Episodes 3

Breathless, his own muscles aching with want, he retreated to the cabin's corner and sat down. He'd not expected so much desire. He'd always considered himself as a chaste prudent and a straight man, but the boy made him crave dark, evil passions.

Anticipation burned through his body, he knew if he didn't rein his desires, he'd break his covenant with God.

He must confess and be purified first.

As the boy coughed, he muttered a prayer for patience. Retrieving the small Bible from his pocket, he gently kissed the gold cross embossed into the well-worn black leather. The Bible had been a gift from his mother on his tenth birthday. Though not fancy or substantial in size, the book provided him with answers, insights, and in times of stress, it was a guiding force.

With trembling fingers, he flipped through the pages, scanning and rereading passages. As he focused on the words, he suddenly felt the boy gaze through the blindfold. His head was tipped back and cocked in his direction. Water dripped from his hair and face over a gold chain and down between the cleavage of her breasts.

Tied up, cold and wet, he should have been contrite and scared, but instead he possessed a dark, brooding bearing that unsettled him. He didn't like the little boy absence of fear.

'Don't stared at me.' he said.

He shook his head. 'I'm blindfold. I can't see anything.'

'You are looking at me.'

'So what if I am?' His voice was rusty, seductive.

'You are Satan's child.'

He actually smiled. 'So I've been told.'

He was half-second from slicing the little boy throat when reason shoved its way to the front of his mind. 'I need you to confess your sins to God so you can be released from this earth clean and pure.'

A defiant set to the boy jaw said as much as his words. 'The clean and pure days are long gone to me. 'The boy's tone resonated a lifetime of experience.

'I need your confession. I need to send you to the god pure.'

'Then I guess it's your bad day.' Gabriel cocked his head.

This close, he could smell the hint of spicy, no longer sweet, perfume mingling with the stale scent of the threadbare gypsy costume. He turned Gabriel face roughly to the side of the lantern light caught the high slash of cheekbone. He was handsome, but he possessed a callous aura that would grow more insensitive with time. By thirty, he'd be washed and spent.

Why had he seemed so different a week ago?

'It's just you and me baby,' the little boy whispered. 'Why don't we play instead of fight? Some boys like rough but I promise gentle is better.

The grip in his hair tightened. 'Don't call me baby.'

The little boy reminded him of a cat toying with a mouse. 'Why not? I'm good and you'll like what I can do for you.'

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***