Release In The Dark (DARK erotic romance series) (11 page)

Above the roar of blood in my
ears, I can hear a voice hissing at me and speaking much too rapidly
for me to make out the words. I shake my head and look up to see
Kylee twisting awkwardly in her chains.

“
...what have you done?
Ana! Ana! Get me down!” Kylee is hissing at me.

“
What? Oh. Yes, of
course,” I mutter, pushing myself up stiffly.

I fumble off the platform and
turn in circles before asking, “How do I get you down?”

Kylee jerks her head. “Over
there. On the floor. His card.”

I see the flat, silver card
lying a few feet from me. Bending down, I pick up the card with my
fingernails and turn it over.

“
Swipe your thumb
downwards,” she instructs. “Not upwards. That will
raise the chains. You want to lower the chains, so downwards,”
she says carefully and slowly, as though she is speaking to a child.

“
I know that,” I
grumble, sliding my thumb along the flat surface of the card in a
downward stroke.

I sit down heavily at the edge
of the platform as the chains come rattling down from the ceiling.

“
Um...a little help?”
Kylee calls out. “Can you undo the shackles around my ankles?”

Rubbing my face hard with both
hands, I go over and pop the locks on her shackles. Kylee untangles
herself from the chains and strides over to the platform, her
expression grim.

“
What are you going to
do?” she says at last.

“
We have to get rid of the
body.”

“
There are two bodies
here.”

At her words, my eyes flit to
the female body curled up near the wall. He killed Pam.

I start to back away, putting as
much distance between myself and that vile platform as possible.

And I killed him.

I...murdered a man!

“
No...no...I...I
didn't...” I shake my head repeatedly.

“
You did, Ana.”
Kylee narrows her eyes at me. “You killed him. Because he
killed her. And now we have to get rid of his body. Quickly.”

Her words are short, sharp,
matter-of-fact. I suck in a shaky breath and nod. “Okay.
Let's...” I can't even repeat after her. How in the world are
we going to make the body of a full-grown man disappear without a
trace? But I realize the Kylee is trying to help me.

She doesn't have to.

By helping me, she will be
getting blood all over her hands. She didn't commit the murder. I
did. I shouldn't implicate her in my crime.

“
Kylee...” I croak.
“You shouldn't...”

“
Which part of quickly
don't you understand?” she says impatiently.

“
I...”

She is already walking away,
towards the platform. “We'll leave the murder weapon on him.
Don't remove his collar.”

With effort, I push myself off
the wall and scramble after her. I nod and look around the room.
There is nothing, nothing but those twisted devices—except...

“
The window,” I
whisper.

Kylee gives a curt nod. “Have
I ever told you that I love the sea?” she mutters cryptically.

I frown at her. What has her
love of the sea got to do with anything?

With a grunt, I manage to unbolt
the window and throw it open. The cold night wind slams into my
face, knocking the air from my lungs. Room Number Five is on the
side of the castle facing the sea, at the very edge of the steep
cliff. I peer down into the dark, black sea below. With a shiver, I
realize what Kylee is saying. I swallow hard.

Kylee is kneeling on the
platform, gripping Dell's wrists. “You take his legs,”
she pants.

Together, we lift his body off
the platform and carry him across the floor. At the window, as we
pause for breath, I gulp and ask, “Will anyone...will anyone
find...the body?”

“
These waters are not
tame,” she answers, gazing out at the tossing waves with an
unreadable expression. “And neither are the creatures that
inhabit them. There will be no body to be found. No murder weapon
either.” She looks pointedly at the leather collar still
wrapped around his neck.

I turn to stare at Kylee. Given
the gruesome circumstances, she is strangely calm and in control.
She has seen this before, seen someone die at the hands of a patron.

As I sway a little on my feet,
Kylee's trembling voice cuts through my thoughts, dragging me up from
the quagmire of my guilt and indecision. “He killed her.”

I swallow painfully. “Yes...”
And that justifies what I have done. Or does it?

I glance down at the white, limp
body that we have dragged across the floor to the window. I did
this. Kylee shouldn't be implicated.

“
Kylee...” I begin.
“I...”

She blows out a ragged breath.
“On the count of three.”

“
Wait...”

“
One, two...

I don't have time to stop this.
And truth be told—I don't want to.

Kylee is already straining
against the weight, and I have to coordinate my movements with her to
get this done swiftly, silently and successfully.

“
Three!”

We heave the body up and tip it
over the narrow window ledge. I lean forward, listening for the
splash that never comes. Above the roar of the wind and sea, I
vaguely hear Kylee say, “Don't you love the sea?”

I turn back to the room and
slide down the wall, sinking to a heap on the floor. Kylee bolts the
window and stands over me without speaking, without moving for a long
time.

Finally, I look up at her. “How
many?”

She raises an eyebrow at my
question.

“
How many girls have been
killed...in these rooms?”

She looks away. “I don't
know.” She glances at Pam's tiny body at the corner of the
platform and sighs. “You can be sure that she is not the only
one tonight.”

I lean the back of my head
against the wall, suddenly feeling so exhausted and empty.

“
Has any of the girls
ever...killed a patron?” I ask slowly.

“
No. But...”

“
But what?” I prompt
when she falls silent. “Tell me!”

“
A wealthy business owner
who had been contributing generously to the Emperor's coffers was
found dead in one of the Rooms a few weeks ago. There was a huge
uproar, and the military swooped into the Red Lantern to carry out a
thorough investigation. Their interrogation tactics were...brutal,
to say the least. Some girls were taken away, and—” She
shrugs. “They never returned.”

She turns and looks round the
room. “But here, there is only one body. Not the body of a
patron, so...they won't call in the military. They'll just get rid
of Pam's body, together with the bodies of any other girls who have
perished tonight.”

She hugs herself tightly and
mutters, “They won't interrogate us. They won't...”

“
Kylee,” I stammer.
“You didn't do anything. You are innocent. If there is an
interrogation or investigation, you just tell them the truth. I
killed him. That's the truth.”

“
No, you don't understand.
All the girls in the Room were taken away. Pam is dead, but we are
alive. Both of us will be taken. We have to deny, deny, deny! Do
you understand? They won't believe me if I say you did it! We have
to say that...that...”

“
Just say that he knocked
you out, so you don't know anything. You didn't see anything at all.
You were unconscious throughout,” I say very slowly. “Okay?”
My hands slide down the wall behind me. I can feel a long piece of
wood lying against the wall. Soundlessly, I close my fingers around
the wood and push myself up.

“
He knocked you out. You
didn't see what happened,” I repeat, gripping the wood tighter.

“
But...”

I raise my arms and swing the
wood down. Her eyes widen but she doesn't even have time to scream.

There is a dull thud as the wood
connects with the back of Kylee's head. She lets out a muffled cry
and drops to the floor.

I unbolt the window and hurl the
piece of wood out. Closing the window firmly, I walk calmly over to
the platform and kneel at the corner. I take a deep breath and brace
myself. This is going to hurt.

With a sudden lurch, I smash my
temple against the corner of the platform and register the shock and
pain. I can feel blood dripping from my temple down the side of my
face. Everything starts to blur and darken, and I manage to smile
grimly as I blink at the hazy image of Pam's body.

“
My name is Zoey, not
Ana,” I whisper to her. “I won't forget you.”

With a sigh, I slump forward,
dead to the world.

A blood-curdling scream cuts
through the darkness, ripping away my flimsy cocoon of oblivion. I
crack my eyes open and immediately clutch my head in pain. The
piercing scream drives the pounding pain at the side of my head up
several notches. As I double over, feeling the sudden urge to throw
up, hands grab me and I am pulled to my feet. Blinking and
staggering, I see faces gradually swim into view. The Warden's face
is the first to come into sharp focus.

Her eyes flash over my shoulder.
“See to her,” she orders. I follow her gaze, and see
Kylee lying in an unconscious heap on the floor. I blink hard as the
events of the night reel through my mind. I knocked her out. And
then I knocked myself out. Would the Warden believe that Dell killed
Pam, attacked Kylee and me and then disappeared without a trace?

The Warden begins speaking
sharply, “Get the body out of here. I'll call for military
assistance.”

The military?

I gasp and start to shake.
“No...” I croak.

May and Lilin are holding me up
between them, murmuring questions to me and whispering theories and
conjectures between themselves. All I can do is close my eyes and
shake my head repeatedly.
Deny, deny, deny.
Deny everything.

May and Lilin are no longer
directing their low, urgent words to me, but still I shake my head
back and forth. Gradually, I catch the drift of what they are
saying.

From their fervent exchange and
the Warden's curt instructions to the rest of the girls, I begin to
realize that Kylee and I are not being held as suspects. The Warden
is giving commands for our injuries to be attended to. She has not
ordered us to be handed over to the soldiers.

We are being viewed as the
victims in this gruesome scene.

I almost sag with relief. And
guilt.

“
...one dead, two injured.
The killer may be on the loose. Request investigative and
enforcement unit...”

I turn to see the Warden
speaking into the glowing flat screen of her watch. She pivots
round, as if sensing eyes on her back. She regards me with a frown
as she answers a query over her receiver. After confirming her
location and designation, she clicks off and exhales slowly.

“
What happened?” she
asks, striding over. Her eyes narrow ever so slightly at me.

I open my mouth but can't seem
to find my voice. A sudden commotion at the other end of the room
snags the Warden's attention. Kylee's eyes are wide open, wild and
unseeing. Her face is a mask of blind terror. She is panting and
struggling as three girls try to help her up.

“
Don't...don't touch me,
please! Let me go! Don't hurt me! I beg you, don't kill me. I
don't want to die...like her!” she wails, collapsing to her
knees.

The Warden stands in front of
Kylee and puts a hand firmly on her shoulder. “What happened?
Speak!”

Kylee stares up at the Warden
and blinks. In a broken voice, she sobs, “He killed Pam! He
attacked Ana, then he came after me. I begged him not to kill me,
but he threw me against the wall. I couldn't see anymore after
that...”

Kylee's eyes flick to me. When
I meet her eyes, I see they are clear and lucid. They flash a stern
warning at me.
Stick to the story
.

The girls help Kylee and me out
of Room Number Five, and the Warden seals the door with yellow tape.
No one is allowed to touch anything in the room.

“
Get them to the medical
bay. Attend to their injuries and get them dressed,” the
Warden snaps. “The soldiers will be arriving soon. They will
want to question them. Go!”

As I stagger past the Warden, I
turn to ask hoarsely, “And Pam? What about...”

“
Someone will examine her
body,” the Warden answers tersely.

I bow my head and turn to see
Kylee being led down the corridor by two other girls. Their
shoulders are hunched as they move swiftly and disappear round the
corner.

May wraps a towel around my
shivering body, and once we are out of the room, out of the Warden's
earshot, she whispers, “Did you kill him?”