Page 78 of Revelations

Olivier finally shrugged as if she had not acknowledged the fly in her soup, and continued on a different track. “So Kael rushed here, by hijacking a wyvern of all things.”

A wyvern? Greylyn had read of these mythical creatures but had never seen one in real life. They were touted to have a dragon’s head and expansive wings, two legs, a barbed tail, and a mostly reptilian body. Often associated with cold weather, it seemed a practical mode of transportation to the far outreaches of Tibet. How did someone go about locating a wyvern in the first place?

Olivier watched her intensely, scrutinizing her reaction. “You still do not understand, dear? Kael flew to the rescue, not just to save you, since you were never in real danger from me.”

Anger sparked fiercely. “No real danger? Seriously? Your goons bashed me to a bloody pulp!”

Impatiently, he countered, “Yes. Yes. We have been over this. You needed a little attitude adjustment. You did not die, did you? I do have the means to make that happen.” Turning on his heel, he paced a circle around her as he continued.

Greylyn’s feet rooted to the heated ground, but her neck strained to keep him in sight. Attitude adjustment? She would show him an attitude adjustment.

“Kael does not always appear to see reason when it comes to you. Logically, he had to know that you were in no true peril. But logic does not control him when it comes to you, does it?”

He drew closer to her, his hot breath stinking of cigars triggering her gag reflex.

Olivier’s frosty stare bore into her. “No. Logic has nothing to do with the boy’s actions and reactions when it comes down to you. He operates solely on emotion.” With a smirk, he strode a few yards away and began walking back and forth in front of the steaming opening in the floor, as if giving a lecture in an auditorium with his arms crossed behind his back.

“At first, I found it charming. The way he obsessed over tormenting you; a lad after my own heart, a kindred spirit, always so patient. Never caving to the primal instinct to completely destroy his prey. His self-control was extraordinary…or so I surmised. Now, I question his motives entirely. Perhaps, I completely mistook his intentions. Just maybe, they were not sinister at all. Maybe Lucifer was right.”

He stalked over to her again. With a finger pressed against her chin, he forced her to look him dead in the eyes. He concluded, “Perhaps, Kael was motivated by something more…”

He paused as if waiting for her to fill in the blank. Her mouth remained clamped shut.

With a heavy sigh, he released her chin and turned away. She knew that there was nothing she could do for Kael. Why she would want to was a question she refused to ask herself. Right now, the primary need was to get herself, and Thomas, out of there.

But what if…

“Okay, so you need some continuing education program installed for your employees. That’s your problem. Not mine. Hire a consulting firm, if you must. Now that your little experiment is over, I assume I’m free to leave.” Thankfully, more bravado came out in her voice than she actually felt.

His eyes glinted playfully. “Yes, dear. That is precisely what I came to tell you. You can leave anytime.”

“And what about my friend?” she quickly added.

“Yes, yes. Please, take Dr. Moorefield. He is of little consequence to me, but if he can help speed up your progress, thenby all means, use him. His non-stop pestering is driving us all insane! You would think since I had him all patched up again, he would be more grateful!”

Greylyn had not realized that she had been holding her breath until she let out a big sigh of relief. Thomas was alive and well. This time she knew not to question how or why he was healed.

“I will have your friend brought to you soon.”

His gaze scalded her, and her skin crawled as he assessed her body.

“And some proper clothes for you, as well. You certainly will not survive the elements like that.”

A cursory examination confirmed his statement. No shoes. Torn jeans and most of her t-shirt missing.

Abruptly, Olivier turned on his heel and marched out of the room, leaving her free to explore her surroundings. There was nothing else to see; pure black rock above and below her; dark clouds of sulphuric steam piped out of the ground.

Laying her hands flat against the smooth walls, a tiny, rhythmic vibration pulsed against her palms, almost like a heartbeat. Blisters erupted on the soles of her feet from the immense heat that was radiating off the floor. She hopped from one foot to the next, but there was no way to escape. No chair to jump on. No sink or tub filled with cooling water to soothe the pain.

Olivier’s ghoulish creatures soon arrived with fresh clothes and a tray of food. Under normal circumstances, she would have turned down the food and drink that was offered. However, Olivier needed her alive, so the fear of poison retreated to the back of her consciousness, and she dug in.

It was not a gourmet meal from her favorite bistro in Nantucket, or even on the same class as an everyday average fast food chain restaurant, but…it was food; a soupy mixture of gristly meat and roots with rock-hard bread. By that point, Greylyn put aside any thoughts of the ingredients. She suspected thatshe was in Hell, or at its outskirts anyway, so her brain could not go there.

As she finished up her first meal in no telling how long, while continuing to hop from one foot to the other, another guard—or it could have been the same one, they all looked alike—returned with Thomas in tow.

Sure enough, he looked completely healed from the vast injuries that he had sustained. He had obviously been given new clothes, as well—snow pants and a jacket, thick hiking boots, and a matching toboggan.

Did Olivier have a department store stashed down here in this hellhole?

---