Demon's Game

by Katherine Bogle

  Before I could reach for my phone, I felt someone shift beside me.

  My eyes went wide and my pulse raced. Wait. Was someone in bed with me? As if in answer, a soft groan came from a woman inches from my head.

  I spun around, gripping the sheets to my chest. I wasn’t naked, though I wasn’t in my own dress either. I was wearing a man’s large t-shirt while I lay in bed next to not only a woman, but a man as well. I recognized them from the Mercedes that had arrived moments before my friends and I last night.

  They were both in their underwear, and stirring from my sudden movements.

  The woman slowly opened her eyes, which flashed gold in the sunlight. Her eyebrows furrowed. “What’s wrong, sweetie?” Her voice as soft and somehow familiar. Had I met her last night and didn’t remember?

  And more importantly, had I slept with her? Or both of them? If I had, that’d be a first—both sleeping with a woman and having a threesome.

  What the hell happened last night?

  “Um, who are you?” I asked carefully, edging my way to the side of the enormous king-sized bed.

  Again, she looked surprised. “Danna. We met last night.” The woman slowly sat up and stretched her arms over her head. She didn’t shy away, despite the fact she was practically naked—only wearing a matching set of lacy red underwear.

  “I-I…” I trailed off.

  “You don’t remember?” Danna inclined her head. Her gaze softened and she smiled prettily. “We found you wandering the halls. It was clear you were very drunk, so we got you cleaned up and offered you our bed.”

  I exhaled loudly, my shoulders finally relaxing. “So nothing happened?”

  Danna laughed softly. “No, nothing untoward. Just sleep.”

  Thank God! I wasn’t sure I was ready for a threesome, especially one I didn’t remember. I’d only ever slept with my childhood sweetheart, and that had been awkward and a long time ago.

  The man on the other side of Danna stirred, rolling onto his side. He propped his head up on his hand and rubbed the sleep from his eyes with the other. “Good morning,” he said. “What’s going on?”

  Danna looked over her shoulder. “Just briefing our new friend on how she wound up here.”

  The man glanced up at me. “You were pretty wasted there, little lady.” His southern drawl only made him more handsome. “You feeling okay this morning?”

  I nodded. I felt more than fine. I felt great. It made zero sense. “I’m good.”

  “Well since you showered last night, I’m going first this morning,” Danna said. She smiled slyly as she scooted off the end of the bed and skipped into the attached bathroom I hadn’t noticed.

  Danna’s partner growled as he flung off the blanket and went after her. “Then I’m joining you!” he warned.

  “Come on, not with our new friend in the other room!” Danna giggled.

  My cheeks heated as I caught her meaning—then her words hit me. I’d… showered? In a stranger’s home? Why?

  I felt my hair—soft and clean—then inspected the rest of myself, only to find my legs bare. I sighed through my nose, suddenly wishing I’d brought pants.

  “It’s just a shower,” Danna’s partner urged.

  “Mhm,” Danna purred.

  Their voices were cut off by the closing of the door. As soon as they were out of earshot, I leapt off the bed and scanned the room for my dress. I came up empty. What the hell?

  I looked under the bed, peaked in the closet, and even checked a few drawers, but the purple gown I’d worn last night was nowhere to be found. At least my underwear were still on.

  I returned to the bed and sat close to the nightstand, plucking my phone from its surface. It only had thirty-percent battery left, and a string of texts from work asking me to come in early. I sighed and ignored them. I looked for messages from Gloria or Jamie—maybe to give me some kind of idea about why they ditched me last night—but there were none.

  Irritation burned hot through me. This was so not cool. I brought up our group chat and quickly typed in a message: What happened to you guys last night? I didn’t want to start off with accusations of them being bad friends right away, but if they didn’t have a damn good excuse, that was definitely coming.

  Once I hit send, I grabbed my purse from next to the nightstand and slipped on my black stilettos. They were all I had to wear. Before the Mercedes couple returned to the bedroom, I slipped out. Whoever owned this shirt, be it Danna’s partner or someone else, they weren’t getting it back. Sorry mysterious stranger!

  I slipped into the hallway, closing the door behind me with a soft click. Since I assumed neither of them were Mr Blackwood, I wanted to get out of his house fast, before he found an unwanted houseguest.

  I tiptoed down the hall as quietly as I could, but winced every time my heel hit the marble floor. I glared down at my heels, willing them to be quiet. I watched my feet as I made my way to the end of the hall. Only when something dark and faintly red smudged the marble did I finally look up.

  My heart stuttered and my mouth dropped open. What had once been a gorgeous, immaculate club-type atmosphere was now a bloodbath.

  A whimper escaped my throat and my knees shook. Everywhere I looked, I saw blood. A man in a tuxedo was lying over the bar, a huge gash cut through his back. Blood dripped down his body, pooling on the floor at his feet. Another man, this one in a grey pinstripe suit, lay on his back in the middle of the floor, his eyes wide and staring unseeing at the ceiling. His chest was ripped open to reveal his organs and protruding ribs.

  Nausea turned inside me and my hand flew to my mouth. But still, I couldn’t stop looking. There were at least half a dozen men and women strewn across the room with large gashes torn through their bodies, and innards exposed. Blood drenched every surface. Furniture was toppled into the pools, and glass had shattered all along the bar.

  My whole body shook and trembled as I looked at the massacre. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be happening. I was dreaming—stuck in a nightmare. I needed to wake up.

  “We’re heading out, Clara!” Danna called down the hall. I heard her heels on the marble, but couldn’t bring myself to look away from the carnage. “It was so nice to meet you!”

  Her heels clicked down the stairs, followed swiftly by the heavier clack of her partner’s dress shoes.

  A door opened and closed, a brush of fresh air pushing my hair over my shoulders. They’d just… walked right by it. Danna hadn’t said a word about the bloody bar, or the dead people. They’d just walked right behind me. They had to have seen it. There was no missing this mess.

  I swallowed the bile rising in my throat. If they hadn’t seen it, maybe I was going crazy. Could schizophrenia hit at age twenty-two? I was pretty sure that it could, but I had no way of knowing without looking it up on the Internet.

  My fingers trembled hard as I reached into my purse to pull out my phone. I hardly gripped the sleek case before it tumbled from my hand, bouncing right into a pool of blood inches from my feet.

  Shit. I needed to call an ambulance, or a mental hospital, or something. I was having a mental break, and I needed help.

  “Clara?” a familiar voice rumbled behind me.

  I couldn’t bring myself to turn around. I squeezed my eyes shut and clutched my hands over my heart.

  “You’re still here.” Ryker skirted around me, though I was standing in the middle of the hall. He stopped next to me, looking between the carnage and my face. “What’s wrong?”

  I opened my mouth to speak, but that’s when I realized I wasn’t the only one who could see this. He’d just looked right at it. His gaze had skimmed the body of the man with his chest torn open. I wasn’t crazy!

  Oh fuck sticks. I wasn’t crazy.

  “What the hell happened here?” I whispered. I could barely hear myself over the sudden pounding in my head. Panic sent my heart racing too quickly, and heat filled my entire body. I needed to run, or call someone, or do something.

  A
gain, Ryker looked at the massacre. Before he could answer, I was bending down to pick up my phone.

  Cold blood touched my fingertips and I winced. It was slimier than I expected, and made a shiver run from my head to my toes. I tried to unlock the screen, but only succeeded in swiping blood across it.

  Frustrated, I looked back up at Ryker. “W-We need to call someone. We need to do something!” Again, I tried to unlock my phone, but was having no luck. “P-Please, we need to call an ambulance, or the police, or someone.”

  “What are you talking about?” Ryker reached for my arm, but I stepped aside, right into the same pool of blood my phone had fallen into. I slipped and yelped as I fell.

  Before I hit the ground, Ryker grabbed my elbow, and yanked me right back up. His hand was as cold as I remembered as he steadied me. His eyebrows furrowed and his red-brown eyes inspected me from head to toe, pausing on my bear legs and heels. When he finally met my gaze again, there was a question in his eyes.

  “You don’t remember doing this?” He tilted his head towards the bloodbath.

  I froze, my eyes flying wide. Did I remember doing what now?

  Chapter 5

  So maybe I wasn’t a psycho, but this guy sure as hell was.

  My breaths came in which gasps as I tried to step out of his grip. He didn’t let go. “What are you talking about?” I asked. Panic was taking hold of me. I could feel it as words sprung from my lips in a sudden torrent. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? How could I have done this? I’ve never killed a person! Who the hell are you? Did you do this? Did someone roofie me? Why can’t I remember any of this? I should have heard this even if I was drunk and asleep!”

  “Whoa, hold on.” Ryker’s eyes widened. He took my other elbow, and wouldn’t release it, even when I tried to yank my arm away.

  “Don’t fucking touch me!” I shouted. I pulled and twisted to get away, but his grip only tightened.

  “Calm down, Clara. There’s no need to panic.”

  “Like hell there isn’t!” Again, I pulled hard, but didn’t gain any ground. “Someone killed these people and you’re saying I did it? What’s wrong with you?”

  Ryker sighed. Actually fucking sighed at me like I was being ridiculous. “Clara, please.”

  My breath caught in my throat as a new thought occurred to me. Tears of outrage burned the back of my eyes. He winced as I glared at him. “Where the hell are my friends? Gloria and Jamie would never leave me behind! What did you do to them?” I was shrieking now, and instead of pulling away, I pounded my fists against his rock-hard chest. “I swear to God if you hurt them, I-I’ll…”

  “You’ll what?” He raised an eyebrow, an amused smile playing on his face.

  “I’ll fucking kill you!”

  He shook his head. “I didn’t do anything to your friends, Clara. When I saw them being bothered by two of my guests, I compelled them to head home. I didn’t want them getting into any trouble.”

  “Compelled them? What does that even mean?” I snapped. My blood still boiled and my fists shook. He took my wrists in hand instead of holding my elbows, stopping my pitiful punches.

  “This wasn’t a party for non-supernaturals, Clara. Humans who aren’t under my employ had no place at it, so I suggested they leave and get a cab home,” Ryker explained.

  “Supernaturals?” My eyebrows flew up. Yep, definitely crazypants. I had to get out of here and fast.

  “Yes,” Ryker said slowly, still acting confused.

  Think, Clara, think! How the hell am I supposed to get out of here?

  My mind raced with possibilities until I remembered the one fall back all women had in their arsenal. I took a deep breath through my nose and plastered on a sweet smile. I forced my hands to relax, and batted my eyelashes up at him.

  Ryker blinked in surprise. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he got the words out, I slammed my knee into his crotch.

  Freed, I shot out of his grip. Ryker groaned as I spun towards the stairs. My heart raced as I grabbed the railing and flew down the steps as fast as I could. I raced across the entryway to the front door, grabbing the metal handle and yanking the door open.

  The front driveway opened up before me, clear of any valets or vehicles. There was a hiss behind me before I was wrenched backwards and the door was slammed in my face.

  “No!” I cried. I tried to yank out of Ryker’s grip, but he took both of my wrists in hand and backed me right into the wall.

  He left me no space for escape this time, pinning my legs with his, and my wrists to the wall on either side of me. His breaths heaved in and out through his clenched teeth, warming my cheeks.

  Fear clenched my gut as I spied two pointed canines piercing his thick lower lip. My eyes widened and my struggle began anew. An image of another man flashing fangs at me last night came to mind. So it hadn’t been my drunken brain playing tricks on me after all.

  “Clara, stop,” Ryker growled.

  The feral sound sent a shiver through me. I tried to protest, but only a whine escaped me. I was going to die. This psycho was going to fucking kill me.

  “What do you remember of last night?” he asked. His fangs disappeared as his gaze softened.

  I blinked hard, trying to push through my panic and into my memories. “I… drove up here with Gloria and Jamie. We had drinks at the bar.”

  “Good. What else?”

  My eyebrows furrowed and I stared at the space between his collarbones as I thought. “I got drunk, and went to the bathroom. When I came back they were gone. I met you.” I glanced up, and he nodded, spurring me on. “Something happened and you left. I started to feel… weird. I went to look for somewhere to lie down, and… that’s it.”

  His forehead wrinkled in thought. “Someone must have spiked your drink.” I opened my mouth to accuse him. “Not me.” He rolled his eyes. “We were both looking away from the bartender when he served you. It could have been him, or anyone who was nearby.”

  My racing heart started to slow. “So someone really did roofie me?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Are you going to kill me?”

  His eyes widened. “What? Why would I do that?”

  I glanced at my either wrist where he pinned them next to my head. “Looking a little murdery right now.” Oh my god, I was about to die and I was making jokes. What the hell is wrong with me?

  “Oh. Sorry.” He took a step back and gently released me. “No one is going to hurt you.”

  I tried to be discreet when I glanced at the door. No one was going to hurt me, but he wasn’t going to let me leave either.

  Ryker sighed. “We can go outside if it makes you feel better, but you have to promise me you’re not going to run.”

  Right. “Okay,” I said. The suspicious look he gave me confirmed he didn’t believe a word I said.

  “Follow me,” he said. He turned towards the hall leading into the rest of the first floor. When I didn’t follow, he looked at me pointedly over his shoulder.

  I gripped the edge of my shirt, fidgeting with the fabric. Sure, I could try and run, but if my previous attempt proved anything, it was that he was damn fast. I’d have to wait for another out.

  Forcing my feet forward, I inched after him. Ryker smiled and led the way down the hall past an enormous kitchen to a covered walkway I hadn’t noticed when we arrived. It led out onto the left side of the property into an enormous garden with a gazebo at the center.

  He opened the door and motioned me out first.

  I didn’t want to put my back to him, so instead I shook my head. “After you.”

  He grinned. He knew exactly what I was doing. Still, he didn’t force me through. Instead, he stepped out, waited for me to follow, and then closed the door behind me. We made our way side by side to the covered gazebo. It had a black top, white pillars and black furniture on the inside with a black painted wooden bench surrounding the interior.

  Instead of sitting on the bench next to the roses, he sat on a pl
ush outdoor chair with an iron firepit at the center of three other identical chairs. I took the one furthest away, putting myself directly across from him while still remaining closest to the door leading back inside.

  Once I was settled, he shifted uncomfortably and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

  I had to admit, I did feel safer outside—like I could flee into town or scream for help if he tried anything.

  “What do you know about the supernatural world?” Ryker asked, inclining an eyebrow.

  I raised both my eyebrows in return. Dude was seriously crazy. “You mean like werewolves and vampires and stuff?”

  He snorted softly, and amusement danced in his eyes. Without the low lighting his eyes seemed far more red than brown. I didn’t like that. “Yes, that stuff.”

  “Just what I’ve seen in movies and read in books, I guess.” I shrugged.

  He inched forward like he was trying to get closer. I instinctually shifted away. “So, nothing then?”

  I narrowed my eyes.

  He laughed. “Apologies. I’m not trying to call you dumb, or anything, just… ignorant.”

  I scoffed. “Ignorant about what? What the hell is going on?”

  “You really don’t know, do you?”

  I groaned. “What are you trying to tell me?”

  “I’m a vampire,” he said nonchalantly, like we were discussing what’s for breakfast.

  “A vampire?” A smile forced its way onto my face. “Seriously?”

  “Yes. Do you need me to prove it to you?”

  I held my hand over my mouth, smothering a laugh. “By all means.”

  Ryker grinned, flashing a pair of very vampy looking fangs.

  Halloween store, I told myself. You could get them in any gag shop.

  Ryker raised his wrist to his mouth.

  My eyebrows furrowed and my pulse raced as I watched. “What are you doing?”