Page 41 of There's No Place Like Oz

Like an army of robots, the Kalidah immediately complied. Three of them took to removing the new guard, while one of them hoisted me up and dropped me onto the stone surface. I regained my ability to move the second Gwen stopped touching me, but even as I started fighting and thrashing, it was immediately obvious that it was pointless. Still I hit and bit and screamed and struggled, because I wanted to feel like I’d at least tried.

Tried?No, all I’d done was fail.

The monster stepped away when I was fully and completely secured by wrists, ankles, waist, and neck. Tied down to a table in a room full of candles, on an altar with magic circles of sacrifice above and below me, the reality of my predicament sunk in hard and deep and fast.

Breathing became difficult. My heart was in my ears. My whole body broke out in a cold sweat. I was verging on a panic attack, and I could feel my insides shutting down as my terror lassoed me and dangled me off a cliff. I really,reallywished Tobias was here right now.

It’ll be fine, I told myself in a blatant lie that my racing mind didn’t even pretend to entertain. My only respite was that maybe, if I was to be part of her next experiment, she might accidentally splice me with someone strong enough to kill her.

I’d never thought about taking someone’s life before. No matter how mad at the world I was, the idea of actual cold-blooded, intentional murder wasn’t even something I liked to joke about in the safety of my own head.

But today, I wished honest death on someone I’d just met, and I wondered if that was the true evil of this place.

No, I wouldn’t let myself think that way. I wouldn’t be a killer like she was. I couldn’t be that person. We were here to get her artifact, but that didn’t mean I would give up my humanity. I wouldn’t let her truly win.

Yet that grin on her lips didn’t help. “Excellent. Now fetch the puppy and my little kitty cat, will you please? I want to play a game.”

The Kalidah disappeared and the door slammed behind them. That was when I realized I was now truly alone with the Wicked Witch of the West.

“Now that the boys are gone, why don’t we have some girl talk time, Dorothy?” Her smile was terrifying. “I’ve just been dying to tell you that Iloveyour shoes. Where did you get them?”

There it is. I knew she knew. That wasn’t even a clever trick.Deep breath.

“I got them when I murdered the Witch of the East.” I spoke steadily, trying to sound bold. She already hated me and being the meek person she expected wasn’t going to help. She knew too much for me to lie to her anyway, and I needed to throw her off and let her think we might be more alike than she realized—that I was a touch wicked, too. I wouldn’t show the fear I was feeling if I could help it, even if my voice was shaking as I spoke.

“Oh?” The surprise in her eyes was satisfying. I knew the honesty would take her aback. “You mean mytwin sister?” The harshness returned to her voice, but I was going to gamble on the likelihood that I knew her type already just by how possessive, demeaning, and selfish she was. I‘d metlotsof her type, after all.

“Oh, was she your twin? You’re so much prettier than her though.” Learned this little technique from a bad reality show script.If I was guessing right, even her own twin was her enemy if she could be perceived, in any way, as better than her.

Her expression brightened, and it appeared to be genuine and on accident. “You think so? I always told her that, but Hildy wassucha narcissist.”Unlike you, of course. “I’m more powerful than her too, you know. She could barely keep her puppets alive, while I perfected the pentagrams of temporary immortality, so my puppets could actually live through play time.”

Gwen rolled her eyes and continued. “Conversely, she had to figure out revival spells, and those just about always go wrong. I don’t fuck with that kind of black magic. When we celebrated our four hundredth birthday, for example, she wouldnotshut up about her new necromancy magic and somehumanshe’d murdered and reanimated.‘You’ve not lived until you’ve experienced big, thick rigor mortis between your legs, then had him come back to life just in time to finish in you,’she’d said.”Wait…“She was so proud, only to have that same lowly human turn on her the following month, because how can anyone keep a damn zombie in line? She strung him up on a cross, only to discover that once youunkill someone, you can’trekill them. So stupid!” Gwen scoffed, while my mind was racing. She had to be talking about Crowe. No one else fit the bill. But was he really once human? Like me? From my world?“Not to mention absolutely disgusting. Can you even imagine being attracted to such a thing? My men are works of art. Hers are works of failure.”

Her laugh was harrowing as she took a step back from me. “Almost as disgusting as being attracted to something like you.” With a slight cock of her chin, her expression shifted, and she looked at me with daggers in her eyes. “If I have to share my Lion with you, I need you to be much, much prettier. And I have just the thing to fix you.”

“How are you going to fix me?” I asked through a breaking voice.

“Oh, don’t you worry about the details. Just lay back, relax, and you’ll thank me when I’m done.” Gwen caressed my cheek. “I promise this won’t hurt too badly. I’m not a monster after all. I always numb my toys before I make them better.”

She tapped me on my cheek as two of her guards shoved a bound and gagged Tobias into the room. The Kalidah gripped the back of his neck and shoved him onto his knees. Two others manhandled Leon.

Leon thrashed in their grip, which served to brighten the witch’s smile. “Oh calm down, Pussy Cat.” She paced over to her old slave with her heels tapping loudly on the stone. Her guards shoved him onto his knees, and he hung his head in defeat. Though the look in his eyes was one of pure malice.

With a small clap of Gwen’s hands, two new pentagrams appeared under my shifter companions. She crouched down to Leon’s level, and she fluttered a kiss on his forehead. The unbridled hate in his eyes could not be overstated.

“I was a little jealous to see that you’d marked her. I begged you to bite me for years, and you never ever listened.” That pout again. “If you’d just given me what I wanted, you could have been my king.” She nodded to her guards. One gripped his hair and yanked his head back, exposing his neck to her. The other held him down by his shoulders. With a flick of her wrist, a dark blue marker appeared in her hand. She bit the cap of the marker and popped it off between her teeth. With one hand gingerly on his cheek, and the other wielding her writing instrument, she started drawing a line around the base of Leon’s neck.

“Do you regret it yet? Don’t you wish you’d stayed, my sweet little kitty cat?”

Leon dug his teeth into his black ball gag so hard I thought he might break it. Gwen giggled, then she started dotting the line down his chest. She reached the waistband of his pants, then she paused playfully. “Your face is so handsome. I think I’ll keep that. I’ve always liked your arms, too. The tattoos, the muscle definition—just divine.” She purred. “But that ugly heart that left me so cold and alone? I think we can do better, don’t you?”

A growl vibrated through the gag, and Gwen lit up at his anger.

“Don’t you worry, Leon.” Gwen placed her hand on his chest and absentmindedly traced his tattoos. She slid her hands down his skin, then started undoing the laces of his pants. “Your perfect cock isn’t going anywhere. I’ll keep your body alive forever, my little kitty cat. She leaned in and whispered something out of earshot. With the softest of kisses on his collarbone, she stood tall and grinned at me from over her shoulder.

“So what do you think, Dorothy? A lion with puppy dog ears and that gentle little heart of yours?”

Chapter 32

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