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Rounding the pool, I searched the woods again, confused that they weren’t concerned about the threat. But…I couldn’t remember what the threat was.
Crossing to the patio doors, I ignored the shouts of laughter from my friends. Pushing down on the handle, I was relieved to find the door unlocked. Boisterous music exploded into the night and I winced at the sudden crush of people surrounding me. I couldn’t breathe, could barely move; the sounds, sights and smells assaulted me from every angle. Men and women were dressed in formal attire, matching sadistic grins on each of their faces. Blood red nails scraped against my chest like claws, making me try to jump backward but there was nowhere to go.
“Do be a dear and get me a refill, won’t you?” Another clawed hand held an empty glass, the bottom holding an inch of thick black liquid, the stench of sulfur filling my nose and causing me to gag. The face of the woman was recognizable, but I knew this wasn’t who I was looking for.
“Mrs. Turner?” Her grin was wide, wider than it should be and more of that putrid liquid dribbled from her lips, coating her chin, fowl drops staining her pristine white gown. Backing away in horror, I saw Mr. Turner as well, one arm wrapped around his wife’s shoulders, a knife protruding from his neck and a frown aimed my way as if I was the crazy person in this scenario.
Turning my back on that horror, I forced my way through the bodies, many of them were half my size but my movements were sluggish, like I was running uphill with an extra hundred pounds of weight. Every face in the room was snarling and laughing as I pushed past them. Stumbling into the hallway, the music cut off abruptly and any sign of the macabre party vanished, the previously full room now empty.
I was now in the opulent entry hall of the Turner’s mansion. The wide staircase loomed before me, stretching upward into darkness, the spindles sharpened like spears and making the whole thing look like something out of a Tim Burton film.
Another scream pierced the room and I spun in a circle, searching for the source. A man had appeared at the foot of the stairs, stone-faced in his pristine uniform. Bradford the butler.
“The lady is waiting, sir.” He gestured up the stairs and I moved forward, my feet feeling like lead as I climbed higher.
My breathing grew more rapid when I came upon a hallway that was as ominous as it was unending. Twelve-foot doors lined the hallway, I tried to turn the handles one at a time, all of them locked. A sliver of light pierced the darkness when the next door in line opened just a crack.
You know this room, you’ve been here.
A muffled thud came from within and I pushed forward, certain now that whoever had been screaming, whoever I’d been looking for, were the same person and they were in there, needing my help.
Opening the door with the barrel of my gun, I paused, waiting for signs that my presence had been noticed. When none came, I stepped into the room, dropping my gun to the floor in horror.
“Mia,” I whispered, her name filled with my agony. Her lifeless body was spread before me, eyes that were normally filled with light, filled with so many emotions, were now dark. Her stare unblinking and trained on the door as if she’d been waiting for me but I’d come too late.
Collapsing to my knees, I crawled toward her, pain shredding me from the inside out and leaving trails in my wake.
No, no, no, no, no. Not Mia. Please, not my angel. Please.I pulled her lifeless body into my arms, holding her against my chest, rocking back and forth in denial.
“Did you think you could protect her?” The question was accompanied by a cruel laugh. I jolted, tears blurring my vision, to see the outline of a man standing before me. A man I’d only seen in pictures.
Drake Avery.
“Did you think she was yours? Thattheywere yours? They were always mine. Always!” He laughed again.
He was talking about Mia. And Miles. Oh God, where was Miles?
I lowered Mia’s body to the carpet and flew at Avery, knocking him to the ground and pinning him in place beneath me. My hands locked around his throat and I squeezed as hard as I could. Still, that taunting laugh came from him as black ooze seeped from his lips.
“Adam!”
He’d taken Mia from me, taken Miles and now I was going to take everything from him. Starting with his life.
“Adam!”
I shook my head, tightening my hands around the throat in front of me. Then, it morphed beneath me, growing slimmer and losing the dark stubble that had scratched against my palms.
“Adam!”
My eyes drifted upward in terror, in disbelief and met Mia’s wide, horrified gaze, her mouth twisted in a permanent scream.
“No!”
27
MIA
“Adam!” I shouted again trying and failing to wake him.
