Page 10 of Possess Us

Willow

T he room is just as I remember. Large and filled with old piping, metal grates and rusted out machinery lining the walls and ceiling.

There are a few differences tonight. Orange fairy lights have been added in countless lines across the ceiling, and dozens of carved pumpkins have been placed all over the room.

Candles flicker inside them, making the twisted faces carved into the flesh glow and move.

As an added touch, a small band of musicians in bloody tuxedos and black masks are in the corner.

Their cellos and violins are playing hauntingly eerie music which echoes off the stone and metal.

‘Champagne?’ A waiter asks.

His face is painted white, and fake blood has been dripped across his throat with a very realistic prosthetic of an open gash. He offers a silver tray filled with champagne flutes and eyeball-shaped canapés.

Lust takes two flutes and hands one to me. We stand opposite one another as he clinks my glass. I find his playfulness intoxicating, settling my nerves a little as I face a part of my life I never wanted to step back into.

As I look around the room, Lust sweeps the length of my hair over my shoulder and softly kisses my neck. His fingers are soft as they tease my skin, and I tilt my head to give him more access.

It’s making it difficult to focus with him doing that. The increasingly intense humming of the demons still inside causes me to shudder.

My focus is suddenly and inexplicably pulled across the room by an intense feeling of being watched.

‘There,’ I whisper, my hand gripping Lust’s shirt as I stare at the man across the room.

He looks over his shoulder.

‘Ahh. There he is indeed.’ Lust steps behind me, his arms wrapped around my middle as his chin rests on the top of my head. ‘Do you see him, brother?’ he whispers in my ear. ‘I think he will do nicely.’

Nate.

I can tell by the tattoos if nothing else.

His face has been painted as a skull. He’s in a white vest with black suspenders over his broad and muscled shoulders. He’s wearing his usual black leather jacket.

He looks fucking delicious. In a serial killer psychopathic kinda way, but utterly beautiful, nonetheless.

The dark power of my passengers ripples through me as they see him. As they hone in on his presence.

‘Who will take him?’ I ask.

Based on what they do to me when they need to use me as a conduit, I have my suspicions about the type of demon they worship. Tyler always made me cum, and he was tied to Lust.

So that fits.

But every scar I have received from the Brotherhood was put there by Nate.

‘Is he a violence demon? Or the demon of scars?’

Lust laughs to himself, looking around the room like he’s starving and everyone around him is the most delicious snack he has ever seen.

He looks down at me, and that hunger only intensifies.

I tilt my head back as he rests his finger beneath my chin and lowers himself to meet my gaze.

‘Time to shine, my sweet Little Soul.’ He steps back, inspecting me. With a nod, he deems me perfect and looks to Nate.

I keep my eyes on Nate, who is busy talking to an older guy with thick white hair combed back perfectly.

All the people here are hunters looking for prey. If you can call anyone here prey. Is it prey if we’re tied up? If we’re drugged? If our legs are broken so we can’t run away?

I shuffle in my stupidly high stilettos, recalling the method used on me so I couldn’t run when I first came here.

Nate likes the marks their method left behind. Nate said it’s one of his favourite things about me.

I sure as shit never felt like prey in this place. I felt like a slab of meat already butchered, just waiting to be served up on a plate for some wealthy psychopath to devour.

These people aren’t hunters. They’re pathetic fuckers who wouldn’t know how to catch a wild animal if their life depended on it. So this is as good as they can get.

I look away from the old man and back to Nate.

And I stop mid-step when I see his skeletal face looking right at me.

When I swallow, my throat feels unnaturally tight.

Then I see his balled-up fists.

I know what that means and what he likes to do when angry.

Before I can think of my next thought, he’s storming straight over to me. His hand is around my throat in a second, and his face is in mine.

‘You…’ he snarls into my face. ‘How the fuck did you get out of your cage, huh?!’

He knew it was me. Straight away, he knew.

His grip on me is unforgiving and will leave a mark. That’s if he doesn’t just kill me right here and now. But through the anger, I see panic in the depths of his eyes, which are still flicking around in all directions.

No one around us looks twice as he stands over me. That’s what this place is. You pay so no one looks twice. So no one asks any questions or checks if anyone is okay.

‘How did you get in here? How did you get out?’ Finally, he looks me in the eye.

To his surprise, as well as mine, I’m smiling.

Why the fuck am I smiling? For some reason, I find this very amusing, and it takes me a few seconds to realise why.

He’s scared. Nate is actually frightened!

I’ve never seen that before. And I don’t think he will let me live long enough to see it again. He’s utterly enraged... because he’s frightened.

I bet he has fucked most of the women in this room. Probably in front of the pathetic cuck hold old impotent fucks who will be bidding at tonight's auction.

But now he’s scared.

Nate can’t kill me here. He can’t make any more of a scene than he already has. Because if the organisers find out I’ve got in, they will want to destroy anything associated with a breach to protect their other clients.

So yes. I’m smiling. He can’t do shit.

‘Let me go,’ I warn. ‘Or I will scream.’

Nate towers over me. How the fuck he seems to grow several inches in height, I have no idea. But the blood lust in his eyes burns the back of my throat. It’s ferocious.

‘I will scream, Nate.’ I tell him. ‘Enjoy explaining to these sadistic fuckers why the girl you brought two years ago is back inside here as an unauthorised guest.’

I lift a brow and wait, watching his thoughts churn and churn in his head. I can almost hear them. He knows precisely what will happen to him if I’m discovered.

When his gaze settles back on me, I know he’s made a choice. He’s not happy about it, and I know that he has nothing but vengeance on his mind.

‘So, what’s the plan here, Willow?’ He removes his hand from my throat and casts yet another anxious look around the room.

At the women in jewels. At the men in tailored suits.

‘You snuck out to do what, exactly? You know I will be dragging you back to the mansion and spending several days making you pay for this, right? Oh, Willow,’ he laughs angrily, leering into my face and snarling his words through gritted teeth.

‘The things I will do to you.’ He grabs my wrist so tight I have to focus on not making a sound.

‘You try to run, I will break your fucking legs.’

The music stops, and the crowd all turn to the stage.

A woman dressed as a circus ring mistress steps out on the elevated platform. Her red coat sparkles with sequins. A black corset and a pair of red and black hot pants hug her tiny frame. And a top hat sits atop her blonde curls.

‘Ladies, gentlemen,’ she greets. ‘Ghosts and ghouls,’ she adds, inviting a ripple of forced laughter. ‘Are we ready for our third lot this evening?’

The atmosphere shifts in that second, becoming thick and filled with tension. Everyone shifts, facing forward and inching closer to the stage.

Her lips are stained red. They always were. Vibrant and thin, revealing unnaturally white teeth. Her lips curl up in the most seductive of smiles. A smile that doesn’t match the cold, empty, lifeless eyes coated in thick eyeshadow and mascara.

If anyone here deserves to be sent to Hell, it’s her. I’m doubtful she even has a soul.

As the applause dies down, she gestures to the curtain behind her.

‘This rare beauty is an exclusive treat.’

The red velvet curtain opens.

There’s no cage. There’s always a cage. Inside should be the poor soul about to be auctioned at this slaughterhouse, dressed in a silk nightdress and trembling all over.

Instead, it’s a steel table with leather restraints. A second table is wheeled out, and dozens of sharp instruments are laid out in neat lines.

I realise then that the ring mistress is looking straight at me.

‘What a delight to see you again, my sweet child.’

I’m grabbed by both arms before her words can sink in. Before realisation truly hits.

She knows I'm here.

The girl whose soul belongs to the demons.

The curl of her lips increases as she ever so slightly nods her head in my direction.

I’m gripped tight by the two men in black suits and a simple black mask which covers the top half of their faces.

Everyone around me steps back. Surprise and excitement surround them as I’m manhandled and dragged to the stage. I scream for help, pulling against them with all I have.

But I’m just part of the show. Another pig for the slaughter.

I look all around, desperate to find Lust. He’s here. He has to be! He’ll help me. He’ll cast his lust magic and soon, everyone here will be lost in the throes of devastating need.

My eyes scan all around.

But I can’t see him. I look in every shadow. In every corner.

He’s nowhere to be seen.

I’m looking all around a room of monsters for a demon to save me.

I am clearly a fucking idiot.

Demons lie.

Rule number one.

Only I would be hopeful that a servant of the devil would come to my rescue.

As I thrash and scream, fighting like a feral beast to get free, these men easily manhandle me onto the steel table. Their years of experience shine through at how easily I’m strapped down. The leather cuffs are buckled around my ankles and wrists in seconds.