Chapter Fifteen
Damon
I FORGOT HOW much I hate hockey players until the three douchebags come crashing into the haunted house, almost knocking over one of the shelves of dolls with their brutish bodies.
And then there’s Violet. She looks so small surrounded by them. I can’t tell if it’s just because she is, or if she’s purposefully folding in on herself. The pinch of her pillowy lips tells me she’s not having a good time with these assholes.
My theory is confirmed when she pushes the hidden button to open the door in the second room. She wants to get out of here as soon as she can.
But I like to play with people as they make their way through, so I can’t have her cheating.
I override the rest of the controls and close the door before Violet can follow Aaron and his shithead friends into the vampire castle room.
When I slip through the hidden door from the control room, she turns to me. Her pupils dilate, and I’m not sure if it’s from the low lights or seeing me, but I feed my ego and believe it’s the latter.
I cross the room to her and gently grab her by the hair. She looks up at me with those big gray eyes, and god, I could get lost in her.
But I have a house to run.
I warn her about what happens to cheaters in my house, making sure she understands exactly how serious the consequences are. She doesn’t back down. Even with my hand in her hair as I threaten her, she holds my gaze. That’s the Violet I remember. Never backing down. Never cowering.
When she tells me she understands, I release her with a light tap to the ass. Her answering whimper sends pleasure through my whole body.
I head back to the control room and watch Violet and the boys search around the castle room for the next key. Aaron looks absolutely livid, and one of his friends keeps looking at Violet with a lewd sneer that has me gripping the control desk with white-knuckle force.
God, I want to put them in my torture room. Maybe I will, even if Violet behaves. I’m sure she’d forgive me.
Plus, this might be my last chance with her, and I’m not sure I can leave her again without a fight. If that means disposing of her piece of shit boyfriend, then that’s a price I’m willing to pay.
One of Aaron’s friends corners Violet, stepping too close to her and saying something in her ear that has her face blanching.
I swear to god, if that fucker hurts her, I’ll rip him apart with my bare hands.
I’ve helped a lot of people in my years at the Venatores, but this is the first time I want to hurt someone for my own selfish reasons—other than my father. I don’t even know for certain if Aaron or his friends have hurt her, but just the thought of their hands on her makes me want to murder them.
And then something beautiful happens.
Violet walks over to the door and, without any attempt to pretend she’s found the next key, pushes the hidden button to open it.
She understood my threat. She knows exactly what’s coming.
This is going to be fun.
After the boys slip into the final room, I lock down the house again. Aaron turns to see that Violet didn’t make it through the door and starts banging on it. “Are you fucking kidding me, Violet? Again?”
I turn off all the lights in their room and make my way through the chamber to them.
“Congratulations,” I tell them and feel them jump back from me. “You’ve all been chosen for the special, secret ending of the house.”
As I finish, a red light in the chamber turns on, casting a faint glow over the room. The looks on their faces tell me they’re scared but trying to hide it.
And failing.
“Yeah, o-okay,” the blond one says, looking to his friends for reassurance. They all nod hesitantly.
“Right this way.” I gesture with my arm for them to go through.
Once they’re there, I have them sit in three chairs lining the walls.
“The escape from this room is a bit more difficult. You’ll all start tied up, and then the girl will have to find the clues to release each of you,” I explain to them.
“Great.” Aaron gives a sardonic laugh. “If that idiot’s our way out, we’ll be here forever.”
I clench my jaw to keep from yelling at him.
How fucking dare he speak about her that way.
Violent thoughts race through my mind as I tie each of their hands behind their backs.
I put a gag in the blond one’s mouth as punishment for whatever he said to Violet that made her so uncomfortable, and the other one’s just for fun.
Once they’re secure, I pull up the control app and open the door between the last room and the one Violet is still stuck in. I watch as she slowly walks in and her eyes widen when she takes in the scene in the chamber.
She hesitates for a moment when she sees the guys tied to chairs, then looks to me. “Do you always make good on your threats?” she quips.
“Always, darling.” Especially when it comes to her. I’d die before I ever broke a promise to her.
She walks over to me in the center of the room. Being this close to her almost makes me forget about the boys tied up against the wall.
“Violet, hurry up and get the clues. Get us out of here,” Aaron commands her.
Her face scrunches with confusion. Then she looks up at me, her back turned to the other men. “What do I do?”
“Get on your knees and I’ll give you the first clue,” I tell her.
She does, without hesitation. The fact that this woman trusts me so easily warms my cold heart.
I don’t know how Aaron and his stupid friends are going to react to what I want to do to her, but honestly, I don’t care.
I’ll kill them all if I have to. If it means Violet is free of them.
Maybe she’d want to come with me, be a part of the fair.
I caress her jaw gently with my fingers then grab her by the hair again to tilt her face toward me.