Page 28 of The Labyrinth

Rissa brought feelings up to the surface of me I had long thought were dormant. Maybe even dead. She was a contradiction who made me feel conflicting things. I wanted to hurt her pretty body more than I wanted anything else in the world, but I also wanted to touch her, to watch her sleep. I wanted her to feel comfortable around me. To trust me. To want me to do those dirty things to her. I would do them either way, but for her to want them? To wantme? I wasn’t sure I would even know what to do with myself if such a thing were true.

I wanted to control her. But I wanted her to curl up against me, giving herself up completely to me.

I wanted her to obey me. But I also enjoyed the way she challenged me, her eyes lighting up in defiance.

I wanted to consume her, a wildfire to a tree. I wanted to watch her burn, coming alive by the flames.

I thought I had felt this before. Once. But it didn’t work out. Whatever I had felt then, was nothing compared to the sickness growing inside me now. It had taken root and was blooming uncontrollably, whether I liked it or not. I wasn’t sure I had a say in the matter any longer. Rissa was a part of me, and I needed to accept it and thrive, or cut her out and rot.

I could probably survive the rot. I had done so before. But did I really want to?

What did I want?

I would be smarter this time. Keep her hidden away. Not expose myself so proudly like I had done before, parading about in front of the city like I had nothing to fear. I would do it right this time, and maybe I would be able to keep her.

Not that the other hadn’t been worth keeping. She had been. But she also hadn’t made me feel this feral. This alive. This much likemyself. It had hurt when she was taken away from me—it had hurtbadly. But maybe it was supposed to happen.

Or maybe you were just a terrible person, grasping at straws. I had never denied being a terrible person. But just because I did bad things didn’t mean I wasn’t worthy of something good every now and again. Something that brought light into my life, and made me feel like it was okay to be myself.

Rissa stirred beside me, her eyelids flickering. Without thinking twice, I wrapped my arm around her waist. “Shh…” I whispered, something innate coming over me. A piece of myself I didn’t know existed. “Shh. It’s okay. I’m here.”

She curled back into herself again and settled, a protective shell against the world. I kept my arm around her, feeling her stomach rise and fall with her gentle breaths. I wondered what had woken her, if she’d had a bad dream. Was it a bad dream about me? Was I the source of her nightmares, of ripping her away from her life, and depositing her inside a world of real-life nightmares? I couldn’t deny I felt the teeniest bit guilty, conflicted with the idea that I, her potential nightmare, might turn her on. Maybe she wanted to fuck a nightmare. But maybe, maybe I could do something to give her good dreams, too. To think about me in a positive light.

I watched her sleep, contemplating my choices. I wanted to do something for her that would bring her happy thoughts, if only for a moment.

I brushed her hair away from her face. The midday sun turned into the afternoon, and still I didn’t move. I would have endless work waiting for me when I finally got out of bed, but it would be worth it. She was worth it. I wanted to share this moment with her. I wanted to do something that would stick with her for the rest of her life. As the last of the light brushing against the thick curtains finally gave way to the potent night sky, I knew what I could do for her.

I knew where I would bring her. And if I was lucky, there I could be both a nightmare and a dream.

Chapter13

Rissa

When I woke up, it was dark outside. I had slept through most of the day without realizing it. Ten’s warm body was next to me, curled against my back, his knees tucked under my own. I was surprised. Even though I asked him to stay, I expected him to say no, or to leave the second I fell asleep. But I had been out for hours, and he was still here. Something caught in my chest, something jagged slicing through my heart. The only thing on the tip of my tongue was, “You’re still here.”

Ten didn’t bother acknowledging my statement, in his usual manner. “Good. You’re up. I was just about to wake you.” He uncurled himself from me, moving around the room like a dancer. As big as Ten was, he was lithe and delicate on his feet. He tossed me another one of his shirts. “Get dressed.”

“Are we going somewhere, Master?” I shrugged into his shirt. The title slipped so easily from my tongue, like I had been saying it all along.

“Wait here.” Ten exited the room, leaving me curious as to why the hell I was getting dressed so late at night. He came back into the room holding a funny pair of shoes. They weren’t made out of leather, and were short. “They’re running shoes. I don’t know if they’ll fit perfectly, but they’ll be close enough.”

I took the odd shoes from him, trying to ignore the screaming inside my head that demanded to know why he had human-sized shoes in his house. Maybe I was one of many. Maybe he had a basement full of us. It hit me all at once that I really didn’t know Ten at all, and I was putting a lot of blind trust in him. Ten left the room again, returning fully dressed. He pulled me through the door.

“It’s shift change, so there shouldn’t be any patrols out. But if we come across anyone, you keep your mouth shut, and let me do the talking. Understand?” He took the stairs two at a time, leaving me stumbling behind him.

“I understand. But where are we going?” I couldn’t help but push again, wanting to know where the hell we were going.

I shouldn’t have bothered. Ten pressed his lips together and without a word, led us out into the still night air.

Luckily, we passed no one on the streets. We walked silently down the grassy laneways, night dew tickling my ankles. The running shoes were more comfortable than my boots, but offered far less protection.

We didn’t walk for long. Around the last corner, Ten pulled me toward a massive stone building, crumbling from the top down. He let me go as we entered through the huge wooden doors, and I took in the moonlit strewn room.

“It’s called a church,” he murmured as he closed the doors behind us, taking one last peek at the street outside.

I had never been inside the Labyrinth before, but I had heard stories. Tales of booby-trapped buildings, rigged with danger to catch unsuspecting humans who dared to step inside the lair of monsters. Structures little more than rubble, barely held together after life decayed. Which was partially true for thechurchwe were in now. Glass littered the floors, made up of smashed tiles. Piles of wood were heaped at the front, half burned. Ragged remains of fabric fell from the ceiling, strips of cloth that were little more than thread.

I hadn’t expected the beauty. Everywhere I looked there was something that struck a tune in my heart, a story told before my time, and one that would exist for long after. Green vines dripped from the chipped stone, a waterfall of vegetation. How they managed to grow in such poor conditions astounded me. But something else caught my eye, a different kind of allure. Moonlight streamed through the broken windows, stained in every color of the rainbow. I took a step closer, wanting to make out the image arranged in the remaining panes.

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