Page 34 of Blood and Sand

By the power vested in me and the State of North Carolina, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.

“One of the best days of my life,” I mumbled, my throat dry and scratchy. I tried to swallow, but it was difficult because of the pressure against my neck. I tried to grab at whatever it was, but I was unable to move my arms. “Where the hell am I?”

“DeeDee…DeeDee…”

I groaned, my brain pounding against my skull. “Rey?”

“It’s Delaney,” she whisper-yelled. “You have to wake up before he comes back.”

I blinked a few times to clear my blurred vision, trying to get my bearings. It was kind of hard with the pounding in my head.

“Delaney?” I groaned, the pain ricocheting through me relentlessly. “Is that you?”

“Yes, it’s me,” she whispered. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

“Where are we?” I asked, not sure if the answer would help us escape, because he had us.

Harold Greely. The person who’d haunted my days and nights had us, and I knew he wouldn’t let me go again. I thought I’d never have to deal with him again. He shouldn’t have even been out.

Now, everything made sense. The use of Kinbaku. We had studied that in class together, before he’d done what he’d done to me. He was fixated on me now because I was the only one who got away. The only one he didn’t get the chance to assault because, according to him, we were in love and would be together intimately on our wedding night. I used what he did to me to make me a better person. To become the person I was today. Harold Greely would not take that away from me.

“I don’t know,” Delaney said, sighing. “He attacked me when I was coming home from my shift. Thank God Amara was with my mother.”

Musty air, along with the strong odor of bleach and ammonia, filled my nostrils. I focused on the bare light bulb with a pull string hanging from the ceiling, then on the small grimy window that barely allowed any light inside to highlight the dark room. The murmur of footsteps overhead filtered down through the open ceiling, which had pipes running along them.

“Can you move?” I asked, pulling at the binds holding me still. I hissed as the fibers of the rope rubbed against my skin.

Jute.

I was completely naked, but my body had been bound with rope, with my lower half on display.

“No. My wrists and ankles are raw,” Delaney said.

“Has he hurt you?”

“No, not yet. He’s stripped me of all my clothes, and he’s done disgusting things, but he hasn’t touched me…yet.”

I let out a breath of relief. I knew this was something she would have to deal with for the rest of her life, but hearing he hadn’t raped her gave me a little relief.

“What does he want with us?”

“He wants me,” I said. “Not you. I’m going to get you out of here.”

But first, I’ve got to figure out how.

He didn’t want her. Maybe I could use his connection with me to convince him to let her go, then I’d deal with what came after. As long as no one else died because of me, I’d do whatever I had to do.

“Hey!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Harold!”

“What are you doing?” Delaney hissed.

The footsteps overhead stopped.

“I’m getting you out of here.”

The footsteps started up again, getting closer to where we were tied to metal tables. “DeeDee!” Delaney called out, fear and panic in her voice, but I couldn’t focus on her right now. I’d called the monster to me, and I had to figure out a way to deal with him without getting her hurt.

The sound of a door creaking, then the slow, steady footfalls heading down the stairs, caused my heart to pound against my chest. A long, thin arm reached up and pulled the string of the hanging bulb. Bright light flooded the room, causing me to squint, shifting my focus away from the predator getting closer to me.

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