Page 381 of Evil Hearts

My magic fluctuated within me as a mixture of emotions coursed through my veins. Shock gave away to confusion, which was then consumed by the familiar searing heat of rage. I shifted until I faced the jinn completely. “What happened?”

His bushy eyebrows rose. “You asked what—” He didn’t get a chance to push out another snarky word before I lunged across the room and caught him by the throat. Air squeezed from his lungs as the momentum I had going into the attack allowed me to slam him into the nearby wall.

“What…happened?” I growled into his ear.

Caleb parted his lips several times, reminding me a little too much of a fish that had just been cast out of water. The only thing to make its way up his throat was a strangled noise.

Right…The weakling needed tobreatheto speak.

I reluctantly loosened my hold on him.

His lungs immediately expanded with several shallow breaths being pushed right back out. I was left to endure a faceful of a foul odor that reminded me a little too much of rotting flesh. He didn’t seem in any hurry to speak now, not since I had chosen to get an iron hold on his throat.

Although my stomach was twisting from the unwanted odor, I leaned forward and drew my lips closer to his ear. “I won’t hesitate to rip out your voicebox if you don’t belt out that message, Caleb. If Brazierre didn’t need your sight, she certainly won’t need you talking, either. I’m at peace with the idea of requesting the king to repeat himself.”

“He’ll…kill…you…for asking,” he rasped.

“There is no higher honor than being slaughtered by his hand,” I countered. “Nowspeak.”

The jinn trembled against me. That bold facade that he had managed to piece together just prior to stepping into the same room as me had already begun to crack. Fear was leaking out of him in waves. It was enough to leave my lungs clogged with a conflicting scent. “T-They’re missing a prisoner.”

My grip immediately tightened on his neck. I could feel the muscle caving beneath my palm, but I couldn’t bring myself to cease such a rash action. “What?Which one?”

A strangled whine escaped him. He started clawing away at my hands, desperate to save himself before I ended up snapping his neck rather than crushing his voice box. Despite the lack of airflow, he still managed to lip his answer. “Ambrose.”

Impossible. I pulled away from the wall. There was enough shock tearing through my veins that I was finally able to releaseCaleb from my deadly hold. I turned away from him while he sank down onto his knees, succumbing to a fit of coughing and wheezing.

The simulation was perfect in the ways that mattered. Our portion of the human race had been injected into a world made by our own design a long time ago. Granted, there were paranormal beings that had found a way to inject themselves inside, but it was a risk that not many of them were willing to take.

We controlled it all. To push yourself into that system would trigger a kill order from the admins. One of us would then be sent after the little virus until we struck them down. Erebus was buried so much deeper than the level these little leeches existed on.

Itwas absolutely flawless. None of the prisoners had ever broken free before.

Now one had and my mind was reeling from the realization.

I flexed my jaw as the rage continued to work its way through my system. “What about the others?”

Did they…?

Caleb shook his head. “Just…Ambrose.”

So only one rogue Boogeyman had managed to pull this off, but out ofallof them…he was the worst one to be on the loose. It was only a matter of time before he backtracked to break out those that had been imprisoned with him — his precious mates. At least that meant that the bait had already been set.

I had to nip this in the bud before our perfect simulation crumbled and Rhys destroyed everything we had worked so hard for.

“Increase security around the remaining two.” I pushed forward, storming straight through the blood that had pooled from the other two bodies.

Caleb could only grunt in response.

A small bend of my magic had my mask slipping back into place. I willed the room before me to part with only an ocean of darkness lurking beyond it. The first set onto that invisible ground tore me away from the bar. I sank down into the prison deep within Erebus.

It was time to hunt a runaway Boogeyman.

To be continued…

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