Page 90 of Caged

“Stop it, Monroe. Stop!” the man carrying me shouts. I know it’s Jace, because even though he’s manhandling me, he’s not hurting me. If it were Harrison or Barrett holding my torso, I would have broken ribs.

“Get her upstairs,” I hear Kieren shout from the base of the steps.

I stop fighting. I failed. I failed, and now he’s going to kill me. I couldn’t save Tessa.

“Please don’t do this,” I beg through sobs as Jace and Harrison carry me into Kieren’s bedroom. “Please, Jace. Don’t leave me in here. Don’t leave me alone with him. He keeps me in here. He starves me. Please, if you have any ounce of humanity left inside you, please help me. Please!”

Only a handful of seconds pass before the bedroom door Jace had closed behind us flies open with so much force that it slams into the wall.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Kieren screams at me. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Any idea what you’ve cost me? What you’ve cost my family? And his family, and his?” he screams, his voice hysterical, as he points to Jace and Harrison.

Kieren grabs a pill bottle from his desk. He’s shaking with rage, barely able to twist the cap open, continuing to scream every hateful thought he’s ever had about me.

Something inside me snaps.

And I scream right back.

“You’re a murder! You’re all fucking murders! You’re killing them! You’re going to kill me! Do you think I’m stupid? Do you think I don’t know what’s going on? Do you think I don’t hear you when you talk to that man aboutofferingme? About spilling my blood? Who is making you do this? Is it him? Is it X?”

A hand collides with my cheek, and I taste the coppery tang of blood.

“Don’t you ever fucking say that name again,” Kieren screams, and then before I can comprehend what he’s doing, he shoves his palm flat against my mouth, forcing the pills inside.

“Hold her down,” he growls. Harrison pins me in a bear hug. “Take the fucking pills,” Kieren yells. He clamps my mouth shut but I refuse to swallow.

“Give me the ketamine,” Kieren shouts. My eyes flare in horror as Harrison hands him a water bottle.

“Drink it,” he grits, shoving the water bottle into my mouth until I have no choice but to swallow.

“Kieren, stop! She’ll overdose,” I hear Jace yell.

“I don’t give a fuck, she’s dead anyway. Put her in the cage. Put her in the fucking cage!” he shrieks.

Harrison shoves me down to the floor, stuffing me inside the metal door with his huge, rough hands.

“Out!”Kieren barks to Harrison and Jace, pointing to the door. I glare at Jace who now stands there stone-faced, unwilling to further provoke Kieren’s unhinged madness, only to see him avert his eyes. My only two witnesses quickly vacate the room without a word, without so much as a flicker of objection or concern on their faces for what Kieren might do to me if left alone. Sobs catch in my throat, and suddenly, I can’t breathe. I can’t see...His gun... His rage...The room begins to spin, and I just know... I’m going to die.

“FUCK!” Kieren screams at the top of his lungs and then kicks the cage over and over. The metal rattles violently, shaking me within until I’m dizzy to the point of throwing up from both fear and motion sickness.

“I’m not a murder. I am a fucking God!” he spouts. He crouches down, slamming the door. The lock hanging from the metal wire is clicked closed.

“Make no mistake, Monroe. I’ll do whatever it fucking takes to protect my name, my title, my legacy. Something you know nothing about because you’ve been a bottom feeder your entire miserable life. You’re the dregs of society. You’re a fucking parasite who just lost its host. I will destroy you,” he rumbles, shaking the cage with his fury. “You’re roadkill, and I’m going to relish these next thirty days. I’m going to drain you. I’m going to suck every drop of spirit from your worthless body, and by the time the next Full Moon Ceremony comes around, you’ll be begging for death. And I’ll be there, holding the knife, ready to slit yourfucking throat.”

He stands, turning to leave, but then whirls around and slams his boot into the cage one last time.

The room is cold and silent. My hands tremble as I remove my ceremonial mask Kieren had custom-made for me.

This isn’t a mask for the living. It’s a mask for the dead.

40

KIEREN

Five Months Prior to Present Day,

Night of the April Full Moon Ceremony,

Junior Year,