“First, I’ll sew your eyes shut.” Taunting fingers dragged across her blindfold. She shuddered. “It’ll be so much better that way. You can’t covet what you can’t see.”
Somebody please help me!The silent plea resonated through her soul ... but no one would hear.
“The end result makes perfect sense.”
What made perfect sense? She didn’t understand. Why was this happening to her? Why couldn’t she remember how she’d gotten here? One minute she was walking ... the next she woke up here. Cold, damp ... and the smell. She shuddered again. Like stagnant water.
The devil pressed closer, the heat from his vile body drawing hers even as she wanted to scramble away. To run. But she was so cold. So very cold.
“Everyone will be so much happier,” the seemingly disembodied voice promised, its texture becoming velvety ... soothing almost. “You’ve been such a selfish girl. Such a rotten snob. The devil knows everything you do. You’ve been so, so bad. Now it’s time to pay.”
Terror relit in her veins, igniting her need to escape. She shook with the force of it, jerked at her bindings.Let me go! God, please, please help me!
Her screams rammed against her throat ... the sound silenced by the tape over her mouth.
“I’ll do things to you”—his disgusting tongue flicked in her ear; she tried to draw away—“that will make you understand just how toxic you’ve been.”
Urine gushed free. Warmth soaked and spread around her bottom. The final humiliation. She had no control. She was completely helpless.
Defeat drained the last of her fight, and the fear let go of her heart. The certainty that no one was coming. That she was going to die. Won the battle. One by one, her muscles went lax. Her mind drifted from this awful place.
“Lastly,” he said gently, dragging her fleeing attention back to this dark, damp, evil place, “I’ll mark you as a sign to ensure that no one ever forgets how beauty can conceal such poison.” He hummed a satisfied sound. “Then, I’ll leave, and you’ll die, cold and alone.”
The ruthless grip released her hair. Her head fell forward.
The devil walked away, the scrape of steps on the stones growing distant, then fading entirely.
Her body twitched, and she collapsed onto her side against the cold, hard rocks. Vomit surged into her mouth and nose, strangling her with its bitter burn.
No one was coming to save her.
Not even God.
She was going to die.
Tremors quaked her powerless body.
She didn’t want to die.
No. No. She didn’t want to die.
Find me. Please, God, just let them ...come find me.
2
New York City
Friday, February 27, 4:27 a.m.
Come find me!
Sarah Newton’s eyes flew open.
The air raged in and out of her lungs. For one endless second, she felt paralyzed.
A dream. Just a dream.
She sucked in a ragged breath and sat up. Shoved the hair out of her eyes.
