85235b3e75,Dean, ever since his curse, was visited by the Damned on different occasions, either through hallucinations, in a coma, or through nightmares. In each encounter, they were in the same Glass House. The next morning, Jessabelle gave Dean a special bath. She noticed her husband was acting like a zombie. What the clan told him had spooked him. Hearing the name, “the Wilders” just left him in a trance like shock. It not only haunted his childhood, it destroyed it entirely.

data-p-id=eaa401b74afe3fc5bf147dffbf908951,Hearing that they are still alive after all these years and living in the same city he is had driven him insane from within. In 1980, a 6-year-old Dean was kept in an orphanage where the children treated him with sheer disrespect. All the money he would have inherited from Sam & Lillian West was already stolen. He visited his parents’ graves every day of his life as a boy telling them how much he loved and missed them.

data-p-id=2f79a73ab75905070ead711207439fed,He was alone, depressed and trapped in a dark house where there were no windows, no doors or any tunnel to dig through. Samara had watched and observed him all those years. Knowing the grief and extent of revenge Dean wanted on his parents’ killers, Samara and her sisters chose him to be their vessel through which they will show the world their power.

data-p-id=b203aa5dda442e111d2299754acd2f3f,Jessabelle, caressing Dean’s body, finally broke the spell the witches left her husband in.

“Dean, you’re acting like a zombie. Was it a nightmare you had?” Jessabelle spoke vividly.

“We need to go back.” Dean answered boldly.

data-p-id=0216e1ce3e363988ed0c7109ebe539b5,“Vacation’s over so soon? I guess it’s an emergency, isn’t it?”

“Not really. The city needs its savior. And I feel very uncomfortable leaving it unprotected, Jessabelle.”

data-p-id=f55d52312aac49764d0784b2b1221676,“I know how much you love Heathens, Dean. That’s exactly the same way I love you.”

data-p-id=e4154f5ab5f645b7e25640256d8041bb,Jessabelle kissed Dean’s lips through the silver mask before dressing him up in his grey suite and hat. The day was definitely a good day to return to Heathens. The Terrorists had just robbed a bank depositing Dean’s money and murdered several workers. Sending out a warning that they were not afraid of Dean West.

data-p-id=3beb9b222cec441245584212442f2613,Moriah was playing her usual song on the guitar. Her eyes opened to reveal a demonic face.

She was standing on top of Piper’s, Lucious’, Dani’s and Erin’s corpses. Emma was tied to a tree in chains, unconscious. Moriah picked her shotgun and pulled the trigger on her youngest daughter, forcing her to jerk awake in fear. Falling from the bed like a child, she armed herself with her gun, naked. She liked sleeping naked.

data-p-id=ba6b1579192c479ef0997aa9ab38cc20,Going downstairs to get breakfast, she noticed the kids had already gone to school. In Heathen High, Piper was the socially outgoing one unlike Dani, who kept to herself so much everyone believed she was actually a ghost. Emma’s tomboyish looks were mocked by her peers so much she had her own half days, hiding in the bathroom. Lucious followed his sister into the toilet and confronted her.

data-p-id=c3362e47dfe8af865a4c761428494dd6,“What are you doing here? You’re going to get caught you know,” Emma spoke both coldly and calmly.

data-p-id=d0a05cc21e4676604e16b3a7ac5cfc00,“You’re the one who’s gonna get caught one day, Emma,” Lucious spoke with desperate concern, “I’ve been watching you hide in here for days. But this ain’t the place to hide.”

data-p-id=9de0de1d43fcfe4e657c5cbfa1136490,“I don’t care. I can’t take it anymore. I hate it here. Those other girls make fun of me because I look like...“. Lucious cut her sentence.

data-p-id=f9dce15f80753e18d98b139fe23260f5,“It ain’t yo’ fault, Emma. Alright? Don’t go blaming yo’ self. It’s our mother. She cut yo’ hair when you were three and made you play with a gun when you were supposed to be playing with dolls. She’s a psychopath.”

data-p-id=a83d8761da84399bc210aed4c19fa3be,“But mom’s a good person.“, Emma replied timidly, “She just likes to play music. She’s really good.”

data-p-id=a53c8cc3cb4319633683577f97c0e67b,“You know she killed a lot of people before we were born, Emma. She and dad. And now she wants us to be just like her.” Then Lucious began to preach. “Look, you know God made all of us in his own image. He loves you and in times like this, you need to reach out to Him and He’ll protect you.” Emma, who was a complete child, had no idea who God really meant to the world but Lucious didn’t care.

data-p-id=ee21ea7479e0fe930ae3e900a46a282d,“Does He love mummy too?” She asked uncertainly. “Yes. Even our own mother who we all hate to love. You ain’t gotta think about whether He’s real or anything, all ya need is faith.”

data-p-id=f241e7996b41e29b62bb73e42bf13717,“You’d make a good preacher”, Emma complimented to Lucious’ delight. Now having smiles on their faces, exited the girls bathroom but Lucious suddenly bumped into Jessabelle West for the first time. He had not heard the principal had just returned from her break. Jessabelle didn’t need to make an introduction because Lucious could tell she was the principal by looking at her young, but oddly mature stern face. After a silence, Lucious found himself sitting next to Emma in Jessabelle’s office.

data-p-id=1faf4bdd32d50c03a4d6bcd49db35309,In her expensive velvet red t-shirt, white gloves and skirt, Jessabelle drank her coffee like she was just out of the Sahara Dessert. “I know you’re both new here,” She spoke lighting her cigarette, “but in this school, we don’t tolerate this kind of behavior. What were you doing in the lady’s bathroom, Mr. Wilder?”

data-p-id=510ba19f587a13b720e4c46e2aab5109,“They been making fun of my sister, Mrs. West. She was hiding in the bathroom so I went up there to get her out and talk to her.” Lucious spoke proudly, Emma still smiled and Jessabelle raised her eyebrows.

“Why exactly do they make fun of you, Emma?”

“Because of how I look, Mrs. West.” Even for her young age, Emma stared at Jessabelle as though she was a fool because a woman her age would easily find an obvious explanation for a why a little girl in her situation is made fun of.

data-p-id=50ac34d444d9c66fd80501f9c5cf734d,“Do your parents allow you to dress this way to school every time?”

Lucious was tempted to slap Jessabelle across the face but his faith in the Good Lord refrained him from committing such sin. He found a suitable way of showing that rage.

“Don’t answer that,” he ordered his sister. “Pardon me,” Jessabelle snarled at Lucious.

“She doesn’t need to answer that, Mrs. West. We like to keep our family matters very personal.”

“Oh, let me guess. Family tragedy. You lost your father? Or was it your mother?” Jessabelle asked playfully. The tone at which she asked that question was so sadistic it made Lucious and Emma uncomfortable.

data-p-id=b8f17db61e1dc11c38c5a7127613072c,Jessabelle looked so young, Lucious was having second thoughts of confronting her differently. “The girls in her class laugh at her and call her names. I’m very concerned about my sister, Mrs. West and I believe something’s gotta be done.

“I myself am very supportive of the LGBT community these days, but in this school, we don’t pay much attention to racist or sexist matters.

data-p-id=f35bb43b47dd25902afbb9463aa4530b,It is up to the student to decide who he or she wants to be in front of everyone. If this is very personal, as you say it is, then you should take this matter outside campus and deal with it yourself as responsible young adults.” Jessabelle completed her statement with a cute perfect smile. Lucious nodded his head in disappointment and looked at her name on the silver plate on the desk. “Jesabelle. Jessabelle West, that’s your full name, right?”

data-p-id=10bf63678381a815d1616990c7e09fbc,Jessabelle raised her eyebrows again. “Jezebel was an evil queen in the 9th Century. She influenced the people of Israel to worship Baal, but a prophet stopped her. I hope you remember that in the Old Testament, Mrs. West.” As they left, Emma suddenly smiled again and Jessabelle just sat there puzzled. At the end of class, Piper’s friends had already multiplied. He and Dani would hang out with Toni, a drug addict, Lance and his Asian girlfriend Yin.

data-p-id=e1808b50fd1b209158a05dcb2b72457a,Lance failed occasionally to propose to Dani, but she was already in love with someone older than her. In her right mind, Dani found herself obsessing over the Heathen High principal Jessabelle. She hid this guilt from everyone perfectly though. Dani and Piper’s time with Toni, Lance and Yin was noticed by Moriah who disliked the idea of the two siblings going out of the house and skipping dinner late at night. Erin refused to go to socialize and hid in his own world, practicing his firearms but he was pissed off with his life and the world itself.

data-p-id=e35dbf66a64ad9a077d6693c4d3cc409,Regularly in a bad mood, Erin would shoot and shoot at anything in the woods, deer, flamingos, robins, squirrels and from a certain time, at random people. Through a man’s furry coat, a boy’s cap, and the tyres of a couple’s vehicle. He had been an expert in this from childhood but Piper, Dani, Lucious and even little Emma had noticed Erin was just like Moriah.......A psychopath.

data-p-id=a05bc27e044de7b3651894eec41a5b11,When Erin came late for dinner, he would shut the lights out in the house and give the family a night of suspense. Just like a killer, he would appear out of nowhere in the dark and hold his siblings at gunpoint, smiling as though this was a normal prank Marines do with each other. Moriah would always catch him and beat him senselessly in the basement, especially when it affected Emma the most.

data-p-id=64664ce7e5af0c699ffdedd197530c34,Later, Dani and Piper agreed with Toni, Yin and Lance to throw a party at their house despite them knowing it was forbidden by Moriah.

CHAPTER 6

data-p-id=14d07c14ee25a6e7667a1ab434d94d6f,”You’re out of your goddamn mind, you know that!”

data-p-id=4021f58fe573ff1c048bc5662a521e20,Dani raised her voice on Piper like she was fathering a child, “Mom is probably going to murder us in our sleep if we do this.”

“Dani, it’s just one party. If we don’t do this, then when are we ever going to have fun?”

The two argued in front of a jewelry store and spoke to each other so intense, passers-by thought they were teenagers plotting to rob the store.

data-p-id=02a0546b20002d090cef376a74e931f1,“Our mother is a serial killer, Piper. You’re insane for even letting our friends come to our house.”

data-p-id=e650fbdd0041a67f0dfaf49582b8dccf,“You see, you see how crazy you sound? Dani, please. You need to trust me on this. Just one night, for the sake of fun...“. Dani was short of words for a moment, but then, “Hey, who gives a fuck? It’s our funeral.” She thought then finally agreed with her brother. As Erin roamed about in the forest with his shotgun, shooting randomly again, Moriah was out to cash in money in her bank account.

data-p-id=bdebe8d4bc477d1213ebc0c7bea90d83,The day was long, dull and depressing for her, waiting and waiting in line for others to make others to make deposits, cash out and cash in. Deep inside, it drove Moriah to a level of insanity. People chatting, the silence, the receptionists, Moriah was just urging to kill someone as she grabbed tight on her rifle hidden in her leather coat. When it finally reached her turn, Moriah wasn’t thinking at all. Her music began to play in her head.

data-p-id=62f4f7d69faf4c42956370dab8eee030,She gazed at the young boy, the receptionist as though he was an inhuman creature. She held her fingers firmly on the rifle, urging to pull out. Then she thought, ‘Is this young man familiar? What if he was the man who made me shoot Josiah? He looked just like him.’ She remembered the face ever since the 1970′s. The man immediately woke her up from her hallucination. She told her driver to take her to see a movie.

data-p-id=f5e193f945466d69fb690cee82e33618,It was the only thing to keep her calm and turn the music off in her mind. She remembered sitting in the movies with Josiah when they were in their teens. The first movie they watched together was Jaws.

data-p-id=e94017a8ff11687b367f0d7c6864ada7,In the evening, the party commenced but Piper and Dani hadn’t expected Lance, Yin and Toni to invite half of the entire senior year student body from Heathen High. Dani kept looking at Piper with the face that said, “We are so screwed.” The music was so loud as a siren in the neighborhood. The only fears were when either their crazed brother Erin or Moriah would come crashing the party. Lance changed his advances towards Dani to a more romantic one. He managed to influence her to sit by her side outside their house only for a sniff of Weed.

data-p-id=a6d6f6bae9ebdfaa3949010ea90ba391,“Look, I’m not saying I want to be in a relationship with you, Dani,” says Lance, “I mean, I want you to see me as a close friend.” Dani, so drenched in cocaine, was hardly in her right mind to speak. “But we are, Lance. I love you as a friend,” she spoke in drowsiness.

“I know that, but I wonder why you keep running away from me when I really want to get to know you.”

“It’s an old habit, sweetheart. I’ve not been myself lately. Y’know, people say I’m a ghost all the time and it just slips my mind. Most girls like me just want to be alone.”

data-p-id=808c0d1851a38830bd0cbc7a43c80361,“There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, Dani,” Lance cut her short, “I understand. I know lots of people like you. You’re all trying to run away from some dark past, right? Hell, my childhood’s been a bit of a horror story too.”

“What?“, Dani asked with interest.

“Lived inside my grandparents’ basement when I was eleven. My brothers and I. Our parents died when we were babies. It’s been pretty rough for us, y’know.” Dani, still drowsy, looked at Lance with pity.

“That was tough.”

“Yeah, it’s always the same. Somebody’s always having pity on me.”

data-p-id=20cf2de3a0272c300f31705c3eae6cd5,Dani noticed Lance’s tone was changing and realized she needed to be that friend for him and cheer him up. “D’you wanna dance?“, She asked politely. “Yes”, Lance replied, gazing at Dani’s eyes. “This doesn’t mean I’m being romantic.”

data-p-id=c4bc448af533737b40eb8f48529a7909,Lance already knew. The music was so loud, everyone including Lucious and Emma forgot Moriah was on her way to the house. Near the house, Moriah’s driver hesitated to keep moving when he heard the music. He knew there was trouble. “Where the fuck is that music coming from?” Moriah roared with impatience. She sniffed a rat. Lots of rats. Before the driver tried to stop her, Moriah dashed out of the vehicle to witness her children’s crime.

data-p-id=f11a7e51c3d4ffbea447ce2df8ae0bd2,“FUCK! FUCK IT! Gimme my gun!“, She ordered the driver who looked awestruck.

” I don’t think that’s a good idea...“,

“Gimme the fucking gun. Now!”

Moriah held her shotgun as she sneaked towards her noisy house. “Those godforsaken teenagers want to be defiant...” She muttered to herself.

data-p-id=7fd6fc17bcb64be40cdfce83a21742a8,Dani and Lance danced peacefully, Piper, Yin, and Toni drank and Lucious and Emma just stood there smiling but Moriah had suddenly cut the lights to the house, bringing darkness. The teenagers roared with disbelief. Dani stopped Lance from trying to kiss her but had the look of fear. Still dark with confusion, Moriah jerked the door open and blasted her shotgun at midair. Emma was the first to scream before every teenager in the house panicked.

data-p-id=e3011f6a05038eb3ad4c44636ae2b63b,“Oh, shit!“, Dani knew her mother was going to kill a student tonight. After two gunshots, the teenagers ran out of the house through the windows.

“Get out! Get the fuck out of my house!” Moriah’s music was playing in her head. Piper escorted Yin and Toni safely through the backdoor. Just when things couldn’t get worst, it started to rain. Two gunshots were fired again. All the teenagers ran through the rain screaming like it was 9/11 again. The house was still dark and Moriah was sneering and roaring at the frightened teenagers like it was a mayday.

data-p-id=434b7f4629f9a197306dc44f279fa264,Emma hid under their couch like a terrified puppy. It wasn’t the gunshots that frightened her but the viciousness in her mother’s voice. Lucious rushed outside to switch the lights back. Piper wrestled Moriah to get the gun, including Dani as well who joined. Moriah still patrolled every room, sniffing around for more pissants. She entered a room where some boys were smoking Weed. Moriah pointed the gun at them but Dani was fast to kick it out of her hands, causing her to miss.

data-p-id=e1e0ee2bfa2a415c4f8e36049f40b05f,The boys flew through the window. Lucky them. The house was empty but only Lance stayed at the backyard, waiting and watching eagerly.

data-p-id=49eacebded761ff759744159162c9ca9,“Are you insane? Are you out of your fucking mind, mom?!” Piper roared.

“What the fuck did you do that for?“, Dani spoke with shock. “We have seen you do lots of crazy shit when we were kids but this is madness. Now everyone knows you’re completely deranged, unethical and hostile.”

“Emma! Emma Wilder! Come on out here!“, Moriah called in a soft tone,” Don’t be scared. It’s momma.” Emma got out shyly, face downwards. She removed her wig in shame.

data-p-id=b393dda1a87aeebc9d2705b7003c2596,Innocent faced Lucious stood by her. “Who’s responsible for this insubordination?”

Dani and Piper were too furious to admit it though Lucious looked at them for a solution. “Their friends thought they could crash in here and have fun. So, Dani and Piper were like, ‘hell yeah. For sure. We gon’ party like it was 1970 all over again. See, we were just partying like it was nobody’s business, till you came and scared the shit out of everybody.”

data-p-id=c888d4bf1dbc14ebdcb487fb3e626dd8,He expected everyone to burst out laughing but failed horribly. Only Emma could force a little laugh which sounded more like a screech. Erin walked in to save them from the awkwardness. Rain soaked his leather coat and jeans.

“What the hell happened? “he asked randomly.

“Mom was about to kill one of our friends because we threw a stupid party and she can’t admit how psychotic that was.“, Piper answered his brother with boiling rage.

Erin laughed.” I love you, mom. You are the best. You are the fucking best. That’s why I’ve always loved you. You’re not like the rest of those wimps...those old hags...No. I adore you, mother. Our father would be very proud of you. Only if he had been alive today and stood beside you. You wouldn’t be so miserable. ”

data-p-id=7adbc8d22a841a1d3af5e7e714320e45,Erin laughed as he walked away. Moriah snapped and charged at her son like a hound. She struck him at the back of his head with the shotgun and made him black out. Emma hid behind Lucious. “He had a long day. He’s tired. I just put him to sleep.” Moriah blustered out.

“I just want a normal life,” Piper began softly, but Lucious and Dani glared at him. “We want a normal life. We’ve had enough of the killings. Your killing spree is over, mother.”

” I want a normal life, too”, Moriah fought back, “I specifically told you four...five...“,

she had just forgotten sleeping Erin, “That I am trying to hide from my past. From the first we stepped foot into this city, I have been keeping my head down for days.

data-p-id=d53e6e6200f715ea64c92de4b401fc25,Fearing that someone might possibly recognize me. But you choose only to care for yourselves. You’re all just selfish. And it breaks my heart.” When Moriah looked at Emma, she decided to leave.

“When Erin wakes up, tell him I’m sorry.” She just heard a noise. A noise made by Lance at the backyard, who had watched the whole family sitcom. Moriah rushed to the backyard as Lance hurried away with the speed of light. She stared at the darkness of the night and chilliness of the rain.

data-p-id=fff787351d507547d062b4ebad3fc35c,Searching. The music stopped playing.

Chapter 7

Moriah didn’t have the nightmare. It was obvious why. Next morning was a curse itself. Erin was unforgiving during breakfast. He kept glancing at Moriah then down like he was having an optical nerve syndrome. Piper and Dani refused to look at Moriah, Lucious had his innocent face as he read the Bible and Emma ate like a little horse.

data-p-id=734148e1aee7979b8a2deb5710f31fe6,Moriah just sat there thinking. She was expecting company after last night’s fiasco. She picked up her rifle and hid it in her back pocket as she searched the windows. Piper, Dani, Erin, Lucious and Emma just ate and said nothing. Only Erin was the stupid one. “You expecting company, mom?”

Piper, Dani and Lucious sneered at him with insult.

data-p-id=5745a2bf4d94e3cbd01f60ec5642cdff,“The police are on their way. When they come, you all know what must be done.” “Oh, hell no,” Lucious started to panic, “Not this again. I’m out. I’m out.”

He slowly left the table.

data-p-id=c84a5e07e6d03851dd6974c88649ce94,“Pussy,” said the idiotic Erin, “Yeah. You go on and keep hiding from reality, Bible boy. This shit right here is going to haunt you for life if you don’t be a man and face it.”

“Shut up!“, Emma yelled, “He’s more of a man than you are.”

“Oh would you look at her. Little Miss... what do I call you now? The Exorcist? Yeah...you do look like the girl from that old horror movie after all.”

data-p-id=18788f332390124da1d5d71a28a4c1a9,Moriah watched as Erin yanked off Emma’s wig and began taunting. “Nah...you’re a boy, Emma. Looks like there’s only one girl left in the family.”

“Give me back my wig!”

Like a hound, Moriah dashed across the table and punched Erin in the face. Hard. Erin fell asleep again. Moriah placed Emma’s wig back on and asked if she was okay. Dani and Piper still ate, facing down and unconcerned.

data-p-id=b33744375115a21c50668369897927c3,Minutes later, low and behold a police vehicle arrived during the time Moriah was playing her guitar. Opening the door carefully, she spotted a young police officer right in front of her eagle faced figure. “We had reports of gunfire last night. Coming from your apartment. One of the neighbors said there was a party going on and then everyone ran away. May I...?”

data-p-id=debfa6cfe873c98cc8f5603306394df6,“Yes, please.” Moriah showed him into the house.

data-p-id=902854b47852e6db5aa33d41d20faa51,“You look awfully young to be a police officer, sir.” She said in a different expression.

“Yeah, that’s what people say. The neighbor said there were teenagers running in the streets, panicking.”

“What else did they say?” Moriah asked with concern.

“And that was the exact time you came back home, is that so? He said he saw you holding a shotgun at a kids party?”

data-p-id=d357fb876141044e57b2b10121a98ea6,“I never carry a firearm to my own house, officer. Neither have I ever been in possession of one,” Moriah spoke with a devilish voice of an angel, “To do an unthinkable thing like that would mean I’m someone with a psychological disorder. But I am very peculiar of how I treat my children. Especially other people’s children.”

data-p-id=57afd93d2b64ca87b074fa988eeec3a7,Simultaneously, both Moriah and the officer took a quick glance at the sleeping Erin under the table to the conspicuous shotgun on top of their television. STUPID! HOW FUCKING STUPID! Moriah thought. The officer turned and the music began in her head again. She immediately grabbed the baseball bat she hid under her pants and struck him across the face. Moriah searched his pants but found no weapon, only a warrant and a badge. He staggered slowly across the floor, prowling away from his attacker but Moriah bashed his head a second time.

data-p-id=55e7523fd0c5b6df6c1802ffbfd2c568,His scream sent an alarm, so ear-piercing it woke Emma and Lucious from their sleep. Moriah stood on top of the poor man’s body like a stalking predator. Dani and Piper shamefully appeared with heads down. “Take him downstairs. Both of you.” She uttered. “I’m not cleaning this mess. Are you Piper?“, Dani spoke sarcastically. “No.” “Send him down the basement.” “I’ll do it,” Erin Rose, filled with dizziness. Moriah was fast enough to see Emma walk downstairs.

data-p-id=f658ef3d36d5d4eb9961d754b9bc3347,She only came to ask of the time. Luckily, Moriah shoved her little doll back to bed. As Lucious said a prayer, Erin, Dani and Piper were forced to ensure they chained the unconscious man to the chair.

data-p-id=9412ce6397ce49ac5bb9e3521444c57f,The day was full of curses in Heathens. Like snakes on a perfectly cut grass, the Terrorists still slithered the streets. Dean, enraged over the carelessness of the law not handling the menace, was escorted to a meeting with Senator Freeman. The discussion became so heated with Dean yelling at his officials from left to right, his silver mask began to fume.

data-p-id=6ab0762951a266877a0b589be91bb9f4,“The nerve of them all! Those imbicals! The nerve of them all!“, Dean growled to himself like a mad dog but with gentleness, “They hide within my city and wreak havoc. They try to blow up my city. Hurt innocent people. Those inhumans.... those unclean.... impure.... inhumans,” Senator Freeman broke his mumbling,

“What are you mumbling about, Dean? Heathens is in the palm of your hands an’ you’re too blind to see it. Y’know you can kill them right now with your super powers instead of whining.”

data-p-id=0a4b811abcf453a46b7879b09e540c57,Dean wasn’t listening to a word Freeman said. Amidst the words, “Those unclean bastards.... they threaten my city...“, He was screeching on the window. The Heathen police came in to give the news that changed everything. When they informed Dean about his stolen money, he snapped with blinded rage. The wise Senator Freeman left the room in panic as Dean hurled one of the officers through the window. Freeman had locked the door behind him to prevent anyone from getting out.

data-p-id=74b7861414be25d37fdec53ad053ef91,Listening carefully, Freeman knew Dean had already removed his silver mask and the place was a deafening silence. Carefully entering the hall, Freeman peeped at the dead bodies and Dean’s face turned towards the window. Dean spoke to him concerning a different plan that didn’t involve the law handling things anymore. This situation was needed for the work of his Cult. The Cult of Dean West. It was time for the sinners to receive a warm welcome from the people of Heathens. Things came to a conclusion on a fateful night at the Church of Dean West.

data-p-id=f39aa6b260664eeeb5b13e6cfe40ac4c,All members of the Cult, being half the population in the city, assembled in their usual dark velvet robes and obscene faces. Some women wore their robes half-naked, seemingly for Dean’s sick pleasures. The only woman never wearing a half-naked robe was the High Priestess Jessabelle. As malevolent as she believed her husband to be, Jessabelle changed her personality to a slightly similar superiority as her husband’s.

data-p-id=1fe044cee963e6d08cba9f7bb5e97ad7,All, including Jessabelle, knelt down and adored Dean West as he stood before them to give the statement. “All sinners in the city are punished severely because they do not deserve the right to live life. As cold as humanity already is, Heathens is a safe haven for all the weak, innocent and pure. That, I have assured you all. I have demonstrated my great absolute power by showing the world that one man changes a whole city and its population. And no fiend, no Terrorist, no blasphemous party can hold me back. We, together as a family, will find these impure and unclean sinners and punish them all.”

Chapter 8

data-p-id=4d96ce919f89a7148d91ddf88c0df4dc,If only the whole world had been under the control of a god like Dean West, then the universe itself would be unbalanced as the world already is. If Heathens feared and honored Dean West, the Terrorists didn’t. The scumbags hid themselves from Dean, plotting all sorts of ways to trigger bombs and sell firearms.

data-p-id=d1ff4b889e573ccd269e00a4af35e8e5,Each colony hid in numerous underground warehouses, formulating, robbing, terrorizing and provoking the malevolent, supernatural killer to come after them. The only thing that unified them was the red hoods they all had concealed their faces with. When the streets looked very deserted, a gang of Terrorists, presumably in their twenties, were driving in a van making their escape after planting bombs in a facility.

data-p-id=2a260dde04d56c7455986864780371fb,Failing to detonate the bombs, the young freedom fighters didn’t encounter Dean West but the Cult of Dean West. His enforcers of Heathens moved mysteriously and silently as himself. It was a trap and they took bait just fine. Easily overpowered by Dean’s minions, the Terrorists were abducted by the silent henchmen into an unknown vehicle.

data-p-id=a638b52b8075ed961e60396aad561d5c,Somewhere, a furious Dean, along with the Cult, ambushed another rioting group who were burning down buildings and robbing innocents. The Cult took them to the Church where Jessabelle led the Sermon Of Punishment- a secret pit containing a lake of fire. The Terrorists were hurled, one by one, into the pit as the Cult applauded and cheered.

data-p-id=6a2730c841f15da1ccc71b1dfc10f9bb,Meanwhile, in Moriah’s home, Emma was tuned in on the news of the apprehended Terrorists while trying to play Moriah’s guitar. Her tiny, itsy bitsy fingers couldn’t even reach the twines. “Lucious, mommy, they’ve caught the Terrorists.”

data-p-id=4be69881b7f2a6d399d4301205412dfe,Lucious sat next to his sister and observed as well, only he thought it odd the media hadn’t mentioned anything of their whereabouts or status. Moriah was in the basement, after having bashed the officer’s skull repeatedly when he tried to get through the chains. Lucious went to go comfort him and clean up his bloodied wound. He awoke immediately. Confused and dazed, he asked,

data-p-id=1fa496f64bafeecac2f6b7049f96062e,“W-where am I? Who are you...?”

data-p-id=0bb58f019142409b3c97c3afedc517c7,“My name’s Lucious. You were in a bad situation and got hurt pretty bad. Can I say a prayer with you?” The man nodded slowly. When Lucious gave him water, he began praying but was caught off guard by Moriah who decided it was time to walk the amnesiac officer out. She spoke to him in her devilish angel voice, “I’m very sorry, little boy. You had a terrible accident. A bad fall.”

“Did I?”

data-p-id=a6fda117658fb96e286039f2880bdd45,“Yeah. But I took care of it. You’re alright now, you just have a little cut on the head.”

data-p-id=2564c0b5b633bf5b0cd5b66c2b4d722f,“I must be lucky... Thank you...“, He whimpered. Erin sat on the dinner table giggling. With the backlash of the Terrorists’ executions, the Damned decided to have their little celebration at an all-Women’s Night club. Sule and Sybil had just discovered a little creature from the dimension known as The Myle, something of what seemed to be a hybrid of both Sabretooth and wolf. Samara was forced to allow them to keep it as a pet. The sisters became intimately entangled with many strangers, both boys and girls, having midnight sex and more drinking.

data-p-id=66b69aa9c6de8d8e35428990093f7c07,The strangest thing about the club was that the people dancing began to soar in midair, some hovering and some doing unexplainable things...Samara had been stalked by a young boy in his twenties who fell madly in love with her, and without hesitation, the Queen Mother personally gave him a midnight romance of his life. Every sister of the Damned was having a good time. All except Sinara. She and Sia, both half naked, were occupied with one of the lucky gentlemen, who they tied up in a watery bed with tight ropes and a gag.

data-p-id=b6bd7afec8d27da861920c6963de99c1,Sia happily took off her undies, went on top of the human, charming him and kissing him tenderly, forcing Sinara not to be rude to their new play mate. Just when Sia took off his jeans, Sinara pulled Sia out of the threesome party to have private words.

” Sia, this is very urgent. What I’m about to tell you, please don’t tell any of them, alright?”

data-p-id=8ab42c30ce27085d32aa6516f177a898,Sia’s facial expressions changed suddenly the Sinara told her, “Sia. I think this has gone far enough. I want to put an end to Dean West. The Cult. Samara. And everything that’s not normal. I think I have to make things right again.”

data-p-id=b5b61c397696d448b07e898dd128a685,“Why?“, Sia asked with a totally baffled look, “For what reason do you want to end what the coven started? Sinara, the Damned aren’t they evil. We’ve been doing the world, trying to save it.”

data-p-id=f8a8b43930c895ad389f48b98290bcef,“I’m not comfortable with Samara acting like she owns the whole world. Don’t you feel a slight bother in her behavior? Don’t you sense a sinister side outside of her that I believe has intensions of turning against us?”

data-p-id=c8443e0b585ef3f5b39df1c9f383625b,“You are the one that has these intentions, Sinara,” Sia stopped her, “If you are planning on destroying this wonderful dream then count me out of it. I won’t stop you anyway.”

data-p-id=40d9ef6d2b6acb94539ae806f0867187,“I’ll need your assistance, Sia,” Sinara kept on persuading, “You are the only real sister. Before Samara founded all of us, from the first day we were bonded in this covenant, you and I were the same. From homeless orphans to rats in the sewers. We had been both desperately in need of something to make us feel like we weren’t outcasts.”

data-p-id=f9a94c2b6e1e90b414b75833919e2214,Sia had a funny look on her face. “I remember all of that, of course. Before the Great Bond of 1990, we were nothing. If Samara hadn’t saved all of us from our dark pasts, evil families, life in the Streets, who knows where we would have ended up right now? Look, we’ve been doing this for nineteen years and you never were like this. What changed, Sinara? Is it because she makes you feel isolated from the rest of us? Is that why you’ve remained distant throughout our years together?”

data-p-id=b961f7fb60e183c9e45e0f9251d11ebb,“Of course, no,” Sinara whimpered, though she knew her own lie.

“I’ve been watching you and you know that. Anytime Samara comes near you you have that face... it’s perfectly clear that you’re obsessed with what she is. You want to be the one who has the power over us, don’t you?”

data-p-id=be8f45d4af521a0b8f842732d6a0c8ac,Sinara pouted her face and pretended as though that was it. “Yes. You’re right.”

She left her friend to go back inside to resume the threesome party where the man was furiously impatient. Later on, the two patched up their little conflict but Sinara, behind the other six sisters, was still plotting with her of a way to turn against Samara. Sia decided to give up and desert Sinara on her silent threat, but this never stopped her.

data-p-id=19741859e4cd3696011fbf7699b36431,It was late in the night and Moriah was playing her music. Remembering the way, she nearly killed panicking teenagers from the party with a shotgun, Emma being humiliated by Erin, and forcing Dani and Piper to tie a helpless man up, Moriah burst into tears. Flashing imagery of a young Moriah accidentally shooting Josiah years ago forced her to drowsing herself in heavy drinking.

data-p-id=c22d4af6187995cdf0c300add45d717e,She listened to her favorite song titled ”Rock the Boat by Hues Corporation from her 90′s record player and drank herself to more alcohol. She dressed up in Dani’s prom gown. In her mind, Moriah was dancing with Josiah back in their home in New Orleans, 1976, but in reality, a drunken Moriah was dancing with the air. She soon tripped and fell down the stairs, cursing. Crawling to her wardrobe, she found two cards. Not only the king and the queen, they were the exact ones Josiah used back when he was a magician.

data-p-id=169d690878b79dd0b7a61ed80d74319e,Laughing maniacally, she slowly passed out. It was cold.

data-p-id=01100075e0bb17ad5f7ca24bb895907f,Very cold. Moriah was walking in the snowy winter suburban countryside of Red Rock, holding in her hands a large rifle. Near a house, Dani, Piper, Erin, Lucious and Emma were chained to the handle of a pick-up truck, freezing and dying slowly. Moriah, her demonic face illuminating, cocked her rifle and shot Dani in the face. She cackled in a devil laughter as she shot Piper, Erin and Lucious. When Emma was the last, Moriah jerked awake.

data-p-id=2a0845a7debbec0bf64f1c1e9830997e,She later walked into Emma and Lucious’ room in a holistic silent manner to see her perfect angels in their sleep. When she woke Emma up, she froze.

“Mom, why are you wearing Dani’s prom dress?”

“I was drunk,” Moriah giggled like she was speaking to another adult, “I love you so much, Emma. If I truly frighten you sometimes, then I’m terribly sorry. The truth is, I... I keep hearing this music in my head all the time. Usually when the urge for me to hurt someone comes, it plays in my head and I forget myself.”

data-p-id=ad191afcddfd74b946cf57c22e60614a,Emma didn’t look pleased at all.

“Did you hear that song when you hurt me a long time ago. Is that why you cut my hair and made everyone laugh at me? Stop lying.” Lucious woke up and looked like he was trying to stifle his laughter.

“Y’know Dani’s gonna be pissed when she sees you?” He said with vague. Moriah ignored him.

data-p-id=be84d97b14eaa1f2e91f4271a0a5a42c,“Emma, I am terribly sorry. When your father was gone, I lost my sanity. The woman who did this to you wasn’t your mother. It was someone going through pain. And now I regret it every day.” Emma resisted the urge to cry and hugged her mother. “Tomorrow why don’t you all skip school for a while and we’ll spend the week together?”

Emma and Lucious smiled at her.

CHAPTER 9

In order to become a happy family again, there needed to be someone who puts a smile on everyone’s face no matter what. So, Moriah decided to do what must have been done 25 years ago. Her elder sister Pearl Simms, an upright former editor of the New York Times turned radio talk show host of “Pearl Live” had just been on her way to interview Senator Freeman on the acts of the Terrorists in Heathens when Moriah made the call.

data-p-id=1d9ac576db705f8ee3b16cc363e293fe,Despite not having heard of each other for 25 years, Pearl knew the extent of depression her sister was in as well as the unhappiness of her nephews and nieces. She left Seattle and travelled to Heathens in hopes of rekindling the broken relationship Moriah left since Josiah’s death. Moriah and Pearl reunited at Park Avenue for the first time. It took a while before both read each other’s expressions.

data-p-id=6a9a0672e006c0b4df409c78eb388c59,Pearl, in her sixties, red pony tail hair and cute smile, scanned the loneliness in her sister’s face just as Moriah saw the all-so successful gloating in hers. Both sat next to each other, each facing the opposite direction nervously. Moriah shrugged her body like a shy girl trying to talk to a boy she sat next to, while Pearl acted as though she was a little girl scared to look her father in the face.

data-p-id=587e48111e657fd0c825b14bd7da80fc,“You never called. You never wrote. Why?” Pearl asked.

Moriah spoke feverishly, “I’m always.... preoccupied?”

data-p-id=c486cf3b5b98476b071181b5880e7fe4,For a couple of minutes, they finally faced each other and before Moriah could speak, Pearl hugged her like she never ever did before.

“I’ve missed you so much, Moriah,” Pearl tearfully whimpered, “You have no idea how happy I am you called me.”

data-p-id=b7b15bc789c551e21340abe1f4ca1bfa,The hug Pearl gave her young sister was so passionate and intense, passers-by began to have the wrong idea. Pearl later united with Dani, Erin, Piper, Emma and Lucious, although the disrespectful Erin wasn’t really fond of having her around, neither was Pearl. The Wilders related more to each other during dinner at a fancy-cheap restaurant in Heathen Alley. Only the deranged Erin did what he could to disgust the family during a wonderful get-together. Pearl finally revealed the reason she came.

data-p-id=712b488ce2d962111345faebaf1c42ec,“Moriah, I’m moving in. I really want to stay here with you so we can start all over again. I’m putting my career on hold so I can take care of you”.

data-p-id=f85ec62c16d7ea1f4a5f4a7425df4dff,“Mmmmn.” Moriah grumbled oddly.

data-p-id=7f14cca868f00d3e75f620705a6c63f0,“Besides, this city feels so safe. It’s actually strange. When I got here, it felt as if there’s nothing to ever worry about again. Is that how everything feels in here?”

Neither of the six gave an accurate answer.

data-p-id=5e7accb56691216bd64661ccb65fa32b,“The reason why I asked you all to be with me, is because every night, when I try to sleep, and I do, something strange happens. I keep having the same nightmare occasionally. It’s like some kind of premonition I’m guessing. I think maybe God’s trying to warn me. In this dream, I kill all of you with a shotgun. And the murders are in each different way.”

data-p-id=a0eb06f540923ee19c88ab057f11755e,Emma squealed. Piper and Lucious took the Lord’s name in vain.

data-p-id=e2d83e9f85be986717e8715e31b7330f,“It started ever since we arrived in this city. I can’t....“, Moriah suddenly froze. Outside the restaurant, her eagle eyes spotted a man hot-wiring a car. He wasn’t hard for her to recognize.

data-p-id=9ae27236718e2ee515a6b5094bab2878,“Motherfucker...Excuse me for a second.“, Moriah got up and left, leaving Pearl and her children anxious. The music tuned in her head; Moriah knew the man she was about to murder. Ronald Jenkins. In the 1970′s, he was one of the dirty cops that stood beside the Wilders. Moriah and Josiah were arrested and put on trial all because he was the snitch. Ronald was now living a life as a homeless and penniless old man.

data-p-id=cba3c9e5cac8f946160cb943146205dd,In a dark alley, the man was startled by Moriah, whom he mistaken to be the owner of the vehicle. “Look I’m sorry, lady,” he pleased smiling,” Please I wasn’t trying to hijack your car. I’m just starving. Haven’t eaten for weeks. I mean, five years.. ,” Moriah had already discovered his new life.

data-p-id=adfa7631d354c2829e4604bb847df680,“That’s satisfying,” Moriah gloated, “You know the last time my husband and I saw you was the Precinct. You ratted out on us just when we were starting to like you, Ronnie.” Ronald was confused.

“Have we met? How d’you know me?”

data-p-id=a321591911ccbf2a12aa55f4875f5ac7,“Oh, c’mon. You recognize me, Ronnie Jenkins. Stop pretending. It’s weak.” Ronald scanned her evil old face for a while then finally it hit him.

“No shit. Moriah? Wilder? Is this you? Aren’t you supposed to be in prison by now?”

data-p-id=73f57d91c90501134f6cda320b083afd,“I’ve waited so long for this moment. I don’t care what you are now, you can rot in Hell.” Moriah took her pistol out of her coat and erected it towards his face sinisterly.

data-p-id=42e48433ee71a4b9d57f2ced6d44b8b0,“You...you wanna kill me? You can’t! Not here! Not in this city, you’re not! He’s gonna find you...” Moriah vigorously shot him in the lower jaw. He fell through the window into the vehicle as his blood splattered all over the windshield. Some passers-by by screamed. Pearl, Piper, Erin, Dani, Lucious and Emma watched helplessly through the window sill. Had Pearl made a mistake coming back? No. It was the perfect timing for Pearl to force her sister to end her psychotic ways.

data-p-id=e53c72c951d9bc0a7d97297c8b46e4f6,Moments later, Dani, Lucious and Piper had a series of serious talks with Pearl. Moriah, with years of experience of course, covered up her murder tracks easily. Ronald was diagnosed with Alzheimer disease and so was deduced to have committed suicide. The man who caused Moriah so much pain was dead anyway. He was aging, dying, homeless and no one cared about him. Right after Moriah kills Ronald, she sits down with her family and smile as though nothing happened.

data-p-id=a1ad336666c0a6261de2a48d5c6c872d,This was nothing compared to the things her sister and children watched her do years back but this had gone far enough. Dani was the last to talk with Pearl.

data-p-id=58ea4788926f2e0fee47cd3c062a8805,“I want to help her, Dani. But it’s just so hard,” Pearl complained, “I knew ever since Josiah died, my sister would never be normal. I tell her to go see a shrink countless times, she calls me a bitch. I tell her to go into therapy, she calls me a bitch. I ignore her, on purpose, for 23 years, she decides to do the same.

I come back, she’s still the same. And I’m the bitch who left her sister all alone in this world to rot and live inside her pain.”

data-p-id=31c0535739c4e8fb610210557f8fc015,“It’s hard, I know,” Dani replied. Both were eating bowls of Ice cream at the dinner table, “But she needs our help. There’s a psychiatrist in my school. His name’s Dr. Frost. He’ll be able to handle my mother.”

data-p-id=6f19a3845c2c492d74b3fa47a2540dcd,“You sure?” Pearl inquired.

data-p-id=56cf4f7a0f9ed798949d1d5157437472,“Yeah.”

data-p-id=acb404e1ddee8429d0f31bdf1a95badf,“Well, as long as she doesn’t kill the man.“, Pearl said jokingly, expecting Dani to laugh. She did, however. Weeks passed and the other remaining colonies of the Terrorists had still been hiding, plotting of a way to hit Dean and the Cult back. A fundraiser party was held by Senator Freeman to celebrate Dean’s success in executing the Terrorists but Dean had still been enraged. There was a sudden rage boiling inside. He appeared with his wife Jessabelle, who was dressed in the finest scarlet red outfit that made Freeman and others stare.

data-p-id=d61f21b97b4b31ab93b844337a457d6f,Dean glanced at his followers, worshippers and believers. Friends. Admirers. There was no excitement. Revenge is what he really wanted. Those words haunted him since his previous conversation with Samara.

data-p-id=0a268a54833658b5a68c25b75fa8e42d,“Moriah Wilder... The Wilders have come to this city...The woman who killed your parents has arrived....”

data-p-id=c92446f6499f708fb456aede676e841b,Caught up in a dead silence, Jessabelle watched as Dean was thinking of a way to find Moriah. The man stood very still like a dummy.

“Are you alright?“, Jessabelle comforted and caressed her husband. “If you’re not in the mood, we can go home. I’ll tell Freeman and everyone you’d like to go home. Is that what you want?”

data-p-id=75076b790a43afa1d6f6369be67f21ec,“No.“, Dean finally spoke with a sharp tone. That was a vague expression meaning he wanted to hurt people as a way to ease out his rage. He first went to a group playing poker and taunted them. He began mocking the partygoers and fellow congressmen until everyone had his attention. Freeman and Jessabelle raced to calm Dean, who hurled and destroyed anything he came across, screaming, throwing tantrums and cursing with pain.

data-p-id=14bcf22366de496582f5b1e212ae44f8,Was it an emotional moment? No. In the eyes of his city, it was another episode of Dean’s psychological breakdown. When Dean was, as a matter of fact, about to take his glass mask off, everyone in the building started to panic until Freeman, Jessabelle and several of his guards finally restrained him. They dragged and locked him into a secret room and waited until he cooled off. For hours, the party goers heard the furious Dean rampaging and tearing at the door to be set free.

data-p-id=71c7140262064f64612d9a1d7c7d96fa,Freeman urged everyone to take their leave when the party died. When Dean was silent, Jessabelle finally went inside to see her husband. She took off her shades, seeing that Dean was masked again.

“Is it all better now?“, She caressed him again, gloves tenderly slowing down his visible neck.

“Dean. That was childish. You could have told me what was eating you inside instead of scaring everybody. Now it’s going to be on the media tomorrow and they’ll make a fool of you.”

data-p-id=2a96777cf79d290a3e99401cd776adc1,“I like to go home now.” Dean stated plainly like he hadn’t heard a word his wife said. Instead, she rather thought.

data-p-id=0c390e614ab4497d7971d72c3614ada6,“Take off your clothes, Dean.” She ordered seductively.

Dean obeyed and slowly undressed just as Jessabelle did. Right then, they kissed and made love to each other and forgot the night was still young. The rhythm of Jessabelle’s movement had never made him feel so good. For an hour, they went at it but this couldn’t take Dean’s frustration away. He still intended on hurting someone and that unlucky person was his own friend Freeman.

data-p-id=de02dc23f361953d110e1c85e76fdcc9,Late night, Dean invited him to his house to apologize for the inconvenience over glasses of tequila.

“You know this incident is all on you, pal,” Freeman spoke with sympathy, “Tomorrow morning, the media is going to burry you in a shit pile. But the thing is I don’t even need to ask why you lost control. Because it’s always you, ain’t it?”

data-p-id=50275cf49141ad1fd417393a8b902856,“It doesn’t bother me anymore, Birch. Actually, the reason I called you is concerning Erica and Lily.”

data-p-id=bf25ca99a8c3fd562a91c750cdee4745,Freeman knew what was coming next. “My wife and daughter...”

“Yes. I always watch you. Closely. They both give you their free love and respect, but yet in return, you give them the reward of abuse.”

Freeman braced himself but was late as Dean grabbed his pool stick and bashed his leg twice. As he whacked his best friend across the body multiple times, he yelled,

“This city does not tolerate the sinners, Birch! Sin is forbidden!” Jessabelle got up from bed and stood there observing and admiring. When he finished, he told Freeman to get out because punishing his best friend for a sin had been his excuse for easing outrage.

data-p-id=ce1bb51eff757b99fd9a49a08080bc07,“FUCK! You know, you might have the goddamn powers and all, but you’re not GOD, Dean! Get that to your thick skull for Christ’s Sake!” Freeman rattled as he walked away.

data-p-id=0471bf74bb688e769b01c9cf9d032f8d,Sleeping, Dean was still provoked by Samara’s words,

“The Wilders...”

It continued driving him into his altered state to the extent he vanished from his house and started parading the neighborhood in his hooded at midnight.

CHAPTER 10

data-p-id=5a1bddf9b05710e5d4e4bf13f8152fe8,In the dense atmosphere of midnight’s silence, the ghostly chilliness of the wind, Dean West roamed the streets like the creeper he is. The malevolent hooded man hissed to himself,

”Moriah Wilder...Where are you? How can you still be alive?! I want you dead...!”

data-p-id=7b9ee6f317cc7c53babefcaecc1aaab1,He also remembered Samara mentioning her having raised children. Of course, the perfect timing. To kill Moriah at her weakest point. Hit her where she won’t be able to stand up. When Dean went back home, he continued plotting. How is he going to find her?

data-p-id=668a10f8e2000ab18caa131dd670daec,Does she really have children?

How much satisfaction will he gain in killing her? Does he really want her dead? It’s so easy. Just subdue her to the Death Stare. Or instead. Why not watch her suffer? Make her children suffer for the pain he felt all through his entire childhood? As Dean slept, he could feel his faceless soul crying for help. A bloodied body, bound in the chains the Damned had left him in. Crying and screaming to be freed but no human could hear him in the Glass House.

data-p-id=c97feb505d377860ebf60d0a5306dece,He could see the sisters, laughing and taunting him. Samara was present as well. How am I going to be free? His soul spoke to himself. Through the mirrors of the Glass House, the masked Dean watched the witches mock the unmasked and helpless Dean. Samara smirked at both of them as her sisters taunted, “Where’s your face, Dean? Do you have a face? I can’t see no face. Oh my, where has it gone to?“, As they kicked and hurled him around the hall.

data-p-id=e382551f9fff8bc8034ef2daea7be6e7,Dean woke up screaming like a Siren, so piercing and loud, Jessabelle screamed as well, thinking the world was ending. Dean was silent and so disturbed during breakfast, he forgot last night’s embarrassment. Jessabelle caressed and made love to him in bed all day and prevented him from hearing the news. Meanwhile in the home of the Wilders, Emma sneaked into Dani’s room.

data-p-id=10be06e9996c198f801aebb94efb9747,Something she knew her sister despised. Last night, Dani was drunk from hanging out with Lance, Yin and Toni and was sleeping in Emma’s wig. The secret about Dani was she sometimes had the habit of sleeping with her eyes open.

data-p-id=9aa3feae189137c174c4add969b531a8,Sleeping with her eyes open?

data-p-id=9cdf0921918d1851a9856396929ed790,What a folklore. Emma thought as she slowly grabbed for the wig. Dani caught her hand like a snake. “B-but.... you sleep with your eyes opened?” Emma whimpered. “You dummy,” Dani sneered,

“There’s no such thing. I always do this on purpose because you usually sneak into my room.”

data-p-id=6ba28276b512ca5431e395e19d2c7ae4,“Give me back my wig.”

Pearl woke up early to make Moriah her favorite breakfast from when they were kids. She was tempted to tell her sister that Dani had found another psychiatrist for her but instead both sisters sat together, smoking and giggling over funny memories from the 80′s. The obnoxious Erin came modelling downstairs like a lunatic from the streets.

data-p-id=86bd32ce6b6e103d20ea1fe8298ffbbb,“Can I borrow your shotgun, mother?” Erin asked gleefully. Pearl opened her eyes.

data-p-id=527c7af7d9ad428f67862a5b23651e81,“Don’t hurt yourself, okay sweet?” Moriah replied.

data-p-id=281daec79f8b554f297a2e9c386c0adb,style=text-align:center;,“I’m not the one who’s gonna get hurt, mom.” He said maliciously as he corked the gun and left.

Pdata-p-id=84388c68ac558c9c7f5bb7be0e03ebef,earl was beyond marveled. “What the fuck is this?“, She blurted out, “And you just sit down there and watch him spoil? Just like you?”

data-p-id=454e0d46f08f2ec203aa52191993a146,“Pearl please. You think it’s easy for a depressed, psychotic single woman in her sixties to handle teenagers like Erin? No matter how many times I beat some sense into him, Erin just.... acts like Erin.”

data-p-id=9330adfdf13c6a2f22483cd311159bfc,“Does he hurt people? I bet he does.“, Pearl was interrupted by Lucious, who came down dressed fancy.

data-p-id=9617f65a9f33429000fb9cdb94f73eb4,“Going to church, sweetheart?“, Moriah’s voice changed.

data-p-id=0128144fa6dcc91a48f2b4846f4aa7d1,“Yeah. Be back soon.“, Lucious replied.

data-p-id=129c31ed1e916274c1f59da8631a49f9,“Why won’t you take Emma with you? She’d love to go.”

data-p-id=fb279c1a030c9243c7e4dcefa1ad70e8,“Nah. I want to go alone today.” Moriah agreed and Lucious left.

data-p-id=87fefcc1ca3453425ccd052e7827fef7,“Why can’t Erin be more like Lucious?“, Pearl wondered though aware of the farce in her question. “Ever since me and Jo adopted him, he’s been so caught up in “religion”. Always preaching to everybody. I wonder, sometimes, if God ever speaks to him.”

data-p-id=ae818d4da703773ffef86a3615cdc897,Just then, the news of last night came out. Moriah and Pearl watched as the rampaging Dean West blew off steam at Senator Freeman’s party. What made it worst was that editors had the nerve to make it comedic. After Moriah and Pearl laughed their lungs out and even choked on the smoke of their cigars, Moriah played the guitar in front of Pearl, who admired her singing voice. Moments later, New Yorkers found humor in Dean’s public disgrace but the people of Heathens found this to be great disrespect and dishonor to their sovereign leader.

data-p-id=2cd9d71d8b3971debc667e6de63e030e,But the deed was already done, when Freeman publicly announced the investigation and apprehension of the culprits responsible for the leaked footage. As usual, the leakers, a couple who attended Freeman’s party, were arrested but the news of their status remained unknown. In reality, the Cult of Dean West had dealt with them silently.

data-p-id=cc0118781b413a446cb61fd7e5fcb8ea,During the Sermon of Punishment, the couple, along with their son, were thrown into the pit of flames. All mouths were kept shut in Heathens and everyone moved on. The broadcasters at the news station also faced a penalty but the Cult decided to spare them. Lucious was baffled when he attended the Church of Dean West.

data-p-id=051bc5d3d20afc295505d96b74c3e0a4,The attendees, mothers, fathers, children, officers, doctors, nurses, former alcoholics and abusers all believed in Dean West. Everything they said was true. Lucious discovered for himself, that none of them held Bibles. The church was filled with paintings of Dean’s mask, a sculpture of Dean West in the top left corner, sculptures of what appeared to be spider-like things, a choir wearing duplicate masks of Dean’s and the false Priestess Jessabelle, his wife leading the sermon.

data-p-id=aa8b00050b2b36acd82bab0aad3df17e,Lucious, horrified, listened as the beautiful Jessabelle blasphemed about what a savior her husband was and that no one was ever above him. Lucious walked out of the Church, very disturbed. He had mixed urges of wanting to pass out, vomit or fall off a building. He ran back home whimpering like a kitten, bashed through the door and gasped for breath. Moriah and Pearl were both alarmed at Lucious’ expression.

data-p-id=40ba45a31ed3bf691149e26663197eeb,A black skinned boy his age running back terrified? It was obvious. Moriah thought. She grabbed her pistol. “What happened?“, Moriah snarled. Before Pearl could grab Moriah, Lucious revealed everything like a magic voice box.

data-p-id=bb123912c13a92ba338cd3b165c5d640,“It’s all true! I swear it’s all true! They don’t worship.... These people worship Dean West. They have a whole church devoted to Dean West. They were talking about how he can....he can perform miracles....how he can walk on water.....how he saves mankind....“, Lucious was muttering to himself as he paced around, “I didn’t see God....I saw Dean West...this city is crazy....is messed up...”

data-p-id=b4a5248e6338122f0d707ad783ddc9c6,Lucious finally fainted, as Moriah and Pearl rushed to him. An hour later, he came to and Moriah, Pearl, Dani and Emma watched over him. Lucious had had many bad days but this was the worst. Being in a congregation that was devoted to a false idyllic figure. When Lucious told them more about his encounter, neither Moriah nor Pearl believed. Dani and Emma seemed very interested.

data-p-id=c0513092f03cbb89e722ff4603b25c9a,“So, there is a cult in this city...“, Dani spoke.

“Yeah. Seems like it. It means either the whole city is part of it. Or worst. This whole city is the cult itself.”

data-p-id=f7d1d1a3f31c050c396a3e457c6a9b6b,“No wonder everything is so strange. No wonder everyone acts so strange,” Dani wondered, “Hasn’t anyone noticed that since we came to this city, there hasn’t been any reports of criminal activity? Apart from the Terrorists, no one has ever heard from them. It’s like one’s there’s a public threat, the law takes care of it and it disappears for good.”

data-p-id=5f15afe52e246458af06291ee43b2367,“I want to see how the Church looks like,” Emma said sheepishly. “It’s awful,” Lucious replied, “I couldn’t feel God’s presence anymore. That place was so full of evil. Corrupt people everywhere. I think I’m losing my mind.”

data-p-id=b3e9acec11343abb2ca019e117ee0607,“Hey, I know it’s hard for religious guys like you,” Dani comforted her half-brother,” You need to put it behind you and move on. There are brighter days ahead.”

data-p-id=ebac12b83910c00faed8fe24f399ef7e,Three days later, Lucious recovered but nightmarish flashbacks haunted him even in school. Piper and Dani, despite the backlash of Moriah’s vicious attack, were still clean with Yin, Toni and Lance. Lance still had his heart for Dani, unaware the latter had kept her eyes on their principal Jessabelle. Her young but stern and seductive face illuminated in Dani’s mind so much, she never stopped accidentally saying her name anytime she was in the middle of a conversation.

data-p-id=2782a437a787050d29b47f5e706024c5,In gym class, Dani sneaked herself away and paid the woman a visit. She couldn’t contain this burning desire any longer. Dani thought. Jessabelle sat there gazing at Dani’s Gothic eyes, just as Dani stared down at Jessabelle’s exotic lips, her silk long black hair and ravishing expressions. As soon as Jessabelle got up from her desk, Dani was turned on so much at the sight of the woman’s distractingly amazing body. Her buckled belt holding that wonderful skirt tight.

data-p-id=f389ae4af1397f3232a07305230018d0,“Why are you here, Dani Wilder?“, Her demanding feminine voice turned Dani on. That posture of Jessabelle’s looked so dictator-like, it had hypnotized Dani.

“Mrs. West,” she gasped, “I’m in love with you. And I can’t hide it anymore. You are so beautiful.”

data-p-id=04f4ad06190a85ca91553894c4ae8db9,Dani rushed to the young woman’s desk and pounced on her like a cheetah.

“Dani, I can’t. You know I’m married.”

data-p-id=161214ad6553071797c564dd5f6e507c,“I won’t tell a soul about us, I promise, Mrs. West.”

As they kissed and made love,

“Call me Jessabelle.” Dani ripped and tore her shirt to eat on her neck so tenderly but immediately, she jerked her eyes open. She had just landed on her head hard during training.

data-p-id=575bc982091480be81c54a0d861d4d3a,Reality Is a bitch. When class dismissed, Dani and Piper followed Yin, Toni and Lance. Jessabelle looked so young it was impossible to say that she and Dani weren’t the same age. Dani thought. But who was she kidding? Jessabelle hardly knew who Dani Wilder was or whether she existed. She and her brother were so engrossed in a conversation with Lance and the pair they forgot how long they waited at a gas station nearby.

data-p-id=93cf57ee81e13bffde25057f64ee2ad1,When Dani and Piper asked the three what they were waiting hours for, they said they needed it to be late in the night in order not to be followed. The siblings bravely followed the gang into the woods and stumbled upon a secret door underneath. Scanning the area to ensure no signs of police, the five walked down into the dark chamber and through a gate.

data-p-id=eb617cf333f21a16bcd78c2725142d03,Knowing how much trouble they would be with their mother, Dani and Piper asked where they were but kept their mouths shut when they saw before them, two full grown men in red hoods. The Terrorists. Toni, Yin and Lance were members of the Terrorists all along. Moriah was surely going to murder them. Dani and Piper said to each other.

data-p-id=3432c2e0f04bbc0f1acf837bbf805149,Entering one of their secret bases as new recruits, Dani and Piper were awestruck to see every teenaged student from Heathen High in red hoods, some discussing locations of next bomb attacks while others were readying ammunitions and making all sorts of bombs. Dani felt like she was in a military base in the Cold War.

data-p-id=001fa2300f544a3d8140915c70ca9498,“So how long were you guys planning on telling us?“, Piper interrogated.

“Sorry for keeping you both in suspense,” Toni replied, “But again, welcome to the resistance. This is one of our hiding places. Well, we normally stick to migrating to different spots. It helps to ensure the cops lose track of us. Every night after school, we gather in different hideouts to make arrangements for which place we’re gonna hit next. And we like to move quietly.”

data-p-id=2a9c44c741e5e9be7e50aba44798c373,Toni sounded more like a leader of a gang plotting a heist instead of their friend. Yin normally spoke Chinese, which Toni could only interpret.

“I don’t need to ask whether you’re in or out, do I?” Toni inquired.

data-p-id=a8c5dea2466fc1986f6d89235847f460,“I got a question”, Dani replied grimly, “Why do you guys call yourself The Terrorists? I understand you guys are trying to keep it low-key and all but you couldn’t have at least thought of a cooler name like...I dunno......the Sadists or the Infamous Ones?”

data-p-id=4680c6faff39f37d29cccd5354f08120,Toni, Yin and Lance gazed at each other.

“We didn’t form the resistance, Dani,” Lance chuckled, “Look, if you’re out, you’re free to walk out. It’s not a problem.” He spoke softly to Dani, sounding very concerned for her safety.

data-p-id=64559b016cb5d18b62fe3890fb191b21,“Oh, we’re in. Aren’t we Piper?” Her brother was stunned by the way the same oddballs he saw from school were so skilled in creating bombs.

“Yeah.” He replied without thinking, “So all this is about the fight for the city, right? This Dean West figure? Why do you people talk about him as if he’s the Antichrist or something?”

data-p-id=77976d7ab7548cdde01ad1630056816e,“It’s not mostly about him,” Lance replied,” It’s the Cult. The church. The whole city’s been brainwashed. Thinking he’s some sovereign master. Him and his Cult are psychopathic murderers believing they’re killing all ‘sinners’ in the world.”

data-p-id=1d72817f502f9b80c014dc61d7cdcda0,“The thing is...Dean is barely human,” Toni continued, “He’s got this superhuman ability. He wears the mask so he can prevent himself from hurting the people he’s closed to, cause even one look at his real face will kill you.”

data-p-id=7c61e5b3f9ffae89f18338cd56bfa533,It was nearly midnight until their meeting finished. Dani and Piper, gasping and heaving, sneaked into the window to Lucious’ and Emma’s room. Piper was not pleased at all.

“Dani, we came to this city to start a new life. We wanted to escape our past. The violence. Helping Mom cover up her murders. Now we’re helping a bunch of superstitious terrorists blow up a whole city.”

data-p-id=2b598ebb3bed2425bfdc8ca2070e2757,“I know, this is insane,” Dani replied, “But c’mon. Think about what Lance said. The Cult. The murders. Don’t you want to have that feeling of fighting to save the lives of fellow innocent people?”

data-p-id=abf7006cb5dafc314db435931c67c2f5,“Is that what you think this is?” That we’re a pack of heroes? For all you know, we’re just a pack of armed and dangerous fugitives roaming the city and blowing up buildings, Dani. This makes no sense.” Both siblings argued silently in the dark of midnight until an agreement was made.

data-p-id=9afb6731bba2c7c4d64884b03f4724e2,They needed someone strong enough to protect them during the war. They needed to recruit their relentless brother Erin.

CHAPTER 11

Since their childhood, Erin Wilder, the oldest, was the only psychotic one of his siblings. Moriah, though, never fancied him so personally like she did with Emma due to the fact that she saw the same insanity and chaotic disorder she had been carrying from her early years in her son.

data-p-id=321ad5f38a79a60def05d9152e6dbbda,It was early in the 2000s, in their third apartment in Queens, Moriah returned home with little Lucious, Dani and Piper from the cinemas. Erin, at the age of 6, barricaded himself as he filled the house with booby-traps and barbed wires. The driver was the first to pass through the wired door, triggering a bow which shot arrows straight towards him, Moriah, Lucious, Dani and Piper.

data-p-id=cc2e9b19455c1b162e5ab8a3b1939b0f,Though the driver ducked, two of them hit Piper in the knee and Moriah in the chest.

“I’m bored, mommy! You said you’ll take me to the movies but you left me alone in the house! Why did you lie to me?!“, young Erin yelled in rage. Moriah went straight for his baseball bat and whacked him repeatedly. Erin tried to fight back and run but Moriah chased him all around the wired house.

data-p-id=2582e0fdc59deff65693dfc8b8738848,Three years later, Christmas Eve, another incident was when Moriah came home with some invited guests she met, a church choir who wanted to listen to her music. Erin was found tying up and gagging Lucious, Piper and Dani with lights from the Christmas tree. Erin yelled at Moriah,

“They tried to open the presents, mommy but they didn’t wanna listen to me! They were making fun of me!” What enraged Moriah deeply was that he used a hammer to hit the three of them as punishment. She yanked off a chain one of her guests was wearing and charged at him, stripped him bottomless and whacked him with it repeatedly

data-p-id=6c5aa0e7979263ecf65bc7b60ce97991,Erin would put up a fight but Moriah never stopped. Horrified, the choristers immediately evaporated from sight, causing her to miss the chance of becoming a singer. Investigating, Moriah learnt a tiny Emma had covered up Erin’s act by hiding the hammer. She knew Emma was frightened of Erin but the anger of losing a chance to achieve her dreams blinded her as she cut her daughter’s hair with scissors. Leaving her bald.

data-p-id=6d35a3c91f9ca390771adcabfd009fd6,This had been Moriah’s deepest regrets since then. To conceal her big mistake, Moriah forced Emma to dress as a boy. Eventually becoming notified as gay, people mistook Emma of being misgender so much, other children spread rumors that the Wilders were a family of perverted homosexuals. When children from the neighborhood bullied and taunted Emma, Lucious, Dani and Piper, Erin would appear from nowhere and strike them with his bow and arrows. That was the only thing Moriah loved about her son.

data-p-id=e8c77cd5a71af7efcc4e9c917a86ca3d,With Erin’s help, Moriah got to know the names of the children that spread the rumors, and as a family, they took care of them personally. Though Erin had been a lunatic to his family, he still loved and protected them from the world. No one would ever be tough enough to replace her first born son Erin, Moriah knew that. And there was no one who would ever be as protective as their elder brother, Dani, Lucious, Piper and Emma knew that.

data-p-id=4e59ad5376b45f73e5dc1aa601776375,Right now, Piper and Dani crept into Erin’s room to catch him snoring in a heavy sleep with Moriah’s shotgun clutched in his chest. When his siblings woke him up, the big guy aimed the weapon right at Piper’s head, nearly pulling the trigger in the dark.

“Who the fuck gave you the access to come here?“, Erin gnarled.

data-p-id=0d3c198bcbb9e82f2e2ca90b9ce83630,“Idiot. It’s us.“, Piper snarled.

data-p-id=bc77d8c5e1e4c94965a7c1c868810e9d,” Us? Us who? I don’t know any asshole in my house named Us. Who’s speaking?“, His hands still readied on the trigger.

data-p-id=63fe29003d8926697cc8b840e4fc2453,“You wanna murder your own brother and sister in the dark, big boy?“, Dani asked trying to reason with Erin.

data-p-id=31470759e4f57b149df91a92db8423c1,“Oh, sorry,” Erin chuckled maliciously, “I could barely recognize the both of you guys. Come sit down.”

Dani and Piper resisted the urge to insult him and continued. They told him about the Terrorists but not the reason for their intentions because that wasn’t necessary. A young man like Erin, in his mental state, was the type that didn’t need further explanation to why a heist was being plotted.

data-p-id=b7f3f293e5ff853e38e69c28a2904d77,Once you recruited him for the job, he would agree. Whatever that was bound to happen to them, Erin would surely protect them. The only thing Erin questioned Dani and Piper about was Dean West and the Cult. He believed in superpowered humans but didn’t believe Dean actually existed.

”No fucking way, “he says, “I’m not gonna believe that all this shit we’re planning is to expose some cult that ain’t even real. I mean some fancy man who’s scared of showing his face in public isn’t much of a threat.”

data-p-id=6098156f6a9b8ec9ec5856c15287d708,“Give it a rest, Erin,” Dani replied, “You don’t want to overload that sick little world of yours with this crap.”

data-p-id=bf42f1861fde29521c14072a7c49b503,“The Terrorists just want to shake him and the Cult into revealing themselves, I think.“, Piper went on.

data-p-id=c15e65366fbe2b45463b511e9f50f5c3,“Hm. So its The Cult of Dean West vs Team Terrorists. Right?”, Erin inquired. Dani and Piper nodded.

"What a crock of shit,” Erin wondered to himself.

data-p-id=cda259080cc40fccee8d0c4d6cf520cb,Dani and Piper’s conversation with Erin made them sleep in his room. Next morning came like a flash of lightning. Getting up early to school, Dani and Piper rushed downstairs to meet the Devil herself. Moriah sat next to the door, smoking her cigarette and smiling.

data-p-id=339240392de5fd4c38d8ce7bc7405811,“Where were you two last night?”

She was smiling?

This was not good. Just then, Dani remembered telling Pearl about psychiatrist Dr. Frost. Before Piper spoke, Dani suggested, “We have good news for you, mom. Piper and I finally found you a psychiatrist. His name’s Dr. Frost. He works at our school and he’s very pleased to be meeting you.

data-p-id=8b00420fafd9e5b1353d0758a8262d14,Last night we were scheduling the date for your first appointment.” Piper glared at his sister with the expression as though she had just triggered a bomb. To their surprise, Moriah’s smirk turned upside down into her usual stone-cold, soulless face of disdain. She remained silent for a while and then said,

“Have a nice day.” Then walked past them. Pearl, who made her sister the same breakfast, could sense in the atmosphere that Moriah wasn’t going to say what had bothered her. She went on smiling, hugging her and cracking unfunny jokes about their childhood again. Moriah sat there motionless, thinking about what her daughter had just said about a psychiatrist.

data-p-id=edf26dad2a1230fa77f0b209e07b85af,Then a flashback of insane moments hit her. Moriah had never been on the soft spot for therapy. The previous years in Queens, Moriah stalked, followed and chased down a therapist with her vehicle, knocking him off the edge of a cliff. The other time was when she followed and physically attacked another psychiatrist at a diner, stabbing her to near death. Another fatal disaster had been in the alley corner near an orphanage where Moriah blasted him in the head with her shotgun from the dark.

data-p-id=8161bf470222478d6ef66530d2ec0592,In his own home, Moriah murdered another psychiatrist by drugging him. Weeks passed and in the Glass House, Sinara secretly packed her things to make a leave for it. It was a good time to abandon her sisters and hide somewhere she could plan a way to face Samara, but not too soon did she get to know. “Where would you go now?“, Samara interrogated.

data-p-id=780ea0bdc60606f282e9f45bbc2da7ed,“The road you’re taking is the end where you’ll never come back, Sinara.”

data-p-id=00ce4f47ea2557e3ff44041ad6bdb2f7,“I’m so sick and tired of you,” Sinara sneered back, “You can burn in hell, Samara. Because that is where you belong. I’m going to be free from all this very soon. You don’t need to talk me into staying.”

data-p-id=96f977b31ac7f00cbcb57c4cf0f211fe,“Well then, what are you waiting for? Be gone,” Samara hissed, “You were always a burden to us, anyway, you insolent little girl. From the day I found you and your friend Sia, you have always been a reckless child. But yet again, I know you’ll have the sense to return.”

data-p-id=0e193e3b523d102d59bea28235094e45,Sinara left with an insult as Samara laughed maliciously. Hours after her departure, Sinara never turned back. It was goodbye forever to the coven she never saw as the family she needed since the Great Bond of 1990. It was time to feel loved. The time to forget how an outcast Samara made her feel and enter into a new reality.

data-p-id=3c5bac4cc4684ced5e51f917762bb55b,But where would she go now?

CHAPTER 12

data-p-id=3fbd049d6e80f9bcc2487aa3189c9186,It was late in the evening, a rainy weather and the young Wiccan Sinara was still roaming the streets. She was fully aware that freedom from the Damned was impossible unless she died and reincarnated would the covenant binding her and the coven be broken. It was easy. Just commit suicide and come back to life and you’ll be free. What a stupid way to think.

data-p-id=cb3433ee3404caed327a2390242b0177,You are still a child. Sinara thought. Either be run over on the road, fall into a subway, or fall from the building. But first she needed to summon the spirit of Beelzebub to ensure the resurrected of her soul. It was possible. It had to be done fast in order to be free from Samara.

data-p-id=007fce0c611f0de19d2cbb7af8b64bbe,Later in the day, Dani paid a visit to the school’s psychiatrist Dr. Jonathan Frost to ask for his help in talking to Moriah but all she heard from his assistant was that he had just retired. When the time came for the Terrorists to meet again, Dani and Piper introduced Erin to their friends and though he wasn’t able to relate well due to his mental state, his skills in firearms earned him a useful spot in their cabal.

data-p-id=a3cff59fd1bbb06e7bf9e7f969f106dd,To provoke Dean West and the Cult, their plan was to first target the only man closest to him.

data-p-id=7184a10aaf44eee54d3a754d84d01633,Senator Freeman.

data-p-id=73de0eebd619cfb7d6944889270ab388,It was still during a rainy day when the Terrorists emerged from their hideouts to begin a curfew. A lot of students from Heathen High, including Dani and Piper became truant on that day. All they needed was a simple distraction. Working in packs, the Terrorists, some armed, collided with a squadron of Heathen police officers on a highway. Another gang of Terrorists infiltrated a hospital and a large hotel planting bomb.

data-p-id=bb715f99ff9657f461dc83af69672e6b,While the other gang of Terrorists began raiding the building where Freeman had been flirting with a mistress. Unluckily, the Senator was escorted out on a convoy before the Terrorists could reach out to him. It didn’t last long until Freeman’s safety was blown away by another group of Terrorists. These ones were teenagers being driven in a large bus.

data-p-id=a9a4412923c30bed219d450630adb9db,Killing most of the security with flaming bottles and bombs, they raided the convoy and abducted the Senator into the bus. It had been the first wave of doomsday. Amidst the chaotic battle between the mob of Terrorists and the Heathen police force, the massacre resulted in the deaths of 16 civilians, ten officers and 20 of the unnamed Terrorists.

data-p-id=195a06c975d672c68f630a39121f4f89,Even worst, Senator Freeman was now held hostage to the mercy of the maniacs of Heathens. It was definitely something to piss off the Mayor and his Cult to make them strike back. The Terrorists suddenly vanished once Freeman was captured. During the backlash of the chaos, Emma still lurked around. Lost.

data-p-id=72d33fb236f0b4bf5fd4c7dedcd5de5d,Lucious, who earlier went shopping with his sister, had been trapped inside the mall when the police barricaded the civilians for safety. Realizing Emma had left him unannounced, Lucious had lost his mind. On the destroyed part of the streets filled with dead bodies and burning Sulphur, Emma wandered about with curiosity. Trying to understand what was really going on in this strange city.

data-p-id=dd5887c76e0d8d88c5bfca73b2d78c1b,When a few surviving civilians were running for their lives, Emma looked behind to take a peak and saw two of the Terrorists, both holding flaming bottles in their hands, scanning the area for any more police. Emma’s heart began to pound in acceleration.

data-p-id=5808453fd44a3ddaa300b9a5b4b990c9,Don’t look back. Do not look back.

data-p-id=2217bcc44244b6fcd04e84355fd6a5b7,Emma muttered to herself as the two Terrorists seemed to have a bit of interest in the little Wilder. As Emma walked with slow pace, the two maniacs already made their choice. This was war. Before the Terrorists executed their evil intentions, a team of armed officers arrived and shot both Terrorists, killing them with their own arsenal.

data-p-id=84aaa2d744ea372777000adfb802a3e2,The fires were getting wild. Emma hid under a bus stop for shelter but then within five minutes, a stranger appeared next to her. A woman, probably in her sixties, curly brown hair, and soft voice offered Emma safety at her place. It wasn’t much of a fancy house like her mother’s but felt very warm inside.

data-p-id=b0f9b3a37d1581d4d4d86c4e79cf2361,“What’s your name, sweetheart?” The friendly woman inquired.

data-p-id=baf59d3163bdf12bc080f3435f671882,“Emma”.

data-p-id=5747fcd4645e6c173fa7b4dcbd072546,“You don’t have to be afraid, okay? I may be a stranger to you, but I’m not a hostile one, Emma. Don’t worry. As soon as the streets become settled, I’ll take you back home safely.”

data-p-id=375e073626db5c260c3d455485a0405c,Emma was emotionless. All she was interested in right now was the number of windows the woman had.

“Why are there so many windows in your house?” Emma asked sheepishly.

data-p-id=6ec26e460b7c67ea01d61689f13d82aa,“I like a lot of air,” the woman replied, “Living in this house will make you feel like you’re staying inside an oven sometimes.”

data-p-id=2cf0a3c38218d6966d67a23d81e4732c,“Do you have any children?”

data-p-id=42ac65aee4459cd81032ff2713179508,“Well, when I was in Buffalo Hill, I used to live with them. But they weren’t mine. They were more like strays.”

data-p-id=13934f9bcbb7034eaa47dd118be72cdb,“Can I ask a question?“, Emma still interrogated. “How do I know that you are what you say you are? That you’re not planning on hurting me right now? Or what if it’s the other way around?”

data-p-id=f2e49b3191cd4d5afbc3645f0ed44557,“Then we wouldn’t be able to trust each other now, would we? But you won’t hurt me though.”

data-p-id=48159d07d67157f86689f47718574cf8,“How d’you know? I’m a stranger.”

data-p-id=fe8307c171d6bd8a38e0ead04038a564,“You were cold, lost and lonely when I found you isn’t that so? What if I saw you and decided to leave you there, lonely and scared? Right in the middle of all the chaos? Then I would be a bad person, wouldn’t I?”

data-p-id=76d95079200b210b626ae26f61cc22ab,The woman was so patient and spoke so gently, Emma suddenly felt like fear had been lifted from her chest.

“My name’s Edna. Edna Myers. I’m a fortune teller.”

data-p-id=154f960e0eba45bb464fc6e353da54cc,Emma’s emotions were returning. “You have psychic powers? Seriously have psychic powers? When does the world end? Will I have hair again in the future when I’m grown up?”

data-p-id=ba58b43c1fd9ab2628dd4bcbe822438e,Edna giggled. “There are times when the predictions come. And there are times when they...just don’t. I was born with this gift, you know? I discovered it when I was about your age.”

data-p-id=c851b8155e36857cc78e5dc544eff531,“So, you tell people’s futures for a living? Do people always believe you?”

data-p-id=4d6ee1689ee5019683c9145b4d654aa7,“It depends.”

Bonding together, Edna showed Emma her working room where she told fortunes until the city finally looked a bit calm. Having survived what seemed like a hectic first wave of war, Emma made a new friend. But Moriah and Lucious had gone berserk. Driving through sceneries of bodies being taken into ambulances, Moriah’s heart began racing for the first time.

data-p-id=7b03747ecbbe766ef39f50b80672ec09,Her hand held firmly on the pistol in her furry coat until finally she nearly ran into Emma and Lucious. Not bothering to scold them yet, they rushed back home. Hours later, Dean and Jessabelle held a gathering of the Cult in the church to honor the deaths of those many civilians and officers who perished in the battle with the Terrorists. It was soon interrupted by the sudden release of a video from the menacing resistance.

data-p-id=f6d85aa8f5c22362ca8bb6339f5c9681,A video of Senator Freeman bound, gagged, stripped half-naked and tortured.

CHAPTER 13

In an act of war, it was clear the Terrorists’ goal was to provoke the Cult into revealing themselves. Dean paid a visit to Freeman’s wife and daughter to comfort them, promising that the Terrorists would be taken care of by the Cult. Freeman had been humiliated by the maniacs for hours. Having located the building, a team of Seals were dispatched by the Heathen Police lieutenant Thomas Riley to infiltrate and extract the Senator but without killing any of the Terrorists.

data-p-id=cf25fca7223253200b14c95b6f5eee91,Like a turd in the wind, Riley’s team were taken by surprise when the Terrorists caught them off-guard by their next unsusceptible plan. Many other hostages, all hotel guests, were in red hoods and unarmed. The confusion and delay allowed the actual Terrorists enough time to catapult more flaming bottles and gasoline from the top floors to the Seals, many of which killed the hostages. By the time the unit ascended to the third floor, the Terrorists threatened to shoot a tied up Freeman, given that the orders by Dean West were not to kill any of the hostiles.

data-p-id=d3d57f1bb77630e0da06f31084c0328d,When they threw Freeman off the stairs, the Seals chased down the Terrorists and managed to subdue half of them. Freeman was safe and sound and as they were escorted in another convoy, the Terrorists that escaped were Heathen High teenagers, amongst them being Dani, Piper, Yin, Lance and Toni. Then there was the big problem.

data-p-id=e5342075ed1c928f43eb2df1003c11b1,Erin was amongst the apprehended Terrorists. Dani and Piper had lost their minds.

data-p-id=154f19363d01bf3af0d021ae58e35bc6,If they didn’t act immediately, their brother would be executed by the Cult in a matter of time. Erin was very reckless to them since their childhood but he was the only one who would protect them. It was now time to protect Erin. Both siblings pleaded with Toni and the gang to help them rescue their brother even though knowing infiltrating the Church of Dean West during the period of the Sermon of Punishment was completely suicidal and had never been done before.

data-p-id=cb8a1fa4f6a2af244a19ebefb38adb65,For the sake of Lance caring deeply for Dani, Toni finally agreed. Their plan was having Dani and Piper take the guise of the cult members and free Erin while the Terrorists laid in wait to stall the Cult. Whatever it took to ensure their brother was alive and back home with them, whether stupid, lethal or both was no problem for the Wilders. Three nights later, it was time for the Sermon of Punishment. Jessabelle, dressed maliciously in her red scarlet gown, was leading the execution.

data-p-id=bf6a09bc4b5ac357286a49eb5861abf0,First, Erin and several other unnamed Terrorists were unmasked, stripped half naked and whipped severely by Jessabelle and the others as they mocked. Dani and Piper, dressed in scarlet robes and masked, waited helplessly amongst the members for the beatings to be finished. When the prisoners were being readied for the execution, Dani and Piper were unable to move as eyes were starting to glance at them from left to right.

data-p-id=b265f9fb4d776d2a718b9a8dc9d486dc,They began trembling with fear and dread when Erin, amongst the captives were dragged near the pit of flames. Time was their only ally. All they needed was to give the signal and their allies outside the Church would cut the lights and render them invisible. Dani and Piper both saw a fear in Erin’s face that they had never, from their childhood, seen. It was the fear of dying. As soon as Jessabelle appeared in front of the large audience to reveal her true dark and sinister nature, Dani was left in a trance.

data-p-id=afa079f61ab287dd2de2fc25309796e2,What in the living Hell...? Her eyes had been deceiving her. She thought. The woman she fell so much in love with. The woman she was obsessed with. Fantasized about...was her. A sick and twisted pagan worshipping fiend about to kill her brother. Jessabelle was as cold as her husband.

data-p-id=6fc25bc6ef518cdbabe5f38d92018b13,A feeling of great disdain filled Dani’s heart as she watched Jessabelle laughing as, one by one, the Terrorists, all teenagers, were thrown and burnt in the pit of flames. Just when the scene could get grizzlier, Dani and Piper called for the signal at once and Toni, Lance, Yin and the gang cut the power to the Church. In the darkness, Piper and Dani raced through the cult and grabbed Erin from the stage.

data-p-id=95b0b3950c57b3c93fc3a8ea3dbb0d77,The Terrorists, on top of the roof, escorted the siblings out safely before the power in the Church was turned back on. As Piper and Dani rushed a wounded and bleeding Erin back home, a great darkness had just descended the city. The next thing was the most unpleasant. Moriah, Pearl, Emma and Lucious, believing the three had been hurt during the massacre, had just ended their prayer congregation with Lucious when the three miraculously burst through the door. Later, Erin’s bruises were taken care of and an enraged Moriah dragged both Piper and Dani into the closet. Doomsday was not yet over.

data-p-id=e9a9eeb526a17ec7815421444f2da75b,“I swear to God Almighty, for a second back there I wished the two of you had already died in that shit storm cause’ if you came back, I’d fucking murder you both with my shotgun!”

data-p-id=4eb8e7e693784c2f3399fd12ea019720,The atmosphere around her was like being growled at by a loud, large hungry bear.

data-p-id=42b990d8dd8c1d0f61deb9b0b018ffd8,“Because of you, I had to pray! Pray! With Lucious! Fuck! Three days! Three fucking days! Your sister. You had Emma worried so much...“, she paused for a breath,

data-p-id=b5a8779b74098612766e50434184e2a1,” Where were you two and Erin? And don’t you fucking tell me you were with Tore. Clyde...or whatever their names are cause I will strangle you both right now!” Dani and Piper had never looked so guilty.

data-p-id=cbe5110bb06c7f1d3e46324096eeb024,After all what they put their elder brother through with their friends, what could they do? “We joined the Terrorists.” Piper spoke first.

data-p-id=e6e7a363b2441177c0c5eb2e345139af,“We were just being idiots,” Dani continued, “We were so fucking stupid. Trying to look dope in front of our friends. Piper didn’t want in, but I forced him to because I thought we were fighting for the greater good this time. But we needed Erin because he could protect us. Only this time, he couldn’t even protect himself. Its my fault. Not theirs.”

data-p-id=cb3a1551e4def95e0a71c638271c2e48,Moriah looked suddenly calm.

data-p-id=26f3ae9f19584131dfe3f641f639b29e,“You two need to learn a lesson. Oh, I’m definitely gonna give you a lesson you’ll remember,” she started smirking, “Almost putting your brother in hell. When you should know better to keep Erin away from all the violence than to keep him going at it.

data-p-id=8389511d71f88bc8de9c74ba8a161e82,Since you both wanna be terrorists now, you’re never stepping foot out of this house because you’re a danger to everyone.” Moriah meant what she said. The following days, as Erin recovered from the whipping, Piper and Dani were leached to their beds, experiencing what it felt like to be under house arrest. The days turned more depressing for Dani. She had had another dream of her and Jessabelle making love, naked on the altar in the Church of Dean West. Dani stopped kissing her, when Jessabelle’s eyes turned black as death. She pushed Dani down into the pit of flames and she immediately jerked awake. How could she love such an evil woman? Its over between us. Dani would say to herself.

data-p-id=10e08f4fe4ce1d01ddaa74a4d9ac13b5,Emma paid another visit to her fortune teller friend Edna sometime later, where she talked about Moriah. Emma would tell Edna how awful she felt after she cut her hair and that despite the incident, she loved her mother just as she was afraid of her. Without Dani and Piper, the Terrorists continued imposing their threats publicly to the Dean West regime after the execution of their fellow members. To blow off steam, Moriah had taken a very long walk out of the neighborhood. A very deep, long walk so silent no one in the city noticed her. Pearl began to worry. As the day turned grey, Moriah began hallucinating of the 1970 era of Heathens in her mind. The city wasn’t so big.

data-p-id=d4e131c3ee2a829217ab390ba0802514,In a bar, Moriah settled down for a few drinks and admired a local rock band. She was just as good as they were, she thought. Scanning the area, Moriah discovered that Sinara was the only odd person there. She sat there, muttering words to her untouched champagne so fiendishly and awkwardly, the men started leaving the bar. It got to a certain time, Sinara’s silent incantation scared everyone away and Moriah was the only one left. It was impossible to say the teenaged girl was drunk. Moriah, even frightened herself, left after her twelfth glass.

data-p-id=7fe3f110871bf793326104d119481827,Still hallucinating of everything 1970, Moriah felt as if she had just seen a devil in disguise. An hour later, she found Sinara again, this time being sexually harassed by the same drunken hooligans from the bar.

CHAPTER 14

Sinara, a Native-American, in her teens, with silk, afro hair as white as snow, was the last girl Moriah would ever be fond of to see get gangbanged and deserted on the streets. The men were only four. Moriah began to have second thoughts but then realized again that witnessing a raped teenaged girl right in front of her was not going to be forgotten in a couple of weeks.

data-p-id=bd88359b40c98726a93abf6578363bd6,The girl didn’t seem to want them to go away, it was like she was provoking them the more. Without hesitation, Moriah crept behind one of them and pointed her pistol at his head to warn them. When he took his knife out, Moriah disarmed him and had the urge to fire her gun. The boys had no choice but to flee. Sinara was like a girl Moriah had never seen since her early age. Instead of a “thank you”, Sinara whimpered, “I wasn’t really looking forward to getting saved, but thank you anyway.” Moriah gazed at her with cat-like eyes. “I saw you back at the bar. Didn’t think you were a little too young to be drinking?” Moriah resisted the temptation to ask her what she was muttering to herself about back there.

data-p-id=7c29fa709e763a1927f99bdf2cf435c8,“I’m all alone,” Sinara went on, “I’m really in need of some comfort. When the city went crazy, you wouldn’t believe what I did to survive.”

data-p-id=e95da1e94c1db068509adab70b6280f1,Moriah suddenly had a voice of reasoning whispering to her. There was no way this girl could survive as a stray in a haunted reign of terror like Heathens. Sinara was too beautiful to be that kind of person. “You can come stay with me.” Moriah offered her the chance so randomly; it was too good of a coincidence for Sinara to leave it.

data-p-id=c26b1eeb2268e833152bc686702f5f97,“Oh, why that’s thoughtful of you, but you don’t even know me, Mrs..”

data-p-id=60a3e2ef392dfed6eb9a7beb41a8e945,“Moriah. Call me Moriah. And you are...?”

data-p-id=eccb127d3be0d0f047b0a2bd9a7cfda7,“Sinara. Sinara Kachingwe.” The name had been blunt.

data-p-id=726ce17b815d08c58a8ce1517d366bc9,“Well, Sinara, its perfectly fine that we don’t know each other,” Moriah spoke with her devilish soft tone,” but a nice young lady like yourself in the midst of all this chaos? What sort of aging woman like myself would allow that to happen? Look, I promise I’ll take care of you. Anytime you think of leaving, you’re free. You’ll be free to do anything you want. Just please come home with me.” Sinara, overwhelmed by her persuasive nature, finally agreed. What the hell have I done? Moriah thought to herself.

data-p-id=ac06cf69fd63a2ebd587b09e49f36225,You’ve been blessed with six children your tarred ass can’t even handle. Now you want seven? Back home, things had become very complicated with the new girl at the table during dinner. Dani and Piper, still chained to their beds in their rooms, couldn’t get a chance to even realize there was a new family member. Lucious was nervously reading his Bible so much he forgot to munch on his meal. Emma was the more open one, talking to Sinara simply for the sake of admiring her full-blown silky hair. It was so white and opaque; it could be easily illuminated in the dark. Erin was, as usual, absent from the dinner table.

data-p-id=b2205652e44b1cfe6c9b34a17a76c23e,Pearl had a lot of questions running in her head but gave a pretentious smile throughout. Sinara had no intention of staying for the night but the hospitality she felt from the Wilders changed her mind completely. “So you said you had no parents?“, Moriah inquired loudly, “Any other relatives that know you’re still alive?” “They’re there. But we don’t communicate much. There’s a big gap between us both that we’re trying to patch up, but things always seem to be complicated.” It was hard to tell if there had really been a white lie in Sinara’s voice. When she spoke, it was as though Moriah and Pearl could visually see the deep passionate pain Sinara had been through her childhood. But in reality, Sinara had rarely been in touch with her relatives.

data-p-id=986b407667c6e712c7cd6ccf5a8002d7,“You know what? I think maybe I could stay her for the mean time. That is, if I feel at home.”

data-p-id=e39ee5825ba5c0ec7138332ea4b71ab0,“There’s absolutely nothing to worry about, sweetheart”, Pearl spoke,” Right now, this is the safest place you can be.”

data-p-id=72e587dc198ceefb392c579129c06e5c,Lucious and Emma coughed so loudly, Sinara giggled as Moriah gave a sneering frown at both siblings. “Do you school?” Pearl continued.

data-p-id=cfe7aef0e10ccd0d7802987ab1aaa19d,“No. I’m a dropout.”

data-p-id=40c42cfe964031b4496e7b10a03cce5f,“I’m terribly sorry, I understand if you’re not comfortable talking about personal stuff.”

data-p-id=ea32f7409a0d8b4cf0ecc1354a9d6081,“I like to talk about them. But just not with strangers.” The dinner talk had been brief and understandable. When poor Erin returned home, Moriah forced him to sleep on the couch and allow the new girl to have his room, which she found had the scent of sweat and grease from guns.

data-p-id=33b0ae9c667449d7e34bf30a830d4f57,Sinara could finally dream in peace again and couldn’t bother about Samara or Sia. Her incantation was completed. All she needed to do was to die and reincarnate herself and the covenant with her is gone forever. After doing two checks on the tamed Dani and Piper, Moriah found it very hard to sleep that night. She opened her eyes to see Pearl crying in the bathroom. It had been a cold and stressful, tiring day, the last thing Moriah needed to think about was her sister’s challenges in life. Just close your fucking eyes. Moriah muttered to herself. The more she pretended to hear nothing, the more Pearl made her cry as audible as the last. When she began to throw tantrums and broke the mirror, Moriah was forced to get up and go comfort her sister.

data-p-id=7c0decede1308072760f1831db0051ca,Pearl’s sudden burst of tears was over the fact that her husband had left her for her rival co-worker in the New York Bulletin permanently, and her two sons Michael and Gabe were with him. Typical woman problems. Moriah could have just killed herself for having to sacrifice her sleep to listen to her sister’s whining over how much she regretted marrying that son of a bitch and that Michael and Gabe had meant the whole world to her. Moriah later took her guitar and played one of her uncompleted songs. The reason Pearl’s whining ceased and turned to a smile was due to the fact that she remembered her sister had been born with talent but Josiah had corrupted Moriah into leaving it to waste all these years.

data-p-id=aa79d9670ffba49c2dd83b691504db36,This gave Pearl something to be so much engulfed with other than her depressing hell of a life. “Moriah, can you hear yourself? For countless years, you’ve had this gift and you had to go to the other life. With him. ” Moriah kept on playing. “I wanted to ask you this question from the day you and him came to me for protection. Why did you listen to him, Moriah? Why did you do it? Kill all those innocent people? Just to rob them of their blood money?”

data-p-id=78ad9ccc225ec93d906c43c6756824e2,Pearl was fully aware of the response her sister would give. Moriah stopped playing and growled at her coldly,” I just played you that song cause I wanted you to stop whining like a baby. Now if you’re going to be a bitch, then goodnight.”

data-p-id=0b2b0186848a3a99641d4d62a491bc72,“Look, I’m sorry. When I think about my sons, I’m known to asking a lot of offensive questions these days. Why don’t you and I go out to the bar tomorrow and you play that same song again?” Moriah looked at her sister with the expression of a child. “You serious?” “C’mon. Get the hell out of this isolation and go out there. Show the world what Moriah’s really made of. Don’t tell me you’re the shy type when it comes to crowd.” “That sounds great. I’ll do it for one day, but this doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop hiding in my shell.”

data-p-id=b8680d56a6264c144cc53ec0b3f91f14,Erin slept in Emma and Lucious’ room, cursing and gnarling in his sleep so much both of them just saw sleep creep out of the door because it was too frightened of Erin. When Lucious whispered to Emma, Erin’s noises diminished most of the words Emma could grasp.

data-p-id=46a1578f652ca68884d872f9fbc1d179,“I think that girl might not be who says she is...“, Lucious went on,” I think she’s a witch.”

data-p-id=c78ef5039873308fdbb0f959cd2c212d,“Huh?” Emma shouted faintly.

data-p-id=4ccaedb44b635a92e3c704eb084519b1,“I think she’s a witch.”

data-p-id=6eb0516d478ca9cde656da5da537aa02,“Huh?”

data-p-id=a996114940f22f41e84c3b0a3b3ee382,“I think she’s a witch!”

data-p-id=93867fb9f2af3d814f63627b4b958b6e,“Huh?!”

data-p-id=b2b6d523ca06b010a4bfc2dca41c0eec,“I think Sinara is a witch!”

data-p-id=9d30a06ef16371ffcc3af40ee89a3c94,“What?!”

data-p-id=541f3e4a4e3018fb6b324f4381a9935e,“Sinara is a witch!”

data-p-id=0cb5e34b391e14f2fc83075c1e5cdc40,” ‘My mama is a bitch?!’ ”

data-p-id=caead158ee9bb41c5493d70358147479,“Oh, God!” Lucious had to take Emma out of that room.

data-p-id=57c5a5784bbf73386a2a111beb2c93a0,“I think Sinara’s a witch.” “Why?” confused Emma asked. “I’ve been observing her. Not physically. Spiritually. After listening to her words, I now know. The Good Lord Almighty has spoken and revealed to me that this girl possesses witchcraft. Don’t you understand?”

data-p-id=c6008e6992a87e91044e1bc534a45b92,Emma, whose eyes were so heavy,

data-p-id=afb95937b0efbee966cd62996f18d097,“No! You’ve got a serious problem. Can I go back to bed now?”

data-p-id=5c6c9a3a37d24d21ec76b499590172e7,Emma deserted her brother, who stood there wondering what tomorrow’s daylight would look like.

CHAPTER 15

Daylight slowly approached and Sinara’s heavenly peace had ended with Samara’s whisper to her ears in bed. She realized she had just soaked Erin’s mattress with more sweat and other substances unknown to us all. For her, time had always been her only ally. Sinara flew out of bed and descended down through the window out the house. The pool. A perfect timing to drown. Erin was still cursing sleeping. Emma and Lucious were now sleeping. Moriah and Pearl were still sleeping beauties. Dani and Piper had surpassed waking up to another full depressing day.

data-p-id=ccddf0bee099cd3092ec39bdf94635ed,The pool was so opaque, bright, cold and peaceful. As Sinara went closer, the only expression she could see other than her reflection was the face of freedom. She was no longer going to be in Samara’s hands. In slow motion, a crow from nowhere descended down next to her. A second crow crashed into the window of Dani and Piper. Dani was first to awake and gaze through the window as Sinara and the crow stared each other dead in the eyes. Her eyes glowed ash and silver, a sign that she was communicating with the critter to leave her alone. Dani spotted Sinara and wondered just who the hell this girl was looking at birds next to their pool.

data-p-id=d4515bb07498c0071c85045f866213d6,She began to wake her brother up, but he was caged inside an endless sleep. When the crow left, Emma appeared out of nowhere and gave Sinara the same jump scare anyone would feel during the suspense of a killer preying silently behind the protagonist of a horror movie.

data-p-id=4690cd92c2a40ebe3fc88469bcf9adb0,“I’m so happy you can swim,” Emma began, smiling in her swimsuit, “We can do a race, how about that, Sinara?”

data-p-id=635aae4886ec27dba139de55a211fd6e,“That sounds okay,” she smiled pretentiously. Dammit! Why won’t this kid go away? Sinara muttered to herself. “But we have to be quick before my mom wakes up.”

data-p-id=561c85738b59d894bb998f95099ddd11,Instead, “Some other time would be nice, Emma. I really need to take care of something.” Sinara left just when Piper had finally awakened.

data-p-id=8a1d27fd4bf657e710baca336657a878,“I just saw a girl next to the pool,” Dani spoke,” I think she was...talking to some bird, I don’t know. It was really weird.”

data-p-id=ce02709d21b96e5d928a88f28664109a,“What did she look like?” drowsy Piper inquired lazily.

data-p-id=d74950026c6aaf66e94934b7028957f6,“How else do you expect her to look like, you nitwit? If you weren’t so neck deep in sleeping don’t you think you would.... Piper? Piper?” Piper’s eyes were bloodshot red and he was so zombified that fateful morning, he lay catatonic next to Dani. She wondered if Piper was alright. She remembered that same look on his face from since they were little. That look on his face as though he was about to dehydrate. It was during summer in 2002, a young Dani and Piper were playing their favorite action cowboy heroes from the movies in the backyard.

data-p-id=5cf1944553caee3f2d81fe62c462b577,When Dani urged Piper to start the game, he just froze on the bench, staring dead at the sky with that similar zombified face. Dani understood her brother and knew those words meant everything was not going to be alright. Back in the house, Sinara was furiously contemplating another suicide. Running out of time and ideas, the young Wiccan thought of something painful than the other. Death by hanging. She grabbed a handful of clothes from Erin’s room and tied them together but upon seeing the wires to the television, she changed her mind. Tying up the wires to the ceiling, Sinara was readying herself for a painful way to escape the world of the living until Moriah knocked on the door.

data-p-id=9d33623ad9919ab3ed483beccb59d17a,Sinara cursed silently. Moriah came in for only two things she had in mind. To ensure Sinara hadn’t tried anything funny and secondly, to see what time Sinara had already runaway. Her guesses were apparently wrong.

data-p-id=65263c3fd5e01b2bcd1e1a14b1287524,“You didn’t leave last night? I’m surprised.” Moriah said without thinking.

data-p-id=c818ecd579ede98d359bb7d61b47b185,“Oh, no. Why would you think I want to leave? After I enjoyed just one night here in this wonderful home? I’m not that much of a jerk, Moriah. Oh, and Emma just went to the pool.” Sinara purposely snitched on Emma to deuterate Moriah’s suspicions.

data-p-id=09df064756995d37519791ff11f0f224,“Pearl and I are going out this morning, so do me a favor and try to take care of my kids, will ya?” Moriah winked at her as she left with a devilish smile.

data-p-id=9ee0be737290e2d2feb00cc405cd9576,Sinara was so tempted to scream the Devil out of her just then, she opened the taps on the sink and bathtub to leave it flowing. Frustration and rage boiled inside Sinara because precious time was being wasted. Frantically searching, Sinara randomly took Moriah’s pills and glasses of alcohol, mixing up all the drinks and excessively taking pill by pill. Poisoning had been one of the hardest procedures Sinara couldn’t bear to take in her early years. A month after the Great Bond of 1990, Sinara was, one time, captured and tortured by the locals of her town when her parents publicly revealed her witchcraft. She had been subjected to death by poisoning, but the covenant made her immune.

data-p-id=c99175d235fda3dc85297b6c25d747d6,Overdosing herself with more pills and drinks had done no damage but just bought time for Lucious to find and stop her. He knew what the young witch was up to all along. He had watched her make silent incantations, gestures and spells right from the moment she stepped foot in their home but continued keeping a pretentious behavior. “What are you doing?” He asked in an undertone voice. Sinara acted fast. “Just an old habit of mine. Please just ignore me. I’ve been this kind of girl ever since I had been on my own. Its just.it doesn’t look like much of a big deal for me.” Lucious glanced through the empty bottles, mixed alcohol and drugs, “If you go on, you’re gonna O.D.,” Lucious replied, pretending to buy the lie,” If there’s a problem, you can come to me and we gon’ pray ’bout it. The Bible says, when two or three are gathered...”

data-p-id=499d4c87f3d785cba9202ece9ca47c3f,Sinara’s attention immediately went back to Erin’s room. The water was still running. She left Lucious with his incomplete Bible quote still hanging and after walking through the half-flooded bathroom to shutting off the pipes, Sinara’s next suicide plan came like a buzz in a flytrap. She locked the door and waited for Lucious to walk away and then Erin finally showed up to meet Sinara, smiling awkwardly at him. Erin just stood there likewise and stared at her with estranged eyes until finally. “You’re a weird piece of pussy, you know that?” Erin chuckled dirty with his foul-mouth. “Do you want to do something fun?” Sinara asked gleefully. Erin, not bewildered by her behavior, “Yeah. You’re in my room. So, I guess so. Whatcha got in mind, bitch?”

data-p-id=3e5e73dbfa1a50c0124b00c414c6af35,This was the only chance Sinara had and she did whatever it took not to lose. “I want you to strangle me. We’ll do it in the water.” As she spoke, she started undressing and went fully nude in front of an excited Erin. “For real?” He asked with slur. “Yes. Now. You can take your clothes off too.” Without hesitation, Erin agreed and stripped down to his underwear to follow Sinara into the tub. She urged the obnoxious Wilder to strangle her hard enough and so they did quietly. Sinara could feel every ounce of life being sucked out of her by the long grasp of Erin. Death felt like travelling to the bottomless ocean for Sinara, but the only problem was that there was never any deep. In a matter of half an hour, Sinara was gone, murdered by Erin.

data-p-id=6b0b47c8038da1879ab87883800907b0,Lucious ascended the stairs with his Bible clutched in his left, trembling hand. The Good Lord spoke to him at the exact time Erin was about to vacate the murder scene. He opened the door, and what he saw in his half-brother’s bathtub made him curse for the first time in his born-again life.

data-p-id=234661f6fb8fa8b72316b62a5703fcbf,”What. the fuck.... did you do?!”

data-p-id=e282a14b144018fee128f1247f9c215b,He yelled viciously at Erin, who was completely unable to keep a calm gesture. “The slut asked me to do it, bra. Suicide, right? Heh, what a bitch.” Lucious looked at Sinara’s lifeless body and, with complete rage, struck Erin’s head with the Bible. Lucious had refrained from violence as a Christian, but this didn’t matter anymore.

data-p-id=b960316b5dddbf52acb9055dfc411759,Sinara’s only means of freedom was Erin. She read the aura of his psychopathic nature from the moment she slept in his sweaty room. Lucious and Erin were in a fistfight. Punching and kicking, Erin got the upper hand. Lucious was tired of all the murders. Sick and tired of watching the Wilder family’s secret crimes throughout his innocent childhood. He threatened Erin by attempting to call the police, but Erin held him tight. Their fight could be heard by Dani and Piper from upstairs, both of whom chose to sleep for another full day.

data-p-id=0ee23aa23098b2a2eabf109def19d587,What the duo didn’t notice was a swarm of crows rising outside from nowhere and surrounding their house eponymously. Emma, still in the pool, as well as Dani, who woke up, were the only ones who witnessed this strange phenomenon. Things really frightened Emma when she felt a sudden invincible force in the pool with her. When the crows flew away, Sinara slowly rose from the tub and walked towards a quarreling Lucious and Erin. Both boys halted after hearing Sinara’s voice and then jumped their hearts out to see her resurrected figure.

CHAPTER 16

I knew it!

data-p-id=e587f751d6fe1a1e928b98925d885c5d,Lucious spoke in his head but Erin had never been so frightened like this in his entire life. The fear in him looked like he was about to pass out and fall from the stairs. A girl he had just murdered had come back to life. Just like that. Lucious wanted to scream and run out of the house when he saw Sinara, half-naked and smiling at them. Both were completely devoid of words.

data-p-id=3483bb9aa0be6ba410f9d16b2cdaf2e6,“B...B...B... I. But I... But I....But I....“, was all Erin uttered.

data-p-id=5440ef044f45ad074fd119d31976ad8f,“What the hell are you, Sinara?” Lucious finally gained words again. “I know how frightened you boys must be right now, but I won’t hurt you”, Sinara spoke gently with vague, “As you now know, I’m a witch. I’ve always been a witch my whole life. That was just something I needed to do to make sure I wasn’t under control anymore. But it’s alright, it’s fine now. I’m a good witch, I promise I won’t any of you.”

data-p-id=f5735baeeed0b5265d3010c1cd07219b,Lucious and Erin were frozen dummies. Suddenly, Sinara began to choke. Her vision became blurry and difficult to make out anything near her. She crawled slowly away from the pair and started hurling what seemed like cut grass. The next moment, she puked a pile of nails and sea water on the same spot.

data-p-id=115a52eb31ca972acff27ab2f52d0165,Just when things couldn’t get more disturbing, Sinara started transforming into a root-like figure. Emma stood from far and watched this until she fainted. Very uncomfortable with this misfortune, Sinara raced to the basement to lock herself inside. She could tell by the situation that she was still trapped within Samara’s covenant, and that the spirit of Beelzebub had been displeased with the timing of the death. The ritual needed to be done a second time. Erin and Lucious stood there dazed, thinking about what to tell Moriah. Meanwhile, in an isolated apartment near the hospital, a single and depressed Dr. Jonathan Frost had just returned home, deeply enraged and agile. Having his car getting toed for the third time by a completely rude officer, Frost always drowned his darkest desires at the bar.

data-p-id=b5deb1131a9355b9d4689fab8ce4968c,It had been years since he ever smiled. It had been years since he saw his ex-wife sentenced for life after dislocating his jaw. Frost, a retired psychiatrist, knew the consequences of trying to laugh while suffering from permanent Lockjaw. He walked eagerly to see if there was some brightness left in the day. Whether there was actually any woman desperate to see his handsome, disfigured smile. There, he sank himself in a few tequila and beer and even kindly offered a drink to a lady, but she had already been taken. Despite his friendly nature, it never changed the fact that, to all the women he met out there, he was ugly on the outside.

data-p-id=2ff8702377a0eb6f14a31e8333c70cac,Moriah and Pearl, who had been in the same bar with Frost, were waiting for the music to end. When Moriah asked to perform on the stage, there had been a little nervousness and shock in her eyes. Gazing at the not so large crowd, Moriah realized it had been years of standing on stage to face an audience. In the 70′s, Moriah had her husband to back her up in those days. When Moriah began to play and sing the first lines of her uncompleted song, there was some silence in the bar for a while. What the fuck am I doing? Moriah thought, sweating a little. Was Pearl trying to humiliate her? As she kept on playing, the audience surrounding her began to change. She rose like a phoenix out of the ash.

data-p-id=e8ca857cb3f8133e6f73fb566ee75dc0,Frost raised his head to gaze at the woman who played that wonderful tune and, for the first time in his life, he laid his eyes upon a beautiful woman. Frost was attracted to everything Moriah had. Her blonde curly hair, enigmatic voice and distortedly dark look on her face that made her so dangerously evil in an exotic way. Frost loved anything evil. He didn’t care what he looked like, all he needed to do was to get that woman in his life. When Moriah finally stopped playing, the audience in the bar gave her a huge round of applause. Pearl embraced her sister but their conversation was halted when the disfigured Frost appeared in a grimly hollow but confident way.

data-p-id=b6e71b57641e142787a8d13600ef8021,As a gentleman, he first offered them drinks. Pearl and Moriah, as politely as they could be, accepted and smiled back. “Amazing. You were amazing.” The words Frost uttered from his concealed lips were simple and short, all both sisters could only hear was his teeth grinding. “Back in the days, I thought I met someone like you. Her voice was exquisitely stunning. She was a real beauty like you.” Pearl rolled her eyes left to right, because it was clear she felt embarrassed for poor Frost. Moriah ignored him for some time and then pretended to already be drunk. “What happened to your face? Did it fall off a cliff? Cause that’s what I’d rather be doing right now.” Pearl was tempted to giggle but knew how cold her younger sister was to a man in his physical condition.

data-p-id=212b802a97428565555b00ba9a585cc9,Frost had been too overconfident and patient. “My ex-wife,” he continued,” she did this to my face. She had a really bad temper, y’know.”

data-p-id=c728f8eac062abbf0c6c2fd123b2b785,Weak. So weak. Pearl muttered to herself.

data-p-id=dbbbc2d757fb50ed831d5c1f897858be,“She wasn’t pleasant like you at all. When we argued...and argued over and over again...she took a scalpel.... and....” Pearl felt it was rude to stare at a crippled guy but the story bewildered her. Moriah was different.

data-p-id=e9d338164897c28940a84d28e1a0c55a,“She must have been really bored. Cause that what I feel like right now. What happened? Oh, lemme guess, did you bore her with your melodramatic stories?” Pearl was disturbed.

data-p-id=5be70b6948977616dd9711c05a41fe1d,“I... don’t want you to see me as a monster, miss. I just want to be friends with somebody,” Frost’s confidence made him forget himself and turn him very emotional,” I don’t want to…Be a freak. Or a stalker. Or a stranger......” Frost cut himself short and left the bar, given up with frustration.

data-p-id=d46b13121d0a3acec519eebcc60bbc68,Pearl immediately got up to follow the disfigured stranger.

data-p-id=fc3709af47ae21e1a0ee7a664140bb12,“Wait! Mister!” she yelled after him in the alley. “I’m very sorry about my sister’s behavior, sir. She’s like that to every guy that’s nice to her. Ever since she lost her husband.” “She...did?” Frost joyfully replied. Now she and him had something in common.

data-p-id=daaa17f5609ff16a97074fd2b263be3c,“My name’s...Jonathan. Jonathan Frost. I used to be a psychiatrist.”

data-p-id=6f0672cdb49caf12de03c5207347c956,“Oh, and call me Pearl.“, she went on politely as ever,” I’m an editor of the New York Bulletin. She’s Moriah, my little sister. Look, what you said about, us seeing you as a stranger, I wanna tell you that you’re not what you believe you are, Jonathan. People are cruel, they’ll say all kinds of things to intimidate you. Make you feel different.”

data-p-id=973efd1bcd8ad330b1ac55cc34fdeec9,Frost was touched when he saw her eyes starting to tear. “You hardly even know me, Pearl,” he said sternly. Then she suggested, “Did you hear about this dance festival coming up in a few weeks? Moriah and I are going to be there, and I think that would be a great time for you to really get to know her.”

data-p-id=bd33f191e81766b9b1d7195cf9c30db0,Frost agreed and even went on telling Pearl how much he was attracted to Moriah. During this time, Sinara had completed her ritual to summon Beelzebub’s spirit. She got out of the basement to find Erin and Lucious, who had both been plotting of a way to get rid of the witch in their home. “I need you do it now!“, Sinara screamed. “I want you to kill me now! Right now!” Erin and Lucious couldn’t say anything. Emma gazed at Sinara, frightened to come out of hiding. Sinara kept on urging for someone to kill her so much, Erin willingly took the choice. Grabbing his blade from his pocket jeans, he stabbed Sinara continuously. Several times the blade sliced into the witch’s body, Lucious wanted to throw up.

data-p-id=3e8976dc04b9a60ffd55b7f236737832,Emma hid from the scene at once. For a moment, Erin stopped the stabbing but Sinara kept crawling around, urging him to finish the job. In a matter of seconds, Erin screamed and went for his shotgun to blast Sinara’s head. Her blood splattered on the carpet as she lay in front of the siblings still as the word dead. For an hour, all three waited around her corpse for her to resurrect again, but to their utter dismay, she was dead for dead.

data-p-id=1c22ca1d05ea100c0b79a83a8262c176,When things couldn’t get worst, Moriah and Pearl had just returned home. Erin had just stabbed and shot a witch to death. What were they going to say? What was their lie going to be? Sinara had left to go see her relatives? Her relatives tried to burn her years ago. Sinara committed suicide? The siblings panicked and locked her corpse inside the inner chamber of the house right before Moriah and Pearl came home. “What happened? Did someone die?” Moriah asked vaguely, glancing around the just-sparkly cleaned carpet and the pretentious smiles on Emma, Lucious and Erin. The question was so random, it was like Moriah knew all along. “Did someone die?” Erin stupidly repeated.

data-p-id=ec7fa232ccb72ad7dc9231bd6dad0dab,“That’s an unusually dumb question to ask after you’ve just arrived at home, you know that?” Moriah ignored Erin. “Where’s Sinara?” “She went out to see somebody.” Emma was fast to respond, but very carefully. Lucious backed his sister up till Moriah was half convinced. A few moments later, Sinara still lay dead in the chamber. “She’s not gonna wake up again?” Emma whined in fear. “What’s going to happen to her?” “What’s gon’ happen to us if mom finds out. That’s the real deal right now.”

data-p-id=cf72df52c99fbda5c204552eff6987ad,Lucious spoke, but Erin had a plan. “What the fuck’s wrong with you guys? She’s not gonna wake up again. I killed the witch. Now let’s go out and bury this son of a bitch before mom gets really suspicious.”

data-p-id=8eb1ba484e035df414b30e30910d9ca3,Lucious and Emma disagreed. “How are we going to do that without anyone getting suspicious that three teenagers are carrying a dead witch to the cemetery? The last thing I’m gon’ ever do is follow your rules, Erin.” But Erin ignored him and went straight for the deceased witch. “Shut the fuck up and get me the body bag. Both of you.” Erin’s voice had suddenly changed. None of them had ever heard his tone this serious. Together, all three wore gloves and placed Sinara inside the bag with caution.

data-p-id=b6d7c0c6e8d5330fcac49480b545f8c6,All they needed was a diversion and their plot would be a quiet success.

CHAPTER 17

The next day, Dani was haunted by a nightmare of Jessabelle. She was in a train station in Queens when she saw the woman she used to love, dressed as the High Priestess. Dani went towards Jessabelle, who was close to the railway. She suddenly ran, trying to save her but she fell as the oncoming train smashed her into bits. Jerked awake, Dani realized another full day had been spent drooling on the bed. Piper was fully awake, sitting down looking dazed. Just then, there was a knock on their window and Lance emerged into their room.

data-p-id=efeb6486f8cb25de0e8c3a76fba25794,“Dani? Piper? How long have you guys been hiding in your room?“, he glanced at their legs, chained to the beds like slaves. “And why are chained to the bed like animals? What the hell is this? Are you guys okay?” Lance was so concerned but Piper had been completely zombified.

data-p-id=b1acede0870d561a0bcb8bd5d23fa642,Dani’s eyes looked like they had sunk inside their sockets.

data-p-id=c956ad76b2499a93f1c0bbda1414edd7,“Lance? Is that you?” She asked with the tone of a zombie. “What the hell’s your old lady doing to you guys?” Lance muttered to himself. “Look, sorry about the other night.” “Why are you apologizing?” Dani inquired. “I should have been there for you. When you really wanted to save your brother, I kept silent. I’m so sorry, Dani.”

data-p-id=d09c2eb275cb5fd2cd270ca5780f7ac6,“Sshh”. Dani stopped him and thought otherwise.

data-p-id=b83a17cc61ed4860dd4e8b564ab68580,In order to forgo her obsession over Jessabelle, Dani knew Lance was the only solution. With no more words, Dani whispered to the boy a unique, feminine language only a man could interpret.

data-p-id=59bc9cc22fde4681aa904ae48dba6c5a,“Fuck me”. Dani and Lance both stripped simultaneously with no more spoken words.

data-p-id=602c969d8dad5822db8e97e0cd244919,A dazed Piper sat there moaning. Dani kissed Lance very passionately and caressed his body so tenderly. It was her once and only first time with a boy and not a fantasy about a middle-aged woman. The moment vanished when Moriah’s footsteps were heard ascending. It was time to set the prisoners free. Dani hid a half-naked Lance in the closet at the exact timing just when Moriah unlocked the chains off of them. For a brief moment, Dani and Piper expected an apology from their mother, but nothing straight came out.

data-p-id=ea2583ab26c5ad8953df47b4f07952c2,That fateful day was the special occasion for the dance festival. Erin, Emma and Lucious took Sinara’s body with them and Moriah’s car as well. The plan was simple. Bury the body of the dead witch and make it back home on time. At the time when Heathens seemed to go back to its peaceful nature, the location of the ceremony was targeted by the Terrorists, due to the fact that Dean West was going to attend.

data-p-id=53c49606faf7fe987aa5a7e9a2681adf,When Freeman was still hospitalized and inactive from his captor by the Terrorists, Dean was forced by Jessabelle to take the Senator’s daughter with him. At this same time, Jessabelle went shopping for a new Rottweiler with Freeman’s little girl, who suggested she named it Destiny. Dean was never fond of dogs in the house, so Jessabelle took Destiny to Freeman’s house over the weekend where she and his daughter bonded and played with it.

data-p-id=ab75b1bb2bf3ca84f99f2506353ee753,The upcoming dance competition wasn’t only for entertainment, but the show represented the hope the people of Heathens had left. It had truly been a dark time from the beginning the silent war ensued, when the resistance sought out to tear down Dean’s regime through acts of violence.

data-p-id=2af016b7eb11288d6c9468dd56b35648,When the people who wanted nothing to do with fighting against a Cult were caught up in the endless, bloodthirsty storm of hate and aggression. The competition was full of surprises, fancy dresses, champagne, friends, family, relatives and beautiful dancers. Moriah and Pearl hadn’t expected this much of an audience, neither did they expect to see the disfigured Jonathan Frost appear again.

data-p-id=838a9108fb649f28e4fafaa1556ea5b5,The two were, again, in a conversation about the dancers when Moriah turned to see Frost, suited in a not-so fancy but simple outfit. Moriah wasn’t pleased to see her stalker at all. She gestured a signal, telling her sister to hide her but Pearl, who now noticed Frost’s figure, gladly welcomed him to take a seat with them.

data-p-id=5c7c8f77139bac26f64021658e32853b,As gentle as Frost could be, he offered a handshake to the elder sister first but Moriah, with her still stern frown, refused to shake Frost’s hand, treated him like he was inhuman. But that was another thing about this woman that made Frost so turned on. He took it in as an old habit and began chatting with Pearl.

“So glad you’re looking fancier than when we first met last time,” Pearl spoke peacefully.

“Well, last time was not my perfect day,” Frost went on, “But it’s going to be perfect with you both. All I ever wanted was to get the chance to talk to....”

“Oh, it’s okay. You save that later,” Pearl cut the disfigured doctor short,” Here. You can seat next to my baby sister. She knows how to bark and bite, but she can’t bite when I’m around.”

Pearl gave Moriah the you better be nice to the man corner-eye, which she ignored however. Frost followed Pearl’s hand gesture to the icy cold seat next to the stone-cold woman that he truly loved. He examined that perfect frown from the eyes to the mouth but Moriah caught him staring. A slight nervousness filled the stalking psychiatrist’s lungs but instead, Moriah forced a wicked, malevolent smile. The smile of a serial killer.

“Hey”, Moriah hushed out so qiuetly, Frost couldn’t have heard it.

“Hey”, was the next reply from him, “I hope you enjoy the show.” As though he was the director of the entire Opera talking to an attendant.

Moriah smiled and nodded before heaving her eyes back to the black stage. An awkward silence then filled the gap between her and Frost.

data-p-id=a3d6766e82e2c39ad15ad42b53869b51,Amidst the crowd, Dean West, dressed in his expensive tuxedo and hat, emerged with his beautifully distracting Jessabelle and Freeman’s six-year old daughter. And yet again, it was time for the show to really begin. In the usual sinister manner, Jessabelle was seated right next to Moriah and Dean was seated two seats away from his wife. The show had already started, and Pearl couldn’t believe the age of most of the dancing competitors and choreographers. Frost tried to make more words come out of his Lockjaw, but one look at the face of Moriah gave him the impression she was telling him to “fuck off”.

data-p-id=c2c773a4e30a47e751f4531a985ac433,But Frost didn’t look like the man to give up on love. It was only a matter of time for one half of the show to climax till Dean turned his gaze at the woman seated next to his wife. Looking at the stern, cold-heartedly dark frown of Moriah, it took Dean a couple of minutes before he finally recognized who she was. Two different things happened all at once. The sound of the audience had ceased from Dean’s ears, and everything was in slow motion. Samara was right all along. Dean thought to himself. Flashbacks played in his head.

data-p-id=448ba9585d2e6eeeac66d921eef781ee,1979, Dean was just a child in the courtroom. He watched as Moriah and her husband faced a full sentence for life. The smirks on their faces when the sentence was given had just done the job of destroying Dean’s childhood.

data-p-id=d61efbbca6988b670e8b3c945b1cc969,However, Dean’s temptation of acting in sudden aggression to tear Moriah limb from limb right at the spot had never happened. The audience screamed when one of the choreographers appeared with two bombs bound to his chest. Simultaneously, both Dean and Moriah screamed the same word, ”Run!”

data-p-id=aaf67f4c0917f7f82d28cf63bab02dea,BOOM!!!

data-p-id=61423b0dbf73b1d0db79b001dc16d8f5,All dancers present were engulfed. Dean and Jessabelle grabbed Freeman’s daughter while Frost shielded both Pearl and Moriah. Limbs, arms, legs and foots of the murdered dancers flew across the ceiling as fire and Sulphur spread through the corners of the theatre, burning few of the attendants and most of the waiters in the dining room where the attendants would have had meals after the show. Moriah and Pearl were safe but both of them found Frost bleeding from his left waist. Minutes later, paramedics and police officers swarmed the blown-up building. Lt. Thomas Riley, Dean’s trusted deputy ally, indicated this to be the handiwork of the Terrorists and that the purpose of the bombing was to intimidate Dean himself.

data-p-id=71354fa547d656be0a8b20400b1d8e7a,Frost survived with a piece of glass pierced into his waist upon shielding Moriah and Pearl from the blast. Moriah was filled with guilt and sorrow as she watched Frost laid helplessly on the ambulance bed. She wanted to thank him for saving her life but that never happened. Despite the circumstances, Dean might have missed the opportunity of attacking his parents’ killer, but as all-knowing as people thought of him to be, Dean was aware the Wilders were in his city.

data-p-id=e50fb6f48ce6b7705cef328bb6226c43,Somewhere in the outskirts, Erin, Emma and Lucious embarked on a dead journey to a place where Sinara’s corpse could be buried safely. The three were able to avoid any suspicion from the police by the time the sun started its descent. Lucious had quarreled with Erin dozens of times during the drive, while Emma had been looking back the whole time, wondering when the body of the witch would ever rise up again. But neither of them noticed the sky turning darker the more further they went. A swarm of crows descended on them from nowhere and slammed themselves hard on their car. Erin, too frightened, couldn’t hold himself to stop driving.

data-p-id=715209e1bd62f69e87b9db464dcd905d,A terrified Lucious muttered prayers to himself when the mysterious swarm became so aggressive, Emma started to cry like a baby, screaming for Erin to stop the car at once. Lucious, nearly driven insane by Emma’s screams, began to struggle with Erin until they crashed into a small ditch. The strange thing was, none of them sustained any injuries or concussions from the fall. An enraged Erin threw his half-brother out of their mother’s damaged car and both started to verbally and physically attack each other.

data-p-id=54bc43aa771cc4100190bd5d70f1d259,“If we hadn’t survived the crash, I swear I would a’ killed you first, Erin,” Lucious sneered, “I told you this ain’t gonna work from the start!”

data-p-id=83719ede14cedbdd0057d5941a5d29e7,“The witch is fucking dead, Lucious!,” Erin spat out, “What are you so scared of, huh?! Mom’s car! Now what do we tell the ol’ lady?”

data-p-id=40d615289cc66cd541a1f06fb6c5b257,“I’m not the one who stabbed the witch to death, Erin!” Emma walked slowly to the boot of the car and noticed it moved. Awestruck, she stood frozen and the two brothers argued aimlessly as Sinara’s arm raised the hood of the boot. The three witnessed the second resurrection of Sinara like the delivery of a new born child.

data-p-id=e6545d8b15cc6e2d65d52aa32f315ef3,Sinara yielded and explained to them that she never wished to hurt them, and that her suicide was all part of the ritual to set her free from her other superiors. Erin, however, was frightened as hell itself and threatened Sinara to leave them alone. Lucious, who was convinced to accept Sinara for who she was, in capitated Erin from behind when he was getting emotionally violent. Emma, as well had been convinced that Sinara was not a fiend.

data-p-id=5b47e542652ac58e91ec34abd8d24284,Aside from the revelation of the stranger from the bar, the backlash of the recent bomb attack orchestrated by the Terrorists caused Dean’s Cult to have change of plans. What no one in Heathens knew was that the more deaths and explosions the Terrorists organized in the city, the more the great darkness descended. There had been no sunshine in Heathens ever since the Terrorists emerged from their long, awaited hiding. It was time for the annual meeting of the Cult of Dean West and Jessabelle gave the big speech, urging the society to stand up for the city they loved and eliminate the menace. Dean later appeared in his visible form and stood right next to his wife at the altar of the Church.

data-p-id=ddec0f67133ed1e3f41185717f1e6ec2,At the bewilderment of the beautiful Jessabelle, Dean publicly stated that the cult lay in wait for the right time to strike back, as blowing their cover would not only doom them but expose themselves and the secret of the city to the world. Unlike her husband, Jessabelle wasn’t bothered if the war between them and the Terrorists became controversial, but she was yet to find out what Dean’s plans really were. He wasn’t bothered about the Terrorists, but only one person had illuminated in his head. Moriah Wilder. Late as it was, Dean donned his hooded suite and infiltrated the police Precinct. He frantically searched for Moriah’s profile using the servers and as easy as it was, found her location.

data-p-id=b4fa432d4ab2aaa9ca75f34e46a74cbe,The supernatural Dean invaded the home of the Wilders like the ghost of Silent Hill. As silent as he was, Dean hovered around and gazed mysteriously at the sleeping Dani and Piper. Looking onwards, he hovered to the room of Moriah and Pearl, and all interests began to rise.

CHAPTER 18

data-p-id=e5e78e10d5f229bb5b027fe15d8e0534,Dean was a hostile creature preying, stalking and circling around Moriah and her sister Pearl in the long dark, cold midnight. For an hour, the hooded Dean glared at the sleeping Moriah. Killing her in her sleep was the only way, but that wasn’t what quenched his bloodthirst for merciless vengeance. Why not kill her children to make her suffer more? Why not just burn the house down? Why not kill the woman sleeping by her side? Dean grew impatient.

data-p-id=85fd037962e63533cd0f06cf596224c1,He took quick glances around her room and realized the kind of woman she was now. Almost cracked glass. Shattering slowly to pieces. She slept with her shotgun beside her as though it was a teddy bear. Flashbacks began to play in the malevolent killer’s head.

data-p-id=81c16b6c0abf90e0ea95e2980706e0ce,1977, as a child, Dean looked at the smirking, devilish faces of Moriah and Josiah right after their sentences for life were decided in court. It was fact that for all these years, the victory went to the Wilders when they left the young Dean in an endless, lonely life of failed justice for the murder of his parents. The thought then changed everything. Dean spared Moriah on that silent midnight and planned for a better punishment.

data-p-id=249d8e234a06b6f621da06cc60e9c0ec,The dawn of the next day was dark as the bottomless abyss. When Dean remained silent for an hour, Jessabelle grew impatient and began throwing the ball to the wall.

data-p-id=c39327b08660b4a3f3261e1282aa7f21,“Dean, what is it?“, she asked her husband with such a calm tone, “Please, talk to me. This city needs you right now, Dean. Call yourself a god, a king or a hero, it doesn’t really matter anymore. It’s time you start showing the Terrorists what your name truly stands for.”

data-p-id=82e6d12dca7895cf130e9cca2461f3f7,“I saw her, Jessabelle,” Dean spoke feverishly, “That woman. The woman who took my life and shattered it to ruins.”

data-p-id=a6d9a533ba6f735e10acf23d435e5dde,Jessabelle looked so confused and wondered if Dean was suffering from nightmarish hallucinations. The temptation to propose he see a therapist was denied by Jessabelle.

data-p-id=387c301ecb6dc9eb78d21fdfbb0df97f,“What woman are you possibly referring to?”

data-p-id=349f552ce1ca27b814e68167ae6a0a0f,“The Wilders. Her name is Moriah Wilder. She and her husband murdered my parents and forced me to live in that living hell of an orphanage when I was seven. Last night...“, as Dean spoke, his anger and hatred made him bend the steel ramp of his stairs.

data-p-id=b6cea99e2ba78d4c0a7a5a4ae75653e1,“...Last night, I was in her apartment, and I saw just what I needed to see. She has family. Children.” Dean’s voice was quivering, and his own wife couldn’t tell whether he was laughing or crying.

data-p-id=d7718d8ef46cd40eb5c7b8fea929aaaa,Suddenly, Dean started reacting violently. Holding and pressing Jessabelle’s neck tight. “I will make her suffer. I wanna break her in front of her fucking kids as long as I want to so that when I grow old, I’ll die with great satisfaction that, in all my life as a deranged and fearful individual, I did the right thing.”

data-p-id=8b1b7370d52200104afb2a55de1aab07,Jessabelle began smirking, seeming to enjoy the pleasure Dean was giving her.

data-p-id=5a3be44ddf7a920a489c43038ea81983,“If you care so much about your little revenge, sweetheart, then do kill that pathetic waste of wariness and start thinking about us. Your family. Your people. Get your head back where it belongs, Dean. Right here, with me.”

data-p-id=8b0880dfc7549f6c8a19da3a4ecb7296,Jessabelle’s words half-emptied the rage that filled him. The couple began to embrace each other and make love. Sooner, Jessabelle became devoted to helping Dean plot of a way to kill the Wilders. He grew over obsessive, ordering Lt. Riley to check and recheck Moriah’s profile in the Department and each gave the same result, confirming that she was that woman Dean glanced at in court years ago. A vast criminal record was just the boost to Dean’s confidence in confronting his parents’ killer.

data-p-id=84712ce7c5bd8ed8488ba0d613dadd05,However, a guilty Moriah began thinking of ways to pay Frost the visit and give him the concern he deserved. Emma and Lucious bought Sinara back home with them, but Erin didn’t. He was driven insane at the idea that a witch was living with them inside the same house and wondered about in the streets, thinking of a way to save his family from Sinara’s enchantments. It got to the time when Dani and Piper were introduced to the Wiccan, and in two days’ time, Lucious and Emma were adamant that Sinara revealed her secret to both of them. At times like this, it was impossible for Dani and Piper not to believe that Sinara was a real-life Wiccan and former member of a coven of hidden, immortal witches from the 90′s.

data-p-id=32891549f76ecf25fcf86c621bec454b,At school, Dani, Piper, Lucious and Emma talked to Sinara at the pub after class to avoid letting Pearl or Moriah hear their conversations. e five would sit together like group therapy and in each of the sessions, Sinara explained her past involvement with the Damned. Their fight for power and the many years they succeeded at it. Sinara never forgot to talk about her former leader Samara, and how she made her feel much invincible and inferior to the sisterhood. Piper was the only one who found a sense of pittinessfor he Wiccan and drew closer to her. When Erin finally got home on one fatal night and sat on the same dinner table with Sinara, a change of events suddenly occurred.

data-p-id=aa33fbc8de353a8782fe46100f01822f,The obnoxious Erin, as sneaky as he was, poisoned Sinara’s glass of wine with drugs. Though poisoning had no effect on her, Sinara’s sudden ailment wasn’t the drugs but the fact that her body was transforming back to what it is supposed to be in the reality. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror to see half her face as young as it was and the other half like that of a woman. The covenant binding Sinara to Samara’s will had been broken after the reincarnation, allowing Sinara to finally age again. Eventually, Piper realized this physical change in her. She went on further explaining that after the Great Bond of 1990, the covenant made the sisterhood physically young and ageless for all these years. Piper found the fact ridiculous, that he was fooled by the young, attractive appearance of a middle-aged woman. He and Dani didn’t actually believe in Sinara’s stories until now.

data-p-id=8c99e1d6d571323c9602c5bea578ddcd,It had dawned on Piper like a heavy rainfall that day. That just for split second, he might really be attracted to Sinara, no matter how slow her aging process proceeded. Erin would fatally try another sinister way to kill the Wiccan but Piper defended her with vague and fought his brother, whereas Sinara stuck to her words that she would never harm anyone in the family, not even Erin. With Piper’s help, Sinara found her safe haven with the Wilders and bonded well even though she was still a stranger Moriah had just found weeks ago. Pearl grew disturbed and impatient of Erin’s violent acts towards Sinara. Dani, Emma, Lucious and Piper did well to keep Sinara’s secret from Moriah and Pearl just as she fought hard to keep most of the darker, untold secrets of the Damned from the Wilders.

data-p-id=c191e0f334421b3d53b410a208ad7ec5,Samara was still watching over Sinara and that logic had been implanted at the back of her head like a leech. Piper had felt a great happiness being with Sinara most of the days that no matter how the great darkness descended on the city, he had always felt immune to all the hatred and chaos. As Moriah went on playing her music, she was haunted with the memory of a bleeding Frost from last incident that she finally made it her own agenda to go see him personally. She didn’t care what he thought of her now, or the state of him at that time.

data-p-id=b7cd7149067045ab8ccfdeced868a0e1,Moriah had been hostile towards any man that made an effort ever since she accidentally shot the only man she ever loved, but Frost was a good, broken man who needed to be fixed by a woman’s comfort.

CHAPTER 19

At the hospital, Moriah was dressed in black jeans, a velvet shirt, and her leather boots while carrying a bouquet of roses she cut from her garden. The atmosphere of the place had finally given her the idea that the people of the city were living in fear all along. It was the fear of the regime. Dean West proved himself to be so malevolent, his name was visibly and spiritually illuminated on the forehead of everybody that lived and breathed in Heathens.

data-p-id=0685a8f2abc3d0deea8fe6f7c2419cc9,Moriah discovered, for the first time in her whole life, the existence of a new world order. Or was it just the beginning of a new world order? She thought. Moriah never believed in God, nor did she believe in the coming of the rapture. The people of Heathens had changed entirely because of one powerful man and devoted themselves to worshipping him. Walking down the halls, it then dawned on Moriah that maybe it really was the beginning of the End Times. When she entered the room where Frost was just being discharged, Moriah could physically see the darkness that descended on Heathens. As nervous as she was, Moriah called out to him and Frost sheepishly turned his gaze with disbelief.

data-p-id=d8c0619479fcf54afe3a107e7058c03a,The woman he fell so deeply in love with had come to see him. With her brown, dyed hair, beautiful, dark stern frown and sharp, ferocious voice, Moriah uttered the words,

data-p-id=6de3d0801283cca3d79a77fe8e788a77,“Are you alright?” Frost forced a smile, though he knew it would only hurt himself.

data-p-id=9501acf8e579ce3057c3b71069e947eb,“Never better.” He quickly replied.

data-p-id=618f9fe573696664664414df7ea116bd,“Look, we haven’t been properly introduced. I’m Moriah. Moriah Wilder. And...“,

data-p-id=c8ff11cf8dcea5b7ab0a4c920af6a1c0,“Johnathan Frost. But just please call me John,” he replied shyly.

data-p-id=f509638b7334574e1448c46fcb3e53ac,“I’ve been unpleasant to you from the moment we first met and I came here to say I’m sorry. I want us to really start things over again.”

data-p-id=c35550019d11227b888adcaf8ddcc0bf,“Of course. That sounds wonderful.” Frost replied. At once, Moriah was amazed at how much ease she felt after uttering those simple words. She offered to walk the disfigured gentleman back to his home and just by that gesture, Moriah realized what kind of person she really was. She had always avoided being involved in men for so long, the feeling of being with someone other than Josiah Wilder was entirely new and never neutral. Frost and Moriah had a positively, non-hostile conversation, in which Moriah got to learn more of the latter’s time as a psychiatrist.

data-p-id=6a340dbbab9266a2cbcaad82ed04b8f6,His ex-wife had been diagnosed with dysthymia, paranoia, depression, dementia, schizophrenia and necrophilia which sometimes forced her into straight cannibalism. She kept this a secret from him during their years of marriage but he found out when he told her that he was barren. After a series of unstable outbursts of fury, Frost had kept her terminally locked in the mental institution. During one meeting, she intentionally dislocates Frost’s jaw with a scalpel that she stole from a fellow inmate, forcing him into living with severe Lockjaw after surgery. The divorce was never a hesitation.

data-p-id=7d39d6736faf988011648ee9153252a1,Hearing what Frost had been through, Moriah had completely ceased her hostility. The following days, Moriah had finally found someone to relate well to. Both Frost and Moriah had been outcasts in the world they shared, hiding in the prison of memories of the past. In order not to move fast and relive the life she had with Josiah, Moriah avoided the tempting choice to sleep with him by willingly accepting the fact that she herself needed to be stable again. She pleaded with Frost to be her psychiatrist, but not her lover. When Pearl discovered her younger sister and Frost were now eye-to-eye, she seemed a bit uneasy that they had been awfully slow on the relationship. All Pearl wanted for Moriah was for her to feel intimate again.

data-p-id=310cd8f17cbc4ee4e502986c74483815,But instead, Moriah would go each day to Frost for psychological therapy in his apartment. Not hiding anything from the past, Moriah revealed her identity as the infamous serial killer from the 1970′s. The murders she and Josiah orchestrated back in the days played like a violin in full black and white. She would tell Frost about the random music that played in her head anytime she had the urge of killing. Frost showed how truly in love he had been with Moriah due to the fact that he kept a very tolerant nature to her no matter how she described the murders to him.

data-p-id=4a4a3c988deb97154ac5893ca8b7a76e,The woman that sat right in front of him was deviously dark, passionate and proud of who she had been without feebleness, but Frost was madly in love with her. He could see how much hate filled her as she relived the memories of the past. The only thing that Moriah had good in her was the fact that she had regrets for most of the crimes she committed with her husband. Eventually, Pearl began to think it was time Moriah took things to the next level with Frost but when she was interrogated on why she had suddenly been so bothered in her newfound relationship, Pearl revealed that Frost was the one she cared more about, regarding his situation.

data-p-id=af089b75b3e62d3871583d0c741638a6,When therapy was getting a bit too old and depressing for both of them, Frost instead proposed listening to Moriah’s music. At late nights, Moriah went over to Frost’s house to play him her songs. And each song sparkled both of their dark days. Moriah had been haunted with the strange feeling that she was happier with the disfigured psychiatrist than she was with her own family. For years, Moriah hid in the screams and yells of the dysfunctional Wilders for a long time. All Moriah pleaded for was one quiet day with a gentleman.

data-p-id=ed40b24e0ab53fc6bab542b308e39ab0,The thing Moriah liked about Frost was that anytime they had something to laugh about, it would hurt Frost the most. He would joke about his own suffering, saying, “It hurts when I smile.” Eventually, a convinced Moriah was the first to propose that they start going out together. It was only one night at a special dinner, Moriah was in her sparkling purple, the same dress she wore on her last wedding anniversary with Josiah. Something she would not forgive herself for, and Frost was in his usual tuxedo. They danced and danced till they were lost in the night. When urges could no longer be contained, Moriah fought it but failed.

data-p-id=01672067852f7077042a46f45310a586,In Frost’s apartment, Moriah and the disfigured psychiatrist charged on each other like the beasts of burden. One would easily notice that both of them had missed out on countless years and had finally met their maker. A one-night stand between Moriah and Frost was never enough. Just when the darkness in Heathens was now visible to everyone, a second night stand between Moriah and Frost ensued, only this time it sounded more like they were in World War IV.

data-p-id=1e994b630cf12265bf05a90c0f9ea3f5,Waking up to see the next morning with a beautiful, disfigured gentleman beside her on the same bed was the heavenly experience Moriah had hoped to feel in years. Waking up to see the next day with the beautifully, dangerous-looking and amazing Moriah Wilder beside him on the same bed was the heavenly experience Frost had dreamed to feel for the past weeks. Frost made Moriah breakfast that sunny Saturday morning and suggested that she moved in with her. But then it happened. She forgot to mention the five young Wilders she swore to take care of after Josiah left.

data-p-id=897c660ffb233a7c4fa569d3f7bcf5e4,Frost’s sudden upside-down grin had hurt him as well. Moriah expected his reaction and kept a solemn face of pity. The reality of Moriah having teenaged children all along crushed Frost’s perfect fantasy. When Moriah left him alone again, cynical thoughts began to taunt him. Sitting down with his glasses of champagne, Frost thought deeply of fantasies only sociopaths had. He would kidnap Moriah and elope with her far away from her family. He would kill Moriah’s children and make it seem like an accident, forcing Moriah only to himself...

data-p-id=6957214509b2024c88ec2403e678508d,...But Frost just drank his heart out and passed out to sleep to drain these graphic images. The great darkness descended fully on Heathens this time. The Terrorists emerged again in a very silent part of the city. In school, Lance and Yin had just informed Dani and Piper that Toni was murdered during a pursuit. The police ambushed the teenager, brutally beat and shot him to death. His father, who had also been a leader of a sect of Terrorists, was driven to a mentally unstable point that he now forced his sect to gain a new target. Dean West himself.

CHAPTER 20

It was a dead silent day for Heathens when Jessabelle knocked on the front door of the Wilders. Moriah was caught up with the regret of hiding such a big secret from a man like Frost. He never cared about Moriah’s sinister nature and past, but the fact that she already had coming-of-age children killed his spirit. She truly admired Frost and felt sorry for hurting him. For the brief moment, she had expected the man to be at her front door, but instead she sees this strange, attractive young girl at the door.

data-p-id=6263528d20f7b94cfdfbb0af8d3ac31b,In a quick battle of eye-to-eye insults, Jessabelle scanned Moriah and had the sour look of disappointment. For a young woman her age, she could see the dark, broken and shattered soul that inhabited Moriah Wilder just by looking at her eyes. Moriah, with a face of disgust, could see through the expensive jewelry, necklace, bracelets, suit, long brown dyed hair and cheap colon, the incompetence and immorality Jessabelle had in her.

data-p-id=626dc615622f7141da117364b4cc02a9,What did this little girl want at a time like this? Moriah muttered to herself. Glancing at the Mercedes parked behind her and armed security guards, Moriah’s instinct prompted her to let go off her pistol she had hidden behind her at once.

data-p-id=f3e72bd257457b8f132412cafc43c20a,“Apologies, Mrs. Wilder. If I’m being too hostile.” Jessabelle sang with the voice of a dark angel. Just by the sound of that irritating tone, Moriah immediately detested this young woman and the only thing stopping her from blowing Jessabelle’s brains was the numerous security men.

data-p-id=0592c8f51a8f03cc948dff4a698000d1,“I’m Jessabelle West,” the irritating voice went on,” You know me? Don’t you? I’m Dean West’s wife and assistant.”

data-p-id=6750b0e005f81d57861e2c7c5531bcfa,“No. I haven’t. I’m new to this city.” Moriah replied grimly.

data-p-id=947c630e9669877c3d4f33dacd28e120,“I understand. Well, what if I came here to tell you that Dean West would like to meet you in person, Mrs. Wilder?”

data-p-id=d47a2a6885b89fdc1c621271a4028a41,“What for?”

data-p-id=de1d91be9752ee48ded8f4dc89e6f65d,“Hm. Since you’re new here, I’ll inform you that when Dean requests to meet you, you’re forbidden to ask questions. Because he dislikes that.” Moriah raised her eyebrows.

data-p-id=d35bb3da0362a6bebbb9adfab95b7210,“Okay”, she replied. Jessabelle spoke as though a king had just summoned a slave. Moriah sat at the backseat with Jessabelle as they drove past the darkness of Heathens.

data-p-id=9fc4655a37526d5a9a5582e4cbf686b0,Numerous questions had run through the back of Moriah’s head but all she cared about was the fact of how stupid she had been to leave the house without a weapon. Moriah snarled silently at the irritating Jessabelle throughout the drive.

data-p-id=0065f044576a25642fa309c482a79819,Jessabelle offered her a smoke of cigarette, but she declined.

data-p-id=fad9c23ebbb8c545fbe1c61bfffa3702,“Who’s Dean West?” Moriah inquired very pretentiously. Jessabelle chuckled with evil in her eyes. “How does he know me?”

data-p-id=1f0af7e04c03ef844042864e2b7d3570,She went on. “You’ll have all the answers you’ll need when you meet him, Mrs. Wilder.”

data-p-id=7ca3a304dc02a98ad97f275018a700aa,” ‘When I meet him’ “, Moriah mimicked laughably, “Didn’t know he was such the majestic one. By the way, when I take a look at this new generation, I’m not amazed to see a young girl like you in a fancy car and... fancy everything.”

data-p-id=78e18821a3e2718431a750586a41d338,Moriah began to hear the music play in her head and needed to make the quick conversation in order to prevent herself from acting stupidly.

data-p-id=8fd9685229c095b37612c45127b2f941,“Oh, this isn’t everything.” Jessabelle smiled,” Before I met my husband Dean, I worked the night shift as a miner since I was sixteen. Abusive parents and all that. Dean saved my life back then. He was the only one I could look up to, and I deeply adore him more than any man in the world.

data-p-id=3168b9d413f4fdbec5483bd3d02662db,Well, what do you do?” Moriah looked less interested in learning about this young lady and was even more less interested in saying more about herself. When that question came, Moriah looked back at her past from being a serial killer to a widow and said,” I’m an aspiring singer.”

data-p-id=342184e3c3d8140018e7e7f9ff041311,They arrived before anymore words could be uttered between the two strangers. Inside Dean’s fortress of a mansion, Moriah felt as though she was a sinister presence and uninvited stranger. The apartment had visibly opaque windows and a very shadowy ceiling. This large hall could easily hide over twenty dead bodies.

data-p-id=a29d973aa0e6505e4e7ef3c6ede39dfe,Moriah glanced at Jessabelle after rejecting her offer of a glass of tequila. The music was still playing audibly as ever. Moriah was itching to kill Jessabelle but then a being so malevolent had appeared from the dark curtains. He was a dark angel ascended from the abyss of Hell. He was the night that plagued the day with death, famine and disaster, but he wasn’t the Devil nor the Dark Avenger. He was the vengeful Dean West. For the first time ever, Dean and Moriah came eye-to-eye. For the first time in years, Dean confronted the murderer of his parents.

data-p-id=9456a3e429104e196103d97d3e0d773f,At this uncomfortable sight, Dean noticed how much Moriah had aged. There was a pause of nervousness and awkward silence for a while until Moriah blurted out,” I like the mask. It’s really sparkling.” Dean was half annoyed and impressed at Moriah’s attempt to create humor in this situation. “I prefer not to show my face in public,” Dean spoke in a malevolent voice, “The mask was designed by a last family member of mine. He was Phil Ranford West. He passed away after I accidentally caused his death.” Moriah raised her eyebrows and spoke calmly. “Why did you call me here, your highness?“, Moriah went on taunting, “And how do you even know me?”

data-p-id=529257f21a77848bc57b328906205e35,Dean suddenly became a subtle young gentleman to Moriah.

data-p-id=bba50587983d5a9aaa6368beaab62673,“1977,” he began, “I was a child when I first heard about you and your husband.” Moriah became still and silent.

data-p-id=e388a530cf93464a86a47f1b76c7ab72,“1979, that’s when I witnessed a horrible, tragic death of my mother and father by the hands of you and your husband.” Jessabelle hid behind the walls, smoked her cigar and eavesdropped with a malicious grin. Moriah became impatient.

data-p-id=26adc203ec51bc6fa749f1d48347012f,“What the fuck are you saying?” she sneered.

data-p-id=2ee55142a9ed89ce02e99d55fdd3720e,“Do you recall the names, Lillian & Sam West? They were Law enforcers. The only family I ever had. And you took them away from me, Moriah Wilder. Are you surprised I now know your name?

data-p-id=f31b3d895eefcfdee026e7e270a4498a,Are you surprised I know where you live? Where you children sleep at night?”

data-p-id=bfd0bb4f2e92fe0fc4dcee6cec9e5476,For the first time, the music in Moriah’s head played very slowly. “You were in my house?”

data-p-id=529978f8aaefa447a0827af0fa746877,“Yes. I was in your house a few nights ago. I would have killed you in your sleep with ease.” Dean circled Moriah like an apex predator.

data-p-id=c65bc9f61cce05ce60cabcd20c3ae797,Flashbacks began to play.

data-p-id=a89183dac1115171562278492b9f98d4,Moriah and Josiah were in court and were given the full year sentence. Through their smirks, only Moriah had the last glance at a young Dean’s face. Could this really be one of their victims from the past? Moriah felt great sympathy.

data-p-id=f48307fab0166a7bd94039826e7c9ccb,“I’m terribly sorry. We didn’t mean to cause you this much damage. We were young.”

data-p-id=1656b9e3542d0707102818fa4d719144,“Leave my city.” Dean ordered with stir coldness and hatred. “For the sake of your children, I chose to spare you, Moriah. Now you have the chance to leave the city and forget that we ever met.”

data-p-id=7d15afe9c5e2c56776cdac3ae27d727e,Jessabelle frowned her face. Dean turned his back on Moriah with gentleness and refused the perfect chance of killing her. Moriah slowly walked away with guilt and was escorted back home. A disappointed Jessabelle scolded her husband.

data-p-id=b04e892d74c5fd66d3d6fc6516a99bdb,“I thought you were going to kill her here and forget the past.”

data-p-id=71093864b314ea274702d6c64ffb9343,Dean ignored her once again and became silent. So did Moriah. For the first time in her life, Moriah was actually scared. It was the voice that Dean had. It was more than a threat. It was death itself. When Moriah returned to her family, she looked like someone evacuating a building. She actually thought of packing to leave Heathens at once. When Pearl began interrogating her, Moriah was ignorant.

data-p-id=a2e9f0167609b56883a62021adbf1516,She couldn’t hold on for a minute to think straight. Just when things couldn’t get worst, Moriah spent the night with Frost and had the nightmare once again. Demonically possessed and in her room of the old apartment she and Josiah formerly shared, Moriah murdered Dani, Piper, Lucious, Erin and Emma with her shotgun wearing a disturbing smile that wasn’t hers.

data-p-id=2a17e0af372affcaaa955225a83a397b,She glanced at the dead bodies of her children, at a book entitled The Flare next to her guitar, and then her demonic reflection in the mirror. Frost woke up to see and hear, for the first time, Moriah jerk awake and screamed with intense fear. She needed to be away from everyone she loved in order to take a look at the painful reality.

data-p-id=4a7c04f55a277edfd336a83b4a83170b,The boy whose parents she killed years ago is now the Mayor of the whole city. And her family was now living in it. Why couldn’t she had known all along? At the descent of daybreak, Moriah’s driver took her away from the great suspense.

data-p-id=dbe26723cb1710fd35dfb0cc66e016e2,They drove to the deepest of town and stopped near the cemetery. Glancing at the tombstones, Moriah’s world was full of panic. Dean meant to harm her family, and it was all due to a past sin. Just then, Moriah glanced at the grave of the deceased Randall Jones. Moriah, confused, emotionlessly stared at the grave. It was written

data-p-id=5e65054b2f3284bdda323457fc52871e,“1945-2012”.

data-p-id=440f3d10f913ba1927d234e2b293f0dd,The same Randall Jones she had been introduced to months ago died in 2012? That was not possible. Moriah thought. Then who was it she visited then? At once, Moriah urged her driver to take her to Jones’ residence but he had been caught off guard at the sight of Dean West standing in the middle road. After a slight pause, Dean ran towards them with the force of twenty men.

data-p-id=e5058bf4bc27a8d04592e8ac874683ea,Things played in slow motion in Moriah’s head, so did the music as well. As she reached for her pistol, the malevolent Dean crashed into their car with brutal force.

CHAPTER 21

It was an attack of sheer power. Nothing like Moriah had ever felt in her life. The inhuman force bashed into Moriah’s skull so brutally, she tasted her blood. The collision itself had propelled the driver out through the glass. Hard. He staggered to the road like a dying kitten, breathless and gasping for precious life which was in the mercy of Dean West.

data-p-id=934045d2cf78de8717b4d3239dce52ef,His plot then had been to kill Moriah and leave her children in a great suspense. To feel the pain he felt in his childhood. Dean grabbed the driver with one bare hand and, to Moriah’s horror, strangled him till the last ounce of breath ceased immediately. In a quick reaction, although dazed, Moriah reached desperately for her pistol. She shot twice at the psychopathic Dean but the bullets were like tiny rocks to him, each bouncing off with no force at all. Fear struck Moriah as she choked in her blood. She did whatever she could to flee from death but Dean locked her inside the boot of the car.

data-p-id=d3964fc5c160ae7b04e78a4dab49dc9f,All at once, Dean savagely bashed the vehicle with his bare hands and while Moriah was in the boot, he smashed his knuckles right into it, killing Moriah slowly. She felt the superhuman force of his fists like brass knuckles punching into her aging chest so hard, it eventually snapped her heartbeat away. She was suddenly in a deep coma, as the relentless killer tossed and flipped the damaged vehicle over and over till it got to the edge of the road.

data-p-id=554fe12384ee91d40d9aeb681fa8c6ae,To get rid of her, Dean lifted the vehicle with effortless strength and tossed it into the river. Watching with satisfaction through his silver glass mask, Moriah had died immediately before the vehicle sunk into the water. It was clear that the fear in her face was the acknowledgement of Dean as a true, murderous god. As he fled the murder scene, Moriah had finally left the world. She abandoned Pearl, Frost and her children in the cold, dark abyss of a world. Crossing to the next life, Moriah woke up in a place that didn’t resemble anything like Hell. She recognized the sea and the island she lay on.

data-p-id=02e3c48d0d65d56fec2226742cfd5df0,It was the same island her husband died on. Moriah didn’t believe in God, life after death, nor the Everlasting Kingdom, so why the hell was she here? The sky was a bright illumination so white but she was able to look into it. Getting up, Moriah turned her gaze behind her and, low and behold, she saw Josiah. He had aged as well, trapped in this strange dimension for all these years, waiting for her to arrive.

data-p-id=d2af04a48877510a38e954db09512da2,Nothing was ever going to stop her from being with her husband again. Not even in Death. Moriah embraced him like they had just seen each other yesterday, but just before she could talk to him, the sky slowly turned pitch black.

data-p-id=c505cd34c53ce62dbe589555616c10f7,Like a fallen angel, Moriah descended back into the world and down into the water. A shadowy figure had dragged her dead body from the drowning vehicle and into the dry land of a forest. Sinara resurrected Moriah from the most painless death she had ever experienced. The Wiccan’s ritual had involved the darkest of arts, but she was so quick and mysterious with what she had done. When Moriah finally rose from death, she began to think all of the recent events were just a hallucination.

data-p-id=a1e8b7f6a36af5bb7557871fb6bb8b78,From the time Dean threatened Moriah to leave Heathens and came home terrified, Sinara’s instincts followed Moriah. Her secret now unconcealed, Sinara revealed to Moriah her past with the Damned and the fact that only she can stop Dean West from threatening her family. On the other hand, Dean went back to Jessabelle and revealed the news of Moriah’s presumed murder, believing he had finally exacted his vengeance. Jessabelle, relieved that Dean could now occupy his mind on protecting Heathens from the Terrorists, expressed her excitement and proposed she and him leave the city for a while after the situation had been taken care of.

data-p-id=f6218997ef28a112f0385cdad2617649,When Dean and a recovered Freeman were on their way to a Congress meeting, the Terrorists, led by the father of the deceased Toni took the perfect timing to attack the Mayor and his convoy. It was about to be the biggest outburst of fury that Heathens had never encountered. Toni’s father was the first to strike his blow at the regime. The first bomb decimated the vehicle transporting the Mayor and the Senator, causing it to careen clear off the road and down again. The Terrorists suddenly emerged like rats from the sewers.

data-p-id=682ba1807a3dd7730939b158d194ba15,The security surrounding Dean and Freeman engaged the freedom fighters in a lengthy, firefight of guns, smoke grenades and flaming bottles. In the battle, the rage of the numerous Terrorists overpowered the armed guards and more showers of flaming bottles and smoke grenades rained on the road. The blasts and smoke from the fires blinded Dean’s vision and it was clear he couldn’t see what was coming next through his glass mask. In mere seconds, Toni’s father hurled another flaming bottle so hard it hit Freeman across the face. The impact alone was enough for Dean to freeze in fear.

data-p-id=07f0594e87fa7d63b5d8f3b89e39cda1,He heard the Senator’s wild screams as fire ate through his face. Dean shielded his friend from the inflicting war and massacre but again, Toni’s father fired another one, this time across Dean’s mask. The impact of the blast was powerful that his mask started to crack. Enraged, Dean emerged from his cover and started to remove the mask slowly.

data-p-id=86e92ddb7ede1f56b0e9dcc8bd491403,Helicopters suddenly teared down grenades from the dark skies unto the road, forcing the Terrorists to retreat. Carrying the burnt Freeman into the hospital, Dean realized Heathens had fallen apart. He knew the world he created was now consumed in eternal darkness and Dean had been a fool to dwell in it, ignore the violence and pretend as though a safe haven had actually existed in this bizarre world. Freeman had been seriously hurt and in mere seconds, Dean knew his only friend was surely to be gone.

data-p-id=8d42499d27f9b0655e42d3ca1a33d4e0,He clenched his wrists around his dying brother and listened carefully to his deafening last words, “.. Get my wife and daughter out of this city. When you do, find the bastards. and kill them all...” He waited for a moment after Freeman passed away. Though Dean wasn’t mourning, he had isolated himself from everyone, thinking of just how to kill the whole world. When Jessabelle came to join her husband in mourning Freeman’s death, an angered Dean left in a haste.

data-p-id=35b13ac542d647d6940c9a1f825ee9db,Meanwhile, when Sinara left Moriah to return to her family, she bolted into the house like an aggressive boar. Dani, Piper, Lucious, Erin and Pearl, who witnessed the attack of the Terrorists on the news, were forced by Moriah to start packing to leave the city. Sinara had warned her of Dean’s subliminal nature and unrelenting force, though most of the other things were unbelievable to her ears. Moriah, at once, noticed Emma was the only one not present. After Lucious informed Moriah that Emma had been out to see a friend, both Moriah and Pearl raced their hearts out to the nearby neighborhood.

data-p-id=f9e4829ef05ed55db43051564578603a,It was finally nightfall, and Dean, as invincible as he was, ambushed the Terrorists at their hiding location. With his brutal force of strengths, he tore down their base of operations and massacred their arms. In the simultaneous events, Moriah and Pearl got out of the cab right in the midst of a running herd of civilians who were escaping the massacre Dean had single-handedly orchestrated. Moriah and Pearl glanced to their horror, as the superhuman killer murdered the Terrorists.

data-p-id=7cb47652f3456c7c0ed9551d02a98ac0,Dean teared Toni’s father limb from limb. Emma, who had just left the home of her fortune teller friend Edna, walked aimlessly in the streets right towards the center of where Dean was attacking the fighters. When Pearl, who quickly spotted Emma, dashed to the scene, an interested Dean stopped to walk right towards Moriah’s family.

CHAPTER 22

Clutching Emma as tightly as she could, Pearl was unaware and had absolutely no clue of what was preying towards her. The inhuman Dean crept towards the family with the supernatural silence of the wind, smirking sadistically through his broken silver, glass mask. Moriah had been so caught up in the midst of the fleeing crowd of people when the unexpected happened.

data-p-id=0a0b2521ae60e5e1babf52bf9a5ec0fe,In a mere split second, Dean took off his mask to reveal his insanely, inhumane face. Pearl had denied the thought of not looking. Her eyes gazed upon the hideous evil of Dean West and at once, she felt her soul sucked out of her body, leaving her breathless and rendered an unliving waste. Emma, whose face was turned backwards, felt every ounce of life drained from her aunt’s body. She couldn’t understand what had happened. Why Pearl had become motionless and still.

data-p-id=ab26ecdee5586bdf35f51891d0736590,As soon as Moriah appeared from the stampede, she could see the fear and confusion in her daughter’s eyes. Dean, as invincible as he was, fled the murder scene and hid in the darkness.

data-p-id=0a3428650605f7d3c339db4ca79c918e,Pearl dropped to her feet like a bomb from the skies. Emma and Moriah were stuck in a breathtaking suspense. Pearl, Moriah’s only elder sister, had lay right in front of her with her eye sockets blackened like dark coal and face as grey, soulless and pale as the weather. The first sound that came from Moriah was a thundering scream so ear-piercing, Emma had literally gone deaf. The next thing Moriah did, was fall down to her knees and weep like she had never done before.

data-p-id=99dc371a5206f2cd90e33f7a53531ccf,Emma stood there emotionless and watched her mother breakdown in tears like a little girl. Her cry echoed loud in the dark of the city. For a while later, Moriah carried her sister’s dead body with her as she hijacked a vehicle. Insane as she ever was, Moriah’s madness had increased out of its charge. Driving all around the dark, deserted road, she searched for Dean with a shocked Emma at the backseat. She forced herself not to stare in her mother’s eyes through the mirror.

data-p-id=903b209809331c6ae49f61c6d48ca6c5,The look on Moriah’s face was the only kind that would determine if she really was a lunatic who escaped from a mental asylum. It wasn’t until she found a masked Dean murdering a gang of the Terrorists and piling their bodies unto one another. With an unthinkable speed, Moriah drove the vehicle right towards the masked, superhuman killer with the same force he had earlier shown her. When Dean had staggered to the road, Moriah emerged, cold-hearted and armed with the shotgun from the vehicle. Dean thought he was seeing ghosts.

data-p-id=f5ffa4896d4d1adc28bea81e96d8e74e,”I Killed You!“, Dean growled, though he had no longer gained half of his consciousness after being knocked down hard. Moriah, without any second thought, pulled the trigger on Dean’s chest. Another on the chest. And again, another on the same wounded chest. Dean staggered, but kept on coming towards her. “I fucking killed you!” Dean roared ferociously again. Four times, Moriah shot Dean in the chest again, and five times, she shot him in the lower stomach.

data-p-id=5e86520fcc11c60553fea6c98b5f4ecc,The malevolent man kept on walking tall. With a quick haste, Moriah reloaded the shotgun with more bullets and shot again. Six times, then seven times Moriah fired the gun at the same bloodied chest, but Dean got up and kept coming further.

data-p-id=8ff44d5dbec74da770d4ba9f93ddc184,The furious woman had entirely forgotten her child was in the car. As Emma shut her eyes and closed her ears tight, Moriah run the vehicle over Dean with brutal force again. The inhuman killer still rose like a zombie from the grave. Again, he roared, ”I fucking killed you!" Moriah knocked the man down with a third massive force. It was impossible for Dean to rise after that.

data-p-id=bfa3e3a9774e4481ac60d780ac06a401,Low and behold, the Mayor rose again. Moriah left the vehicle and fired ten rounds at Dean’s legs and five across his mask. Now Moriah had been pissed off at the fact that Dean was visibly and spiritually unstoppable. The cracks on the glass mask multiplied so much, Dean was about to take it off. Instantly, Moriah shot his hands so he wouldn’t dare. Helpless on the ground, Dean was shot by the raging Moriah twelve times randomly on his body. The evil grin in her eyes expressed the feeling that she thought she was winning.

data-p-id=b08c500f99e9a3a19477d9024af29390,Her hands were trembling on the rifle. As soon as she turned, Dean rose again to his knee slowly. Turning around, Moriah screamed in anger and fired the shotgun at Dean ten times again. Dean was finally on the ground, unconscious. As soon as Emma was free to see and hear again, Moriah looked at the numerous efforts she had gone through to takedown one man and began to smirk, chuckle and laugh like the maniac she was.

data-p-id=dc9c84b62a485dd0b6afad41e0b491cd,Moriah’s sanity had not yet surfaced. Carrying the bodies of both her deceased sister and Dean West back to her apartment, Moriah had completely ignored the fact that Dani, Piper, Erin and Lucious were in the house. Dean, still in a coma, was chained to the wall of the basement like a gallery collection of dead bodies. For hours, after Dani and the others mourned for Pearl, they stood before the comatose Dean with unanswerable questions. “I shot him forty-two times...And he kept on walking...“, Moriah muttered to her children, “This won’t hold the bastard for long. In about an hour, he’s going to wake up.”

data-p-id=8409b09fc199b5a0c0833712171684ef,Before Dani could ask anything, Moriah shoved the shotgun to her chest. “Shoot him twenty times on the chest if he starts to show a slight movement or reaction,” she said before leaving them in the basement with the dangerous villain. For a while longer, Dani and Erin sat there glaring at him. For the first time in a long time, Dani had a long conversation with her elder brother. “Why did we ever come to this city in the first place?” Dani inquired. “Mom wanted. We wanted to live a new life,” Erin answered,” Start over again, y’know? New York’s never the safest place, Dani.

data-p-id=915829a8fb6e80e22205e15a5737bbe3,The last time in New Orleans was hell for our ol’ lady. All the murders she and dad did, I’d runaway if I were her. Those times we were in that old apartment, nothing ever changed for us. So, we decided here was gonna be the perfect place. Y’know? All that talk about here being a safe haven an’ shit.” Dani was suddenly alerted to something entirely different.

data-p-id=912a3b337a0d60c5209792755fd4be07,“I wonder what his face looks like, Erin,” Dani muttered to her brother as her hand reached for the shattered silver mask.

CHAPTER 23

Dani, with both hands, reached out to the mask and left the shotgun. It was as though she had been hypnotized by the beauty of it. That broken, shattered silver felt smooth as she rubbed her dark polished fingernails over the villain’s face. Erin, who never believed in the superstitions of a supernatural man, grabbed his little sister’s hands and scolded her for the very first time.

data-p-id=7d579668ea8bcdd67a23389bbe439ae7,For the very first time, Erin had been scared of what he might see underneath the mask of Dean West. Moriah sat next to the dead body of her precious Pearl, along with Emma and Lucious. Piper stood near the glittering window, tired, confused, afraid and worried sick of where the adult Sinara had been. He wanted to ask Moriah of where the Wiccan had gone off to, but his mother had been heavily occupied, trying to gain back her sanity as she lay next to the dead Pearl.

data-p-id=09739b2deb9660aca02507d45a190dfd,Piper watched with half-closed eyes, the darkness in Moriah’s face when she lay down on her sister’s corpse, embracing her tight, whispering to her and singing the only song she knew her sister loved from their childhood. Emma and Lucious weren’t shocked at all to see Moriah go from giggling and laughing to crying, then to speaking aggressively. When Moriah went for her alcohol, Lucious was about to stop her but the woman hardly recognized her own adopted son.

data-p-id=aea02d9e39f8d1aebb651682efb9b5dd,For a moment, Emma and Lucious left Moriah to drown herself before confronting her on the matter. “Mom, why’s he in our basement?”

data-p-id=46a6a812c977e9469eeb90922c2b4d48,Lucious had no choice but to ask the woman.

data-p-id=66cb03a00dc4eb8f647a57ce3caca9d3,“Who?” Moriah whimpered lazily.

data-p-id=08fa53d7727e5e15268d60531bc12615,“The mayor, why did you chain him up?”

data-p-id=557557e174b6991acfb55b25bec6eaa4,“I..hurt him,” Moriah whimpered again,” I hurt him bad. Real bad. Now, he wants to hurt us. All of us, Lucious. I’ve seen with my own eyes, the things he can do. He can’t be stopped. But I promise he’s not gonna harm anyone of us tonight.”

data-p-id=1f615492bb0752c2b493c5e9e6725228,As Piper had urged so much to leave the safety of their home to search for Sinara, Lucious was more bothered about the fact of reality. The Mayor was ironically trapped inside the basement of their home, chained and bound in a comatose state, and it was a clear logic that the cult would be out to look for him. In the darkness of the abandoned town, a deafening silence surrounding the dead, dismembered bodies of the Terrorists and some civilians had echoed throughout. The great darkness consumed Heathens entirely on the fateful nightfall.

data-p-id=2d6130233ee3e202a1216484e6b86d04,Things got from bad to worst. Unknown vehicles appeared through the darkness, but this time, no rallies of screams were heard. With dead quietness, the Cult of Dean West emerged from their vehicles. For the first time ever, the Cult were armed and dangerous. A larger group of the Cult minions rode on the Heathen Patrol chariots and laid in wait. Together, they mimicked the same silence as their sovereign master and raided every building, searching for remaining Terrorists to wipe out. Moriah still mourned over Pearl’s corpse, but Piper, who stood by the window, took a quick glance at ten of the masked invaders walking down the streets with weapons.

data-p-id=cb141ec5103e7778ee6a5e0f7a72f7ca,Recognizing the robes and masks, Piper bolted upstairs without a word and started packing. He was later joined by Lucious and Emma, and then minutes later, Erin and Dani.

data-p-id=90e39b5fe2d25b45c3b9992454a111ea,“Mom, we need to leave now! We need to leave the city now! They’re out there. The Cult! They’re looking for him and searching through every house!“, Dani screamed at her mother who had been caught in a trance, but then something had hit her on the head.

data-p-id=3754a1fa06eb32bbd002dfeaf2b8b54f,“Dani, Erin, did I say you could leave your fucking post?! You left the son of a bitch down there to...?!”

data-p-id=9b011e5f33ff4ee6c8cacd3721139853,With the hastiness of the wind, Dean, who had woken up from flashbacks of staring at his mother and father’s graves as a child, noisily burst through the chains like it was rubber.

data-p-id=023c433dc7c2cae082f60b0d7f178cd8,Screaming with rage, Dean ran and jolted upstairs with the sound of a beating drum, burst through locked doors with brutal force. Moriah had already ensured Dani, Piper, Emma, Lucious and Erin were in perfect hiding places. She alone stood there, readying her own shotgun in wait. The superhuman killer charged at Moriah without even thinking and got three shots to the same wounded chest, which had self-healed already. Dean grabbed Moriah’s neck with viciousness, slammed her head hard against the windows and hurled her across the furniture where her dead sister fell to the cold floor.

data-p-id=b01cf1eff3e1e9a3a28990d13777ba61,Enraged as ever at this, Moriah charged at Dean, tackling her enemy on the knees and tried to strangle him with the shotgun but Dean tossed her across the room and tore the firearm in half. Moriah had been murdered by him once and rose up again. But not for the second time. She had already known what Death was like. Painless and quick. His glass mask a completely shattered mess, Dean yanked it off immediately to expose his cursed face so fast Moriah had nearly got a glimpse. She urged Dani, Piper, Lucious, Erin and Emma to keep their eyes shut and remained shut no matter what.

data-p-id=31a397dfa60d84b6e6860bc0b901d520,Everywhere was a complete black, and an unmasked Dean crept silently around the house in search of Dani and the siblings. Moriah, eyes closed, was trying her best to put out all the lights of the house to make things easier. It wasn’t long until Dean caught the little Emma, who teared the house down with her squeamish screams. Moriah, as well as her siblings were quickly alerted and scrambled everywhere with eyes closed. Upstairs, the unmasked Dean was caught by an armed Moriah right by a window with Emma clutched tight in his arms.

data-p-id=ca4b6da91ac18a35da20615fb5ae335e,“Can you bare the dreadful loss of losing another loved one, Moriah?” Dean hissed like a serpent. “Dean!“, Moriah pleaded with eyes closed, “This is between you. And me only. My kids don’t have to be a part of what I did to you. I swear to God, if you kill my little girl-” She was cut off by Dani, who struck Dean on the face with gasoline and fire. Emma was freed and grabbed by Moriah, who fell down the stairs safely. In an act of rage, Dean struck Dani across the room but Lucious and Piper ganged up on the burning superhuman, who hurled both down the stairs as well. Erin, in possession of the shotgun and eyes closed, shot Dean straight to the chest, causing him to fall through the window and down hard.

data-p-id=95a8f05996f0dba176776debc42c1762,Whilst he had still been burning, five of the Cult enforcers ransacked the home like bees in the trap. Two attacked and began wrestling with Piper and Lucious. Dani and Emma were silently chased and pursued by one throughout the apartment but Erin, still armed with the shotgun, blasted at the enforcer through the chest on time. The other two silent enforcers possessed blades and an axe while creeping and circling around Emma, Dani and Erin. Piper and Lucious were slowly being strangled by the non-verbal enforcers until the crazed Moriah ambushed Piper’s attacker from behind and brutalized the minion’s concealed face with a hammer.

data-p-id=098c13592d5ab70fa5820bc2f782c93a,Bloodied in the face, Moriah grabbed a shard of broken glass to confront Lucious’ attacker. Without much of a fight, Moriah tackled the minion and slit his throat, slowly and painfully. Blood showered on the woman’s face as her psychopathic self was finally freed and that smirk, she had kept from the 70′s came back. The last two enforcers took Erin by surprise, but he refused to let go of the shotgun. Dani and Emma screamed at the stalking enforcer, taunting them with his axe. Like a tiger, Moriah ran towards the minion screaming with the rage of a Siren as she impaled him in the lower stomach with a long wooden pole.

data-p-id=dc93e41d41fb0b88f487b317399570e0,Erin overpowered his attacker and blasted him right through the head of the mask. Moriah took more shards of glass and continuously stabbed the minion in the throat and smiled ever maliciously. Her children had been spooked to Hell as ever and for the first time, the five took pleasure in watching their mother kill again. Without a word, Moriah, Dani, Lucious, Emma, Erin and Piper left the house and took the leave inside the stolen vehicle. Dean pursued the Wilders despite being burnt. Across the darkness of the Heathen alley, the Wilders drove in search of anywhere safe away from the rampaging Dean, who ran steady like a preying wolf, cursing in an inhuman language.

data-p-id=be03c66309ca9de099432aa2cc14a728,The family had been unaware of the fact that they were driving right towards the entire stand of the Cult who rode on the city Patrol chariots, standing there motionless and hidden in the long, cold dark. When the unmasked Dean arrived, Hell was about to break loose on the Wilders. Dean and his entire army of minions had surrounded the family in a harmonious ring. Erin, Piper, Dani and Lucious stared at Moriah’s face and all they could read was the expression of ‘Well, what else could we do?’

data-p-id=cd9cb6a2f1879792f0b6a9dca1023861,“Shall we pray?” Lucious had no choice of hope left but to ask. For a moment, the family agreed to share the word of prayer when all of a sudden, a dark angel had just descended. Piper opened his eyes fully wide. The young Wiccan Sinara walked down the alley. Having manifested her full supernatural witchcraft, Sinara attacked the Cult gathering using vines from the trees to strangle and tear the cult limb from limb. With one wave of her hand, a powerful force from Sinara struck Dean away, right across the alley. Moriah had been too confused to believe so many things had happened all in one day.

data-p-id=6ead595b05849693ecfb07be9b09097f,Amidst the supernatural attack, Sinara appeared to the family and told them to leave immediately.

data-p-id=623511edc171127934d849354444e4a5,“You see, Lucious. God didn’t save us. She did.”

data-p-id=aa3ae14cdb2f060b3ff73d5fb9ce21ac,Moriah giggled happily and frightened all in the same. Away from the chaos, the Wilders found shelter in an abandoned house and stayed in wait. Dean rose and confronted Sinara in a very lengthy and destructive fight. The witch was by all means immune to the curse on Dean’s face, and it was impossible to keep a man like Dean down in the ground. It was a brutal battle between the cursed and the Damned. The Wiccan and the Psychopath.

data-p-id=089bf75668477987a579a0fe8478069f,Like the gods that they both were, Dean and Sinara teared each other apart, ripping through Heathens with more violence. To conceal herself from the city, Sinara teleported the villain into a dimension. The dimension was similar to the Glass House where the Damned were situated, but this time, had been filled with numerous mirrors. Mirrors Dean could finally see into his own reflection. The Wiccan stood before Dean, helpless and writhing in pain at the many reflections of his inhuman face. For the many years as a cursed man, the one thing the coven had refrained him from doing is staring at his reflection.

data-p-id=139235d60b6dc63154a05797186702ff,Inside his own prison, Dean refrained from the only thing that could kill him, but the night had come. Finally, Dean could be free from the aged curse the Damned left him. At once, he started to burst in blue and red flames. “All I ever...wanted...to....do.... was to make this city a better place....“, Dean cried out his last words as his life was fading away into the abyss. Sinara watched as Dean’s face had disappeared entirely. She teleported the dead body of Dean West back unto the cold streets of his dark, beautiful city.

data-p-id=d70242df64de6a0f2c696045b98263a1,For a while, a great silence had been broken and the darkness was fading away. The people of Heathens came out of the safety of their homes. The supernatural battle had ended and everyone filled the streets again. Dean’s dead body was left on the road, decaying, but moments later it had been discovered. In the perfect time, Jessabelle had received the word of her husband’s death.

EPILOGUE

data-p-id=3c7c085a15d9d1006e6ca4ab45cd4c17,At the dawn of a new day without Dean West, Jessabelle sat alone in the same room she shared with her husband. Drinking her husband’s favorite champagne, she glanced at the clothes, the bathroom, the dining room, the many other unnamed rooms and then finally through the window, the large graffiti on Dean’s statue that wrote ”THERE IS NO GOD OF HEATHENS“. Just looking at the bold lettering gave her the realization that Dean was dead and gone forever. Locking herself in the bathroom, she burst out with long angry tears.

data-p-id=9a362f44f5c3848e9f525afc7f682400,Since their marriage, Dean had rejected the idea of having children or raising a son or daughter of his own but Jessabelle never found the reasons. The only thing Dean loved the most in his life was Heathens, the city Jessabelle had been raised in. As a child, her birthright had been the city itself and Heathens bore her name all over it. When Dean appeared in Heathens for the first time, he fell in love with the city, as he had fallen in love with Jessabelle. In Heathens High, the two grew very attached as teenagers.

data-p-id=bf707eeaa924c9aca3181ecb14129cef,As a teenager, Jessabelle was brilliant and authentic but Dean had the bright vision of a better world in his eyes. Graduating from college, Dean decided to go into the life of a politics and Jessabelle, fully supportive, had turned into the brains and voice of wisdom for her lover. Their close friend, Birch Freeman himself, had become the Senator in New York and all together, they were the perfect family anyone could ever ask for. Eventually, in 2016, Dean had already been married to Jessabelle and had finally won the post for Mayor of Heathens but his power never changed the love he felt for her. Jessabelle was Heathens, and Heathens was Jessabelle.

data-p-id=c2229e72dcdc4b785a5235725967a038,In 2017, when Senator Freeman had got married and raised a daughter of his own, Jessabelle’s envy had gotten the better of her. Endless days and nights, Jessabelle argued with Dean because of the one thing he refused to let her have. And then when the curse had happened in Dean’s life, Jessabelle witnessed the birth of a new menace. A psychopath and monster had shared the same bed with her from then on, but Jessabelle still loved him for who he was. Now Dean and Freeman are finally gone. The city was free from the regime of a psychopath. But who killed Dean West, and how did he die?

data-p-id=7bbf0e95587d5fe147ead7bb495eddda,At the grand memorial, the surviving Terrorists were heard rejoicing with excitement. The people of Heathens remained silent and Jessabelle stood tall, with a face that only resembled death and decay. Before she could make her big speech, a swarm of Federal agents flooded the building like bees. Jessabelle wasn’t shocked. In a mere matter of seconds, she was taken in with clutches wrapped neatly around both slim wrists. Jessabelle never uttered a sound or movement to resist, neither did she opt for a lawyer.

data-p-id=fd2cc40b79a5a460b6de04e928632747,As she left her husband’s memorial with a faint grin, the media reported that a leaked video of Jessabelle leading the cult of Dean West to engage in secret violent executions had gone viral and worldwide. With Dean’s killer unknown, his death had been confirmed by the news that it was caused during the violent uprising of the Terrorists. Days later, several other unnamed cult members had been investigated and apprehended. The Church of Dean West had been demolished to ruins and replaced with the normal church once again. The road Jessabelle was about to go without her beloved husband was going to be a life sentence and there was nothing she could do about the fact.

data-p-id=f1a718ef8662c0f8588336a6977a1cdd,The Wilders picked the perfect place to give Pearl the proper burial she deserved. Dani, Piper, Lucious, Erin, Emma and Moriah were just up and about ready to leave the city for a next better settlement in Australia but couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to the only woman that took the dysfunctional out of the family. Moriah had lost Josiah, now Pearl, but this never meant she was alone. Her sons would miss her dearly, Moriah thought. After a eulogy delivered by Lucious, Moriah finally spoke the forbidden truth. She stood there in front of her children and told them what happened the night she and their father escaped the ship.

data-p-id=6fbaa6279f50501d8f34f07a71ce1791,She told them boldly that instead of being killed by the police, Josiah was accidentally shot by her during their escape. At first, Dani, Piper, Erin, Emma and Lucious denied it but without any emotions, they accepted the truth. Low and behold, Jonathan Frost appeared at the funeral to join their grief. He had never ever been so happy to meet Moriah’s children for the first time. Frost offered that he go with the woman and her family to Australia but Moriah refused even though she knew how much Josiah and Pearl would have wanted that.

data-p-id=42b06bf3cd5deeb6b028c76646bfadf7,When the burial was over, Piper left the family and followed Sinara all the way to the travelling ship at the docks. His heart had fallen deep for the Wiccan that he offered to go with her back to her Native town, but she thought it better that he stay with his family. There was clearly a great age difference between the two despite both looking exactly like ordinary teenagers, Piper just being a mere eighteen and Sinara in her forties. The witch wanted to hide from Heathens and so bid Piper farewell by sharing a kiss to his cheek before leaving. The boy was never told of when Sinara would come looking for him again.

data-p-id=c22bb01c8be34a342ff7eaa54b7ef9b9,Her purpose of leaving was to hide from the Damned and Samara. The coven was surely bound to hunt her down and the Wilders would be in the midst of the impending doom if she hadn’t runaway sooner. At the burial ceremony of Dean West, Samara, dressed and disguised along with her sisters, stared at their fallen vessel in pity. Both the Wilders and the Damned had been the only ones in Heathens aware of who Dean’s killer was. The plan to show the world their true power of creating a real-life god had been destroyed by Sinara.

data-p-id=4f6a0a7d0272ce3a559bb3e5d1a73493,War was now declared to anyone who dared to stop their next plan, because now, for the first time ever, the Damned were going to face a new enemy.

data-p-id=1e0f7e097afec2b5a06984020707f1b5,-TO BE CONTINUED

data-p-id=f1ce172953fcaa6e9a2884a9ab23d2fd,The next saga continues in DAMNED DAYS OF HEATHENS

data-p-id=7782ef4bf709099ec04910922a473f03,Main Characters of the Heathens Saga

Moriah Wilder: The protagonist, aging single mother, widow and former serial killer whose partner and husband Josiah Wilder was shot during their prison break in 1998, Manchester. Moriah has lived a life of crime since the 60′s until she began to help Josiah, a dark 70′s magician who manifested power from the book called The Flare, the two became successful criminals and serial killers. She helped Josiah by murdering rich victims and taking all their fortune until the murder of Dean West’s parents took them to a trial where they became famous for their crimes. Moriah left that past behind and decided to follow her dreams of singing. She is cold, psychotic, quick tempered with a mean streak and will never let anything interfere with her family. A woman with sophisticated self-respect, Moriah denies any man she comes across, claiming that none of them would replace her love for Josiah but she later finds herself falling in love with a lone, disfigured psychiatrist Johnathan Frost, the only man who helps her full fill her dreams as a singer and truly loves her despite her psychopathic tendencies.data-p-id=b4e6d4b67982a910a21854409d58f94c,style=text-align:center;,

data-p-id=50601ab58412a03b7f25d23b3936900a,Erin Wilder: Psychotic, eldest son of Moriah.

data-p-id=25714e56f215f9d6ca861f64772a4b35,Lucious Wilder: The only African American second eldest son of the family who was adopted. He is very much unlike his delinquent half siblings. A Christian and does not like his family’s sinful ways.

data-p-id=25691d373bbc13e419f81da60ed31e69,Piper Wilder: Third eldest son who develops a relationship with Sinara.

data-p-id=8abf42ba5a394b20c110fc817b821662,Dani Wilder: The Gothic fourth eldest daughter of Moriah.

data-p-id=ed55d4c950bc58cf74693b4cb8688f99,Emma Wilder: The youngest daughter who is forced by Moriah to have the appearance of a boy.

data-p-id=d5ca0b29983f0052054f1bea35e2d7b9,Pearl Simms: The elder sister of Moriah and an editor of the NY Bulletin.

Sinara/Sinara Kachingwe: Another protagonist, Native American sister of The Damned, ally of the Wilder family and witch who falls in love with Moriah’s son Piper.

Jedidiah Dean West aka “God of Heathens”: A supernatural antagonist, politician, malevolent god-like figure and superhuman enemy of the Wilder family.

data-p-id=7585d900bd4dfa15649b5500af8cdce6,Jessabelle West: The wife of Dean, the principal of Heathen High and also the High Priestess of the Cult of Dean West.

data-p-id=c00b5816d7c63a3bc261208284433c9e,Lieutenant Thomas Riley: The lieutenant of the Heathen Police Department.

data-p-id=f05dfd46e86d5712dcb3e2fa473dae77,Dr. Jonathan Frost: A disfigured, divorced loner suffering from permanent, surgical Lockjaw and former psychiatrist who falls in love with Moriah.

AFTERWORD

Author’s note:

data-p-id=cf14c38997c39808600d36297434132f,This book is the titular beginning of the saga centered around the Wilder family being led by protagonist Moriah Wilder. When the idea of this brand-new saga first came into play in my head, my intention was to make the Wilders a dysfunctional crime family being headed by the unstable Moriah Wilder, who takes after her deceased husband Josiah Wilder and raises her teenaged Wilders to become expert criminals similar to her.

data-p-id=04f9a9ea2c7051395e232a7c0c418203,Then Heathens was the name of the city the Wilders had operated as the infamous crime syndicate. While Moriah and her family depart from the city to hide from the authorities, the antagonist Dean West and his wife Jessabelle take over Heathens and makes it a crime-free haven. Then I thought of letting the Wilder family return to the city to restart a new legacy over again so that Dean and his cult, which was the whole city itself, would do whatever it takes to eliminate the Wilders.

data-p-id=823fc73a8d1cf105972c2dab934cb30a,After hours of sitting down to rethink the plot, then It dawned on me. Why not make Dean the primary villain and Moriah the antihero of the story? I decided to mix the genre into a fantasy thriller. The kind of thriller in movies where protagonists like Sydney Prescott fight against the Ghostface killer in Scream, Laura Strode fight against Michael Myers in Halloween or Andy Barclay fight against Chucky in Child’s Play. All I needed to kick up the saga was one badass female protagonist and give it more vibe from Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor and Weaver’s Ellen Ripley.

data-p-id=5ba0c2e253bc145d81211d0b2baf6f41,I needed the villain to have a purpose. I made Dean a powerful, god-like character that doesn’t see himself as the enemy in the beginning but is forced to become regarded as one when he finds “his” enemy. Moriah Wilder. I changed the whole synopsis to Moriah and Josiah being young antagonists [Bonnie & Clyde] from the 1970′s who murder Dean’s parents, ruining his childhood in the process. Josiah is killed off in the flashback, and Moriah becomes our main plot, the unstable widow and matriarch family head who is aspiring to become a singer but hides from her dreadful anger of separation and passionate desire to kill.

data-p-id=2765841583a2eac088fb5fae5a6af62b,Her teenaged children and older sister Pearl become not only the supporting characters but voices of reasoning to Moriah because they can’t put up with their mother’s unstable nature. Heathens and its origin is unknown to these titular characters but they decide to move there when they hear it’s a safe haven. But I didn’t only want it to be the old-fashioned revenge story where the protagonist ends up being the villain and antagonist being the hero, we all feel sorry for, I needed the city to have a history of its own.

data-p-id=68a37177e3c11a8fc7acb23bdd6dbebd,Dean’s regime needed to be a force not to be reckoned with, so I decided why not add a little more of the suspense, thrills and conflicts? I made the city form its own resistance. The Terrorists. Dean’s Cult had to be sinister. In the story, Dean West’s emotions are sudden and unknown to the audience due to his mask and his movements are silent and creepy. So, I made his henchmen and women[minions] as you call them, move the same way as their master anytime they went after a threat in groups or packs.

data-p-id=65d6e69b77d37c814e0aca61aa9cb89d,One of my inspirations for writing this chapter was the 2008 film The Dark Knight. After watching and studying Nolan’s direction over and over again, I put in that same vibe from the movie. And vibes from The Purge were put in as well. More explosions, violence, act of war and treasons were the necessary key elements for this epic chapter.

data-p-id=11c516a981241f10c08160ffa5e1300e,But as usual, I needed a bit of romance and I wasn’t going to let Dean and Jessabelle West be the center of attention for their explicit love making scenes. Moriah wasn’t meant to be alone forever. So, I made a psychiatrist her new love interest. Someone who shared her side of pain, who also felt broken in the world. Johnathan Frost’s background history was when his ex-wife forces him to become disfigured and regarded inferior and shunned by the society of the handsome, normal men who easily attracted the ladies. The romance needed more erotic in it so I made an age gap between the two, Moriah being in her late fifties and Frost being in his mid-forties.

data-p-id=581c43d44fd1b75f587ffacf4b522020,I did the same for Piper Wilder and Sinara the witch. One being a full adult and the other a regular teenager-in-love. And that was it. I made “Heathens” the title, because it referred to the city and the crazy people in it that made everyone call it by that name. Also, one of my greatest inspirations to begin this saga is J.K. Rowling and I aspire to follow in her work of the Harry Potter series.

APPENDIX

The following terms in the chapter are referenced again so you would get a better understanding of it:

data-p-id=31d109d162629f8d0cfc8ce8316c0567,Glossary

data-p-id=555e429d9ec44c5382af41d12f672d06,The Great Bond of 1990: The year at which Samara formed her covenant with her coven of witches.

data-p-id=3c31e28c201ee20c06c5d9368417b09f,The Flare: A book or Necronomicon containing dark magic which was formerly in the possession of the Wilders and Sinara.

The Glass House: The magical realm and headquarters of Samara’s coven of witches which is also her primary home. It had been once her internal prison to hide her from the world.

Buffalo Hill: is a city being referenced from another of my earlier series.

Edna Myers as well is a character from that city in my early comic book series titled “The Paranormals”- A dark fantasy, superhero horror, comedy saga I worked on.

data-p-id=f91cda2467e56b3c54f16c740e3af8ed,In that book, she is a fortune teller with psychic ability who mentors a group of supernatural teenagers-the Paranormals. data-p-id=da042cdc496e4026e63b5ac68d067e45,This book is set in the same universe as The Paranormals and I’m hoping to establish a possible crossover with the two franchises one day.