Page 30 of Darkest Descent

Even when he held her with her nose buried in his pubes, unable to breathe and turning red. I watched again. Did nothing again. Lost again.

Eventually, he yanked her away and threw her on the bed, her eyes saucers, rolling around her skull like she was half-cut. He continued to yell at her, his rage palpable in the air even though his words were nonsense.

“Alice…” I tried to get her attention, but Hunter pushed her so she fell on me, her back thudding into my front. Then he lowered himself down on top of her. He was rabid, wide-eyed, and wild.

“Watch me,” he growled, sparing me a glance. “Both of you. Watch as I claim this beaten up pussy. Then I’ll have had all of you. No going the fuck back now.”

He shoved into her. And in the same moment, with her eyes bulging, her hand came up to his face. She screamed, hoarse and guttural. Feral.

I saw a glint of metal, and in the second where it dawned on me what she was about to do, Hunter erupted with a horrifying yell.

Alice drove the needle into his eye, grinding it, twisting it, screaming at him as she sat up, following his attempts to get away.

“You fucking bitch!” he yelled, blood streaming down his face as he scrambled back, his still hard cock bobbing between his legs as he fell from the bed and Alice climbed on top of him, not letting up, even when he thrashed and clawed at her, she held that needle in his eye, stabbing, bellowing, raging.

She was stuck in it, in and out, driving and screaming as she overpowered him. So I acted, fucking finally, clawing my way to the surface to help her finish what she’d started.

I strode up to them and stamped on Hunter’s head. The first time had little effect. The second made his undamaged eye blur. The third sent him into oblivion.

“Alice,” I said as she collapsed back on her legs, sucking in deep breaths. I scooped her up and off of him, refusing to look at the mess she’d caused to his eye. “We’re not dying here.”

She blinked, focusing on me like she was surprised to find another person in her world. Blood covered her hand, her chin, it smeared over her body in messy splatters.

Watching her fight, I didn’t want this to be the end for us. Seeing Hunter overcome, injured, unconscious on the floor and bloody… this couldn’t be our conclusion. Alice was fighting. Giving up now made no sense. For any of us. Someone needed to pay. And I wasn’t sure it was Hunter.

“What?” she asked, distant.

“We’re getting out of here.” I grabbed her hands. “Come on.”

19

Alice

My hands vibrated as hot adrenaline rushed through my veins. Hunter was unconscious at my feet, his breathing ragged but there. Asher was trying to tug me away from him, his hands wrapping around my arm, clawing into my skin when I wouldn’t move. I didn’t want to turn away from what we’d done. I just knew he’d be one of those asshole horror movie villains that had one last attack in them. The second I glanced away from him, dropped my guard even a fraction, he’d be on me, fists and violence flying as the last few moments came to nothing. Springing to life like nothing had ever happened and laughing in our faces.

No. I wouldn’t allow that to happen. Not this time.

“Alice,” Asher muttered again, his voice so soft and desperate, like he feared what I might do next. “Let’s go, please.”

“We can’t just leave him here,” I replied, staring at his still-handsome face. Despite the gore that I’d turned his eye into, the bruises forming from Asher’s kicks, he still had his looks. His eyebrows stayed furrowed, his limbs splayed, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. I was almost glad he hadn’t died.

Asher looked confused. “We need to go now. Fuck trying to help him.” But even as he said that, I didn’t believe he meant it. We were both connected to Hunter in some bone deep way neither of us understood. Even if Asher didn’t know it yet, we needed to see it through. Find out the why, the what. Who was watching from the cameras? Who was this for? I didn’t believe it was all him.

“We can’t just run, Ash. We aren’t helping him, though.” I turned to look at my brother, really studied him for a moment. We were all naked, but that was our normal now. His expression was one of acceptance. Discomfort. We had to do this. He knew as well as I did.

A long moment passed, full of tension, as I waited for Asher to admonish me, but he nodded. “Let’s just get some clothes on first, then we’ll drag his ass down to the basement.”

Throwing Hunter into the basement was strange. He remained unconscious as we thumped him down each hard step, and only groaned when Asher heaved him up onto his feet and I tied him to the beam, leaving him hanging by his wrists. It was fucking awkward to do with two sets of hands, let alone one, and he kept slipping away from us, crumpling on the floor. But finally, he was up there. His head lolled to the side, and his hands strained, turning purple, from the weight on them. I hoped they fucking turned black and fell off.

I stepped back to admire our handiwork, frowning. His feet scraped over the blood and urine stains caused by his torture, dragging and curling under him. He was so wide, so muscular, even hanging there he looked powerful. Asher and I weren’t sporty, neither of us had much weight to throw behind ourselves, and getting him into position had both of us a little winded.

“We should fix his eye up,” Asher commented, coming to stand next to me with a box of medical supplies he’d fetched from upstairs.

Walking through Hunter’s house, free of him, had been quite the experience. He had cameras and tech everywhere, all the doors and windows were locked and coded, and the glass was inches thick. He’d put time and effort and money into making this place inescapable. If we killed him, we would be stuck here, starving day by day, when his well-stocked kitchen ran out. There must be a way. An override. Something. It would be maddening to overcome him but still die in his domain.

He had enough food to last weeks, more, along with a large stock of torture devices, medical supplies and sex toys. Some of them made me shudder, but some had me curious. If he was a dick when he woke up, I might let him experience some of the horror he’d piled onto us…

I looked at my brother as the dark thoughts worked their way into my head. If he knew what I was thinking, would he look past it? Forgive it? He was softer than me, he wanted to run, not seek vengeance. He was here for me now.

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