Free 2 The Judas Kiss by Angella Graff Page A

his bed and falling asleep.  He’d closed his eyes and the next thing he knew, he was in this room.  With a sigh, Jude finally called out, “Mark?  Are you there?  Can you hear me?”
                  Jude couldn’t hear the steps outside the door, but he could feel someone coming down the hall, someone powerful and armed.  The door to the room swung open and he squinted against the sudden onslaught of bright light.  It was a man, big and burly, and he immediately grabbed Jude’s arms, binding them behind his back.
                  He laughed to himself, wondering if the man knew that he didn’t have strength like Mark.  Wondering if the man knew that Jude had no will to fight him.  He didn’t care anymore.  Pain was simply a state of being, and when he couldn’t die, what was there to fear?
                  He was forced down a long, stone hallway, the wet, cool temperature indicating they were somewhere underground.  Their footfalls echoed off the wide walls and low ceilings as Jude was led by the large man.  Jude could tell from the electric-like vibrations that the man was inhabited by one of the gods, but he hadn’t yet figured out how to tell which god was inside, or how to get access to one of their minds the way he could do with humans.
                  The burly god stopped in front of a large steel door and opened it slowly.  Jude was marched inside and led to an old, wooden schoolhouse chair in the middle of the room.  He doubted it would hold much more weight than his own, and it creaked loudly as he sat.
                  The god situated his hands behind the chair, keeping them securely behind his back, and Jude looked straight ahead at the brick wall.  Closing his eyes, he felt around the room with his mind.  Another god, powerful, probably the leader, and Mark was in there too, but he was unconscious.
                  “Glad you’re awake.  I was starting to worry about you?” came a female voice with an almost metal-like quality to it.  Jude noticed immediately how the gods inside affected the human vocal cords, and found it amusing that others didn’t seem to notice the difference.
                  “Where am I?” Jude asked, not bothering to turn and look at his captor.
                  She let out a small peal of laughter and she began pacing behind him.  “Not the first question I expected you to ask.”
                  “What did you want me to say?” Jude asked curiously.
                  “Who are you?  What do you want with me?  Where’s my friend?” she said, her voice high and mocking.
                  “My friend is over there in the bed,” Jude said, nodding to the left.  He couldn’t see Mark in the bed, but he could feel him.  “As for who you are and what you want… I don’t really care.”
                  The god stilled, falling silent, and then with rapid speed, she marched in front of Jude, coming to rest directly in his line of sight.  She was tall, pretty, her hair pulled back, wearing a rather form-fitting dress in flaming red.  It only took Jude a minute of studying her dark eyes and drawn mouth to realize that this was the dead sister.  This was Abby.
                  “Oh,” he said with realization, though his voice showed little inflection.  “Abby.”
                  Her eyes widened.  “There was a rumor going around that you could do that,” she said, putting her hands on her slender hips.  She cocked her head to the side and stared at him.  “Reading minds, knowing things you shouldn’t.  Can you read my mind right now?”
                  “No.  Your consciousness isn’t human,” Jude said in the same dead tone.  “It’s not really mind-reading with humans, anyway.  More of an onslaught of the prayers they send out into the world.  If I could