Read Online To Hell and Back (Eternally Blooded) by Brandy Sullivan - Free Book Online

He didn’t notice that the new storm windows were lined up outside the shed. He stumbled and the weight of the lumber caused him to fall. The storm windows unfortunately took the brunt of it. Some of them were shattered into pieces. My father lost it. He gave him a beating that left him unconscious.”
    “My brother ended up in critical care. My father told the doctors that my brother took a nasty fall from our tree house and they didn’t even question the truth behind that statement. Backwoods medicine at its best. That night I decided I had to do something. My mother received a black eye and swollen lip as punishment for calling the ambulance. She was in the living room sobbing over an album with family photos in it. I knew she was looking at the baby pictures of my brother. The doctors said he had bleeding on the brain. We didn’t know if he was going to pull through or if he would be normal if he did.”
    “My father was passed out drunk in their bed upstairs. I snuck out to the shed and grabbed the lighter fluid for the charcoal grill and a box of matches. I didn’t want him to kill my mother and after seeing what he did to my brother I was afraid. Afraid for my mom but also afraid I would one day be left alone with this man.”
    Valerie’s tears were flowing freely now. The damn she had carefully constructed against her feelings over the years didn’t just crack it exploded. “I crept upstairs and emptied the whole can of lighter of fluid on the bed my father slept in. One match. It only took one match. The fire burned so fast and so hot I felt it bite my skin. I fled the room grabbing my mother and dragging her outside. I remember yelling, the house is on fire! The house caught fire! I wanted her to hold me while we watched the fire burn. This woman I had loved and pitied my whole life was concerned for the man who beat her and put her own son in critical care. I stood there and watched as she ran inside to try to save him, I stood there and watched as the fire trucks arrived, I stood there and watched as they failed to save the house or either of my parents.”
    Valerie’s voice was bordering on hysterics. “The worst part was I didn’t feel bad. I was happy. I hated that man with my whole being. My brother, oh my god, my brother. He died two days later.” Valerie sobbed.
    James ran to her in an instant, wishing he could take all her pain away, wanting to tear the judge limb from limb for making her relive that nightmare.
     
    The Judge stood up slowly, his claps echoing throughout the room. “Bravo Valerie, Bravo. Play the innocent victim with those tears pouring down your face. You are a murder…”
    “Enough!” James’s voice boomed with authority.
    “I think not, not by a long shot.” The Judge said. “Let’s see the ten commandments say what James? Let me remind you. Thou shall not kill and what was the other one? Thou shall honor thy father and thy mother. Do you think cooking you parents alive is honoring them? I should think not. So you see we have a claim on her, whether you like it or not.”
    James could feel Valerie’s sobs subsiding as he held her close. “Bullshit Judge! You know just as well as I do that all versions of the law, be it godly or mortal, allow for self-defense.”
    “You want to argue schematics? Well considering her father never laid a hand on her, explain to me how that is self-defense, and what of her poor mother? Don’t forget she murdered her as well.”
    Valerie was shaking with rage. “I didn’t murder her you son of a bitch! I didn’t make her walk into that fire; I was trying to save her from him.”
    The Judged only laughed. “I do hope you are confident in that assumption my dear girl. Or this trip through hell will end with a permanent residency for you here.”
    James grabbed the immortal by his throat and pinned him against the wall. “I am going to tear your head off for this!”
     
    “Tsk, tsk, you know that is against the rules.” The judge