Page 59 of These Unhallowed Halls
Without hesitation, sage.
“Fuck.This is bad.We need to get down there.We need—Fuck!”I drove my fist into the wall near me, aware now that I’d gotten up and started pacing.“The carnival.We need to get down there, but we can’t go like this.I need you to back off for just a bit.I’ll get dressed, and we’ll see if we can sneak inside again.And no snooping this time.We get in, we kill anyone in our fucking way, and we make sure whatever this fucking thing is, there’s nothing left to try to raise again.”
The transformation eased off, leaving me naked again, and I beat feet to my bedroom, grabbing the first pair of jeans and a shirt that I could find.Dressed, I stuffed a handful of random vials into my pockets.There’d be something valuable in there that I could use when I got to the carnival.
“Alright, you with me, buddy?”
Always, sage.Let’s go kill ourselves a cult.
Twenty-Two- Lambs In The Lion’s Den Are Lambs Sent To The Slaughter
Temps
“Wouldyouquitit?”I swatted at Lizzie’s mischievous hands, laughing despite my attempt to shoo her away.“I’m trying to get dressed.”
“I’m aware.”She leaned across me as I stood with my back to the closet, snatching the shirt out of my hand and tossing it behind her with a smirk.“That’s why I’m getting rid of that offensive material.Nothing is keeping me from enjoying your perfect fucking tits for a few more minutes.”
I rolled my eyes, a smile creeping up the corner of my mouth.Lizzie took a step closer, pressing her bare chest to mine.Two idiots smiling like fools, we wrapped are arms around each other.I stilled for a moment long enough to sneak a pinch of Lizzie’s nipple.She gasped lightly, then yanked me to her lips, kissing me like it was the most important thing on the planet.
It wasn’t, of course.There was a “carnival cult” to deal with.
Still, I melted into the feeling of her, enjoying every moment because I could never get enough of them.I’d fought this for so long, and now, I couldn’t for the life of me understand why.So what if we had entered each other’s lives in a “less than traditional” way?Lizzie was mine, and I was hers.Fuck what anyone else said.
“Mmm,” she swept her tongue across the seam of my lips as she hummed, and I eagerly let her in, relishing her wicked kissing skills.
Knock, knock, knock.
We paused, both of us eyeing the door as Lizzie said, “Who’d be knocking?Wouldn’t Cerberus just bamf him and Caleb in?”
“Umm…”
I was no empath, but something felt weird, a darkness radiating from the other side of the door.Smiling, likely unable to hide my concern from her, I stepped back and around Lizzie, grabbing my shirt and yanking it on over my head as I approached the door.
“Yes?”
“For goodness’ sake, Temperance!Would you open the door?”
My stomach dropped and turned to lead instantaneously.I knew that voice.But it was impossible.The school was protected.How in the hell would she even make it through the gate?
“Temperance!Let your mother inside!”
Lizzie was at my side, hauling on a shirt.“How the fuck?Barbara?Am I having a fucking stroke right now?”
“I don’t—” My mother continued to pound at the door.“Dammit.She’s going to draw too much attention if we don’t answer.Just…I don’t know.Be on guard or whatever.”
“Around the mega bitch, Barbs?Yeah, I think I can manage that.”
Rushing up to the door, I turned over the lock and pulled it open, coming face to face with the woman who’d single-handedly made me deny everything about who I was in favor of not getting chewed out by her.Oh, and it was only moments after I’d just been making out with my stepsister.
“Finally.What could possibly have taken you so long to answer the door?”Barbara stood at the threshold, wearing a pale cream suit skirt set, complete with the matching pearls she reserved for church days.
“We were tits out, Barbs.Did you want Temps answering the doors with her nips in your face?”
Shock played over my mother’s face, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from snorting out a laugh.As she scoffed, she pushed herself past me and into the room, standing a few feet away from the door and glowering.
“I see this renowned advanced education has not improved your language, Elizabeth.”
Lizzie narrowed her eyes as I shuffled the wet towels from our shower over toward the closet, crossing her arms with her hip cocked out to the side.
