The Monster’s Captive (Penumbra #1)

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

Leda

I woke with a start.

My heart raced as I forced myself to lie still and listen, trying to figure out what had interrupted my sleep, but my house was quiet as usual. The only noise was the soft whir of the fan next to my bed.

There were no extra shadows in the corners. No unexpected presence in my space.

It must have been a bad dream.

I closed my eyes, sleep creeping back over me. Just as I was about to doze off, there was a faint noise, like a foot scraping against carpet. Then scent of woodsmoke and something darker and sharper wafted into my room.

My lids flew open, and I rolled toward my nightstand, reaching for the pistol I kept in a holster attached to the side. It was set low, between the stand and the mattress, remaining hidden until I needed it. My fingers brushed the grip a split second before a heavy weight hit my back.

A long, narrow hand clamped on my wrist, gripping me tightly. Nails pricked my skin hard enough to draw blood. “Thisss one is perfect,” a low voice hissed.

Another hand gripped my hair as I scrambled for the gun, yanking my head back. A face with a mouth full of grinning fangs leered down at me before a fine powder was thrown in my face.

I blinked rapidly, trying to focus on the man on top of me. He was wearing a mask. Something thick and leather, with gray skin and red eyes. If I wasn’t already fighting for my life, I would be terrified.

I sneezed and choked, trying not to inhale, but it was too late. My head began to spin immediately.

Somehow, I managed to throw an elbow at the man on my back. He gave a screech, his grip on my hair tightening. I turned my head and sank my teeth into his other arm when he braced a hand against my headboard.

“Filthy animal,” he growled out, using his hold on my hair to shove my face into my pillow.

I tried to twist, to fight, but my limbs were going numb. The strength drained out of me, my body refusing to respond to my commands. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see, couldn’t fight back. It was my worst nightmare come to life.

I’d trained my entire adulthood for a situation like this, yet here I was, helpless.

I would find a way out of this. I planned to make this asshole regret every life choice he made leading up to this moment.

Even if it was the last thing I did.

Ice-cold water splashed on my face dragged me back to consciousness. I gasped, sitting straight up, and coughed as I inhaled the liquid, gagging and hacking until all the water was out of my throat.

Putting a hand on my chest, I sucked in a deep breath and fought the urge to choke. When I realized I was touching bare skin, I glanced down and saw that I was completely fucking naked.

The sound of a bucket hitting the floor jerked my attention up, and I saw that same gray face and grinning mouth filled with rows of long, sharp fangs.

Though it was dim, I could see that he wasn’t wearing a mask as I’d thought.

The only clothing he wore was a loincloth and a vest made of chains.

Since he was half-naked, I could see that the leathery skin of his body matched his face.

His limbs were freakishly long and knobby. His proportions weren’t human.

“Time to earn me some money, animal,” he rasped, licking his lips with a black forked tongue.

My brain couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing. It had to be a costume or something. Otherwise, what I was seeing would mean he was a monster. But that wasn’t possible. I shook my head in disbelief.

He came toward me, his strange knobby legs moving quickly. What he was didn’t matter. I couldn’t let him get his hands on me again. I waited until he was close enough before I jammed my heel into his crotch, putting my entire body weight into it.

As soon as my bare foot touched his skin, I knew the impossible was real. He wasn’t human. My heart thudded in my chest as panic threatened to overwhelm me. This had to be a nightmare.

Oh, my God. Monsters kidnapped me.

A high-pitched whining noise escaped his mouth as he bent over, bringing me back to my immediate issue. I had to get away from him whether he was human or monster. I rolled to my feet, stepping forward to slam my knee into his face.

Fuck, that hurt.

His skull was hard as hell.

He collapsed to the ground, one hand clutching his genitals and the other cupped over his strangely flat nose.

For a brief second, I watched in horror as black blood leaked from between his fingers. Filing the information away, I knew I couldn’t stop. I gave his stomach a hard stomp, satisfaction filling me at the sound of his wheezing exhale and his struggle to inhale after. But there was no time to waste.

I sprinted toward the open cage door, squeezing through and slamming it shut behind me.

My sole focus must be escape. I couldn’t let the alien appearance of my captor distract me from it.

When the sound of metal rattled behind me, I didn’t look back.

Instead, I stuck out a hand and grabbed a long length of fabric hanging from the bars of the cage next to mine.

I would need some sort of clothing when I left here.

Running around naked would likely draw too much attention.

I was nearly to the door at the end of the row of cages when something jerked at my neck.

My feet flew out from under me. Tucking my chin to my chest to protect the back of my head, I let myself fall backward.

The air left my lungs in a whoosh when my body hit the hard floor. My bones all but rattled at the impact.

Confused, I raised a hand to my neck, my fingers finding a leather collar around my throat. A heavy padlock threaded through two loops held it tightly to my flesh.

They had collared me like a damn dog.

Fucking hell, whatever they had given me was messing with my head. I was chained up in this place, and I hadn’t even realized it.

Anger filled me, and I grabbed at the collar and lock, trying to figure out a way to tear it free. Then, I gagged as metal rattled again. The pressure around my throat increased, and I slid on my back toward the cages, away from the door that meant my freedom.

This wasn’t happening.

I flipped over, scrambling to my hands and knees, and wrapped my hands around the chain trailing back to the cell I’d just escaped. Dizziness threatened to overwhelm me, but I fought it with everything I had.

I could lie down and recover once I was free.

Even though I leaned my entire body weight backward, heaving against the steady pull, it was no use.

The ugly fucker I’d locked in the cell was no longer inside it. No, he stood in the dimly lit space between the rows of cages, slowly pulling the chain toward him, hand over hand.

His red eyes gleamed with malicious glee, but I couldn’t help but stare at the black blood covering the lower part of his face. Then he bared his fangs at me, revealing how the thick fluid filled the space between his teeth.

“You disgusting fucker!” I yelled, swallowing hard against the urge to gag at the sight.

I stopped trying to pull away, a new clarity settling over me.

The bastard had to have a key on him somewhere.

Changing my grip on the links, I charged forward, creating slack in the heavy chain.

When I was close enough, I used my momentum to swing it straight into his disgusting face.

Bones crunched, and more black blood sprayed.

His crimson eyes rolled back in his head as he crashed to the floor. I leapt, landing on top of him with both feet, not taking any chances.

His ribs were thick and prominent, and his stomach concave, giving him a misleading gaunt appearance, as though he was half-starved. If his strength was anything to go by, he wasn’t emaciated, so this was just how his… kind looked.

While I wasn’t overweight, I was heavier than I looked due to the sheer amount of muscle on my frame. So when I landed on his ribcage, it flexed beneath me, caving from the force of my body with a horrendous cracking sound.

He made a faint gurgling sound and his body jerked once before it stilled. My stomach heaved and I swallowed back the nausea.

I would not be sick.

Not yet.

First, I had to get to safety, then I could have a breakdown over the fact that I’d just killed someone. Or something.

I crouched over his body, searching his loincloth for a key to the collar on my throat. He had to have it on him. Why else would he have been in my cell but to unlock me?

Another wave of nausea assailed me when my brain came up with several ideas of his motivation for entering the cage that didn’t include unlocking the collar.

I ignored the flaccid penis between his legs, focusing on feeling the cloth for any sort of hard metallic object that resembled a key.

There was nothing. I checked his neck and wrists for a strap or necklace that might hold one, but they were all bare.

Then, my eyes fell on the mane of long black hair spread on the floor beneath him.

Desperate now, I ran my fingers over his scalp, freezing when they touched a cold, flat object tucked into the half man-bun he wore on top of his head.

This tricky fucker.

I yanked it free, along with several strands of his hair, and began to fumble with the lock on my neck.

My fingers were practically numb from the cold water he’d soaked me with and trembled so violently that it took me four tries just to line the tip of the key up with the lock.

The sheer adrenaline running through my veins didn’t help.

The key slipped, jabbing the delicate skin of my throat.

I swallowed back a yelp of pain as it pierced my flesh but tugged it free in spite of the burning ache.

I could feel the warm trickle of my blood from the wound as I took a slow, deep breath, forcing myself to calm down and focus.

I would never be able to do this if I was working from blind panic.