Page 27 of Hysteria Rises (Dark Falls Hollow #1)

NINETEEN

DELILAH

The beat of my heart throbs relentlessly in my head as I sprint through the dense morning fog for the cover of the trees.

A moment later, I’m darting among them and hoping that the thick foliage hides the direction I’ve taken.

I don’t want to go back into these woods … but I don’t want to stay here either.

I also don’t trust that bastard called Kiefer, or a single one of the words that had feathered past my ear. Girl, you’ve caused too much trouble already. We have no use for you here. We think it’d be best if we let you move along now. So, go forth. Be free. Don’t come back.

He’s full of shit and bravado, considering our limited history.

I admit I caused him plenty of trouble when I raked my nails down his face, but the rest of it—the idea that they’re allowing my departure, that they have no use for me?

It’s a bald-faced lie. Because he definitely has other things in mind.

When that snake slithered into my cell, he’d relayed in disgusting detail what he had planned, every last thing he was going to force me endure.

It’d been enough to make my stomach pitch and hands shake.

It’s a miracle he’d left me alone that day.

So, despite the fact that I have no earthly idea where I’m heading, and my leg muscles burn like they’ve been dipped in hell, I’ve gotta run. Anywhere but here is the goal. Find a way to survive. Don’t give up. This may be my only chance to escape.

I purposely zigzag my way through the trees, hoping not to leave evidence of the path I’ve taken, but after a minute or so, I begin to worry that I’m getting turned around, so I flatten myself against a tree, then shift so I can investigate where I am in relation to the building.

The massive structure that I’d been kept in stands a good hundred yards off. It’s dilapidated, moss-covered, and downright gloomy the way it’s surrounded by the fog. It looks more like an insane asylum or an abandoned prison than a home. I shudder roughly and push myself to run again.

“Go! Track her down!” Kiefer’s shout sends icy fear down my spine.

I suck in a distraught breath. Oh no. No, no, no.

I urge myself to move faster now and hardly notice as branches scratch at my skin and rocks bite into my bare feet as I run.

I don’t have a choice. An awful thought surfaces from the murky depths of my mind. I really might die in this place.

Then, I hear it. A river. Hope surges. If I can get to it, maybe I can follow it off this mountain. My breath escapes in pants as I run toward the sound.

“Got you!” Out of nowhere, arms band around my waist and all the air exits my lungs as I’m swept off my feet.

Frantic, I twist and contort my body. “No!” My captor spins, and a blur of trees and fog pass before my eyes.

He chuckles maniacally, abruptly stopping to swing me around in his arms like a rag doll. “Look what I caught, Gannon.”

Oh no. I can hardly get my bearings, but I recognize that voice. Shuddering viciously, my gut twists and clenches. It’s one of the assholes from last night. I suck in a breath to scream, but the word never passes my lips, only reverberates through my head. No!

“Should we take her back to your father?”

“Nah.” Gannon’s hot breath assaults me as he chuckles.

“I wanna play with her first.” The thought of being his toy makes me sick, and I flail, pitching my weight away from his body, in hopes of getting him to release me, but his hold is viselike.

As I twist, I catch a glimpse of his broken nose.

Then the other fuckwit enters my field of vision.

He’s got a grotesque lump on his head, but an excited, wicked gleam in his eye as he murmurs, “She might regret not doing what we wanted last night.” He shrugs.

“What’d you have in mind when you said you wanted to play with her? ”

“Not sure yet,” Gannon grunts. “Whatever I think I can get away with.”

Unease creeps down my spine, followed by an overwhelming sense of dread.

I don’t bother to vocalize any of the things that tear through my mind.

It won’t do any good. There is no one to hear my screams. I need his hands off me.

I want him to set me down. I want all this to fucking end.

Panic rules my body, and my struggle intensifies.

I never see it coming, but the force of impact as someone rams into us makes Gannon grunt loudly.

His hold loosens, and I gasp as hands wrench me from him.

With my heart rate spiking, cold, stark fear lances through my body.

I can’t make heads or tails of what’s happening because he’s bolted away from the other two.

I bounce up and down with each of his strides.

“Motherfucker! Get back here!” comes a shout from somewhere behind us.

There’s more yelling, but it’s hard to hear anything over my own panting and the noise being made as we crash back into the forest and cut a path through the trees.

“Wait,” I gasp out. “Where—?” The stupidest of questions almost popped out of my mouth because I already know where we’re going. Right back to the motherfucking prison I’ve been in since the night they found me in the woods.

I slap at this dude’s ass cheek because it’s all I can reach. I want to know which one of them has me. “Put me the fuck down!” I bellow. “He said I could go! Why aren’t you all letting me leave?”

My hands scramble for purchase anywhere I can manage, fingers clawing, so when he huffs out a laugh, I feel it.

“Are you fucking crazy?” he mumbles as he quickly covers the ground back to the building.

“He did let you go.” Through gritted teeth, he finishes, “And look what happened. Now we have to deal with the fallout. I guarantee you this isn’t over.

” His breath huffs from him in ragged pants.

“If you tell any goddamn one of them that I said a word of this to you, I will make sure they know everything your little spitfire mouth utters is a lie.” His hand shifts from where it’s kept a firm hold on the back of my thigh to my ass where he squeezes hard when I don’t answer. “Do. You. Hear. Me?”

My mind is all over the place, attempting to make sense of what he’s saying.

And why. We’re airborne a moment later as he jumps over a log, and my midsection comes down hard on his shoulder, knocking the wind out of me.

After that, he pauses and seems to look around, though I can’t tell from this position exactly what he’s doing.

I take several gasping breaths, shaking my head in a desperate attempt to clear it.

“What are you doing?” When he doesn’t respond, I realize I’m completely at his mercy.

All I can do is wait for whatever’s next—more chaos, more insanity, or for the next goddamn shoe to drop, honestly. There’s nothing I can fucking do.

“Who are you people?” I whisper desperately. “Why don’t you just let me go?”

His body jerks in response to my questions, and I twist desperately, rearing up to all but throw myself from his shoulder.

He catches me against him, then slowly angles his head so that our gazes connect.

His eyes bore into mine. They’re dark. Devious.

Soulless pits. It’s the disgusting guy who pinned me to the wall and licked my face.

The same one who was there outside the cell when I woke up.

Shit. I glare into his eyes, confusion raining down on me because there’s something in his eyes that doesn’t make sense.

It’s gone before I can ascertain the odd feeling it gives me.

His deep voice hits me square in the gut only a moment later.

“There’s nowhere for you to fucking go, don’t you get it?

All previous attempts at escape have been futile.

” He hesitates, sliding his tongue along his upper lip, then heavily exhales before tossing me back over his shoulder.

The sting of a sharp swat meets my ass as he continues to move through the trees.

“Don’t do that again,” he growls, then follows with, “If you get through tonight, maybe I’ll tell you more. ”

It’s with those cryptic words about whether or not I’ll see another morning that I really, truly feel fear.

“Whatever happens—” And then he leaves me in an abyss of nothing but silence.

I twist upward, trying to get him to look at me again. “Whatever happens what?” I urge him to finish his thought. While practically growling my frustration.

“Just remember … we don’t have a choice.” With that ominous statement, he takes off at a jog, but I can’t find it in me to ask what the hell he means, and it doesn’t matter anyway, because with my next breath, we break through the tree line.

The sun has begun to rise in the sky and is burning off the fog that’d cloaked everything earlier.

We approach the building at far too fast a clip, the birthplace to some of my newest nightmares appearing larger the closer we get.

I’ve survived so much, thought I was getting away from this one, just like I managed to escape the others.

Before I know it, a roar of laughter erupts from up ahead. And then … there’s clapping. “Well done, son.”

It’s that Kiefer asshole. What. The. Fuck.

Is this all some horrific fucking game? I cringe as his big hands grip my hips, but my feet touch the grass a moment later.

My legs are shaky, and I almost falter as I look into the face of the devil himself.

He shoots me a mocking grin, then, whipping me around, he grasps both my wrists in one of his hands.

After that, I’m shoved along in front of him until we’ve breached the entrance to the massive stone building.

Unable to stop him, he marches us all the way down a long hall, through a kitchen area and into some sort of fucking man cave.

Arrow stands at the far end in front of a fireplace, eyes cast down. He doesn’t even look up when Kiefer shuffles me toward him. Uh-oh.

My eyes flick around. There’s a spacious seating area in front of the fire.

Bookshelves upon bookshelves. A desk off to one side.

I drag in a breath, no idea what to expect next, but I have a horrible feeling about this.

Kiefer jerks me to a stop, then I’m forced to my knees in the very center of the room right beside Arrow. My brow furrows.

“Bow your head, girl,” Kiefer spits. “Eyes on the floor. Nolan, Henry, and I think it’s time you learned some manners.”

Oh, what the hell. I grit my teeth but do as I’m told.

I’m cognizant that more people are entering the room to witness every moment of this agony, but I ignore them, refusing to lift my gaze.

All I can do is study as much as I can in my peripheral vision.

It’s not much. The creepy asshole who acts as the doctor props his ass on the desk, and the big guy who didn’t want to come near me the other day settles into an armchair.

Nolan and Henry, though I don’t know which is which.

A moment later, Kiefer barks out, “Come on in, boys. Move your asses. Take a seat.” He pauses for effect, almost as if he’s putting on a damn show.

“Very well. We’ll handle these proceedings without Finneas present.

The three of you will join—Hayze to take his place, Malakai to give your insight and help when instructed,”—he smirks—“and Cross will remain as a witness. Are we all in agreement?”

I can’t hold myself back. With my jaw clenched tight, I cast my gaze toward the trio: the one who marked me and fucked me, the one who held me down and allowed it to happen, and the one who brought me back here, even after I was told I could go free.

All three pairs of eyes are on me. Brilliant blue, eerie hazel, dark as sin.

Otherwise, their thoughts are their own, their expressions carefully blank.

“Fuck you. All of you. I’ve done nothing.”

Bursting from the armchair, the colossal man grips my chin forcefully and gets right in my face.

“You will remain silent. You are at fault here. You are responsible for what’s about to be done to my son.

” He gives me a little shove before whirling back around to take his seat, then stares stonily at me, his eyes intermittently flicking to Arrow.

Mr. Pretend Doctor’s voice booms next as he stands, pacing in front of us. “Arrow, your punishment begins now. Your father, Kiefer, and I have discussed how this is going to go. Kiefer will detail for the entire group what he observed.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as Arrow’s gaze skirts around the room to the older men before training on the other three.

If there’s one thing I’m certain of—it’s that he doesn’t have any idea what’s about to happen.

He’s not unaffected, but he’s holding it together for the moment.

I get the overwhelming sense that he regrets whatever he’s brought down on both of our heads.

Kiefer walks toward us, gesturing. “I discovered Arrow in the girl’s cell. Malakai was also there, however it was clear to me that he had just discovered the infraction.”

“Is that right?” Arrow’s father tips his head to the side, questioning.

I don’t even hear what Malakai says—because I’ve tuned out in an attempt at calming myself.

My gaze, instead, drifts to the bandage on my arm.

They’ve carefully dressed the tattoo ever since the day I was branded.

I’ve studiously ignored it. I didn’t want to know.

I still don’t. My teeth grind. I’m like nothing more than a prize cow.

“Twenty-three, you’ve been accused of leading Arrow into temptation.” Kiefer is in my face all at once, snapping his fingers. I almost come out of my skin, shock registering. “Do you deny it?”

I stare at him. “What?”

“Twenty-three. Do. You. Deny it?”

Oh my god. I’m Twenty-three.