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“The driver.” I say as our footsteps echo down the empty hallways.
From what I can tell, no one is here. Most of the lights are off, while the ones lighting the way for us are dimmed. I’m sure the night guards appreciate that, hell, I know I would. This place is freaky enough during the day, but at night it feels even more ominous. The hairs on my arms stand as my eyes slide over the old portrait paintings on the walls.
I could lose myself in their frozen gazes, in fact, I have, but that’s only during the day when nothing can hide in the shadows. Now though, I feel like they're watching me, judging me, finding me guilty of something worthy of a slow death.
“What about the driver?” His deep voice has my stomach sinking and my heart beating faster. Whether because of the eerie feeling of the dark halls or because of the traitorous emotions swimming through me, I don’t know nor do I wish to think deeper on it.
My brain is slow to catch up to what he’s asking, but finally I remember my question.
“Well, everyone here thinks we’re related…” I don’t need to elaborate; he knows what I’m asking.
“Trust me, he won’t speak a word.” My eyes narrow on his profile.
“How–”
“This way.” he interrupts me, pulling me down an even darker hall.
and into one of the rooms that looks like it was once an old library with floor
to ceiling windows on the left and walls of empty shelves everywhere else. Dust
covers every available surface as we move toward what I assume is a closet.
It’s not, it’s yet another downward spiral staircase. When we reach the bottom, he reaches for my hand and pulls me closer to his side as he leads the way through what feels like a labyrinth of halls, doors and rooms until the modern lights begin to fade and wall sconces light our path.
I’d ask him to stop, but I can say with nothing but honesty, this whole fucking place has me skeeved the fuck out. Stopping would make me feel like a sitting duck and I’m not about to be that bitch in a horror movie we all despise for her stupidity. So, I slide closer to him, keep pace and grip his hand like my life depends on it.
I breathe in his scent, thankful the lights don’t expose my creepy behavior, but fuck me, his scent of whiskey and cigar smoke has me completely enthralled. I could sniff him like a hound all day and not grow tired for his unique scent. Hell, I didn’t picture him a cigar smoker, nor did I picture myself a person who would love the smell of them, but on Rey it just works.
Like Noah with his weed and leather scent. Totally unique to him. I could smell it on someone else, even Rey, and it wouldn’t be the same. It’s Noah’s and his alone.
The temperature drops and I feel like I’m underground, as though I’m being led to my own tomb. From what I can see while we pass the burning torches—yes, I’m pretty sure we traveled in time with all that walking and landed in Dracula’s castle—the walls are made of old stones like underground tunnels.
“Are you sniffing me,muñeca?” Rey’s voice has me jumping and straightening. Fuck, I didn’t think I was all up on him like that.
“Pfft, don’t flatter yourself,” I mentally fumble around for a second, “my nose is like an ice cube, I’m just trying to warm it up.”
I mentally slap myself.
He chuckles and the sound does stupid things to my head and heart. He stops and shrugs off his blazer before swinging it around me and pulling it over my shoulders. I slide my arms into the holes and hug myself.
He stares at me for a minute looking up and down my frame as though he’s trying to find something I’m hiding. Without saying anything else, he retakes my hand and pulls me.
I pull to a stop just as we turn yet another corner. Rey’s cold eyes turn to me, as I yank my hand from his firm grip. I ignore the loss of his strength and warmth, my eyes trained on the two giant doors that sit forebodingly fifty yards away.
“What is this, Rey?”
He tilts his head as he folds his arms across his broad chest, “Don’t tell me the princess is scared.”
I feel my lip curl of its own accord, “Only a fool would claim to know no fear. I know fear, and it’s not the boogeyman or the dark, it’s you and every other fucker in this damn town. Now tell me, what the hell is going on?”
He steps closer to me, and I move back on instinct, but a look of hurt those flashes through his eyes stops me from moving further away.My eyes have to be playing tricks on me.
“You got the invitation; you know what’s going on.”
“Oh, you mean that vague as fuck letter demanding I be here or suffer the consequences? Yeah, that cleared everything up for me as well asmantecaon a car windshield.”
My sarcasm is thick and dripping with anger, making Rey sigh like I’m being irritatingly unreasonable, “It’s asecretsociety, Valeria. Now come on, we’re wasting time.”
