Page 24 of The Pretty Savage

"Yes." Jax looked over his shoulder, smiling at her. "They were the ones that used them, but the tunnels were here long before them, and no one really knows if they were created when the church was built or if they were always here. But whatever their history is, they proved to be useful."

"So, there's an entire maze of tunnels around us?" I asked, taking in the people standing around, their backs turned to us, and from the elevated point where we were standing, none of them could really see us. I could see the massive staircase leading down toward the pit, and I guess that was where the name came from.

"Yes," Jax said, stopping to the side of the table, taking something from its surface. "I'm afraid you'll have to put these on if you want to participate." My eyes latched on to the two white masks in his hands that were The Phantom of the Opera style.

"Dramatic much?" I said, taking one from him. The material was softer, much softer than it initially looked, and while it covered half of our faces, it couldn't hide who we truly were.

"Just a little bit," Jax chuckled, handing the second mask to Yolanda. "We're just keeping up with the tradition."

"Tradition, right," I grumbled, taking a step back. I placed the mask between my thighs, holding it as I bent down, letting my hair fall over, just to tie it into a high ponytail. There was no point trying to style it with the mask on, and it wasn't like I cared if one of these people would find me hot or not. I was here to see what the purpose of this thing was, not to mingle around. "The next thing I know, you'll be sacrificing virgins and offering us eternal life if we join some secret club."

"We just might," he said, "but I'm afraid the sacrifices stopped somewhere in 1985. Too much blood, you know?" I fought against the smile threatening to erupt on my face as I tightened my hair tie and straightened up, just to see Yolanda struggling with her mask.

"Do you need help?" I asked, but before I could do anything, Jax stepped behind her, tying the strings connected to the mask at the back of her head, letting his hand drag down her pale hair. "Okay then, I guess not," I murmured, placing my own mask to my face and tying it at the back. "What now?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips, anticipation building in the center of my chest.

"Now, little Vega." He smirked, looking at me. "You go and play."

I had way too many questions for him, but I never got to ask any one of them because the moment those words tumbled from his mouth, he picked up another mask from the table, with the same design as ours but in a pitch-black color, and went down the stairs, getting lost in the crowd.

Yolanda looked at me as if I had all the answers as to what we should do next, but I had no fucking idea. I was good at following orders, most of the time, and I was good in situations I previously was aware of, but this was as new to me as it was to Yolanda.

"Don't look at me like that," I mumbled, coming closer to her. "I have no idea what we're supposed to do now."

She cast a glance at the crowd standing around a ring when the loud notes of a piano broke through the murmurs of people talking between each other, silencing their voices. I had no idea what the name of the song was, but as it went into the chorus, male and female voices mixing together, the epic sounding music following their words stirred something deep in my soul.

A violin slowly took over just as the beat increased, and I found myself moving closer to the stairs, looking over everyone down there. My coat suffocated me, and before Yolanda could ask what I was doing, I took it off, draping it over my arm. The same feeling I had when I'd just arrived at the Academy took over my body.

Someone was watching me.

My eyes flickered over the people milling around, but none of them paid any attention to me. My blood came alive as the female voice started hitting the high notes, her angelic tone a complete contrast to the rest of the song, but it fueled me, made me feel more powerful than I maybe was in this very moment, and without waiting for Yolanda, I started walking down the stairs, trying to find the culprit that kept watching me.

The dimly lit space made it almost impossible to recognize anyone or what they were doing. There was a couple just at the bottom of the stairs locked in an embrace, with her head on his shoulder and his arm tightly wrapped around her waist. But they paid no attention to me as I passed them, lost in their own little world.

My chin lifted as the sensation of being watched became stronger, and as I looked to my left where what looked like a bar illuminated the area around it, I saw him.

The mask he wore was nothing like mine or even Jax's. The horns coming out of the top, curling at the very end, had my mouth opening, but it was the skeletal design of the mask that made me stop in my steps. His eyes were on me, dragging down my body and back up, all the way to my half-covered face.

He tilted his head as his lips curved into a devilish smirk, and I felt it in my very core. He stood with two other men and I recognized one of them as Jax, thanks to the mask, but I had no idea who the stranger was. My heart thundered in my chest, pushing me to go closer to him, but I had no intention of doing anything like that.

There was something wicked in that gaze, something poisonous with promises of pain so severe I would never recover from it. I met wickedness when I was just a child, but this man… This man was something entirely different.

I thought myself to be a villain, but I was an angel compared to the energy I could feel radiating even from this distance.

He straightened up, bringing the rocks glass in his hand to his lips, sipping at the amber liquid as he watched me, and there was nothing innocent in the way he dragged his eyes over me as if I was something he could own. I knew possessiveness, I’d seen it before, but I had never felt the insane need to know who he was even if it cost me my life.

I could get lost in the darkness swirling in that dark gaze, and even though I couldn't see his eyes properly, I had no doubt they held promises of unholy proportions.

A hand wrapped around my upper arm, and without thinking, I twirled around, knocking the person to the floor, wrapping my hand around their throat, just as a loud gasp came from them.

"What the fuck, Yolanda!" I screamed over the loud music, releasing my hold on her as her wide blue eyes stared up at me, filled with a fear I didn't want to see. "You can't just fucking sneak up on me like that."

"I-I'm sorry," she stammered, still laying down on the floor. My coat fell somewhere next to us, and I closed my eyes, willing myself to calm down.

This wasn't like me. I wasn't someone that would get easily rattled by some stranger that meant nothing to me.

You're fine.

Breathe.

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