Emperor of Havoc: Chapter 36

The darkness is suffocating.

The air smells of dust and something faintly sweet, like dead, drying flowers in a vase.

When my eyes finally open, the soft glow of the single lamp on a side table barely penetrates the gloom.

I blink, my head throbbing as my vision adjusts, taking in my surroundings.

I’m in an old-fashioned living room—huge to the point of being cavernous, like something out of a Gilded Age home. Vast shelves full of dusty leather-bound books fill the walls, the air thick with cobwebs. Gray sheets drape over everything, including the couch I’m lying on, everything ghostly in the dim light.

Silence surrounds me, thick and disorienting.

I scramble shakily off the couch, my mind screaming at me to move. I realize I’m barefoot when my toes touch the cold, uneven floorboards. But I don’t dwell on that.

All I can think about is him.

The man who took me. Who emerged from the night and⁠—

My mind glitches. I swear, his face was so familiar…one I should remember. It made me feel like I was staring at someone I knew. But now, the memory is distorted and the familiarity has melted back to dark terror in my head.

Whoever he is, he jumped me, drugged me, and—I assume—brought me here. And wherever here is, I need to get out.

I dart toward the nearest door, my pulse thundering in my ears. I try the brass doorknob, but it doesn’t budge. I jiggle it harder, panic rising in my chest.

Locked.

I whirl, my eyes darting to another door on the opposite side of the room. I stumble toward it, my legs still wobbly, and try again.

Also locked.

No, no, no, I think urgently, my hands trembling as I move to the tall, arched windows framed by heavy, moth-eaten drapes. The glass panes overlook an overgrown garden, dark and shapeless in the night. I push on the window, but it doesn’t give. My fingers scrape at the edges, looking for a latch, anything.

My chest heaves as frustration and fear swell inside me. My reflection in the glass stares back at me, pale and frantic, my hair a tangled mess.

Yeah, fuck this.

I turn, scanning the room for something I can use to smash the window. Just then, a sound behind me freezes me in place. My head snaps around as the first door I tried slowly creaks open.

Holy fuck.

Raw, naked fear stabs into me as he steps into the room, his presence filling it like night swallowing the last light of day. His movements are slow and deliberate, and the soft glow from the one lamp glints across the surface of his mask.

A grotesque, grinning oni face stares back at me, its features twisted and monstrous. His eyes are hidden by it, but I can feel his gaze on me, heavy and unwavering.

And again, even though I can’t see his face, there’s that nagging familiarity…as if that brief memory of his face when he first surprised me is returning.

Then it disappears again, swirling back into the black fog.

“Finally,” he rasps, his voice rough and uneven, dragged over gravel. “I have you back.”

My heart stops. The room tilts, and I stumble back a step until I hit the edge of the draped couch I woke up on. My muscles coil, preparing to bolt, although I know there’s nowhere to run.

He shuts the door behind him and advances on me slowly, like a predator savoring the chase. His head tilts as he studies me, a gloved hand trailing along the back of a sheet-covered chair. He sighs, the sound eerily content. “You’re just as I remember, Marianna.”

The name slams into me like a punch, stealing the air from my lungs.

That was my mother’s name.

He takes another step closer, his voice soft but determined. “This time, Marianna,” he murmurs, his tone filled with unhinged reverence, “they’ll never take you from me.”