I didn’t want to go down. But I couldn’t let him go alone; what sort of person would that make me? What sort of warrior would that make me? I was so fucked.
I gave him a tight smile. “You wait here. There’s adult stuff down there young children shouldn’t see.”
Like blood in fridges. God, I hoped she didn’t open the fridges.
He nodded and leaned against the wall.
Heart beating fast, palms sweaty and clenched, I stepped down.One.I counted the steps to distract me.Breathe.I sucked in a sharp breath.
Two, three, four, five.The walls came to life and shifted, closed in, as if perched, ready to slap against my body. The air thickened, closing in all around me. I couldn’t breathe.
Breathe and count. Breathe and count.My breath burned against the cold, musky air. Was that rot I could smell?Don’t be silly, I told myself,it’s just how basements smell. Unless the vampires had a dead body down here?
Six.
My legs trembled so badly I had to reach out a hand against the wall to steady myself. “Lottie,” I called out, my voice sounding small against the towering walls. “Game’s over. You need to answer me.”
Nothing but cold, hard silence.
She had to be okay, of course she was okay. I would find her curled up on the couch asleep. Most basements had couches, pool tables, and loads of useless shit stored. So many fucking places to hide. I gnawed on my bottom lip. She was asleep, that’s why she wasn’t responding. That made sense, she was bound to be exhausted.
“Lottie!” I cried. A few more steps and the darkness would swarm all over me. The floor shifted under my feet. My vision blurred. My breath rattled against my throat.
Eig—
The hairs on the back of my neck rose. A warning?—
A cold, ghastly hand clasped my shoulder. I shrieked and jumped, and as I spun back, my foot landed on the edge of the stair and I lost balance. My soul shot from my body as I began to fall. Time slowed. There was only the stairs that kept moving, and they were rushing at my face. And if I fell—helpless. I’d be helpless to the monsters.
A half-shriek, half-whimper fell from my lips as the darkness stormed in.
Chapter 23
Blood, What More Could You Want?
Iwas going to die, or at least break bones. My palms shot out to stop my fall. My power erupted, thrashing against the floor and rebounding back into my face, blinding me. At the same time, a hand clasped my arm. I hovered, dangled, halfway to face-planting on the ground. My power fizzled as I was hauled upright.
“Whoa, we don’t need injuries in the house,” Josh said, releasing my arm.
“You scared me!” I blurted. “Can you let me know when you’re coming?”
He laughed, like it was funny I’d just lost years off my life. “Sorry. I didn’t exactly sneak down the stairs. I thought you would have heard me.”
Maybe I couldn’t hear him over the blood pounding in my ears. My throat was sandpaper as I swallowed. “Lottie is hiding down there.”
“Go back up.” He slipped past me, still laughing. “I’ll get her.”
Fighting the urge not to run, I turned,five, four, three, two. I exhaled as I burst into the light.
Josh came back up moments later, holding Lottie’s hand. Her hair was messy, her cheeks flushed, but she was fine. At the sight of her, I felt a relief that made no logical sense.
“I won.” She grinned, her tiny teeth flashing.
I pulled her into my arms and hugged her. “You sure did. Please don’t go down there again though, Lottie.”
She stepped back and peered up at me. “It was a pretty good hiding spot though, right?”
I smoothed down her hair. “It was, but there are tools and things down there that kids shouldn’t be around.”
