Tortured: Book Three of the Jason and Azazel Trilogy (7 page)

* * *

I met Chance outside my dorm. He'd just snuck down the
fire escape steps. He looked a little frazzled.
 
"Hey," I said. "How are you doing?"
He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm, um, I'm okay," he said.
"Mina and I talked. It was good."
I nodded. "That is good."
"
Yeah."
He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at his shoes. Looking at him, I
couldn’t help but remember the fact he used to stand like that when he was a
little kid and had done something wrong.
My little brother.
Now he was taller than me, with a goatee and broad shoulders. And he was going
to be a father.
Weird.
"Zaza," he said. "What am I going to do?" He looked up at
me, his eyes full of fear.
"Oh God Chance," I said. I opened my arms to him, and he fell into
them. I hugged him and patted his back. It reminded me of our parents' funeral.
I had comforted Chance while he cried. I'd been dry-eyed.
He pulled back. "She doesn't want to tell anyone," he said.
"I know," I said. "She's got some silly idea that she's going to
be able to hide the fact she's pregnant."
"I don't know who we'd tell anyway. Mina's parents would go through the
roof, and Grandma Hoyt would be less than pleased."
I pictured our stern, proper grandmother and grimaced. Chance was right.
 
"But she's got to see a doctor or something right?" he asked me.
"I mean, she can't just let it go."
I shook my head. "No, she needs a doctor. I think." Now that it came
down to it, I knew very little about pregnancy. Considering I was the only
biological child my mother ever had, I'd never even seen her pregnant. I had no
idea what to tell Chance.
"She's just so scared," he said. "But I am too. I'm freaked out.
And she's had a few days to adjust to the idea. I've only had a few hours. I
want to comfort her, but I don't know what to say or what to do."
"I'm sorry I just blurted it out like that today at lunch," I said.
"No, I'm glad I know. She wasn't going to tell me, and I'm glad I
know."
"Well, she's going to have to tell someone sometime, Chance."
"
Yeah."
He looked so overwhelmed.
"Hey," I said, reaching out to touch him, "you're doing the best
you can. She needs you. If you're just there for her, it'll be enough."
"I don't know," he said. "I don't know if it will or not."
In the distance, the clock tower on campus began to toll the hour.
"Damn it," said Chance. "I've got to go. I'm going to miss
curfew."
"Me too," I said. "Take care of yourself, Chance."
"You too," he said. He started off,
then
stopped. "And watch the drinking, huh, Zaza? I don't need to worry about
you and Mina too."
"Sure," I said.
 
But when I got up to my room, I downed half a bottle of vodka. No way was I
dealing with one of those dreams tonight.
No way.

* * *

I awoke to Jason bending over my bed, shaking me.
"Azazel," he was whispering urgently. "Wake up."
Making a face, I sat up in bed. "What are you doing here?" My head
was pounding, but I was used to that.
"Shh!" he said.
 
I rubbed my face with my hand. "What are you doing here?" I
whispered.
"Come with me," he said. "I'll explain once we're out of the
dorm."
We snuck out the fire escape again. Outside the dorm, there was a cool, night
breeze that licked at my skin. I pulled my pajamas close, shivering a little.
"Jason," I said, "what are we doing out here?"
He grabbed my hand. "Come on." He pulled me with him as he walked.
"If you're taking me out for some tryst or something, I am so not in the
mood for that kind of thing right now."
"Are you drunk again?" he asked.
 
I glared at him. "I wasn't going to have another one of those dreams. You
don't know what they're like."
"I do know what they're like. I've had nightmares before. They're bad. But
you've just got to come to terms with whatever it is you're trying to run
from."
"What?" I said.
"I think what we've got to do tonight will help you with that," he
said.
"What are we doing tonight?" I asked. "Where are we going?"
"The assembly hall," he said.
 
The old church.
"You are trying to get me to have
sex with you again, aren't you?"
Jason stopped and pulled me close. He kissed my forehead. "Azazel, I'm an
eighteen-year-old guy. I'm always trying to have sex with you." He pulled
back. "But no, that's not why I snuck you out of your room tonight."
 
"So why?" I said.
Jason started walking again. "It's not going to be easy for you to
hear," he said.
"Especially if you're drunk."
"
I'm not drunk," I said. "Or even if I am, I'm always
about this drunk, so it's not that big of a deal."
 
He sighed. He just kept walking. I hurried to catch up. It didn't take long to
get to the old church. We went around to the side door. I expected Jason to
pick the lock, but it was already open. I shot him a look of confusion. He just
pulled me inside.
"I've already been in here tonight," he explained, shutting the door
behind us.
I gazed up at the stained glass. Tonight, it seemed as if it were watching me,
judging me, telling me that I was unworthy to set foot inside this building. I
shivered again, but this time it wasn't from the cold.
 
Jason was looking at the floor, shifting nervously on his feet. "This
isn't going to be easy for you to hear," he said again.
 
A mounting feeling of dread seemed to pour down through the stained glass
windows. "What?" I said again.
"It's Chance," said Jason.
"What happened to Chance?" I asked. Chance was all I had left. My
family was all dead, and if something had happened to Chance—
"Nothing happened to him," said Jason. "Not yet, anyway."
What did that mean?
Jason took my hand again. "Come with me." He led me through the back
of the old church and down some steps into its basement. The basement was
ancient, constructed from old stone. It smelled musty and alive somehow. Jason
found a light bulb, hanging on a chain, and turned it on. The light bulb swung
violently, casting moving shadows throughout the room. In the corner of the
basement, in the shifting light, I saw Chance. He was tied up and gagged. His
eyes were closed.
 
"I knocked him out," said Jason.
I was shocked. I was appalled. "You did
 
what
?"
"I told you this wasn't going to be easy for you to hear," said
Jason.
I went to Chance.
Knelt by him.
Touched
his face.
There was a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead. His
breathing was labored.
Jason yanked me away from Chance. "Don't go near him," he said.
"Jason, what have you done to my brother?" I demanded, struggling
against him.
"Hold still and listen to me," Jason said.
 
I was angry. I was betrayed. Jason was what everyone said he was. He was evil.
He was trying to kill off my entire family. If it weren't for him, they'd all
still be alive. Jason had started this whole mess, running into my life out of
the woods.
 
I held still. "I'm listening," I said. This needed to be good.
"I was using Chance's computer to do some homework," said Jason,
"and I found something."
"What?" I said.
"You know how you can set AOL Messenger to save your chat history in a
file in your documents?"
"You looked at his chat history?" I asked. "Why would you do
that?"
"I don't know," said Jason. "I was just suspicious. It seems
like it was too easy.
Getting us into the Sol Solis.
How did Chance have the ability to get us assigned roommates?"
"Jason, we made seventy zillion phone calls and filled out mounds of
paperwork to get into this school," I said. "It wasn't exactly
easy."
He shrugged. "Whatever. The point is that I looked at the chat history.
And I found out that he's in communication with the Satanists."
"What Satanists are there to even be in communication with?" I asked.
"Michaela Weem is dead. You shot her yourself. She's the one who
masterminded this whole thing."
"I don't know who it is," said Jason. "They use handles, and I
don't know his real name. But he and Chance are planning something. They're
planning to kill us both."
I shook my head. "No," I said. "I don't believe that."
"I read it," said Jason. "It was all right there.
In black and white."
"
No."
"Listen, you've got to face the facts. Your family can't be trusted.
You're all alone in this, just like I am. We can't trust anyone except each
other."
"Chance didn't know anything about the Satanists," I insisted.
"They never told anyone in town until you were eighteen. And I've never
told him. So he
 
still
 
doesn't know." I was starting to
cry. I didn't believe Jason. I wouldn't. He was wrong. Not my baby brother
Chance. No. He was my only link back to the person I used to be. And I loved
him.
 
Jason patted my back, trying to comfort me, but I shook him off. "Don't
touch me," I said. "You're lying. You're just saying this stuff
because you want me to be alone like you. Fuck! God knows what you're doing to
me, Jason. Before I met you, I would never have done the things that I have
done. And now . . ." The faces of my brothers Noah and Gordon flashed in
front of me, just the way they'd looked in their final moments.
Stunned.
Blood trickling out of the holes
in their foreheads.
Holes that I'd made.
Jason put a gun in my hand. "I know you're upset," he said. "But
we have to stop him."
"No," I said. I looked down at the gun in my hands, wanting to fling
it away from me. Instead, I flipped off the safety and pointed it at Jason.
 
"Jesus, Azazel," said Jason, looking frightened.
I sobbed and let the gun go slack at my side. I went back to Chance, tucking
the gun into the waist of my pajama pants. I wiped tears away from my face and
sniffled as I untied him.
"Azazel, don't do that!" Jason said.
I pulled the gun out and pointed it at him again. "We're not hurting
Chance," I said. "No. That's the line. We're not crossing that
line."
 
"He's trying to kill us," Jason said. "Doesn't that mean
anything to you?"
"He's not trying to kill us! You're wrong! He's my little brother, and he
would never do that!" I broke out into fresh sobs as I freed Chance's
hands.
"Azazel," said Jason, reaching for me.
I jammed the gun back in his face. "Stay back," I said.
I shook Chance. "Chance, wake up," I said. "Wake up."
"You're crazy," said Jason. "You're crazy, and drunk, and
frigid, and I don't know why I waste my time on you."
I turned to him for a second. "That's what you think of me?" I asked,
stunned.
"Well, what is it you think of me?" Jason asked. "That I'm a
psycho killer? That I'm evil? Which is worse, Zaza? Huh?"
Jason never called me Zaza.
 
That was weird. I looked around for a second. In fact, everything seemed a
little weird. In fact—
But Chance was stirring. I turned to face him. "Chance, are you
okay?" I asked, tears streaming down my face.
Chance had a gun. Where had he gotten that gun?
"Thanks for untying me," he said. "I'm glad you've come around.
We've been waiting for you to see what a monster Jason is. Now that you see, it
shouldn't be too hard. Kill him."
What?
We?
I shook my head slowly. "It's
true?" I asked. "You're working with the Satanists?"
Chance sighed. "Are you going to shoot Jason or am I?" He leveled the
gun at Jason.