Page 4 of Villains and Vengeance
I glance around, trying to come up with a plan while I berate myself for letting my dumb ass get captured.
I’ve been through these tunnels a hundred times and not one of the inmates has ever actually seen me until now. But I wasn’t paying attention. I was thinking about JulianfuckingMaddox and his crew.
I glance around, ignoring the scout’s roaming hands … claws … shit, they could be tentacles for all I know. I have no clue what kind of supe has me.
But I do know exactly where we are, and it can’t be more than a couple of steps to Gargantua’s tunnel. She’s the biggest arania I’ve seen down here hence her nickname.
‘Do you hear that?’ I ask.
‘Hear what?’ he asks faintly as his hands continue to move over me and I feel a demon-sized dick at my back.
Fortunately for me, this isn’t my first rodeo when it comes to some asshole feeling me up, so I’m not freaking out yet and I can think clearly.
‘Someone’s up there in the tunnel. They’ll see you,’ I say with conviction, and I feel him tense. ‘What do you think Dante will do to you in his torture chambers if he finds out you defiled what’s his?’
The fear gets to him just like I knew it would. He believes me.
‘Over here!’ I call and he swears, a meaty claw pushing hard at my mouth.
‘Shut up,’ he hisses, and he pulls me down the tunnel with him.
One step ... Two step … It’s got to be close!
I feel the wall of the cave at my right, and I throw my knees up, kicking off the stone hard with both feet like I’m in a swimming pool, making my captor stagger to the side even though he’s much bigger than me.
I just hope we’re where I think we are, or this won’t do anything but piss him off.
But I hear the silk rustling under his shoes as he gains his balance on the other side of the tunnel and I give myself a mental high five, praying to every god I know of that Gargantua is waiting just inside her tunnel to dart out for her prey the way I’ve seen Siggy do before.
‘Shit,’ he mumbles, trying to get out of the thick webbing under his feet, sending multiple vibrations up the strands like a fool.
I curl around myself as much as I can, using him as a shield, and I feel something heavy barrel into him. He screams and we’re dragged backward. Realizing I’m nowhere near heavy enough to anchor him, he releases me, and I sink into the soft silk that’s all over the cave floor.
I hear his claws scrape ineffectually against the rocks around the opening that leads into Gargantua’s domain. But then there’s a dull thud. It’s silent now except for his stuttered breathing and I know he got bit. The paralysis sets in quick.
I’m still on the ground and technically in Gargantua’s web. It sticks to me, and I don’t move a muscle while I listen in the dark.
There’s a slight swish as the arania picks up her prey. She hunts the same way Siggy does, so I know that she’s wrapping him for transport to her main web to save him for later. I just have to wait for her to take him and hope she can’t make it back in time even if she does feel my movements when I unstick myself. That’s a skill I’ve become pretty adept at since bunking with my spider buddy if I do say so myself.
‘Over here! O’Toole went down this way.’
O’Toolewas that asshole’s name? Apt.
A light shines down the tunnel and I freeze.
‘Well, where the hell is he?’ a second voice asks.
‘I told you I heard a ye— Holy shit! It’s HER!’
A bright lantern is held up, blinding me.
‘What are you—’
I peer up through my hair and wince. Two orcs. Dante’s favored trackers. Both have blades and they’re dressed in jackets and old jeans. Long hair hangs around their faces, but both of them have intricate braids and beads woven into their dark locks. As inmates go down here, they actually seem to keep themselves pretty clean and tidy.
They’re just staring down at me, looking like they can’t believe it.
Yeah, you and me both, guys.
