Read Online Return to Celio by Sasha Cain - Free Book Online Page B

been bound to the iron headboard of a double-sized bed by my wrists.
    Frantically, I tugged at my restraints to no avail.
    Trying, once again, not to panic, I searched the room for my captor. If only I could remember what happened. A deep, wheezing chuckle from behind me caught my attention. As I strained to see who it was, a sharp pain knifed through my neck, stopping me. My neck...the viocomen...Darrios...
    Heavy footsteps approached me. Suddenly a different sort of creature came into view. He wasn’t tall, but thick around the middle with several stacks of fleshy rolls over his belly. His neck revealed the same layered rolls. His greasy, thinning hair, scabby scalp, and yellow, rotting teeth repulsed me.
    Scaly, calloused skin gave him a reptilian appearance, but his movements and features were human-like. His right arm was blackened and burned, the charred flesh peeling and crusted over. He had no hand, but rather a stump with thick, dirty, pointed, yellowish-gray fingernails coming out of it.
    The hideous creature frightened me. I took several quick breaths, trying not to hyperventilate. He had clothes on like a human, but clearly he wasn’t.
    “What do you want?” I squeaked, my terror fighting to resurface.
    The creature cocked his head, looking at me with filmy, glazed eyes. I wanted to look away, but he held my gaze, locked to his.
    “Darrios,” was all he said.
    His voice sounded loud and threatening. He smiled, making me cringe. I glanced at my bound wrists.
    “Why are you doing this? Please...let me go.”
    “Your boy Darrios and me? We have a score to settle. I can’t let you go until he gets here,” he bellowed.
    “How did I get here?”
    The creature laughed heartily, but the tinny sound only frightened me more. The memory floated hazily around my brain, just out of my reach.
    “I brought you here,” he answered. “It’s a little place that belonged to a friend of mine. It’s vacant now, though, courtesy of Darrios.”
    He laughed again, a sinister, threatening laugh. The image of Darrios wearing a blanket instead of his fur wrap popped into my head. A coherent thought finally formed in my mind. Anger coupled with my fear. “It was you. How did you...you pretended to be Darrios. You tricked me!”
    He laughed again. “It’s a gift, really. I can change into anyone or anything as long as I’ve seen it before.”
    I wrinkled my brow, disbelievingly, but my eyes soon grew wide when suddenly he became a considerably heavier version of me. My breath caught in my throat. I was afraid I was going to come completely unraveled. I willed myself to breathe.
    He changed back into himself, and as unsettling as that was, I definitely preferred it. He bowed slightly, holding out his stump. I recoiled.
    “Allow me to introduce myself,” he said. “Podredo, at your service. Now that you are awake, can I offer you some water?”
    I nodded, warily. He walked away and I took several more deep breaths. I needed to pretend I was comfortable with him so I could reason with him. I didn’t know what his beef was with Darrios, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with me.
    He returned with a glass of water and held it out to me. I glanced hopefully at my wrist again. He nodded, but instead of releasing me, he held the glass of water up to my lips.
    I gulped greedily, unable to ignore the fact that Podredo smelled like a cross between wet, musty carpet and rotting carrion. I pulled my face away from the glass, holding my breath until he stepped back.
    “So, what do you want with Darrios?” I asked innocently.
    “As I said, we have a score to settle and we’ll finally get that chance, as soon as he comes swooping in to save you.”
    “What makes you think he’ll come for me? We barely know each other.”
    “He’ll come. I’ve been watching him for awhile. He really wanted you to live. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him work so hard to save someone.”
    “It’s his job,” I shot back.
    He