Page 6 of The Labyrinth
There were monsters in New York.
Chapter Five
What the fuck was shedoing here?
Anger coursed through Deacon, not at her, but at the two men he put on bouncer duty.Marion was proving to be a force to be reckoned with.He leaned down to one of his men and ordered to get her.She must have figured out his intention because she backed away from sight, disappearing into the crowd.She wouldn’t go far.
Now, what the hell was he going to do with her?
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Marion knew she hadto get the fuck out of there.As she pushed through people to descend the stairs, she started to notice more and more that the crowd wasn’t human.A lot of them seemed to sniff her.Faces morphing.Tongues.Eyes.Fur.Scales.
What the hell was happening?
Everything she knew about the world was obviously wrong.Monsters were real.Down was up.Hot was cold.And life was never going to be the same.Had Peter come here to fight, only to end up like the boar?If all these people weren’t just people, did Deacon just commit murder?If he did kill Peter, it would be almost impossible to go to the police and tell them a fricking mythological creature was the suspect.
As she reached the bottom of the stairs, a man dressed in black stepped in her way, blocking her escape route.The pupils of his eyes were horizontally elongated.She moved to the other side, and he followed.Self-preservation kicked into overdrive.When he jerked his head to indicate,follow me, panic filled every cell in her body, triggering her fight-or-flight response.When she tried to dart away, the man grabbed her arm and started hauling her to Deacon.She strained against him, desperately trying to pull her arm free, but the man had such a tight grip on her she knew there would be bruising.He pushed people out of the way, yanking her along.Then a loud growl-snort sound roared over the noise, and Deacon headed their way, fists closed and anger furrowing between his forehead ridges.
Was this the moment she died?
“Release her,” he snapped to the man who held her.His voice was deep and guttural.“Bruise her again and I’ll break your face.”
She was let go but immediately seized as Deacon grabbed her hand.Marion couldn’t help but stare at the thick fingers and sharpened nails.Slowly looking up his arm, likewayup, as he loomed over her like a tall tree.This close she could see all the intricate details of his face.The long snout that ended with a very bovine-like nose with nares pushed flat and textured skin.Marion tried to yank her hand free, with no success.If this was how she died, then she would face it head-on.She lifted her chin because she refused to be intimidated by this man.Animal.Beast.Whatever.
He escorted her through a side door that led to a private area away from the screaming crowd.Along the hallway, open rooms held other men and women readying themselves to enter the arena.Were they all some type of monster as well?How many species were there?
As they walked, Deacon’s hooves struck the dirt-packed floor with a resounding clop.Completely different from her own step.They came to a closed door, and he opened it, dragging her inside.It was an office of some type.It had a desk, a computer, chairs, and lots of paperwork everywhere.Then the shimmer appeared and before her eyes the fur retreated, giving way to skin.His bones cracked and popped as he went from a minotaur to human.The horns disappeared back into wherever plane of existence they had appeared from.Blood still stained his chest and fingers, but at least the spandex remained in place, thank goodness.
“What are you?”she asked, deciding to go with the obvious.
He raised an eyebrow, not answering as he walked over to an old-fashioned washstand.Dipping a washcloth into the water, he quickly cleansed his body.
“How much do you know your Greek mythology?”
“Apparently not enough to know it’s not mythology.”
