8 Days For Salvation Read online

  That was all the others ever lasted because he told us all once when we were still alive, that he would need eight days to deliver us into salvation. Was Daniel crazy? No, I don’t like to think so. I actually found a beauty in his ramblings when he came for the others. The way he would always talk gently to them like they were children and promise them life everlasting. I would never tell him that though. I wouldn’t tell him that I found his damaged thoughts to be unusually beautiful because I was afraid he would keep me alive and death would be much better than a life lived in the house of the devil.

  Chapter Three

  Time wasn’t something I kept track of here, so I wasn’t exactly sure how long Daniel was gone for. I was pretty sure it was substantial enough for him to make a pot of tea if he wanted. I hated that fucking smell on him; it didn’t seem right for some reason.

  “Lift your head to the sky, Faith,” he called out as he approached from my left. It was funny how that always worked—if I thought about him even a little bit, he would appear.

  I raised my chin obediently and almost smiled as the warm sun touched my skin. Something sharp scraped across my sternum as a rough leather belt-like item was secured around my neck. I shifted uncomfortably on my knees as Daniel tightened the brace then used his fingers to gently lift my chin a bit higher before finally letting it rest on two sharp prongs.

  My body started to shake. I had no idea what the hell he had put on me, but it was obvious that if I let my head drop I’d end up impaling myself.

  “This is called the Heretic’s Fork. It was used in medieval times to get the accused to confess. Those that were found to be needing of this kind of coercion would sometimes stay awake for days. It was the pure stubbornness of the human nature to not give in until the last possible moment, and it usually led to madness. It took me a long time to find one, and I’ve been wanting to use it for quite awhile now. Keep your head held high, but learn to swallow your pride, Faith. I don’t like being spoken back to and you know that. You’ll stay on your knees with this around your neck, until I deem you’ve had enough. How long that will be depends on how sorry you really are,” he said sternly.

  Tears slid down the side of my face. I was honestly surprised I could still produce tears because of the condition my eyes had been in for so long, but maybe they would help my case. Maybe he would see them and realize that I was sorry for speaking back to him. Maybe he would take this thing off of me and maybe I would find a way to compromise. I could play the part of the good girl and he could play the part of the deliverer and we’d be happy until it was time for me to die.

  “Daniel?” I called out, wincing from the sudden pain of the tip of the prongs digging up into my chin.

  I was greeted by nothing. No response, not even the clearing of a throat. He had probably gone back inside and left me out on the side of his house with this contraption fastened around my neck.

  He wanted an apology, but this was made for extracting confessions. I didn’t want to apologize because I had done nothing wrong by politely declining a walk. Perhaps a confession instead would free me from this device of torture. I racked my brain trying to think of what I could possibly confess that he might find of worth.

  It astounded me that I couldn’t think of anything. I was far from innocent which is why I assumed he took me away to his home. He seemed to be some kind of redeemer of sorts—a self-proclaimed savor of souls—but to what end? Death couldn’t possibly be the great ending to his grand scheme; there had to be more to it than that.

  “God, help me,” I whispered out loud.

  The chuckle behind me made me jump. Fuck, I thought as the prongs dug into my chin and sternum from the sudden movement. Daniel hadn’t left after all;he had just moved behind me.

  “Daniel, I have a sin to confess,” I said as soon as I attempted to recover from the sting of the sharp edges.

  “I’m not asking for confessions today,” he said softly.

  “Please?” I asked as a sob escaped my throat. I couldn’t have been wearing this more than ten minutes and I was already starting to lose my will to keep my head held high as he had instructed.

  His hands grazed my shoulders softly as he reached down and pulled my hair back into a tight ponytail. He only pulled my head back so much because he knew that if he moved it even another inch, I would more than likely be impaled.

  “I don’t want a confession,” he repeated softly. “I want an apology.”

  My scalp was starting to hurt but I didn’t complain. It was obvious that he wanted to inflict pain on me for being so stubborn.

  “Would you like to apologize now?” he prompted.

  A fresh stream of tears made its way down toward my ears. The angle he was holding my head caused them to fall backwards and I had to bite my lip hard to keep another sob from escaping.

  “Faith?” he asked, pulling my head back a little further.

  “Yes,” I managed to grunt out.

  “Good. I’m going to release you now. Take care not to hurt yourself when I do.”

  He quickly let go of the grip he had on my hair and I had to keep from pitching forward. Christ knows what would have happened if I did. I honestly expected him to find some amusement in my struggle to stay on my knees, but if he had, he didn’t give it away.

  “I always thought you were the most beautiful of the souls I’ve kept here, Faith. I’ve had impure thoughts about you,” he said softly.

  The smart-ass in me wanted to tell him that I wasn’t hearing confessions today, but if a simple disagreement about taking a walk had landed this fucking thing around my neck, I feared what he would do to me for mocking him.

  “That being said, the apology I want from you is more physical in nature.”

  If it were possible, I would have raised an eyebrow in curiosity. What could I possibly do for him on my knees with a torture device around my neck?

  It became obvious when I heard him unzip his pants and place the tip of his dick against my lips. I wasn’t exactly sure how he expected me to do this with the promise of death at the slightest incorrect move, but what would happen if I didn’t at least try?

  “Open your mouth and go slow,” he said gently. “If you bite me, I’ll slam your fucking head down. Do you understand?”

  My body quivered slightly as I reached a shaky hand up. Daniel quickly pulled his dick away from me and used his foot to bring my hand back down to the ground, pinning it firmly in place.

  “No. Just your mouth,” he instructed.

  I took a deep breath and opened my mouth like the good girl he wanted me to be. He very slowly slid the length of his cock into my mouth causing me to gag slightly, but I gently closed my lips around it and started to move my head back and forth. I wouldn’t try up and down until I knew it would be safe enough.

  “Higher up on your knees, Faith,” he said in a labored tone.

  Apparently, Daniel didn’t care if it was safe enough, he wanted me to suck his dick the way he wanted. He wanted me to work for the apology he felt he earned, and he wouldn’t have anything less. I did as he commanded, hoping that the faster I got this over with the faster he would take this thing off of me.

  “Ouch,” I managed to say with my mouth full of his cock and spit dripping down my chin. The first attempt at going up and down and I already managed to prick myself.

  The prongs were sharper than he had let on because almost immediately I felt the warm rush of blood starting to go down my neck. It was human instinct to attempt to pull away from the thing that was harming you, but as soon as I tried, he reached back and pushed my head toward his body.

  “More,” he said in a thick voice.

  I tightly closed whatever was left of my eyes and moved as slowly and carefully as I could, swirling my tongue around his dick, pulling back once or twice to lick the head, and then back to apologizing. It was like a succession of bee stings every time my head went up or down, as more blood began to rush down me.

  “You’re such a good
girl, Faith,” he said as his body became rigid. He used his hand to ball my hair into a fist and began to viciously thrust his cock in and out of my mouth disregarding my cries of pain until I felt the warmth of him exploding in my throat.

  He left his cock in my mouth for a few moments, regaining his composure, before he pulled it out, and I fell to my hands and knees. I somehow managed to keep my chin up and somehow managed not to skewer myself in the process. I had to be covered in blood at this point. As he leaned down to unfasten the leather that had been secured around my neck, I turned my face and spit out what was left of him in my mouth.

  “Apology accepted,” he said, softly, as he reached down and helped me get to my feet. “Now, let’s go for that walk.”

  Chapter Four

  He kept an arm secured around my waist as he talked about the things on his property. There was a garden full of exotic flowers, a guest house where he would deliver me, a pool that sat between the houses, and a couple of acres of land behind his house encased in barbed wire.

  I was only half listening because I couldn’t believe that he had gone from sadistic to normal in the blink of an eye. I hated to admit it to myself, but it only added to the beautiful complexity that was him.

  “I have something I’d like you to wear for me when we get back home,” he said conversationally as we stopped walking. “I’ve never had the chance to put it on anyone, but I believe you’ll do it an exquisite justice.”

  What is it, you fucking freak? If it was anything like that fork thing he put on me, I would most likely find a way to just kill myself. Salvation be damned.

  “Faith,” he said, taking my face into his hands. “I wouldn’t do this for just anyone, but as the last of my souls, I feel that you’re the most appropriate to wear it. I know that it’ll make things easier in the end. Would you do this for me?”

  I swallowed hard. The answer he was expecting was yes, but I wasn’t so sure I wanted to agree to anything. Of course, disagreeing almost ended on self-impalement.

  I nodded in the end, anyway. I didn’t want that fucking thing wrapped around my neck again, so it was the only plausible thing left to do.

  “Thank you,” he said, resting his forehead against mine. It was a tender moment, almost like the moments he would come into the room and sit with me before he would leave with one of the others. He would rest his head against me, sometimes brushing his lips against my cheek, sometimes just holding my hand and telling me about his day.

  It showed that he was still human and that was what scared me most of all. It also showed me that evil was real and that it walked freely among us, masqueraded in normal day-to-day life. Even with my vision corrupted to the point of nothing, I would know evil if I saw it because it would be standing right in front of me. I always wondered what he looked like; if the devil was the beautiful fallen angel that bible camp led me to believe as a child or if he was as ugly as the intentions that swelled deep inside of him.

  I had to know. I had to have some kind of idea of the face that had caused so much destruction to so many others already.

  “Daniel?” I asked quietly.

  “Yes?” he asked, gently rubbing his forehead against mine.

  “Can I touch your face?”

  “For what purpose?” he whispered, grazing his lips against mine.

  “To know what my savior looks like,” I replied.

  He rested his lips against mine, a slow smile spreading across them. It wasn’t a kiss, but it was as close as he had ever come to doing so.

  “An angel wants to know the face of the devil,” he mused more to himself than to me. “If I allow this, will it satisfy you?”

  The way his lips moved against mine caused my body to start to betray me. I should have been angry with him, afraid of him—anything other than what I was starting to feel.

  “For now,” I whispered, boldly bringing my hands up and gripping his wrists. I knew I would probably pay for that in the end because Daniel was never to be touched unless permission was given, but the way I felt right now had to be acted on somewhat.

  He turned his wrists and shook my hands off of him. I stood there for a moment still lost in the touch of his lips against mine, when he took an unexpected step back.

  “But why would I do something to satisfy you, Faith? That’s not the purpose of this at all. If you wish to know what I look like, you’ll know soon enough. You’ll feel it to the very core of your being as each day passes, and that alone will paint the picture of me that you need to know.”

  I turned my face away from him again. It was how he always knew I was disappointed in his words. It was the most I could offer in the way of how his words could sting me, his refusal to allow me something as simple as to touch his face—and it would cut him as deeply as it always did.

  Daniel once told me that he hated knowing when he disappointed me, and I never hesitated in letting him know those moments as they happened. It was my own personal form of vengeance against him in a world where I was meant to be the tortured.

  “Don’t look away from me. I can’t stand it when you do,” he said quietly.

  That’s the point.

  He sighed loudly, taking a couple of steps away from me. I wasn’t sure in what direction, but the fact that he was putting distance between us already could be a thing of danger. It could mean that he was either becoming angry or thinking; either way I knew I would be on the receiving end of whichever it was this time.

  His thoughts could be a lot more dangerous than his actions because every time he let me into his mind, I could feel myself becoming more lost in his presence, and I knew that I needed to keep my wits about me.

  “Let’s go home,” he finally said, reaching down and taking my hand roughly.

  It was a half walk, half drag back to what I assumed was the main house. I had struck a chord in him and he wasn’t happy about it his actions told me as much.

  Anger it is.

  “Sometimes I wonder why I do these things. Why I even bother trying to save those that won’t even appreciate it in the end. Are you one of those people, Faith? Do you appreciate what I’m doing for you or is this all for nothing?” he asked, giving my hand a hard, sudden jerk. I almost fell forward onto the grass, but I had spent enough time on my knees today and refused to be there again so soon.

  “It doesn’t matter. None of it matters because I honestly don’t care. I just wonder sometimes, is all. But I will tell you this: you will be delivered, and you have no say in that matter. All you can do is spend whatever time you have left here either fighting with me or complying with what I ask. I leave that decision up to you, but that’s the only thing you will be allowed to decide; the rest is already set in place,” he said as we came to a sudden stop.

  I heard the sound of the door slightly creaking as he pulled it open and remembered that there was a step in front of me. I raised my foot and didn’t bring it down firmly until I felt the stone beneath me. It was most likely my last day outside until deliverance, and I felt a sadness starting to move through me. Had I done this to myself? No, not completely. I couldn’t think of anything I had done that would warrant death at the hands of this man.

  Perhaps he was right in giving me the only two options of free will he was willing to give. It was more than he had given the others, of that much I was sure.

  Daniel jerked on my hand again, yanking me into the house and slamming the door loudly behind me.

  The Ione Winslow in me told me that I had to fight to stay alive, but the Faith X in me told me to just accept the fact that no manner of fighting would end in the same result.

  Deliverance.

  Chapter Five

  Daniel took me up a flight of stairs that I didn’t know existed in the house. The only staircase I had known until this moment was the one leading down into the maze of hell that he led us to when we arrived. The one that held numerous hidden rooms where we would be placed until it was time.

  I was placed in the room with two ot
hers one bore the burden of having her speech taken from her, and the other bore the burden not being ability to hear. See, Speak, and Hear no evil had been revived in us. He made us into these horrible things based on what he felt how our purposes would be best served to him.

  It made me wonder how much of it happened in the rooms. I knew the smell of sex, and the room I was in had caused me to gag on it more than once. Did he desecrate the others before he took them? Would he even tell me if I asked?

  Each passing day with Daniel only brought forth more questions that I knew I would never get answers to or be brave enough to ask, for that matter. I stood patiently outside the new room waiting for his permission to enter, questions stinging my lips but not daring to be spoken.

  “Faith? You can come in now. Use your hand to walk along the wall to your left and enter the first room with the open door,” he called out.

  I did as commanded. Another punishable offense to him was making him wait too long. He had laid out his rules clearly to us when he had stolen us from our lives, and I always felt that if I followed them all he would let me go.

  I couldn’t have been more wrong.

  I almost fell into the room when I reached the opening. Each time I had to do something that sight could have made so much easier, I felt absolutely worthless. The feeling of his eyes on me as I entered the room caused me to wrap my arms around myself. It was almost a devouring stare and for the first time since I had been here, I was happy that I couldn’t actually see it.

  “I think you’re going to enjoy this. This is another hard find that I was able to acquire after years of searching for. Like the Fork, you’ll be the first to have worn this for me,” he mumbled amorously.