The man circled him like an animal would prey it was preparing to attack. His movements weren’t fast or hurried, but purposely slow. He stopped after his third rotation and reached for the knife still wedged in Cooper’s shoulder. He didn’t simply pull it out, he twisted the handle and pushed the blade deeper before jerking the knife free in an upward arc.

  Cooper’s anguished scream echoed across through the woods. He grabbed at his wound and wailed. When the coppery stench of blood reached where Grace and I stood I decided now was the best time for us to make a run for it. With a small push to get her moving, we gave Cooper and the man a wide berth, heading back in the opposite direction.

  The continuous pleas for mercy were the only reason we slowed to look behind us. We didn’t need perfect vision to understand what happened next. The masked figure grabbed Cooper by the hair and forced his head back, slicing into his throat.

  His obscured gaze lifted to where we stood rooted in place just a few feet away. Apparently deciding we weren’t worth the effort to pursue, he crouched down and resumed cutting into Cooper’s flesh.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Once we’d put a decent bit of space between us and what had just happened, we crept back up another embankment. At the top, we both took a moment to catch our breath. I planted my hands on my knees and surveyed the overgrown pathway, my chest rising and falling rapidly.

  “What the hell was that?”

  Grace shook her head slowly. “I-I don’t know. One second, he was team us, and the next he was team them. How could he just flip like that? He went from scared to homicidal in the span of seconds.”

  I didn’t have an answer, but she wasn’t really expecting one. Rapidly approaching footsteps had a groan of disbelief escaping through my parted lips.

  “It’s me,” Mel announced moments before coming into view. She sounded just as out of breath as we did, but hearing her voice had relief as I’d never known washing over me. As she got closer, I was able to see her top was saturated.

  “None of that’s yours, right?”

  She looked down as if she was just now realizing she’d been covered in a decent amount of blood. “No. This belongs to one of those masked fuckers that tried to drag me deeper into the woods.”

  Her delivery was so nonchalant I couldn’t determine if she’d killed this person or inflicted enough damage that they were lying somewhere wishing she had.

  “What happened to you?”

  I thought she meant my arm but she reached for my hand, and I realized there was blood on that part of me too.

  “It’s not all mine.”

  She visibly relaxed. “You can fill me in later, we’re getting our asses outta here.”

  “Are you the only one that’s left besides us?”

  “Max is gone, that clown reeled him like a fish. Dion, that fucking redhead, and Hayven already took off. I wasn’t leaving without you two.”

  “How did you know where we were?” Grace asked.

  “I didn’t. I knew you guys ran the other way and was hoping like I’ve never hoped before you figured out the paths were traps from the very beginning.”

  “Lana did,” Grace divulged.

  Mel glanced back at me. “You were right about which way to go too. Life? Yeah. That was a shitshow.”

  “And where exactly are these people now?” I asked as we reached the scarecrow we’d separated at.

  “That is an excellent question. Let’s haul ass so we don’t find out.”

  We navigated our way back through the cornstalks, an eerie type of silence settling in the air now that everyone else had seemingly vanished. The barn had been closed up. No music played and Elizabeth’s body was nowhere to be found. There weren’t any traces of blood either. It was like the past twenty minutes didn’t happen.

  We weaved through the next part of the maze, each of us keeping our eyes and ears open. My mind raced ahead, wondering what would happen once we passed through that final gate. I couldn’t imagine us being able to simply walk away from all of this. People were just sliced up and murdered for fucks sake.

  Mel slowed and looked over at us, her expression somber. “If things start to go bad, I want you two to try and get away. I’ll cover you.”

  “Um, excuse the fuck out of you. This isn’t COD, Mel. I’m not going to let you cover us.”

  “Are we supposed to say screw you and run off hoping you fare for the best?” Grace seconded with angry sarcasm. “There are actual murderers somewhere.”

  “All we have to do is get through the small stretch of woods between here and Sainte’s backyard,” I reasoned.

  “You make it sound so simple,” Mel deadpanned.

  I ignored her and mentally walked the path in my head. It wasn’t that great of a distance to cover, realistically, but as Grace had pointed out people were trying to kill us.

  I wondered if Hayven and the others made it. Surely, we would’ve heard more screaming if they hadn’t or some signs of an ensuing struggle.

  We came upon the entrance to the cornfield and passed through the arch. The gate slammed shut, prohibiting us from going back. Straight ahead would be a clean shot if it weren’t for the small group of masked men waiting for us off to the right.

  I stopped dead in my tracks and reached for Mel’s arm, prepared to pull her behind me. She shook me off and positioned herself in front of us as the men began to fan out, blocking any path of escape. The clown was here along with the person that slit Cooper’s throat. So, there had been another way out. He wouldn’t have beaten us here otherwise.

  A guy sporting a black mask that glowed neon green was the first to speak. “I will be the first to say I’m somewhat impressed. You three didn’t do half bad.”

  “They were scrappy at best. There’s room for some much-needed improvement,” someone replied objectively.

  When one of the men in a black and white mask stepped forward, we instinctively moved back, earning a few amused chuckles.

  “I think they’re afraid,” another asshole goaded.

  A guy with the Devil’s cross marking his mask glanced at who had spoken, and then back at us. “Liliana isn’t. She said so herself.”

  Holy shit. I blinked as his voice registered. Grace and Mel turned their heads and looked at me with what I’m sure was confusion.

  “You’re not afraid of me are you, Puppet?”

  “…Ciaran?” I questioned slowly, not quite believing what was right in front of me or what I was hearing.

  He laughed lowly and reached around Mel to extend a leather-gloved hand. “Come here. I need to get you checked over.”

  I frowned at his terminology. I wasn’t a dog that needed examined for fleas and ticks and going off with him sounded about as appealing as peeling off my own skin.

  Mel shoved his arm away. “Fuck off Hannibal, she isn’t going anywhere with you.”

  Someone snickered at her chosen nickname. Ciaran didn’t share their sense of humor. His head slowly turned in Mel’s direction and when he spoke his voice was cold. “This is my one and only warning to you. Don’t get in my way. Not when it comes to her. You won’t like the consequences.”. His attention then redirected to me along with his hand. “Come here.”

  “You didn’t just threaten her and then ask me to hold your hand. Hard fucking pass.”

  “Also locked us in a barn and then went on a killing spree. No one with a brain would go with you,” Grace ranted.

  With a heavy sigh, Ciaran swiftly moved my friends out of the way, much too easily, and grabbed me, hoisting my body up and over his shoulder as if I weighed nothing.

  Mel and Grace tried to intervene but were quickly thwarted by his buddies. Expletives filled the air as he carried me away from them.

  “They won’t hurt them,” Ciaran assured.

  “Like they didn’t hurt those other people? Put me down!” I twisted my body left and right, slamming a fist into his back.

  “Enough.” He clapped me on the ass with the palm of his hand and then proceeded to rub away the sting.

  “Did you just—?”

  “You like that?”

  His playful tone pissed me off. Everything about what was happening pissed me off because I didn’t understand what was going on.

  “Fuck you,” I growled.

  He laughed softly and continued to carry me until we got to the entrance of the woods. I was lowered down with a surprising degree of gentleness, all things considered.

  “Walk with me or back into my arms you go.”

  “I’ll walk,” I bit out.

  He grabbed my hand and led me through the backyard. No one paid us any attention aside from a few lewd shouts. Small mercies did exist, I suppose. Unfortunately, they didn’t last long.

  As we were making our way back into the house, I began to come down from my adrenaline rush, making me acutely aware of the aches and pains on various parts of my body and the cut on my arm.

  I had just witnessed, the severing of a hand, a girl’s face split in half with an ax and condemned an old classmate to death because he’d tried to plant a knife in me and Grace.

  How long ago did I tell myself this night had taken a bizarre turn?

  People moved out of Ciaran’s way without him saying a word. They might not have immediately recognized me, but he was another story. Why was I letting this homicidal boy take me away?

  I didn’t know.

  Maybe I wasn’t really here. I was witnessing it all through an out-of-body experience. That wouldn’t be such a far-fetched conclusion after all the shit I’d just seen go down.

  “Where are you taking me?” I asked once we reached the staircase.

  “I already told you.”

  Being alone with him would not be smart. If he decided that he wanted to stab something at least down here I could throw one of these random strangers into his blade.

  Did he have a knife? I checked his person and couldn’t see one. I hadn’t earlier either but that didn’t mean anything.

  Cooper had concealed his.

  We returned to the second level and entered a bedroom done in an island theme that had previously been locked and deemed off-limits to party guests. Apparently, that didn’t apply to him. A small bedside lamp lit the decent-sized space.

  Ciaran led me passed the bed and into an attached bathroom, kicking the door shut behind us. The room remained dark and silent for all of three seconds. He flipped a switch and light spilled from rows of recessed bulbs. He finally let go of my hand and turned to face me, reaching for my mask.

  “Let me see you.”

  My partial disguise was lifted away and set down on one side of the double vanity. Ciaran’s joined it before he began an intrusive probe of my entire body.

  He took hold of me and placed my ass between the two sinks, positioning himself in-between my legs. I stared at him in wonder.

  “So, you just come to parties, kill a few people, and then make sure the survivors have a clean bill of health?”

  “Few things wrong with that assessment. I didn’t kill anyone tonight and survivors is plural. I’m only standing between your legs right now.”

  The absolute gall of him. “You know what I meant. Don’t treat me like I’m an idiot.”

  He paused in his probing and momentarily gave me his full attention. “I would never treat you like that. I know you’re not stupid, but you are confused and pissed off because you don’t know what just happened.”

  He lifted my hand and examined where my acrylic had torn off and the cracked nail beside it.

  My natural nail had broken away with it, leaving the bed beneath raw and bloodied. I was doing my best to ignore the way it throbbed. “I don’t know why I’m in here with you right now.”

  “Yes, you do,” he replied confidently, taking another look at the cut on my arm. “It’s not deep enough to need stitches.”

  “I don’t think you’re the right person to be helping me make sense of what just happened when I’m ninety percent sure you helped make it happen.”

  “I’m one of the only people that wants you to know what’s going on, Lana. The fact you’re so clueless tells me those who should have already told you, haven’t.”

  My mind swirled with different ideas of what he could be talking about. Who he could be talking about.

  “You want me to understand, but you just confused me even more.”

  “You’re not afraid of me.”

  I blinked at him, my brow furrowing. “We’ve already established that but seeing as you’re going around murdering people for fun I probably should be.” I sighed and begrudgingly amended my statement. “Overseeing the murders of people, I mean.”

  He leaned down, placing his face closer than I was comfortable allowing so that he could examine my legs and feet. I focused on how his fingertips felt traveling across my skin. They lessened the pain by partially distracting me. The cologne he was wearing had an equally soothing effect.

  Ciaran being a source of comfort? It was definitely snowing in hell right now.

  “You aren’t afraid of me because we’re not much different and something inside you knows that’s true. You’ve always known.”

  My brows rose and I couldn’t hold withhold an incredulous laugh. Was he likening me to his ability to not bat an eye when people died? If that was what he meant then, of course, we were similar. That could be said for the dozens of others that grew up in our covert world. But this? I didn’t know what the hell this was about.

  “Ciaran, you and I are nothing alike.”

  His eyes flew to mine, and he reached out, gently touching the side of my face. “Don’t you ever get tired of all the lies you have to tell yourself?”

  I knocked his hand away with a scoff. I may have been drawn to him, but it was in the same way a beast was when it found itself captivated by another. He was a rare and dangerous thing. I’d known that from the very first time I laid eyes on him.

  Which was…

  Actually, I couldn’t remember.

  I’d never even thought about that until now. For as long as I could recall he was someone I wasn’t allowed to talk to, that I couldn’t be alone with. He was never supposed to touch me. Yet here we were, locked inside a fancy bathroom with him doing all of that and then some.

  And I didn’t entirely hate it.

  Ciaran took a slight step back and then reached down beside us to open a cabinet. “It’s not clicking for you, is it?”

  I licked my lips and slowly shook my head, watching in silence as he retrieved a large first aid kit and opened it up, pulling out disinfectant and bandages. I remained silent when he looked at me for any sign of resistance before he started to patch me up. This was the least he could do.

  “Those people in the barn, we don’t consider what happened to them murder. They were eliminated.”

  “I’m sorry, did you just say eliminated? Like we’re in some kind of fucked up…” Game, I finished silently. “Is that what this is supposed to be? What just happened in the barn? That’s…that’s extremely messed up.” I leaned as far away from him as I could manage and began searching the bathroom for any signs of cameras or recording devices.

  “Lana,” he called my name softly.

  I ignored him and turned towards the mirror, pausing when I got my first real look at myself. Holy shit. I looked, and this is no exaggeration, like I’d gotten into a fight with a goddamn bear—and lost. Pieces of leaves were stuck in my hair. There were smudges of dirt on my skin along with a few scratches and the thin gash on my arm was surrounded by dried blood.

  “I look like complete shit.”

  “You’ve never looked more beautiful. You finally lost the shell you’re always hiding in.”

  My eyes shifted to his in the mirror. Sincerity burned in his gaze along with something else I didn’t want to acknowledge but couldn’t ignore. It had a foreign sensation taking root in my chest as a pesky flutter traveled through my stomach.

  “I don’t hide,” I lied out of habit.

  “You do,” he retorted matter-of-factly. “I’d say it’s a shame you keep such an incredible part of yourself hidden from the people that would understand you the most, but now I know why.”

  “You know nothing about me.” I twisted back around and began trying to ease myself off the vanity. “I have no idea what you’re talking about or what is going on, but I need to go. If you go to jail because you got caught doing whatever it is you do here, try not to implicate me.”

  His entire demeanor changed. He moved closer and caged my body in by bracing his arms on either side of my waist, wedging himself further between my legs. I ignored how good he felt pressed against me and brought a hand to his chest, applying pressure to keep him from coming any closer.

  “Do you how many times that’s happened? Why would I go to jail for something we’ve always gotten away with?”

  My mouth opened to tell him to back the fuck up until he spoke again.

  “That was Judicium.”

  “What?”

  “In that barn. It’s something you’re pitifully clueless about.”

  Was that an insult? It didn’t really sound like one, but he kept alluding to the fact I was in the dark about whatever this was. He came closer despite my attempt to prevent him from doing so.

  Our proximity had my heart beginning to hammer away in my chest.

  “Ciaran we--.”

  He rendered me into silence by brushing his lips against mine. “You weren’t supposed to be here tonight.”

  I stared into his hypnotic blue eyes, searching for answers, disappointed to see they gave nothing away.

  “I wasn’t,” I agreed quietly. “But how did you know that?”

  “Because your sister wanted me to,” he replied simply.

  That stopped me short. Lamia was in on this? Oh, hell no. This couldn’t be true. Of course, on one hand, her involvement made a lot of damn sense. On the other, I didn’t want to believe my beloved sister sent me and my best friends to the escape room from hell.

  “It was to protect you,” Ciaran continued as if he had a direct link to my thoughts. “All of you.”

  “That’s what you call protecting someone? Sending them to play some screwed-up game that can cost them their life?”

 

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