Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69472 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69472 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Goosebumps races across my skin, and I back away slowly. He doesn’t move, doesn’t blink, just watches me like a snake waiting to strike.
When I’m farther into the trees, I turn and run. He could be after me, his steps muffled by my own. He could be racing around to cut me off, to toy with me. Lucius is so cunning, so damn cold. So I run as hard as I can, saplings slapping at me and my ankles threatening to roll. I don’t spare a glance behind me, not when it would cost me time. I run until I find the dirt road that leads me out of that cursed property.
My heart rampages, my lungs ache, and though I try to deny it to myself, I burn for the monster at my back.
15
Lucius
“Holy shit, Leonard, are you still alive?” I flip on the overhead bulb and splash through the water to him.
His nose and mouth are above the surface, but not by much. I grip his soggy shirt and yank him upright, water running off him like I just raised the Titanic.
He gasps in air, his bleary eyes blinking as he shivers.
“I guess we really are in a drought or something?” I look around at the water seeping into the basement. “Lucky you.”
“Let me go,” he croaks.
“Nope. But hey, I’ll make you a deal. Tonight only, I’m feeling magnanimous.” I’m not even lying to him. Finding Evie in my woods tonight has put me in a good mood, except for the massive case of blue balls she’s given me.
“What do you want?”
“Give me the name of the new Sovereign, and I’ll make it quick. How about that?” I reach behind me and pull a knife from the weapons arranged along the cinderblock wall. “Nearly painless. Way better than drowning in swamp water.” I turn my head sharply to the left. “Whoa, is that a snake down here? Cottonmouth from the looks of it.”
“Stop.” He breaks instantly, his snotty tears and blubbering rising in a rapid crescendo. “Please, please let me go!”
“Not happening. Accept it.” I stand and wait, letting the old fool get it out of his system. “Shouldn’t we already be at the acceptance stage by now? Besides, why are you being loyal to those assholes anyway? You don’t see them running in to rescue you, do you? It’s not like they’ve made any effort to free you. Some friends you’ve got, I tell you what.”
I let the silence linger for a while, nothing but the sounds of dripping water and the phantom swish of the snake in the water. Boring. Waiting isn’t my forte. But I can pass a little time remembering Evie’s face when I told her what I’d like to do with my finger. She had this perfect mix of horror and desire; I can’t even think of a word for it. All I know is I want more.
I’ve read up on her, followed every step she’s taken over the past five years. It’s as if we’re old friends, ones who keep up with each other here and there, ones who can strike up an easy conversation even if we haven’t seen each other for years. I knew her in the past, and now I know her present iteration. A woman who wants blood to pay for blood. I can respect it.
Leonard shivers so violently he sends waves pulsing through the black water.
“Ah, fuck it. I guess you can just drown. Maybe that ol’ cottonmouth will keep you company.” I lift my foot so I can kick his chair over again.
“Wait!” He coughs, the sound like death rattling its sabre, and glares up at me. “You swear to me, if I tell you the new Sovereign, you’ll end it quickly?”
I pull down the collar of my shirt and show him the vines tattooed and tangled over my heart. “On my word as a Vinemont.”
He spits again. “Not worth shit.”
Well, over you go, then. I start to kick.
“Beau Corrigan!” he screams.
“What the fuck is that?” I stop with my foot on the chair. “Some sort of hipster clothing line?”
“The new Sovereign. He’s from the families. An eldest son. He’d been in a car accident and wasn’t at the crowning ceremony. He survived.”
I can’t place the name right offhand, but I’ll find him. “Not for long.”
“He’ll put you down like a dog.” He bares his teeth. “You and your whole heretic family!”
I return his pure animal hatred with my own. “You’re lucky I’m a man of my word.” With a quick swipe, I open his throat.
He’s silent now, his thick blood dispersing in the bog water around his feet.
Reaching over, I start the pump running and replace the knife. I’ll handle the rest of him in the morning.
I trudge back to the stairs and leave my swamp boots at the top. Once I’m out of the dank basement, I close the secret door and lock it, then secure it all behind what appears to be nothing more than a paneled dining room wall.