I’m floating.Floating on a black cloud.Where am I?WherewasI?
Rogan.Rogan in his wolf form.The regal image invades my brain space.
Wake up, bitch.
My eyes flutter open.
I’m not sure what I expected to see.Rogan?Rogan as a wolf?Blaze Delacourt?My father?
I sure as hell don’t expect to see—
“What the hell are you doing here?”I eke out, my voice hoarse.
I recognize the face—the man who despises me, has despised me since he married my mother when I was fourteen.
How is he in Rogan’s penthouse?In the secret passageway?
I attempt to sit up, but my head nearly explodes.A choked groan escapes my throat.My head hits the— Where the hell am I, anyway?
“Surprised to see me, I take it?”
“What the hell did you do to me, Richard?”
Richard.
Richard Tomlinson, my stepfather.My stepfather who hates me—hasalwayshated me—because I didn’t conform to whathethought a teenage girl should be.He favored Larissa, though all that really meant is that he had slightly less disdain for her.Larissa always did the right thing, always got perfect grades, always came in before curfew.
Always kissed the right ass.
She was the anti-Hannah.
But none of that explains why I entered Rogan’s walk-in closet, admired his awesome shoes, and ended up here.
I blink.The images are still blurred, but it’s him.Tall, gray-haired, and is it my imagination?Or are my stepfather’s eyes red?
Demonred?
I close my eyes.Must be my imagination.What the hell did he drug me with?
“Wake up, bitch.”
This time I recognize the evil voice, as slithering and snakelike as always.I inhale and there it is—that nauseating mélange of feces and decay.Richard’s pipe tobacco.
I open my eyes and try once more to rise.This time I’m slightly more successful.My body feels numb, though I can move, and I make it into a sitting position.
“Where am I?”
“That’syour question?”Richard says, his eyes still red.“Seems you might ask something else.”
Damn, what drug is coursing through my system?Since when are his eyes—
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“You’re a fucking demon.”
“Give the girl a gold star.”He grins.A slithery and malevolent grin.