Read Online Once Upon a Time: The Villains by Shea Berkley - Free Book Online Page B

cold blue eyes stuck his long nose in my face. “Like rats?”
    I shook my head no. I’d only seen one and it had scared me so bad I’d peed right there on the floor I’d just cleaned. Mother had been furious. I’d gotten a kick and a wallop for that one.
    “Good. Neither do I. It’ll be easier for you to kill them that way. No attachments. No silly baby talk. Them rats, they’re our bread and butter, they are.”
    He wanted me to kill rats? I shivered and immediately threw up what I had just eaten. I couldn’t do what he asked. I’d die of fright.
    A rush of laughter erupted from him. “Made you sick, eh? No worries. You’ll get used to it in no time.”
    His long arm snaked out and grabbed me from my perch on the cart. Tucked under his sweaty pits like a bale of rotten straw, he strode through the streets, my bare, calloused feet bobbing behind us.
    He took me to a rundown house down a dark alley and deposited me in the middle of the room. The smell of unwashed bodies permeated the air. I pushed my hair from my face and saw more than ten children sitting along the walls, knees tucked under their chins, eyes large as saucers. It was not a happy place. But seeing as I’ve never been truly happy except for that one precious moment on the back of an onion cart, it didn’t bother me over much.
    The tall man put his big hand on top of my head and crowed, “Lookie here what I brought us.”
    My gaze stalled on a boy with dark circles ringing his eyes. A sneer parted his lips. “We just got rid of Simon. I thought we were good?”
    “Come four years, most of you will be gone, too. Look at you all. You’re growing like weeds. No use to me then.” The tall man picked up my hand and placed it against his massive one. “Look here, lad. Have you ever seen anything so tiny?”
    “She’s no bigger than a rat if you ask me,” a sullen girl with dirty blond hair said.
    The man’s face darkened. “You keep your teeth off this one, hear?”
    Grumbles swept the group, but in the end, all the children agreed and he pushed me toward an empty, ragged pallet in the corner. Rubbing his hands together, he asked jovially, “Let’s see what you’ve caught today.”
    One-by-one, the children got up and showed him what was in their bags. He pulled out rats, one after the other, and something more. A silver spoon here. A ring there.
    In one boy’s bag, he pulled out a gold coin. The man frowned. “Here now, what’s this?” He smacked the boy on the head. “Didn’t I tell you not to get greedy?”
    “Please, Korb,” he pleaded. “He had plenty.” The boy ducked another blow. I had to admire his quickness. I rarely was able to dodge a punch at home.
    Korb pushed the boy away. “Take only what they won’t miss. That’s our motto.” He pocketed the coin and scowled, pointing in my direction. “Split your catch with the little one.”
    “What?” the boy cried. “But I only gots three!”
    “Do it!” the man yelled.
    The boy lumbered over to me, and to my disgust, he threw a rat in my lap. I screamed and skittered back, kicking the ugly thing off my pallet. Everyone laughed and Korb stooped in front of me.
    He picked up the rat by the tail and swung it in front of my face. “Didn’t I tell you them rats are our bread and butter? You eat what we catch, or you don’t eat at all.” He flashed me a rotting smile and shouted over his shoulder, “Dig in!”
    The children instantly plundered their bags.
    Horrified, I watched them tear into the little bodies with their teeth, ripping off mouthfuls of fur and spitting it out. Soon their lips turned red with blood and raw flesh hung from their teeth.
    “Go on,” Korb urged. “’Taint bad, or so I hear.”
    My refusal made him laugh. “Fine with me.” He let the rat drop near my feet and walked away. When he got to the door, he looked back at me. “You’ll be eaten it by the end of the week. They all do.” With that, he left.
    The boy next to me nodded. “All