You Are So Not a Fallen Angel

Chapter 28

“Eliza. How nice of you to join us.” Lorris took my hand and pulled me to my feet, then leant down and planted a kiss on my lips. I tried to bite him and he pulled away, tutting. “Play nice, my darling. There’ll be time for roughness later.”

“Get off me,” I grunted, twisting to break his hold. His fingers dug into my arm and he kissed me again.

“I love the ones with spirit,” he said into my ear. “So much more fun.” He released me and shoved me away. The back of my neck prickled and I turned around.

“Flora!” She was tied to a tree at the edge of the clearing, and for one, long moment, I thought she was dead already, but then she lifted her head to stare at me with unfocused eyes. I started towards her and Lorris grabbed me.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “You’re going to stay right here with me.”

Struggling was pointless, so I let Lorris pull me away, but I kept my eyes on my cousin. There was no visible sign of injury, and apart from the dazed expression, she looked alright. I purposely didn’t look in to the bushes, where Ivan was watching and waiting, I hoped, for the right moment to strike.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked as Lorris pushed me onto the ground.

“Because it’s fun.” He laughed. “And because I can. Good enough for you?”

I watched him as he positioned the last candles to close the circle and started lighting them, swearing when he burnt his fingers. From time to time he turned towards me and smirked. At any moment, he was going to laugh maniacally.

“Where’s your acolyte?”

“Aubin? Off playing somewhere. He’s not needed right now.” He lit the last candle and straightened, looking at me expectantly. I stared back, not willing to indulge him.

“Aren’t you curious about what’s going on?” he asked after a while, sounding huffy.

“You want to use the book of Mysterious Bad Things to open the gates of Hell and to do so you need a sacrifice, presumably me or Flora. Maybe both. And judging from your behaviour of last night, you’d prefer a willing sacrifice. More power that way.”

His face fell, his expression that of a child who’s just had the punchline of his joke spoiled.

“Did I miss anything?” I asked.

“Not really,” he said in a sulky voice. He turned away and walked towards the bushes, not quite flouncing. I scanned the trees around me and wondered if there was any point in trying to escape. No point whatsoever, I decided. I glanced at Flora. She didn’t look anxious or panicked, but she didn’t look like she knew what was going on either. keeping my eyes on Lorris’ back, I inched closer to her, prepared to freeze the moment Lorris turned his attention back to me.

After five minutes, I was still a good distance from Flora’s tree and Lorris was still messing about in the bushes, so I risked getting up and scuttling over to her.

“Flora.” I touched her hand. “Flora!”

She opened her eyes and a small smile spread across her face. “Eliza! You’re here too.”

“Shhh!” Her voice seemed to echo through the night like a foghorn. “Keep your voice down.”

Even my whisper sounded loud. I glanced towards Lorris again, but he hadn’t reacted at all. He must’ve heard us, I thought. So why wasn’t he coming over to separate us? Was it a trick?

“Are we having a party?” she asked as I felt the rope that bound her, looking for a knot. There wasn’t one. Again, I walked all the way around the tree, running my hand along each coil of rope, but there wasn’t a knot or a buckle or a padlock or anything anywhere. It was like the ends of the cord had been sealed together. Frustrated, I pulled at it, but it didn’t give an inch. What now? It was too thick to bite through and I didn’t have a knife or anything with a sharp edge I could use to saw through it. I looked into the darkness surrounding me again, just in case Ivan was skulking nearby and happened to have a knife. He wasn’t. Again, I tugged on the rope, even though I knew it was pointless.