Page 56 of Monsters' Manor

Now I just need to find my demon and my shade.

I leave the admin building and head for the stairs down into the labyrinth. There are a few staff locker rooms and offices on the first floor below the manor, and I figure that’s as good a place as any to start looking.

Walking down the first long hallway, I glimpse stone-grey wings disappearing behind a corner up ahead.

“Howard!” I call out. “Wait up.”

Rounding the corner, I find him standing there with a wide smile splitting his stony face.

“Hi Rose. I heard things went well in the Parlor tonight.”

I smile back, flushed with pride. “They did. And, speaking of, I was wondering if you’ve seen Renwick around anywhere?”

Howard’s smile slips a little before he nods toward one of the staff offices. “I think I saw them headed in there.”

Them?

Thanking him, I turn toward the door he indicated while he continues on his way to wherever he was going. Just as I’m about to reach for the handle, a wave of magick breaks over my skin. Something like static and starlight, like electricity and darkness. It should be enough to give me pause, but before I have time to think better, I ease the door open.

The first thing I see is Ren. Or, well, at least little bits and pieces of him. My mind stutters over what I’m seeing, trying to make sense of it.

His head, thrown back in tortured ecstasy.

His pants, shoved roughly down around his thighs.

His hands, braced on the desk behind him, crumpled in the papers scattered there.

The rest of him is cloaked in familiar tendrils of shadow, all gathered between his spread legs, bobbing in a slow, rhythmic motion that has the demon groaning in pleasure.

Silas is here. With Renwick. The two of them are… are…

My hand slips, and when the brass handle creaks, everything in the room goes still. Ren’s eyes fly open and his head snaps up. All those shadows pull back, giving me a clear view of his stiff, weeping cock and leaving absolutely no question about what’s going on here.

“I…” I start, face flushing, voice shaking. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… I didn’t know…”

Confused, embarrassed, overwhelmed, I flee the office. As I run, Ren lets out a strangled curse.

“Rose,” he calls after me. “Wait!”

But I’m not stopping. I’m not slowing down as I make my way through the familiar warren of hallways and up the main stairs into the night beyond. I don’t wait for a moment as I flee the manor and dash through the grounds, not caring that the few cast members still milling around give me strange glances as I pass.

“Darling.” Silas’s voice is strained and breathless as a few of his shadows reach for me. In the midnight darkness, they’re darker still, stroking searchingly against my skin.

But even for him, I don’t stop. I’m choking on my mortification and confusion. I need to be back in the peace and privacy of my cottage so I can try to make sense of what just happened.

I make it all the way to the path through the woods before I hear another voice.

“Rose!” Ren’s shout booms behind me, but still I don’t slow down.

As his heavy footsteps gain on me, I pull on a bit of my power. I know the long, tangled root I ripped out of the dirt found its mark around his ankle when I hear the solid thud of his body hitting the ground.

“Fuck!” Ren groans as he falls. “Godsdamn it, you’re getting good at that.”

It gives me the time and distance I need to make it back to my cottage, to slam the door behind me and lock it, shutting both of them out.

18

In the silence of my cottage, my panicked, spiraling thoughts crowd in around me. They take up all the air in the room and climb up the back of my throat until I’m nearly choking on them.

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