Page 95 of Stalk the Dark
“Shackled?” This made no sense. “Why would Ezekiel do this?”
“Master doesn’t like to share his things.” She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes dark and knowing.
Had Ezekiel seen how close Ordell and I were? Was this why he’d taken him and put him down here?
“He’s just through the doors down here.” She hurried away, taking the circle of light with her. I could go back or follow. If there was a chance that Ordell was really down here, then I had to follow.
But what if this was a trick? A trap. What if she was a ghost?
Even if she was, I needed to pretend I didn’t suspect. Go along with her plan, if indeed this was a plan.
The floor here was flagstones pressed into earth, and a door made of thick bars cut us off from a moonlit tunnel beyond where a shadowy shape hunched on the ground. I caught glints of metal and the gleam of silver-blond hair.
“Ordell!” I grasped the bars and pushed, but they refused to budge.
“The bolt…” Daisy pointed at the deadbolt that held the door closed.
I pulled it back and hurried toward Ordell. He lay on his side, unconscious. A thick chain was bolted to the wall, the other end attached to his ankle.
“Ordell?” I brushed his hair back off his face, sweeping the silken locks over his shoulder. My fingers grazed metal.
A collar. What the fuck?
Ezekiel had him collared and shackled? Fucking hell. I had to get him out. “Daisy, where’s the key?”
“The wall.” She pointed to a hook on my side of the barred entrance. A large brass key hung on it.
I grabbed it and unlocked Ordell’s ankle.
He groaned, beginning to wake.
“Daisy, you need to help me get him up.” I reached for the collar, feeling for the keyhole. There…I inserted and twisted and was rewarded with aclick. The surface of the collar lit up with strange symbols before falling dull.
What the?—
Ordell’s eyes snapped open, but they weren’t his regular ocean blue; they were flecked with gold, the pupils horizontal slits.
My pulse quickened. “Ordell?”
He blinked and focused on me. “Orina…” He reached up to caress my cheek, his expression soft for a moment, but then his brow furrowed, and his gaze flicked to his surroundings. “No…no, what are you doing here?”
He grabbed at the collar on his neck, but it fell off with a clink. “Oh God. Oh no. Orina, you have to go. Go now.”
“What? But I?—”
“Argh!” He doubled over, his body contorting in pain.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” I reached for him, but he shoved me away.
“Get out!” He lifted his face—his misshapen face with an elongated jaw and ridged cheekbones, eyes large and slanted. “Go!” The command tailed off into a growl.
I fell back on my ass, then scrambled for the door, survival instinct kicking in. The scrape of the bolt sent ice down my spine.
“Daisy, open the fucking door.” I shook the bars.
She smiled, thin and wicked. “Do you see now? Do you see?” She vanished.
Ordell let out an unhuman roar accompanied by the crack and snap of bone. I turned slowly, heart thrumming in my throat.
