Page 13 of Crown of Death

A hiss rips from his lips and he becomes a blur. And then he’s in myface.

Fangs, pointed, glisteningfangsin my face, he growls, grabbing the front of my shirt, pulling me an inch from his ownface.

“Tell me your name,” hegrowls.

Eli leaps at us, only the woman plows into him, knocking them both to the ground. He’s swinging, wrestling, roaring. “We’re no one,” he bellows. “Release us and I swear on my life we will cause you notrouble.”

“Why did you follow us?” the man hisses into my face. “Who are you spyingfor?”

“I’m not a spy,” I say. A lick of anger flares in my blood. I shake my head, my entire body shaking violently. “I swear. We’re just in the wrong place at the wrongtime.”

His eyes harden, and he suddenly steps away, but his hand latches around my wrist, and he yanks me forward. I stumble, nearly tripping. I cry out in pain as his hand tightens around my wrist. Like steelclamps.

“No,” Eli yells. “Please. You don’t have to dothis.”

The woman yanks him forward. She’s surprisingly strong, because as he tries to yank out of her grasp, she wrenches his hands behind his back, twisting him into a painful hold he can’t seem tobreak.

The war inside of me, of emotions swinging between terror and raging anger, is very real. “Please,” I plead, fear reaching frantic levels in my blood. Anger and confusion make my vision blur. “I swear, we won’t say anything. Just let usgo!”

Neither the man nor the woman say anything as they march us down theroad.

I debate screaming. Letting a blood curdling scream rip from my lungs, calling forhelp.

But I look over to Eli, and see that the woman holds a blade in her hand, wedged into hisside.

Two blocks we trek, and then we turn into a door. It’s a big steel one,industrial.

There are no lights on in the building. It smells strongly of gasoline andrubber.

My captor unlocks the door and shoves me into thedark.

I’m going to die. This is where they will killus.

Pitch dark swallows me as I’m shoved inside, stumbling over a hard floor. The sound of keys echo once more, and I hear a heavy lock sliding intoplace.

Eli’s shoulder bumps into mine in the dark. He continues pleading for our release, but is only met withsilence.

Hands grip me once more and I hear the clanging of chains against metal and then asnap.

I’m shoved down and I fall into a seat. The next moment my wrists are yanked back, and a chain is looped around my wrists and something clicks intoplace.

I’m a prisoner. Locked up. About to die in thedark.

Yep. This is just myluck.

I should have gone with Amelia to Tanner’s and watched that movie withthem.

I should have gone with Eli into my apartment totalk.

Any number of paths that would have led to a different outcome than the one where I am about todie.

There’s the sound of a match being struck and then a candle casts dimlight.

Cinderblock walls surround us, all the way up to the ceiling, maybe twenty feet above our heads. A garage door is half bricked up, and a single steel door marks where weentered.

My guess is that it was once an auto-bodyshop.

The man steps back into view, walking toward me. He bends over, bracing his hands on his knees, looking me in theeye.