Lucifer's Apostles

Lucifer's Apostles Episode 9

The double brick house had stood on a property that the High Priestess had purchased. It had to be entirely gutted and remodelled. The interior walls were moved while extensions were added to the back. The whole house had been soundproofed. It took time and money. Different donors met all the costs, with extra money provided for furniture and surveillance.

The High Priestess chose one of her acolytes, Marcus Cornelius, to oversee the planning and renovation of both the house and an adjacent shed. Although it had been time-consuming, both buildings had transformed into practical uses of the spaces, as planned. The house converted from a four-bedroom home to a functional eight-bedroom house with a granny flat built behind it. The shed had been converted into their church.

In the house modifications, there were now eight bedrooms in all, four in the original section plus four in the extension. It had a vast living-dining area with a brand-new kitchen, including a butler’s pantry. There were two bathrooms, both with spa baths and two separate toilets. It also contained an extensive office/library and a modern fully equipped laundry. The house had a split system air conditioner that flowed into every room. The front and side doors of the house had keypad entry and exit. The side door opened out onto a walkway which led to the shed.

The shed had been transformed into a place of worship for the congregation. A pulpit and an altar with a witches’ totem had been installed, and pews were placed along both sides of the centre aisle. A large vestry was built for the high priestess, her acolytes, and her disciples to shower and change. The back half of the shed housed the sacrifice room, which was as large as the front worship area. It had previously been used for animal sacrifices. Now, a birthing table stood in the centre of the room. An altar with a witches’ totem adorned the back wall and a further pulpit. The witches’ totems were set on clay bases. They had vines extending upwards with a goat’s skull on top of them both. Black candles had been mounted along all the walls and were replaced after every ceremony with new ones. A cool room had been added behind the sacrificial chamber. This room’s purpose was to prepare the sacrifices before and after each ceremony. A large car park was completed behind the shed, made invisible to passing traffic by tennis courts.

Security cameras were situated throughout the interior and the exterior of both the house and the shed. All the camera feeds ran back to the office in the main house and were continually monitored by one of the five employees of the church, who assisted through various times of the day and night.

The prisoner’s doors were soundproofed and opened outwards from the bedroom. Barred doors like those used in holding cells were being built to go on the inside of the door, giving the hostages more air throughout the day. They would swing inward towards the bedroom when they were completed. Each of the captives’ bedroom doors had a piece of cardboard with their resident’s name labelled on it. Sally Bradford occupied bedroom one, Maria Vardalos two, Destinee Brady three, and Nadia Shahi was in bedroom four. Rooms one and two had already been refilled, meaning Destinee Brady would be the next sacrifice.

Destinee was born in the Northern Territory. Her father was in the Air Force and was later transferred to the western suburbs of Sydney. When Destinee was old enough, she enrolled in a university to become a law student. Unfortunately, she found the course challenging and dropped out in her third year.

She fell into the wrong crowd and soon drank excessively and used recreational drugs. She was employed as a personal assistant to a successful fashion designer. Her tardiness and appearance left much to be desired, and she was dismissed. Finding it hard to gain fulfilling employment, Destinee slipped deeper into alcohol, drug use and depression.

She was employed packing shelves at a local supermarket, which did not pay enough for rent, food, alcohol, and drugs. She was evicted by her housemates when she fell too far behind in her rent. Having nowhere else to go, she turned to her parents for help. They agreed to assist her if she entered a rehabilitation centre and came out clean. It was the help and motivation that Destinee needed. She left with a new attitude to life.

Knowing not everybody stayed clean once they got back out onto the streets, her parents packed her up and moved her in with them. Destinee’s father had left the Air Force and had opened a surf shop in Southern Palms. Destinee re-enrolled into university, finished her degree and accepted a junior position in a law firm near her parents’ house.

Temptations were always around. It is difficult for a young person to be social and not drink alcohol. Destinee met a young man named Lucas Brady, who took her out of the social scene. She fell in love with him, and they married soon after. Her husband was a cruel man who kept her from her family and friends. He used drugs constantly and forced her into using them as well. He abused her mentally and physically until one morning, after a horrific beating that had broken her jaw, she fled to the hospital and police safety. She returned to the rehabilitation clinic.

When she returned to her parents’ home, she was greeted with open arms. Both parents were guilt-ridden, blaming themselves for not seeing the signs and petrified that Destinee would end up back in a hole of depression and substance abuse yet again. Their fears were unfounded, and Destinee grew from the experience. She went to the local gymnasium every morning and would go on a nightly jog.

Friendships in her world were sparse. She enjoyed the company of her mother and started going to the local church within walking distance from her house. One Sunday morning, on the way home from church, she stopped to try and help a man who looked to have had a fall next to his van. Destinee’s new home would be her last. Her fight with addiction would soon end.

The young woman in the next room, Nadia Shahi was born and raised in Sydney’s southern suburbs. Nadia left school when she was seventeen and was employed as an apprentice at her cousin’s hair salon. It was, undoubtedly, the best thing to happen to her young life. She excelled in every aspect of her work.

Nadia was no party animal, rarely going out with the few friends that she had made. Her parents were strict because of their Muslim beliefs and culture. That did not worry Nadia because she had never been interested in boys. Instead, she liked a couple of girls, something she could never act on. It was a sin.

At twenty-four, Nadia met Yasmine, who instantly changed her life and beliefs. They became closer every day and decided to move into an apartment together. Both women had deep feelings for one another, although because of Nadia’s strong beliefs, neither had acted upon them.

It took three weeks before they kissed, which Nadia changed almost immediately at Yasmine’s insistence. She stopped covering up her body and no longer wore a hijab. Her father was incensed and ordered his daughter to return to live at his house immediately, but Nadia refused.

The two women became closer by the day and slept in Yasmine’s bed at night. They went everywhere together, and on weekends, they were inseparable. They enjoyed long walks in the evening, often holding hands, no longer afraid of humiliation.

The problems began for Yasmine when she started to feel smothered by Nadia. Yasmine needed space and started spending more time with new friends that she had made. She stopped praying with Nadia altogether and became secretive. The two started fighting constantly. Yasmine tried to leave more than once, with Nadia threatening to commit suicide if she ever did.

Yasmine had a car accident while travelling home from work in a nearby suburb. She received multiple injuries, including a broken neck, back, and pelvis. She also had a punctured lung and massive head injuries. The swelling on her brain meant she was placed into an induced coma and on life support. She had driven through a red light whilst looking at a text on her phone before her car had been hit by a semi-trailer and demolished.

Nadia took some holidays and spent every second she could with the unconscious Yasmine. When Yasmine awoke, it was like nobody was there. She just stared into blankness.

Nadia visited every day for two weeks straight, only going home to shower, eat and sleep. On the fifteenth morning, someone parked a white delivery van in front of her car, making it impossible for her to go to the hospital. Frantic, she went to the driver’s side of the van to remonstrate her anger. She felt a hand cover her mouth and a prick to her neck.

The first thought that came to Nadia when she woke up in the room, naked and chained to the floor, was not about her predicament. It was about whether she would ever see her beautiful girlfriend Yasmine again and who would care for her if she did not.