Page 50 of Devoured
The pool where the Executioner had emerged began swirling violently, forming an expanding whirlpool. The floor cracked and the pool grew wider.
“What’s happening?”Dr. Alan’s composure finally broke.
The pull started gently, then grew stronger. A young cultist slipped on the blood-slick stone and was sucked into the whirlpool. His scream cut off as he vanished. Another tried to run but was dragged backward, fingernails scraping stone before he disappeared.
“Grab the pillars!”Varner shouted.
The remaining cultists scattered, wrapping themselves around columns. Most held on as their robes whipped in the vortex wind.
I scrambled to free Sela from the altar. The ancient restraints crumbled at my touch. Marion crawled toward us, fighting the suction. Isaac slid across the floor, barely conscious.
Dr. Alan’s heels skidded as she fought for a pillar. Tobias had his massive arms wrapped around another column, his face purple with effort.
Marion reached me and wrapped her arms around my waist. I grabbed Isaac with one hand, held Sela with the other. We formed a human chain anchored to the altar.
The Executioner moved through the chaos untouched by the pull. His arms wrapped around me from behind. The moment he touched me, the suction lessened.
“Hold on!”I shouted.
The pool stopped expanding just feet from where we huddled.
Then the ground beneath us vanished.
We plunged through like the blood was a door. Reality folded and twisted. As we fell, I saw Dr. Alan lose her grip above us, tumbling after with a piercing scream. Tobias fell too, his huge frame spinning through the void.
The Executioner cradled my head against his chest while Marion clung to my waist. Isaac and Sela were also protected by his impossible strength. We all tumbled together through space that wasn’t space, toward whatever waited below.
Chapter 16
We landed hard on metal that shrieked beneath us—a sound like the building itself was screaming. I was still pressed against the Executioner’s chest, his skin burning hot through my clothes. I scrambled off him.
The two cultists who’d been sucked in before us lay twisted at impossible angles nearby. They’d hit the metal grating wrong—spines snapped on impact. Blood seeped from their bodies through the rusted floor, dripping into the darkness below.
Looking around, I realized we were in a place that was almost St. Dymphna—but twisted. Fundamentally, impossibly twisted.
The Executioner stood slowly. Steam curled from his bare chest as he rose to his full height. His scarlet eyes locked on me. I instinctively backed away on my hands and knees, my carved lower back screaming in protest.
“Stay away from me!”
When Marion and the others got their bearings and saw him, terror froze them in place. Marion’s scream died in her throat. Isaac tried desperately to crawl away on his shattered leg. Sela just stared up at the massive figure, blood trickling from her mouth.
Then the sirens started.
Loud, piercing wails echoed through the twisted corridors. The Executioner’s helmet snapped toward the sound, his massive frame going rigid. For a moment, he stood perfectly still—like he was listening to something we couldn’t hear.
Then he vanished. Simply stepped backward into shadows that shouldn’t have been deep enough to hide him—and disappeared.
“Where did he go?”Marion whispered, but I was already scanning our surroundings.
The walls weren’t stone anymore. They were rust—deep, living rust that breathed and wept thick drops of blood. The ceiling dripped something warm that splattered on the ground with wet smacks. In the distance, those sirens kept wailing—voices that sounded almost human.
We were in the Realm Beneath of the hospital. The place where the Judge kept his throne.
The floor was no longer tile. It was metal grating threaded with pulsing red veins, like exposed arteries. The spot where we’d landed radiated heat—like we were lying atop some massive, sleeping beast.
I pushed myself upright, every movement sending flares of pain through my hip. The carved V throbbed with each breath. Marion was beside me, trembling, her eyes wide with terror.
“What is this place?”she asked.
