Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 147673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
“Just tell us, and I promise you’ll be fine,” the giant said, leaning against the wall. When Laurent took a few steps back, in the bright light he could see his face much more clearly. There were indeed rows and rows of writing obscuring his features everywhere but around the pale eyes, lips, and nostrils. But there was something else under the ink as well, as if the skin had been somehow twisted, chewed through by a vicious dog, particularly on the left side, where—Laurent only now noticed—one ear was missing. The man’s left arm was also completely black, as if covered in the tar that had poured out of the devil’s mirror.
“I’m afraid I don’t have any recollection,” Laurent said quietly, all too aware of the danger he was in. Fane had been tall but nothing like these men. If they were even men, because Laurent wasn’t entirely certain.
King took a deep breath and stepped even closer. “You think you can lie to the Kings of Hell, boy? I will ask you one more time. Is there a dead body somewhere on the premises that you want to tell us about?”
“I asked him, and he won’t tell. Hound only led me to him,” the giant said from his place by the door.
“Why the fuck does it have to happen tonight, when we have cops and medics on the premises? Fuck,” hissed King and kicked over an empty bucket.
“Let’s be calm about this. You know they’re all paid off and won’t investigate beyond the public rooms. If those teenagers could have sneaked into the disused rooms, why couldn’t he? Maybe someone left him here to cover their tracks? It’s obvious he must have had some kind of head trauma. Can’t you hear how weird he talks?” the giant asked.
King sighed deeply and grabbed the front of Laurent’s coat with no regard for getting blood on his hand. “Maybe it’s ‘cause he’s foreign. Are you some kind of exchange student? Ah, fuck this. Get me the cuffs. He’s not going anywhere until I find what this fucking DNA all over him is.”
At first Laurent was not certain what King meant, but then the giant reached to the back of his trousers and retrieved a pair of shackles connected by a short chain, and his curiosity turned into terror.
He backed out so rapidly he stumbled into the bathtub and hit his head against the wall so hard his teeth creaked. “No! Please! No shackles! There is no need for that!” As he struggled to get out of the slippery tub, the fear of that moment when Fane changed from man to monster in front of his eyes came back with a vengeance. He needed a weapon.
A metal pipe ending with a tear-shaped weight seemed like the ideal choice, even if it was connected to the wall, but when Laurent picked it up, it felt disappointingly light in his hand.
King raised his arm. “Shut the fuck up. You’re on my property, and I can do what the fuck I want with you. Don’t even try to hit me with the showerhead, or I’ll have Hound bite off your hand!”
“I will not be a prisoner! I came here—” Laurent wanted to say that he came with good intentions, but if his story was that he didn’t remember, then he couldn’t let the two men know he’d been lying all along. He let go of the showerhead, and grabbed one of the items by the bathtub instead. This one turned out to be a glass bottle of solid weight. He threw it at King and jumped out of the tub, attempting a dash for the door.
The bottle burst into pieces and covered King in a green slime. With the distraction, Laurent felt a ray of hope, but the moment the dark-stained arms of the giant closed around him and forced him face-first into the wall, he knew there was no way out. He screamed in fear when his left hand was pulled back. Cold metal touched his skin, already burning and reminding him of the touch of William’s hands.
And then the shackles dropped with a loud clang.
“King, take a look at this,” the giant said, painfully twisting back Laurent’s left arm.
Laurent let out a helpless sob.
“Christ… His hand’s fucked up. Like he’s pulled out of someone else's cuff already,” King said, looking over Laurent’s wrist. Fresh blood started dripping down Laurent’s fingers where the barely-formed scab got ripped off in the struggle. “This is some fucked-up shit.” King circled Laurent and leaned down to look into his face. “Listen, kid—”
“I am not a child!” Laurent swallowed another sob. “It’s you who’s unnaturally large!”
King chuckled and put his hands on Laurent’s shoulders. “Until we work out what’s happened to you, you can’t leave, but we won’t cuff you, okay? Calm down, and we won’t harm you.”