Miss Nobody

(Please read TW/CW in my bio)

Chapter 25

ROOM 13

Evening Day 9

I pulled on the leather gloves and turned the handle to Chef's living space. It quietly swung open. The scent of Chef wafted in my direction, pulling my feet inward. I shut the door behind me, locking it, straight to Chef's closet, shutting that door behind me. The photos of the Goddesses were in my room in the laundry tower and the back wall was bare. I flipped the switch and a low whir sounded from the door sliding open.

"Jane?" Cherry's voice was hushed.

I flipped the switch to close the hidden bookshelf and opened the closet a crack to peek out.

Cherry stood in the middle of the room with a suitcase. "I followed you out here." She sat glumly on her grandfather's chair and I came out of the closet, closing the door behind me.

"How are you feeling?" I asked her gently. Ripping the Deputy's ears away from his head flashed quickly in my mind. Cherry's body lying lifeless in the middle of a candle-lit circle. So much blood.

She shrugged. "This place is too much for me. My Grandfather was right, I should have never come here." Her eyes were hollow and bruised. "I'm going back to live with my mom on the East Coast. As far away from here as possible." She grabbed my arm and stared at me intently. Her eyes were not the same vibrant caramel color they were a few days ago. "I can't believe Jess tried to sacrifice me."

My eyebrows shot up. "Sacrifice?"

"When I found out she was sleeping with my Grandfather, I...well I started following her. I don't trust her." She whispered, "She's into some really dark shit, Jane."

Chills pricked all over my body. "But what about the Deputy? From what I could tell, he seemed to be the one running the show."

She released my arm and looked at me in disbelief. "Jess isn't as stupid as we want to believe," she was barely audible and changed the subject quickly. "Keiran broke up with me. Not that it matters." Her eyes became shiny with unshed tears. She held up a key ring. "Take care of this place for me?"

I nodded.

"Are you really pregnant?"

I shook my head. "No, just a rumor."

She sighed and looked exhausted. "Did you see the video?"

I shook my head. "No. I kind of forgot about it, with everything that's happened." Did everyone see me pull off the deputy's ears?

"They pulled it for violence but I'm sure you can find it on the dark web."

I looked at her, shocked. "You know how to get on the dark web?" I whispered.

She shook her head. "Keiran." She sighed. "My plane leaves in a few hours." She pulled me in for a big hug and whispered, "Be safe out here." She walked out the door.

I was going to miss her but I was grateful to have one less person to worry about. One less person to keep out of harm's way. I headed to the closet full of Chef''s books. If Jess knew Magic then maybe I didn't want to find a way to take her out of that trance just yet. But Cherry was also known to exaggerate. Lie even when it suited her. Fuck. Could I trust anyone around here?

My stomach rumbled loudly, sparing me from making a decision for a while longer. I headed to the kitchen for something to eat.

The restaurant and kitchen were devoid of people. The entire hotel was lonely and quiet. An eerie unsettling feeling made my scalp itchy and uncomfortable.

The fridge was as empty as the Lodge. Should have grabbed groceries in town.

"Sorry about earlier and at Elenora's dinner," Keiran's voice startled me and I turned around quickly.

I backed up a little and the cold air from the open fridge ran chills down my spine.

Keiran put his hand under my chin gently and tilted it up to look at him.

Was he going to kiss me?

He looked me over closely. "I thought you would be different...Jane."

A sharpness poked into my throat. I gasped. A quick memory of me crashing into that tree and having a branch next to my throat surfaced.

"Your memories of that Whore House have come back, haven't they? I was really hoping you would have remembered me by now. I thought I would have made more of an...impression." He stepped back and the dagger flashed in his hand. "Maybe the trauma I inflicted on you was too much and your brain can't handle it?" He paced back and forth and twisted the point of the knife into the tip of his finger. A drop of blood beaded on his fingertip. "The last time I stuck something inside you was quite pleasurable."

Keiran was younger in the quick glimpse of him in my memory. He licked the drop of blood off his finger. "We've been playing this game for a long time now...Ruby."

"That's my name." I choked out, still not understanding. My mouth was dry. This man just held a knife to your throat and gave you your birth name. I inched closer to the heavy cast iron pots left on the stove when he turned his back.

His laugh echoed off the stainless steel kitchen and he turned to face me. "It is? Or it was?" His knife hit the stainless steel counter loudly. "But your Bitch of a Mother-" He stepped closer to me, rubbing his temples.

My mother? I have a mother? I mean, of course I had a mother but she didn't come to the hospital, so I just thought maybe she didn't exist.

"You really don't remember me? I thought you were stronger than this Ruby. You were still conscious after you crashed into that tree. Begging me, 'Please, please don't do this, you don't have to do this.' I love to see you cry." He spit out and paced again. "And then. You had the audacity-"

I had the handle of the heavy pot behind my back. The doorway was on the other side of Keiran. I gripped the pot and prepared myself for when he came close again.

He whispered, "-You had the audacity to try and cleanse-" He stepped closer to me and shouted, "-MY Demons?!" The knife waved wildly. He laughed. "As if you even could."

I remembered us in front of that giant tree. My car totaled. I had been unhurt, miraculously. I remembered taking the matches out of my pocket and reciting words in Latin. It had been raining heavily and the matches wouldn't light.

Keiran huffed and turned on his heel pulling out his phone.

I rushed him, the pot clanging on the stove. I raised it to swing like a baseball bat.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He held his phone up in front of me.

A video played. Two men were in their underwear, lying on a bed. I took his phone to look closer at the men. Their hands were tied behind their backs and they were gagged and blindfolded.

"Ben and Roman?" I looked at him, tears swelling in my eyes. "Where the fuck are they?" I stepped up to him waving the phone in his face.

"There's that spirit, I haven't broken you all the way." Keiran seemed bored and looked at his nails.

"They're here in the hotel." I rushed to the door.

A sharp pain in my side dropped me to my knees.

Keiran's dagger stuck out of my side. It wasn't very deep but the pain was blinding. The knife cut off the opening to my pocket, leaving me unable to hold the small glass vial against my skin.

"Go to Room 13." Keiran pushed the knife deeper into my body.

I gasped and fell forward.

Keiran caught my hair and held me upright with his fist. He jerked me up to my feet forcefully. He was stronger than I thought.

I felt my warm blood run down my side. The metallic smell filled my nostrils. I let it give me strength. The pain numbed as I embraced the ancient Blood Magic. "You know there's cameras all over the place, right?" Maybe a reminder would deter him.

He laughed. "Saves me from having to film it myself. I've hacked the system. It's a live feed by the way. I have potential customers watching. No pressure."

Most likely on the dark web. Dammit. The last thing I needed was more evidence against me. I walked slowly to Room 13 hoping to find the two captured men.

The door to Room 13 pushed open easily. The interior was dark and it took my eyes a minute to adjust to the dim candlelight. Candles were arranged in a big circle in the middle of the room.

Three men sat back to back to back, inside the circle. Their bodies tied together. Each one blind-folded and gagged. Two of them were so still, I wasn't even sure they were alive. I noticed small movements in one of the men's hands and looked closer.

Jonny. My heart pounded in my chest. No, I looked closer at his tattoos, they weren't Jonny's. It was Diego. Ben and Roman were unconscious at his back.

"Where's Jonny?" I asked Keiran.

"I'm sure he's on his way." Keiran laughed, releasing my hair, and walked to a spot on the outside of the circle, leaving the knife in my side. He walked over to a table and opened a big book. The Copy of the Codex Gigas from Chef's collection. He licked his finger and flipped through the pages, casually.

If I could get to the box of matches next to him, I might have a chance. I wasn't sure what Keiran's plan was but I could protect myself with them. I slowly and quietly stepped my way closer to the matches but closer to Keiran as well.

"How do you know about Magic?" I gestured to the candle-lit circle and looked at Keiran. Get a man talking about himself and he'll go on and on.

He stopped shuffling and looked at me.

"I don't make a very good sacrifice," I told him jokingly as I moved closer to the matches.

He looked back at the book and turned the page. "Why's that?"

"I'm not a virgin."

He smirked, staring at me. "I know that, Ruby. I was the one that took it." He sighed heavily. "Maybe it's best you don't remember." His attention went back to the book. "I'm doing this for you." He came around the table to stand in front of me. He put his hands on my shoulders. "I would give anything, Ruby. Anything. To be free from this-" Darkness flashes in his eyes. "-CURSE. This curse that you-" his voice trailed off. "There is only loneliness and despair, a clawing desperation for escape."