“I think they had her that way.” I pointed down a long hall to our right. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling, and I was pretty sure unnaturally sized rodents had claimed most of the seemingly endless hallway as their den.
“How far can you see?” the Fire Wolf asked.
I shook my head. “Not very far. It’s too dark.”
“I’ll lead. Stay behind me.”
“Oh, now you’re the gentleman?”
His lips brushed very closely to my ear, by mistake or not I couldn’t be sure, as he whispered, “I can be a perfect gentleman when I want to be.” He inched past me, and a river of goosebumps raced up my arms. Desire shot straight to my core but so did a jolt of irritation. The dude was messing with me. He knew I was attracted to him, and he was getting a thrill out of seeing my reactions.
He prowled ahead on silent footsteps, and I cursed my stupid hormones for letting him affect me so much. Tessa. We were here to find clues about Tessa. Why the hell did I have to keep reminding myself of that?
We traipsed carefully around what looked like piles of animal poop and questionable-smelling carcasses. A thick coating of grime covered the floor, no footprints marring it. Despite the dark interior, I could see that much.
“It doesn’t look like anyone’s been in here for years.” I gestured toward the floor. “No human footprints anywhere, although there are animal.”
“I noticed that too.”
“How do you think they got Tessa in here if it wasn’t through the front door?”
He shrugged and continued walking. “I imagine there are dozens of ways to enter this place, and we just happened to use the most obvious.”
We continued on, and I was glad that the floor felt solid. I figured there wasn’t an underground level below us, so some of my worry eased that we wouldn’t crash through the floorboards.
A keen wail abruptly cut through the quiet. I ground to a halt. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
It came again, that sharp, high-pitched wail that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once. Every hair on my body stood on end. “You didn’t hear that?”
“No.”
Something brushed past my body, like an icy hand trailing its fingers across my skin. I jumped just as a voice whispered in my ear, “Girl of power and might, secrets and darkness. I see you. I see inside you. I feel your bones.”
“What the fuck!” I screeched and leaped right into the Fire Wolf’s back.
He swirled around just as I planted myself against his chest. A cackling laugh disappeared into the darkness behind us as though being swallowed by the asylum itself.
Trembles broke out across my entire body.
“What’s wrong?” the hunter asked sharply.
I shivered again and wrapped my arms around myself. He still stood close, but I’d stepped back enough so that I was no longer touching his chest. “Didn’t you hear that? That voice?”
For a moment, he didn’t reply, and the only sound I heard was my quickened breaths.
“No,” he replied evenly. “What did it say?”
“Something about power and might, secrets, bones. Heebie jeebies, I don’t know, but it touched my skin. I felt cold fingers on me.” I shuddered.
His warm hand splayed across my back. “Ghosts. You must be sensitive if you’re sensing them. Places like this are always crawling with them.”
Ghosts? For real? That was a first. I could honestly say I’d never seen or heard a ghost before. Another round of shivers overtook me. “Creepy with a capital C.”
He replied with a low chuckle, before he warned in a more serious tone, “Stay close.”
I didn’t need the encouragement. The deeper we ventured inside the asylum, the more I inched toward the Fire Wolf. It was strangely silent in here, and an energy clung to the place, as if its past inhabitants still haunted the stairways and vast echoing halls. Thankfully, I didn’t register any more icy fingers caressing me and I didn’t hear any more ghostly gibberish, but my psychic powers were humming full throttle.
Remnants of energy clung to the walls and fixtures. Every few steps, a mental image would come to me: a patient tied to a bed, glazed eyes staring skyward; a woman with long dark hair screaming, throwing herself against a wall; orderlies in pale-green clothing hauling a man down the stairs, his legs thumping into the steps behind him; a child holding a piece of broken glass and slashing into their forearms over and over.
Each time a new image came, I shivered because I knew I wasn’t imagining things. I was registering events from the past. Horrible, atrocious acts had happened within these walls, and their fragments brushed my mind, clawing my senses as they pulled at my psychic magic.
It didn’t help that what little light entered the building near the front doors and broken windows was long gone. Everything was boarded up the deeper we went, so I had to rely more and more on the hunter to guide me as the unbidden images snaked into my thoughts.
Several times I bumped into his back when a particularly strong remnant ensnared me, and his citrusy cedar scent flooded my nose. I inhaled frantically, letting that scent ground me and guide me back to the present. Thankfully, the hunter didn’t seem to mind. Each time I brushed against him, his hand steadied me, almost as if to reassure me that he was still there.
Still, it was somewhat surprising that he didn’t mind my bumping movements and stumbling steps, especially given his threat at the Underbelly to dismember me if I ever touched him again. So maybe he did have some gentlemanly qualities.
I jolted at that thought. Yeah, and the sky is purple. I had no idea what was real and what was an act with this hunter. One thing I was coming to learn, though? He was as disarming as he was lethal, and he was a master at hiding behind a mask and only revealing what he chose to. Those traits made him very dangerous.
Pushing my shoulders back, I resolved to stop being so affected by him even if his presence was comforting in this creepy-as-hell place, because it was best to remember who I was dealing with. Jenkins hadn’t recommended the Fire Wolf for his looks.
As we reached the end of the hall, the sound of dripping water came from farther ahead.
“Do you hear that?” I asked uneasily. A part of me expected to see a ghost hanging from a noose in a shower stall.
The Fire Wolf stopped. “I do.” He didn’t move. Instead, his entire body tensed.
“What is it?”
A long moment passed before he said, “I sense something.”
I stiffened. “Do you feel a ghost too?”
“I don’t know, but stay close.” He took another step and asked quietly, “Do you feel anything from your sister?”
The quivering remains of my twin bond were nearly gone, but I clung to a sliver of it. “I think we’re getting closer to where she was held, but it’s fading fast. I won’t be able to sense where she was held for much longer.”
“I think you’re right. Her scent is growing stronger, but there’s something else too.” He made a discontented sound.
For the life of me, I couldn’t detect whatever the hunter was picking up, and it made my stomach tighten.
I shivered, and it felt like a ball of lead settled in my stomach. Not only was this place haunted, but now it was also giving off sinister vibes to the hunter. Not good.
The brush of the Fire Wolf’s warm hand on my elbow had me drawing to an abrupt stop.
“We’re not alone,” he said so softly that I almost didn’t hear him.
Those words had only just left his lips when a flare of potent, malicious magic scorched across my skin and two sorcerers appeared in the dark.