Before I could comprehend what was happening, Bennett was gone, bolting for the door. A frenzy of cursing came from the men as Kirin stepped out through the door and closed it behind him, holding it shut against the attack Bennett was wailing on the flimsy wood. He was ripping pieces off trying to get through, and I could only assume someone had tried to step into the room.
My eyes widened as I watched the door come apart. I pulled my legs together and to my chest, backing up until I hit the headboard. He was dangerous. I’d known, but I hadn’t realized until I saw this. If I moved wrong, would he do this to me?
Bennett wasn’t letting up on the door, all the men on the other side trying to hold him off, but when I glanced over to his closet, he looked at me. It was like he’d read my mind. Had known I’d been considering running away. He abandoned the door and, with inhuman speed, was on me. Teeth bared, hands clawed and covered in fur, I lost myself in a memory I’d thought I was safe from.
I didn’t see him in front of me anymore.
In his place was a ghostly hand, foggy and white-blue with gnarled claws. A haunting cackle rang through the air, a sound meant to terrify the victims and perfected over hundreds of years of use. Before I was able to move away, the claws raked down my side, hip, and thigh, leaving a trail of spurting blood in their wake.
I screamed.
Clawed hands touched me and they didn’t look ghostly anymore, but were just as horrible. Each touch created little pinpricks of pain in my skin. Tiny drops of blood welled. The hands moved and a tongue ran along my neck. I tried to push the offender away, but I was too weak. I’d always been too weak. None of my wards had frightened the ghost off. Frantically, I’d babbled spells, and I tried it again now. They didn’t do anything. I didn’t know if the words had come out correctly at all.
When the tongue moved down from my neck and I still couldn’t push the offending claws away without scraping my skin, I screamed some more. It felt like forever that I was screaming, my throat hoarse, but the tongue hadn’t gotten far down my body when everything went black.
Chapter 23
Notetoself:Don’tvisit Bennett on the full moon. Ever.
I woke in the tub with a start and no idea of what had ultimately happened. I had a feeling one of the other men had killed me to reset the timeline. Waylon with his spiders, maybe. They’d been concerned enough that I doubted they would have left me with Bennett for long once I started screaming.
Without his lips and tongue and clawed hands on me, it was easy to remember he was Bennett and not the ghost I’d nearly lost my life to. In the moment, nothing had been clear. How embarrassing. I’d thought I’d be fine and had devolved into one of the worst panic attacks of my life. At least none of them would have to remember it.
Although, in theory, someone had to be resetting the time. And, in theory, wouldn’t they remember? Unless it truly was some charm or curse Uncle Felix had placed on me or this horrible house. As more rewinds passed me by, I was increasingly confident the men were killing me, and not an errant curse. Fuck, I had no idea. Not all of them remembered past timelines, that was obvious enough when Kirin burst through the door, Zan still hovering cautiously over my body in the tub.
He’d said his usual piece, wondering if I was OK, but I hadn’t bothered to respond or move. I wasn’t OK. It would take me another minute or fifty to be a functioning member of this household again.
“Do we have a dead lady in our tub?” Kirin asked.
I felt him getting close to me, but didn’t bother to react. My eyes were shut, breathing even. They would think I was asleep. Or maybe unconscious. Zan was a worrier. “She’s not dead,” Zan said, and Kirin’s presence retreated again. The ghost must have pushed him back. “I can’t tell if she’s conscious, though.”
“We can ask Abby to check?” Kirin suggested. “He’ll sense if she’s on the brink of death.”
“Waking him before he’s ready is never a good idea.”
“What are we supposed to do with the woman, then?”
Letting out a long sigh, I didn’t bother opening my eyes to speak. “You’re supposed to leave me alone until I get up out of the bathtub on my own. Please. Give me thirty minutes and I might feel alive enough to have a conversation about why I’m here.”
Silence met my request, but I didn’t move or speak again. I did, however, relax further into the tub and try my best to stretch out my sore legs, rolling the crick out of my neck. “She’s weird,” Kirin muttered under his breath as his steps finally receded.
Zan jumped to my defence. “Don’t be rude,” he said. “She’s clearly been through a lot.”
The door closed behind them and their voices left the range of my limited hearing. Curling my back to fit better in the tub, I once again wished to wake up somewhere a bit more comfortable. At least the aching legs and neck crick were second nature to deal with by now. If I woke up on a mattress, I was sure I would feel the telltale signs of them, my body confused about why I was comfortable for once.
By the time I had calmed myself down from the panic attack and my abrupt exit from it, most of my time had passed. I exited the tub and got changed into suitable clothing — something I’d worn before, because I was now having to repeat outfits — before heading into the living room where they’d be waiting.
Seeing Bennett on the armchair with Waylon on his lap made my heart beat a little faster in my chest, before the panic retreated again. This was a completely different person. Human Bennett was offering me a smile that was hiding deep curiosity, his posture relaxed while his hold on Waylon was firm. He was nothing like wolfman Bennett, all animal instinct and desire to own me. The smile I returned was watery, and I sat as far away from him as possible. Just in case.
The morning went as usual from there.
I ended up in the library within an hour, diving deep into researching the spell I’d found again. Bennett was dangerous, but he knew he was. He kept himself locked away and hadn’t wanted to harm me. There was no reason to believe he wouldn’t keep doing that if he was allowed out into the world at large.
Everyone else? Yes, they were dangerous. But they were also kind. It might be the haze of my lustful love talking, but I couldn’t see any of them killing people indiscriminately. They were safe to wander the world on their own.
So I would let them out with me, if I could.
“Wording is powerful with a spell like this.” I talked to myself as I worked, going through the books to find one to give me some more insight. “If the words say the seal is restored after, then I need to change the words.”
