Page 10 of Haunt

“Princess…” he calls, his purr echoing in the room. “Are we playing hide-and-seek?” I hear his steps echo on the concrete floor, and I duck under a large table, eyes fixed on his silhouette and the knife gripped tightly in my fingers. Too tightly, judging by how much they ache around the hilt of the blade.

“This is so kind of you, so thoughtful. It’s my favorite game, and I know all the hiding spots in here.” I can barely see him as he drifts deeper into the room, but I hear him rummaging around, knocking things over in his search for me. “Did I mention that the only way out is through the lobby door? And that without the key that’s in my pocket, you’re stuck in here?” He sounds way too happy when he says it, and I bite my lip to fight the urge to roll my eyes at his arrogance.

This definitely isn’t the time for my disdain.

Hearing his footsteps looming closer, it occurs to me that this is a shitty hiding place. Even with the lights off, the moonlight filtering in the high windows lends enough illumination that he’ll probably be able to see me, if he’s really looking.

And judging by how thoroughly he’s going through the place, he’s really fucking looking. Slowly, I edge backwards, dropping to my knees to crawl out from under the table the other way. Somehow I manage to do it without making a sound, and I make my way silently toward the piles of plywood behind me. It’s not perfect, but nothing here is perfect.

The gap between two of the pieces that lean against the wall is just big enough for me to squeeze into, and I back in carefully, barely making a sound as the wood shifts ever so slightly.

“Would you like to know what I intend to do with you when I find you?” His voice is closer now, way too close, and I flinch,flexing my fingers around the knife as they start to cramp. “If we’re being honest…I haven’t quite decided yet. Not the whole game, anyway. I just know I’m aching to play with you. See…” I hear him knock over something else in his search for me, but I don’t move.

“I didn’t have any guests to play with tonight. I guess I went a little overboard last year, and no one was worth my time this Halloween. Until you walked in, anyway. It doesn’t follow the rules, but”—he chuckles—“we gave you every single chance to leave. We made itso clearyou came to the wrong place. Grim Descent?” He snorts. “Babe, how the hell do you get this lost when their parking lot is the most obvious thing in the world?”

I roll my eyes at his continued monologue, making a face. He really is making this worse than it needs to be, and I wonder if he ever shuts up. Clearly he enjoys the sound of his own voice; though if I wasn’t sure he was about to kill me very slowly and very painfully, I probably would, too.

“That’s okay, though. I can’t even be mad at you. Do you know why?” His soft voice is way too close, and as his steps scuff against the cement, I hold my breath and pray he doesn’t look here.

Suddenly the sheets of plywood over me are yanked away, crashing to the floor moments before a hand closes around my throat. “Because if you were where you were supposed to be, I wouldn’t have anyone to play with,” Ravage snarls in my ear.

“No!” I fumble with the knife, but this time he’s ready for me. His other hand grips mine, keeping it away from him as he drags me back across the room far enough that my hip slams into the large wooden table I’d been hiding under. I yelp in surprise and pain, writhing in his grip and wrestling for control of the knife.

“I don’t want to play with you!” I shriek, close enough to his mask that my lips brush the latex of it.

He snarls out an unfriendly laugh in response. “Too damn bad, Noa. But I’ll tell you what. Give me the knife, and it’ll sway me into being a little nicer to you. Come on. Be my good fucking princess andgive me the knife.”

My only response is to scream at him, the wordsfuckandyouin the sound somewhere. I tighten my grip on the blade instead, and slam his hand into the table harshly, forcing the blade to cut into his palm.

His answering yell is sharp and feral, more like a howl than anything else, and his grip on my neck shifts until his fingers are wrapped around the front of my throat. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” he sneers in my face. “I didn’t know you wanted to play rough. I’ll give you what you want. All you had to do was ask.” His fingers tighten, my empty hand coming up to sink my nails into his forearm.

“Don’t,” I gasp, eyes wide. “Stop! I can’t?—”

“Breathe?” He laughs darkly. “Yeah, that’s the point. Or have you never done a little breath play before? Have you never let someone choke you out while they fuck your pretty pussy, Noa?”

My stomach flips at the words, and I jerk backward, only succeeding in hitting my thighs painfully on the table again.

“No?” he continues, not seeming to mind his blood that slicks my palm. “You haven’t? Are you telling me I’ll be the first to make your vision go all blurry while I fuck you? Oh princess, you’ll have to tell me all about coming when you’re on the verge of passing out…if I don’t go too far. I’m not always so good at control.” His fingers flex around my throat, and when he presses down again, the pain is different. Sharper, warmer, and almost immediately spots swim in my vision.

“There it is,” Ravage purrs. “That’s the sweet spot, isn’t it?” All I can do is whimper, my fingers trembling around his wrist and around the knife. I sob in protest, eyes closing hard, but hisonly reply is a soft snarl in my ear. “Are you going to let go, or am I going to have to choke you into unconsciousness?”

“That one.” The words come out a breathy gasp, and I open my eyes to glare at him, only to see a look of surprise in his bright green gaze.

“Oh Noa…” he purrs finally, a rueful chuckle in his words. “Oh, you’d really better be careful or I’m going to get attached. Now let me ask you one more time, okay? I’ll even do this…” He loosens his grip just enough that I can take an uninhibited breath, and my lungs burn with relief when I gasp. My eyes close hard as I pull in another drag of oxygen, my breathing the only sound in the warehouse.

“There you go. Breathe, babe. You’re all good.” His thumb strokes the side of my throat, trailing along my jaw. “Now I’ll ask you nicely one more time, okay?” His mask slides against my face, making me shudder. “Won’t you pretty please give me the knife, Noa? Before you hurt yourself with it?”

He waits. So fucking patiently, it’s irritating while I pant harshly. He doesn’t even mind my fingers still digging into his wrist. Ravage just stands there, pinning me to the table behind me.

“I…” I take a breath and my heart twists painfully as I realize what I’m about to do. But I can’t let go of the knife.I can’t.

Not willingly, anyway. If I do and he kills me, then I’ll regret it for the few seconds or minutes or hours that it takes for me to die.

I can’t give up the only weapon I have against him.

“Not in a million—” When I don’t even get to finish the sentence, it dawns on me that Ravage was expecting me to say no, considering the way his hand is quick to close around my throat once more. He lets go of my hand with the knife too fast and unexpectedly for me to take advantage of it, and grabs thefront of my hoodie to haul me off my feet before slamming me down on the heavy, sturdy table I’d hidden under.

The movement knocks the air out of me, and it’s way too easy for him to reach out and snatch the knife from my hand without much fight.

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