Page 7 of Villains and Vengeance
I’m hesitant with all the patrols that keep showing up in arania territory though. Granted, it’s pretty easy for me to shimmy up the tiny shafts where very few of the inmates can fit and then watch from the holes in the ceiling, but what if I’m caught again?
I open a Twinkie and eat it slowly as I think about what I’m going to do. I take my notebook out and count how many days I’ve been here. Seventy-five. There are still a few more before I can physically get out of here anyway, and definitely I don’t have enough food to last more than a week since Dante interrupted my thieving. Plus, my original plan was to stay in the Mountain for at least six months. It’s not even been three. I mean, plans change and it’s definitely harder on the psyche in here than I thought it would be, but, if I leave, I’ll need to find another place to stay off the radar on the outside until I can get some money together. After that, I’ll be able to afford another charm to keep me hidden ... until it runs out and I have to do this all over again when I can’t afford the small fortune it costs for a new one.
I put my head in my hands and heave a sigh. One day at a time.
One day at a time, Jules.
If I’m only here for another two weeks, I need to know what’s going on, especially now that Maddox and his crew are in the mix.
What they could have done that was so bad they were sent here, I don’t know. Maddox is an old-money banker-type and his kind don’t usually end up in this maximum security hellhole no matter what. This place is for the worst of the worst, dudes whose own mothers wouldn’t want to be alone with them.
I let out a slow breath. I need to know why they’re here. It can’t be for me, right? I only took a little money off them and they have a ton of it. There’s no way they’d go to so much trouble just to get back at me. They couldn’t have even known I was here. It’s got to be just a crazy coincidence.
Except I don’t believe in coincidences when it comes to the supes.
I need to find out more.
I grab the infinity torch and shift to the side of my giant cocoon where there’s a hidden opening in the silk only to find six unblinking eyes gleaming just on the other side. I jump with a curse.
‘Fuck, Siggy! You scare the shit outta me when you do that.’
I put a hand on my chest and try to calm my hammering heart. ‘I need to go take a peek at what Dante’s up to. Fresh meat arrived today,’ I tell her to remind her thatI’mnot the meat … just in case. The pregnant pause that follows has me second-guessing my life choices.
But then she shifts backward just enough for me to climb down to the ground. I feel her eyes on me as I walk across her cavern, and I wonder if I should lure a patrol in here to re-prove my usefulness. It’s not something I ever thought I’d do before I came to the prison. I’m not a killer. At least I never thought I was, but there are a lot of bad guys in this place. Maybe their evil dick energies are rubbing off on me.
I leave the web before I have second thoughts, taking the tunnel extra slow with the light off and listening veryverycarefully for anything at all that’s out of the ordinary. The passage curves to the right and I follow it, counting my steps until I reach two-hundred. There’s another hole about thigh-height and I slip through into a parallel shaft. The place is riddled with them and they’re not chiseled out of the rock. I’ve never seen any evidence that anyoneor thingother than me uses them, but there are other creatures that dwell in the darkness. I try not to think about who or what made them to be honest.
Travel is easier when I use these tunnels because they’re small and the holes let a little light in from the level below. I do have to be a bit more careful though because I can be seen if someone looks up at the wrong moment. That happened a few weeks ago actually. It was just good luck that the incubus who saw me seemed like a decent guy. He didn’t tell anyone about seeing me. I’m guessing he and his friends weren’t supposed to be here though because I overheard that they disappeared not long after they got here. Dante was pissed,of course, and the inmates are still talking about the epic battle in the ring between the Bear and the Dragon, whoever they are. Apparently, it was the fight of all fights and a pretty big deal with the supes. I even heard someone say that Dante had live streamed it out of the Mountain, but I think that’s bull. Even Dante doesn’t have those kinds of links to the outside. If he did, he’d use them to escape and he wouldn’t need me.
I crawl slowly through the tunnel until I get to the demon king’s cavern where he holds court, has parties, settles disputes, passes sentences, and sends his patrols out to explore the older tunnels to hopefully find the female he so desperately desires … or a way out.
It amuses me more than it should every single time I’m looking down at him that I’m so close and he doesn’t know it … until he smells me and by then it’s too late because I’m long gone. I know I shouldn’t play with fire, but this place is so boring. Sometimes I just can’t help myself. Plus, I’m a risk-taker. It makes me feel alive. I almost always land on my feet!
* * *
Jayce
My kidneystill aches from where that cunt, Daemon, got his lucky shot in. I mean what’s he even doing back with us? He was booted out of our clan for a reason. Why did Maddox let him back in? I scowl at my surroundings as I run a hand through my increasingly unruly blond curls. It was probably his brother, Vic’s, doing. Oh, wait, we have to call himAlexnow. Vicious found a mate and turned soft.
I glance around. I wonder where she is. I can’t wait to get my hands around that pretty neck and start squeezing. I’m going to make her regret the day she decided to play us. My fists clench by my sides. I can’t fucking wait.
But first we have to get in the demon king’s good graces. The man himself enters the room from a door at the back and sits gracelessly on the wooden chair that I suppose he considers his throne. I look him over though he’s in his less interesting human form. It’s his demon one you have to watch out for though, or so I hear, so that’s one I’d like to assess really, but I’ll make do.
He’s a sizeable guy in human terms, but not the biggest one in the room despite his reputation and his rumored power. He doesn’t look as scary as the stories about him either. His shirt is unbuttoned and tucked into black pants that are a little too tight. I wonder who he’s dressing up for. I’ll wager it’s forher. I wonder when he last got some pussy. He must be on year fifteen of his sentence. Hell, I’d be crazy too ... you know, if I wasn’t an incubus and could survive that long without feeding from lust and sex.
I sniff the air. I can smell her on it, just a trace. I’ll bet she’s not far away.
The ceiling is full of holes. I’ll bet she’s up there watching us right now. I look up and I give the roof a wink. Axel shifts next to me and raises his blue eyes to the ceiling. His amazing ears heard something, I’ll bet! A little, feminine gasp, maybe.
I smirk.
You’re mine, Victoria Styles.
‘Julian Maddox,’ booms Dante with an assessing eye, ‘and the entire clan I see.’
Maddox and the rest of us move forward.
Maddox might be surprised that Dante knows his name. I know I am. But he pretends he isn’t, exuding the arrogance that his money and influence affords him … and us by extension.
