They took a matching step forward. They wore matching leather underwear; their tight, detailed muscles fully revealed. My heart beat furiously as I stared at them, and it wasn't until I noticed all the blood that covered their arms and legs that I grew truly frightened. Knowing I'd noticed, they both cocked their heads to the opposite sides and smiled.
"I don't want to be done playing," Twin A said.
"Yes," Twin B followed. "I think we're just getting started."
“Come play with us, Delaney.”
Rule 48 - Priest
Don’t wear scarves while running for your life.
Istared up at Moth's ghost after I finished the story of how I escaped Cunningham's. It had taken a lot of planning and lining up things just right, but no one got hurt. As soon as I was done, I slid the mask back on. The spirits fled and I could breathe again, but could no longer speak.
"If your parents knew, they'd call and have you hauled away again."
They would, but they didn't have to know. I stormed out of the room. I couldn't keep this up anymore. Laney had to know it was me under the mask, and why I had to keep it on for now. I pushed through her bedroom door and found Tristan.
He turned around quickly. He'd been digging in her suitcase and drawers. He had Laney’s rose toy in his hand and he stuffed it into his pocket.
Where was Laney?
My tongue refused to move, so my pleas remained silent.
"She's not here. I took her upstairs to the twins. Is that you, Priest?"
The twins?
"The twins were a pair of identical brothers in the eighties who enjoyed booger sugar and hardcore sex. A little bit of both got them in a whole lot of trouble. Delaney had one thing to do this weekend, and since she couldn't keep her fucking legs closed, she's being punished. The twins will handle her."
Anger swelled inside of me to the point where I couldn't hold it in anymore. I ripped off my mask. I was so fucking angry, I couldn't feel the shift as the spirit took hold.
"What was it that she was supposed to do?" I gritted my teeth.
"Stay a virgin so we could sacrifice her to the hotel," Tristan replied in such a callous way that I was confused for a moment.
"What?"
"Have you heard the hotel say, 'Paint it red’?" He stepped toward me, stuffing his hands in his pockets.I had."Years ago, when this hotel had been built, they discovered a dark spirit already here. It was constantly trying to hurt guests and finally, after a few limb removals, they asked it what exactly it wanted."
Blood.
Tristan grinned evilly. "Blood. You guessed it. Once a year, to keep the hotel relatively safe for other guests, we must sacrifice a virgin to the hotel. My grandfather did it, my dad did it, and now, I'm doing it. The retreat is the perfect explanation as to why we're here."
"But isn't it suspicious when one of the retreat guests goes missing every single year?"
"It would be if people cared about them. Haven't you ever heard of the phrase 'less dead'? No one cares about your sister."
I opened and shut my mouth quickly. Tristan smirked.
"Oh, yeah, I know. A quick search and some phone callsrevealed quite a bit about you, Priest Duvall. Locked up in an insane asylum after a man was brutally murdered on your block. And her, little innocent Delaney. Practically tossed to the wind as soon as she was eighteen. I did my research on her too before inviting her. I'm surprised she can still talk without drooling after how much ECT they did on her. She was the perfect pick for our ritual."
"If she needed to be a virgin, why did you try to rape her?"
"That was the spirits in this place. You've felt them, haven’t you?"
I swallowed. More than he knew.
"They make you do things that you would never want to. I'm not a sexual predator. Hell, I'm not even that interested in your sister. But the spirits are growing more and more angry that we haven't painted it red, and they took it out on me."
