Divine Evil

before lecturing one of his classes. “You'll find that it isn't what I believe that matters, but what they believe. They'll spill your blood without a second thought because I tell them to.”
    “Why?”
    “I enjoy it.” He stripped off his robe, then laughed at the horror in her eyes. “Oh, no, I don't intend to rape you. I haven't the time or the inclination. But it wouldn't do for the mayor to be seen in anything other than a proper suit.” He began to dress, casually, pulling boxer shorts up his skinny legs.
    “It isn't working anymore.” She twisted her wrists ruthlesslybut only succeeded in scoring her flesh with the rope. “You've made too many mistakes.”
    “Mistakes have been made, certainly. And corrected.” He shook out his white Arrow shirt, perusing it for wrinkles. “The first one was your father. He was a disappointment to me, Clare. A grave one.”
    “My father never killed anyone. He wouldn't have been apart of this.”
    “Oh, indeed he was.” Atherton meticulously did up his buttons, from bottom to top. “A very important one. Such a bright and ambitious man, thirsty for knowledge. When he became one of us, the fever burned so hot in him, he was like a brother to me.” He sat on a three-legged stool to pull up his black support socks. “His turning away hurt me deeply. And for him to go back to some useless religion with its powder-puff God….” Sighing, he shook his head. “Where did it get him? I ask you, where? It got him a bottle and a false sense of righteousness. All because he wasn't ready to move on with us, to seek higher power.”
    Ever the teacher, he placed his hands on his hairy thighs and leaned toward her. “Human sacrifice is hardly my invention, my dear. It's been around since time began. For the very simple reason that man not only needs to spill blood but thrives on it.” He regarded her. “Yes, I can see it appalls you, as it did Jack. But, ask yourself honestly, is your disgust merely a knee-jerk reaction?”
    She could only shake her head. “How many? How many people have you killed?”
    “Numbers are irrelevant, don't you think? The first sacrifice was a test that everyone passed but your father. And the woman was only a whore, after all. Killing her was symbolic. Perhaps if I had discussed it with Jack first, explained the reasoning, he wouldn't have reacted so strongly, so negatively. Well, I blame myself for that.”
    He reached over and picked up his dark trousers with their knife pleats. “You could say Jack left me for a woman, though our relationship was spiritual, never physical. He left me and ran back to his rosaries and his cold, sexless God. And I forgave him.” Atherton stood, zipped, then reached for his belt. “He couldn't afford to betray me and risk his family. We had taken a vow, a blood vow. Jack did what he was told, for as long as he was able.”
    “You threatened him.”
    “He understood the rules before he was marked. It was the land deal that seemed to push him over the edge. I can't understand why. He told me he would no longer be part of it. And it was only money, you see. A transaction guaranteed to make us wealthy and more powerful. But Jack was crawling deeper and deeper into that bottle and couldn't think clearly.”
    Through despair she felt a glimmer of hope. “He was going to tell. He was going to tell about you and this, and everything.”
    “Oh, yes. I believe he was. Or at least he hoped to find what he considered the courage to do so.” Atherton picked up his gray-and-burgundy-striped tie and slipped it under his collar. “Parker and Mick went to see him, to try to convince him how foolhardy it would be for everyone involved. From what I'm told, Jack simply wouldn't listen. He went quite wild, violent. There was a fight, and, well, you know the rest.”
    “They killed him,” she whispered. “My God, they killed him.”
    “Now, you can hardly blame Parker or Mick for the fact that your father left those stakes out on the terrace. He might very well have lived through the fall, you know. I like to think of it as justice.” He completed the knot in his tie, smoothed it with his hands. “I still miss him.” Sighingagain, he picked up his suit jacket. “Now I see your coming back, your coming here, as a circle. I made mistakes with Jack. He should have been treated like any other traitor, but I let my affection for him get in the way. I'll have to rectify that mistake with you.”
    “You murdered my