Page 83 of Flock This

Large windows covered the walls, and I’d bet it had a fantastic view normally. Instead of that, however, it reminded me of a good old-fashioned meth house, with foil and newspaper taped over the glass. They’d layered it well enough that not a single streak of light bled into the space.

I stepped toward the front door, ready to get the fuck outta here, when something wrapped around my arm and jerked me to a stop.

“How did you get out?” The person yanked so hard I spun around, coming face to face with a thrall.

“Door,” I answered.

The man tilted his head, as though he had no idea what I was talking about. I took that moment of confusion to lift my knee into his groin. Even a thrall couldn’t shake that off immediately.

I didn’t wait around to see what would happen, instead bolting for the door, for my escape.

“She’s out!” This shout came from a woman, which meant it wasn’t the man I’d just give the old ball-flattening treatment to. Her shrill voice carried far—not loud enough to wake the dead, but certainly loud enough to call attention to anyone just sleeping or awake.

I darted around the table sitting in the center of the living room, miscalculating the width of my hips—I always thought I was smaller than I was—and knocked against the corner of it. I grunted at the pain, the table sliding a few feet and the papers on it falling to the floor.

Even still, I didn’t stop. I moved around the table, pushing it to make room. The door was only about five feet away now, close enough I could almost feel the sun on my skin.

Except, when I went for it, a rush of air grazed my cheek. Just as fast, a body appeared before me, between me and my escape route, and I could do nothing to halt my momentum. Even as I tried to skid to a stop, I still ran directly into Iglesia, who stood with that same arrogant smirk on his face.

He made no move to help me, so when I struck him, I ricocheted backward, landing on my ass again.

For a moment, I wished I had a steady man in my life, because I had a feeling I’d appreciate a few kisses to the bruise right about now.

“Again, you surprise me. I’d heard you were hard to hold, but I assumed the people who tried were just inept. You really can escape anything, can’t you?”

I winced as I got up, knowing I wouldn’t get to do much running after this, not with the pain through my back after that fall. I didn’t get back up as well as I had ten years ago. “Maybe you’re just a terrible jailer.”

He laughed and peered past me. “What did you do to poor Thomas?”

“Nothing. Not my fault some men don’t know how to use a safe word.”

“Take him to his room and let him rest,” Iglesia said to the woman. “I’ll handle the troublemaker myself.”

“You’ll try.”

Neither of us spoke again until the thralls left. At that point, the room seemed to shrink until it felt as small as the closet I’d been in earlier. Was it him that did it?

It was a skill I was pretty sure I lacked. No one felt intimidated meeting me, no one felt as though I sucked all the air out of the room. At most, they saw me as an inconvenience—a minor one at that.

“I figured you’d be sleeping,” I said when I couldn’t stop myself from speaking, when the silence got to me. “Or preferably dead.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

“It’s okay. Far from the first time a man has disappointed me.”

He laughed as though the joke hadn’t been about him. I had a feeling he just didn’t care rather than he hadn’t gotten it. “I heard from the one above me. They gave me the okay to kill you.” He said that with a mockingly gentle tone, pretending as though he were sorry about it.

Not falling for that, fuck face.

“Can’t say I’m all that surprised. People like me, we don’t get lucky. That’s why I was trying to peace out from here.”

He leaned back against the door, making no attempt to come closer or even intimidate me. Then again, it seemed our little dance was over, all the back and forth that happened when working shit out.

In his mind, we were done. My life was over, and I had no way out of it. It meant he could relax and drag it out as much as he pleased.

“I would have liked to keep you here. I have a feeling you’d be a lot of fun. Sadly, your body is needed to make a point.”

“Can’t fight city hall.” I laughed after my terrible joke, mostly because my brain was currently doing gymnastics to try to work a way out of this all. I had a vampire between the door and me, and he was far faster than I was. I couldn’t get past him, couldn’t run, couldn’t fight. Stun guns were all but useless on vampires, so that wouldn’t do any good.

---