It’s on my tongue to tell her the entire place is one rat shy of a plague. It’s filthy and foul, and no place she should be walking through with bare feet.
But she is already climbing up the platform steps to the disgusting table. Her small hand touches it with an almost reverence. And I have to resist the urge to slap it away.
“I could stay here for hours.”
I disagree.
If it weren’t for the fact that I was present in the car when we were snatched back to the house, I would not be here breathing air trapped in a sealed container, marinating the last however long this had been here. I would not be here believing that there is a demon somewhere in the darkness granting wishes.
A demon.
A monster who can bring us back from thousands of miles away like it was nothing.
An abomination who can murder a man.
I didn’t ask how. I don’t know if I want to know. The idea of this place existing beneath my feet, my children’s feet for generations is enough horror to deal with without adding whatever gruesome act it committed on Lenora’s command.
Part of me isn’t sure this isn’t a dream. A bad one that includes the loss of my boys. Any minute, I’ll come awake and—
“You thought you could take her from me?”
The low, guttural snarl claws at the inside walls of my skull. It twists talons into the nerve endings and pulls.
My scream tears through the room. A rolling howl of agony that ricochets off the walls, knocking dust down around us in a shower of fine sand.
In the distance, I hear Lenora shouting. Her voice is panicked and angry, a series of frantic words too far from my ears to pick up through the roar of fire scorching my nerves.
As quickly as it had happened, the pain stops. It sizzles out, leaving the edges of my brain raw like a fresh burn. I try not to move but just opening my eyes agitates the wound.
Still, I keep them open and squint to find Lenora. I don’t have to look far.
She’s standing over me. A beautiful sight of rage with her wild mane falling around her shoulders and hands resting on her hips. She reminds me of an Amazonian warrior. Fierce. Protective. The very epitome of defiance.
“You swore you wouldn’t hurt him.”
“That was before he tried to take you from me.”
“He didn’t know,” she argues. “It’s my fault.”
“You are mine, pet. You have sworn yourself to me.”
I push to my feet and shuffle to stand at Lenora’s side. I follow her gaze up towards the hole in the wall.
“She isn’t yours,” I grind out through teeth that still ache.
“Marcus, stop.”
I ignore her and glower harder at the spot.
“I will never let you have her.”
“Let me?”Cold serrated cackles fill the room. My throbbing skull.“You cannot stop me, human.”
Lenora is before me, big eyes pleading. Her hands twist in my top, wrinkling the fabric between her fingers.
“Please,” she whispers to me. “Stop. Both of you.” She turns her chin over her shoulder to peer at the black hole. “You promised.”
No response from the demon or what response he does give is for her only, but Lenora releases me. She takes a step back and faces the opening fully.
