‘Oh, the things I’ll do to you, now you’re grown. The pleasure and the pain, all rolled in together until you won’t be able to tell one from the other. I’ll make you mine, body, mind and soul, mine and my god’s. We’ll tear your mind apart and remake it as I will. My Lady de Wilde, the last of them, promised to me for so long, and to my god. I’ll offer you up to my lord Crom and together we’ll take you apart. My beautiful girl, the power you give me, the sheer level of lust simmering away inside you. The god of the hungry grass will take it all and use it, even as I use you. With my hands on your skin and my cock inside you, we’ll drink you down like fine wineuntil there’s nothing of you left. Until all you are is a being of raw pleasure, his and mine, body and soul. I’ll make you mine forever, Alexandra. And his. Our lover, our plaything, our slave.’
Alex tore the earbuds out and hurled them after the recorder, standing there, breathing hard, her chest heaving with the effort.
Blaise Chambers. It had to be. Who else would talk like that?
And he had plans for her.
Plans which made her body heat in an instant, which made her stomach twist with need. And at the same time, horror, abject terror at the thought.
Who or what the fuck was Crom?
A god, he’d called it. The god of the hungry grass. What was going on?
A broken god of lost places…
That was what Daphne had said. Right before she collapsed.
No…no, right before she collapsed she’d said…
Alex looked up at the portrait where the words hid against the darkness of Blaise Chambers’ coat.
Omnes contra omnes, quos amabant, convertam, et meam, corpus et animam, faciam.
I will set all of them against all of those they have loved, and I will make them mine, body and soul.
One of the REM pods went off, beeping wildly. Then the other, the one outside the door. Both of them, shrieking like tiny black boxes full of banshees.
Alex let out her own cry of alarm. This wasn’t like her. She didn’t get scared like this. But she was never normally alone. She had Gabe and Daphne to rely on, and Eduardo’s calm reassurance, and Arnold’s endless information, cross-checking facts.
Doing this alone sucked.
What had she been thinking?
That she was the big brave sceptic. That she didn’t believe any of this and she was going to prove it wasn’t real. But it didn’t take a lot to be brave when you didn’t think anything frightening could really exist, did it?
And something existed here. Something dark and terrible. Something which knew her name, knew her innermost thoughts, and wanted her in every way conceivable.
She swallowed hard, trying to regain some sense of perspective here. She made herself pick up the recorder again, took a deep breath and played the file once more.
‘Is there anyone here?’ Nothing but silence. ‘Why are you here?’ Nothing. ‘What’s your name?’ Nothing. ‘Do you have a message to pass on?’ Nothing again, same as before. ‘What do you want with me?’
Alex held her breath, waiting for that obscene voice with all its lewd promises, calling her name, swearing it would take her apart and feed her to its god.
Nothing.
Not a single thing. Not a sigh, not a whisper. Not a sound.
‘You absolute fucker, Blaise,’ she growled out loud.
She thought she heard his laugh. Just on the edge of hearing. Because of course she did. He was toying with her. Like always.
And then the power in the recorder just died. Right there as she held it in her hand.
‘Oh, come on,’ she whispered and saw the REM pod lights flicker and go out. No shriek this time. Nothing. She threw herself towards the nearest fixed camera.
The screen was black. The battery dead. Drained completely.
Her breath promptly misted in front of her face and she shivered as a wave of cold swept over her. Slowly, she dragged her gaze back to the portrait of Blaise Chambers. He was still smiling at her, his eyes still boring into her soul. She couldimagine his mouth moving as he promised her pleasures and pain that would unmake her mind.
