Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Timur opened the door. “Come to salvation.”
I rolled my eyes and stepped froward. That was when I spotted the horror in front of me.
“Yo!” I tried to back away.
Timur shoved me forward.
“Hell no! I’m not going in there!”
Chapter 9
Baptism in Blood
T
imur shoved me into the horrific room and shut the door.
It was a dark space with only one light dangling from the ceiling.
“Oh, man.” I scanned the space. “This is fucked up. I mean really fucked up.”
The room was a vampire’s wet dream.
Blood splatter coated the walls in a thick layer of red. It was as if someone had taken a paintbrush and just gone to town. The crimson liquid had dripped down the walls and pooled on the floor, creating a sticky surface.
There was another brown door across from me that I wished I could escape through.
A small pool sat in the floor. It was ten feet wide and six feet long. The liquid inside was a deep red. I wasn’t sure if it was all blood or a mixture of blood and water. Hair and chunks of something floated on the surface.
I didn’t want to get too close to find out. “Man!”
“Do you see your salvation?”
My stomach churned. “You need help.”
“The Great Eagle has—”
“The Great Eagle wants you to clean this shit up and then get some counseling.” I stumbled back.
Timur frowned at me. “That’s the heathen in you talking.”
“Naw, man.” I looked around. “That’s common sense.”
Timur walked over to the corner of the room. Several metal hooks were screwed into the wall at different heights. Keys of all shapes and sizes hung from them.
“Hey. Where’s Boris?” I spotted bigger chunks floating at the corner of the pool. For a second, I thought Boris’s dead body might rise up out of the water. I could see him in my head, floating face down in the water.
No. Don’t think that.
“Hey, man.” I looked away from the pool. “I’m sorry about what I said. This is your. . .place. You know? I should respect that.”
Timur took off one of the keys from the hooks and turned to me. “That is okay, heathen. Many get scared before taking their first step toward glory.”
“O-kay.” I cleared my throat. “So, I know that you said that Boris is with the Great Eagle.”
Timur placed the gun to his side and walked up to me. “He is.”
“So. . .is Boris and the Great Eagle flying up in the sky or. . .are they swimming in this water?”
Humor covered Timur’s face. “Eagles are horrible swimmers.”
“Uh. . .okay, but like. . .is Boris dead and in the water?”
Timur handed me the keys. “He’s with the Great Eagle.”
Taking the keys, I frowned. “That doesn’t really answer my question.”
“Unlock your ankles.” Timur stepped back and returned to pointing the gun at me. “Don’t do anything crazy.”
Yet, you can be as crazy as you want?
It was difficult even undoing the chain around my ankles, especially with handcuffs on my wrists. Terror coursed through my veins. My hands shook so badly that I could barely hold onto the key.
Finally, after what felt like hours, I managed to get the chain undone.
“Toss the key to me.”
I threw it his way.
He caught it.
I rose. “So. . .this pool is. . .unsettling. I would rather get baptized in a river or something like they did in the old days—”
“There is no baptism unless it is blood.”
“But, you know, man, usually a baptism is symbolic. A little water rubbed on your face or maybe a quick dunk in the water. It doesn't really have to be in the blood.”
Timur quirked his brows.
“See. . .think about it. The water isn’t what actually baptizes the sinner. It’s the act of it. The symbol—”
“Get in the pool.”
My frown deepened. “Can we discuss this a little—”
“Now!”
“Alright. Alright.” I raised my cuffed hands and slowly walked up to what I assumed were steps. “Could you take off the handcuffs? I can’t swim in—”
“I’ll be there to hold you.”
Hold me? I told Jean-Pierre there would be ass fucking.
Standing on the edge of the pool, I considered something else.
If Timur was getting into this disgusting liquid with me, then that would mean he would have to put the gun down.
I eyed him. “So, you’re going to dunk me into the. . .water?”
“I am.” Timur gestured to the pool. “Get in.”
I looked back at it. “What. . .exactly is in the pool?”
“Salvation.”
“Besides salvation.”
Timur gave me a curious look. “What do you mean?”
“Man, there’s all types of blood and shit in here!” I pointed at the liquid. “And what’s that floating over there? Meat? Dead shit?”
He studied the water. “It could be remnants from the different deer carcasses.”
I stared at him in horror. “Deer blood is in here?”
“And holy water.”
“Yeah, man, but let’s focus on the deer blood. I feel like you can get rabies or something like that—”