Page 50 of Illusory

Lavish satiny blackness filled my sightline, and I blinked a few more times before realizing that I was looking at my wings. It seemed they’d finally decided to make another appearance, though through the mess of fog in my mind, I couldn’t pinpoint exactly when it had happened.

I might have taken a few moments to work out the timeline if my attention hadn’t been quickly diverted elsewhere. More specifically, to the four hellhounds that were waiting at my feet.

They were sitting on their hind legs with their blazing ruby red eyes fixed on me, but for reasons unknown to me, I didn’t feel threatened by them. There was no malice in their gaze anymore, no snarling or baring of teeth. If I didn’t know any better, I’d even go as far as to say they looked almost submissive.

Maybe they thought I was dead? Yes. That had to be it.

Shit.Lay still and keep playing dead!

Except they’d been standing right there when I stirred awake ten seconds ago. Obviously, they knew I wasn’t dead. Holding my breath, I stared back up at them once again, too weak to move a muscle and terrified that if I so much as breathed wrong, whatever miracle had stopped their attack on me would cease to exist and they’d decide to finish what they’d started after all.

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when one of the hellhounds shuffled forward and then extended both forelimbs as though he were stretching out his muscles or getting ready to lay down. The other three hastened forward and did the same thing, when suddenly, as if operating in unison, the four of them dropped their heads at me in a bizarre gesture that looked a lot like bowing but obviouslywasn’tbecause that would just be absurd.

What in the Devil’s workshop is going on here?

My gaze skirted to the shredded pieces of Revenant body parts scattered all over the foyer, searching for the person responsible for it. The one who had saved me. But there was no one there but me and the hellhounds. Had they just disappeared into thin air? They must have. That must’ve been why I couldn’t recall hearing anyone come in or leave.

But why? Why would they save me and then disappear?

I looked back at the hellhounds as though they might somehow be able to magically produce answers for me, but they just continued to sit there and stare at me, as though waiting for some kind of command. Unless…had it been them? The hellhounds? Had they saved me?

Jesus, get a fucking grip, Jemma.I practically laughed out loud at myself and probably would have done it had it not been for the vomit-inducing drumbeat rattling on inside my head.

But if not them, then who? And how?

The more I tried to fit the puzzle pieces together, the worse the banging in my head became until the only escape from the pain was to shut my eyes and give in to the exhaustion.

16. A DISCOVERY OF DARKNESS

I woke up disoriented and alone on the cold, marble floor with a pounding headache that made me wish I was dead. It took my brain several heartbeats to catch up to my eyes and recognize that I was still in Nikki’s house, and then a few more beats for the memory of what had happened to flood back in to swallow me.

I shot up into a seated position, wincing from the throbbing pain in my head as I searched around the foyer for the hell-born creatures that had seemingly saved my life.

Only there wasn’t anybody there but me. No Revenants. No Hellhounds. No scattered body parts strung about the room like confetti. Had it not been for the splattering of blood smeared all over the pristine glass endowed foyer, I might have even wondered if I had dreamt the whole thing up.

Sheathing the blade that was somehow still in my grasp, I braced my hands against the tiled floor and then wrestled myself back up to my feet, my body screaming in protest against the effort. I had no idea how long I had been out or what time it even was. The only thing I knew was that literally every inch of my body hurt, from my ankles to my butt to the strands of my dang hair, and I was grateful as hell for every bit of it because by some unconceivable miracle, I was still alive to feel it.

How exactly that had happened, however, remained a mystery that I’d have to solve some other time—when I was far away from Nikki’s House of Horrors.

Limping to the front door, I turned the knob and yanked it open. The crisp night air rushed in to greet me like the icy hands of death. I shivered against the wind and then pulledat the shredded remains of my coat, doing my best to bundle up with it. The zipper had been ripped away and one of the sleeves was hanging on by a single stitch, but it was better than nothing. Holding it closed with one hand, I hobbled back to my car.

The moon was hanging low in the distance, letting me know it was well past the fifteen minutes I’d planned on being at Nikki’s house, but other than that, I had no idea how long I’d been off the grid. Climbing into my car, I turned the engine and immediately reached for my phone.

58 missed calls.

Shit. Shit.Shit.

Seeing as my sister was more than half of those missed calls, I had no doubt that Ben had freaked out when I didn’t show up at his house and reached out to my sister. I could practically taste the third-degree wrath I was going to get the second I walked through my front door. As much as I wanted to avoid that whole mess and take the super long scenic way home, I knew better than to play with fire.

Throwing my gear shift into drive, I drove my battered ass straight home.

* * *

The agonizing hobble up the front steps of the Blackburn Estate didn’t hold a flame to what I was greeted with on the other side of the door. Tessa was in the hallway pacing back and forth as Caleb stood off to the side, talking heatedly to someone on his phone.

I could instantly tell by their pinched eyebrows and rigid expressions that they were both worried sick about me.

“Lucy, I’m home,” I announced in a strained voice as I shut the front door behind myself and faced the firing squad.

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