Falter (29 page)

A sad whimper escaped from the door next to me. I rushed to stand and chanced another peek. Everything had changed inside the gorgeous woman’s room, too. Her cheekbones pushed out harshly against her hollow face. Grime and blood painted black spots on her pale skin, emphasizing the existing shadows there. She was alarmingly frail and withered—not the Hollywood beauty I saw before.
 

Stuffing poked out of holes in the dingy fabric covering her chair. It looked soiled and distressed like she had been tied to that seat for years. The pretty dress that hugged her voluptuous curves now hung too loose for her bony figure. Rips in the blood-stained silk allowed glimpses of thin skin lying over faint blue veins that struggled to keep the woman alive.
 

As my eyes lingered over the woman’s true form, I realized she screamed because she couldn’t help it, not because she hoped someone might save her. She was far from salvation. Her forlorn eyes told me that she knew there was no help for her. She was weary and hopeless from a lifetime of reliving episodes of the same punishment over and over, for who knows how long.

The demon inside continued to slash at her body, ignoring me to focus on his task at hand. Seconds after her flesh was filleted open, it healed only to be slit again. The demon didn’t miss a beat when it came to dicing her to shreds. Infinite practice had developed a precision of its art.
 

I could never stop it. I would never be able to help her.

Refusing to witness anymore abuse, I sprinted down the cavernous tunnel. I didn’t know where it would lead, but I had to move. I ran past door after door, forcing myself to ignore the screams reaching out to me. I knew I would be just as useless to them as I was to the woman I abandoned behind door number seven.

Just as my feet began to bleed on the harsh, rocky floor, I was yanked into a dark alcove. I grumbled and fought against the arms binding me. A large hand covered my mouth, stifling my protests.

“What are you doing here?” The voice was gruff and low—a male. He panted heavily against my neck. “You’re not supposed to be here. How did you get in here, Nevaeh?” He wasn’t scolding me or trying to murder me; he spoke out of concern. He addressed me as if he knew me, but I couldn’t see him with my back pressed against his chest and his hold keeping me still.

Puffs of steam rolled off his feverish skin, and the unpleasant smell of smoldering flesh rolled into my nostrils. I swallowed down the vomit lurching up into my throat.
 

I jabbed my elbow backwards into the man’s stomach as hard as I could. His grip loosened, and I spun to look at the only other person in the vicinity not screaming or being tortured.
 

He appeared perfectly normal, aside from the tendrils of smoke rising off his skin. Dark matted curls stuck to his sweaty face. He was older, maybe fifty-something, but in very good shape. I opened my mouth to interrogate the man, but paused when I looked into his eyes. They were violet-blue like mine.

The same color. The same shape.
 

“Who are you?” I whispered, searching his face for anything that would spur a memory of how I might know him. Perhaps, he was an uncle or cousin I hadn’t known about.

He hesitated. His forehead wrinkled as he struggled with what he was about to say. When his mouth opened to answer, someone shouted for me from a distance.
 

“Nevaeh, where are you?” the man bellowed.

My heart skipped. It was strained and desperate, but I’d recognize the voice anywhere. Tears stung my eyes, and my interest in the stranger was no longer important.
 

“George?” I ran from the alcove, leaving the stranger behind. “George, I’m here! Where are you?” My feet couldn’t carry me fast enough toward his cries. The agony in his voice tore at my heart. He needed me.

There was no end to the hallway, so I began looking in the doors, thinking that maybe he was in a room.
 

Oh God, what if he was being tortured by one of those demons, and I couldn’t get to him?

Every room containing another person that wasn’t George brought relief. Then my name echoed against the rocky tunnel followed by a shrill scream, and I was reminded that he couldn’t possibly be safe in this horrid place.

By my estimation, twenty minutes passed before my body slowed against my internal fight to find George. George’s voice seemed to float farther away with every step I took, sucking the hope right out of me.
 

I stumbled to a stop, leaning over to catch my breath. My hands kneaded the muscles contracting in my thighs. I hung my head, glancing at my feet and the bloody footprints I was leaving behind. I grimaced, realizing how bad the gashes on the bottoms of my feet stung.
 

I would never find him here, not this way
.
 

I slouched back, leaning against the hot stone wall. My breathing steadied, and I noticed a disturbing silence in the tunnel. No more screams or cries. No more flickering lights or torches either. Blackness had swallowed the path behind me and was fast approaching from the direction ahead.
 

An unnerving solitude gathered around me like water filling a pipe, drowning me in isolation. At least, if I could hear the screaming, I knew I wasn’t alone in this awful place. Fear was wrapping its nasty hands around my throat and squeezing tight.

Wait, was that…?
 

I strained to see something moving in the dark. My body tensed at attention, preparing to fend off my enemies the best I could.
 

Ominous whispering fluttered in my ears, startling me from the bleak silence I was focusing on. The whispers grew louder, like someone turned up the volume in my head. The mutated voices became thunderous. I clamped my hands over my ears to prevent my eardrums from bursting.

Moments later, it all stopped. Nothing but silence again. Then, a deep, booming laugh rattled the tunnel.

“Ah, Nevaeh. Are you having fun yet?”

I fought back the feeling of defeat that was crashing down on my will to survive. “What do you want with me?” I yelled.

Another growling laugh rumbled the ground beneath me. “You know what I want,” it responded.

“I don’t even know where I am, or who you are, or how I got here. How the hell could I know what you want?” I was quivering inside while trying to maintain some sort of strong front.

“’How the hell?’” it repeated my words playfully. “Funny that you use that phrasing. You see, Nevaeh, I’m the dark side that you hunger to devour. The freedom that you seek. I’m offering you a life beyond what you could ever imagine. You only have to accept me. I will make you happier than you could ever dream.”

My thoughts raced, working to decode what was said. “Are the people trapped in the rooms here supposed to be happy? If that’s happiness, I don’t want it.” The words left my mouth with less confidence than they held in my head. “Please, I just want to go home,” I whimpered.

“Those maggots in the rooms are getting what they deserve. They disobeyed and have to pay. Everything has a consequence, they are reaping theirs,” the voice snarled. A deep sigh stirred the stagnant air in the tunnel, and then the voice settled to a calmer, more caring tone. “You were never meant to see that, Nevaeh. I did not want to scare you. You are special. You carry gifts that no Earth-bound has ever possessed.” Excitement lightened its words as it continued. “You, my pet, are far more powerful than your brothers and sisters.”

“What are you talking about? I have no brothers or sisters.”

“Oh, but you do, my pet. You belong to those that live with the knowledge of a world far more superior than that of ordinary humans. Why He didn’t make them all as interesting as you, I’ll never understand. Humans are so weak.”

“We are not weak,” I argued through gritted teeth.

“No, my dear,
you
are not.” A low chuckle sounded from the darkness. “But you are not human. You are something entirely different. You are the best of both worlds. That, I think, is why you, my child, were able to traverse into our realm and live.” A long pause of eerie silence drifted about as it let the information sink in. “You chose to come here when you put your hand through the portal.”

“No. I didn’t choose any of this. I just wanted to get away. I don’t want any of this! I will never choose this. NEVER! Do you hear me?”

The ground beneath me vibrated, and fragments of rocks and dirt plummeted from the ceiling. The whispers began their angry chants again, humming in my ears at an unbearable intensity. “You may not want this, but we will have you. One way or another, Nevaeh. Our army is many, and we are eager. We
will
have you. We will make you choose us,” they spoke, their strangled voices synchronized as one.

What little confidence I’d managed to dredge up moments before faltered, convinced they would achieve the sinister promises they made at any cost. Somehow they would find a way to pull me over. A billow of smoke puffed from the dark, and hot steam burst from the cracked rocks. Sulfuric odors soured the tunnel, triggering the recurring nausea in my stomach. “You will join us, child,” the mutated voices demanded.

The ground trembled in a rhythmic pattern as if a giant was taking slow steps toward me, its heavy feet pounding closer and closer. I waited for the thing with the booming voice to leave the shadows and force me to obey.

“I will not be one of you!” I shouted, determined to hold my ground.

In the haze of steam, I saw a silhouette so large that it had to stoop to fit in the cavernous tunnel. Black, feathery wings dragged uncomfortably against the walls. My eyes focused on the two large, blood-red eyes beaming back at me. The figure lunged down onto one knee. Enormous fists, nearly half my height, smashed into the ground as the giant leaned forward to close the distance between us. Vile breath blew into my face while the beast stared me down.
 

Its rubbery, matte-black skin wrapped dense muscles, bunching to attain a smaller mass so the beast’s enormous frame could fit inside the tunnel. Shiny, onyx horns curled out from the top of its skull and coiled down towards its face. The two slick crests bracketed my shoulders on either side as the beast’s head lowered to mere inches from my face.
 

I waited for it to mumble some sort of impending doom, but it seemed to enjoy staring at me with conceited disregard; this was a very effective way of scaring the shit out of me.

The giant opened its mouth to speak and white pointed teeth threatened to cut the flesh of its lips. “Come with us, Nevaeh,” it commanded. The massive human-like body hunched back, anticipating my answer—like a lion preparing for a kill.

“I…Said…NO.”
 

Before I could brace for the beast’s impending attack, a sudden glimmer sparked to life on the wall to my left. There was a pang in my right side as someone barreled into me and shoved me into the shimmering surface. The familiar sting and shock of electrocution invaded my body. The fire from within burned at my core; the pain of a portal, once again, paralyzing me.

I watched the massive, black being hurl itself forward, barely missing me, and clobber the man pushing me into the portal. The agony intensified.
 

Seconds later, I was unconscious.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I Don’t Need No Stinking Babysitter

The sucker punch of an aching body startled me awake with a gasp. Fresh scratches from the rocks beneath me stung my cheek. Something warm trickled from above my lip.
 

I pushed myself up with weak arms and wiped grit from my face. Red smeared my palms from what, I could only guess, was my first bloody nose—ever. My head swam with a dizzying array of images, but slowly my memory returned. Unlike entering whatever plain that was, exiting it allowed me the vague recollection of what happened from the time I left the cafe until now.

Remembering that I was naked when I landed on the other side of the evil opening, I checked myself to make sure I was covered. Though dirty and a little gooey, all of my clothes were in place.
 

I slowly turned my head, my neck too stiff to move faster, and scanned my surroundings. I was back in Vinney’s warehouse. An artificial light shined through the high windows, so it must’ve still been nighttime. Hard shadows stretched across most of the floor, but I didn’t have the eerie feeling that I had moments before Layla and the demons made themselves known. I exhaled a sigh of relief and enjoyed the completely unthreatening silence for a moment as I regained the last of my bearings.
 

I stood up and dusted the filth from my clothes. I limped, taking a few steps to work out the charlie-horses forming in my thighs.

This must be what it feels like to be hit by a truck
.
 

It didn’t hurt this bad coming out of the portal on the other side, but I guess that’s not to be trusted since almost everything on the other side was an illusion.

Bending over to shake my pants down, I noticed a shadow sweep across an illuminated spot on the floor next to me. I looked up at the window above, expecting someone to be there spying on me. The feeling of wanting and happiness flooded me so fast that I should’ve toppled over in my weakened state. The familiar sweet smell of love and passion wafted richly around me.