Page 33 of Wicked Vile King
Don't ask the guards for help because they don't care about any of us anddon't trust the docs.
Can I trust this guy? What's the worst that could happen?
The doctor raises an eyebrow before, finally, he sighs. "You don't have anything to be afraid of. I am here to help you."
"I know. I . . . I . . ." I begin as I look out the window and spot a shadowy figure, dim and ill-defined behind the frosted pane. Everything in me turns to ice all at once. I can't see his face, but somehow, I just know it's him. My heart kicks into overdrive as the doctor follows my gaze to the door the moment before it opens.
"Mr. Laurier," Dr. Cross says as Saint's gaze scrolls lazily from him to me and back to him. I swear I spot the moment when his jaw tics.
"Sorry to interrupt," he says, sounding entirely apathetic. "But Teems has a lighter and one of Headmistress's Bibles from her personal collection, and he's trying to catch his roommate on fire." He shrugs. "Figured I should let someone know, and I couldn't find a guard, so . . ."
"A lighter?!" Dr. Cross says, jumping to his feet and sending the metal stool rolling backward toward the opposite wall. "Willow, we will continue this later." He looks at Saint. "Mr. Laurier, which direction is he in?"
Saint points down the hall. "That way. Toward the cafeteria."
What? No! Don't leave me!
"But . . ." I begin.
If he hears the word, then Dr. Cross ignores it. He grabs the phone off his desk and hits a series of numbers before his voice plays over the loudspeakers.
"Code blue," he says. "Code blue, second floor, west wing."
"Come on," the doctor says hurriedly.
I stand, though I want to lock myself in here, away from my stalker. Out in the hallway, I put a good distance between me and Saint. The doctor shuts the door behind him and swipes a badge at the card reader, the door locking with an audible click.
Then he's gone, sprinting away. Saint watches him as he leaves, looking mildly interested, and I put more and more distance between Saint and me. He doesn't seem to notice or care until I am at least a solid twenty feet away. He just stands there, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his pants like he hasn't got a care in the world.
I don't know where I'm going, but considering Saint Laurier looks like he's going to commit atrocities on a normal day—and I'm pretty sure I just made him mad, if that jaw tic is any indication—I don't want to stick around.
"Going somewhere, pet?" he says, still not even looking at me before he turns and shoots me a glare that drills all the way down to the marrow in my bones. Then he smiles broadly, showing all of his straight, white teeth.
"Far away from you," I manage.
He steps forward, and I take another step back.
"Run, and I will catch you. Hide, and I will find you. This is my kingdom, pretty girl. Even God doesn't step foot here."
He says it like he believes it. Hell, I freakin' believe it, but I'm not about to stand here and test the theory. I just have to keep away from him long enough for me to escape this hellhole. I jog backward down the hallway as a guard rounds the corner at the other end. He shoots me a quizzical look, but keeps on walking, the spineless bastard.
"Will-low," Saint singsongs, and I hate how happy he sounds and how close.
Holy fuck. How did he get so close?
A second later, I hear the swipe of a keycard on a door lock pad, and Saint again shoves me into a dark, windowless room, lit only by the light coming in beneath the door from the hallway. It's too dark in here. It makes my skin crawl.
"Do you know what this place used to be?" Saint asks.
"I don't care," I snap, my heart skipping a beat as he blocks my view and I try to keep the light from beneath the door in sight.
He looks like he gives zero fucks about my attitude. "You should."
He steps closer, and I step back. He may be gigantic, but I am thinking about ways to knee him in the balls and flee for my life.
"In the late 1800s, the Academy was a typhus hospital," he says, reciting facts from my first day on campus. He erases another step between us, and I take one back. "There are secret tunnels throughout the hospital, used by the doctors to go from room to room to see patients and transport the dead. Can you imagine it, pet? The stench, the bodies, the death?"
He smiles in the dark, his teeth eerily white.
