“Prophet Cain? Brother Judah? We are ready. The people have begun their journeys from afar and they are eager for the future ascension. It is a monumental time for us all! The diaspora is over; our unification is here!”

Turning, I smiled at my council of elders as they approached. They were handpicked by Judah. They had seniority, loyalty, and best of all, absolute faith in our cause. And I could not relate in any way to most of them.

“Brother Luke, Isaiah,” I greeted the more senior in age first, out of respect. I then turned to the disciple I talked with most and spread my arms. “Brother Micah!” Micah embraced me and then stepped back.

Micah was Brother Luke’s son. They had been overseeing some of the international communes for Prophet David for most of their lives, but when Judah had put out the call for the communes to unite, they’d been the first to respond, immediately traveling to this base. They had been rocks in bringing everything together.

The commune had been split into four sites, with New Zion being the biggest. All were close to Zion, so if one fell to an outside and evil intrusion, our sect would remain and our holy soldiers would be readily available to fight and defend their faith.

“Are you ready, sir?” Micah asked and laid a hand on Judah’s shoulder. The three of us were of a similar age, and he had grown into someone I could trust.

“I am ready for what lies ahead,” I replied, but could not help but feel suffocated by all of the pressure lying at my feet. Micah regarded me strangely and I panicked that he could see my inner struggle on my face, the severe doubt I had in my ability to fit into this role.

“Please give me a moment for private prayer. I have much to prepare,” I said and saw relief spread on his face.

The elders respected my wishes and walked away, as did Judah.

Drinking in the fading sunset, I steeled my nerves and tried to assure myself that I was right where I was supposed to be. This was always my destiny; it was always my path in life.

But Mae’s light blue eyes flashed across my mind and I lowered my head, feeling dread seep into my bones. I had no choice but to do this. I wanted to prove myself as worthy to the Lord. I wanted to be a good leader.

I had no other choice.

Taking a deep breath, I dropped to my knees in prayer, asking the Lord to guide me, and to fill me the unshakable passion I witnessed daily in Judah and the elders.

For within the next couple of months, our people would unite and I would ascend to a living conduit of the Lord…

Then the real test of my faith would truly begin.

Chapter Six

Lilah

I had been sitting upon this bed for four hours. Sleep had not come to me. I tossed and turned, unable to find any comfort in this stifling room and on these too-soft sheets.

In commune, we were only ever granted the barest of amenities. Our beds were mattresses on the floor, linen rough on our skin. As the Lord’s people, we should live as Jesus did, live as he lived and renounce all luxuries.

This apartment of Styx’s, though not overly endowed with fineries, was luxury beyond anything I had ever been accustomed to, than any of the Cursed had ever become accustomed to. It was proving difficult to adjust.

But I confessed to myself that the rich sheets and cushioned bed were not the reason for my lack of sleep. Oh no, that honor went to the pair of bright-blue eyes, the head of long blond hair, and the physique made for sin that pervaded my every thought.

I’ll be here in the morning. Be ready!

He would be here this morning, and I had to be ready.

Ready for what? I did not know. He said he was going to teach me about the world outside, but I did not want to be taught so, did not want to step outside of these walls… especially with him! I was to be rescued by my people. I just knew it. And fraternizing with a sinner was not what I wanted to be doing while I awaited their rescue.

Yet here I was, cleansed from an earlier shower and dressed in my long gray dress, white headdress, sandals, listening intently for Ky’s arrival.

Nerves built up in my body as I sat with proper obedient decorum on the edge of the bed. Ky, the man to teach me about the world, always stared at me, his eyes hooded and his tongue licking over the seam of his lips while his teeth ground down on the small, thin stick he often had protruding from his mouth.

When I observed him from my bedroom window, I established he only ever seemed to wear black or white shirts, loose black or blue denim pants, heavy black boots with metal around the back, and that leather vest boasting that the men here in this place were at one with Hades, the devil.

I had never seen men dress so casually, so strangely, and worse was the way he acted with women, specifically two women… Two blond women he would openly grope, and I dare not mention the other acts. But worse still was that the women openly welcomed his advances and those of each other. I had never seen two women being so… free with one another, carnally. But Ky seemed to enjoy what they did with him. In fact, many of the women walking around at night, especially Saturday nights, acted in the same way.

Prophet David’s main teaching raced through my head as I watched the regular and sinful acts of debauchery happening in front of my eyes. Evil is stalking. Evil will catch you. Evil will destroy your very soul.

Lord, how had things come to this? Brother Noah kept telling me I was close to being saved. That by his schoolings, my soul was being purified. I would no longer be a cursed. But here, in this place, I had no chance of achieving what I wanted, what I had only ever wanted: to not be lusted after because of this Satan-created face.