Chapter 12

Deciding now was the right time to run, I scrambled away from the door and stumbled, falling back on my butt.

God dang it! I hastily thought to myself. Where is lady Luck when you need her.

I looked up and saw him looking at me with that same condescending smile on his face. But his attitude didn't bother me as much as his teeth did.

God, they were sharp.

I stole a quick glance at the dead lump of meat nestled at his feet and thought that they were certainly sharp enough to kill a great white shark.

I tried to get back on my feet but I couldn't move. It was like all the strength had left my legs and I just sat there, staring stupidly at this crazy merman with blood all around him. As my focus returned to his face I realised how menacing he looked.

His eyes, though, they frightened me the most. They were so unperturbed, looking down at me as he slowly rose from his crouched position that a chill ran through my entire body.

He looked like he had me all figured out and I was just the fool that played right into his hands.

How could he make me feel this way just from looking at him once?

I wanted to humour that thought a bit and determine whether knowing the answer to my question would be worth expending my life. It didn't take me more than a millisecond to come to a conclusion.

Right now, all I knew was that I had to get up, I had to run and get away.

I escaped a crazy lunatic once (mostly because that crazy lunatic thinks I drowned). Would I be that lucky twice? I swallowed the bile rising in my throat. But this wasn't just a crazy lunatic, was it. This was a monster.

I pinched the side of my thigh hard enough that it almost drew blood. The pain outweighed the fear that was paralysing my body and that seemed to have restored enough strength in my legs to help me shuffle off of the floor and flee in the opposite direction.

I felt the adrenaline rushing through my veins as I did but I wasn't even half a step away from the door until I realised the blondie had already grabbed me by the elbow.

He yanked me inside the room harshly and shut the door behind me, caging me between the door and himself.

My whole body shook with unused adrenaline and as it deflated down to nothing, I felt my legs giving out from beneath me once again. I had a feeling that things weren't looking too good for me.

"What do we have here?" He said in a cockney accent, much like Oeric's, that mocking smile still playing on his face. "Are you lost, little miss guest-of-honour? Or did you want to join in on some of the fun with me?"

Trapped with his unusually tall frame towering before me, I had a hard time answering him as I tried to control the rabid beating of my frightened little heart.

I looked up into his eyes that were slowly changing colours and quickly looked away, second guessing the credibility of what my eyes had shown me.

"I— I just got lost. I didn't mean to—" I swallowed, nervously as my eyes unwittingly followed the trail of blood to the dead shark behind him. "—Interrupt anything."

"Is that so?" He smiled, as he looked me over from top to bottom, his eyes particularly roaming around my legs and I felt absurdly self-conscious.

"How coincidental. Is that why you stood there while I heartlessly killed and fed on that poor fish? You just couldn't resist my devilishly savage charms now, could you?" he grinned, clearly enjoying himself.

I blinked, not quite able to look up from the rotten wooden floor beneath my feet. I was in a somewhat precarious situation, however, I decided I should at least refute his absurd implications of me falling for his so-called devilishly "savage" charms.

"That's a bit," I began as I looked up at him to disagree but then forgot what I had to say when I noticed how much different he looked now.

His teeth had retracted to form straight whites and the red in his eyes was replaced with a clear watery blue. He looked completely normal apart from that muck stuck somewhere between his teeth.

He had a feminine face, a sharp jaw line and a straight nose. He was nearly just as perfect as Oeric when I had first seen him.

I had a hard time believing my eyes but I was sure what I had seen of his appearance before was just as real as the one I was seeing right now.

I frowned. There were too many unexplainable things happening all at once that my brain was having a hard time keeping up. It was simply easier believing that I was going crazy. That would explain a lot of things that had happened so far.

He snapped his fingers in front of me, bringing me back to the present. With his arms crossed over his chest, he tilted his head to the side and smiled, obviously pleased with himself.

"Well well, seeing that look on your face, I must be right." He grabbed a lock of my hair and stroked it between his fingers as he looked at me with a giant grin on his face. "However, can I just say, your choice in men is superbly unhinged? Not that I'm complaining."

He leaned more and more towards me until I realised what was going on. Before he could get any closer, I pushed him away and scoffed.

He was just about to kiss me, wasn't he? This crazy mofo lunatic.

I've just about had it with his games. I decided I really didn't like this psychopath. He was blatantly playing around with me like I was a new addition to his manipulative little scheme where he shamelessly provoked innocent bystanders for satiating his sick pleasures. If he thought that I was gullible enough to go along with it, he's got another thing coming—

—Or not.

Just kidding. I disliked him but I wasn't stupid enough to start lashing out about it. He killed a giant freaking shark for God's sake. I was only just a girl.

I sighed inwardly. This all happened because of my reckless impulsiveness. If I had never opened that door when I had the chance, I wouldn't have landed myself right in the den of this narcissistic, controlling and perhaps even psychotic merman.

I turned back to look at him, wanting desperately to leave. "Look, I genuinely regret interrupting your.... dinner. But judging by the way you're speaking, I can tell you got quite the kick out of it yourself. So if it wasn't completely unpleasant on your part, I'm just going to leave you to your meal." —while I still can, I added silently.

I grabbed the door knob and opened the door but it was shut close as soon as I did with his palm slammed flat across its surface.

"What's the hurry? We've only just met, Miss Rosamund."

I laughed, nervously at the threatening edge in his voice. Did I tell him my name?

The little bout of confidence I got from looking at his normal face, shrivelled right back down to nothing with that one little gesture.

So I opted for a more practical approach. "I'm supposed to be back in my room before my food arrives. So.... do you mind?" I looked up at his hand that was still on the door, keeping me from opening it.

"That's perfect. We can just share," He turned around to gesture, with great enthusiasm, at the thing he wanted to share with me. His grin was so wide that I couldn't tell whether his good intentions were real or fake.

I looked between him and the fleshy remains of the shark he was eating and gave him a strained look. "I don't think I can do that."

"Why not? It's fresh since I just caught it."

"I can't."

"Fine," he rolled his eyes like he knew what I was thinking. "I'll catch you a new one."

"No, that's not what I meant," I sighed, frustrated. "I just can't."

"Why.Can't.You?" He asked again, growing darkly impatient. But from the look on his face, it felt like he just liked seeing me squirm.

"Because I'm a vegetarian, Jesus!" I slapped my forehead to cover my embarrassment at the blatant lie; that was the most laughable and yet the most plausible thing I had said this entire evening.

As much as I hated vegetables I would definitely prefer them over that. I looked at the dead shark behind him and suppressed my nausea.

"What?" he asked, looking utterly dumbfounded, which was something because that was the first legitimate reaction I got out of him.

"I'm.... strictly vegan. It's been that way my entire life," I peeked at him from between my fingers to see if he bought it.

I think he did.

With that problem solved, I needed to figure out how to get the hell out of here. I brought my hand back down and said, "Mia ordered the scavengers to get me some aquatic plants to eat. Why don't you help me get back to my room. I'm kind of lost."

I really didn't want to spend another minute with this man but something told me he wouldn't let me leave unless he was with me. He didn't look like he would hurt me so I guess I could bear his company for a while.

"Is it a choice?" he asked.

"What?"

"Being a vegetation or what-you-call-it. Is it a choice that you live that way?"

"Um, a necessity?" I answered, not sure what else would be an appropriate response to his sudden question.

"How pitiful, you poor thing." To my surprise, he suddenly held my face between both his hands. "Have you been eating greens this entire time? That's just too depressing. I can't imagine how you can live without ever tasting 'raw', 'fleshy' 'MEAT' your whole life."

I suppressed a gag and made some muffling sounds as I tried to get my face out of his grip. He finally pulled away to wipe an imaginary tear off his face and I glared at him with all my might as I rubbed my cheeks to soothe the stinging pain forced upon them.

I absolutely loathe it when my cheeks are violated.

"Woah, easy there, little-beast." He gave me a smile with one eyebrow arched as he held the top of my head under his palm in a gesture to leash me. "I'll take you back. That is, if you can trust me enough to know that I won't take you somewhere else."

"I don't trust you," I replied, honestly, still rubbing my cheeks but this time to make sure I got rid of any blood he got on my face. "But does it seem like I have a choice right now? Besides, if you wanted to hurt me, you would've done so by now. Right here." I said the last part only to assure myself but in all honesty I wasn't so sure about this idea.

He stared at me with a slightly amused look on his face. "True. If I wanted to hurt you, I would simply do it. I don't really care about the location." he looked at me for a moment before adding, "Or the consequences."

I turned around to open the door and this time he didn't try to stop me. I think he was enjoying himself too much while I was trying hard not to let what he said bother me.

If I wanted to hurt you, I would simply do it.

I shuddered as the primal feeling of flight ran through my bones. I would run but what good would come of it?

He would just catch me if I did and the consequences of that would be far worse than the light threats he makes ever-so consistently. So I suppressed the drive to run along with the tremors that plagued my hands.

I suddenly felt the urge to see Oeric again. I wanted to be with him. He said he would protect me and I knew that he would. As much as I wanted to deny it, there was a bond between us, an unspoken bond of faith. And oddly enough, that bond alone was the reason I kept coming back. I kept wanting to see him.

Just like right now.

I pulled the knob and walked out of the room with blondie behind me. I followed as he casually took the lead and guided me along these twisting hallways.

As we walked past that three-way intersect, I suddenly paused and it took blondie a while to notice I wasn't behind him anymore. He turned around to look at me and asked, "Tired already?"

I didn't answer and just stared unblinking at the blank wall to my right. "There was a.... a door here," I said as I hesitantly stroked the wall with my hand, half expecting to get sucked into an illusion but there was none. It was a solid wall. No sign of a door with a snake head for a doorknob.

What in the—

"A door?" he asked from behind me as he tilted his head curiously. "Explain."

I shook my head, doubting my own encounter as I said, "There was a huge door here and... strangely, out of all the doors this one made me want to open it. Everything about it drew me in, the light, the keys and even the knob! Now that I mention it, that thing was alive! It even tried to bite my fu—"

I didn't notice it before but the more I tried to explain the strangeness of that door, the more his smile grew broader and crooked, uncannily so. Then I just stopped. Either he thought I was crazy or there was more to it than I thought. "Never mind. I must have seen it wrong."

"I don't think so," he said. "It doesn't come as a surprise to me. The castle is known to play games with the one's residing within."

My eyes widened. Does he mean the castle was actually alive? I suppressed a shiver and looked at him in a gesture to shed some more light on his claim.

He just sighed and smiled the same crooked smile from a while ago, saying, "Don't worry. That just means it likes you."

"It?" I repeated, a feeling of dread crawling up my spine.

"Yes, it."

Great.

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