Page 66 of His UnBearable Touch

“Yeah. I know you will.” Zack moved along, fairly quietly, which surprised Valerio to no end.

“You can go back now.” Valerio picked his way along the wall, his eyes were completely black, the bear riding just under his skin, adding his own talents to the search for Allegra. Talents, he reminded himself, that Zack didn’t have. “I can go the rest of the way myself.”

“I can help you,” Zack insisted.

“How much do you know about the tunnels and where they lead?”

An uncomfortable silence was what he got in response.

“It would be safer if you were with the others.”

“You’re some kind of a caveman, aren’t you?” Zack walked faster to catch up and fall in step with Valerio. “You’re not the only one who cares about her and wants to make sure she’s safe. You’re just one guy. What happens if this guy gets a jump on you. Who is going to help Allegra out of this hell hole?”

Hell. The words struck a chord with him. The first time he’d met Allegra, she’d mentioned Orpheus. And it struck him with the force of a sledgehammer on an anvil, he was going to rescue her, but he was going to do a hell of a lot better than Orpheus. He was going to rescue her, because he had to.

Beside him, Zack mumbled aloud to himself, his shoulders hunched over. “I had a feeling that something was off, but I didn’t stay.”

“You couldn’t have known what would happen. No one did.”

Zack nodded.

“Allegra would want you to stay,” Valerio told him. “She wouldn’t want you to be in danger.”

“Me?” His expression was all disbelief. “What about you?”

“Me?” Valerio smiled, a little curl of his lips, pulling away from his teeth. Zack’s complexion paled and he stumbled back a step. “I’m the danger.”

Valerio took off down the stairs, disappearing quickly into the dark.

* * *

The sounds around her changed. From close echoes to a big yawning sound. A wider chamber.

She stopped and he dropped the hand on her arm, leaving her there in the darkness.

“Good,” he laughed, “stay where I put you. Maybe you have learned something since you put me in jail.”

She fisted her hands, felt her teeth scrape against each other. She wished for just a little bit of fang or claws. ‘Imagine,’ she wondered, ‘what I could do then?’

“Keeping silent?” He laughed. “My my, you have learned something.” She heard something click open, like a cabinet. “Mother said you were too stupid to change.”

“Your mother?” The words rushed out between her lips. “I thought… I let myself believe the cards were from her.”

Another cabinet opened and something switched on.

Electronic feedback scraped through her ears, but she resisted the urge to cover them with her hands. She needed her ears now, more than ever.

“Dressing rooms clear!”

“Greenroom clear!”

She could hear more voices, doors slamming open or closed, heavy footsteps.

Laughter reached her ears too, but it wasn’t from a speaker. “I’ve always wanted to do that, you know?”

She didn’t answer.

“Pulling a fire alarm. It seems so… plebian.”

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