Debbie stood up with a pale face. She didn't understand why these strange people were worshipping her.
The four men looked at her in awe. They were overwhelmed by her beauty. None of the previously chosen ones had been nearly so endearing.
"Who are you? You said you're from Canada? We don't know each other," Debbie said nervously. She looked like a frightened deer.
Zeke replied, "We're from the city of Ottawa in Canada. Miss Cynthia specially sent us to find you and bring you home. She misses her daughter so dreadfully that she can't eat or sleep. Fortunately, we've finally found you here in the US."
As he lied smoothly, his gaze fell to the ground, but he remained acutely aware of the people around him. Among the four men, his martial art skills were the most advanced and he was confident that he could deal with any attack. He had no morals so was extremely useful to the cult leader.
"Debbie is Cynthia's daughter?" Someone asked what everyone was thinking. There was a commotion in the hall, then a quiet air of contemplation.
Most people were suspicious because they were sure that Cynthia had died twenty years previously.
Only Rufus knew all the facts surrounding Debbie's history, and he quickly called out, "Debbie, don't listen to him. These men are enemies. Come here quickly."
With a wave of Rufus's hand, dozens of people rushed up to help but the priest was too quick. He stepped forward and grabbed Debbie's arms. She wriggled and tried to get away as she screamed, "Let me go. What are you going to do?"
Zeke replied respectfully, "What I said is true. You are the chosen one and you must come with us to Canada."
As he held Debbie still with one hand, he started chanting. He waved an incense ball in the other hand, and a pungent smell pervaded the hall. One after another, people covered their noses and stepped back to avoid breathing in the noxious gas.
Zeke didn't seem to care that Debbie was also breathing in the poisonous gas despite his orders that she shouldn't be harmed. He looked at her calmly as she closed her eyes and collapsed onto a chair behind her.
Then he summoned the other priests and they gathered around him. He said, "What about Jessop? Where is he? Is he too much of a coward to come out from his hiding place and face the cult of the Black Orchid?"
One of Rufus's cousins shouted "Kill them! They have to be stopped!" Others joined in and soon most of the young men were shouting aggressively at the priests. They wouldn't let them get away with trying to kidnap family members or insulting the head of the family.
The priests all started calling out, hoping to taunt Jessop out of hiding. "Hey, Jessop, do you still dare not come out to face us? Well, it won't make any difference whether you dare to show your face or not, the result will be the same. We are taking Debbie with us."
The four men looked very aggressive so none of the family dared to physically challenge them. The leader shouted to Jessop again that if Debbie was indeed Cynthia's daughter, and the Clifton family had concealed this fact, it was a betrayal of the Black Orchid cult and punishable by death.
The young men of the Clifton family had heard enough. They were becoming increasingly furious and wanted to rip the four men apart for what they were saying and what they were threatening to do.
"Be careful," Rufus exclaimed when he saw his cousins and uncles struggling to contain their fury. Then he watched in horror as Neo stamped his foot, roared like a lion, and violently seized the arms of one of his cousins who was a martial arts expert. The attacker's palm was like a sharp blade that cut into his brother's scalp causing blood to gush out as he passed out on the floor.
The sound of Neo, Orion, and Jax's strange cries reverberated throughout the hall as they skillfully dealt with the procession of young men who attacked them. In almost no time, all of the younger males of the family were lying beaten on the ground.
The rest of the family was shocked. They could never have imagined that their relatives could be beaten so easily.
"Come on everyone, we have to beat them," someone shouted. Those still standing were filled with grief and indignation, and even the women and children grabbed chairs, knives, or forks to use as weapons. Some were just waving their fists at the men, but everyone was united against this common enemy.
"Wow, do you really think you can beat the warrior priests of the Black Orchid?" Jax asked as he looked at the remaining family members with a sinister laugh. As he was speaking, a teenage boy approached him from behind waving a machete.
Jax didn't look around, but simply waved his right fist, which connected with the youth's head and knocked him to the ground. The boy writhed on the ground with blood pouring from a cut on his temple. Jax approached the youth, touched the red blood with his finger, and laughed cruelly. He punched him hard in the face and the boy lost consciousness.
Hearing a scream, Debbie looked at her aunt, Naomi, who had rushed over to the boy and was kneeling on the ground, nursing his head in her lap. She stroked her son's hair and cheeks and whispered, "Sawyer, you're going to be okay, it will all be okay."
Everyone heard the fear in Naomi's voice and felt desperate. She gently lay on the ground next to her son and curled up with him, hugging his body close to hers. She was crying hysterically, "Somebody do something! Do something about these evil priests!"
Naomi's eyes were frantic as she looked up at the men. Sawyer was her only son. He had been away at school and had only just returned to her.
"Run," someone shouted, and several people took the opportunity to run to the door screaming. However, when they got to the door, they found that they were locked in and couldn't escape. Orion and Neo were waiting by the doors for the cowards who tried to flee, and they quickly beat them to the ground.
The smell of blood filled the hall.
Rufus was terrified. He reached for the alarm on his body, but it wasn't there. He wondered desperately where his father was and whether he was safe.
Where could the alarm have gone?
He saw that Zeke was slowly walking toward him with his eyes locked onto his, and he felt a great sense of foreboding. Looking around the room, he saw that everyone was in a state of panic.