Maleficium: Duo (Devil's Playground 2)

Whichever one it was, it put us on a potentially tighter schedule. She hadn’t shown any of the negative effects Morrigan had so far, which was obviously a good thing.

And see, that’s why at the end of the day I’d done the girl a huge favor. Her life had already been dwindling to an end ever since getting caught up with Dion at a house party a few years ago. He’d involved her in something meant to be kept secret from the average, moral minded person.

In that respect I’d done them both a huge favor. If he stuck around long enough, he would need to give me a huge IOU.

“We still on for the pigs?” Brody asked.

“Yeah. Take the route we already mapped out.”

“We’re going into a fairytale,” Kyrous said quietly.

Pulling my mask down, I settled against the seat and watched the city pass us by.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The second I was outside I followed Ciaran’s instruction and immediately went to the right. The path took me directly behind the tent. If anyone noticed my exit, they didn’t make a skeptical of it. I moved as fast as I could without drawing extra attention to myself.

I had a knife now thanks to Ciaran, but that wasn’t going to do much good if I wound up surrounded. Behind the tent was a maze of empty crates and carnival gear. I carefully made my way through it, watching where I stepped. A flash of movement up ahead had me immediately ducking down.

I swallowed and counted to three before slowly peeking over the top of the crates. I spotted one masked figure a few feet away, their back towards me. In front of them, a little off to the left were two carts like the kind you’d find at a circus to contain wildlife. Inside them were all the people that had made it through Kink’s house. Mel and Grace were amongst them but there was no sign of Dion.

He couldn’t have died in there, right? I couldn’t entertain the idea that he made it this far just to perish inside a fucking clown house. I ducked back down and strengthened my grip on the knife.

These carts were more than likely locked, which meant either this person or someone else had the keys. It wasn’t like I could go around asking for them, so I would have to try my luck with this person. I began to edge my way around the crates, keeping myself low to the ground.

As I came around the row of solid containers, someone in the first cart noticed me. I was still blocked from view by the crates, but so was the person I needed to sneak up on.

I looked towards the cart again and brought a finger to my masked lips, signaling them to keep quiet. They glanced in the direction of their guard, then subtly made a come-hither motion. I took this as a sign it was safe to proceed. My plan was to attack quick, not giving this person any time to react or potentially signal someone else.

Taking a quick breath, I darted forward light on my feet and took the next corner at full speed, rising to my full height. Now I had the full attention of everyone locked inside the carts. I sprinted past them, reaching the masked man just as he began to turn.

It took all my upper strength for me to take him down.

Wrapping a forearm across his chest, I stabbed into the side of his neck and pulled his body towards mine, easing him down to the ground. Whatever he’d been holding in his hands and so enamored with fell to the ground.

His blood coated my fingers, continuing to spurt out the side of his neck as if it were water coming from a drinking fountain. I slipped my free hand beneath his mask and covered his mouth to muffle his gasping, choking sounds, twisting the knife around until the side of my knuckles were pressing against his sticky flesh.

“Keys are in his pocket,” Melantha divulged in a hushed tone.

I dropped the man’s body and stood over top of him, leaning down to search his pockets. I used his shirt to wipe some of the blood from my hands in the process. This guy was well built.

The definition of his abs and muscles were easily felt through his clothing.

Finding the keys deep down in his right pocket, I tugged them free and retrieved my knife before focusing on the carts. I freed Mel first, moving onto the next as they climbed out.

As I helped Gracelyn hop down, I realized two things. She was covered in more blood than everyone else, as if she’d gone on a total massacre, and all but two people had taken off. Their masks were abandoned on the ground. We all still had ours on. The guy had some Legion thing going on with his mask while the girls beside him resembled a bloodied half white rabbit, covering everything but her mouth and a portion of her cheeks.