20. Chapter Twenty Neon Nightmares
Chapter Twenty: Neon Nightmares
Tess
After stepping over the three guys Reaper had dropped at the door, we crept down the hallway, our footsteps muffled by the thick layer of dust coating the floorboards. Each creak of the wood beneath our feet echoed ominously in the stillness of the haunted mansion.
Staying light on our toes, our senses heightened to the slightest sound or movement. The air was tinged with the metallic tang of blood and dust.
Moonlight filtered through the occasional window, flitting across the walls like specters in the night, leaving us wrapped in darkness.
In the distance, the faint sounds of a skirmish echoed through the corridors. A shout here, a thump there, followed by the ominous silence of the mansion calling for its eldritch. I strained my ears, listening for any sign of danger lurking around each corner .
Despite the adrenaline coursing through my veins, an undeniable sense of dread charged the air. Every step took us deeper into the unknown, where danger lurked inside every contestant, and every pathway held the promise of a new threat.
Keeping a step behind Reaper as we inched toward a T junction in the hallway, the temperature plummeted, like walking into a freezer. Goosebumps spread down my arms.
A large mirror loomed at the end of the hallway, its surface speckled with dried blood and a thin layer of dust, obscuring the clarity and distorting our reflections into twisted caricatures of ourselves.
I held my breath. As we drew closer, the sight became more and more unsettling. My reflection mimicked my gestures in an exaggerated way, with an eerie delay that sent my pulse into overdrive. Each step forward sunk me further into a surreal nightmare.
With only a few more steps, the figure greeting me was clearly anything but reassuring. I stared at my reflection, pupils dilated with terror, hands waving frantically over my head as if trying to ward off an unseen threat. Reaper held his hand out, holding me back.
With a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, I watched him turn to face the direction of my reflection’s gaze, prepared to fight, and peer down the hallway to the left. The shadows swelled, swallowing the faint light filtering through the windows and leaving nothing but darkness stretching out into the unknown.
Tense with anticipation, he nodded, urging me on with a subtle hand motion, his fingers curling in the silence. With each step forward, the floorboards groaned, adding to the tension like a suffocating fog.
I let out a slow, steadying breath, barely audible over the ghostly echoes of the haunted mansion and with one last glance back to the mirror, my heart skipped a beat. My reflection, head thrown back in laughter, alongside Reaper’s incongruent reflection, mocking me .
As our gazes met in the mirror’s surface, a chill swept through me. The evil reflected in her eyes—a dark glimmer of malevolence— reached out to coat my heart in ice. For a moment, the world around me blurred and shifted, and I was left wondering if the mirror held more than just tricks—if it captured the very essence of our fear and uncertainty.
I quickened my pace, closing the gap between Reaper and myself just in time for a battle cry from the door beside us. Chaos descended as men and women clad in shades of obsidian and smoke, their faces smudged with charcoal, charged straight for us. Standing between them and Reaper with no more than half a second to respond and defend myself, I faced another inevitable catastrophe.
On instinct, I let out a primal screech, ringing through the dark corridor like nails on a chalkboard. Before I could think or even empty the lungful of air, I was yanked violently to the floor, my body crashing down with a sickening thud, the breath knocked out of me. Rough wooden boards pressed against my cheek, scraping my skin as I struggled to regain my bearings.
Cruel hands seized me, savagely jerking my arms behind my back and holding them together with a merciless grip, reminding me just how helpless and vulnerable I was here and sending an intense wave of panic through my veins.
Above me, anarchy unfolded in a dizzying whirlwind of motion. The frenetic combat blurred into a cacophony of indistinguishable shapes and colors. The whacking of fists on flesh, the grunts of exertion, and the desperate shouts of whoever it was caught in the fray were all a chaotic mystery in that panicked moment.
A sharp sting to my scalp sent tears to my eyes.
I cried out in agony .
As my head wrenched up, a man whispered in my ear, freezing me in place with dread.
“Say goodbye, girly.” His breath was hot against my skin as the finality of the words crashed over me like a tidal wave.
The cold, sharp sensation digging into my neck was my last warning—the end was nigh.
My blood would spill here, and all my dreams would end.
Only in that moment did I realize how much hope I’d held onto.
That I had a future.
That I might find freedom one way or another.
That I could rid the world of Ivan.
But I didn’t get to confront him once.
“Hey asshole,” came a growl from above me and my assailant.
His hand, knife and all, thrust to the floor with a thud.
I was wrenched sideways, hitting my shoulder hard on the wall.
Gaping up at the commotion, I caught Reaper, his eyes glowing red, as he held my assailant down with a foot to his back. Reaper held out his hand, and the knife flew straight into his palm.
He grasped the man’s wrist, wrenching it backward at a sickening angle, eliciting a shriek from my would-be murderer.
“You’re a funny guy, aren’t you? Imagine thinking you were going to slit her throat. You did think that, didn’t you?” he growled so low I could barely make out the words.
“Fuck,” came the response.
“Didn’t you!?”
He let out a resigned groan. “Yeah, man, that’s the game.”
Reaper stilled for a beat, tilting his head like he hadn’t thought of that, then chuckled. “That it is. Eenie meenie miney moe! You picked the wrong year to come here!” He paused, looking thoughtful, then smiled wide and added, “Now you know!” He looked up at me. “That was a rhyme within a rhyme, did you notice?”
I gave him a jerky nod and a tight grin. He was a fucking monster.
Looking thoroughly pleased with himself to have made the rhyme work, Reaper used the guy’s own knife to cut into his wrist. Agonizing screams pierced my eardrums. Blood spurted out from the gaping wound, speckling the walls and the floor. I recoiled from the trajectory of the flow as he begged for mercy.
I scrambled to my feet, pressing my back against the wall as he prayed for forgiveness. For pity. For help.
And finally, for a quicker death.
With a furrowed brow, Reaper grunted in the exertion of his task. “Man, you should have brought a better knife. This one wasn’t made for so much bone and cartilage.” He chuckled darkly, then, with a grin, he sighed in exaggerated contentment. “You know, I didn’t expect to be moved to such hedonism tonight. Thanks for that. I owe you one.”
I whimpered at the macabre scene, realizing this guy could absolutely rival Ivan. How did I find myself associated with men like this? It started with my father and would certainly end with this guy.
My heart banged against my ribcage, begging me to run away, but I was frozen. Afraid of what I’d encounter without Reaper, or that he’d come after me.
“Mmmmmm… Oh yeah, you like that?” Reaper rumbled all seductively. The guy grunted. “Feels good to me. Tell me you like it.”
“Fuck you,” he growled.
Reaper dug his knee between the guy’s ass cheeks hard and barked at him. “Tell me how fucking much you love this, or I’ll assume you want to get fucked harder! ”
“Fuck! Alright, I like it. I like it, man! Whatever you say!” He cried like a baby under Reaper’s grasp, wailing for his mother. “Just fucking end me, man. Kill me already!”
“Oh ho ho ho! I can’t do that, you see, because I watched these hands pull that woman’s head back by her hair and press this knife to her neck.” He closed his eyes and sucked in a breath through his teeth. Was he savoring the moment? “Thing is, I’m a jealous guy. And if anyone’s going to be making her scream, it’s me. You hear me? Only me!”
Going numb through my entire body, I yelped as Reaper bore down on the knife in the man’s wrist, and the hand popped free. “There.” He held it up, admiring his work.
My attacker—who seemed more and more like a victim, though I had to remember he’d almost killed me—screamed so loud I had to cover my ears. Reaper stuffed the side of the amputated hand in his mouth.
“Shhhhh, quiet now, baby. You’re a live one, aren’t you? How do you even still have the energy for that racket? Lie still and take it hard and deep like a good boy. One more time.”
The guy whimpered.
“Reaper,” I hissed. He peered over at me, eyes still glowing red but expression softening a little.
“Be with you in a minute. We’re having an emotional moment together.”
“Maybe you should skip to the ‘finishing him’ part, so we can get out of here.” After glancing in both directions, I stared back at him pointedly. If we stayed much longer, we’d be overwhelmed by challengers all at once.
He cocked his head, seeming to consider my opinion, and then gave a sharp nod. He snatched the guy by the hair and wrenched his head up exactly as he’d done to me. “You’re in luck. The lady agrees with you.” He brought the knife to his neck and turned back to me. “You wanna do it?”
Stomach roiling at the idea, I shook my head, closed my eyes and swiveled away. I was going to have to steel myself better through this, but I didn’t know how. Reaper’s voice slithered through the air, all serpentine-like, sending goosebumps all the way up and down my arms. “Say goodbye, asshole.”
With a gurgle and a thump, Reaper was back by my side, leading me down the hallway like that nightmare had never even happened.
I’m a jealous guy. And if anyone’s going to be making her scream, it’s me. You hear me? Only me.
I thought I’d been through so much shit that nothing could shock me anymore. But what I’d just watched my ally do made my blood run cold. Was I safe with him? Maybe, while he wanted me around.
But he’d just revealed out loud how much he wanted to hurt me, too. There was no telling how long our alliance would last.