Page 128 of The Devil We Crave
Or at least,lookingfor the bathroom, with no success.
Not only is this place a crumbling old castle I’ve never been in before, but now the walls are buzzing.
The low lights and clusters of flickering candles sitting in big metal holders set into alcoves are shifting in and out of focus.
The music is teasing over my skin as my pulse pumps erotically in my veins.
I dart down a hallway, then a curved stone staircase. Then another hallway, before I realize two things.
One: I’m super lost.
And two: I think what Jude said is finally sinking in.
You’re on ecstasy.
Suddenly, it all makes sense. The way even the brush of the air over my skin felt like foreplay. The way my friends were zoning out and lost in the music, touching their hair or bodies like they couldn’t stop.
The way I swear I couldseethe music thudding upstairs.
I whirl. The hallway stretches out behind me, longer and longer, as if it’s being pulled like taffy. I whirl back, and then gasp when I swear I see something dark slip behind a corner.
“H-hello?” I whisper.
Heat ripples over my skin.
I turn and start to walk quickly in what I pray is the direction of the stairs.
The lights flicker. The heavythud-thud-thudof the music upstairs makes my pulse skip. My dress shifts, and I have to bite back a whimper when it drags electrically over my bare nipples.
I hear footsteps shuffle behind me. I spin around.
…Nothing.
I start walking again, desperately looking for the way back upstairs.
A dark shape slips through my peripheral vision, near the opening to another hallway. I jolt, my eyes widening as my throat tightens and pure, naked fear wraps its icy, bony hands around my throat.
I’m not just on drugs. And I’m not losing my mind.
I truly think I'm being haunted.
LEAVE THE DEAD WHERE THEY LIE.
THE DEAD KNOW WHAT YOU DID, YELENA. THE DEAD DO NOT FORGET.
A shadow slips past the corner of my eye again, sending my heart into my mouth and my pulse jackhammering. This time, I turn, and I fuckingrun.
When my strappy heels slow me down, I pause just long enough to kick them off and then keep running, my bare feet slapping stone.
Deep, dark laughter echoes through the halls in time with the bass upstairs.
Candles flicker, the flames reaching for me like hellish hands as I bite back a scream and race down one hallway, then another.
That same black shape…or is it a different one?…shifts at the edge of my vision, and I choke as I bolt away down another hallway.
Around a corner, down a hall, up a curved staircase I don’t remember?—
And then I go crashing into a huge, dark, unmoving figure.
