Scarlet Tempest, #1

by Juniper King

  I leapt up and clawed at the rock walls with my fingernails, screaming myself hoarse, sobbing and calling for help. A warm, sticky sensation coated my fingertips as my nails cracked and tore. I felt no pain, only desperation.

  My knees finally buckled. I lay spent and broken on the ground. Dragging my knees towards my chest, I curled up in the fetal position on the cold, muddy ground, shivers and sobs racking my body until I mercifully lost consciousness.

  There was no telling how long I’d been entombed in this pit, it could have been hours, it could have been weeks. Time had lost all meaning. The only thing that remained constant was the darkness.

  The never-ending darkness.

  The slithering, suffocating, freezing darkness.

  And the things lurking within it.

  Thousands of tiny little legs crawled on my skin. I trashed around, brushing and scratching at my clothes, trying to kill the phantom bugs, but they persisted. Itching. Digging. Burrowing.

  The bugs would disappear just as quickly as they’d appeared. Leaving me alone once again.

  What if there was nothing left outside? What if there was nothing left but inky blackness?

  Inky blackness and oppressive silence.

  Periodically broken by footsteps and voices. Whispering, taunting, laughing, screaming.

  I couldn’t be sure if they were in my head or in the tiny room with me, hidden in the cracks, lurking in the darkness.

  I clenched my head in my broken and bloody hands, squeezing as hard as I could and screwing my eyes shut.

  Are you scared yet?

  My eyes shot open, though saw no difference. I leapt up and stumbled on numb feet, my shoulder slamming onto the wall. I groped around the darkness, my frozen, aching fingers scraping the cold, rocky surface all around me.

  My breathing turned shallow. No, I heard it. I heard it! Where are you?

  “I’m here! Aksel, I’m here!” I screamed into the darkness.

  I couldn’t have imagined it.

  Are you scared of the monsters yet? It was his voice, but not as I remembered it. It was crueler—more malicious. His voice coiled around me, slithering along my skin, choking me, suffocating me. You’re going to die down here.

  “No…” I didn’t want to believe it, but he was right. I would never see the light from the sun again. I would never feel a summer’s breeze or see the stars in the night sky.

  Even if I did get out of this tomb, I was leagues under the sea. No one would find me here.

  They’ll enjoy ripping you apart…

  My eyes filled with a new set of tears. All that waited for me outside of this pit was more pain. The kind of pain someone reveled in administering.

  “I’m here,” I panted.

  But his voice was already gone. Faded back into the endless recess of darkness from where it came.

  He had saved me before, from Ilane and the flereous. Had held me in his arms and carried me to safety. I wanted to feel that again. Safe. Warm. Protected.

  What they’d done or how they felt about me, none of it mattered right now. I didn’t want to die, scared, cold, and alone at the bottom of the ocean.

  “Please, don’t leave me here,” my voice broke as tears streamed down my face.

  I remembered the feeling of warmth and safety when Ayre held me in his arms after the fire.

  The tenderness Aksel had shown when he toweled off my hair. The feeling in my chest when his lips had met mine.

  I crumpled to the ground and dragged my knees to my chest.

  “Please…” I whimpered into the void around me.

  17

  So tired…

  Curled up on the floor with my legs drawn in tight, my body had no strength left to support itself.

  The chills no longer bothered me as savagely as they had in the beginning, only exhaustion seemed to remain. I was ready to fade away. To melt and disappear into the darkness.

  A sudden icy pain lanced through my fingertips, all the way through my hands and up my arms. I had felt numb for so long and now my wounds felt like they were on fire. I squeezed into an even tighter ball, trying my best to ignore the savage renewal of pain.

  It’s not real.

  I inhaled and got a mouthful of saltwater. My body uncoiled as if my muscles were spring loaded and I hacked and sputtered.

  Oh no…

  Water.

  Seawater was flooding into my prison and rising fast. I jumped up on shaky legs, using the wall as a support. The water was already up to my thighs. Terror flooded through me, constricting my chest so I could barely breathe.

  I whirled around, splashing through the chest-high water, and groped at the walls. I’d touched these walls so many times already I knew there was nothing there, no hand or footholds to help me escape.

  My feet began to rise off the floor as the water climbed faster still, my head bobbing on the surface like a fisherman’s lure, my body so weak I could barely keep afloat.

  I reached up and my fingertips brushed the ceiling, panic seizing my lungs. A primal scream was ripped from my soul. This was it; I was going to die.

  I turned my face up to get the last few desperate breaths of air, before the water consumed me with one final bubbling gulp.

  Searing pain ricocheted through me as I clawed at the rock above me with my already raw fingers, shoving and pushing for all I was worth. I kicked and thrashed my feet but had nowhere to go, drowning in darkness. My hands instinctively clutched at my throat as my lungs began to burn and wither in my chest.

  A muffled rumbling sound reverberated through the water, followed by a sliver of light. My arm instinctively shot up, scraping through the slim opening as I groped at the air. The rock above moved further and I burst out with the overflow of water, clawing at the edge of the hole. I coughed and gulped for air as two arms effortlessly hauled me out of the water like a net-full of salmon.

  The cavern lights that had been so soft and pleasant now stung my eyes with their harsh glow.

  I found myself clutching a set of legs, desperate for another living thing, delirious in my gratitude to not have drowned.

  “Did you miss me, pet?” It wasn’t until I heard his laugh that I threw myself off. “Come on now, don’t be like that.” He knelt and spoke in a low voice, “If you want, I can put you back in.”

  “No,” I barked, unable to hide the panic in my voice.

  “Aww, it couldn’t have been that bad, could it?” he taunted, “You’re not scared of the dark, are you?”

  “Fuck you,” I coughed.

  He grabbed my hair and wrenched my head back so I could meet his eyes, his fingers pulling the roots from my scalp. “I guess three days wasn’t enough to correct that bad attitude.” Three days? “Lucky for you,” he continued with a toothy grin that screamed of malice. “I like a little bit of rebellion in my victims. Now then, shall we go home?”

  Home. My stomach turned to lead.

  “Up you get.” Wrapping an arm around my waist, he hoisted me up and began to lead me along as if nothing had happened.

  Walking was difficult. I hated that I had to rely on him for support. I was dizzy, my legs didn’t want to cooperate, my head hurt, and hunger pains quaked through my stomach. I could feel the heat from the gems starting to permeate through the numbness of my body, and all I wanted to do was curl up into a ball, lay on the floor, and absorb their warmth. I swayed and staggered as he led me to his home, the walls tilting and spinning with each step. I almost tripped more than once, but his iron grip held me upright.

  “Almost there,” he cooed as softly as a lover.

  We slipped through the heavy curtain that was his front door and his arm slid off my waist as he drifted away, leaving me standing unsteadily in the middle of the room.

  Without having to concentrate on moving forward, my attention focused inwards.

  My entire body throbbed like one big open wound. I finally worked up the courage to look down at my fingers and my body convulsed with dry heaves. Th
e tips were raw and bloody, the nails ragged and split. One nail was missing entirely. Just looking at the damage seemed to exacerbate the pain.

  Out of my periphery I saw the finman step in front of me. Gently taking my hands in his, he examined my fingers. “Looks painful.”

  My brain was running slower than usual. The contact with another living creature, even one as vile as this Super, was, in its own way, comforting after being alone in the dark for so long. I stood with my hands in his, not rushing to pull them away. It quickly proved to be a mistake as his fingers seized mine and he dragged me forward.

  I shrieked in pain and tried to struggle against him, but had no strength left. He easily tugged me towards the bed and threw me onto it. I landed hard on my side, the mattress barely giving at all under my weight. It was not made of cotton or wool, it almost felt like it was filled with sand.

  Before I could roll over, the finman straddled my hip and rolled me onto my back underneath him, pinning my wrists above my head.

  I tossed weakly, trying to struggle out from underneath him.

  He leaned in close to my ear. “I hope you still have a little bit of fight left in you.”

  My tossing stilled for a moment, his words reverberating around inside my skull as their implication slowly dawned on me. A sudden dizziness overwhelmed me, black spots blotting out my vision.

  “It’s a shame you have such small tits.”

  I shook off the dizziness when his webbed hand slid under my shirt and groped my breast.

  My vision cleared and I let out a piercing scream. This wasn’t happening, this couldn’t be happening. My fight-or-flight response kicked into overdrive and I thrashed as viciously as I could, trying to free myself from underneath him.

  He laughed, the bastard was enjoying this, his fingers tightening on my breast to the point of pain.

  My tossing did nothing to dislodge him, my struggles too weak to even knock him off balance. I tossed my head to the side and a sudden giddiness filled my chest. A knife. Stabbed into the driftwood nightstand.

  I could end this right here. All I had to do was use my magic and stab it right into his throat. But then I would still be stuck down here with no means of escape. I couldn’t get to the surface, and what if another finman just picked me up instead?

  These thoughts all flashed through my head in an instant. I needed to make a choice, right now.

  I steeled myself then and, in one savagely swift movement, smashed my forehead into his with a resounding crack. He yanked his hand from underneath my shirt and used it to cradle his head as he let out a hissed curse. We both paused for a moment dealing with the pain, but I recovered first. I slid one of my wrists free from his fingers, called the blade into my hand, and shoved it up against the finman’s throat.

  “Take me back to the surface, right now, or I’ll slit your throat.” I said with as much resolve as I could muster.

  I thought I would see fear reflected in his eyes. I thought he might fight back. Instead, he laughed. A deep, husky, condescending laugh.

  “You’ve never killed anyone before have you, sweetheart?” His hand moved from his forehead and clasped over mine, but he didn’t remove the blade from his throat. “You lack conviction. Your hand is shaking, your voice is shaking, your heart is beating like crazy.” He easily pulled my hand and the blade away from his neck. My throat felt tight and my eyes burned. I shouldn’t have hesitated. I should have just jammed the knife into the side of his neck and dealt with the consequences after.

  “I’m impressed with your fire, but your plan was not well thought out. Would you have escorted me through the halls of Finfolkaheem as your hostage, knife at my throat the entire time? How would you have guaranteed I took you to the surface, hmm? You would have been unconscious during the transport. I could have just brought you back here the instant you passed out. I could have let you drown.”

  Humiliation crawled through my skin at the truth behind his words. He put his hands back up to pinning mine above me, the knife now firmly in his grip.

  “But I knew leaving that knife for you to find was a good idea, now my suspicions have been confirmed,” he chuckled softly to himself. “I thought it must be telekinesis after you threw me on the beach but didn’t think it was possible. Gods, aren’t you a delicacy,” he marveled, stroking a knuckle down my face, my wrists still pinned beneath one of his webbed hands. “It’s amazing you even exist. If you were mine, I would have killed you the moment I found out about you.”

  What was he going on about? If I was his? Why the sudden fascination with my magic? His monologue was hypnotizing to me, a dread building in my chest with each word he uttered.

  “Come to think of it, I’m probably doing your father a favour bringing you down here. A half-human child would be an embarrassment to any daemon.”

  “What?” I wish I could have kept the surprise from my voice.

  His chuckle built into a rumbling laugh. “You mean you didn’t know?” He flicked my ear and brought his face closer to mine. “Mommy never told you she fucked a daemon? You know you have magic, you don’t even look human, how could you not know? Was mommy embarrassed by you too? Was that why you were alone and crying on the beach, hmm? We never did have a chance to talk about it,” he taunted.

  “Well, like mother, like daughter I suppose, human sluts looking for some excitement. You really did try to one up her, though, didn’t you? I have to say, you don’t look like the type. You looked so meek and scared in town—so human and weak. I thought maybe the satyr and the deydre were sharing you between them as their own little pet. I have to say, it was a nice surprise on the beach.”

  How did…? He was in Korinth that night. That aquatic looking Super I’d seen. He must have followed me to the beach after Aksel, Ayre, and I had that fight.

  I hated myself for doing this, but if I couldn’t beat him in sheer strength, maybe I could frighten him into backing off.

  “If you don’t let me go, they’ll come looking for me.” Of course it wasn’t true, but he didn’t have to know that. Ilane had been afraid of Aksel, surely other Supers must fear deydre as well.

  He laughed again. “You think you’re a good enough fuck for a deydre to come rescue you? I have to say, now I’m even more intrigued.

  “I’ve kidnapped dozens of women over the years, and no one has ever come for them.” His face was only inches from mine now, his voice an intimate whisper, “Do you want to know what I did with all of those other women?” he asked. “They bored me. They all broke so quickly,” he ruminated. “Some of them I sold. Some of them I killed. I liked to watch as the light faded from their eyes,” he whispered into my ear. “Some of them I sent out for the sharks.” He clicked his teeth together, close enough that I could feel his lips brush against my ear. I whimpered reflexively. “You… you’re interesting—intoxicating,” he nuzzled his face in the curve of my neck, inhaling deeply. I pulled away, wrenching my head to the opposite side. A chuckle rumbled in his throat. “A daemon…” he marveled again. “Daemons don’t associate with humans anymore, and they certainly don’t fuck them. You might just be one of a kind, Red. I should be more careful with you so I can keep you around for a while. Wouldn’t want to waste you.”

  My stomach dropped as he brought the knife disconcertingly close to my face. My breathing only intensified as it came towards my eye. “But I didn’t know half-bloods could inherit magic,” he reflected, placing the knife just beside my eye. “If you can’t see, I wonder, can you still use your magic?” He shifted the pressure to the tip of the knife and it bit into my skin, just beside my tear duct. A tear escaped my eye. I didn’t move, didn’t breathe. “Aww, don’t worry sweetheart, I wouldn’t cut out those pretty eyes.” He leaned in close, right beside my ear. “How would I be able to see the fear?”

  He pressed the knife into my skin and slid down the side of my nose. I whimpered in pain, too afraid to even scream as blood ran down my face.

  He stabbed the knife back into the nigh
tstand, the tang vibrating from the sheer force.

  “Now, if you so much as even try to grab that knife again, I promise, I’ll rip out your throat. And believe me, I would enjoy that almost as much as I’ll enjoy fucking you.”

  With such a bold declaration of intent, his body almost seemed more impassable, stronger and heavier than just a moment ago.

  I clamped my thighs together as hard as I could but his knee came down between and easily wedged them apart.

  “Get off me!” I writhed and twisted underneath him, but it did nothing to dislodge him. He was bigger than me. Stronger than me. I was so weak, even with adrenaline pumping through my veins I couldn’t escape.

  His free hand gripped the edge of my pants and pulled down, exposing my left hip. I twisted, keeping him from pulling any farther and exposing me completely.

  I pulled my knee up as far as I could and almost caught him between his legs, but he twisted away. The finman lunged down and bit at my throat, teeth catching on my collarbone. I shrieked as blood pooled across my chest.

  “Raen!” A voice bellowed over my shrieking. “Did you not hear me calling you?”

  The finman released my collarbone, my blood dripping from his lips. “I’m busy, Caspian,” the aggression clear in his tone.

  I looked over in the direction from which the voice had come and couldn’t help the whimper of relief that escaped my throat. It was the bald finman who had helped me in the corridor.

  He glanced at me with a look that screamed bored indifference before his attention slid back to the other finman. My heart dropped. Did he not remember me? He’d helped me before, now he doesn’t care I’m about to be raped?

  “Yes, I see you are… preoccupied. But Fiske needs to see you right away.” The bald finman was completely nonplussed by Raen’s outburst.

  “I’ll see him when I’m finished,” Raen barked.

  “Now, Raen, you know he doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

  He snarled, before relenting. “Fine,” he wiped my blood from his mouth, “But you’re coming with me.”