and lined up against the wall, the Brethren priests pushing themselves into his and his brothers’ mouths.
Gabriel shook his head, trying in vain to banish those images from his mind, to not disturb the part of himself that had pushed that trauma down deep simply so it didn’t eat him alive.
The path the Fallen had turned onto, this holy war they were diving headfirst into, may not have been one of peace, but in Gabriel’s eyes, it was a case of good versus evil. And for once, he knew that it was he and his brothers who represented the “good.” Using their darker natures to destroy an even darker, more wicked force that the world viewed as saviors.
Gabriel wanted the rescued children to be safe on his property. He needed to have them near to give them some kind of hope, some chance at rehabilitation and life. Just like his fellow Fallen brothers, they would be absorbed into his flock.
Gabriel wanted this. No, he needed it. His days were death and murder and destruction. With the children, he could rebuild them, repair the damage that had been done. He would try to save them before it was too late. Rather than fill his life with sin, he could fill it with charity and light. He could finally balance all the wrong he had done.
His heart fell when he remembered what Dinah had told him. “Some of them are too far gone,” she’d said, sorrow lacing her voice. “There is a small group, not too dissimilar to your brothers, of children believed to be born evil. Ones who already show they sway to the darker side of life. It was why the Brethren stole them away in the first place …”
Gabriel opened his eyes and looked down to find his hand formed into a fist on the arm of the chair, and it was shaking with the force of his anger. Gabriel didn’t get angry. He refused to submit to his baser desires. To any of the deadly sins.
Reaching out to the fire beside him, Gabriel took hold of a thin poker and pushed the end into the flames. He watched, fascinated, as the iron heated to orange, then he lifted up his shirt. He pulled the poker from the depths of the flames and pressed the tip to his torso. Gabriel fought back the scream of pain that came with the incineration of his flesh. But then the pain turned into pleasure, and his dick hardened in his pants.
Panting for air, sweat dripping down his back, Gabriel reached down and pinched the tip of his cock with his fingers. He bit his tongue as the pain rendered him momentarily paralyzed. He would never give in to any kind of pleasure. His vow of chastity would remain in place until he died. It was the one part of his tattered and immoral life he could still hold on to.
By leading his brothers, he frequently dipped his toes into vast pools of sin and damnation. But his personal vow of chastity … that one he could hold on to with an iron grip. That one could forever remain pure. Something solely for him and God. The one demonstration of subservience he never feared he would forsake.
As the pain subsided, Gabriel slumped in the chair, breathless. The poker dropped to the floor with a clang as it slipped from his weakened hold. He fought to catch his breath, and thoughts of his brothers and their new path sprang to mind. Gabriel could never switch off, barely ever slept. He was always thinking, always trying to find new ways of saving his family. They were everything he had, and he was intent on someday saving their damaged souls.
He thought of the new fight against the Brethren they were about to take on. He thought of the ledger that had given them the locale of the nearby Brethren meeting place. And he thought about the attack they were planning. Thinking of that brought him back to this room yesterday, and Noa. Gabriel stared at the desk and the empty seats before it and recalled where everyone had sat. His eyes drifted to the table of liquor. He remembered how Noa had followed him there to pour drinks, and how she’d taken him in her hold and thanked him for the housekeeper’s house.
Goosebumps broke out on his arms as he replayed her holding him. And not in a good or comforting way. Gabriel had always had