“Of course, the biggest benefit is the curbing of the lustful, sinful behavior of the patients here and all girls who reach maturity. It will be powerful. A means to control the temptation of Eve, finally, so Adam may continue down a more righteous path.”
Benedict was rambling now, spit flecking his lips, and he seemed to have developed a tic of some kind. His eye twitched madly.
“Inject her, and we will see if it works. She might be special, but if this works like I think it will, the director will never know we tested it on her. He’ll simply be impressed.”
I nodded and played along, flicking the air out of the syringe and then stepping closer to Katarina’s side.
I brought the syringe as close to her arm as I could and slowlyinjected a long stream of the liquid onto the floor. From Benedict’s angle, he couldn’t really tell. He seemed to be having trouble concentrating on anything. Taking advantage of his distraction, I finished pretending to administer the drug and put the syringe on the tray.
“And now?”
He grunted, eyes darting about. He eyed me distrustfully.
“You—you say all the right things, and you seem to do them, but is it all an act? Everything bad started happening when you came here.”
He raised the gun toward me again.Damn it.Benedict was going to have to go sooner than I’d planned.
A chuckle left me before I could help it. “I’m sure your patients would disagree. I think bad things have been happening here for a long time. Too long.”
He frowned at me, the gun shaking in his hand.
“See, you speak with a forked tongue,” he said. “If you want to prove you’re an ally, take the scalpel there and remove an organ from Katarina, a nonessential one. Nothing too noticeable. A kidney will do.”
A scoff left me, and I braced my hands on the metal bed where Katarina thrashed around.
“Jesus Christ, Father. That is dark, and coming from me, that’s really saying something. I’d be impressed if your idea were more creative, but as it is, it fucking stinks. I have a proposition for you and this hellhole you live in. Go and round up all the rapists, and human traffickers, and fucking terrible parents who abuse their children, and take those organs. I’ll harvest with you all day. But Katarina is off-limits, as are all the other poor, innocent girls you’ve imprisoned up here.”
“Innocent! A fifteen-year-old pregnant girl isn’t innocent. Shehas sinned! And she will pay for it! Cut into that bitch on the table now, or I’ll shoot you dead,” Benedict warned.
I dropped my hand to the scalpels and ran my fingers over them, selecting the most wicked-looking one.
“Okay, Father, okay. I understand.” I glanced down to stare into Katarina’s anguished eyes. “I know what I have to do.”
I placed the scalpel at Katarina’s middle, her body tensing and trying to twist away, her moans escaping around her gag and filling the room.
Benedict followed my movements, chewing his inner cheek in anticipation.
Before the blade could touch her skin, I flipped it in my hand, tossing it and catching it with ease, and then sent it flying.
It hit Benedict in the neck before he could realize what had happened. He turned this way and that, confused, the gun drooping in his grip. Blood dripped from his neck. The carotid artery, severed. He dropped the gun completely to pull at the blade and collapsed to his knees. A snaking trail of blood leaked out onto the floor. I made my way over to him. I grabbed a few paper towels as I passed the dispenser and let them fall to the floor. Cleaning up blood was much easier if you acted quickly.
He squirmed, still trying to get a grip on the scalpel.
“Here, let me,” I murmured, and drew it free. More blood poured out, landing on the paper towels. I tutted at the blood spots soaking into the material on my arm. “What a mess. What a disgusting bag of blood and bones you were, you dirty old sinner. But you’ve managed to make it quick, which you don’t deserve.”
His eyes grew unfocused.
I leaned in and whispered in his ear, “Enjoy the fires, Father. They burn for men like you and me.”
Benedict slumped down, eyes glassy, the last air he’d ever breathe leaving his lungs.
Fuck.I glanced around the room. What a mess. This was the opposite of how I did things in my work. I was methodical and precise, and I never left a mess.
This was going to take a while to clean up, not to mention that I hadn’t planned on killing Benedict already. I wiped my red-speckled hands on my cassock, getting them as clean as possible.
With a sigh, I stood and crossed to Katarina. She had her head turned as much as she could, but not far enough to see Benedict’s lifeless body on the floor below. I untied her gag, careful to wipe my hands on my cassock first, and then unbound her wrists.
I slowly helped her into a sitting position.