Especially since Benji had actually returned for them.
The bridge ogre was back to looking like himself and being held at gunpoint by two of the guards. Dower must have handed him Dru, because Benji was cradling her limp body against his chest. A fishing boat was tied up to the hospital’s small dock, just waiting for their escape.
There had to be a way.
“Did you really think you’d get away with it?” Dr. White arched a brow at Scarlett. “Oh I’ll admit, you got much further than I ever would’ve have guessed, but you’re a Bad folk, you stupid twit. Your kind never wins.”
“I don’t believe in Good folk and Bad folk, anymore.” Scarlett said honestly. “I think we’re all the same.”
Dr. White and the dwarfs scoffed at that idea. Even the Tuesday share group squinted at her like she’d lost her mind.
Dower snorted. “Your woman is crazy, Marrok.”
Despite the circumstances, Marrok’s mouth curved. “I know.” He kept his body between Scarlett and Dr. White. “I think she’s adorable.”
“I’m disappointed in you, Wolf.” Dr. White took a step closer to him. Her words were taunting, but her face was tight with anger. “I thought we had a deal, but instead you tried to play me. For what ? For her?” She pointed at Scarlett. “Why? What could an ugly stepsister offer you that I didn’t?”
“Well, first off, she’s not a psychotic bitch.”
Esmeralda gave a nervous laugh at Marrok’s wiseass response.
One of the guards whacked her in the head with a gun.
Dr. White stopped directly in front of Marrok, one hand trailing down the chest of his wolf form. “You’re such a beautiful brute.” She murmured. “You just need training.” She glanced over at the guards. “Take them all to the dungeon. Except the wolf. He and I have some things to discuss privately.”
Scarlett’s eyes widened in horror. “No!”
“The only way you’re going to get me into bed is if you kill me first.” Marrok told the doctor flatly.
“Don’t think I won’t.” Snow White hissed.
“I’ll fuck you, Dr. White!” Dower volunteered.
The dwarf guards moved forward to grab Marrok’s arms. He shoved them away. The rest of the escapees were standing there with their hands up, already sure they were beaten. But not the wolf. Scarlett watched him begin his losing battle and felt something shift deep inside of her.
Marrok was going to fight.
Bad, Good, ugly, beautiful, wicked, charming… All those labels meant nothing. She wasn’t sure who they applied to or why they mattered. She just abruptly knew that she and Marrok were alike in so many ways. Ways that were so much more important than the designations on their rap sheets or their reflections in the mirror.
They were partners.
“I’ll tell you where the glass slipper is.” Letty blurted out.
Marrok’s head snapped around to stare at her.
Scarlett kept her attention on Dr. White. “I’ll give you whatever you want. Just don’t hurt him.”
“That’s more like it.” Dr. White smirked and motioned the guards back. “Where is the shoe?” She demanded coldly, stalking towards Letty.
Scarlett edged towards the lake. “First, you have to promise to help my sister. The gas knocked her out. I want Dru up and awake…”
“Yes, fine.” Dr. White waved that aside. “Where’s the shoe?”
“Do you promise to help Drusilla receive True Love’s kiss? That’s the only thing that can save her.” She took another step sideways. “Can I trust you?”
Dr. White followed her. “I don’t see how you have much choice but to trust me.”
“I have a choice.” Scarlett retorted. “Because, you want the glass slipper and, unless my sister is safe, we don’t have a deal.”
“Well, then I’ll just have to question the wolf about it, won’t I?”
“You touch him and you’re never going to get it.” Scarlett spared a quick look down, gauging the distance to the edge of the lake. Her eyes flicked back up to meet Marrok’s and she saw realization dawn. The two of them could communicate without words.
He shifted to give her more room.
“Do you think you can threaten me?” Dr. White scoffed. “You’re nothing.”
Letty refocused on Snow White and did her damnedest to piss the woman off. “I must be something, since Marrok’s chosen me over everything you’ve tried. He wants me. Not you.”
“Do you think I care what that oaf wants. He’ll do as he’s told.”
“He hasn’t so far.” Satisfaction filled her, because it was true. “You’ve threatened him and bribed him and imprisoned him and tried to make him feel small, and he’s still fighting you. Because, he’s a better person than you will ever be.”
Marrok stared at her, a strange expression on his face.
“He’s just a wolf!”
“He’s my wolf. And he’d rather stay locked in a dungeon than touch you. He told me so.” Scarlett arched a brow and got really mean about it. “Then, we laughed at how utterly pathetic you are.”
“Oh shit.” Dower muttered. “I don’t think she should be saying that.”
“You smug little bitch!” Dr. White gave Letty a shove. “Do you really think he wants to be with you? Huh?! Look at him! He’s just stuck with your ugly ass because you’re his True Love and animals are stupidly loyal.”
“She’s not ugly.” Marrok put in quietly.
Dr. White turned to give him a venomous look. She opened her mouth to spit out some withering insult, but she never got the chance. Scarlett used Snow White’s momentary distraction to seize her arm. She spun the doctor around, wrenching her towards the Lake of Forgetting. Snow White stumbled forward a single step. Just six extra inches. But that was enough. Dr. White automatically tried to catch her balance…
…And wound up standing ankle deep in the water.
As Scarlett watched, the doctor’s eyes went blank, her mind fading into mystical amnesia. Snow White had no memory of what had just happened, or of who she was, or of anything else. Scarlett had just… erased her.
No one moved.
“My God.” Marrok finally said in something close to awe. “This is why I’m yours, Letty. Because you are fucking amazing.”
“Open fire!” One of the guards shrieked.
Marrok threw himself at Scarlett, shoving her to the ground as bullets erupted. She hit the cold grass, shielded by his body.
Snow White turned towards the noise, like she had no idea what was going on. Benji moved to protect Dru. Avenant rolled his eyes and reluctantly ducked. Rumpelstiltskin ran back towards the hospital in blind panic. Dower desperately scrambled towards the boat.
For a moment, Letty thought they were all going to die. That it would be a replay of all the times Good folk had mowed down Baddies with impunity.
Only this time it finally occurred to Esmeralda that Bad folk could strike back.
Her magic was so much stronger than the guns. The witch looked towards the guards and her powers melted the bullets in midair. The metal projectiles liquefied, pooling to the ground. At almost the same instant, she lifted a palm and blasted out a pulse of green energy. It looked like a mixture of lightening and birds in flight as it arced over the dying grass. The guards were blown backwards, toppling off their feet.
Esmeralda seemed stunned when her attack worked. If it wasn’t for Marrok and Scarlett’s example, she probably wouldn’t even have tried. Bad folk were so used to losing that she seemed downright confused by her easy victory.
The dwarves were no less flabbergasted. They began radioing for reinforcements, screaming for someone to bring more weapons. Not even magic could combat everything in their arsenal.
“Go!” Marrok roared. He pulled Scarlett up by the back of her shirt, propelling her towards the boat. The rickety wooden dock swayed under her feet as they ran. He lifted her over the side of the fishing boat and quickly followed her aboard.
Dower was
already working to untie the ropes so they could launch. “We gotta get outta here! How do you drive a boat?!”
“Benji!” Letty called. “Come start this thing!”
Benji handed Dru’s unconscious body to Avenant as they all clambered onto the deck. “Hang on.” The weight of his giant form sent the hull sinking a foot deeper in the water.
“Weren’t we supposed to be escaping quietly?” Avenant demanded.
“Where am I?” Snow White called blankly from shore. “Should I be coming with you?”
“No!” Half of them bellowed back.
Benji got the engine started and spun the boat’s wheel, trying to get them out on the water. More guards were racing across the dismal lawn, headed for the lake. They were loaded down with an impressive array of guns, already sighting on the boat.
“Uh-oh.” Scarlett hit the deck and grabbed Marrok’s hand, pulling him down beside her. “Tell me that isn’t a rocket launcher.”
“That looks like a rocket launcher.” He told her anyway.
“Why the hell do they have rocket launchers?! The hospital doesn’t have the cash to heat the rooms, but they have the budget to buy rocket launchers?!”
“Faster, Benji!” Esmeralda screamed.
Scarlett squeezed her eyes shut and knew they weren’t going to make it. The guards were going to sink the boat. The boat was going to sink into the water. The water was going to erase their memories. Without memories, they weren’t going to even exist. Everything about them was about to be eradicated and there wasn’t a damn thing they could do about it.
And, even knowing how it was about to end, if Letty had to do it all over, she’d make the exact same choices again. If she was going to die today, at least she was going to die fighting.
Still, that didn’t make her feel any better when she felt an explosion rock the side of the boat.
Scarlett saw the bright flare as the weapon fired and heard the shrieking whine of it streaking through the air. Then the hull was shuddering beneath her and she could smell smoke as something caught fire. She looked at the distant shore and knew it was still too far away.
Dower cursed. “We’re all gonna drown! Why did I let you talk me into this?”
“We’re not lucky enough to drown.” Marrok shot back. Scarlett could see the wheels in his head turning and coming up empty. They really were out of good options. “We’re not going to make it to the other side of this lake, Red.” He finally said.
“I know.”
“We either go back,” Marrok continued, “or we go in the water. Your choice, baby.”
Either way was pretty much a death sentence.
She craned her neck to look over the railing and back towards the WUB Club. Benji had the engine going full speed, so they were out of range of the dwarves’ weapons, now. They’d built enough distance that the concrete walls of the hospital looked smaller. She wanted it to fade away completely. Going back would mean never leaving, again. She’d be locked-up and watched even closer this time.
On the other hand, touching the water meant losing everything that made her Scarlett. She’d either sink to the bottom and die with no clue as to who she was, or she’d be fished out by the guards and spent the rest of her life in a fog. She’d still be in the WUB Club, she just wouldn’t be her, anymore.
Scarlett blew out a long breath. “I think we have to go back.”
“You sure?”
“No. But, if I’m going to be stuck in that pit, I at least want to remember the expression on Ramona’s face when I hit her with that chair.”
Marrok started laughing, the sound of it wild and free.
Scarlett found herself grinning in response. No, she didn’t want to forget any of this. Hell, they’d escaped once. They could do it, again.
Maybe.
“I’m not going back.” Avenant shook his head, standing by the stern. The cold air blew through his long blond hair, the white strands reflecting the moonlight like icicles. “You are crazy, Scarlett! We’re a few hundred yards from never going back and you want to go back?!”
“We’re sinking, you idiot!” Esmeralda shouted. “You might be better with a personality reboot, but most of us like having our memories. And I like not melting!”
“I’m not going back!”
“Letty!” Benji cried. “What do we do? I have to know right now!”
Scarlett cursed, still not wanting to say the words that would return them to their imprisonment. Logical or not, it wasn’t in her nature to give up. She frantically tried to think of a miracle. There had to be a way.
“Keep going!” Avenant insisted.
Dower leaned over the edge to look at the depths of the lake. He obviously had no idea how to swim and was terrified by the dark waves. “Unless you guys can walk on water, we only have like two minutes before…”
Avenant’s eyes narrowed. “Wait.” His head whipped around to look at Scarlett. “I can walk on water.”
Marrok snorted, looking aggravated about this entire situation. “I don’t even want to think about the theological implications of…”
“Ice, you moron!” Avenant interrupted. “My powers are back, so I can freeze the lake.”
Scarlett and Marrok exchanged a glance.
“This is why we put up with him through all those meetings, isn’t it?” He surmised.
She gave an excited nod and looked over at Avenant. “Do it!” She’d known there had to be a way! “Benji?” She staggered to her feet. “Stop the boat so the ice can form around us.”
“Hang on.” Dower held up his palms, his tone anxious. “Let’s think about this. What if we fall through the ice? What if we drown?”
“I know how to freeze a lake, interloper.” Avenant cracked his knuckles as Benji cut the engine and the boat slowed.
Extending a hand, Avenant gave his fingers a complicated wave. Almost instantly a rush of cold air washed over the water like a cyclone. The arctic blast was filled with magic. Not just physically freezing, but drawing on the powers of ice and snow and deadly cold winter. Letty had never felt anything like it.
Maybe Avenant really was the rightful Prince of the Northlands.
Scarlett ducked back down beside Marrok, staying out of the worst of the blizzard. “How long will this take?” She had to raise her voice to be heard over the howling wind.
“For someone of my abilities?” Avenant glanced at her with an arrogant arch of his brows. “It’s already done.”
“You’re kidding?” She blinked and then poked her head up to look out over the frozen lake. He wasn’t kidding. As far as she could see there was nothing but beautiful, frosty, solid ice. Scarlett barely suppressed her victorious fist pump.
Tuesday share circle for the win!
“Everybody get overboard.” She ordered. “We’re hiking straight across the ice.”
Avenant gave a slanting smile. “Admit it, peasants… Could the usurper wearing my crown have pulled that off?”
Chapter Fourteen
So much of the patients’ acting out comes from envy.
They know they can never experience the pure and noble life that Good Folk do.
They are doomed to wickedness.
Psychiatric case notes of Dr. Ramona Fae
Cinderella was on her knees, cleaning the already spotless floor of her bedroom. Naked and panting from desire, she ground the bristles of her scrub brush into the tile and tried to improve her dark mood.
Charming had betrayed her.
No one cared about her wedding plans.
They all wanted her to fail.
Cinderella was a princess and they treated her like she was nothing. Her own fiancé would rather have an ugly stepsister. Her wedding was going to look like some redneck prom thanks to everyone else’s incompetence. The glass slipper was still lost and, if Charming had his way, Letty and Dru would soon be free.
She needed to be fucked. It was the only thing that might make her feel better. But Jack was making her suffer. Cinderell
a had been cleaning for an hour, so she was hot and ready, and still he wouldn’t give her any relief.
At least someone was making an effort to improve her day.
“My boots are dirty, again.” He was standing directly behind her, his gaze on her exposed ass as she bent over. “Clean them while you work.”
She quickly moved to comply. Any hesitation would be punished. “With my tongue, sir?”
“Not this time.” His foot slipped between her legs, pushing her knees farther apart, and he wiped the top of shoe against her dripping wet core. “Make them spotless.”
Oh God… She moved her hips against the soft leather of the boot. “Yes, sir.” Her forehead dropped to cool marble as she tried to wash them with her body. “May I please come, sir?” She was dying.
“Not until I’m inside of you.” Jack said heartlessly.
“No.” Cinderella gasped in ecstasy. She hated it when Jack took her, which meant that she loved being forced to do it. He was so rough and he sometimes didn’t let her come, at all. His passion always left bruises and the marks delighted her. “No, please don’t.”
“You will do everything I tell you, wench.” He gave her a shove with his boot. “I’m going to fuck you until you learn your place.”
“I won’t do this.” She cried, knowing her resistance would just make it rougher and more enjoyably horrible. Jack liked to punish her when she fought. “I’m a princess. You can’t treat me this way.”
“Shut-up.” Jack gripped her hair, wrenching her head back. “Do as your betters tell you or you’ll be sorry, understand?”
She whimpered out a helpless agreement.
He enjoyed humiliating her more than any of the other men did, which meant she only called on Jack for special occasions. He would do unspeakably twisted things to her, laughing as she suffered the indignities. Sometimes he took pictures of the depravity and then he showed them to the other men later. It was so low. So terribly degrading.
Wicked Ugly Bad (A Kinda Fairytale) Page 14
