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thirty-nine

The last thing I remember is telling Mitch I didn’t want to go inside Sanguine Manor, losing control of my body, then…darkness.

My head feels heavy and filled with warm, fuzzy things. Knives scrape at my throat as I attempt to swallow, but my tongue is like sandpaper. Drugged . He drugged me. How could I have trusted him?

It’s so difficult to pry open an eye and kick out a foot, but I do, only to be met with loud clanging that makes me want to cover my ears. But my hands are bound together. Chained above my head on a wall.

Blurry waves coat my vision, and I blink rapidly to clear them. It doesn’t work. I shove my heels into the concrete to stand, but my legs are jelly.

Helpless.

The room is dark, only lit by the dying light of the evening coming in through a thin, small window at the top of the wall. A basement . In the center is an old symbol baked into the stone floor and a flash of Gwen’s body in the woods comes to mind. Am I the next ritual sacrifice to an unknown god?

As if in answer, a wooden door flings open, and I scramble against the wall.

A cloaked figure enters, the hood lowered until I can’t discern their face.

Fear strikes my heart, which thuds harder in response to the foreboding presence.

The person seems to scan me over, hovering near the open frame, but not entering.

Satisfied, they leave with a solid slam and a slide of a bar on the other side.

Instead of relief, I’m alert, but only for another few moments before my consciousness clouds over once again. And as I fall into a daze, I think…

Tenebris unitas.

Darkness unites.

Startling awake, I gasp.

Where am I?

Oh, yes. Sanguine Manor, likely. I’ve heard about sacrifices here, but I thought they were rumors to scare initiates and torture pledges. A story spun to make us run on Thriller Thursday.

It’s so dark within the room, I can’t tell if my eyes are open or closed. Surely, it hasn’t been terribly long since I was taken. I’m not starving. I don’t have to pee. The only thing I feel is a hazy mush in my brain.

Ryan will be looking for me now. Maybe even send in Aiden, Henry, or some Thetas . I wonder if he told my brothers or my father.

Unless…

Terror jolts me.

What if this is an order?

Is this it? Is this my ending?

It’s a long while before a specter flickers beneath the door.

Footsteps shuffle near until it opens with a loud sliding sound and a creak.

A candle in a chamber stick is all I can make out until the person holding it enters the room.

The small space illuminates with yellow light that dances among ominous shadows.

She looks different. Perhaps it’s the robe she wears over her regular clothing. Was she the cloaked person I saw before? What if she was in the woods?

Which god does Professor Hall serve ?

A wooden chair scrapes along the rugged stone floor. The same that cuts into my ass as I lean heavy against the wall behind me.

She sits and sets the candle down next to her, then leans forward, her face hidden in darkness.

“Look at me,” she commands, her voice bringing me into full awareness.

Once she’s satisfied with my attention, she continues. “First, you’ll be raped. In every hole. Body parts will be removed slowly while that’s happening. Eventually, you’ll bleed out here. Alone.”

Dread makes me tremble until the chains around my wrists rattle. My teeth chatter. My insides feel like they’re vibrating with anxiety. Is there a way out of this?

Where is Ryan?

Or Mitch? Where did he go? Was he the person in the room earlier? Are they working together?

“B-but why? What did I do?” I manage to whisper through an arid windpipe.

“You got to lead a normal life—in fact, one quite privileged. Maximillian Freidenberg stripped me from mine when he slaughtered my dad. Humiliated him. Castrated him. Left me in a world of derision without protection. Your father took mine from me. Now, I’m taking his little girl from him before I’ll end each of your family’s lives. ”

So this is about revenge. Instead of choosing this moment to bring up that her supposed hero was a rapist, I struggle to think of a way out of this. If I’m to be raped, there’s a chance they could loosen my binds, and I could fight.

Her explanation still doesn’t answer all of my questions.

“But why kill Gwen? She did nothing wrong.”

Professor Hall takes a long moment to respond. “Who?”

A different voice echoes through the hallway as another hooded person enters. This one, I recognize immediately, and his added light warms the space to levels I wish it didn’t. I don’t want to look at Mitch.

Mitch says, “I peeled her face off. She was a whore, unfitting as my appointed. You were the one I was always meant to be with. You are mine , Pip. However, since you refused to obey and let that degenerate Ryan Cardell claim you, I will take what I want…”

The betrayal hits so hard; it freezes me in place. Everything I once believed about this person—the boy I let lead me, the hands I let touch me—fractures all at once. The memory of every lie I mistook for comfort slithers beneath my skin.

Breathlessly, I ask, “You’re working with Professor Hall?”

Professor Hall snorts. “He was more than willing. After you humiliated him, rejected him, he came to me . Said he didn’t care about anything anymore, except owning you once before I took care of you.

It was his plan to rape you while watching as I remove your fingers, then arms, then toes, then legs… one by one.”

Mitch crosses his arms as if in solidarity with what she’s saying.

“And you’ll remove my brain and skin, too? Like you did with Gwen?” A sick feeling overwhelms me at their plan. Of what my parents may find after these two are finished with my body.

There’s quite a bit of silence until the professor turns her head to stare at Mitch, waiting for his answer. He only shrugs and his voice is non-committal when he says, “I found her that way.”

Did he? Is he lying? I open my mouth to speak, but he cuts me off.

“You think Cardell ever protected you? No, Pip. I sent you those text messages, so you’d learn your rightful place as mine.

” He waves at his face, the brown and green spots, the fresh choke marks.

“I bruised myself to show you what he and his kind do to people. And you proved just how much you still trust me by following me down here…”

There’s a glimmer behind his eyes of hope and delusion. As if he’s seeing if I’ll suddenly change my mind about him. Maybe I could work that angle.

“Prepare the table.” Amanda stands and shoves the chair back in the corner.

Mitch hovers over me, smirking. “I gave you every chance to turn back to me. But you chose wrong. Now, you won’t get a choice.” With a swirl of his cape, he disappears into the hall.

My stomach flips wildly, wondering if this is really it… Will no one save me?

In the open doorway, a third cloaked figure slides past in a hurry and disappears. Mitch exits as Amanda stands against the far wall, her eyes never leaving my face.

High-pitched squeaks cut through the atmosphere and bounce off the narrow hall. When he steps into frame, Mitch is pushing a wooden cart, like an old gurney. On top is a very large man, slumped and curled into a ball.

“Ryan!”

I sit up but am yanked back by my restraints. Panicked sobs heave from my chest at the sight of him.

The professor laughs in a low tone. “He’ll get to watch the entire thing before he meets his fate, as well. Your bodies will be left here, in this circle. Your parents can have whatever remains; a constant image to haunt them for the rest of their short lives. A reminder of your father’s sins.”

Studying my love’s chest, I monitor if it rises and falls normally, but can’t make it out in the dim light. He was already so hurt after what my brother did, and now, it looks as if he’s broken.

Mitch tilts the cart onto its side, dumping my boyfriend on the ground. He hits the stones hard with an audible smack that sends another wave of distress through me.

“Unbind her and strap her to the table. Do you need more drugs?” Professor Hall commands her servant.

My ex-dance partner lords over me for a moment, sizing me up. Please underestimate me again.

“Will you be good, Pip? You almost let me fuck you that one time. Are you going to behave and give your body over to me?”

Meeting his eyes, I swallow and nod. “Yes.”

He leans over to unlock my chains, and I wait for the right moment, the perfect time.

A silvery knife flashes across my mind from that night. The one in the woods on Massacre Monday. I watched a man die. I didn’t move. Didn’t scream. Didn’t save him. Didn’t sacrifice myself for Gwen.

And I’ve hated myself for it ever since.

My brothers would have fought. My father would have killed. But I froze.

Never again.

I’m not that girl anymore.

I’m not prey.

Not tonight. No.

Tonight, I’ll be the one who carves out hearts.

As soon as the click of the last lock hits, I strike.