Page 21 of Hollow House

The ballroom-sized room I had started off in was silent when we entered. Men and women in their masks gathered in the middle, but not a single one spoke. They just parted to let us pass.

The music had ended and the DJ was gone.

I didn’t spot any of the waiters from before, realizing the crowd had formed a circle of sorts in the middle of the room. Damon was leading me to the middle.

He stopped at the edge, encouraging me forward. I hated all the eyes on me. It was different when it was just him, but now, I realized there were at least fifty or more people here, all with their focus trained on me.

The ballroom was darker than before, the lights dimmed, curtains drawn shut. The chandelier above was the only reason I could make out anyone around me. I still couldn’t gather many details of their appearances, their masks still firmly in place.

My skin crawled, each stare tearing into me. The way Damon saw through me, could they also?

Movement in the crowd caught my attention as they parted for someone new. Bodies shifted to let whoever it was pass. I couldn’t make them out until they stood in front of me. The hole in the circle closed, and I studied them.

A man much taller than me stood across the circle, his gaze on the ground and something familiar in his hands. The same blade from earlier in the night. I recognized the strange, long handle.

My eyes were too focused on the blade to notice when the man in front of me pulled off his mask. He walked toward me, and I refused to lift my eyes, afraid to lose track of the weapon.

Was this it?

Was it all an elaborate plan to kill me?

The blade lifted in front of me, and I tensed, readying myself for the blow. Surrounded by the circle of people, I had nowhere to run. I had nothing to help me fight back. I was helpless.

The blade paused at my chest.

“Take it,” a familiar voice said.

I looked up, and my jaw completely dropped.

“Felix?” I asked, watching my best friend step forward.

He walked toward me without a word. Instead, he continued to hold out the knife.

I tried to reach out to my friend, desperate for an explanation, but he walked away. His eyes refused to meet mine as he looked to the Wraith for approval.

The book deals, the job at the sex toy shop that supplied this place, even his mysterious partner from out of town…it was all adding up. The signs were there, I just didn’t see them.

That was how the Wraith knew who I was before I came. The strange change in attitude Felix had before I came tonight made far more sense. He knew exactly what I was walking into.

My mouth opened, but the Wraith held up a hand, stopping me.

Instead, he motioned across from me, and the crowd parted. Someone dragged a man forward, his hands cuffed and a bag over his head.

I could hear muffled curses from under it, but I couldn’t make out much more.

“Choose,” the Wraith said, and I knew what he meant. “Will the pedophile live or die?”

His voice was firm, but again, I wasn’t afraid. After all the chances he had to hurt me, to kill me if he wanted, I did not fear him. Rather, I feared myself, what he wanted me to do. I couldn’t hurt any innocent man…

But the last thing he said caught in my head.

Pedophile?

Someone pulled the bag from his head. The man looked around, panicked, before his gaze settled on me and the knife in my hand.

My entire body trembled, barely registering him. It wasn’t until he cursed again that I recognized his voice. My vision cleared, and I focused on him better.

Darren.

My boss stood across from me, anger spreading across his face. He tugged at the cuffs on his wrists without any success.

“You bitch,” he growled. “This is where you’ve been? Partying instead of working?”

He knew I was writing this article and what that meant. Why was the bastard acting surprised?

I glanced at the man across from me, a truly vile and disgusting person.

The world would be a far better place if he were no longer in it.

I closed my eyes and pictured all the women who would be safer without him around.

How many had he successfully assaulted, who hadn’t pushed back the way I did?

How many had sacrificed something so precious to them just to keep their job?

The thought had bile rising in my throat.

I opened my eyes, this time narrowed onto him.The asshole didn’t even have the decency to look concerned. Instead, he stood with a smug grin on his face, watching me.

“Pedophile?” I questioned, looking from him to Damon.

“He has multiple allegations against him,” Damon stated.

I knew by the look in his eyes, I would not be getting more information.This was about testing loyalty, proving my worth to the Society, proving I would do whatever must be done to be a part of it.

“None of them ever proven,” Darren scoffed.The bastard had the audacity to grin as he said it.I knew they weren’t just allegations…

“You seriously think she’s going to kill me?” he laughed the question at the Wraith. “She can barely write an article, never mind be an obedient worker. I doubt she’d listen to your nonsense, not if she knows what’s best for her.”

His gaze settled on me with such hunger, I realized I was utterly fucked if he survived. His eyes promised punishment if I ever stepped foot in the office again. Forget the article on Hollow House—I was out of a job regardless.

I sucked in a deep breath and held it, trying to figure out a way out of it all, one that didn’t make me a murderer and allowed me to keep my position. Without it, I was nothing, and I would never make my way out of the small town.

“You’re right,” I admitted, looking at my boss.

His smug features made my insides curl. If I could run away and never see the asshole again, I would have long before.

“You’ve known me years, and I follow every last rule. I take every assignment and follow the instructions. I have never once stepped out of line,” I said.

The more satisfaction spread on his face, the worse I felt. I hated watching him win. The hold he had on me was inescapable.

I stepped forward a couple feet, the space between us minimal. My eyes met his, and I tried to search for any form of a human behind them, anything forgivable, redeemable even. Could he change? Could I still work for him?

“I certainly never would kill someone,” I spoke again, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Damon.

His features didn’t change, but I knew he was watching intensely, waiting for me to make a choice. The choice was simple: kill him and join or walk away.

Would they even allow me to walk away?

I couldn’t publish an article with this. My entire way out was fucked. There was barely anything I could work with without incriminating myself now. What would they even do with Darren? Let him go? Or kill him to keep their secret?

“You’re going nowhere,” Darren spat. “When you get back, I will be evaluating your performance again. Perhaps this time, I’ll fire you. And you won’t do a thing about it, because I know you.”

I took that last step between us.“You knew me, but I no longer recognize myself,” I spoke before I drove the knife into his heart.