Page 86 of Immersed
Something specific.Levi tried not to think about what that might be in a place like this.
Across the room, he heard Jasper trying to get Asher’s attention.“Hey, man, can you help me with this panel? I think there might be—”
But when Levi glanced over, Asherwasn’tresponding to Jasper’s request. Hestill stared, his jaw tight. The helpful team member facadewascracking, and something darkerwaspoking through.
He’s angry,Levi realized with growing dread.About being interrupted. About having to share me with them.
Levi chose to ignore the stare and focused on his conversation with Elliot, hoping that pretending everythingwasnormal would keep the situation from escalating.He ran his fingers along the grooves. “There has to be a reason for this pattern.”
“Maybe we can figure out what triggers—”Elliot started, then stopped as his fingers brushed over Levi’s hand while pointing to a particular channel.
The contactwasbrief, accidental, but Elliot’s reactionwasn’t. His voice dropped to something husky and intimate as he said,“Oh, hey. Sorry about that.”
No.The flirtation in Elliot’s tone made Levi’s stomach drop.Not now. Please not now.
He could feel Asher’s stare intensifying, could practically hear the careful control starting to fracture. The air in the room felt charged, dangerous.
“It’s fine,”Levi said quickly, trying to deflect.“Let’s just focus on—”
But Elliotleaned in closer, emboldened by what he interpreted as a moment.“You know, even in all this chaos, I keep thinking about—”
“Elliot,” Levi interrupted, but it was too late.
Asherwasno longer pretending to search. Hestared at them, his face a mask of barely controlled fury. The possessiveness thatsimmered beneath the surfacewasfinally boiling over.
Shit.
“Asher,”Levi said, starting to stand.“It’s not—”
But Asherwasalready moving, striding across the room. He grabbed Elliot by the collar and yanked him to his feet, away from Levi.
“Back the fuck off,”Asher snarled, his voice low and threatening.
“Hey, what the hell?”Tyler stepped forward, moving to Elliot’s defense.“Let him go, man!”
“Everyone, calm down,”Jasper said, hands raised as he tried to position himself between them.“We’re all stressed, but fighting each other isn’t going to—”
“I said back off,”Asher repeated, shoving Elliot hard against the wall to make his point clear.
The impactwasprobably meantto be intimidating, at least that’s what Levi hoped.
But a coat hookwasmountedat exactly the wrong height.
As Elliot’s head snapped back against the wall, the metal hook pierced the back of his skull with a wet, cracking sound. His eyes went wide with shock, then vacant.
“Oh, fuck,”Asher breathed, his anger instantly replaced by something that might have been surprise.
Elliot made a strange clicking, gurgling sound as he slumped forward, chunks of brain matter and bone clinging to the hook behind him, and he clattered to the ground. Blood poured from the massive wound, running down his neck and pooling on the floor.
“Jesus Christ!”Tyler shouted, staring at the carnage in disbelief.
The red stream found the channels immediately.
As they all stood frozen in shock, Elliot’s blood flowed along the carved pathways, following the designed routes toward the central drain. The moment the blood reached the French drain, something deep in the floor clicked and whirred.
A section of the floor beside the drain slid away with grinding sounds, revealing a hatch that opened downward into darkness. But it only opened a few inches—not even enough for someone to get their arm through, let alone their body.
Blood,Levi realized with sick understanding.The channelsweredesignedfor blood. The room needs blood to open.
