Chapter 23. Vanka

I wake up groaning, spitting blood and phlegm, and scramble to get off the floor in the pitch black of my room. The hot fluid running down the sides of my face tells me my ears are bleeding, my head’s aching like it got stomped on repeatedly, and I’m so dizzy I can’t seem to focus on anything. The air is deathly cold, and I scrape my hands around the dusty wooden floor to get my bearings. I’ve no idea what’s happened, why there’s no light anymore, or why I’m so messed up, dazed and confused, and my body aches badly.

The air is filled with noises so terrifying I freeze in utter fear as they filter through, and I pick them apart, stilled as I listen and try to make sense of what they are. My heart gripped in icy terror.

Screaming, howling. Wails of despair and sobbing. Something else, too, a weird, almost chatter-like taunting noise that I swear is precisely how I would imagine the devil would sound laughing. It sends the fear of God through me, and I shudder violently, pu