It was only as Thanatos turned left, instead of right and we headed up the stairs that I realized he wasn’t taking me below. My fear didn’t ease; if anything, I became more nervous. “Where are we going?”
He tightened his grip on my hand, almost too tight. “Away.”
Away so he could murder me as his friends had done to Sally? I wouldn’t accept his answers as truth like the others had. I hadn’t escaped the horrors of the dining room only to be murdered in a narrow, dark hall. Bracing my slippered feet against the cold floor, I pulled back. “Let me go!”
He tugged me forward so hard that I fell into him, his cold gaze on me. “Stop, you idiot, I’m trying to save you! But if you don’t shut up, you’ll get us both killed.”
Saving me? No, I wouldn’t believe him. I couldn’t. “Sally.” I shook my head, trying to pull away from him. There was no way I’d trust this man, or monster…whatever he was. “I can’t leave Sally.”
I tried to escape, but he pulled back even harder, practically snapping my arm from the socket. “You can’t!”
“Please!”
With a growl, he gripped my shoulders and shoved me against the wall. My spine pressed uncomfortably into the stone and I squirmed, attempting to ease the pain.
“We can’t save your friend. Understand? She’s already dead!”
“No! She isn’t!” I pushed at his hands, but he wouldn’t release me. He was too strong. Frustrated, exhausted, terrified, I finally gave up and slumped against the wall, tears burning my eyes. “Why? Why did they do it?”
“I don’t have time to explain and we can’t go back.” He grabbed my hand and once again led me down a dark corridor. “You go back, you’re dead and probably me as well. I’m sure as hell not going to let that happen.”
I was confused by his persistence; didn’t understand why he was saving me. But as I looked up into his hard, uncompromising face, I realized he was actually telling me the truth. For some reason he was going to help me escape. Unfortunately he expected me to leave them all—every single one of them—behind to be murdered. More screams rent the air, terrified, pain-filled screams that had me flinching and stumbling in my terror.
“One chance, Jane,” he whispered furiously. “This is your one chance to escape. If you go back, you die along with them.”
Not just die, but die painfully. I dared to glance behind us, but could see nothing in the dark corridor. How I hated him for making me choose. I’d seen people die before, not often, but I had witnessed death. Five years ago, two men had gotten into a fight over a girl in the compound and Arnie had hit his head, dying almost immediately. But never had I seen someone deliberately destroy another person. Who were they? Why would they do such a thing?
Thanatos pulled me left, down a narrow hall. I followed him numbly, my body no longer my own. I couldn’t think; if I thought too much I would panic.
I wasn’t sure how long we ran, how many dark halls we followed, twisting through the castle, but somehow Thanatos managed to dart down the corridors without running into a single dead-end. I didn’t trust him, but I had no other choice.
“Almost there,” he whispered, stopping so suddenly at the end of a hall that I fell into him. Not that he noticed. No, he was all stillness and concentration as he peered around us, searching for the enemy. The sound of laughter sent a cold chill over my body. Beautiful ones, so close that I could hear their conversation.
“Hurry, there will be nothing left for us,” a woman warned. “You know the best pickings go fast.”
“Then we’ll find our own,” a man replied. “We haven’t hunted in weeks.”
“You know Dionysus doesn’t want us hunting.”
“What he doesn’t know, won’t hurt him.”
I closed my eyes, biting my lip and leaning against the cold stone wall as I resisted the urge to bolt in terror and give away our hiding place. Their laughter and conversation faded as they disappeared downstairs.
“We have only minutes,” Thanatos said, as if sensing my unease. “There is no time to panic.”
I’d been right to be wary of the beautiful ones. The screams I’d heard had not been nightmares as Tom had claimed. Tom, who was at another compound, completely oblivious to what was here, awaiting him. Waiting, waiting to be murdered, trusting the beautiful ones.
“This way.” Thanatos grabbed my hand and jerked me down another corridor.
Even if we managed to escape, where would we go? There were so many guards, so many beautiful ones. “Thanatos—”
“Shhh,” he whispered, pausing.
I heard nothing. No screams. No music. No laughter. Only the soft drip of water from somewhere. Tap, tap…no. Not water. I stiffened, fear churning in my stomach. It was the sound of footsteps and they were coming closer…closer.
“Damn.” Thanatos shoved me behind him just as a beautiful one rounded the corner.
That pure, unblemished face turned immediately toward us, but it was the brilliant red shirt that reminded me all too well of the blood I’d seen draining from Sally’s body that made me ill. My fingers curled, the nails biting into my palms until I was sure I’d draw my own blood.
Seeing us, the man paused, his dark brows coming together in bemused confusion. “Thanatos, what brings you to this part of the castle?”
“I was asked to retrieve Dionysus’s chosen one.”
Dionysus? Was he the beautiful one in charge? The very man responsible for this hell? As if sensing my questions, the man glanced at me, his gaze cold and assessing. I could, perhaps, hide my disgust, but I couldn’t hide the shiver of fear that went through me.
“I see.” There was a moment’s pause as he glanced at me once more. How could someone so beautiful be so vile? “Well then, I won’t keep you.”
Thanatos nodded. “Of course.”
If we got rid of him, we could escape. Time was ticking. Sally might be gone, but I could return to the compound and warn the others before it was too late. My sister, my brothers, Tom.
“Oh Thanatos,” the man said.
I almost moaned. Why? Why couldn’t he leave?
“Yes?”
“You forgot something.” He smiled as he reached out and grabbed Thanatos by the shirt, tugging him forward. “Dionysus already feasted.” His lips lifted into a snarl that showed brilliantly white, pointed canines. “You know your kind does not get first dibs. Did you think to hide her for your own?”
Thanatos shoved his hands into the man’s chest, sending him back, hitting me. I cried out as I lost my balance and stumbled to the ground, scraping my arm on the metal hinge of a door. My head hit the stone. Stars burst before my eyes, the corridor spinning. The numbness on my arm gave way to stinging pain as blood trailed down my forearm.
Vaguely, I was aware of the two beautiful ones fighting, a blur of shadows and strength, the sickening sound of fists hitting flesh. Fighting like I’d never seen before. We’d been caught. It would take only one cry to sound the alarm and we’d never escape. Somehow I managed to press my hands into the cold stone and sit up. I had to find a weapon, something, anything, to help.
Before I had time to stand, Thanatos wrapped his arm around the man’s neck. “Sorry, but I have to.”
For a horrified moment as I sat there on the ground, everything slowed down. Thanatos jerked the man’s head back so hard that it was over before I could even draw breath. The beautiful one’s body fell to the ground, but his head was still in Thanatos’s hands.
A terrified cry rose up in my throat.
“Don’t scream,” Thanatos whispered, dropping the head with a thud. It went bounding down the hall like a ball, leaving behind a trail of blood that spurted across my skirts like red ribbons twirling through the air.
Bile rose in my throat and I gagged, my stomach convulsing.
“Up.” Thanatos grabbed my arm and jerked me to my feet.
But my body was no longer my own. My knees buckled and I had to slump against the wall for support. I
didn’t dare look at the bloody corpse littering the hall, knowing I’d completely lose control of what little grasp I had on my sanity. I swore I could smell the scent of death; it permeated the air, soaked into my clothing and hair. “You…you killed him.”
“I had to.” His face was all harsh, uncompromising planes. “He would have told the others of my involvement and they can’t know.”
He looked completely unconcerned with what he had done. As if tearing off someone’s head was an everyday occurrence. I couldn’t imagine what sort of strength must have been contained within his body. He was a murderer, he took the lives of others without second thought, yet he was saving me. “Why? Why help me?”
“I thought you had promise.” I didn’t miss the derision in his voice. “Now I can’t let you go because you might rat me out.”
Oh God, he was going to kill me. “I…I won’t.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me forward, his furious face mere inches from mine. “It’s either help you escape, or kill you. Which do you prefer?”
Merry, laughing voices echoed down the hall, coming closer. More beautiful ones. They would see that head, they would see the blood and they would cry the alarm.
“Hurry!” He pulled me up a narrow flight of steps, so fast my feet barely touched the ground. At the first door he shoved it wide, tossed me inside, and closed it, locking us in a small storage room of some sort. “We need to leave now.” He leapt over a pile of trunks and headed to the only window, pulling aside the linen curtains.
“Why?” I demanded, tired of the lies. “Why are they murdering us?”
“Jane,” he hissed, snapping his annoyed gaze toward me. “We don’t have time!”
“Why?” I demanded again through gritted teeth. I’d had enough, and I deserved to know. Enough of the running. Enough of the fear. Enough of the death.
“For food, for nourishment.” He threw his arms wide, as if it was all so obvious. “As you feed off a chicken or cow, they feed on human blood.”
Horrified, stunned, I sank onto a trunk. They fed on us? We weren’t here as servants, or even worse, to be one of them, we were here as their food. But it wasn’t they, it was him as well. Thanatos was a beautiful one, wasn’t he?
“We need to jump.”
Dare I trust him? I shook my head, confused. “Jump?”
“Can you swim?”
“No!” I had no idea if I could swim, I’d never tried, and I didn’t like where this was headed. Maybe I couldn’t trust him. Maybe the man he’d killed was right and Thanatos merely wanted to get me alone to murder me as the other beautiful ones had murdered Sally. Maybe…
“I won’t let you drown.” He lifted his hand, urging me. “Come on. I know you don’t trust me, but you really have no other choice.”
He was right. As I looked up into Thanatos’s eyes I knew in that moment, at least, I had no alternative. I stepped closer and, steeling my nerves, I slid my hand into his. His grip was strong, too strong, and the image of the man’s head being snapped from his body instantly came to mind.
When Thanatos lifted me onto the windowsill, I didn’t cower at the distance below, nor the river sparkling in the moonlight. I’d already looked death in the eyes, I had nothing to fear. Nothing but Thanatos.
He jumped up behind me, his body pressed to mine, his breath warm on my neck. I shivered at his touch, unsure if I should be relieved or repulsed.
“Ready?”
I didn’t respond and he didn’t ask again. Instead, he held my hand and jumped into the night, pulling me off the ledge with him.
The cool air rushed around me, tugging at my hair as for a brief moment I flew, my skirts flapping in the wind. And in that moment, nothing mattered. I felt…free. Then I hit the cold water and my numbness gave way to a startling reality. My skirts puffed up around me and I sank, pulled under by the weight of my body and my clothing. I pressed my lips together, holding my breath as the water rushed over my head, enclosing me in a cold, dark tomb. Thanatos’s arms were suddenly gone. Panicked, I opened my eyes, searching the darkness for him. I could see nothing. I spun around, but my skirts tangled around my legs, pulling me deeper…deeper…
Frantic, I flung my arms forward, searching for something, anything, to grab onto. Just when my lungs began to burn and I was sure I would drown in a pool of darkness, firm fingers wrapped around my wrist. Suddenly, I was being dragged upward. My head broke through the surface and instinctively I opened my mouth, sucking in a great gulp of cold air, barely aware as Thanatos dragged me toward the shore. But I still had water in my lungs, and I ended up coughing.
“Quiet,” he snapped, releasing me so I fell onto the grassy bank. “There are guards everywhere.”
I coughed again and the more I tried to repress it, the worse it became. Desperate, I rolled over, pressing my face into the grass. Finally, after a few moments of hacking, during which I was positive we would be caught, the coughing slowed. I shoved my hands into the ground and I tried to stand, but my skirts weighed too much and I slipped, falling hard to my knees. Although pebbles bit into my tender flesh, I couldn’t seem to summon up the energy to move.
“Damn.” Thanatos reached out, scooping me up into his arms as if I weighed nothing. “If you can manage to be quiet, we might escape.”
I shoved my hands against his hard chest. “Don’t touch me!”
He ignored my cry. Perhaps I was exhausted, or maybe the fear was making me stupid, but when he held me close, I could only see Sally, bloody and dying. I didn’t want him to put his arms around me, I didn’t want anyone to touch me…certainly not a beautiful one.
Thanatos set me on a stone wall. Terrified, cold, I sat there shivering. We were on the outskirts of the village, and just beyond the wall were trees. And beyond those trees…who knew? Freedom? “What will we do?”
He stepped so close my knees pressed into his muscled stomach. “Listen to me.”
So close, his warm breath whispered across my lips. I wanted to pull back, I couldn’t. My head pounded and my body felt like ice, but he was warm, so warm, and I had to resist the urge to lean into him.
“What are you?” I whispered, hating him, hating his people, hating that he had stopped in front of me at the compound. At the same time I knew I needed him, and I hated that most of all.
“We have to get you out of here now,” he replied, as if he hadn’t heard me. His hair hung in dark, wet clumps that sent drops of water trailing down the hard contours of his face. “No turning back. It’s too late to save anyone but yourself, understand?”
His words stabbed into my chest like a knife to the heart. Too late. I couldn’t go back. Ever. My life, as I’d always known it, was over. Sally was dead. Tom, my sister, my brothers…they would be next.
“Can you walk?” he asked.
I couldn’t seem to respond. My throat had gone dry. My tongue wouldn’t form words. Unwillingly, my gaze slid to the castle where the windows were aglow, the festivities, the murders, continued without me. How many more would die before this night was over?
Thanatos suddenly gripped my upper arms. “Jane, can you walk?”
Angry, I shoved his hands away and slid to the ground, only for my legs to give out. Before I fell to the dirt, he scooped me up and settled me on the wall once more.
Angry, I shoved my hands into his hard chest. “Don’t touch…”
The sudden loud clang of a bell startled me.
“Hell,” he muttered. “They know.” He gripped the sides of my face, holding me captive and forcing me to keep still when all I wanted to do was shove him away and run. “Look at me.”
Frantically, I met his gaze.
“Don’t look away.”
And I didn’t. Not because I didn’t want to, but because for some reason the moment I met his ice-blue eyes I couldn’t look away, couldn’t even move. Time flashed by, the sound of the warning bell disappeared, the world faded as I sank heavily into his gaze.
&n
bsp; The pain, the memories of blood, the fear…gone. I was no longer aware of the world, of anything; only Thanatos. A lovely warmth swept through my veins, making me sink into my own body, relaxed, at ease. My lids felt suddenly heavy. So tired.
“What are you…”
Before I could get the words out, the light faded, and just as suddenly I sank into beautiful, peaceful nothingness.
Chapter 6
The Beautiful Ones Page 6