She drags her claws across the wall, coming closer. I’m not sure what’s happening, but searing pain, different from the choking pain, attacks from my core and begins working its way outward.
The silver stops spreading abruptly, and very slowly, it begins receding, even as the pain burns on.
Idun’s eyes widen, and she takes a few wary steps back, looking around.
“What the hell is this?” she demands in a quiet tone.
Her claws stretch wide, and she starts toward me again, but suddenly, my stalker ghost appears directly in front of me. It’s so jarring that Idun even stumbles.
Idun. Stumbles.
Across the room, I see his face reflected in a wide mirror. I watch as he smirks, and I idly glimpse the triplets, just before they disappear.
In the next instant, the room whispers with children’s laughter, just after the camera explodes across from us. The laughter slowly gets louder, as Idun shoves up from the ground.
I’m not even sure what knocked her down or when it happened.
“One. Two. Hyde’s coming for you,” three children sing somewhere in the room, as their laughter follows once more.
“Three. Four. They’ll fear you no more,” they continue, still singing, as Idun’s ire grows.
“Some fucking ghosts aren’t going to rattle me,” Idun says, snorting in derision, before she returns her gaze to me.
Hyde…
Who the fuck is Hyde?
A chill slinks across the room, and Edward-the-ghost continues standing between Idun and I. His back is still facing me, and since the mirror has shattered at some point, I can’t see his face reflected in it anymore.
When Idun takes a step toward me once again, one of the creepy triplets runs out in front of her, tripping Idun, as though she just touched something real.
Idun stumbles again.
Idun. Stumbles. Again.
Her eyes narrow to slits on the ghosts, as the room starts to heat infinitely higher.
She strikes when the next girl comes racing toward her. The girl merely laughs when Idun swats through her, no doubt using her magic to drain the ghost.
As the fresh salt falls in front of her feet, Idun smirks.
“Ghosts die too easily around a powerful gypsy. You really should—”
“Five. Six. You gave us over three-hundred licks,” I hear no less than three of them singing once more, even though I just saw Idun salt one.
Idun’s own confusion is clear for a brief moment, followed by her anger that is quickly resurfacing.
“Please come out and play, little girls. I want to have fun with you,” Idun says, smiling darkly, as she begins looking around the room.
She points a finger to Edward.
“You, I will crucify when I’m done with them,” she says without looking at him.
Stuck to the ground, completely vulnerable and held helpless, I urge the silver to hurry. It’s almost fully receded, and I dart a worried look at Tom, who doesn’t seem to be faring too well.
A human.
She’s reached a new low by dragging humans into this.
They’re so physically weak by comparison that it’s in far worse taste than hurting an omega.
“Seven. Eight. You pissed off fate.”
“Your girlfriend is pathetically uneducated, Vancetto. All she’s doing is amassing a greater and greater debt by allowing her pets to rile me.”
She turns her attention to Tom.
“For that reason, I’m done playing games,” she says as the room heats so intensely that metal begins melting.
Tom’s chains melt so quickly that they snap, and he cries out in pain, as he drops the floor with a heavy thump. His clothes and skin start smoking, and he cries out again.
Something blurs by me, and Idun’s breath explodes from her, as my own breath comes out in a cold fog. It takes a beat for my body to realize it’s gone from extremely hot to frosty in here.
A flash of red hair catches my eye, as Idun slams to ground. Movement to my right, then to my left, and back at my right…
My eyes keep searching, catching only hints of red, as the triplets laugh.
Just as Idun pushes back up to her feet, her monster explodes free, changing her from the fierce beauty, to the gory mutation her monster takes at full strength.
Her snout extends, and her sharp canines are bared…while the very familiar and pretty redhead casually strolls out…fully fleshed. A grin crawls across the redhead’s red lips.
Idun’s red lips are barely a thin shine in her monster form, her body bulging, as the scraps of her clothing fall free. Hair begins to line her form, growing and spreading, the shifter part of her magic fusing with the skin-walker to create such a beast.
“Nine. Ten,” the corporeal, pigtailed, red-lipped, rosy-cheeked, baby-doll-dress-wearing Anna sings, as she struts in her high heels. “Hyde wants to play again.”
Idun’s eyes widen, seconds before Anna moves so fast that it’s not even a blur. It’s almost a blink of motion.
She grabs a handful of Idun’s hair, and she slams the alpha’s face into the tile floor, all while laughing hysterically.
“Shoot me your finest bourbon on the rocks,” Anna continues, still singing far too merrily. “Or ply me with spice and a full bag of cocks,” she adds, and takes a breath as though there’s more to follow.
Lightning crashes through the roof, sending debris raining down, just as I’m finally free from the confining weight that’s had me anchored in place.
Anna’s song is cut short by the commotion. I launch myself toward Tom, covering his body with mine, and keep myself held up, as chunks of plaster and timber crash against my back. I wince and grunt, as the storm from outside rains down on us, along with the falling pieces of destruction.
The blinding light crashes into Idun and Anna so fiercely that I hear Idun scream. I only hear Anna laugh that much more hysterically, almost as though she gets off on the pain.
As the lightning strike ceases, Idun is still crying out, and Anna is cheerfully singing once more.
As Anna dusts herself off, and adjusts one lopsided pigtail until it’s righted, she carries on with her song, eyes narrowing with some sinister delight clearly shining.
“But I’ll never go back inside that motherfucking box,” she concludes with her dark grin.
In a deliberate motion, Anna cuts an accusing glare toward me. An uneasiness settles on me, forcing me to avert my eyes in an almost painful manner.
That chill only grows stronger, nearly freezing my spine in place.
Anna returns her attention to Idun and throws the alpha through the wall, decimating the side of the house, and causing more of the ceiling to collapse around us, blocking my view for a brief moment.
It’s chaos with the rain, strikes of lightning, and crumbling building.
Anna comes into view, as she sashays toward us, reaching into her bra. My breaths are labored, and my body is frozen to the ground, while my mind reels, trying its damnedest to catch up.
“Isn’t this fun?” the madwoman ex-ghost asks me, her eyes bright and full of excitement, as she puts several vials on the ground.
My mouth moves, but I know I must look a fool, because there aren’t any words that form. No words form in my mind either.
I blink several times, as she pats my cheek. “Be a good lad and heal Violet’s daddy. Then tell her I was a good girl,” she adds, her mischievous grin only spreading wider. “Do as you’re told, and maybe I’ll let you name a plane after me.”