WALL MEN: A Haunted House (The Wall Men 1)

“I don’t understand. I don’t care. Just as long as he comes back to me.” I need more of him. I will always need more.

“He will not stop there, Lake. He will offer up your people, your lands, too, if he finds a way through that wall.”

My mind starts grasping at words. “No. He promised never to hurt me. It’s written on his skin.”

She shows me my arm. “He was with you for twenty minutes, Lake. Twenty. Does this look like he cares if you live past tonight?”

So many bites. I feel so good…

Suddenly, I don’t feel right. I push her away and throw up over the edge of the bed.

“It’s the venom. He’s given you too much. Do you see now?”

“I don’t know.” I sit up and wipe the side of my mouth with the back of my hand.

“I’m going to dress you and put this robe over your clothes. All you have to do is stay quiet. Understand? I’m going to tell the guards outside that you are an extra uneaten Skin from the kitchen. Once you’re outside in the light, you run before they can put you in the stable with the other Skins. The guards won’t follow because they’ll think you’re worthless—just a Skin who’s escaped—not worth the pain they’ll go through chasing after you in the sunlight. Then you run, Lake, run as fast as you can, following the direction of the sunset until you see the wall. Do not stop for anyone or anything. They will eat you. You have to warn Alwar. Do you understand?”

“Okay.” I lie back down, unable to keep my eyes open. I’m flying on a cloud where nothing bad can touch me. Not death, not monsters, not sadness or loss.

I drift off to sleep and dream of Uhrn calling me a “stupid human.” She keeps telling me to run before they find me, but I’m much too tired for that. I dream of being dragged through a dark forest filled with snapping teeth. I dream of being rolled down a hill.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Benicio and I are in a bath filled with red water tainted by my blood. He bathes in it. He drinks from it. I smile knowing how happy I make him.

“You are so beautiful, Lake,” he says. “I will find a way for us to be together someday. Would you like that? To be my queen?”

“I would.”

Scratch. Scratch. Scratch.

“Did you hear that sound?” I ask.

“No, but perhaps you should wake up. Whatever is outside sounds hungry.”

With a sharp gasp, I crack open my eyes. I’m in a dark cramped space. My knees are against my chest.

“Benicio?” Where did he go? My head is spinning, and I’m cold. So damned cold. I feel like I’ve been asleep for days, hiking through an endless maze of nightmares and fantasies.

Something makes a sound outside—an animal in pain, howling.

“Hello?” I thrust out my hands. Curved wood. And it smells like alcohol. I’m inside a fucking barrel.

Outside, the noise grows louder. I don’t know what’s going on, but how the hell did I get here?

I have a vague recollection of Uhrn telling me I had to leave the palace. I was too messed up to walk. She rolled me out?

Suddenly, something slams into the barrel near my feet, splintering the wood. The animal growls and snarls. I feel a claw drag across my snow boot.

“Oh shit.” I push up with my hands, and the top of the barrel pops off. I shimmy out, expecting to confront a grizzly or some kind of…

Hamster?

It’s dark out, but there’s a faint red haze in the night sky—maybe it’s their moon. I don’t know, but the animal I’m looking at appears to be small and fuzzy with big eyes and whiskers. “Was it you doing all that scratching?” That thing is strong for its size.

It stares up with innocent eyes and nods its little head.

“Were you trying to help me get out?”

It nods again.

I’m about to ask the creature where I am, but something deep in my gut starts sounding the alarm, cutting through the fog of my vampire high.

For starters, that thing just understood me. Second, it busted through that barrel.

It’s a Skin. I turn and run, having no clue where I am or where I’m going. The sun isn’t out. Bad news. Because Uhrn told me to follow the direction of the sunset to find the wall.

I duck under branches and stumble over rocks. My body is on fire. Every nerve in my body is screaming for Benicio. For his lips, his touch, his body close to mine.

I want to go back to the palace. Not the wall. But if I want to return to the king, I have to outrun this…thing.

I keep going until the pain is unbearable. I need Benicio’s venom more than I need air. I spot a bush with leaves the size of a small car, and I duck around it. I bite my knuckle, praying my heavy breathing won’t give me away.