Chapter 7

• We walked further towards the loudness, and I tensed as most of the men turned their attention to me. Was it time to scream ‘help’?
• “Welcome back, Etienne!” a blond dude called out, and the one next to me saluted.
• “Sergeant Bassot at your service.” Etienne grinned widely, and I itched to claw my eyes out. I almost believed he was a normal person.
• “More like a colonel with your status.” I lowered my brows at these words. His status? Examining the thin, pale boy standing next to the TV, I racked my brain for answers, not wanting to admit the one thing that weighed heavily as the possible answer. The stranger noticed I was examining him. “How is your new familiar?”
• Damn it! Damn that man! Damn the whole world and this twisted reality! He was a part of the cult!
• Etienne clutched my wrist, reminding me to stay calm and rational.
• “As you can see, she’s coping with it. I’m still amazed you managed to find someone in less than a day.”
• Another man laughed, and I whirled my eyes to a brown-haired guy with wide shoulders and biceps. His muscular chest was nearly transparent under the thin material of the white tank top that covered it.
• “It was pretty easy as she presented herself on a golden plate for us.” His creepy dark eyes turned to me, and his lips twisted into a frightening smirk as he continued, “Why would a lone girl be trespassing in the middle of the forest at one am.?”
• “’Cuz she wanted us to find her?” another one piped up and jumped from the couch. He raised his olive-skinned hand and clapped it with the other psycho. Then, he looked at me and put his hands on his waist. He was wearing a gray sports sweater with two laces around the neck. I noticed his left ear was pierced, and a small white gem shone in my eyes. “If we hadn’t needed her as the supervisor’s familiar, we would’ve had so much fun with her.”
• The world grew dizzy around me for a second, and I gritted my teeth. This was so much worse than I thought at first. They were talking so freely about it. Nobody seemed the least bit startled at the way these men behaved. Holly shit… Was this place really that corrupted?
• The other guys in the room started whistling and hooting, and their despicable remarks made me want to leap at them and root their heads out of their spines. All the chauvinistic catcalling, the threatening looks, and the dirty gestures woke up hatred in me I had successfully forced to fall asleep now that I was away from my toxic parents.
• But, here, it was an ever-present emotion in me that I couldn’t subdue.
• I had no idea when my body had started trembling, but my so-called owner put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me to the side of his body, willing me to calm down. Locked in my fear, I couldn’t even get a hold of myself to stop him.
• “Well, now that she’s under my care, you know she’s out of reach.” He smiled at them, but I noticed something different dancing in his eyes.
• I remained silent.
• “She? Doesn’t she have a name, Supervisor?” another one of them teased, and all eyes froze on us. The aura in the room changed, and my uneasiness kept growing as his words kept repeating in my head. Supervisor, Supervisor…
• Supervisor… Of what? Did the dorm have a position like this? Or it was somehow connected to this cursed nest of snakes? My brows lowered as I pondered over it. Was I right in the paws of the lion? And if they were all so open in front of me about what they were… Did I stand a chance to get my freedom back?
• The arm around me felt disgustingly heavy, and I started to lift my hand to remove it.
• “Etienne.” Another man, this time with messy black hair and huge glasses, appeared next to us. He was tall and slim and had a few zits on his thin face. His small eyes threw me a glimpse but then fixed on the person on my left. “Can I just have a word with you in private? Does J know about her being out so early?”
• J?
• Etienne tensed and looked at me. Our gazes collided. I didn’t want him anywhere near me, the supervisor, but he still sounded better than the other pricks here. He, at least, was trying to act civil and give me a chance. Darkness swept over his blue irises as we stood, locked in each other’s gazes.
• “Yes, but be fast, Isaiah.” He leaned over me and whispered, “Don’t move from your spot. I’ll be back in five.”
• I gawked as his back followed Isaiah, and when they turned the corner behind the basketball hoop, I gulped. The other students surrounded me like scientists would a mouse in a lab. The hair on my neck stood up, and I balled my fists, trying to act confident and badass. But in reality, I was ready to shit bricks.
• “So, what’s your name, girl?” One of the guys smirked and tried to touch a lock of my hair, but I slapped his hand away. He chuckled, and I stomped on my foot, trying to get myself some space to breathe.
• “Move. My name is none of your business.”
• “It isn’t?” another one mocked, and I turned my gaze to him to glare. My eyes rounded. I knew this guy. His father was a huge magnate, swimming up to the neck in money. I forced myself to get out of the shock clutching me and looked around. There was Silvester Rodrigues—the heir to the multinational multimillion company that manufactured pharmacy drugs and oils. Then, the round face of Micky Payton greeted me; the son of Natasha Owens who owned one of the biggest companies for manufacturing cars. The faces of so many heirs of insanely rich families passed through my eyes that I wanted to puke.
• All big shots.
• All power and money-filled.
• All a part of an insane cult.
• My lungs struggled to breathe, and it felt like I was unsteady on my feet when two hands wrapped around my elbows and held me in place. I craned my neck to look at who that was.
• “Need some help?” His sly voice danced on my cool skin, and every syllable felt like knives stabbing me. I must’ve grimaced, because a wicked smirk twisted his lips up. His nasty breath flooded my senses as he spoke, “Don’t worry, I’m just a few rooms away from you. Once Etienne gets tired of you, I’ll come and save you from the Purge. I’ll be your prince in shining armor, sweety.”
• When he lifted his hand to caress my cheek, another hand grabbed it and pulled it away. Etienne glared at him.
• “I won’t get tired of her, so mind your words, Samuel.” He stepped closer to me and took my wrist in his palm.
• Samuel lifted his hands with a lazy smirk on his face. There was not an ounce of worry on it. “Hey, you said you didn’t want a familiar, not me.” We started walking, but the brat continued speaking, “I love every small taste I get of the ladies that join us here. But it’s never enough, Etienne!” he shouted the last sentence, and I pushed my teeth into each other, gravely alarmed by his words. By all their words.
• “I want to go to the room,” I rasped, barely able to take a breath to talk. Horror was storming through me like a savage monster.
• Etienne whipped his head to me and furrowed his brows. “You wanted food, so…”
• “No,” I whispered, regretful of how frightened my voice sounded. “I-I want inside.”
• “Fuck,” he hissed, and everything around me twisted as my axis changed and my feet lifted off the ground. He started running, and my body jumped with every step he took. With a few swift jerks, we turned out to be in front of his room, with me over his shoulder. My arms hung limply as he entered the room and put me on the bed.
• “Breathe, girl!” Etienne massaged my arms up and down as I struggled to open my windpipe. My insides panicked as the realization I was suffocating crashed down on me.
• “Count to ten in your head. One—” he started counting, but all of those faces were still in front of my eyes, mixing with the bloodied masks and the big wooden beam. A man dancing in blood blended with the cackles from downstairs and the chanting from that night, making my ears want to bleed. They were all mocking me, getting into my face, and laughing eerily as they continued with their weird rituals.
• I screamed when coldness flooded me, and I clutched the sides. Blinking, I shook my head, and water flew in all directions. I was in the bathtub, right under the water mixer, soaked with freezing water. It was a pure miracle I didn’t hit my head in it. My furious eyes lifted to the wavy-haired moron standing next to the tub.
• Etienne lifted his shoulders. “I didn’t know how to calm you down. You were going through a panic attack.”
• “You could’ve killed me!” I barked, my voice rising.
• “I didn’t. It worked.” He eyed me carefully, and I growled. “Take a bath to warm yourself up and come out.”
• When he started to leave, I stopped him. “I want my clothes back.”
• His back tensed, and he bobbed his head. “I’ll see what I can do.”