Maleficium: Duo (Devil's Playground 2)

Adrenaline was a balm to my pain. I scrambled backward, making it to my feet just in time for his giant hand to shove me so hard I slammed into the wall.

“Fuck,” I hissed through gritted teeth.

Something else unintelligible came from the man’s mouth as he charged at me again.

Dion and Mel shouted from behind him.

Dion trying to get his girlfriend to wake up. Mel cursing at me and the man stalking my way.

Dropping my shoulder down, I pushed myself off the wall and met him head on. I put all my weight into the shoulder check. The man went down, and I did the same, straddling his wide chest.

“Scalpel!” I yelled at Mel, spotting it on the floor near the chair.

The slight distraction allowed this big man to openly swing at me. I back peddled to avoid a hit to my face, tripping over my own two feet. Just that fast our positions flipped again. He was on me instantly. He straddled my body, his weight crushing my chest. His beefy hands found their way to my neck, and I reached for his face.

The stolen skin felt unnatural beneath my fingers.

I grabbed the uneven flaps and began to pull, eyes burning as his grip tightened.

He must’ve glued the damned thing on. I could hear it tearing away, pulling his own skin off in the process. He started yelling, nails digging into the sides of my throat. I pulled harder, coming away with the entire bottom portion of floppy flesh grasped in my hands. A thin pair of lips was all I could see as my vision blurred.

A second or so later something rained down on my face, and the pressure around my throat vanished. As everything cleared, Mel was there pulling me into a sitting position as she grasped my cheeks in her hands.

“Breathe!” she demanded, damn near shaking me.

“Mel,” I managed to choke out, dragging in mouthfuls of air.

A metallic tang violated my tastebuds, and I realized that wet sensation I’d felt had been blood.

My stomach coiled in revulsion. I could deal with a lot of shit, no pun intended, but not some random person’s body fluids in my mouth. I chucked the thin piece of flesh across the room and swiped at my face with a forearm, clearing the tears and hopefully the blood away.

I finally glanced at the big man, watching his body twitch as he bled out. Mel had lodged the scalpel right in the side of his neck.

“Stop trying to keep me in a protective bubble. You do this again and I will personally kill you myself,” she seethed, helping me stand up none too gently.

I opened my mouth to reply, cut off by an eruption of sobs. Dion’s girlfriend was awake, clinging onto him as if he were a lifeline.

He’d removed the needles from her arms and was hugging her back just as tightly. His glassy eyes settled on us and he gave a nod of appreciation.

“Thank you,” he rasped.

“Sure…” I trailed off.

Mel turned away, expelling a deep breath. She of course, knew I hadn’t come in here with the intention of saving Morrigan. I wasn’t that selfless. I simply needed Dion out of my way, Mel safe, and Mr. Wendigo handled. The jester had to of mentioned him performing an operation for a reason.

As if she read my mind from wherever she was watching—the sound system clicked on and the next riddle carried through the speakers.

“And there it is,” I deadpanned.

“Flesh will split, and bones will break. To free the damned and save her life, reach inside and find the key.”

When she finished, the overhead light went off, and the whiteboard lit up, displaying a set of x-rays.

I didn’t think Dion would be of any help right now. He was too busy consoling Morrigan. Tracing over the new scratches I just acquired, I walked over to the whiteboard with Mel. All three X-rays looked identical. I didn’t notice anything out of place on any of them.

“Do you think these are all from same person?” Mel asked.

I studied the images closely, noticing something I’d missed at first glance.

“No. See how this radiation is black? Whoever this person is has a fracture or break already. The other two don’t.”

She stared at the side of my head. “How do you know that?”

“Lamia studied this in high-school,” I replied wistfully.

“Oh, right. I forgot…”

I cleared my throat and looked over the images for a third time. I couldn’t waste time on my sister’s memory right now.

“Who are they?” I heard Morrigan ask Dion, her words slightly slurred.

“They were brought here like we were. They’ve been helping me,” he explained quietly.

“I think the key is inside our friend over there,” I stated, pretending not to of been eavesdropping.

“You found it?” Mel stepped closer to the board.

“No, but that makes the most sense. Doesn’t it? We’re in an operation room and the riddle mentioned reaching inside something and splitting flesh.”