While running, her frantic gaze landed on the doors, searching for a number. The symbols she saw were foreign. She couldn’t even place which language they might’ve belonged to, and yet the men had been speaking perfect English, so it was unlikely they were in a foreign country.
What the hell is going on here?
A few feet ahead, a stocky man stepped through a heavy door and scanned the hallway. When he spotted her, his eyebrows drew together in confusion, and then he shot a furious look behind her.
Two sets of hands suddenly gripped her upper arms, jerking her backward.
“What’s going on here? Why is she screaming and running through the halls?” he yelled, his booming voice echoing down the hallway.
Alice needed him to know what they planned. “They wanted to take me to room twelve before bringing me to their boss!” she screeched just before a firm hand wrapped around her mouth.
The “boss” stilled. “Is this true?”
They said nothing, but the hands on her arms tightened so painfully that she cried out into the calloused fingers covering her mouth.
Their leader stepped into the hallway more fully. The mustard yellow of his coat clashed with the light orange of his shoulder-length, pin-straight hair. Alice wasn’t sure if it was his utterly still posture or the anger displayed everywhere except his eyes that made a shiver run through her. There was something about him that made her want to lean into the painful hold of the men behind her.
“You will ease your hold on her and take her to room nine. Any damage I find when I inspect her later will be inflicted on you. Do you understand me?”
A loud roar reverberated from the room behind him, making the man flinch. Her stomach somersaulted as the sound of rattling chains rang through the open door.
“I need to get back to our visitor,” he said, glancing into the room then back to his two flunkies. “Do you understand my instructions?”
She heard a low “yes, sir” from each of the men, and then she was being pushed forward.
As they passed the open doorway, she tried to glance in to see what creature the furious sound had come from. The briefest glimpse of a naked, chained man had her struggling and screaming with renewed vigor. The imprisoned man’s eyes were completely black. He swung his head toward her, snarling and snapping his teeth.
They pulled her thrashing body past the room, then one of the men stepped into her line of sight, and her screams died in her throat.
Alice gazed wide-eyed at him, frozen in place. She blinked. Her eyes must be playing tricks on her. She couldn’t process what she was seeing. He was a man, but not entirely. Murky brown wings flared behind his back, and sharp fangs flashed at her as he snarled, “Keep your mouth shut. You’re hurting my ears.”
Was he an angel? Angels shouldn’t look terrifying, though, should they?
Mouth wide, she craned her head to look at the other guard, wondering if she was hallucinating. While most of his features were normal, he had white shining markings running around his face and neck. She hadn’t noticed them before through her half-closed lids. Shrinking away, she felt her knees buckle. He glared at her with bright yellow eyes.
A hoarse “what are you?” was all she could manage as they resumed dragging her to a door a short distance away.
In response to her question, the two men exchanged wicked grins and pushed her into the dark room. She stood where they placed her, dumbfounded. As they left, she heard an electric buzz, followed by the metallic scrapes of dozens of locks sliding into place.
After a few long moments, Alice’s mind snapped to attention and she realized she was standing stock still in a pitch-black room. The darkness pressed in around her. With a start, she swept her hands out in front of her, and crept in the direction of the door.
She hissed when her knee hit a sharp edge. The sound of glass breaking from her right made her freeze.
Not willing to put trust in the soles of her worn Converse, she kept her feet planted then bent at the hip and groped forward in the darkness. A flat, solid surface met her hand a few feet in front of her. Blindly, she slid her fingers over the rough stone of the wall and stilled. Had her pinky brushed a smooth glass surface? She prodded the small, sleek area experimentally. All of a sudden, a harsh light illuminated the room.
Alice squinted, dazed by the sudden brightness, and tried to be patient as she waited for her eyes to adjust. After they did, she looked around the room.
Her shoulders relaxed in a moment of fleeting relief when she saw there were no chains. At least she wouldn’t be shackled like the man a few rooms away.
Fragments of a broken glass of water lay around her feet in a puddle, and she carefully stepped around them. The sharp edge that’d hurt her knee belonged to a low table topped with a tray of food near the door. Alice’s stomach rumbled as she looked at it.
Clutching her middle, she tried desperately to remember the last time she ate. The oddest sense that time had passed was present in her mind, but she couldn’t account for any of the lost time. How long had it been since she’d been taken, and what had happened during that time? Her body was exhausted and sore from the short sprint, and her throat burned from her screaming. More than it should’ve.
She twisted and turned, inspecting her body, but didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. No bruises other than the new dark ones forming on her arms. No atrophied muscles. Her legs, which she’d just shaved before work, were still smooth, and
