Page 38 of Hollow House
Movement in the crowd caught my attention as they parted for someone new. Bodies shifted to let whoever it was pass. I couldn’t make them out until they stood in front of me. The hole in the circle closed, and I studied them.
A man much taller than me stood across the circle, his gaze on the ground and something familiar in his hands. The same blade from earlier in the night. I recognized the strange, long handle.
My eyes were too focused on the blade to notice when the man in front of me pulled off his mask. He walked toward me, and I refused to lift my eyes, afraid to lose track of the weapon.
Was this it?
Was it all an elaborate plan to kill me?
The blade lifted in front of me, and I tensed, readying myself for the blow. Surrounded by the circle of people, I had nowhere to run. I had nothing to help me fight back. I was helpless.
The blade paused at my chest.
“Take it,” a familiar voice said.
I looked up, and my jaw completely dropped.
“Felix?” I asked, watching my best friend step forward.
He walked toward me without a word. Instead, he continued to hold out the knife.
I tried to reach out to my friend, desperate for an explanation, but he walked away. His eyes refused to meet mine as he looked to the Wraith for approval.
The book deals, the job at the sex toy shop that supplied this place, even his mysterious partner from out of town…it was all adding up. The signs were there, I just didn’t see them.
That was how the Wraith knew who I was before I came. The strange change in attitude Felix had before I came tonight made far more sense. He knew exactly what I was walking into.
My mouth opened, but the Wraith held up a hand, stopping me.
Instead, he motioned across from me, and the crowd parted. Someone dragged a man forward, his hands cuffed and a bag over his head.
I could hear muffled curses from under it, but I couldn’t make out much more.
“Choose,” the Wraith said, and I knew what he meant. “Will the pedophile live or die?”
His voice was firm, but again, I wasn’t afraid. After all the chances he had to hurt me, to kill me if he wanted, I did not fear him. Rather, I feared myself, what he wanted me to do. I couldn’t hurt any innocent man…
But the last thing he said caught in my head.
Pedophile?
Someone pulled the bag from his head. The man looked around, panicked, before his gaze settled on me and the knife in my hand.
My entire body trembled, barely registering him. It wasn’t until he cursed again that I recognized his voice. My vision cleared, and I focused on him better.
Darren.
My boss stood across from me, anger spreading across his face. He tugged at the cuffs on his wrists without any success.
“You bitch,” he growled. “This is where you’ve been? Partying instead of working?”
He knew I was writing this article and what that meant. Why was the bastard acting surprised?
I glanced at the man across from me, a truly vile and disgusting person. The world would be a far better place if he were no longer in it. I closed my eyes and pictured all the women who would be safer without him around. How many had he successfully assaulted, who hadn’t pushed back the way I did? How many had sacrificed something so precious to them just to keep their job?
The thought had bile rising in my throat.
I opened my eyes, this time narrowed onto him.The asshole didn’t even have the decency to look concerned. Instead, he stood with a smug grin on his face, watching me.
