-1Soon, Judas came to fetch them for dinner, and he took them this time into a very huge building that reminded her of Capricorn's church. It had the same features, and Aubrey was convinced that he intended it to be that way. Capricorn still had a tight grip on Aubrey's arm, to her dismay. He sat down at the end of the table, the girl right next to him. The maids he lain the tables out with food so people could grab them from their bowls. It reminded her of Harry Potter. Aubrey only drank water while Capricorn fancied himself in half a bottle a champagne. Aubrey was very nervous about her punishment. In the past, it consisted of being locked in her room for a full four days, another time Cockrell was to teach her a lesson himself. At that time, she had her fire, very bright, and he never really got to the point of teaching. He did, however, earn a large scar on his leg that wouldn't leave for a very long time. Aubrey had heard tales about this base, and she knew they had much more brutal punishments.

Dinner ended far too soon. Judas whispered something into Capricorn's ear, and he looked like he was pondering it for a while, and he simply nodded. Judas took the girl's arm and dragged her to a smaller house that could have been a slave's quarters. It had a very beaten up feel, the walls and floor were bare, and the only thing in the room was a bed and a desk and chair. Aubrey found the place to feel quite homey, though that feeling would soon disappear. Judas told Aubrey that she would see what happened to traitors.

"Sit there for a moment, I will be back in a moment," he grumbled as he closed the door. Aubrey examined the room closer. It smelled of raw meat and there seemed to be ashes in the drawers she looked through. Why would there be ashes in a desk? That makes absolutely no sense. She nodded her head, trying to understand. As she opened the last drawer, Aubrey found a locked notebook, and she thought it very curious. Using a hairpin from her hair, she pulled out the rubber band and tried to open the lock with the tool. It worked. She opened it, and found that it was a diary.

Monday, July 1, 2008

Capricorn

Today, Basta, Flatnose and Cockrell set out for the girl's house. We finally received the flight tickets from Rillian, not too soon I'm afraid, but here never the less. The departure was delayed by Basta's stupid search for St. John's Wart, which he was too superstitious to remove from his own doorstep. I am not very confident in Basta to control his temper, which is why the other two are accompanying him. I trust that Flatnose will keep the girl under control, but with these foolish men you would never know. I just depend on Rillian's information to be reliable.

As I have stated before, he is to take her somewhere for a few hours, and return her to her house to find Cockrell and the rest waiting there, her family, I have decided, will be killed by them. She will witness their deaths, and know that my patience is at its end. Of course, he is also to bring one of her friends, to use as bait to do as we wish. I hope that she cooperates, for in Rillian's descriptions, she is very quiet and does as she's told, unless confronted by a friend. I am happy to know that she will be done trying to harm Rillian by the time we have her here.

It will take Basta and the others a day to arrive to Americka, as they call it, and another day to arrive in Hixon, Tn. God knows if they will find it, what with their idiotic ways. I despise all of them, why I keep them I don't know. But as the Adderhead once told me, "… it takes an army to raise a civilization. A strong one. An army that doesn't know right from wrong. Therefore, you and me must put up with such imbeciles to keep our reigns…" But it still feels so biodegrading, I can almost feel my brain dissolving in one of their mindless discussions…

Aubrey stopped reading. She knew how it went. She knew how it all turned out. She quietly slipped the lock back into place and put the book into her bag. She didn't care if Capricorn ever found it on her, but she would hold on forever. For his plan went terribly, terribly wrong.

Her face must have been very pale by the moonlight as Judas led her and a group of other men down a darkened alleyway because he was continuously looking at her, looking nervous, as if he thought he had done something quite wrong. They eventually stopped at a tiny looking cottage. Aubrey already knew how this went. She was immediately reminded of the story of the old woman dying of the curses she screamed at Capricorn's men. They obviously did that sort of thing here, too. Judas held her back by her arms and two men went inside the cottage, soon coming out, pulling a confused looking child out with them. She looked about eleven, with long, red hair and brown eyes. She was beautiful, with a tiny white tank top on and a pair of tiny pink exercise shorts. No. Aubrey knew what was happening. And she would do anything to make sure it didn't happen. Not again.

"No!" She screamed. "Let her go!"

"Why should we?" Judas whispered. "This is your punishment, remember? No time to rethink a new one." Judas nodded to the men, one of which pulled a knife out of his pocket.

He was obviously the Basta of the group.

He held it to her throat, and, asked Judas, "Is the girl watching?"

With that Judas pushed her head to face the shocked girl. "Yes, Julio. Hinter, you have the pleasure."

The man called Hinter took the knife from Julio and simply began to dig his knife into her throat.

"No! No! Please, please! Stop it!" Aubrey continuously shouted. The men merely laughed. Hinter took a while to be done with the girl, frequently cutting again and again. Finally, after what seemed what felt like an eternity, she dropped down dead. Aubrey continued sobbing, trying to wrench herself from Judas's grasp, but that only made him laugh and hold harder. After they burned the body, Judas whispered very softly in her ear, "That's what happens when you leave. That's like taking from Capricorn something rightfully his, and we wouldn't want to do that now, would we? Now, lets go back home."

Home. Home. No. they would never be a part of her home.

But they were all she had. And she wouldn't kill another child just to try to prove that.

And she would stay with them. Capricorn, Basta, Flatnose, Cockrell, Judas, Julio and Hinter. There was no point. How could she ever escape?

Why was Capricorn so reluctant to let her read The Supernaturalist?