Chapter Thirty-eight
Melinda was pissed enough to spit goddamn poisonous darts. At Hamel, preferably. How could that son of a bitch say those things? And he’d sounded like he meant every word.
How much money did he have to be paid before he willingly came to rescue her?
She is no one to me. That hurt the most. Brought tears to her eyes again. When she stumbled onto the room where Hamel and the king spoke, she knew Hamel had come to save her. But hearing those words just before she walked in stopped her.
When the other voice asked Hamel if he wanted to fuck her before he left, he didn’t even answer. Was he so disgusted by her that he couldn’t stand the thought of making love to her? What about the other night they shared in her bed? Was that all fake?
Then a horrible thought punched her in the stomach. If he was paid to rescue her, was he also paid to sleep with her, to pretend to be her friend? Her heart crumbled. She couldn’t face him. She turned from the door and fled back to the harem, where she could hide among the beautiful women. No one would notice her when seeing all the gorgeous bodies and faces in the room.
Not long after returning to the harem, one of the women took her to a different room of the palace. It looked like a bedroom set for King Arthur. Whoever designed this castle must have watched every king and knight, demon and sword movie created. She thought it strange that some things were modern—post medieval times—while others weren’t. It was a clusterfuck of grand proportions.
Tired of pacing, she plopped face-first onto the bed. Here was an example of old and new. The bed frame looked hand-carved. Something from long ago before machines. But the mattress and sheets were new. Didn’t even look used.
She rolled over. What did she really care? Her heart was broken. And she was angry at letting herself fall again. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She pummeled her fists into the blankets with each word. With her jerky movements while laying back, the small plastic vial slipped out of her bra, onto her chest. Oh, shit. She sat up and stuffed it back in.
She was sure the virus was why she was here. The ladies in the harem had explained where she was, and she’d refused to believe them until they’d showed her demons floating by and the little magic they could do. Holy shit. That was enough to make a sane person crazy. There was no lying to herself anymore. No matter what science said, demons existed, and she was in another realm.
She told the women that when she was rescued, she’d come back for them. They told her no. They wanted to stay. They were living a dream life. All they did was lay around, relaxing, having food and drink brought to them. They were allowed to come and go as they pleased, but with nothing but desert for miles, the women never ventured out of the castle.
And if they were feeling sexually deprived, they were welcome to join the succubi in one of their orgies. That was highly recommended.
She sighed. All she wanted was to go home to her own bed and sulk. Then she’d go back to work Monday and forget any of this virus or Hamel stuff happened.
Suddenly, the doors rattled. “Melinda, it’s me, Hamel.”
She jumped off the bed and turned from the door. “What do you want? Go away.”
“Melinda?” She heard the question in his voice.
“Yes, you heard me correctly. Go. Away.” Her hands fisted. “What do you care? I’m no one to you! Can’t even bring yourself to think about fucking me.” Sobs choked her words. She slapped a hand over her mouth to keep them quiet. She leaned against the wall, looking out a glassless window, seeing a land as barren as her heart.
“No, Melinda,” he pleaded. “You don’t understand. I had to say those things.”
She became disgusted with his lies. Her sobs returned. She was pathetic. Now she was angry at him and herself.
“Look, Melinda, let me in and we can battle it out after we get out of here. We’re running out of time.”
That caught her attention. “Time for what?”
“The witch doctor, Sefu, he sent me here to rescue you. He was the one with the serum all those years ago. We only have until sunset before we’re stuck in this realm forever.”
She only understood part of what he was saying. “Sefu? What does he have to do with the serum? He’s a voodoo guy. What do you mean, stuck in this realm?”
He pounded on the door again. “Melinda, unlock these doors. We have to go.”
Anger, frustration, heartbreak swirled in her heart. She wanted to scream, cry, and jump up and down like a three-year-old having a tantrum. Most of all, she wanted Hamel to hold her. But he didn’t want her. “Why are you even here, Hamel? Did they pay you that much?”
She heard a sigh and the pounding stopped. “Melinda, please open the door and we can go. There’s a place in the desert we have to be before sunset.”
Her pride was taking a hit also. “Maybe I want to stay here. The ladies in the harem love it here. They say it’s a dream come true to lie around and get fed all day.”
“That sounds to me like they are being fattened up for the kill.”
She gasped. Oh my god. Was that true? She had to get help. Her eyes darted around the room for some means of escape. Her room was thirty feet off the ground. She’d break her entire body if she jumped. The bed lay directly in her sight.
Hurrying over, she threw off the quilted overlay and snatched the sheets. Just like in prison movies, she tied them together. That made sixteen feet; adding pillowcases made it twenty. Then add her height, and she’d fall about five feet. That wasn’t bad. She’d fallen off a slide in grade school that was higher than that. But it also had pea gravel, and she was a lot younger.
“Melinda, I’m going to rip these doors off in a second and it’s going to scare you.”
She tied the end of the sheets to the bed leg. “Humans cannot rip open a door like that, Hamel. Now go away. I’m saving myself.” She threw her legs over the windowsill.
“You’re what? Melinda, don’t do anything to get hurt. I’ll take care of you. I . . . I love you, Melinda.”
Still sitting on the sill, she twisted around to look at the door. She shook her head and grabbed on to the first sheet. She didn’t say it very loud; she couldn’t muster the emotional strength. “No. No, you don’t, Hamel.”