Looting the 13th floor, p.15
Looting the 13th Floor, page 15
part #1 of Looting the 13th Floor Series
There was a woman standing inside a cage.
She blinked at me from behind the metal bars, and she was absolutely beautiful, but definitely not human. Sparkling blue eyes stared out from her pale face, and she had pastel pink curls that fell around her shoulders. She was very petite, and a purple dress hugged her tiny frame. The most incredible part of her was her wings, though. They were barely visible at first. But I realized that they seemed to have tiny silver stars all over the iridescent membrane. She was dazzlingly gorgeous, and she tugged at her pink hair nervously as she watched me.
“Uh,” I managed eventually. “Hi? Shit. Are you okay?”
“You’re not a pirate,” the girl breathed, and she had a songlike voice.
“No,” I said as I glanced at the cave entrance. “Are you being held captive… I mean, obviously you are.”
“She’s been captured,” Cleo hissed. “She’s a dusk nymph.”
I remembered the list of desirable women that the cat-girl had given me earlier, and my stomach flipped as I realized what was happening.
“You’re being sold as a trophy,” I breathed. “Fuck that. No way.”
I grabbed the puzzle set from inside my jacket, and the girl in the cage whimpered as I stepped forward.
“I won’t hurt you,” I assured her. “I’m going to get you out of here.”
“You are?” she squealed. “Do you own the cat-girl? Are you adding me to your collection? The pirates will be very angry if you don’t pay.”
“Of course, I’m not adding you to a collection,” I said. “Cleo’s my--”
“Liam is my man,” the cat-girl interrupted. “He’s a good human guy. I love him, and he will protect you just like me. Okay? Okay.”
“Okay…” the nymph nodded as she nervously glanced back at me.
But I was staring in shock at the beautiful cat-girl.
She loved me?
It didn’t feel like a strong enough word to describe what the cat-girl meant to me, especially after that kiss. But “love” was a word I could use, and she just did. We could swap more in depth introductions later. Getting the nymph out of her enclosure was the only thing that mattered in that moment.
“I’ll keep watch while you free her,” Cleo hissed as she raced back to the cave entrance.
The lock on the cage was tougher than the one on the Hollowfell door, and I grunted as I tried to maneuver the pin inside. The nymph hummed quietly to herself as I worked, and I felt a violent anger as I noticed the cuts and bruises on her slender legs and arms. She’d probably tried to fight back and escape, but the pirates obviously had no issues with putting a stop to that.
“Liam,” Cleo hissed. “A couple of the pirates on the dock keep glancing this way. Hurry!”
“Oh, my goodness,” the winged woman whimpered as she jumped from foot to foot. “Please! Don’t let them sell me to the gargoyles!”
“I won’t,” I grunted as I wiggled the silver tools. “You’re going to get out of here, okay? I just need to get these stupid pins right.”
My palms had started to sweat from the stress, and I heard Cleo quietly growl as her tail flicked from side to side. The cat-girl crouched as she drew her sickle, and I heard the sound of voices getting louder.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Relief washed over me as the lock finally clicked, and I swung the door of the cage open. The beautiful nymph stared at me in shock as I offered her a hand to help her out.
“Hurry,” I said. “We need to leave immediately.”
The woman grabbed my hand, and I helped her out of the cage and onto the gold-covered ground. Her blue eyes were wide as she stared me up and down, but then I heard footsteps break out into a run outside.
“Shit,” I breathed. “We have to go.”
We raced to the cave entrance, and I saw a group of seven pirates running over the blood-covered sand. Every one of them at the dock had stopped to watch, and I knew I would not be able to shoot them all if they attacked at once.
“Run!” I hissed, and we shot out onto the beach.
There was an explosion of shouts and screams that confirmed the pirates had spotted us.
My heart was in my throat as we began to race back onto the muddy hillside, and I didn’t even feel the weight of the treasure on my back as I ran. The nymph girl used her wings to hover just above the ground as she stayed beside us, and I glanced back to see the horde of pirates on the ship starting to run.
“Go!” I yelled. “Go, go, go, goooo!”
The sand slowed them down enough for us to get a good head-start, and Cleo darted in and out of the trees as we weaved our way up the hill. The yells of the pirates were definitely going to draw the attention of other Hollowfell creatures, though, and I worried that all the asshole gargoyles were going to start flying this way.
The door back to Earth suddenly seemed a hell of a lot further away.
“We can do this!” I called as we ran. “Just keep hidden and keep moving.”
I was reassuring myself as much as anyone else while my calf muscles, back, and shoulders burned from sprinting up the muddy slope with the backpack full of treasure. It seemed ten times steeper on the way up, and I could still hear their furious roars and a sudden howl from down at the beach.
“The trophy!” a grizzly voice screeched. “They took the trophy!”
“Fuck,” I hissed, and the blood-curdling screams from the pirates sent a shiver down the back of my neck.
“Trooophy?” a gargoyle voice cried out in the distance. “Someone took a trooophy? Wheeeere?”
I glanced back to see a huge gargoyle woman had glided over the beach. Her pink dress was about to burst at her gut, and there were countless pearls strapped around her neck. She had clearly heard the pirates, and she began to screech at the top of her lungs like a foghorn.
“Stolen trophy!” she screamed. “Fiiiind them! Find her! Everyone! Emergeeeency!”
“These scaly bitches are such a pain in the ass,” I growled and pumped my legs faster.
There were multiple distant screams, and I felt a sense of dread as the lumbering frames of more and more gargoyles appeared in the sky. They shot up on their small wings, and their howls to each other grew louder as the alarm was raised.
“Son of a bitch,” I groaned.
“They’re going to find us,” the nymph tugged at her pink curls as she flew, and her purple dress shimmered against the gloom of the trees. “There is no way we can be free.”
“We have an escape route,” I panted as a stitch stung my side. “It’s at the top of the hill.”
“Just stay with us,” Cleo hissed. “You can come through to our other world. Liam is a savior of our kind! You will love him!”
I was going to object to the overblown compliment, but I had to save every breath to fuel my running. If Cleo wanted to brag about me, I didn’t exactly mind.
The nymph didn’t seem to be struggling to keep up at all. She zipped between the twisting branches like a hummingbird, and the silver stars on her wings twinkled even in the dark.
The gargoyles had started to form a swarming group in the sky, and they were flying low over the trees as they searched for their runaway trophy. It was going to be very fucking difficult to reach the portal without being spotted, and I tried to keep my eyes on the electric sky as we moved.
The pirates hadn’t managed to follow our trail, and their screams became more distant as we got further up the hill. But the gargoyles had quickly amassed a small army. They were hurriedly making their way around the hill as they swooped and screeched, and from what I could tell, the group was a mixture of both male and female beasts.
And all of their huge collections of jewelry slowed them down as their tiny wings worked.
“They’re so horrible,” the nymph whimpered as she glanced up. “Oh, dear! Maybe we should just hide somewhere?”
“We have to keep moving,” I said. “If we stop, then we’ll die.”
“Never,” Cleo hissed as she deftly sprinted through the gnarled trees.
The backpack full of treasure felt like it weighed a fucking ton, and my aching back was damp with sweat. I had two beautiful girls who were being ruthlessly hunted, and a whole backpack full of pirate loot in tow. It was a hell of a lot of pressure to put on a guy, but I couldn’t deny the thrill of adventure was strong.
Despite the pain in my entire body, I’d never felt so alive before in my fucking life.
But the hill seemed to go on forever, and I groaned as I glanced up to see we were only about halfway up.
“They’re splitting up!” Cleo hissed.
I looked up to see the gargoyles had started to break off into smaller groups. Their thick necks swung from side to side, and they drooled as they scanned the ground for their lost prize.
“Guards!” a gargoyle man boomed. “Cover every inch of the ground! Find them! The man who catches them will be rewarded!”
Fuck. Adding the frog-legged guards to the mix was going to make this last stretch nearly impossible.
“Cleo,” I gasped. “Do we have to go through the swamp again?”
“We don’t have to,” she said. “It will add a couple of minutes on, but we can go around it.”
“No,” I said. “Let’s not go around it. These fuckers are nearly above us, and we might be able to trap them. Hey…”
I gestured to the nymph, and I realized I didn’t know her name.
“Kali,” the pink-haired woman squeaked.
“Kali,” I panted. “I’m Liam, that’s Cleo. Can you fly over the swamp when we reach it? But not low enough to be grabbed by those swamp sleuth fuckers?”
“Of course,” she said. “Why?”
“I’m hoping that–” I began, but I was interrupted by the most ear-piercing shriek as a blonde-wigged gargoyle woman spotted us.
“Theeeeere!” she howled. “The stolen trophy! He has the cat-girl, too! Miiiiine! They’re both mine! I claim them! Bring them to meeeee!”
“Cleo!” I yelled. “How far are we from the swamp?”
“It’s right ahead,” the cat-girl said. “Look!”
We skidded to a halt as the eerie clearing came into view, and I shuddered at the thought of the bony-armed creatures below.
“Go over,” I hissed to Kali. “We’ll go around.”
The beautiful pink-haired woman nodded, and she was clearly putting all her trust in me as she soared over the bubbling swamp.
“Get her!” a male gargoyle yelled, and I glanced up just as three of the huge beasts descended.
I raced with Cleo around the swamp, and we were careful not to go near the edge. Kali hovered right above the center of the brown liquid, and she yelped as the gargoyles dove down toward her.
“Move, now!” I called when they were inches away from the nymph, and she bolted out of the way on her shining wings.
My plan had worked.
The three gargoyles didn’t have time to slow down before multiple hands swung up from the swamp. Bony fingers gripped onto each of the gargoyles’ arms and legs, and then onto their thick snouts. The gold-covered beasts howled as the arms began to drag them below the surface, and I glanced back in time to see the female gargoyle’s blonde head vanished into the depths.
“Excellent, Liam!” Cleo purred as we continued to run. “Right where they belong. Rotting at the bottom of a swamp.”
“At least they get to find out what the sleuths look like,” I said.
None of the other gargoyles seemed to have noticed the sudden disappearance of the trio, and my whole body was drenched in sweat as we raced to the top of the hillside.
“Where are we going?” Kali asked desperately as she looked around. “There isn’t anything here!”
“Trust me!” I called. “I know we just met, but I have a secret tunnel. They won’t catch you if you stick with us.”
The beautiful nymph bit her lip, but she didn’t have much choice. I had already saved her from the pirates, and I figured that was enough for her to weigh me up as the better option.
“He saved me, too,” Cleo called. “You can trust him. I know what it’s like to be hunted. But we will persevere! Liam will save us! Trust in my human guy!”
“Your what?” Kali screeched.
“Me!” I belted back.
We finally reached the top of the hill before she could argue further, and I groaned with relief to see the outline of the doorway on the rock face.
“Go!” I yelled.
“Go where?” Kali asked as she spun around beside me.
Cleo leapt at the portal, and her whole body vanished into the cliffside. Her furry tail was the last bit to disappear, and it was bizarre to see it from the Hollowfell side.
“What just happened?” Kali squeaked, and I reached out for her hand. “Where did she go? Are you a warlock? Are you–”
“Come with me,” I said urgently as the sound of the gargoyle screams got louder.
I glanced up to see an entire army of the fuckers had descended onto the hillside, and they were pouring out of the city to find the two beautiful women.
Kali gasped as I pulled her through the doorway with me. Then we tumbled into the dimly-lit corridor on the other side.
“Shit.” I caught my breath as I stared at the doorway, and I slowly slid the heavy backpack off.
“Are… are they going to come through and get us?” Kali gasped. “Where are we?”
“We are in my world,” I said. “And I don’t think they can make it through.”
“Let’s wait and see,” Cleo said.
“Yeah,” I replied as I pulled my Glock out of my holster. Shooting anything inside the building would be loud as fuck, but there wasn’t anyone on the twelfth floor to really hear.
The three of us waited in a tense silence for ten minutes, and then I slowly lowered my handgun and put it back in my holster.
“I think we are safe. If they were going to come through, they would have by now.” A huge grin spread over my face as my heart rate slowed down, and I realized I was standing with two of the most beautiful girls in Hollowfell.
And on Earth.
There was a bag of pirate loot at my feet, and we had gotten out unharmed.
My first heist in the new world had worked, and I was about to become rich beyond my wildest dreams.
Chapter 10
“You are sure we are safe?” The dusk nymph’s blue eyes were wide as her wings twitched, and she swayed on the spot for a moment. “Can you explain what has happened? We are in your world? Is that what you said?”
She was the second girl in a week I was going to need to explain Earth to, and I hoped she eventually adjusted as well as Cleo had so far.
“Sooo,” I said. “I know this is a lot, but I’m a human. You’re now on Earth. It’s a different world that can be reached through this door, but it seems nobody else can get through it.”
“Oh,” Kali squeaked. “Earth. Human. Right.”
She tugged on a pink curl, and it was obvious she was still petrified.
“You are safe,” Cleo said gently as she put a hand on Kali’s shoulder. “Liam does not care about collecting trophies. He just likes gold like any normal person! Earth has amazing magic, too. You’ll get to see it all back at Liam’s house.”
“I can come to your house?” Kali asked. “You won’t leave me?”
“Of course, I won’t,” I said. “I’m not going to just yank you from your world and send you out into the night. Or whatever time it is.”
“Right,” Kali said as her sparkling eyes bored into mine. “Thank you for saving me. This is all just a bit… alarming. So strange, but I’ll take any life that isn’t in that horrible pirate cage. Still… Earth? This is so strange.”
“I understand,” I said. “I thought I’d gone crazy when I first stepped into your world. We’ll take care of you, though.”
The dusk nymph nodded, and she closed her eyes as she took a deep breath.
It was going to be tricky getting her out without being noticed. Stan would surely be suspicious if yet another beautiful girl arrived by my side. The sparkly fairy-like wings were going to catch a lot of attention, and it wasn’t like I’d showed up this morning with both Cleo and Kali as interns.
“We’re going to have to do this carefully,” I said as I tied my windbreaker over my gun belt so it was hidden. “Your wings are going to stand out, and your outfit and hair will, too. Only because we’re in a dingy office building, and people don’t dress that flashy to come in. We don’t have nymphs here.”
“Oh,” Kali said. “Should I change?”
“Did you bring other clothes?” I asked as I glanced around for a bag.
“She’s a dusk nymph,” Cleo stated.
I was about to ask what that was or what it had to do with anything, but Kali suddenly started to glow silver. Little beams of light danced over her pale skin, and it looked like hundreds of fireflies were racing around her.
Her pink curls began to fade to blonde, and the purple dress became longer and darker. The silver stars on her wings faded until they had vanished completely, and she looked like a normal girl in a black dress. An exceptionally beautiful girl, but a human one. Granted, her blue eyes were still dazzlingly bright, but she didn’t look strange.
“Holy shit,” I laughed. “That’s amazing! This is going to be much easier now.”
“You are very pretty,” Cleo said as she studied the nymph. “In both forms.”
“Thank you,” Kali said shyly. “I can only shift when I am not touching steel or iron, like the cage I was trapped in.”
“Oh, so that affects your magic?” I asked.
“Yes.” She nodded. “Is there much steel and iron in your world?”
“Yeah,” I said, “but we can avoid most of it, I think. Or I can buy you gloves and shoes. At any rate, not being able to see your wings will help. We can sneak out easier now.”
I swung my backpack on again, and I pulled out my cell phone to check the time. It was almost five, and I was relieved that everyone would be heading home. But there were about ten missed calls from Roberts, and I groaned when I realized I was going to get an earful from him eventually.
