Power (Romantic Suspense) (44 page)

He walked back to that terrifying living room. “305 and Crusher, come with me.”

305 offered, “Maybe, 305 should man the door.”

Noah roared. “Get your ass over here!”

“What?” I smacked Fuji’s hands away and raced after Noah. “Baby, what are you going to do?”

He stopped. “Get back in the front.”

“No. I can help.”

“I doubt the house well let us leave if you tell it a bunch of jokes.”

“The house?” I whispered.

“See.” 305 hit his head. “I told you that this motherfucker was cursed!”

“What are you going to do?” I asked Noah.

“You were right,” Noah said. “I should save him.”

“Umm, that was before I realized that we couldn’t get out.” A book slammed into my shoulder. “And before he sounded like the devil.”

Screeching came from our sides. Everyone turned. All of them pointed their guns so fast that shit scared me worst.
These guys don’t play.
For that reason, fear lessened in my heart. If one was to be stuck in a haunted house, one would want to be trapped with them.

305 lowered his voice. “Where’s that noise coming from?”

“Stairs.” Noah gestured with the tip of his gun.

The screeching increased and the pounding of footsteps came next.

Crusher growled in his dark voice. “Somebody’s coming, boss.”

“Thank you, Crusher.” Noah frowned. “I think we figured that out.”

The foot pounding came close. Cold wind blew through my hair and delivered a shiver. The books stopped falling. The storm continued to rage on outside.

“Do we shoot whoever it is?” Fuji put his finger on the trigger.

“Sounds like a good idea to me.” Noah made sure I stayed behind him.

My heart hammered in my chest. We waited for the longest five seconds of my life. One. Boom. Two. That baby cried again. Three. Books fell in front of the door, barring our way for good. Four. Thunder crackled and I held my breath.

Five.

Mo poked his head out from the stairs. “There’s no baby up there.”

Sighing, Noah put his guns down.

“You almost got shot, kid.” 305 yanked him off the steps. “Why the hell would you go looking around here.”

“The place is kind of cool.” Mo smiled. Sadly, I think that was the first time I’d ever seen the kid look happy.

“What’s up there?” Fuji asked.

“Who cares?” 305 headed back to the door. “Yo, where was the other guys that were here. Wasn’t it like five or so. . .”

Crusher nodded. “When we headed back, Pete and Baby Boy went into the den or whatever that other room is.”

“Probably more of a salon,” Fuji offered.

“Everyone shut up.” Noah wiped the sweat off of his forehead and stared at me. “I shouldn’t have brought you.”

I shook my head. “I just need a gun.”

“Now that’s scary,” 305 muttered.

Noah handed me one of his. “Can you shoot?”

“No.”

“305’s right.” Noah took it back. “Stay behind me.”

“Hey, I can help.”

“Help do what?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” I thought back to that first sight of Aristotle. His dreadlocks connected to every part of the house. I’d wondered if he glued them there, but knew that had to be ridiculous. But his whole house was absurd—towers of books, haunting chaos, and a sweet scent as he sat naked on that throne. “We need a knife, maybe if we cut his hair. . .”

Noah quirked his eyebrows. “What?”

“We should cut the dreads off of him or something. Shoot them away.”

Squinting, Noah looked like he was considering my idea. Meanwhile, everyone else moved books out of the way, possibly searching for another door. A man screamed in horror on the other side of the house. How many had already died? Lots of men had been screaming since we’d tried to escape.

Noah rubbed more sweat off of his face with his arm. “Okay. You’re the light. Let’s try it.”

He stalked off.

“I’m the light?” I muttered.

Fuji and Crusher moved to my sides which was damn near impossible in that book-stacked hallway. If they thought they were keeping me safe, they were wrong. I was damn close to being crushed by both of those big bodies.

305’s voice screeched. “Oh shit, we’re going back?”

“I can’t believe this,” 305 muttered as he followed. What else could he do? Rather that, then him stand in the hallway alone. I glanced over my shoulder. Mo giggled with each step, browsing novel titles with glee in his eyes.

That kid is really messed up.

We re-entered the living room.

Aristotle still sat on the throne. His eyes blazed bright red. His hands lay on his knees as if he’d been meditating. “What do you want?”

Noah wasted no words. He raised both guns in the air and shot at Aristotle’s dreadlocks. Two fell from the air. Blood dripped from the ceiling. Glass cracked off in the distance.

Noah shot some more. “Everybody shoot at his hair.”

With no questions or pause, everyone complied, including 305 who was more than happy to have something to shoot at. More locs fell. Blood came too. I ducked behind Crusher’s huge ass, getting out of the way.

“Noah?!” Aristotle screamed as fear blazed through those red eyes. He remained in the lotus position, but now his body shook as more dreads fell around him. “What are you doing?!”

More books fell.

“Watch out, baby!” I yelled and dove to the floor, scared to get in the way of all the bullets.

“I got it.” Noah knocked the books away and slid to the right, shooting more locs.

I need a knife or something. I should’ve kept that gun.

I looked around. Some of the dreadlocks had been stuck to the floor too. I crawled over to them and grabbed one.
Jesus Christ!
The loc pumped in my hand. Like a heartbeat. As if it was alive. Like the hair breathed or at least was a vehicle for something else that lived.

“Oh, God.” I tightened my hand around this thick, beating dreadlock and ripped it away from the floor. Blood sprayed. “It’s definitely the locs!”

I guess.

“Keep shooting at them!” I searched for more.

Instead of one baby crying above us, several blared on the second floor.

What is that? Mo said there were no babies up there. Is that the house?

The noise filled the air. Nevertheless, the guys shot and I yanked away these disgusting things. Blood poured down my hands and covered my legs. In fact, it rained blood upon us. Blood and dreadlocks. At one point in time, I’d considered locing my hair. Now, I probably couldn’t look at the hairstyle again without vomiting.

“No! No!” Aristotle never moved. He just screamed. “No! You’re killing her!”

Her? Fuck!

People reloaded while others shot. More books toppled over us. Crusher slammed several away. The windows, that I hadn’t seen before, all came into view. They opened on their own. Wind and rain blew in.

I crawled all over the floor, searching for more. Every now and then, I checked on Aristotle. Tears covered his face. His head looked odd. Different sizes of locs dangled on his blood-splattered face. He just kept shaking his head and crying.

No babies cried. No laughter came from Aristotle. Minutes passed. Shooting and reloading ensued. Once we were all sure the locs had left his head, Noah ordered Crusher to grab Aristotle. And that man’s body quaked in the big guy’s arms.

Will we ever know what happened?

“Yo, I think we killed it.” 305 reloaded his gun. “Boss?”

“I don’t know.” Noah seized my hand. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

We raced out of there.

This time, the hallway was clear of books.

This time, the door worked.

This time, we ran as fast as we could.

This time, no one spoke while we passed all the dead bodies littering the porch and stairs.

This time, we got the fuck out of there with no jokes or humor to pave the way.

This time, we knew for sure that our world held.

Chapter 30

Mary Jane

The lady of a house had a simple-minded slave. But when she got a peek at just how thick his other head was also, she lusted after him. She put a mask over her face so that he wouldn't recognize her, and played around with him. Joining her game, he had sex with her. Then, grinning as he usually did, he reported to his master:
"Sir, sir, I fucked the dancer and the mistress was inside!"

–Philogelos (The Laughter Lover)

T
he
limo ride back to Din City was pure chaos. 305 drove. Mo sat up front with him. It was obvious that Aristotle needed a straitjacket, resulting in Fuji and Crusher needing to hold him down while he fought and wrestled the entire drive.

“Let me go back to her! Let me go back!” Aristotle slapped and hit, kicked and bit. “Let me go! She’s mine! She told me so.”

Noah said nothing. His gaze remained on the house as we drove away. I stared at it, too, hoping that the damned thing would explode like they did in horror movies. Nothing happened. As soon as we got in the limo, the big doors simply closed.

Once the house left our view and 305 sped us away, Aristotle slowly calmed. With each mile, his fight lessened. His eyes shifted to a different sort of gaze. Noah still remained silent. Once we reached Din City’s limits, Aristotle had quieted and passed out in Fuji’s arms.

“Look.” Noah turned his attention to all of us. “We don’t talk about this. What happened tonight, we keep quiet.”

“Okay.” Crusher nodded. “Where will Aristotle stay?”

“Somewhere in the loft.” Noah ran his fingers through his hair. “Apparently, my place is a refuge for the crazy.”

Crusher offered, “Harmony could be in my room.”

“Not now, Crusher.” Noah sighed. “Not now. I need a minute.”

Fuji spoke up. “What do we do about Aristotle’s house?”

“That place has been alive longer than us,” Noah said. “Not a damned thing right now. I have enough going on.”

Snores sounded from Aristotle.

Noah looked my way and pulled me into him. “That was a good idea you had about shooting his hair.”

“Was it my idea?” I leaned on his chest. “Right now, everything is a crazy blur. I feel like I snorted coke. Actually, I feel like snorting some coke right now.”

“I’m never going to put you in a situation like that again.” He kissed my forehead.

“You didn’t put me there.” I leaned away from him. “I went there knowing it was cursed. Not really believing you, but still. You can’t keep me away from these things anymore. If we’re going to get you out of this craziness and take down Butterfly, we’re going to have to do it together. I’m not really sure what happened at that freaky house, but one thing I know for sure is, we should always stick together.”

Across from us, Fuji and Crusher whispered amongst themselves. I think Crusher was trying to convince Fuji to let Aristotle lay on him. The poor guy was still naked and covered in mangled dreadlocks and blood. I wouldn’t have wanted him on me either.

“Mary Jane.” Noah looked at me with regret. “Baby, we have to separate for a while.”

“What?”

“Aristotle is crazy, but he had a good plan. Butterfly will come out of her hiding place if she thinks I’m alone and unarmed.”

“Maybe it was the house’s plan. Those freaking dreadlocks pumped blood I think. Pumped blood into the house or something.”

“Doesn’t matter, baby. The plan was genius.”

“I-I don’t know.” Fear hit my heart. “What are you going to do?”

“Aristotle said that I should appear isolated. Like I’m all alone. Like I need her and have no one else. And then I go to her with no one else.”

The more Noah explained this plan, the more a burning sensation shot through my gut. I worked up the nerve to ask some more about it. “But didn’t he say something about a kiss of death?”

“Yes.” He looked away.