Read Online Caged in Darkness by J. D. Stroube - Free Book Online Page B

hieroglyphs, but I
was almost certain they were something entirely different.
    I began to trace the inscriptions, but felt
I felt a feathery touch against my other hand. I thought little of
it, but shook my hand. The feeling persisted. I looked down to find
a coffee colored spider with extremely long legs crawling across
the back of my hand. I screamed and shook my hand furiously. In my
attempt to get away I slipped, landing hard on the quartz box; the
lid slid off.
    Smoke swelled from the container and encased
the surrounding area; effectively shielding half of the room. It
lightened to a mist and ascended to the ceiling, where it spread to
sheath the plaster. It made the room look like an upside down
haunted house. I turned to run from the room, but hands grasped my
shoulders in a viselike grip.
    A shriek tore through my vocal cords when
the hands pulled me back against a solid chest. The fog evaporated
and I noticed the darkness surrounding me. This darkness had
texture and twitched frequently. A harsh breath blew against my
ear. The hands tightened and I began to worry they might crush my
bones.
    “Let me go!” The hands fell away from my
flesh, but the body didn’t move.
    “All you needed to do was ask.” The voice
was deep with a slight edge and it sent tingles up my spine.
    Before I could lose my courage, I spun
around. I stood in shock at what I saw; and I don’t say what lightly. Backing away from the thing in front of
me; my back hit the wall. I was trapped.
    The room was crammed with its sheer size.
Before me was the body of a man with enormous wings, and strange
eyes. In the dark they glowed with amber light.
    Without wings he still would have
overpowered the room. Abnormally tall with a strong torso, he was
intimidating. His wings folded outward in a crescent shape that
surrounded me. He was clothed in a pair of black dress pants, but
his chest and feet were bare.
    He moved like a bird; twitching and bunching
his shoulders. His head angled back and forth to watch me, and as
he did, his biceps tightened. His dark hair was chin length and
concealed most of his face. His mouth was wide in a disturbing
smile that displayed his perfectly white teeth; the upper and lower
canines sharpened to fine points.
    “Please, don’t hurt me.” I squeezed my eyes
shut, hoping that when I opened them, he would be gone. My hands
clenched into fists and I opened my eyes.
    It was chuckling. While closing the
distance between us, his wings spread out to blanket the wall
behind me. He sniffed the air around my face and paused to stare
into my eyes.
    “I smell you.” He growled.
    His growl deepened and he barred his teeth
in an angry snarl. “I smell your power.” I watched, while
his pupils dilated until they pushed away all traces of color. His
hand reached for my neck, but when it came into contact my skin he
let out a sound of anguish as his palm smoldered.
    His face changed then. One moment he was
divinely beautiful and seconds later I watched as his veins
blackened to a cryptic maze of inscriptions across his body. I
recognized him as a predator and felt something pulse from within
him. I was fairly sure that made me the prey.
    In that moment, while he was distracted by
his burning hand, I made my move. I reached across to his wing, and
pulled feathers, while pushing with all my strength to get past
him. I toppled furniture behind me as I ran. When I reached the
library, I pulled the lever to close the passage and screamed for
Maye at the top of my lungs.
     
    Liam
     
    I spent my childhood bowing to my mother’s
every whim. As teenager, I grew a pair and rebelled against her.
The last straw had been when my mother’s domination over every
aspect of my father’s life, led to him abandoning us.
    When I turned 18, I moved out and took a
year off from school. At 19, I was home schooling myself to make up
my last year of high school. My education began my escape from my
mother. There were some members of the coven I