18. Tess
TESS
As soon as the front door closed, Cyrus and Nash disappearing on their business, I rose from my stool. I needed to get to work studying the park if I had any hope of winning next week.
Plus, if the look in Blade’s eyes was anything to go off of, she’d eat me alive if I stayed inside.
She’d licked her plate clean, not taking her eyes off of me the entire time.
Last night hadn’t been enough for her.
And with a name like Blade, I couldn’t help but fear what else she might have in store for me.
Who the fuck would name their kid that anyway?
“Where you headed, Trinket?” Blade spun around in her chair, watching me move toward the door.
“A walk. Need some air.” I couldn’t look back at her. A flash of what I’d let her do to me a few hours ago came back to my mind.
Licking her lips, Blade nodded. “Count me in.”
As Blade moved toward the door, the tortoise shell cat chirped and ran to Blade’s side. Looking up at her, Butch let out a loud, stubborn meow.
“Yeah, yeah. I know. You need a walk too.”
My brows furrowed as Blade flung open the front door, Butch sprinting ahead and down the stairs. “Won’t he…”
“Get hurt? Get lost?” Blade laughed, shaking her head as she grabbed her twin axes from their resting place outside the front door. “No, he knows where the food is, and he definitely knows how to take care of himself. Besides, he likes us. Kind of let himself in.”
From the tipped ear, I knew he must have been a stray. Probably one of dozens that found a home in the abandoned amusement park. But how he’d ended up in the modern, industrial loft was a surprise to me.
Brushing past Blade, I followed after the cat and headed out into the bright afternoon sun. Despite having just eaten breakfast, it was far closer to lunchtime. I’d been asleep for a while when the smell of food and the sound of good music stirred me awake.
I took in a deep breath, the air surprisingly fresh. I’d gotten used to the smoke-filled air of Valemont’s trailer parks. Between the cigarettes and the burn barrels people kept for their trash, I was sure my lungs were full of poison already.
Looking around the park, I tried to hide my surprise. Birds chirped from the rafters of the towering roller coasters, nests cradled in the nooks of the metal beams.
A squirrel sat on top of a booth, snacking on some kind of nut.
But the sound of splitting wood drew me out of the woodland fantasy.
“Jesus…” I gasped, watching as Blade slammed the tip of her ax into a wood post.
“Sorry, should’ve warned you.” Antsy, her grip on the handle tightened as she pulled the ax from the wood. She left behind a new notch, a fresh cut just above a dried out, older one.
Shaking my head, I crossed my arms and took in the scenario. We walked down the park’s main paths, small alleys and themed streets diverting from the path and leading to new sections.
My eyes caught on the spinning gravity ride across the park. “How does no one know you’re here if you turn the rides on? Wouldn’t the lights draw attention?”
Blade sniffled as she walked closer, following my gaze. “Good first spot.” Her eyes traveled down my body, the loose tshirt and pants clearly doing something for her. “We get visitors. But we leave them with a warning that kills curiosity."
Turning to meet her green eyes, I clenched my jaw tight. I was starting to understand what she meant. The masks alone would make most teenagers sprint for the hills.
But I’d lived in this town my entire life, I’d heard the stories, the rumours. That psychos lived here.
I guess they were right. And I fell right into their trap.
Ignoring Blade, I kept walking.
But I felt her eyes on me as I walked, glued to my ass even in the baggy clothes. I knew she was thinking about how I felt, that she’d already had me.
It made me nervous, suddenly self-conscious in the light of day about what we’d done in the dark.
I tried to take note of every detail, including the rectangular, wire cages scattered across the park. Spring-loaded animal traps. I recognized them from the trailer parks I’d been in and out of. The old ladies were always trapping stray cats and getting them spayed and neutered.
“What’s the deal with the cages?” I nodded toward the metal trap.
Blade hummed. “Oh, yeah, those. There’s a lot of feral cats around here. We leave out traps and then take them to a spay/neuter clinic. Then we release them. Otherwise the whole place would be a cat colony by now.”
“Is that where Butch came from?” Despite my instincts, Butch was still trotting around near us. He’d disappear into the woods and like magic reappear every few hundred yards.
With a shrug, Blade laughed. “More or less. We did get him neutered but we liked recovering in the apartment a little too much. And he pays rent, so we weren’t going to kick him out.”
Reading between the lines, I knew what Blade meant. He was a hunter, just like them. With his help, Feverpoint and the luxury loft hidden away in its depths would stay pest free.
As we approached a directory, worn and faded, I let myself study it for a moment. I needed to scope out new sections of the park if I had any hope of winning the next hunt.
I spotted Superhero’s Sanctuary. The offbrand, unlicensed part of the park that mimicked popular superheroes but didn’t quite copy them.
Even better, Colossal Kitchen appeared just before it.
Following the map's directions, I walked toward it. There would be lots of small nooks and crannies to hide in, built for little kids to play in for hours on end.
But as we walked, I became more and more aware of Blade’s presence.
The rhythmic thump of her ax into every post we passed an eerie metronome.
Every few hits, she’d sprint ahead, disappear into the brush and reappear a few seconds later. Even walking wasn’t stimulating enough for her.
When she came back, I asked a new question. “You’ve done this before me?” It was clear they had, the rules were so concise, the terms predetermined. I just couldn’t figure out how many times, how skilled they really were.
Blade hummed, stopping in front of me and forcing me to stand before her. “Mm. But none of them hold a candle to you. You are a pleasure to hunt.” Sucking her teeth, she twirled her ax in her hands. “I’d chase you through the dark every night if Cyrus let me, Trinket.”
Before I could push her away, Blade took a few steps back and turned forward. Her shoulders were broad despite her lean muscle. I could see her shoulder blades testing the limits of her shirt.
I’d already let her fuck me. But that didn’t stop my body from anticipating what would happen if she caught me again.
Pay attention.
I tried to study the area, towering pieces of kitchen cookware, the buildings made to look like ovens and refrigerators. A dark corner between the entrance to two different rides.
Putting her ax behind her head, Blade stretched and looked back at me. “But we do get other deliveries. And we like to hunt those too.”
Her head tilted back, like the mere thought was bringing her pleasure.
My bones chilled. “Women?”
Blades' short, blonde hair bounced as she turned back to me. Her face was dead serious before a sinister laugh rippled from her chest. “No, Trinket. The women we hunt are for pleasure. But the business?”
She sucked in a deep breath, like the memory was a release of its own. “That you’ll have to stick around to see. Those bastards are just getting what’s coming to them.”
My throat tightened. Every question I asked was replaced with more questions.
Back to making her notches, Blade kept her space ahead of me. From the brush, Butch jogged out and walked alongside us.
My eyes followed his path, wondering what might be lurking just off the trail. And then I saw it, the perfect spot.
I might be stuck with the Freaks for now, but they’d been in Feverpoint for a long time. And as trained as they might be, I was seeing the park with fresh eyes.
With any luck, they’ll never think of the spot I just found.