Vault of Glass, page 14
Was it gone when we left?
“Maybe someone moved her? Or maybe Jack came back to collect his trophy.”
“Not the best time for jokes.”
“I’m actually pretty serious on this one.”
“You’re right,” she decided. “I’m sure some weird shit went down.”
In the spot where Officer Rodriguez’s mutilated body once was, now lay nothing but a stone walkway. No body, no blood, no nothing. It was as clear as day.
“I don’t think someone cleaned up the blood that fast,” August said, clenching his jaw.
“I agree.” She doubted someone would be able to scrub all that blood away anyway. Besides, they hadn’t even seen one person out on the street to hint at a cleanup crew.
A ticking sound stirred, and Perrie’s spine tensed. “August, press your back to mine. Weapons ready.”
“The poorly-made utensils are prepared,” he said, his back firmly against hers.
“Did you hear that ticking sound?” Perrie cocked her head to the right and listened. Not a single peep that time. She scanned the front area while August did the opposite.
“What ticking sound?”
“Like a clock.” She took a deep breath. “And it smells really bad over here.” Not like a dead body but something else foul.
August inhaled and gagged a little. “I shouldn’t have taken that deep of a breath. It smells like rotten piss.”
“Can piss smell rotten?”
“This piss can. It’s probably years built up of people coming out here and going on the side of the building.”
“That’s gross.” Her shoulders relaxed. It must’ve been her imagination. “I’m feeling antsy.”
August scratched his bicep with his fork. “Is your ADHD kicking in now?”
“August, you know I don’t have ADHD,” she huffed.
“Really? You could have fooled me.”
A scratching noise filled the air. Their connected bodies stiffened at the same time as if they were conjoined.
“I know you heard it this time,” Perrie whispered with knives ready in both hands.
“I wish I hadn’t.”
A ticking came from her right, but she couldn’t see anything. Then another scratching noise erupted from her left. A long screech, a hundred times worse than nails against a chalkboard. She gripped her knives harder, and a couple of forks were ready in the sides of her shoes. Neither she or August uttered a single word.
Low, then higher and higher, a loud, slow creak, like that of a rusty door hinge, sounded. Perrie still couldn’t see through the darkness resting in every corner. She wasn’t dumb enough to actively seek out the source of disturbance, especially given her special circumstance.
“August,” Perrie whispered.
“Yes?”
“Please tell me you’ve taken karate or something like that.”
“No, but I can punch someone in the face.” His head whipped as far around as it could go. “Well, we’ll see if I can anyway. Have you?”
“No! All I took was ballet when I was like four,” she groaned.
“Good, then you should be extra light on your feet.”
Another creaking noise, followed by a sharp cracking, echoed. Then a clack, clack, clack, like running feet against the ground. Perrie didn’t see anyone in the direction she thought it was coming from. Then it all occurred at once. A black shadow popped into her peripheral vision, and she pushed back against August. She shoved him out of the way, but she was too slow.
The shadow was really a person dressed all in black and wearing a dark cloak. The person—Jack—lunged forward and swung at them. Jack spun around and around, flashes of silver darting out like shooting stars in the sky. For a split second, Perrie thought of a magician at a magic show, then a stinging sensation throbbed against her arm. The knife in that hand clanked to the ground. Her hand clasped her forearm and the dark figure retreated in the other direction.
Warm blood coated her palm as it came away from her stinging arm. August refocused his attention on her and her damn arm instead of the murderer.
“We’ve seen Jack,” she grunted. “Let’s try for the barrier.”
The adrenaline pumped through her veins, giving her momentum. August led the way as they headed back toward the barrier.
When they approached the brothel, which took only a minute, a woman stood outside. Not just any woman either, but Officer Rodriguez—intact. She was wearing the exact same yellow dress Perrie had just seen her lying in. Only, it was clean, not a speck of blood on it. Not a single mark marred her flawless face, both sides matching equally.
“Hey, Mary,” she called, “How about you lend your gentlemen over to me for the night.”
“Officer Rodriguez?” Perrie’s jaw dropped, her brow furrowing.
“I’ll even lower the price for the night, love.” Her gaze settled on August, ignoring Perrie completely.
“Officer Rodriguez! It’s me, Perrie Madeline.” She jumped in front of August, both hysterical and relieved. “Don’t you recognize me?”
She didn’t.
“Mary, you know bloody well my name is Catherine. Don’t act dense because you don’t want to share.”
What the fuck? “I don’t have time for this. Come on, let’s go.” Perrie tugged Officer Rodriguez’s arm, but she yanked it out of her grasp.
“We’ve got to go,” August said quickly.
I tried, right? Perrie couldn’t let herself feel guilty at the moment, not while they were under attack. She took off on a hard sprint with August again. They were only a few buildings away from the barrier when they were stopped in their tracks.
Jack the Ripper rose from the darkness to block their way. The collar of his cloak was propped high, and a black scarf was wrapped around his face, shadowing his features. He was smaller than she’d imagined he would be. Not that she’d put too much thought into his height.
Jack jolted at Perrie first, and she whirled out of the way at the last second. Her wounded arm throbbed to its own tune, and she tried to ignore the pain.
August lunged at him with one of his knives, and Jack somehow managed to knock them out of both of his hands. Jack dove to the ground and pulled August’s legs out from underneath him. It happened so fast that she didn’t have time to warn August until she saw him lying on the gravel.
Rushing forward, Perrie pulled on Jack’s cloak with all her strength. She leveraged her weight against Jack, yanking harder, and he let out a small choking sound. August hurried to get up.
The Ripper’s knife crashed to the ground as Perrie gave his cape one more good pull. August took advantage of the Ripper’s momentary disadvantage, knocking the top hat from Jack’s head to the ground. He grabbed the scarf and quickly unwound it, leaving her speechless. Wild red curls unraveled from the fabric, curtaining a familiar yet unfriendly face. Perrie’s eyes widened to the size of full moons, but she didn’t dare release her hold.
August stepped back, his head cocked, his voice low. “Definitely not Thomas.”
Not Jack the Ripper, but Jackie the Ripper.
For a moment, Perrie was both shocked and stunned—she should’ve put it together. Fannie was the only person they’d ever seen who went outside, besides the dead body of Officer Rodriguez, and then her reanimated living body. Fannie hadn’t seemed unhappy. In fact, her story was almost admirable. Why would she kill her friends?
Her head filled with so many questions that would never be answered—there wasn’t time.
Grabbing hold of Fannie, August twisted her arms behind her back. She thrashed like wildfire.
“I am going to destroy you, Mary, from the inside out,” Fannie spat.
Ignoring her, Perrie asked August, “What do we do now? Just throw her down and run?”
“Grab the knife first,” he agreed.
Perrie picked up the long blade from the ground while August threw Fannie to the side like a sack of potatoes. They then hauled ass to the barrier.
A loud screeching erupted from all around them, but she couldn’t let herself look back. She focused on leaving, finding Maisie, and getting the hell out of the Glass Vault. The darkness swallowed her view up ahead, but she knew she was close.
Then Fannie somehow appeared, blocking their way, twirling what looked to be a scalpel in her right hand.
They stopped dead in their tracks.
“Perrie, I’m going to distract her,” August whispered. “You head to where you think the barrier might start and see if you can get through. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
“Don’t be stubborn!” August barked.
“Fine!” she yelled.
“Good!” August yelled back. He had his mind set on doing what he wanted, and she wasn’t going to argue.
“Run left,” he said softly.
Perrie took off as if she was heading straight for Fannie, but at the last minute, she moved to the left. Fannie was ready for it, and she turned to run toward Perrie. August yanked Fannie from behind by the cloak, but it snapped off.
With not enough air in her lungs, Perrie arrived at the barrier, and for a split second nothing happened. Then a suction tugged at her, pulling her forward again. The strong wind from the barrier blew her hair every which way. August made a desperate dive toward her and managed to wrap his arms around her waist.
The last thing Perrie saw before being uprooted was Fannie hitting the barrier and bouncing back.
Chapter 18
The ride through the barrier was all a big blur. It tossed Perrie out, throwing her in a field of grass with August’s arms still wrapped around her. They hit the ground hard, knocking the wind right out of her, and broke apart.
“It looks like we moved on to a new display.” She stood and dusted herself off, taking in their new surroundings.
August blinked and peered around. “Yep, circular vacation of death. This one may not be as bad as the last, but with the track record we’ve had so far . . .”
Relief crashed over her in waves. They were out of that hellish place—no Ripper. She should’ve paid more attention, shouldn’t have trusted so easily. Perrie was so set on Jack the Ripper being a man that she hadn’t even thought it was possible. She wanted to believe there was some good in this place, that Fannie was like Katrina, but she’d been wrong. If only she could’ve done more to save Officer Rodriguez.
“Hey, check out your arm,” August said in awe.
She examined the wound on her flesh, but there wasn’t one. “It’s gone!” With wide eyes, she shoved it in his face.
“Thank fuck for that.” He laughed.
“And I’m finally out of that dress.” Once again, they were wearing different clothing—there seemed to be a pattern here. Perrie was trying to be optimistic, given that her arm was newly healed and they were safely out of the Ripper’s way.
“Technically, you’re still in a dress.” He motioned a finger up and down at the length of her body.
Yes, I’m still in a dress... But this one was much easier to manipulate and move in. The olive green blended in with her surroundings, and the material was cotton, possibly combined with another material, hitting right at her ankles. Her sleeves flowed slightly, until the ends cuffed at her wrists—a brown belt with a peculiar tribal design wrapped around her waist. The flat slip-on brown shoes she wore matched the same pattern of the belt at the front where her toes were. Perrie’s braid lay right above her waist, and she grabbed it.
“This isn’t exactly jeans and a shirt, but it works better than thirty layers of material for a suit.” August studied himself and pulled at the end of his tunic.
The length of his hair came to about his chin, and she reached up, running her fingers through it before tugging at a lock.
“You rock the long hair.” She let her hand drift away from his curls when he caught it, drawing her closer. Her chest tightened, remembering their moment in bed, him bringing her to bliss, even while still wearing her clothing.
“Do I?” August brushed a calloused thumb against her skin, her fingers, shifting even closer. With a smile, he reached around her waist and tugged the end of her braid. “I like yours too.” He brought his hand to cup her cheek, his lips millimeters from touching hers. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about what happened between us. We need to go, but I just had to do this first.” Then his lips were on hers in a searing kiss, the movements of his mouth fueling her to match his pace, demanding more. August’s tongue flicked Perrie’s and he nipped at her bottom lip, his fingertips trailing down her spine until they were at her backside, pulling her closer. All of his hardness was against her softness, teasing them both.
Too soon, he left her. But they didn’t have time for anything else right then, even though she wanted more. His phantom touches still lingered, though.
Grinning, Perrie checked out the rest of him—tight brown pants, dark-brown boots and a green tunic covered his lean muscles. They almost matched, except for when she noticed a sword belted at his side.
“Hey, why do you get a weapon and I don’t?”
August unsheathed the long sword and rotated it around and around as if he’d just won the lottery. The light caught and flashed across the silver surface, nearly blinding her.
While still holding the sword, he walked over and pulled out something tucked into the belt at her back.
“You do.” He handed her a small dagger encrusted with red rubies.
“This isn’t even close to being as good of a weapon as yours.” She frowned. “I would have to be fairly close to what I’m attacking. It isn’t like I can throw it since, you know, I haven’t been trained in throwing daggers.”
“Better than nothing.” He smirked.
“True. Why do you think we didn’t have weapons before?” She studied the dagger, turning it over. Better than being equipped with forks and dinner knives this time. Although a fork could do some damage, she much preferred this tiny dagger. She tucked it back into her belt and patted it several times.
“Again, I’m going to be real honest here, Perrie, and I’m willing to bet this world is worse than the last, based on our track record. So, you’ll have to excuse me if I seem a little too excited about this sword.” August carefully sheathed his blade.
This place seemed similar to Sleepy Hollow with its lush forest, minus the dense fog. They did the usual routine and checked the barrier. It wouldn’t open or give way, so their only option was forward.
“It’s déjà vu all over again.” August shook his head with an annoyed sigh.
“Maybe we’ll find Maisie in this one.” I hope. “But now I don’t know how many displays there are. She could be in any one.”
“We’ll see. I’m not sure how many of these we’re going to have to get through to find her.”
“Hopefully not as many as there were in the Glass Vault.” But doubt after doubt washed over her.
Taking quiet steps, they trekked their way through the forest’s rich land filled with skyscraping trees and bright green shrubbery. It was eerily silent, though. In the trees, a few scattered small birds nestled there, but not a single chirp or caw escaped their beaks. As if they were too scared...
They wandered a little farther until sunlight broke through the tall and narrow trees, guiding their way to a large opening leading out of the forest.
Once they stepped away from the last tree, a row of large gray boulders twice her height came into view. They stopped in front of the first one, and Perrie studied their odd lined arrangement. It almost looked as though they’d purposely been placed there like this. But, who could’ve moved boulders this big without some sort of machine?
The ground quaked beneath her feet, as if to answer her question. The intensity of the shaking rattled her bones and muscles, seeming to clack them against one another.
Perrie searched for cover, but there wasn’t any. The trees weren’t wide enough to hide behind, and with how fragile they appeared, she wasn’t sure if the trunks would be standing after this. Perrie and August were exposed, and it was basically an open invitation to be attacked.
“Go to those boulders!” August pointed up ahead.
They tried to run, but the debilitating shaking made them stumble too many times before they caught themselves against a boulder.
Perrie dove down first behind a large boulder covered in green moss and dirt, cradling her knees to her chest. She had no fucking idea what was causing this, but then it stopped as fast as it had started. Above the ringing in her ears, booming voices echoed. Someone was speaking ... or more like rumbling in another language.
For the moment, they were hidden enough behind the line of ten or so boulders. That was, until lurking danger decided to come searching for them... A large gap rested between each boulder, big enough for her to crawl past. August shimmied up to the open space and peeked through.
“What do you see? Maisie?” she whispered. He didn’t seem to hear her, so she tugged on his shirt to get his attention. “August?”
He shook his head, placed one finger to his lips and slid over to the next boulder, motioning for her to follow. She lowered herself to where he once was, then pressed her hands to the boulder and peered out.
Perrie sucked in a sharp breath as she stared out at a huge bridge, built with white rocks and a wide stone pathway, sitting in the middle of a meadow, dividing the luscious green landscape. All in all, the structure was beautiful. The one thing missing was water beneath the bridge—only a sparse patch of dirt rested underneath.
Her heart pounded furiously in her chest as she took notice of what was there. It wasn’t Maisie.
Three tall trolls stalked beneath the bridge, their skin sallow and dark brown in certain places along their bodies. It almost appeared like rotten flesh draped their skeletal bodies. These trolls—boney with sharp-looking features—were nothing like what she would’ve imagined one to look like—not that children’s toys were good examples.
Stringy, dark hair caked in dry mud and dirt covered the heads of two of them. Perrie guessed those were the females, judging by their well-endowed breasts and the curls between their thighs. The other turned around, clearly male, his hanging length one of the largest she’d ever seen. Dirt and grime concealed most of their flesh, and from the looks of it, these creatures had never bathed a day in their entire lives. With lazy movements, they lumbered about until something caught their attention, the male pointing upward.
