Just then, the door slams open. A haunting noise I know so well flows through the air as the women around me shuffle and fidget.
Women enter, their white dresses giving me flashbacks to a past life. Unlike before, they have masks on. Not enough to cover their whole faces but enough to make them unrecognisable. Gold metal adorns their faces; it covers one eye, slanting diagonally across. When they get closer, I see the metal is shaped like a bird taking flight. No. Not a bird… a Swallow.
I swallow.
Now I know why I never recognised these women. These aren’t just any women; they are from the compound.
Their voices flow together, rising and falling as they sing in a language I still do not understand. I have tried to, tried to study even one word, but nothing comes up. The closest I’ve got is people speaking in tongues at an altar.
Following the women are men, I can tell by the build of their bodies. Instead of white dresses, they are wearing religious robes you might find on a priest. Unlike a priest who usually rejects the devil, these men wear the same masks I saw Jack wearing all those years ago.
Black, with red eyes and devil horns that poke from the top. Someone behind me whimpers and I try hard not to roll my eyes. Even at twelve, I didn’t whimper. No, at twelve, I stood brave, sucked it up and did anything to survive. Today is no different.
Ten men separate from the group, moving in front of the crucifixes. The founders. Their masks are slightly different from the rest. Rather than black, theirs are gold like the Swallows, their red eyes a sharp contrast against the cold metal.
The singing comes to an abrupt stop when everyone is in position. The tension is palpable. Roman knows what is going to happen; I made sure Felix told the rest but seeing and hearing are two very different things. Father’s voice booms across the haunted room and silence descends upon us.
“Welcome recruits, today is the start of a new journey. A journey with great honour and even greater history. You may notwin any awards. Your name will forever be a secret, but every member of the public owes their lives to the people who take the oath. Blood is a small price to pay for an eternity of freedom.”
I want to scoff, or scream, or shout. To call him out for his lies, for his hypocrisy. I wonder what the general public would think if they knew we were snatching virgins off the street. How would they feel if those missing kids on the news were being used in a factory that destroys their innocence? That their freedom is an illusion built by the elite to keep them down. I doubt very much that a red carpet would be rolled out at our feet.
Father spreads his arms as if he is blessing us.
“You stand here burdened, burdened by the sins of your past. The filth of the world. The weakness of your former selves.” A murmur of approval ripples through the masked crowd. “But tonight, you will be cleansed. Cleansed through blood and cloth. You will be washed of corruption and purified in body and spirit.”
My stomach twists.
“You will be reborn. Rebuilt. Any disease, any flaw carried in your immortal flesh will be stripped from you and replaced. Medicine flows through this family as surely as devotion. We do not let our own rot.”
I revolt at the word medicine. If it wasn’t so grotesque, I would laugh. Virgin blood is not medicine. It is theft. It is violence dressed up in scripture.
Father turns to the men standing against the wall. My breath stutters as I see him lift his hand and point towards my group.
“We begin with the first offering. Felix, please declare your promised.”
“Rebecca and Angela.” Felix’s voice booms across the cavern and I cringe.
Felix moves before I can think, his shoulders squared, his jaw tight as he walks forward like he isn’t marching towards ablade. My beautiful, perfect twin. We shared a womb, survived on the same heartbeat before we even had a name, and now he walks towards the centre crucifix like it’s just another duty. The women’s song rises again, low and vibrating, filling the crypt with something ancient and wrong. It presses into my skull.
Felix is pulled up first and strapped to the middle crucifix. Leather binds his wrists, and a knife slices through his shirt, leaving his chest bare within seconds. I want to look away, but I can’t. It’s like a car crash in real time. Rebecca and Angela stand in front of him as Father’s voice cuts cleanly through the chanting.
“Kneel,” he growls aggressively and Angela whimpers as I cringe, knowing Father will hate that. I’m sure if I could see his face, there would be a sneer on it.
They kneel as the Swallows descend on them. Their clothes are removed with ritual efficiency, leaving them naked and bare in front of us. I can’t see who, but one of them lets out a broken cry as others around me tense up.
The women descend immediately, their hands everywhere, cloth and water and murmured chanting blur into one. Washing them like me. Scrubbing them pure. I remember that part vividly. The humiliation described as holiness. The chanting continues as they pour water over the girls’ bowed heads, wiping away tears like they’re impurities. When they are finished, white dresses are forced over their trembling bodies.
I look at Roman. Horror must be written all over my face because his is carved from stone. Not from fear or confusion, but rage. It smacks me in the chest. He knows. He knows I stood naked once in front of people in this very room. His jaw tightens almost imperceptibly.
When I look back, the girls are already strapped to the outer crucifixes. Felix’s face is impassive, his gaze fixed firmly in front of him. Head up, chin out, looking anywhere but me.
“You are cleansed,” Father cries out.
Two men step forward to the girls. Blades flash in the candlelight, I wince. They descend on their left arms, carving something into their skin as cries and screams echo through the chamber. Blood pours from the wounds as a bowl catches it.
Once it slows, more people arrive, attaching an IV into their right arms and it takes everything in me to stay still. To see this through. Red liquid pushes through quickly as a man steps up to Felix and starts cutting into him. Father’s voice echoes out again, narrating it like a sermon.
“Sin out. Strength in. Your corruption is purged and your legacy is secured.”