Chapter 4 #2
“Jon?” I called. There came another, much louder thump, and I turned accusingly toward Ben and Lee. “What have you done to them? Open the door—now!”
Lee scoffed. “Not happening.”
“Fine.” I rolled my shoulders and raised my hands toward the door, inadvertently aiming at Ben. “I’ll splinter it with ice. Unless you want to go the same way, I suggest you move.”
I expected him to meet my threat with another attempt to knock me out, or worse, for him to take control of me with his glamour. But he looked strangely defeated.
“Open the door,” he told Lee.
“Benny—”
“Please. Maybe she needs to see how vulnerable her captors really are before she believes us.”
To my astonishment, Lee complied with his request, albeit reluctantly. With a sigh, he pulled the door open.
Light spilled into a spacious walk-in closet, revealing rows of formal gowns, more suits than I could count… And Jon and Cliff, seated back-to-back on the ground, bound and gagged. Their movements were laced with grogginess. Squinting through the light, they spotted me and straightened.
I covered a gasp with my frigid fingers, ice on the verge of bursting from a flare of rage.
As I darted into the closet, I couldn’t shake the image of how they had been restrained in Veloria: gnarled vines twisting around them like snakes, flowers blossoming at their brows like cursed crowns.
We’d barely made it out with our lives the last time we were outmatched.
This time, I didn’t have a gemstone to save us with.
Jon leaned toward me desperately, zip ties straining against his weight from where his wrists were secured against Cliff’s. His eyes swam with relief as he drank me in.
“I’m sorry,” I croaked, scanning the boys for injuries. Other than a few bruises peeking out from underneath clothing, they appeared to be intact. Thank the stars that the snake bite marring the base of Jon’s neck didn’t appear to be venomous.
This was my fault. I had gotten them into this mess.
Still studying the boys’ restraints for any weakness I could leverage, I raised my voice toward Ben and Lee, forcing a diplomatic tone. “You didn’t kill them even though you could have. So, clearly you’re willing to hear them out, aren’t you?”
I received no immediate answer, but Jon and Cliff’s eyes went wide at something behind me. An unnatural rush of power surged from the bedroom, making my hair flutter off my face. A strange taste filled my mouth, like spice and bitterness.
“I was going to kill them for you,” a sultry female voice replied. “But I thought it’d be more fitting to give you the honor of the final blow after whatever these bastards put you through.”
Bracing myself, I turned. Where the cat had been lying upon the bed, there was now the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on. A stunning brunette in a long white dress lounged on her side, her head propped in one hand.
“What do you think?” she asked, smiling eyes fixed entirely on me. “Shall we remove their gags so you can hear them scream as you end them?”
“O-oh. No, thank you,” I stammered.
“Are you sure?” The woman stood and leaned on Lee, who put an arm around her waist. She didn’t appear to be a monster, but her odd energy indicated that she was likely a witch.
Her eyes narrowed coldly at Jon and Cliff.
“There are few greater pleasures than watching the man who wronged you bleed out at your feet. With two, it’ll be twice as satisfying.
” Her smile sweetened upon me. “Being the one to slaughter the famed Appalachian Reapers doesn’t entice you at least a bit? ”
The name sent me back to the swamps of Louisiana, and judging by the muffled confusion from the boys, they were just as stunned by the casual mention of the moniker.
Their legendary hunt was whispered like a fireside tale in the realm of monster hunters, but these people were clearly not from that world.
“How do you know that name?” I asked.
“It’s kind of a rule of thumb to search someone’s pockets before you lock them in a closet,” Lee said, producing two wallets from his pocket and giving them a little shake.
“Took a minute to find these buried under all the knives and guns. Didn’t take more than a few calls to our usual contacts before the names Jonathan Nowak and Elliot Cliff Everett brought up some very interesting, blood-soaked stories. ”
I wrinkled my nose. “Elliot?” Glancing back, I found Cliff staring back at me like a deer caught in headlights. But there was no time to dwell on it. “Forget the stories. They only kill to save innocent lives.”
I flitted toward Jon’s gag, blade in hand.
“Is that what they told you?” Ben called after me. “They’re hunters, Sylvia! They would have killed you in cold blood if they didn’t see the benefit of selling you off in this place!”
“I won’t keep entertaining your conspiracy theories!” I jabbed my dagger in his direction. “If you’d shut up for one fucking second, you’d know they’re not like the others.”
I cut the cloth away from Jon’s mouth first, trying not to nick his cheek.
“Jesus, you people love to hear yourselves talk,” he growled, glaring between them. I caught the tail end of the cold hellfire in his gaze when it moved to me. “Are you okay?”
“Never better.” I traced his jaw with my free hand, shivering at the relief of him—warm, alive. My voice dropped to a whisper. “Would you hate it if I said seeing you tied up wasn’t the most awful thing in the world?”
Jon chuckled. “If we make it out of this alive, we might have to do something about that.”
Cliff groaned through his gag, grumbling something that sounded suspiciously like, Just fucking kill me.
I cut away his gag next, ignoring Ben’s very audible protests behind me. I locked eyes with Cliff as he sighed in relief, working his jaw.
“Elliot?” I whispered.
There was a guarded wariness in Cliff's eyes, a tight muscle ticking in his jaw. He dodged my searching stare like a child caught in a lie.
“Not now," he grunted.
Pulling away, I targeted the boys’ hands next, zip-tied at the wrists and bound together.
Jon had shown me how to break free of these once, but he and Cliff were too restricted to perform the movement required.
It was not for a lack of trying; raw, red rings encircled the skin under their sleeves where they had tried to snap the restraints off.
“Hold very still,” I warned them, steepling my fingers.
“That’s enough.” Delilah’s voice was like the snap of a whip.
She ignited a spell in her left palm and stepped toward the closet. I blanched at the sight of the amber magic swirling around her elegant fingers like a misty cloud circling the sun. A faint singed smell hit my nose—burning roses, like from the luggage room.
Witch magic gave me pause. It didn’t announce itself the same way fae spellwork did. I wasn’t sure if her threatened spell meant to kill us, put us back to sleep, or turn us into star-forsaken crickets. All of that could be on the table depending on my next move.
Delilah’s ruby lips quirked at the corners. “I won’t have hunters loose here.”
“We’re not dogs, lady,” Cliff spat.
“Still, I prefer a short leash.”