My mother was someone that depended on men her whole life to take care of her. She never worked one single day for anything. My dad worked harder than anyone I know to support her. He and I weren’t enough for her. We never were, and we never could be.
Love was never enough for her, but I’m not sure if she ever truly loved either one of us. I mean, how could she? If she left my dad for another man with more money, and he made her dreams come true, couldn’t I still be part of that dream? Instead, she left both of us behind in the dust and never looked back.
I couldn’t do that. There is no way that I would end up like her and just feed off people’s love and weaknesses. I would go to college and find a good job where I could support myself.
Is there room for someone else while I do all that? I look over at August who turns his head and looks at me. “What?”
He’s already here, isn’t he? I’m still able to do all the things I was doing with high school, so why can’t it be the same for college? August already has hold of my heart in its entirety, and right now, I don’t think I could ever take it back from him.
“So, you remember the kiss?” I ask
His green eyes have a golden hue from where the sunlight strikes them through the window. “How could I forget?”
I move closer to him, so close that my forehead is almost brushing up against his. “I want to do it again.”
August places his arm against my lower back and rubs gently. “What’s stopping you?”
“Nothing.” I maneuver myself from where I sit, putting my right knee against his thigh and bring around my left knee against the other, until I’m straddling his lap.
I memorize his beautiful face with light, blond stubble and that perfect mouth. He runs the tip of his tongue across his bottom lip. My hands wrap around his shoulders and run up the back of his neck into his hair. The curled tips of his hair brush against my fingers. Before I can look into his eyes, I pull his head to mine and give him the lightest of kisses that is teasing not only to him but to me.
His hands move to my hips and he draws me in for a real kiss, and his hands move from my hips up to my hair. August pulls my face to his, where our lips meet, and he adds more pressure. When I drag the tip of my tongue across his bottom lip, his mouth opens to mine. Our tongues meet, and it all feels right.
I push lightly on him so that he understands to lie down. The kiss grows from sweet to fierce, and my heart is crying from how much it has grown. The rush is trailing throughout my chest and is border lining moments before exploding.
Right now, I don’t care about anything. I don’t know if we are going to make it out of Quinsey Wolfe’s Glass Vault. Even if we leave this display alive, then what’s next? Another display and then another and another and another?
If something happens to one of us the way it did Maisie and the others, one of us would be stuck. I’m not going to waste time today, tomorrow, or any other day that I have.
My lips leave his, and when I lift my head to look into his eyes, I want to tell him what I have known for a while now. “August, I love you.”
Before he can say anything else, I press my lips back against his. His lips pull into a smile against mine, and that is all the answer that I need.
I untie the string of his tunic at his chest and haul it over his head onto the floor below. He helps me take off my dress, and we laugh when it gets stuck several times in the process.
He flips me over and kisses me again and again, until there are no other thoughts. I unbutton his pants, and he slides them off and throws those on the floor, too.
When his weight lays back down on me, his mouth meets my shoulder and trails kisses across it, up my neck, and along my jaw, until his lips mold to mine.
“Are you sure? We can slow down,” he asks.
“I’m sure. Are you?”
“Perrie, I‘ve been sure about you since the day you held your cello bow to my chest as a weapon.”
“Really? That didn’t run you a hundred miles in the opposite direction?”
“No. It left me intrigued.”
I haven’t felt that way since then. He has waited for me to meet him halfway for a while now, and I’m finally there.
The rest of our underclothes are tossed to the ground. When we come together, it all makes sense. We show each other both how much we care, equally.
Afterward, we are legs and arms twisted and braided, and I fall asleep in his arms. I dream an everyday dream with no twists, turns, or running for my life. My dream is just a normal morning at the breakfast table after my dad has left for work.
Maisie comes to the door in one of her newly designed eye patches. It’s a giant peach, sewn in stitched lettering across it says, “Everything is peachy.” She’s excited about starting a new job at a resale clothing store, since she can get everything half price and use the clothing and materials for her designs.
She drives us to school at the exact speed limit. We spot Neven, who comes over to us waving and joins us to talk about how he got a basketball scholarship. Maisie and I both congratulate him, and Maisie gives him a high five. August comes through the doors and walks over to us, and Neven gives him a pat on the back.
August wraps his arms around me, at the same time I lace mine around his waist. He tilts me back and gives me a long kiss. I should be embarrassed about kissing him in front of everyone, but I’m not.
He brings me back up, and Maisie and Neven are just smiling. “You two need to get a room,” Neven laughs. Maisie just stands there, shaking her head.
Slowly, I wake up after that. Before I open my eyes, I think about how that was such a weird dream with Neven there, but it felt right.
My arm drapes across August’s stomach, and I look up at him. He turns his head and looks over at me and grins at me. “I was wondering if you would ever wake up.”
I give him a quick kiss on the cheek and then lay back against his shoulder. “I was having such a good dream.”
“Oh? Were you dreaming about me?”
“What do you think?” I laugh.
“I hope so, because it will be the last good dream you’ll have for a while.”
I don’t have time to think. He flips me quickly onto my back and hovers above me with a devious look on his face. His head drops to the side of mine, and his mouth is a hairsbreadth away from my ear. “Thanks for the fuck.”
Chapter 29
My body stills. What did he just say? I turn my head to look in his face that is mere inches from mine. “August?”
“I have to admit. Out of everyone I have ever been with, you are at the top. There is one other girl that is close but not quite. I can’t recall her true name.” He taps the side of his head, and I can’t seem to find a single word to say here. “Oh, yes, but I do remember the red hair if I recall correctly. About seven months ago, at Neven’s.”
“What are you talking about?” I whisper.
His smile grows wide, and he moves a piece of hair off my forehead. “That’s right. You thought it was Neven with that girl. Oops.” August shoots me a sympathetic look.
I jerk up, and he shoves me back down, holding me by my shoulders. “August, what is going on?”
He tilts his head to the side and gives me a look, as if I’m a child who doesn’t know the simplest answer. “August. That is the name I am going by at the moment.”
What is he talking about? I saw Neven sleeping with that girl clear as day. That was not August. Oh, my God. This may not even be August, and I just slept with whoever the hell this is. I jerk myself up, but his hold is too strong.
“I will let you in on a little secret. My name isn’t August. It is whoever I choose to be whenever and wherever I want. I have toyed with you, Perrie, for months and months. This whole entire place is mine.” He lifts his head and looks around the room, as if he is proud of this precious tower.
“You have known me as August, some have known me as just a name without a face such as Quinsey Wolfe, but my real name is Va
le. I couldn’t very well have you or the others die outside of the vault. What could Ido with useless bodies that would only wither away? This way dying here will form an immortal body with much more strength and power than can be imagined. I chose who I wanted to see my vault. I have concocted a plan for a long time to play for humanity, and you, my dear Perrie, are going to help lead it.”
What is he? I think I’m going to be nauseous, and I have to get away from this sick freak. “Get off of me!”
He’s off me so fast. Before I have a chance to run, he has me by the hair and yanks me off the bed. The pain is excruciating and each and every single one of the tiny hair follicles is on fire and thumping a beat of howls.
I screech as loud as I can, and the sound to my own ears is even worse than the squeal of squeaky brakes.
“We need to hurry so we are not late to meet your friend,” Vale sings as he begins to drag me across the floor by my hair. Then he stops, and I struggle to break free from his hold. “Oh, and by the way, you said that you would recognize the red hair from the girl that you thought was with Neven from anywhere, but you didn’t, did you?”
I stop struggling for a second in shock, and then I know. “Fannie,” I whisper. I did say that, but I was wrong. It didn’t click until now.
“That’s right. That’s right. That’s the name she uses now. I let her come out and play, since she had been trapped below for so long with me. Like I said, nowhere near as good as you, though.” Vale begins to drag me again and yanks hard making the pain worse than it was before. He begins to hum to himself, me, to both of us, or maybe to no one.
What have I done? I trusted this thing. I don’t know what he is, or even if he is a person. The cement scratches at my back as he continues to drag me, and there is no time to be concerned that I don’t have my clothes on. In fact, I don’t care at all. I just want him to let go of my hair.
I continue to scream, and my head is relieved when I’m tossed to the ground like a sack of trash. Before I can pull myself up, I hear a click and turn around to see Vale locking a cage that he just threw me inside of. “I will give you two a few minutes before I come back.”
Give you two a few minutes? I slowly, half afraid and half not caring, begin to turn my head to see what he’s talking about. I spot the black head of hair instantly, tilted down with a ring around his neck.
Neven. Shit. The tears start to flow from my eyes, and I run over to him and lift his face. “Neven?”
He opens his eyes and groans. Then realization hits him that I’m here in a cell with him. “Perrie? Am I dreaming? Where are your clothes?” he slurs.
Neven looks the same but not. He has lines running all along his arms, neck and face, as if he has been torn apart and stitched back together. So, he is Frankenstein’s Monster, the one I saw back in the museum. “I can’t. I just can’t talk about it right now. What happened to you?”
He tells me how he saw the museum after the argument at my house. That day seems like ages ago to me now. Neven stopped and walked into the building, and no one was inside. He decided to leave, but the door was locked somehow, and he couldn’t get back outside. He decided to walk through the place to find another exit inside, until he came across the displays. He was transported into the Frankenstein display and was torn apart and tortured by Vale. He passed out during the process and woke up chained to this wall.
“You know that August is not August, right?” Neven says softly.
I nod my head and begin to break down. It’s so stupid, but I was just so happy, and now I don’t know what to do about anything. “I’m so stupid. This is insane. His name is Vale, and I know now that it was never you there. It was him. I don’t know exactly how, but he had your face, Neven.”
“Of course, I did. I already told you I could be anyone I wanted.” I turn around to see Vale hovering near the cell. He’s wearing black slacks and a white long sleeve shirt that is buttoned at the ends. The neck is collarless and has a V-neck with ruffles that I want to rip off and strangle him with. “I have been hidden away for too long, and it is my time to rise and take over. We will bring destruction to everyone. I made this place and filled it one by one with my creations to help carry out my deeds. They may look like glass on the outside now, but after this, they won’t anymore. You are to be my last.”
“I don’t understand,” I start. “Why, me? Why go through all of this? You could have tossed me into one of the displays like everyone else. Why make me—” I can’t even say the stupid words. Why make me fall in love with you?
“Why? Why? I would not have noticed you in that Orchestra room. When you came up to me like you were a queen with that bow in your hand, and then walked out with your boyfriend like you had the best life in the world, it happened to be your lucky day. I knew I wanted you, no matter how long it took to hand your emotions over to me. Now that I have them, the time is right.” He looks over at Neven. “That’s right, Neven. As you were sitting here chained to the wall, I had her in ways you can’t even begin to imagine.”
I can’t even look at Neven’s face when he roars at Vale to leave me alone. The self-loathing has already begun, and that must be what Vale wanted.
He unlocks the cage and is in front of me with a speed that is inhuman. “What are you?”
Vale already has my hair in his hands yanking it back. “To you? A demon, a monster, your worst nightmare. As I told you before, I can be anything.”
Above me, the ceiling is gray with indents all around. I can’t see anything except for half of Vale’s face. With my neck straining at this angle, I can’t even gather enough saliva in this position to spit at his face. That perfect skin that I desperately want to claw off.
I don’t even see it coming, but the pain at my throat triggers an instant reaction. My hands come up to my neck, and I touch warm liquid that is rushing out. Neven is yelling frantically.
“Your soul is mine,” Vale strokes my cheek.
The blood from my throat drenches my hands, and I can’t make it stop. My body grows weaker and begins to numb. None of those images flash through my head that you supposedly have while you are dying. There’s nothing except the urge to live.
My hands fall limply to my sides, and I’m unable to move any other part of my body. I can’t even blink. I’m just waiting for all of it to go away, and the darkness to set in.
Vale must be dragging me. If he’s doing it by my hair, I can’t feel it. All that I see is the ceiling moving and part of Vale’s black pants.
I’m able to hear every detailed sound, as if the universe wants me to sit inside of this body longer just to see me suffer more.
There’s movement, and I see Vale over me. He lifts me up and plops me on top of something and then hovers directly over my face. “You know, Maisie was right about one thing. When she said, ‘You die here, you stay here.’ She is a smart girl but not smart enough to piece it all together. You do die here and stay here, but only until I am ready to release you. You my darling, are going to be something else, and that hate in you is going to grow and gather and lead to true carnage. You will be like the others, like Maisie and Neven. When I bring you back to life, all traces of humanity will be gone. You all are my advocates.”
He leans down and brushes his lips against mine. I don’t feel a thing, or I would have bitten his lip off if I could. Vale reaches over and closes my eyes, until I only see the darkness I have been waiting for.
Epilogue
Vale looks down at the Bride, and she is the most exquisite creation he has altered. She told him that she loved him. He didn’t know what love was. He still doesn’t, but she is his. All he knows is satisfaction and ruination.
His heart is darker than midnight, and he likes it that way. The wound at her throat is stitched and mended. All the mortals inside the Glass Vault are no longer human; they are fiends that are ready to feed upon the earth.
Their thoughts now match his. Vale feeds his bride the electricity she needs, until the sparks crackle and
cease.
Her eyes burst open with a wickedness that has him giddy with glee. One by one, the sculptures that are no longer glass all rise. They are like the living dead thawing out of hibernation, digging through the dirt to reach their destination.
Vale opens the door to Quinsey Wolfe’s Glass Vault. The Bride is the first to exit, and they all follow her into the night at the witching hour. The palms of her hands are popping and illuminating electricity that is ready to strike.
Acknowledgements
First, I would like to thank the readers who decided to pick up and read my book. A book is not an easy thing to do, so thank you for the support.
I would like to thank my family. My husband for being supportive and letting me live out my dream. My daughter for her encouragement at such an early age. My parents for always being there for me.
My small little beta team. Thank you, Victoria Robinson (I know I bugged you with all my questions), Kattie Sivley (I think I bugged you the most with my questions), Erika Burden, Mary Frame, and Brittany Torina for taking the time to read this before being edited, and what a mess it probably was.
Amy Donnelly, my editor, who took me to different levels and made me think more outside of the box.
My cover designer Jenny. She knew how to take the load of scribble I gave and come up with something amazing.
Lastly, my history on growing up with horror movies, fairytales, and real life unsolved mysteries. I’m just a huge fan of retellings in general and wanted to combine the love of what I had for these things growing up.
About the Author
Candace Robinson lives just outside of Houston, Texas, where it feels like the hottest place on Earth with the crazy weather. No, seriously, one day it's thirty degrees and the next it's seventy degrees! She resides with her husband and creative daughter, and when not busy entertaining them, you can find her nose stuck in a book. She also finds writing in third person about herself completely and utterly odd.
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