something familiar in Hell.
I didn’t know what to make of that.
My eyes fell on the covered trays on the small dining table in the corner. Right. Food. The hole in my stomach definitely demanded to be filled—after I’d scrubbed myself clean.
As I walked back into the bedroom and glanced at the nightstand—which held the same candle I’d set on it in my apartment, something I hadn’t noticed earlier—a thought struck me. A horrible thought. Downright mortifying.
Oh God. Please tell me he didn’t—
I bolted over to the nightstand, pulled open the top drawer...and covered my mouth with one hand to stifle my squeak. There it was, lying all innocently atop a pack of Skittles and my assortment of chapsticks. A single girl’s best friend, the battery-powered answer to the disappointment of today’s dating scene, the reason I usually went to sleep with a smile on my face.
Said face promised to be tomato red by the rush of blood to my head and the heat in my cheeks.
Good Lord. He’d touched this. Or maybe one of his people did. I didn’t know what was worse. He—they—must know what it was.
It wasn’t that I was ashamed of my sexuality. I had needs—and wants—and I didn’t hide them. But it was one thing to be fairly progressive and open about sex, and another thing completely to have your toys spotted—and touched—by virtual strangers.
Suddenly the prospect of never seeing him again didn’t seem so bad.
I showered and got dressed with the burn of embarrassment still heating my skin, then wolfed down the breakfast—waffles with syrup, some fruit, orange juice.
And coffee. Lovely, invigorating, smelling-like-heaven coffee that promised me we’d achieve all the things together today. Beautiful liar.
Okay, Demon Dork got more points for providing the elixir of life, aka the magic bean juice.
Still didn’t balance out his Mr. Rochester performance.
Thinking of which, I got up and examined the door again. Heavy-looking metal, sturdy frame, and there wasn’t even a keyhole underneath the handle. At least not from this side. It truly looked like a prison door.
I cursed and crossed my arms, pondering. I couldn’t fathom being able to move this door from this side without, say, explosives, or maybe a troll. The Wolf’s Head from Lord of the Rings would do it. I tapped my lips.
Right now, my best bet would be to try and make a run for it when food was delivered. Depending on who was delivering it, I could maybe either skip past them or incapacitate them somehow.
Of course, that would mean he’d soon know I was out and about. The better option would be to sneak out when no one noticed, but that required either opening this door by myself, or maybe digging a tunnel out of here, neither of which seemed really feasible at this point.
The rooms didn’t have windows either, so doing the old-fashioned knot-your-sheets-together wasn’t possible. Crud.
All right, so the hard way it was.
I placed my hand on the plaque next to the door. It lit up for a second, then turned off again. Okay. Time to wait.
Not two minutes later, sounds from outside filtered through the door. I stepped back just enough to allow it to open, my heart thumping at a record pace.
The door swung inside, and a group of the little house demons filed into the room. Three of them immediately busied themselves with gathering the dishes from the breakfast, while two of them stood in front of me, hands on their hips and a scowl on their gnarly faces.
I took a deep breath, smiled at them—and dashed right past them through the open door. Skidding to a half stop, I pulled the heavy metal shut behind me before running on. Maybe closing the door would stall them for a few seconds, give me enough of a head start to get away.
The hallway outside loomed wide, the ceiling high above me shrouded in darkness…that seemed to move. I stumbled a bit while looking up there, disconcerted by the glimpses at writhing shapes in the gloom.
A commotion behind me. The sound of the door opening, little footfalls and surprisingly vicious snarls.
Keep running.
I was glad my sneakers had been among my things brought to the rooms. They certainly came in handy now when I sprinted over the stone floors.
Ahead of me, the hallway took a turn. Maybe I could find a niche to hide in until the demon underlings passed. I could explore at my leisure later, once I wasn’t being chased anymore.
Something snagged at my ankles, jolting