Taken by the Beast (The Conduit Series Book 1) (8 page)

I pressed harder on the gas pedal, accelerating as though I was already making a run for it from that miserable town. But there was a hesitation there I hadn’t felt before. Something that made me feel tethered to New Haven.

Maybe the reason I wanted club manager job was for the control. Maybe, with so much spinning in orbit around my head—so much that I couldn’t grab or change or fix—I felt compelled to find any situation I
could
control. And The Castle was just that.

Thinking of the club brought an image of Abram to mind, and I sighed. Was it The Castle I was drawn to … or was it
him
? I tried to think back to other jobs I’d had before, and never had thinking about work make me think about my employer’s eyes, or arms, or chest, or lips.

I gripped the steering wheel tighter and gave myself a little shake.
Snap out of it, Char
. The truth was, I was only thinking of Abram right now because I felt bad for him. He had seemed so defeated. Of course I couldn’t get that image out of my mind—who could? All I wanted to do was save him from that misery. Lord knows I couldn’t save myself from mine.

I mean, it was either that, or I just wanted the job because he didn’t want me to have it.

So I either want to help him or piss him off. Real healthy, Char.

Those thoughts, along with a little concern about whether the tables would look like they did on the website swirled in my mind.

On a long, dark stretch of highway with woods on either side, Lulu’s car made a loud pop. I had never been much of a driver. It wasn’t really a necessity in New York. As such, I didn’t really know what was going on when something about the steering changed the car startled swerving across the emergency lane.

I jumped, gasping. Tightening my grip on the wheel, I jerked back hard the other way. The car fishtailed and spun across the empty highway until it skidded sideways into a tree.

Despite being thrown back, my seatbelt kept me in place. Still, it hurt like a bitch and shook me up pretty badly.

I stumbled out of the car, kicking off my heels and cursing my incessant need to dress up even when only the employees at a furniture supply store would see me. A quick assessment of the car revealed the culprit for my distress: a flat tire.

Wow, Char
.
That’s pretty special
.

Only I could have such a disastrous reaction to something so basic. The flat tire may as well have been ancient hieroglyphics for all I knew about it.

As I stared at the shredded rubber, chewing my lip, my agent’s voice scrolled through my mind. “Pretty girls shouldn’t do that sort of work,” she’d said one day in reference to women learning to change the oil in their car. “It ruins the hands.”

I looked down at my hands now. They were
useless, but damn if they weren’t stunning. I rifled through the front seat until I found my cell phone. No signal.

Ugh! I hate this place.

So much for Triple A. Maybe if I walked back toward town, I could get a signal. It was only a couple of miles, and for all I knew, only a few steps until the signal kicked back on.

I grabbed my purse and took a look around. The road was dark, though, sandwiched by thick tree lines and without a single street lamp. Not exactly my idea of an inviting nightly stroll.

A sense of uneasiness crept over me. Here I was, all alone, in the dark, and without any way to call for help.

Would walking down that road even be safe?

Would staying here with the car be safe, either?

I thought about the girl in the club—her dead, open eyes. I thought about the missing girl, about what might have happened to her. I thought about the girl in the next town over, the one who had been found in these woods … not too far from here. She’d had markings all over her and a face that could easily be confused for my own.

But if I worried about that now, I was just as bad as the backwoods townsfolk who spun tall tales about forest monsters being the culprit.

A howl, sharp and terrifyingly close spiked a shiver down my spine. My muscles tensed as something primal and instinctive turned on in my brain. I grabbed at my phone, fumbling for my flashlight app and squinting as its thin white light forced a narrow cone into the darkness.

I spun slowly, looking around for the source of that howl and hoping to God I didn’t find it.

The woods were even closer than I thought, almost swallowing up the road on either side. Had they grown in the ten years since I had been gone? I didn’t remember them being so … encroaching.

I shone my light back toward town. Maybe if I waited here, locking myself in the car, someone would come by.

I inched backward, grasping for the door handle while scanning the area with my light.

Then I heard it—low, even breathes accompanied with a simmering growl. It was worse than the howl, mostly because of how close it was. I couldn’t dismiss it this time. It rumbled so near that every hair on my arms and neck prickled.

A whoosh of something darted in front of me, knocking into my hand. My phone flew from my gasp and landed screen first onto the road, the light shooting straight up into the air.

I jerked back as I saw what it now illuminated. A thing—some sort of animal—reared in front of me, huffing wildly.

Dark auburn fur covered its body. Its head stretched into a long snout, and fang-like teeth jutted from its open mouth. It had all the characteristics of a wolf—a massive torso, pointed ears, and powerful hind legs.

Except it wasn’t a wolf. Wolves weren’t this big.

It threw its head up and howled again, loudly into the moonlight. Never one to run toward a fight, I spun away and took off, my bare feet smacking the pavement, but I knew it was no use. This open road would make it a foot race, and an animal that size would have a gait I couldn’t outrun. My only chance, if I had any at all, would be to somehow lose this beast inside the woods.

The animal took off behind me, first two feet, and then four, clapping against the pavement.

I darted into the woods, stumbling as the ground shot up a little at the tree line. My heart raced ten times faster than normal while fear sent beads sweat crawling down my spine.

My eyes adjusted to the near absolute darkness just in time to alert me I was about to crash headfirst into a tree. I stopped, bracing myself against the bark. I dodged out of the way,
but the animal chasing me wasn’t so lucky. It slammed into the tree trunk and let out a surprisingly human-sounding yelp.

I zigged to my left then zagged to my right, remembering something from a television special about some kind of animal that couldn’t keep up with that sort of thing.

No such luck, though. The beast gained ground on me.

Oh that’s right. It was an alligator.

The beast’s breath, hot and terrifying, brushed against the back of my neck. I was even hotter now, pouring sweat as I spun around a nearby tree, changing directions.

I had no idea where I was headed or even what direction I was going in. But the quick thinking earned me a much needed split second. Using it, I slid to the ground, wincing and throwing my hands in front of me as the beast jumped over me. It skidded to a stop and turned.

Getting back on its hind legs, it paused with bright yellow eyes trailing down my body before baring its teeth again. Then, slowly, it started toward me again.

My eyes stayed locked on it, but my hand went for my bag. Back in New York, I kept mace in my purse. You know, because of the crazies. Maybe, if I was really lucky, I would have some left.

My fingers fumbled for the small rounded bottle as the monster neared me. When it growled again, I sensed a bit of hunger, but then, I suppose it wasn’t chasing me down just to say hello.

Grabbing the bottle, I cursed my luck.
Empty
. But there was something beside it—something small, hard, and bumpy.

That’s right. A stupid exfoliating soap my agent used to make me use—the one Mom said could take paint off the walls.

I wrapped my fingers around it, unsure I was going to do. It was a rock, at best. And what good could a rock do against a monster.

I mean, even David had a slingshot.

The monster settled in front of me, leaves crackling under foot, paw, or hoof—whatever this thing had. Its breaths were not labored like mine. It hadn’t even exerted itself.

Its hands folded
in a claw like manner, probably preparing to shred me to pieces, to mark me up the way it had the woman on the internet. And, like her, tomorrow I would nothing but a statistic—an unanswered question posted alongside a picture in the newspaper.

It opened its mouth wide, howling as it had before, and I reared my arm back and flung the soap. God must have been feeling cheeky, because it landed right in the monster’s open yap.

It grabbed its throat and starting heaving, choking on the soap.

I scrambled to my feet, not sure where I was going, but ready to get anywhere where this beast wasn’t.

As quick as my bare, pedicured feet would take me, I ran deeper into the woods. The monster probably wouldn’t choke to death on soap, but I might be able to find a hiding place to duck into to wait the horrible thing out.

I ran so far and so fast that my lungs burned. I kept imagining the monster behind me again, paws galloping after me. I had to keep running. Maybe there was a ditch, or a cave, or a … 

Or a two story house with front porch furniture?

There, sitting in the middle of the woods, like the greatest mirage anyone could ever imagine, stood a house.

I slid to a stop, bracing myself against the pain in my bloody and bruised feet. A light shone from a second floor window. Not only was there a house out here, where a house had no business being, but there was someone in it.

I might actually survive this.

A howl shot through the woods; the monster was undoubtedly back on track, so I pooled what little energy I had left and made a beeline for the front door. My hands slammed against it in panicked knocks.

“Help me!” I screamed. “Help!”

No one answered. With little time to waste, I turned the knob, and to my great relief (and surprise), the door actually opened.

I clamored in, slammed the door closed behind me, and bolted the lock.

The first floor was dark, but I switched on a nearby light.

“Hello?” I yelled again. “I know I shouldn’t be here, but there’s something out there!” Tears stung my eyes. “I need help!”

No answer.

I ran toward the stairs, to the burning second floor light. At the very least, if the monster found me here, I needed as many closed doors as possible between us.

Two rooms sat at the top of the stairs. I grabbed the handle straight ahead, but it was hot and singed my fingertips. For an instant, my mind traveled to the door inside The Castle. But then a sickeningly close howl shook me back to the present.

I darted inside the other room. But no sooner had I crossed the threshold than the window shattered in front of me. Glass flew everywhere, and when it settled, the monster stood before me.

It was on its hind legs again, like a man. Bits of the soap were clutched in its ‘hand’ and the look in its yellow eyes said it would enjoy whatever hell it was about to put me through.

I turned toward the open door, hoping I could at least run for it, but to my utter shock, I was met by a second beast. This one was even larger than the first. Its body was even more hulking, covered in coarse black fur. It also stood on its hind legs, but this one looked past me, toward the other monster.

Just when I was about to burst into defeated tears, it leapt over me. I had never seen anything so big move so quickly, so fluidly.

In an instant, it was on the other monster, tearing into it with claws and teeth.

Before they could finish fighting over which of them would get to eat me, I turned toward the stairs to make my escape. Maybe they would kill each other, or maybe they would get over their differences and split me down the middle. Either way, I wasn’t planning to hang around and find out.

I grabbed hold of the railing to start down the stairs, but the old wood snapped beneath my touch. I fell in a series of painful tumbles. My head hit hard against the floor, but only enough to rattle me—not enough to stop me from trying not to die.

But when I attempted to stand or even move, it was no use. My vision darkened. I struggled, pulling myself across the floor, but I didn’t even make it half-way to door before things went black.

I was about to become the world’s best-dressed doggie treat, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Stretching against the cool, soft sheets, memories filtered in the way they often did in the morning. But when the image of the beasts came along, my mind snapped to attention, and my eyes flew open.

I wasn’t on the floor anymore. I was in a lumpy bed, satin sheets covering me and pillows propping up my head. How did I get here? What happened to the monsters that seemed so intent on making a meal out of me?

The vision of their yellow eyes and bared fangs clouded my thoughts. Surely they hadn’t left such an easy meal passed out at the bottom of the staircase, and even if they had, that didn’t explain how I’d ended up in this bed.

I leaned forward, my body aching all over as I scanned the room for danger. Not that I would be able to defend myself should anything pop up. My head was spinning, my vision blurred, and worse than that, my phone was nowhere in sight. Embarrassingly, my stomach rumbled, as though food should be the most of my concerns.

Flinging the sheets back revealed a cut red rose lying beside me on the bed. It had been pruned, too, free of thorns.

Okay, things just went from weird to weirder.

I still had no idea whose house I was in, but it was pretty clear someone had been here. Maybe the owner of this place, the one responsible for the burning light on the second floor window, had saved me. Maybe he had beat back those animals, and when he was done with that, scooped me up Rhett Butler style, put me to bed, and sat a rose beside me for good measure.