Chapter 18 #2
Not that money mattered now. But the point is, I literally knew a hundred ways to kill someone and I needed to figure out who I should be aiming for during the next game.
We’re about to start the last round, the weight now set around four hundred and fifty pounds when three of the guards walk into the gym.
“Stop what you’re doing and line up against the wall contestants,” a female officer yells above the noise.
“Why?” Rio protests, as none of us move.
“Now,” she reiterates and the three male guards at her back start spreading out to push us all back. There’s about fifteen of us in the small gym.
We’re slow to move until they part enough to reveal the fucking giant cat accompanying them.
The sleek panther steps through their legs and hisses, showing its sharp canines.
We’ve been taught about the shifters, seen images in the textbooks, and seen a few of the guards spouting wings, but this is new.
All the grumbling ceases. And those that still take too long to move towards the mirrored wall quicken when the female officer gets pissed at their slowness and shifts her eyes.
Her pupils change to reptilian slits and the irises glow with yellow flames.
If the panther wasn’t enough, it reminds us that none of them are human.
The fear in the air grows in potency as the giant black predator starts prowling a line in front of where we’re standing against the wall. Two of the male guards move with it, doing body searches of each contestant. It's like a prison raid, where they search us for weapons or contraband.
They reach me, about halfway down the line.
I can’t help tensing as the cat stares up into my eyes.
Are they sentient in that form? Do they have their human thoughts?
So many questions buzz through my head as the officers pat me down.
I keep quiet, knowing I have nothing to hide.
There’s no point in being pissy about this.
Not finding anything, the men move on but the panther lingers, whiskers twitching before it steps away.
Taking a deep inhale I swipe a hand over my face and lean back against the mirror behind me.
Now I’m seemingly out of risk of being eaten by a giant cat, my mind can’t help but start to worry about Tacita and Milo.
Where are they whilst this is going down?
The guards finish the line and move back, coming to stand in the middle of the room, passing silent glances at each other.
“Thank you for your compliance contestants,” the female officer says. “You will now be escorted back to the dorms. I’m afraid we are going into another lockdown.”
There’s a few shouts of “Why?” along with some grumbled bitching as we follow the officers towards the doors. I’ve already figured it out.
“There’s been another murder,” I state, pushing my way through to the front.
The panther locks eyes with me again and tilts its head. Its yellow eyes narrow as it assesses the fact I didn’t form a question.
“You are correct number Thirty-Nine. This time on the top floor of the second dorms,” the female officer says.
“The top floor?” I step forward, my heartbeat accelerating like a hummingbird taking off in my chest.
“Yes. That’s where your room is, isn’t it?” She pauses, halting in a wide stance and the panther stops beside her, its ears flicking back. “How long have you been in the gym?”
“At least a couple of hours,” I reply truthfully. “Who was it?”
I’m scared of the answer. As much as I think you’d have to be incredibly ballsy to go after Tacita, Milo would be an easy target. If anyone has dared to touch him I’m going to lose it. The ways in which I was just calculating to take out those around me? Yeah, those will be put into action.
“It was the occupants of room thirty-seven.”
I breathe a relieved exhale. Tacita and Milo are room forty-two. Room thirty-seven had numbers Sixty-Six and Twenty-Seven. Two guys, Frankie and Ahmed.
“Both of them?” Rio asks, coming to my side.
“Yes,” the female officer says grimly.
Whoever this bastard is that’s killing us is certainly sly. Even I have doubts about getting away with murder with these demons around. Their senses seem far greater than ours. You’d have to be meticulous, flawless in the execution. But with four now dead, whoever it is, is fucking smart.
As we reach the dormitory buildings, our group is split up and escorted to their relevant floors. Only, when it comes to me, I’m led by one of the male officers around to the side. I’m about to question where we’re going when others from our floor come into sight.
“We’re not finished with the bodies, so you’ll wait here for now,” the guard says before nodding to two others watching over our group and retreating.
The panther, who had also walked with us, slinks into the building.
Spotting Seffy first and then Milo behind her, I bound over to them, my legs feeling weirdly unstable as the relief hits me in a wave. Milo looks worried but unharmed.
My anxiety ticks up again as I realise Tacita is not amongst the group.
“Are you okay?” I ask Milo as I step into his space.
On instinct, I grab onto his waist and search his gaze.
Knowing he won’t be able to verbally answer me, I assess every muscle on his pale features, from the tight line of his soft lips to the way his long eyelashes bat over dark eyes that swim with worry.
He dives into my chest, wrapping his arms around me in an unexpected show of affection. His whole body vibrates against mine, his adrenaline levels clearly skyrocketing.
“Tacita got taken away,” Seffy supplies.
Keeping Milo in my arms, I turn us so I’m looking at the blonde woman, who I now see also looks worried, her fingers knotting together.
“What happened?” I ask.
“I’m not entirely sure,” Seffy replies. “There was a knock at my door and when I answered, it was a guard. They started asking all these questions. I could see commotion going on in the hall but they wouldn’t let me out initially.
Once I’d told them I had been in my room for at least thirty minutes, I got escorted down here. ”
“Did you see the others from our floor?” I want to ask about Tacita specifically but don’t want to reveal how my own fear is spiking.
“Most. Apparently both Frankie and Ahmed are dead. Their room was next to mine. I didn’t hear anything.”
“But everyone else? Are they okay?”
“When I got down here, Tacita and a few others were already down here. She was blowing up about Milo. She calmed somewhat when they brought him down but then that Head Guard came over and she started arguing with him.”
I glance down at Milo, his heartrate has dropped somewhat. I almost don’t let him go as he pulls back from being wrapped around me. He doesn’t go far, standing so his shoulder brushes mine.
“H-h-e-e took her,” he stammers.
Seffy eyes widen as hearing Milo speak but she quickly fills in the details when it becomes clear he can’t say anything else. “The head guy, Officer Zephyr, he dragged her off.”
“No doubt back to the cells,” I mutter, shuffling my weight as I contemplate how I can break her out if she isn’t released.
“They took two others, Daniels and Neive. They came down after me but were already in handcuffs and were taken that way too.” Seffy points towards the Guards’ building.
“Look after Milo,” I tell her and move to the edge of the group, planning to do a quick recon of the cells I was held in the other night. The guards watching over us are chatting to others that have come to the entrance of our building.
Moving swiftly into the shadows of the building adjacent to ours, I don’t have much choice of an escape route. If I can sneak around the edge and round their building, I might be able to follow the perimeter fence line to the Guards’ quarters.
“Thirty-Nine, where do you think you’re going?” A gruff bark shouts, ending my hopes of sneaking away.
“Nowhere,” I grumble as I turn to face Officer Zephyr. Leaning back against the wall I fold my arms over my chest. “Just waiting for you lot to allow me back into my room so I can shower.”
“Not disappearing on us then?” He steps out of the doorway and into the space between the buildings.
“Nope.” I pop the p.
“Good. We don’t need you sneaking in, or out of, any more off limit facilities.”
I received a bollocking for breaking out of the cells the following day.
Officer Zephyr had paid a visit to my room with another one of the guards and grilled me for hours about how I’d done it.
I’d happily told them about how shit their security system was.
And that even if they changed the locks, and I found myself down there again, I knew I’d be able to break out once more.
Minutes pass and he doesn’t take his eyes off me. We stay in some sort of stand-off. I consider going back to stand with Milo, Seffy, and the others, but now that I’ve caught the attention of the Head Guard, I don't want to give him anything, even the knowledge of whom I care about.
I’m plotting a way to cause a distraction when a noise above us grabs all our attention. It sounds like giant wings flapping. In the fading evening light, it takes me a second to spot the flying creature circling above us.
They’re high above the compound and gaining height. It's difficult to make out any detail of the creature as I move away from the building wall to keep my eyes on it, as its trajectory changes.
Wings tucking in tight the winged humanoid shape becomes clearer as they plummet to the earth.
They slam into the open concrete in front of the building, but despite their speed there’s barely a sound. Wings spread wide to reveal a lithe body, dropped into a fighting crouch, one leg folded under them, one stretched out to the side. Their fingertips brush the ground beneath them.
Dressed in all black, the tactical gear clearly tailored to fit to perfection, the material absorbing all light. In the shadows, they’d be undetectable. The only part not skintight is the hood which billows over their head, concealing their face.
The horns protruding out of it through tailored holes are not missable. In a red to black ombre they ride up away from the creature’s head curving slightly and pointed on the ends.
They rise in a fluid move, their control over each muscle in their body absolute. From their clothing I cannot tell if the creature is male or female, although they are not overly tall or overly muscled. But they could easily be a lithe male.
And after landing in literal Hell I have no clue what resides out here. After those gremlin things and sprites we met on the mountain, there could be any number of creatures we’re yet to learn about.
One thing I do know about the new arrival, however, is that they’re beautiful. Despite not being able to actually see any of their features, I can’t take my eyes off them as they walk over to where our group is staring.
“Did you have to be so dramatic?” Officer Zephyr says in greeting, his tone not concealing the irritation he clearly feels over the arrival of this stunning creature.
I look away from them for a few seconds to glance at the other guards. Officer Zephyr has stepped forward to greet the arrival, the rest have dropped their gazes but stand to attention. Clearly, whoever this is, holds a powerful position in this land.
No response comes in reply to Officer Zephyr’s greeting. The creature simply sweeps over to him. It’s then that I notice the tail. Long, thin, and tipped in a deadly looking arrowhead it whips back and forth like they’re just as irritated as Zephyr is.
In a blink their wings disappear as they reach the doors of the dorms and they disappear inside, the Head Guard following behind them.
Pushing off the wall behind me, I move until I can see inside the building of my dorm through the open doors. I crane my neck to see if I can catch a glimpse of the creature again. But they must’ve already moved up the hallway as it’s empty as far as I can tell.
Are they here to help with the murdered contestants?
I move closer as the guards standing on the entryway resume their conversation.
“Who was that?” I ask, recognising one of them as one of our professors.
“That,” he replies, “is the Death Bringer. Also known as Hades’s Assassin, or Hell’s Weapon.”