Page 47 of Cursed Shadows

Beside her, slumped against the wall of the truck, is Dragan, his head covered with a brown, burlap sack. On her other side is Thoradin, who’s also passed out. Beside him is a man I don’t recognize. But, just like Dravon, he’s big and ugly. And staring at me like he’s hungry for angel.

Slumped beside me is Baron and beyond him are two other men that belong to Anona’s band. My group is unconscious, but where my hands and feet are bound, theirs aren’t. Anona clearly isn’t worried about them. Worry starts penetrating me again and my palms begin to tingle with sweat.

There’s no sign of Cambion. I can only hope he was able to escape in all the commotion.

“Dravon makes an excellent point,” Anona continues, looking at me with a wide smile that reveals way too many teeth. “Where is your pet?”

My head pounds and hot tears well along the lower line of my eyes. “Pet?” I ask her.

“Short, pudgy little bastard?” Dravon answers in his deep, monstrous voice. “Cusses a lot? Man-boobs with wings? Makes you wanna rip him to shreds?” I swallow hard at the description. “Ring a bell?”

“I don’t know what happened to him,” I assure Anona, praying she doesn’t catch my lie.

“Interesting,” she answers, nodding, but her eyes tell me she doesn’t believe me. “So, he runs off with you and the King of Shadow, and then poof? He vanishes? That doesn’t sound like the Flumph I know.”

“I was… I was drugged. I don’t know anything,” I stammer, angry that I’m unable to focus on her or my story about Flumph. Instead, I can’t stop looking at Dragan, his arm hanging limp, hitting the floor of the truck in time with every bump in the road.

Anona leans back and crosses her arms. “Pity,” she says. “You’ve caused me a lot of trouble, you know that?” She leans forward again, resting her hand on my knee, beneath my short dress. Gently she glides her hand up the fabric of my cloak and smiles. I flinch away and she retracts her hand, as her lips bulge and she runs her triangular tongue along her teeth. She smiles again, her thick lips pursed together, white like drowned earthworms.

She’s what’s called an Opalite Demon, owing to the pearlescent quality of her skin. Her eyes are orange but her pupils don’t look like mine. Instead, they take up the entirety of her eyes. She sits a head or so taller than I do and she’s uncommonly thin, so is her long and narrow face. Her lips are wide and her nose is too big for her face.

“I take you in, offer you a room, give you theAtacomitehigh you’ve been searching for—all out of the kindness of my heart. And this is how you repay me?” She gestures at our companions in the truck. “An odd way to say thank you.”

She’s full of shit, of course. She took me in to turn me into a whore so she could make money on me, because she knew an angel would pull in a hefty sum.

“I…” I begin, but my voice fades away, because I don’t know what to say. All I want to know is whether Dragan is okay.

She stares at me, long and hard. “I wanted to kill you for the trouble you caused me,” she tells me, and her gaze narrows. “Did you know Variant arrested me?”

My own eyes grow large.

“That’s right,” Anona continues, nodding. “And when I was sitting in that prison cell, you were all I thought about.” She takes a deep breath and stares at me with a strange lunacy in her eyes. A smile haunts her lips and I feel myself shrinking under her intent gaze. “I fantasized about taking my revenge out on younumerous ways. But none of them were quite”—she reaches for the word—“satisfying enough.”

“Let me show her how much you hate her.” Dravon looks me up and down. There’s no doubt in my mind how he wants to show me.

“This isn’t your fight,” Anona nearly spits at him. Then, she faces me again, pulling a dagger from her belt. “Of course, now that I’m turning you over to Variant, I won’t get the satisfaction to do what I really want to.” Her smile widens. “But that’s okay. Do you know why?” Raising her eyes from the dagger to mine, she holds my gaze, her eyes hard, unblinking. Crazy.

“Why?” I ask finally; my voice comes out as a croak. I’m worried as to what she’s going to do with the blade.

“Because Variant will do things to you much worse than anything I could.” She smiles again and leans back against the wall of the truck, using her unsheathed dagger to pick at the dirt beneath her gray fingernails.

I know she’s just trying to intimidate me, and it’s working because she’s right. Variantwilldo whatever he wants to me and there’s nothing I’ll be able to do about it. I’m Anona’s prisoner and soon, I’ll belong to Variant. And very soon after that, I’ll be dead. I glance over at Dragan and Baron.

“They can’t help you now, lovely,” Anona tells me. “They’re dosed withMidnight Tears; your friend next to you knows how dangerous it is.” She motions to Baron.

“Will it kill them?”

“No, but when they wake, they’ll be weak.”

“Why didn’t you poison me?” I ask.

She reaches for Baron’s bag once more and starts inspecting the vials. “I have different plans for you, some questions I need answered.” She picks up a nearly full container and nods her head when she’s confirmed it’s the one she’s looking for. “Truth Serum,” she announces with a triumphant grin.

My blood turns cold.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” She barks with laughter.

Dravon chuckles beside her, never taking his eyes off the area where my cloak opens to reveal the swell of my breasts.

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