Falter

by Haven Cage

  The sound of Layla shouting over my own screams reverberated through my skull. “NO! Nevaeh, you’ll never make it!”

  A rough force yanked the rest of my body through the portal.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The Devil Is In the Details

  An earthy, woodsy odor tickled my nose, waking me from a deep sleep. My groggy eyes would not open though. I lay still, allowing my other senses to awaken. The alluring smell filled my nostrils, calling to me, arousing me. I couldn’t help the moan of pleasure escaping from my lips. A bead of sweat dribbled along my collarbone, causing goosebumps to pucker on my skin, and I shivered. The atmosphere was thick and dewy—welcoming like a warm, tropical day.

  Something silky glided against my body as I shifted on a cushioned surface. I stretched and arched my back, exploring the smooth fabric swaddling me.

  Suddenly, I realized that I didn’t know where I was. I couldn’t remember how I’d gotten here. An eerie haze shrouded my mind, making it impossible to recall what happened after I’d left the café. I scrunched my face, willing the memories forward, but nothing happened.

  My eyes snapped wide open in a panic, and I lifted up on my elbows, searching for familiarity. Instead, I was astonished by the wistful beauty of my surroundings. A tranquility floated through the room like a fog, kneading the unease from my shoulders. Somehow, it felt as though I belonged here.

  I glanced down at the cushy surface supporting my body and saw that it was an oversized mattress. The chamber was large, but the bed, with its curling wrought iron frame, took up most of it. A strange sensation brushed away my instinct to flee, convincing me that I was destined to lay here for eternity.

  Mountains of soft pillows were piled at the head of the bed while a lake of smooth, lustrous, crimson sheets wrinkled around me and poured over the edges in a cascade of rich silk. Such fancy things were beyond anything I had ever enjoyed.

  Tiny dots of light beamed down on the silky sheets, accentuating the sheen of the fabric, drawing my eyes upward. Thousands of glittering stars floated above me, trapped against an onyx ceiling. The little orbs bunched together, creating puddle-sized galaxies that radiated the only light in the room. I watched with an open mouth as shades of purple, pink, and blue swirled through the black atmosphere and exploded into tiny nebulae. It was as if someone scooped a room-sized portion out of space and let it loose within these four walls.

  The miniature night sky hovered so low that I could almost touch it, yet it seemed unbound by the room’s height. Curious, I pushed myself up to stand on the bed and examined the vastness caught above me. I reached out to pluck one of the orbs from the air, but it retracted away from my touch—like little fairies afraid of a human hand.

  A faint breeze blew through the tropical atmosphere, grazing my skin, and I suddenly became aware of how naked I was. I couldn’t bring myself to care, though. I had bigger things to worry about.

  I spun in a slow circle, examining the four intimidatingly solid walls constructing the approximately twelve feet tall cube surrounding me. Their black, glossy marble gleamed with the reflection of the little trapped stars. Each wall seamed fluidly into the sparkling canopy of night above.

  While admiring the magic of my chamber, I experienced the unexpected flux of another life force’s energy entering the room. Feelings of uncertainty and trepidation spawned from my heightened emotions. I quickly yanked the sheet up to cover my body and searched the room. My skin tingled in its presence. I couldn’t see anyone, but clearly I wasn’t alone. It was aggressive yet protective—masculine in every meaning of the word.

  The new energy did something, lessened its dominance perhaps, and soothed my angst, settling the knot forming in my gut. Relaxing, even though my senses begged me not to, I eased into the safety and well-being promised by the presence.

  I felt loved, embraced, and wanted by this thing. My brain questioned the secretive intentions I detected from the energy, but my heart craved it. The invisible creature was gentle and enticing, but at the same time harbored a rough and careless way. It absorbed my fear and anxiety, then infused me with notions of erotic pleasures.

  I dropped to my knees on the soft mattress and closed my eyes, imagining the being seducing me. Visions of a faceless man with waist-length raven hair and godlike muscles toyed with the intimacy of my mind. He stood at my bedside, towering over my needy body. I eased down, lying on my back in waiting.

  As I envisioned what he might look like, his greedy, invisible hand caressed my skin from head to knee, then parted my thighs demandingly. The hunger in his touch, slightly raking into my flesh, was far more delicious than anything I could ever imagine. And, while his fingers traveled up and down my body, he whispered the raw, ravenous things he could do—if only I’d give in.

  Undulating ecstasy ebbed and flowed against my body like ocean waves rocking me into submission. I implored his darkness to conquer me—to make me blissfully high like the beautiful poison of a mind-numbing drug.

  The woodsy scent spiraled around me again, and I knew it was coming from my dangerous lover. The natural, piney musk—strong and manly in tone—dulled my inhibitions. I drew my head back, arching my neck and chest up for him, then focused my closed eyes on the image of him alone. I abandoned my doubt, my fears, and the feeling in my gut telling me to run. Every bit of my senses overloaded under his seduction.

  I sucked in a deep breath through my mouth, tasting his fragrance this time. Saltiness with a hint of molasses saturated my taste buds. Immediately, my body stiffened with arousal.

  The rise and fall of my chest quickened. My moans became raspier. Beads of moisture from the humid air trickled down my neck and traced the underline of my breasts, leaving goosebumps where they touched, teasing my sensitive skin along the way. I longed to see the true body of the being making me yearn for him so badly, but my lover’s touch disappeared the second I opened my eyes to search for him; only a distant hum of his energy lingered in the room.

  I whimpered, feeling cold from his abandonment. Everything was so elusive here.

  My eyes darted around the room, hoping to catch just one glimpse of him. There was nowhere to hide. There was, however, a large ornate door opposite of the bed. I crawled toward the edge of the mattress to examine the door closer, but hesitated when I glanced down at the floor. Beyond the crimson silk, lay an exact likeness of the ceiling above. Nausea and disorientation came with the idea that nothing was beneath the bed—that it might be floating on some starry oblivion.

  Gripping the edge, I carefully settled on my stomach at the foot of the mattress. I reached out my hand, clearing the hem of fabric that spilled off the side, and found solid ground.

  The floor was there. It was a smooth, glassy surface. A mirror, I guessed, or an illusion to make a person stay put. The hairs on my neck stood up.

  Someone’s trying to keep me in this cage.

  The persuasion of the man in my vision faded more. He was backing away from me. Loneliness dragged my high spirit down as I sensed his energy waning, but I could think a little clearer now.

  I have to find a way out.

  I wrapped one of the oversized sheets around me and stepped a cautious foot onto the floor. My imagination continued to play tricks on me, convincing me that I should fall into the abyss below. Thankfully, the cold surface pushing up against my bare feet reassured me. I continued walking and refused to look down.

  I neared the arched door and noticed elaborate carvings etched into the wood. I looked closer and saw bodies positioned upon each other.

  My cheeks flushed as my gaze slowly roamed over each smoothly etched line, studying the forms with a morbid interest. Some were couples, or groups, performing various sexual acts for one another. Others were humans and beasts together. Some were submissive to their dominants with fear and agony marring their faces, yet their bodies stretched toward their masters, begging for more punishment. It’s a fine line between the things we do out of lust and the things we do with love,
however, none of these had a hint of love involved. That’s what made them so unnatural, so devious.

  Random acts of violence were mingled with the many daring sexual encounters. Smooth surfaces of wood raised and lowered, depicting scenes of murder and brutality: a blade neatly opening an exposed neck, a boulder bludgeoning a turned head, and spears impaling helpless bodies.

  Living on the streets had granted me an unwanted taste of the worst in people, but the amused expressions portrayed on the violators sent chills up my spine. True satisfaction and enjoyment fixed on their features as they delivered nightmare after nightmare to their victims.

  My belly churned at the vile nature of the carvings, but I couldn’t turn away. There was something strangely appealing about them. I skimmed my fingers over the bold edges of wood and wondered what it would be like to render myself to those situations, to really lose myself under the emotionless, base need to cause pain in others. What pleasures could come from such abhorrent experiences? Could I bring myself to do such dirty deeds? Submit to them?

  As I stood there, dazed and staring at the door. Muffled sounds penetrated from the other side, distracting me from my wandering thoughts. I pressed an ear against the wood and held my breath to listen. Excited moans reverberated through the door. It sounded like more than one person—a large group, maybe.

  I stepped back and eyed the door suspiciously, unsure if I really wanted to see what was beyond my room. It was obvious that I couldn’t stay here forever, even as enticing as it was. Maybe the people on the other side would be able to help me get home.

  The knob was warm against my palm as I turned it and pulled the heavy door open. A blast of sweltering air rushed into the room, blowing my hair behind my shoulders. My eyes began to water, blurring my vision of what waited outside. I gulped in a deep breath to resist the heat smothering my lungs. Slowly, I let it out and inhaled another hot breath. As my body adjusted to the steamy new climate, breathing became easier. I wiped the sweat off my forehead, rubbed the moisture from my eyes, and planted one bare foot over the threshold, then the other.

  The presence that came to me inside the room, accompanied me out. It was barely there, but I could still feel the gauzy shroud of it sticking to me like a spider web.

  I was surrounded by a tunnel of rock and dirt walls. I trekked along the dirt floor, soil collecting between my toes in brown clumps. I moved through the tunnel at a snail’s pace, dodging boulders and small rocks that had fallen from the jagged walls and ceiling.

  Endless black iron doors lined either side of the long, dim passageway. My eyes bounced back and forth between the small windows at the top of each door. Different colors of light flashed out of the windows, throwing a strobe of rainbows into the corridor.

  The length of the tunnel was deceiving. Large torches lit the path ahead of me, looking as if it ended only a short distance away, yet when I approached what I thought was the end, more torches appeared and the path continued on.

  Sensual moans bled from the metal doors I passed. The stone walls echoed with the sounds of hundreds of people in the thralls of passion. Feverish and heady, they all chimed together, but something troubling in the guttural sounds made me uncomfortable—even scared. I had to move.

  There has to be an exit somewhere.

  Unease crept back into my bones, and I noticed that the protection of my elusive dark lover had changed. My heart started to ache with guilt, sensing that I angered him for not staying. With each sluggish step forward into the passageway, his anger mutated into something more evil and violent, something that would bridle my will and use me however it wanted. I trembled as the notions of love and bliss he had placed in my mind transformed into disturbing implications of rape and torture.

  I wrapped my arms around my middle and edged past the first room.

  He’s not real. His threats are just a figment of your imagination, Nev.

  I eased by the next five doors with averted eyes—feeling like they were closed for a reason. I wasn’t meant to see what hid behind them, like I wasn’t meant to see my lover.

  By the time I closed in on the seventh door, though, delicious purrs resonating into my ears made the temptation too great. I wanted to peek inside just one room.

  A sly voice whispered to me, telling me I might want to stay—that I might like what I found. “Look inside,” the whisper coerced.

  Electric green lights flickered from the seventh window like a firefly calling to its mate. I rose to my tippy toes and leaned into the metal door.

  Through the blinking, lime-colored illumination, I saw a gorgeous woman with movie star confidence perched on a high-backed, Victorian chair in the center of an empty room. Pretty, paisley fabric covered the cushions beneath her, adding to her timeless beauty like a frame surrounding a priceless piece of art. And that dress—silk draping delicately off her milky shoulders and cutting sharply across her bare thighs—only enhanced her statuesque frame. She was the kind of beautiful that evoked instant envy and implied insatiable vanity.

  Long, husky moans escaped her heart shaped mouth, sounding as if a skilled lover was servicing her well. But, her face told of a very different experience. Her model-like features were hardened with an endless terror.

  Confused by how the lady sounded and what I saw on her face, I lowered and put my ear against the door jamb. Movement rustled on the other side.

  Hissing. I heard hissing.

  When I popped up to look in again, a shadow paced along the wall behind her. The woman’s eyes widened and darted around the room frantically. Her slender legs kicked and fought to escape the chair she was bound to—a detail I hadn’t noticed before.

  The blinking green light flashed on, and I saw a horribly disfigured creature appear from a shadowy corner and approach the frail woman in tense, shuddering strides.

  Darkness.

  A flash of green light.

  Facing away from me now, I could see that this was not an Animus demon. This was an entirely different demon with an evil all its own.

  Darkness.

  Flash of green.

  The demon’s body shuffled awkwardly toward the woman. My eyes trailed down its back and I gasped. The over-exaggerated curvature of its spine forced nubs of yellow bone to poke through broken skin at each vertebra like spikes. Small trickles of blood oozed from deep festered holes scattered over its dying flesh and then dripped to the floor. It dragged a booted foot through a dark droplet on the dirty ground, smearing the blood as it stopped in front of the woman.

  Darkness.

  Flash of green.

  Its sharply angled head struggled to look down at the woman, restricted by a short, nearly nonexistent, neck. I held my breath, afraid the demon could hear me from the other side.

  Its bulky arms worked eagerly at the woman in clumsy, messy movements, performing some torture I couldn’t see from behind its wide, stocky frame.

  Darkness again, then a flash of green flickered on.

  Fibrous muscles pushed and tugged against its decaying skin as it moved. Every few minutes, I jumped, startled by the demon’s unnatural shaking; it was as if a jolt of electricity ran through its massive body and reset its vile purpose.

  Why isn’t she screaming?

  I was scared for the woman. She would die at the hands of this demon if I didn’t act now.

  Darkness.

  I reached to open the door, but there was no knob or handle.

  What the hell kind of door doesn’t have a knob?

  I frantically slid my hands over every inch of the metal slab, pressing any notch I felt, digging my fingertips into every crack. Nothing happened. I peered back into the window, hoping that the lady was still alive, but all I could see was the deformed back of the monster standing in front of her, bathed in a neon lime glow. Helplessly watching the tragedy behind the door almost had me wishing for her death—for mercy.

  Darkness.

  Green flooded the room once more. The demon’s arm was stretched high above it, a
gleam of light reflecting off a long, thin blade in its hand. Slicing through the air with no effort, the knife slashed down to the woman. The fiend slowly shuffled from in front of the woman, circling around her in bumbling steps.

  Darkness.

  I cried out when the light returned. Her cheeks gaped open and hung along her jawbone. The monster had slashed the woman’s face, beginning at her left ear and slitting through the corner of her lips. Red gushed from her filleted flesh and soaked into her gown. Her eyes begged for a release that she knew would not come.

  My fists mindlessly pounded against the door until the pain in my hand started traveling to my elbow. “Why aren’t you moving? YOU HAVE TO TRY!” I yelled, sliding my limp hand down the door. Her head never lifted to see me, but the demon’s did.

  Hard cheekbones covered in patches of charred, red and black skin stretched out from under the fiend’s sunken charcoal eyes. Its thin lips reared back into a tight, horrifying smile. The pure hatred and satisfaction in its expression seared into my eyes as I helplessly waited for what would happen next. Tipping its head back, the demon began the siren, belting out a piercing screech.

  I fell to the floor, covering my aching ears. The earthen structures around me rumbled and began to shift, splitting open into deep crevices. A streak of fire flared from one of the torches and sparked along the ceiling, riding the plains of the tunnel farther than I could see. The surface of the corridor turned to ash as easily as a piece of paper scorching from one corner to the other. The tunnel quaked, splintering the ground and walls. I crouched against the large boulder next to me for protection. White-hot cinders rained down from above and stung bits of my uncovered flesh.

  The once tempting odor that I’d found so alluring when I first woke here evolved into a putrid sourness. Blissful moans, which playfully called to me before, morphed into loud desperate screams praying for help.

  My stomach cramped and rolled, straining to rid itself of the bitterness closing in on me. What was a beautiful and mysterious paradise unfolded into an evil, terrifying prison.