Page 12 of Noire Moon
I’m quite literally surrounded by death.
The scent of it fills my nose, and the bone-chilling cold temperature in the air makes my stomach churn with dread.
Carcasses hang from the ceiling.
Actual fucking carcasses.
Headless, grisly shapes are split open to reveal bloodied rib cages.
A sick feeling washes over me that this is the reality of the meat on the table and in the supermarket. Hacked open with nothing more than a band saw that is so sharp it can cut through bone and cartilage within seconds. The kind of reality that is neatly packaged up in sanitary little plastic trays so you don’t have to see the grotesque truth.
But I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to know this kind of truth.
I’m also aware that this isn’t part of the haunted house anymore. This looks like an abattoir, and I’m pretty sure there could be actual human bodies kept in here amongst the slaughtered livestock.
Trying to fight the urge to vomit all over the floor, I skirt the edges of the hanging headless bodies. Thank fuck there’s a door not far ahead of me, and I push through it, silently pulling it closed behind me as I stand in yet another hallway. Only this one feels like a concrete bunker.
Left or right? I have no idea, so I turn left and half-walk, half-run until I find myself emerging into an area that feels less like a perfect place to commit a violent crime, and more like a luxury mansion once more.
There are more antiques and artwork, the kind that probably should be in a museum from the looks of it.
Just as I’m tip-toeing my way through the dark, I hear voices. At first, the burst of sound makes me freeze on instinct, but then relief floods me. Rita’s familiar laugh is followed by some chatter from the other girls.
Ever since we were separated upstairs, I haven’t seen a single soul other than the men hunting me, and their flurry of voices dancing along the corridor feels like seeing a rescue ship on the horizon after being lost at sea.
I could cry. I’m so overwhelmed by the fact I’ve found them. I’m hurtling into the room where their voices are coming from, only to stop dead as I enter the space.
It sits empty, except for one person, and it’s not Rita.
A skull mask stares back at me with sunken eyes, and there’s a mocking tilt to the man’s head. In one outstretched hand, he holds a phone, and it’s playing a recording on loop.
A fucking recording of my friends.
Ice floods my veins.
That’s when the door shuts behind me, and I hear the heavy metallic thunk of a lock sealing us inside.
I’ve been caught.
Chapter 5
“What shall we do with the little slut, now that we’ve got her?”
The one favoring the knife walks around me, and now that there’s the soft glow of firelight to see by, I can see his hands caressing his blade like a lover. They’re tattooed across the back and up along his fingers. From where I’m frozen to the spot it looks like a skull on the back of one hand and the bared fangs of a snake on the other. His knuckles are tattooed, too. All alchemical symbols in black ink.
The kind often found on tarot cards.
As he stalks from one side of the room, toward where the other masked man fills the doorway, blocking my only escape, I see the one with the sharp tongue and even more lethal knife—his skull mask has streaks of copper down one side. They glimmer seductively as the flames catch the metallic sheen.
My eyes quickly dart around the room, searching for another possible exit. I only find myself surrounded by a masculine-looking study that would fit perfectly into a Victorian horror movie. It’s all heavy wooden panels, bookcases, and an oversizedleather lounge suite. Two armchairs on one side of the open fire face a long, deep couch that looks big enough to seat five people.
“Do we want her to strip now, or leave her fully clothed?”
His voice turns me inside out and upside down when I hear him speak that way to the one behind me. As if I’m merely an object to them. I’m too damn wary of what they might do to turn my back, so I move slowly on the spot. Like I imagine doing if I were to ever cross paths with a venomous creature. Carefully, and without any sudden movements.
There are eyes beneath that skull mask that hold me with piercing intensity. I think they’re hazel, but that could just be my mind trying desperately to attach some kind of humanity to these monsters stalking me.
And I’m the fool who willingly gave herself over to them the moment I consented to walk through those doors.
