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But we weren’t so lucky.
That small voice inside of me had been right.
I was awoken by the sound of stomping boots and something… clicking. Before I could register what was happening, rough hands ripped me off of the couch and away from Gabe.
“Oh.” A sultry female voice laughed. “Caught in the act, hmm, lovebirds? How delicious.”
The bar’s lighting—which was dim to begin with—was now barely there. I could hardly see anything save for a few shadowy figures. Gabe’s pale form and the white parts of his face were at least easy to spot in the dark room. I smelled sulfur and something else, something I couldn’t place, but I knew demons had found us.
“MARNIE!” Gabe screamed, reaching toward me.
Two of the demons in the room grabbed him, hauled him up, and yanked his arms behind him. Gabe kicked and screamed, nearly pulling out of their grasp.
“Let’s save their dignity,” the female snorted, though it was clear she was amused by the whole scene.
She clapped her hands, and I felt a rush of hot, sweet-scented air. There was a whisper of fabric and a tightening against my skin. I realized she’d dressed me in an instant. Gabe still fought against the demons that held him only a few yards away from me, but now he was fully dressed, too. He had on his leather jacket again, not me. I noticed with a start that my collar was gone. I’d become so used to its weight. It had been almost comforting.
Now that I was gaining more of my faculties, I began to fight against my attacker, too. My boot hit someone solidly in the shin, and the demon behind me oofed. I thrashed wildly to get out of the second demon’s grasp and somehow succeeded. But I made it only a few steps before I was snatched up again by something in the shadows. Something behind me.
Iron claws wrapped around me, and I felt myself pulled tightly against someone’s body. The embrace felt human, almost like a lover’s, until I realized the claws around me were the jointed, insect-like legs of an arachnid. The sultry voice chuckled in my ear as the claws tightened around me.
“Hello, little one,” the mystery woman purred. “Let’s see if you taste as good as you look.”
Suddenly, she took one hand and palmed my head to the side, pushing it roughly and pulling my hair a bit as she did. With my neck completely bared, I felt her hot breath against my skin.
“NO!” Gabe screamed, the veins in his neck bulging as he still fought against his captors. “LYSANDRA! Please!”
And then she bit me.
A searing pain shot through me as her toxic venom coursed through my veins. I screamed in agony, but her grip on me was unrelenting. I could feel the poison spreading, paralyzing my limbs, making it impossible to fight back.
The world around me began to blur as the venom’s effects took hold. My vision grew dim, and my knees buckled beneath me. I struggled to stay awake, but the darkness was overwhelming. With one final, desperate gasp for air, I succumbed to unconsciousness.
16
MARNIE
I had no idea how long it took for the darkness to clear.
“Gabe,” I said, lifting my head.
My temples throbbed, and my limbs ached, and it took me a moment to realize I was cramped and wadded up in an uncomfortable position. Unlike when I’d woken by the river, this time, I knew without a shadow of a doubt I’d been assaulted and captured. My mouth felt dry, and my eyes felt sandy. I tried to stretch my arms and legs wide, but they screamed in protest as pins and needles worked their way over my body. I felt cold iron bars surrounding me, and my whole being swayed to the side. I was in a hanging cage, and it swayed with each of my movements. Above me, whatever chain held me creaked. It wasn’t a comforting sound for a number of reasons.
“Marnie,” Gabe’s voice rang out.
He was both slightly below and to the right of me. My eyes finally began to adjust to the dim light, and I saw him on the floor below me. His arms and legs were bound in front of him, and he was slumped against a desk of some kind.
“Oh my g—ow,” I winced, rubbing my forehead. “Wh—What happened? Where are we?”
“It’s her… it’s an office,” he said. His voice was both too thin and strained and also too full of emotion. He sounded miserable, and I wondered if he’d been bitten or hurt too in the struggle.
“Are you all right?” I asked. I had a million questions racing through my head, but something in his voice was sending up alarm bells.
“I… I can explain all of this,” he said, his words dripping with what could best be described as defeat.
Suddenly, a few lights in the room flared to life. They didn’t make the space very bright, but I could at least make out more detail in the room. The office’s color palette was made exclusively of charcoal blacks, deep purples, and a dark, almost caustic-looking green. Thick curtains hid the windows and flanked the heavy wooden door. It was iron-banded with a heavy, ornate lock, like the sort of door you might see on a castle or old Italian villa. Strange and unsettling trinkets adorned the shelves—antique hourglasses filled with crimson sand, porcelain dolls with cracked faces, and jars holding strange, writhing creatures that were best left unidentified. The jars flickered and glowed like the animals were fireflies caught in a mason jar. The old, sprawling desk Gabe was against was made of gleaming ebony wood. Twin pillar candles flickered atop it—two of the lights that randomly illuminated—and it highlighted the piles of papers and intricately carved scrollwork.
“Hello, my darlings,” a voice cooed. It was the woman from earlier, the same one who had bitten me. What the hell was she? Where the hell was she?
