Solstice (43 page)

The next few tapestries turn up nothing better, but when I get halfway around the room, my search is rewarded. I find a loose stone.

I push on it, attempting to shove it through the wall. It wobbles a bit but won’t budge; the cracking pieces of mortar wedge it in place. And so I shove harder, fighting to keep the fear building inside me under control. What if there is no way out? What if I never see Shayne again?

“Shayne,” I whisper, hoping that Reese can’t hear me. Shayne can find me here and help me. But he doesn’t come. I whisper his name again and turn to look around the room. It’s still empty. Wherever Shayne is, he hasn’t heard me.

I try to steady my breathing, but I’m shaking too hard. I shove on the block with renewed effort, but the results are the same. Nothing. I bite my lip, letting my teeth pierce the skin, trying to focus on the pain and not the panic. And then I think to look up.

Overhead, a chandelier hangs, fashioned of wrought iron and human skulls. Their mouths gape open, frozen in screaming terror, and chains wrap through their eye sockets, holding them in place. My eyes follow the chains from the skulls upward where they twist around, knot together, and then continue on to the ceiling. At the point where they meet the ceiling, there is a hole through which the chandelier is raised and lowered. I think I can fit through it if only I can find a way up there.

I run back to the center of the room, to the sofa. It’s some kind of antique piece, with a black moiré cushion and a solid wood frame. A frame that should hold my weight. I move to one end of the sofa and rock it forward until it’s propped up on its side, perpendicular to the cold slab of the floor. And then I walk behind it where my weight is least likely to tip it, and I climb to the top.

I’m standing on top of the sofa, inches from the wrought iron of the chandelier, when I hear Reese.

Going somewhere?

His voice is low, a sound that echoes through the room but doesn’t seem to come from within it. I’m being watched. I don’t hesitate but jump upward, catching the iron with my fingers. I swing my legs up over a couple of skulls and pull myself up. If I can get inside the ceiling, I can get away from the watchful eye of Reese. And into the skeleton of the fortress.

I climb the knot of chains, crunching skulls under my feet. I don’t look back. I’m at the hole in the ceiling, and though it’s a tight fit, I manage to squeeze my way through and get inside. I reach back down through the hole and grab an unlit candle, but there are no matches around. But I remember the match at church and the fire in the Underworld. I have power. Light bursts around me as the candle ignites, illuminating steel tresses that span a distance tall enough to crawl but nowhere near tall enough to walk. And so, with the candle in one hand, I crawl forward.

I stick with one direction at first, but when a low chuckle rumbles through the walls, I realize this makes me easy to follow. Does he know where I am? I turn left and continue on, looking for some new way out. Some way to get out of this place and get back to Shayne.

I come to a wall blocking my path. A light glows between the place where the wall and the ceiling should intersect. I blow out the candle and lower myself down until stone meets my feet. I walk between the walls, and with each step, the light brightens. It’s drawing me closer, and I imagine it’s coming from the outside. My escape from this place.

My path ends with a screen which slides when I push it, and I move through. I’m behind a tapestry, but when I peek out, there’s a long hallway stretching to either side. On the wall, sconces are lit with blazing candles, and I realize this, and not the outside world, is the source of illumination.

Piper.

My name is an echo coming from the hallway to my left. A whisper which hangs in my mind.

I ignore it and walk to the right, quickening my pace when I hear my name again. There’s not a door or window in sight. I’m in a fortress of stone, and my feet slap on the floor so loudly each step sounds like the beat of a drum.

Don’t be afraid.

Reese’s voice is soothing, but I’m not finding an ounce of comfort in his words. They’re filled with deception.

I want you, Piper.

His voice persists, echoing behind me, never far away. I start running, but the hallway seems endless. It curves around, and the sound of my feet softens. There’s now a shadowy carpet under my toes. And at the end of the carpet is an obsidian door. Open and waiting for me.

I have to go through.

Through the door, I see a window ahead. And a window means escape from Reese’s domain. And escape means leaving Reese far behind forever.

I move in and shut the door behind me. Immediately, Reese’s scent pumps into the room. I scan my surroundings; what I thought was a window is a set of glass doors that open on to a balcony, and I run to them. With a single click, I unlock the doors, hoping to dilute the room with some fresh air. To get rid of the smell of Reese before it overtakes me. And to escape. But as I stand there, I feel eyes on me, and before I open the doors, I turn.

“Where are you?”

Nothing. The eyes are still watching. My skin crawls under their weight, and I glance around, hoping to find him.

Fresh flowers are placed everywhere. On every table and every shelf. And on a bed off to the side. All of them are severed at the stem.

“I hate cut flowers.” I say it to the eyes I know are watching. To Reese who’s here as sure as I am.

He chuckles softly—to my right. I whip my head around, but only two wingback chairs and a long sofa table greet me. Above the table hangs a picture—a blood strewn battle, people drawn and quartered, decapitated heads decorating posts. And high on a mountain, a figure of a man watching it all. A man who looks just like Reese.

“I thought you enjoyed breaking the rules,” Reese says. And then he appears on the bed, holding Shayne’s Helm of Darkness in his hands. “Or was all that just an act?”

With the helmet off, his smell flows around the room, and within seconds, it moves high in my nostrils and begin it’s descent to my lungs.

“Take me back right now, Reese. I do not want to be here.” I fight the air entering me, trying to will it to go away.

Reese stands and smiles. “But you are here, and we have such a wonderful future ahead of us.”

“Shayne!” I call for him again, praying this time he’ll hear. He has to come and get me.

Reese starts laughing and walks toward me. “Shayne can’t come save you this time.”

I shudder, feeling revulsion mixing in my throat with his odor. I hate him. He is everything I despise. My brain knows he is nothing but a liar. A master of deception. It tries to tell my body this, but with each second that passes, my body is refusing to listen.

“He’ll come,” I say.

But Reese shakes his head. “Shayne isn’t allowed here. This is my domain.” He’s made his way to me now, and he leans in, kissing me on the lips, trying to force my lips apart with his tongue.

I don’t let him, and I don’t kiss him back. I cannot kiss him. Can’t go down that path again. Even if I go crazy with my internal fight. I just can’t do it.

Reese leans away, but the taste of him lingers on my mouth. I want to lick my lips, to taste the sweetness, but I keep my teeth clenched so tight they might shatter.

“Let me show you something, Piper.” Reese walks away, toward the glass doors, and swings them both outward. The wonderful smell of fresh air pours into the room, and I gulp in as much clean air as I can. In this reprieve, I remember I have to get out of here. I reach to a nearby table and pick up a metal sculpture of two centaurs fighting. It’s small enough for me to hold in one hand, and I hide it behind my back. And then the breeze dies, and Reese’s smell again takes over.

Outside are the sounds of battle. Guns. Yelling. Screams of men dying. Reese walks onto the balcony and turns to me, holding his hand out palm upward. His fingers curl in, beckoning me. I’m powerless to resist, and my legs carry me forward until I’m there next to him looking down on a desert full of men killing each other.

“Do you know what your presence on Earth has done for battle, beautiful Persephone?”

I try not to watch, but I can’t take my eyes off the horror below. These are not dead souls as I’m used to seeing in Hell. These are the dying. Life is seeping out of them one heartbeat at a time. They’re in a place between the living and the dead. A place of pain and suffering—like a Tartarus on Earth.

“What?” I say before I can stop myself.

Reese laughs and takes the hand not hidden behind my back. Shivers run up my arms, down my stomach. And I know I need to fight them. But they just feel so good.

“Men fight over anything these days. Battles can last year round. They kill each other over the simplest things. Like water. And shelter.” He smiles and waves outward with his other hand. “And I get to watch it all. Help make it bloodier. Gorier. I get to feed off their miseries.”

I look at him then, and want disgust to show on my face, but I have the horrible feeling the only thing showing there now is desire. For the battle. For Reese. For his smell. His drug which I must fight.

He lifts his hand, taking my chin in his fingers, and holds it like a delicate flower. “We’ll be happy together, Piper. I promise you.”

No! I want to scream it at him. At myself. But my voice won’t work.

His hand traces away from my chin to my neck, down my chest, to my tense stomach. I want to pull away and run. To leave. Go somewhere. And I want to be with him and feel him always.

“My domain will be yours. I’ll keep you safe. Protect you.” His hand moves lower, slipping into the front of my shorts.

I shift against the screaming thoughts in my brain and give him room. I have to stop. This is so wrong I want to cry. But he’s rubbing me, and for every scream my brain is giving, my body is giving double. His mouth comes for mine, and I meet it, letting the gasp I’ve been holding behind my clenched teeth escape. His hand moves down. I want it to go on forever. And I want it to stop right now.

“No.” I manage the words, forcing them out from inside our kiss. And I swing the hidden statue from behind my back directly at his head.

In a flash, Reese catches my hand midair. He grabs my wrist and twists it, and I cry out. The statue slips from my hand and falls to the floor.

His mouth is back on mine just as fast, pushing my cry of pain away, and he pushes me to the floor. He’s heavy on top of me, and the air flies from my body, and I’m kissing him again, trying to remember why I want to say no. My brain is screaming at me to stop, but my body has a mind of its own, and it’s refusing to listen.

“We were meant to be together, Piper. We should have always been together.” His mouth moves to my neck.

“Yes.” My body is in control, and my brain is trapped behind steel bars with no hope of escape.

“So much time has been wasted.” His hand roams up my shirt. Down the inside of my legs. “So much time we need to make up for.”

So much time. Why hadn’t I been with Reese forever? I want to be with him now. Haven’t I always? Nothing will ever keep me from him. No one. Nothing.

What kept me from him in the past? Who could possibly do that?

And then my brain pushes through the instincts of my body, and it comes to me. I remember Shayne. He’s there in my mind. Unable to reach me here in Reese’s domain. It’s Shayne I want to be with and not Reese.

“No.”

Reese doesn’t stop. He kisses my stomach, sending shivers everywhere.

“Stop now!” Firmer this time. “I don’t want this.”

Reese lifts his head, his fingers and hands still moving. “Yes, you do.”

And in his eyes, I see I do. But Shayne’s in my mind, and I know Reese’s love is nothing but a horrible deception.

“I want you to stop now.”

Reese shakes his head. “I’ll never stop. You are everything to me.” His hands are moving fast now, trying to pull off my shorts, trying to lift my shirt. They’re everywhere, but instead of making me feel good, they are like monsters. Monsters that need to be destroyed.

I’m fighting against him, twisting like a viper, but his body is so strong, I may as well be doing nothing, and I realize he’s not going to stop. Not now. Not ever. I need to stop him, or I’ll forever be sorry. His head is down, kissing, trying to draw me back to him, and when he looks up and his eyes meet mine, I remember I am a goddess. I know what I need to do. I don’t need to wait for Shayne.

I look at him hard then, and drawing upon the powers of Hell which I know are mine, I ignite him into a mass of flames on top of me.

R
eese leaps off me, covered in fire. His face is burning. His hair is burning. The harsh odor of his burning flesh hits me, and I suck it in, happy to be free of his drugging aroma. I only watch him for a second; he’s moving backward, knocking into a chair, falling to the ground. And then I start running. But when I come in from the balcony, I realize there are no doors and no windows and nowhere to go. The door I came through has vanished into the stone wall. I bolt through the doors back out onto the balcony, and leap over the side. Escaping the boundaries of Reese’s world. I fall.