AllFreeNovel
Share Us
GABRIEL
“What do you want, Lysandra?” I said, swallowing thickly and steeling my gaze. “What can I give you?”
“Nothing.” She shrugged. “It will simply be too wonderful to use her in front of you. Every cask of wine we make from her, I will make you take a sip from. I’ll make you choke on her.”
“Gabe,” Marnie breathed, her voice barely above a whisper. “Y—Your face.”
I looked at her, noting the shock in her eyes. But it wasn’t fear from Lysandra’s threats. It was something else. Lysandra also looked at me, but instead of shock and awe, she peeled her lips back in a twisted, furious snarl.
“Ridiculous,” she spat. “That face is mine. It’s part of his contract. It’s binding.”
Marnie shook her tangled hair over her shoulders and glared at Lysandra defiantly. “I guess you aren’t as powerful as you thought.”
It was honestly very much like a Pomeranian barking at a Pitbull, but goddamn. I loved her. I’d loved her when I first saw her in my house. I’d loved her the first time I touched her. And I loved her now. I had just told Marnie not only who I was but how I’d betrayed her, and yet there was still something she was seeing in me. There was still something she saw that made her doubt Lysandra’s threats.
Lysandra closed the distance between her and Marnie, which wasn’t much of a feat considering her long legs and the confines of the office. “You listen to me, girl. You can yap all you want, but I. Will. Devour. You. I will make your eternity nothing but suffering. I will do it with a smile on my face. I will suck the marrow from your very being and bottle it.”
“Enough!” I yelled, struggling to my feet. I almost pitched forward with my hands behind my back, but I managed to stay upright. “Enough. Lysandra, I’m yours. You can torture me for another ten thousand years. Just let her go.”
“Ha!” She laughed bitterly. “I already have you for eternity. What more could you possibly offer me?”
I stepped forward, close enough to Lysandra that we could have been lovers. “I know you, Lysandra. You love productivity. You love wealth. I’ll ruin it. I’ll become your biggest nuisance. I will make every request a nightmare. If something in this vineyard can be fucked up, I. Will. Fuck. It. Up.” I relished mocking her cadence. “I can withstand a lot of torture. I’m built for a shitty life. There’s nothing you can do to me that my father didn’t do worse.”
She surveyed me for a moment, then crossed her human arms. One spider leg tapped against the floor impatiently. “You would ruin your own eternity for one shitty little waitress?”
“Hey,” Marnie snapped, her words dripping with anger. “Call me a lot of things, but I’m a good waitress.” It was clear she was full of emotions, and the fact that the waitress comment was what set her off was sort of amazing. Even funny if we weren’t, you know, staring eternal torture and death in the face.
Again, I loved her. How could someone ever take her for granted? God, I still really wanted to make Beck pay.
I looked at Marnie’s face, taking her in for what might have been the last time. Her lion’s mane of purple hair, her pale skin, and her full lips. I loved it all. I loved her combat boots and the wrinkle between her eyebrows because she furrowed them so much. I loved the way she tasted, the way she chattered incessantly. I loved the way one tooth sort of crossed over the other, making them charmingly crooked.
“Yes,” I said, meaning it more than any other syllable I had ever muttered in life or death. “Yes. I would ruin my own eternity over and over again for her.”
Lysandra’s foot tapped again, and she grimaced. “You know I hate inconveniences. I’ve trained you well.” She huffed. “Too well. If she’s free, you’re fucked, Gabe. Well and truly. The fun is just beginning.”
Lysandra let out a sound of frustration, something between a scream and a growl, and then swiftly and suddenly kicked the door of Marnie’s cage in. I moved to step forward and help her out of her prison, but another of Lysandra’s legs tripped me. I tasted blood as my lips, teeth, and nose smashed against the floor.
“Be careful with her!” I yelled as I struggled to sit back up.
Lysandra plucked Marnie from the little cage and held her high. Marnie looked small in Lysandra’s grip, and her legs dangled and kicked uselessly a few feet off of the floor.
“The deal is off if you hurt her,” I growled.
Lysandra rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, Prince Charming.” She waved her free human hand, and the binds on my wrists magically disappeared. “Now, outside. Let’s see the little package off before I change my mind.”
She kicked open the office door with one arachnid limb, then scuttled out with the love of my life still clutched in her grasp. To her credit, Marnie never stopped struggling, never stopped fighting for her precious life. Good. I hoped she never did. I hoped she left this place and lived. I hoped if this experience taught her anything, it was to always fight for her life. She deserved to demand the best from everyone—any man, any job, anything that tried to tame her and dull her spirit. She deserved nothing less.
I followed them outside. Lysandra stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled sharply, like calling for a dog. In the distance, I heard the clip-clop of hooves as her carriage came to her command. When it came into view, Marnie fought even harder. To be fair, it was pretty terrifying.
The frame was formed from twisted, gnarled bones, contorted into roughly the squarish shape of a coach. Sinew and tendons wove through the bones, connecting them in a macabre lattice. The wheels were somehow, impossibly, gigantic, pulpy, and red beating hearts. Their rhythmic contractions were what helped propel the carriage forward. Veins stretched and snaked around them like spokes, pumping a vile, dark fluid that oozed and dripped. It sizzled where it touched the ground. The roof was a patchwork of flesh, some parts of it even including eyeballs. Some were open and bloodshot, and some were sewn shut. The horses that pulled the carriage weren’t actual horses. They were tortured souls fused and twisted together into a vaguely equine shape. There were four in all. I had never been able to look at them for long.
“What the hell is that?” Marnie shrieked. One of her feet connected with Lysandra’s torso, and the spider-woman yelped.
“You are a nuisance. Maybe I will be glad to be rid of you,” Lysandra hissed. Lightning quick, she snatched up one of Marnie’s flailing arms and brought it to her fangs.
“No!” I shouted, lunging toward them before she could bite, but one of her spider legs batted me away.
Lysandra sank her fangs into Marnie’s arm, and Marnie went limp as the poison quickly took hold. The carriage, sensing its mistress’s needs, popped open one side of its fleshy coach. Lysandra chucked Marnie’s limp, unconscious body into the carriage with as much care as you’d give a sack of cement.
