Page 68 of Demons in My Bed
“You’re doing great, Misha. You have so much going for you and it’s all right in here.” He poked my chest. “I believe in you—you know that, right?”
I nodded, because I’d never believed anything with such conviction in my life. He was the only one who had ever believed in me.
“Good, that’s good. Come, let’s practice, I want to try some new techniques…”
The castle grounds faded from my sight, and the dark woods came back into view. I shouldn’t have been surprised to see three trees lying on the forest floor, their trunks shattered. I was breathing heavily, and when I looked down, a small slice of moonlight cut through the clouds, showing me that my knuckles were wrecked and bloodied.
A twig snapped, and I spun around, snarling. My tail flicked in warning as my muscles coiled, ready to fucking strike. Silence greeted me, and I was just about to chalk the whole thing up to an animal when I heard an ‘oomph.’
In a flash, I pulled my wings, tail, and horns in, darting through the forest in the direction of the sound I’d heard. I could hear their heartbeat now, practically taste their fear.
There, just ahead, was a person sprinting back toward the barn, but they weren’t going to make it. I was on them before they knew it, slamming into them and taking us both down to the ground.
“Please don’t kill me, oh my fuck. Oh please!”
I slammed my hand over the idiot’s mouth and got a look at their face. A slow grin took over as I realized it was that teen from earlier. The one who’d been talking shit—this little prick had the balls to try and spy on me?
“Be. Quiet,” I whispered. “Or I’ll gut you right here.”
The kid’s eyes widened, but he nodded. I removed my hand, staring down at him. What the fuck was I going to do with him? Kill him? Ugh, he was just a kid... but I couldn’t really let him go back. Not when I knew he’d seen me.
“Look man, I didn’t see shit.”
I raised a brow. He’d just admitted that he did, in fact, see shit.
“I’ll just... go. Yeah? I think that would be good for both of us”” He got to his feet and actually started inching away.
Nah, this wasn’t going to work. But I knew he was one of Scorpio’s recruits, and he clearly knew something about us from what I’d overheard. Sighing, I wiped my palms down my shirt. Clearly, the kid was coming with me.
“Please don’t punch me. I’m not built like those trees and they never even did shit to you!’” I advanced on him, and he stumbled back over a branch. “Oh gods, my body would just explode like a water balloon if you hit me that hard. You know that, right? Fuck, of course you do, you’re The fucking Carver!”
Rolling my eyes, I grabbed him by the back of his shirt, gripping his upper arm with my other hand. I pictured Haunt in my head—the basement, to be precise—and let the sensation of jumping take over my body. We didn’t get to use this power nearly as often as I’d like since we were banished to this realm, and it always gave me a rush using it after a while.
It was as if our bodies were pulled into a black void, swirling colors speeding past as we fell at what felt like supersonic speed. The kid was screaming, and I was worried he’d piss himself. I didn’t know if anyone had ever done that in the void before... What would happen to the liquid?
A second later, we landed in my office in the basement of Haunt, and I grabbed the trash can beneath my desk, shoving it under the kid’s face. Just in time too, because he lost his dinner immediately.
“What the fuck are you? Where are we?” His eyes were wide as he looked around, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt. Gross. Fucking teenagers.
I headed for the door, pulling the kid along behind me. We had holding cells for these kinds of situations—that’s where he was going to have to wait for now. The lights were motion-sensored, so they kicked on as we walked deeper into the basement. It was mostly long hallways and concrete floors on this side, with the maze being on the opposite side.
I came to a stop in front of a metal door, and the kid broke out in tears. “Please, I’m too young to die.”
The door creaked as I pulled it open, revealing a pretty gods damned nice little cell, if I was being perfectly honest. All the times I’d ever been held in a cell, they were never anywhere close to this nice. It was something I’d insisted on when we built this place.
The people we put in these cells were kind of in Exiled limbo. Not totally bad, not totally good. Therefore, it didn’t sit right with me to not treat them somewhat humanely. However, if someone ever fucked me over to the point that I’d want to throw away the key, I’d rather just torture them for a few hours, get my rocks off, and then kill their ass. I saw no point in letting traitors or scumbags breathe the same air as me or my boys.
“Get in,” I barked, shoving the kid’s shoulder. “I’ll be back later.” I shut the door, blocking out his pounding as I made my way over to the elevator. His screams were muted, thanks to soundproofing. Thank fuck. Little punk was probably screaming his ass off in there.
There were more important matters to deal with right now. Mainly, the woman who was upstairs at this very moment, bleeding all over our apartment. For the first time in a very long time, I was a little concerned about my temper.
Studying my hands that were cut to shit, I waited for the elevator. A ding alerted me that my ride had finally arrived, and I stomped inside, scanning my palm and hitting the button for our floor.
Leaning my head back against the wall, I closed my eyes and sent up a wish to the fucking stars, the gods, the freaking wizards that be, whoever was listening, that nobody pushed me. That I’d be able to regain my control I’d worked so hard for, because nobody—and I did mean nobody, in this fucking realm or any other—could handle me when I went berserk.
Chapter eighteen
“Lixy!We’llneedmorebandaids and I don’t know, those stretchy fabric things!” I yelled up the steps, hoping he could hear me. I’d sent him to raid the medicine cabinets the second we got back. We were easily the first ones here, and adrenaline was riding my ass hard.
