“Oh, calmdown,will you?”
Vile.
His voice came from above her. Literallyup.Blinking, she did the logical thing, and looked. She knew there was a balcony level, but it didn’t seem like that was where the voice came from. No, it sounded like for some weird reason he was?—
Yes.
That was exactly where he was.
Looking up, she found Vile standing on the ceiling. Upside down, like that dance scene fromDancing In The Rain.Gravity didn’t seem to affect him. His tie, his hair, nothing was sticking “up” or rather, “down.” However it worked.
“How embarrassing.” He hummed, reaching over and running his finger along the lip of one of the elaborate glass chandeliers. “I really must dust up here more often.”
Reflexively, she backed up, the strangeness of seeing him on the ceiling giving her a momentary bout of vertigo, like she was in a funhouse. In the motion, her ankle caught on the edge of one of the chairs at the long library tables. She tripped.
In the next split second, a few things happened all at once. Too fast for Sasha to register at first.
Her ankle caught the edge of the chair.
The world tipped as she fell backwards.
She let out a gasp as she began to fall.
Something rushed toward her—a great and horribledarkness.But worse than the darkness that came screaming at her faster than should be possible were the great many things she could sense within that pitch-black nothingness. A nothingness she couldn’t see, but that she knew wasnotempty.
And in her mind’s eye, she could see screaming faces, twisted in terror, howling at her in rage and terror—a million deaths, all tangled together like the roots of trees. It made her ears ring, though their gaping maws gave out nothing but silent screams.
But as quickly as the horrible vision came, it was gone.
And Vile was standing at her back, his arms around her waist.
He’d caught her from falling.
“I have to go a little bitcosmic horrorto move so quickly.” His voice was a quiet, bass rumble she felt almost more than she heard. “But it’s your own fault for being such a klutz.”
She was shivering, her eyes wide, unable to even process half of what he was saying. She was still trying to get over what the fuck had just happened.
“We can play with that genre when you’re a bit more…adjusted to me.” He nuzzled into her hair. “Though I am quite impressed with your level oflasciviousness.I don’t know if I've ever had a plaything quite like you.”
It was those words coupled with his hand that was splaying out over her stomach—identical to how Moriarty had done—that snapped her out of her shock.
She elbowed him hard in the stomach.
He let out a grunt that she knew was mostly for show before letting her slip out of his grasp.
She quickly put a few strides of distance between them and reeled to face him. “That—don’t—don’t do that!”
“Oh, and suddenly we arebashful?I see how it is! Love me and leave me, like they all do.” He laughed, smoothing a hand over his black hair. A few of the strands still stuck out at bizarre angles, denying his attempt to keep a perfectly tidy appearance. His unnaturalpurple eyes still seemed to glow in the dim amber light of the library.
But he didn’t need the purple eyes to remind her that he wasn’t human. It was in his demeanor. His smile. His very presence. It was easy to forget what Vile was like, when she spent more time around his false faces than his own.
“That’s not—I’m not—” She was stammering uselessly. Stopping herself from blathering on more, she took a breath and started over. “Why are we here? I thought we were in the story. What do youwant?”
“Well,clearly a round two is out of the question, judging by your attitude.” He began to adjust the cufflinks of his black suit. “If you must know, my dear, you and I have just crossed a very intriguing line in our professional ‘relationship,’ and I amattemptingto be the gentleman by giving you a moment to breathe and establish any new boundaries with me.”
She stared at him in silence for a beat. “Bullshit.”
With an exasperated sigh he rolled his eyes. “I am not lying! For once. You and I have a journey ahead. It seems only the courteous thing to do, does it not? We aren’t even to the first death yet. I wasn’t expecting you to give in to my seductionthatquickly.”
