Chapter 12 Liar
Chapter Twelve
LIAR
Ifree-fell until I hit a ramp and slid down until it ended on a stone floor.
I rolled into metal bars, stopping with a lurch.
Yep. We’d invaded a villain’s fortress who was prepped for Halloween year round.
And now I was bruised as thoroughly as you should be when wandering around in a haunted house.
“Meow,” Taco said, brushing against my arm with his fluffy softness.
I picked him up and held him close, but not too close because I wanted to squeeze the life out of him. This was creepy. Not my kind of fun, for sure. There would only be one final jump scare because the chain saws and the psychopaths were very real.
I headed forward into the darkness, bumped into a wall and then rounded a corner.
A dim light ahead helped me make my way down the hall between cages.
It felt like I was walking forever, but it was probably only five minutes.
The light came from a grate far above, along with the sound of talking, laughing, crowds.
Would they hear me scream? I kept walking past the light, heading into the darkness while my skin prickled with cold and nerves.
The lights were even more sporadic down here.
Was I on the same level as the beast? Nothing down here was as scary as him, and he’s what I was trying to find. I was clearly insane.
Taco leapt out of my arms and ran down the hall, stopping at a bowl filled with something white and reflective. Was it milk? I leaned over to see and was grabbed from behind, pulled against a strong body by hands that hurt in a familiar way. He also smelled like Michael’s expensive shaving cream.
“Cherie amore. I have you,” he breathed in my ear.
Goosebumps and shudders went through me. And I’d thought it was creepy before down here. I elbowed him, but it was like elbowing a rock wall.
“Let go of me, Michael. You’re hurting me.”
He laughed in my ear, hot and close. “I was going to kill him, but you’re a much better prize than the Prince’s head.
Sunshine, how I’ve longed for you.” He bent to kiss my neck, but my hooded coat got in the way, so he whirled me around and ripped it off me, revealing my incredibly sexy lingerie.
He stared at the Ukulele hanging across my chest from its happy strap, frowning at it in confusion.
“What is this? Have you gone mad? My poor precious love. You’ve been neglected for too long.
The pain must be unbearable. Don’t worry, I’ll stop the pain soon, and then all you’ll know is pleasure.
” He pressed me against the wall and lowered his mouth to mine.
I panicked.
I flipped the little dart in my ring and stabbed the side of his neck with it.
His lips were hard, wet, and so painful as he kissed me for an eternity of misery until he finally slid down my front to the ground, leaving me with a racing heart as I stared down at the wrong unconscious body.
I was shaking so bad as I stumbled to my knees and scooped up Taco.
“It’s okay,” I whispered while my heart beat too fast. Dangerously fast. I needed some meds.
I needed a nap and a delicious salad. I needed to rest for a week.
What was I doing wandering around in a horror movie searching for a beast? I was too stupid to live.
A low growl came from the shadows. I froze and stared into the darkness. My t-shirt glowed in the dark. Specifically, the smiley-face. Talk about a walking target. I fumbled around for the black coat, but Michael was laying on it.
“Here, kitty, kitty. Come play with me,” the growling monster in the shadows rumbled sending a weird shiver down my spine. Was that Nix? The voice was terrifying, but also slightly attractive.
What was the plan? My hands were shaking, but I put Taco down and pulled the ukulele around so I could play it properly. No, that first mangled chord was nothing close to proper music or any other kind for that matter.
“All my friends know the Low Rider,” I sang in a crackly whisper. I strummed again, bopping my head while I tried to get into the groove. “Low Rider, is a little flier. Yeah.”
I expected the beast to grab me and rip off my arms, but instead the darkness stayed dark, and Taco looked up at me curiously.
I strummed with a little more confidence.
This kind of crazy belonged in a haunted house.
I might look positively creepy in my smiley face t-shirt with a crumpled body behind me.
“Low Rider can’t keep my pants up, yeah. Low Rider, can’t dance, yeah.” Those definitely weren’t the right lyrics, but what did it matter? I was about to die. I would go out singing the lyrics how they should be.
I spun around and strummed with some good energy. What we needed was a cow bell. Next time. “Low Rider, has bad gas, now. Low Rider, tripping hazard fall fast. Mm hm. Take a little trip, take a little trip, right on the floor, take a big trip, take a big trip through the door…”
He stepped out of the shadows, and I followed the theme of the song, tripped on Taco, losing my rhythm and my hand position on the ukulele.
He loomed over me. How did he get so big? Was Nix always this enormous? I couldn’t remember. I backed up until I hit a wall, then I winced as my head thumped.
“He said you’re the prize,” he rumbled, a sound that reverberated in my chest. Fear and fascination were probably the same thing.
“He’s unconscious. Don’t listen to unconscious people,” I breathed.
He smiled and then he was close, so fast, holding my hands above my head, my wrists pressed against the stone. “Kitten has claws,” he murmured as he slid my ring off my finger, letting it fall to the floor with a clink.
I winced. That was my wedding ring. It was precious, even if Nix hadn’t carved it.
It was also the only way I could defeat this person who was in another universe from Nix.
Still kind of ridiculously attractive, though.
It didn’t help that he was only wearing a pair of shorts that may have been yellow at some point.
He was a cunning beast who could target any and all threats, including rings.
“So do beasts. But now I’m declawed and helpless. I can’t be let outdoors,” I pouted up at him.
He looked down at me, tilting his head slightly. “You killed him. Bad Kitten. Now I can’t take his prize from him.”
“No, I put him to sleep. I never- well, very rarely kill people. Also, I’m not the prize.”
He leaned close and inhaled against the ear that Michael had breathed in, like he was trying to draw the other man’s essence out of me. “Sleep? You would be pure pleasure in a bed, but there would be no sleeping,” he ended in a growl that sent a shiver down my spine.
I cleared my throat and tried to not look like I was helplessly stuck against a wall in his implacable grasp. “I’m a virgin. You wouldn’t like me.”
“You’re the prize. You don’t like the prize, you just take it,” he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. He handled me roughly, but it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I expected. His beast didn’t use any more force than necessary as he carried me into the shadows towards his lair.
“Wait! I need my ring and Taco.”
He stopped. “Taco?”
“The kitten’s Taco. I’m going to keep him and give him a yellow collar so he matches my Camaro.” I kicked my feet. “You can’t just carry me off! I’m not a prize.”
“If you aren’t the prize,” he breathed into my ear, “then you’re the enemy. Which would you rather be, declawed kitten?”
I held very still. He rumbled a laugh and kept walking, leaving Taco and my ring behind.
I slumped over his shoulder like a dead thing.
I’d found the beast. Go team Sunshine! The fact that I’d lost my only weapon against him and would have to hope that he didn’t kill his prizes and his enemies was no biggie.
He patted my butt while my head dangled down his back. “Good kitten.”
I glared at his back in the darkness. Well, two could play that game. I spanked him hard enough to hurt my hand. His glutes were iron. “Bad beast.”
He rumbled another laugh.
He was carrying me around a corner when a grate slammed down from the ceiling ahead of us. He froze and crouched lower, then leapt at the grate, grabbing it before the floor gave way beneath us.
I wrapped my arms around his waist, staring down into the ominous darkness beneath us. If we fell and he landed on top of me, I’d be dead.
“Don’t fall,” I whispered, digging my nails into his skin.
He laughed again. “Kittens always land on their feet. So do beasts.”
He dropped down into the hole, like he hadn’t put effort into avoiding it in the first place. He hit the ramp like he could see it, rode it down like a board then landed lightly on the floor. And now I needed to see him ride. He shifted me as he walked forward into the darkness.
“Where are you going?” I asked, unable to see anything other than the darkness against his back.
“I have the prize. The game is over.”
What did that mean? I slapped his butt again. “How is that a where?”
He responded by patting me softly, a little too flirtatiously, honestly. “To find a bed for not sleeping. This way smells of the sea.”
Not sleeping? A.k.a. sex. How terrifying.
My ugly nightgown had done absolutely no good at all.
“Ah. It smells of the sea. Of course it does.” I sniffed.
I could smell his skin. How did it smell good after fighting for days?
I was clearly deranged. Was it a good thing that he was going to find a bed?
Of course it was. Being murdered on a bed would be much more comfortable than in the prison maze.
I wouldn’t think about anything else that might happen, or I’d freak right out.
We came to an enormous metal door. He sniffed it and then tried the handle. The door swung open eerily silent. The metal gangplank on the ground went over the water and led to a creepy ship. Of course it did. Why wouldn’t you want to go from the haunted dungeons to the haunted boat?