Page 15 of The Devil and His Goddess

I couldn’t finish my question. I couldn’t bring myself to ask about the voicemails and texts. This was such an escalation from his typical way of operating, and that made my stomach drop with a harsh realization. If he was finally approaching me, this was probably the end of the road. He was about to kill me after years of minimal contact.

The skull mask shifted, as though the man behind it was grinning. He uncrossed his arms, and that’s when I noticed his hands. Or rather, hisclaws. The long fingers ended in sharp, black nails. I gasped at the sight and flicked my attention back to the black horns on top of his head. Horns that now, on a second harder look, appeared sturdy and real,nota part of the mask at all.

The two startling features made me realize something else I’d been too frightened to stop and question before.

How the hell had he gotten in here?

There was only one door, which I’d had a perfect view of the entire time. The lone closet was small and full of shelves, leaving no room for a person to squeeze inside. There were no objects that provided a place to lie in wait in the large open room, and the only window had been shut and locked this entire time. Not to mention I’d been in here alone, and in the brief second I’d turned to grab my drink, he’d appeared.

Out of thin air.

My blood ran colder as I croaked, “What are you?”

He chuckled, the deep sound echoing in the room. The sound was almost familiar, but there was a sort of ethereal, growling edge to it that made the frost coating my veins heat to an alarming level.

Instead of answering me, he snapped his black-clawed fingers, and music softly began to play over the speakers. It was the music I’d had loaded up for practice, the music we’d been given at work to rehearse with. The soft yet vibrant piece felt out of place for this terrifying moment where I was stuck in a room with an intruder. As the music played, the maskedthingcontinued to watch me without moving or speaking. I was frozen in place with my eyes locked on him like a caged animal keeping an eye on a lurking predator.

After a few more seconds of this unmoving stare-off, he snapped his fingers again. The music stopped, only to start over. He watched me, almost expectantly.

The longer he stood on the other side of the room without making any threats or advances toward me, the more my heart began to even out. Was I still scared shitless? Absolutely. But I was also … confused—confused over who he was,whathe was, what he wanted, and whether or not I was having a psychotic episode.

When the music stopped abruptly only to start over again, my brow slammed down. I glanced at the stereo then at the masked intruder again. “A-Are you wanting me to dance?”

The skull face dipped in a nod.

I swallowed hard, a new pit opening up in my stomach. Why did he want to watch me dance? Would he hurt me—or worse, Aiysha—if I didn’t? The fact that she hadn’t come barreling down here after all of my screaming and banging had me worrying about her safety.

This stranger clearly wasn’t normal, which meant he could’ve done something to her without me knowing. He could’ve knocked her out cold, or maybe he had her stashed away somewhere to use as leverage against me. Or worse, he could’ve …

“Where’s Aiysha?” I croaked. “Did you hurt her?”

He shook his horned head. Could I believe him? Not a fucking chance, but with no way to confirm for myself, I had to trust his answer. I had to believe Aiysha was okay. The alternative would destroy me. That meant I was back to wondering if hewouldhurt her if I didn’t cooperate.

That horrifying idea had me slowly stepping forward as the song restarted for the fourth time. I got into my starting position, and with my eyes firmly locked on the stranger, I moved through the beginning of the routine. My nerves and fear-driven adrenaline made the graceful and sharp movements sloppier and harsher than they should’ve been, but I couldn’t fucking help it. I had no idea what this man intended to do with me, and that terror prevented me from feeling the music and expressing those emotions through my body. All I showcased wasterror.

Only about a minute into the song, the man stood to his full height. I immediately froze mid-arabesque, my leg and arm still extended. The stranger approached me, and a cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck. The fresh panic made me fall out of the technique, and it took all my willpower not to buckle and fall to my knees.

I readied myself for the plunge of the knife he was about to produce or the searing of the rope he was going to tie me up with. He circled around to my back, and, paralyzed in pure fear, I watched him in the mirror.

The warmth of his body pressed into me, but instead of drawing a weapon to kill me slowly, he grabbed the arm and leg I’d just had extended in the arabesque. I sucked in a sharp breath as his clawed hand guided each limb back into position. His hand slid along the inside of my thigh in a strong caress, extending it as I went en pointe out of habit. I shivered at the feel of his hot palm against the inside of my leg as his other hand trailed a burning line from my shoulder to my wrist. He held each limb out in a perfect picture of elegance.

His grip remained on the underside of my wrist while the other slowly moved back up from where it had ended on my calf, creeping ever closer to the apex of my legs. Sweet heat erupted from the places he touched me, sweeping through my body and settling in my core. I bit my lip and tried to ignore the inappropriate reaction to this masked figure, but I couldn’t stave off the fire now burning where it shouldn’t.

I glanced at the black claws against my flesh, even more certain now that they were real. With gravel filling my throat, I found his obscured face in the mirror once more. “What are you?”

He chuckled softly behind the skull mask, yet there was no missing the sound or how it shot lightning straight down my spine to swarm between my open thighs. He released me, and I held my position, watching as he returned to his place directly across from me. Without lifting a finger or touching the remote, he rewound the music to the section that came right before I went into an arabesque.

He wanted me to keep going.

I let out a small, incredulous breath but continued the dance. My body moved easier than it had before, though I wasn’t sure why the motions weren’t as difficult now. This was nuts. This wasn’t normal on any level, yet … as he watched me behind blacked-out eye sockets, I grew more and more sure that he wasn’t here to murder me. If that had been his intent, he would’ve done it already. He also made no move to venture into the house in search of other occupants.

In fact, when I’d been screaming for Aiysha, he hadn’t seemed worried at all. It was like he knew she wouldn’t be able to hear me. Only, I didn’t think it was because something had happened to her. Just as he’d blocked the door and window, I was beginning to think he’d somehow kept my sounds from reaching Aiysha. The speculation would’ve been far-fetched if not for all the wild stuff he’d already done.

This guy wasn’t human.

Whether he was a monster or a demon or something else entirely, I wasn’t sure. But from the way he’d popped in here, seemingly locked me in this room, and controlled the music, it was clear he was something otherworldly.

“Am I dreaming?” I asked breathlessly after a series of turns.

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