[i]”Any eyes on Loor?”[/i]

Kieran’s question immediately caused the flirtation mood to dissipate, reminding Aura why they were there in the first place. It wasn’t a magical night in a fairytale world - there was shit to do.

“Not yet,” she sighed as she took a step back from him and peered around the room, cheeks flushed. 

Aura desperately wanted to discuss their plan both to solidify what would happen and to give her a sense of security, but it’d be stupid to go into detail now. “Should be any second now.” she whispered sternly, her eyes meeting his once more. “The girls get to come down and enjoy the party once they’re done. I shouldn’t be more than an hour.”

Before they could continue further, the crowd of people began to cheer as Loor came down the enormous, curved staircase with his arms extended towards his party. Once reaching the bottom, the round, red-faced man began greeting his guests as he worked his way towards the bar, and [i]them[/i]. Aura shot a look to Kieran briefly before she felt a large hang grip her frail arm.

“And who are [i]you?[/i]” Loor seemed to growl, swiveling Aura’s body to face him. “Are you one of Pogo’s girls? Here for the party?”

Aura gulped and nodded. “Y-yes, sir. I’m Sada.” 

“Good,” he chuckled, his eyes glowing. “You’ll be with me tonight.” 

No matter how much Aura had started to hate Gregor, she’d have to admit. The man was always right.

Loor dragged her with him to the bar, and as Aura watched him down his first beverage, she mumbled a brief prayer that whatever the bartender spiked his drink with would be strong enough to knock him out cold.

[center]***[/center]

After being dragged about for half an hour acting as Loor’s arm candy, the man finally grew impatient, and he led Aura up that same staircase, down a winding hallway. It seemed as though Loor could sense her hesitation, as he’d pull her harder each time her pace slowed. The only thing she could hear over the pounding of her heartbeat in her ears was his heavy breathing and the occasional giggle from the rooms they passed. 

After some fidgeting, Loor got his door unlocked and revealed a spacious, dark room, complete with the biggest bed Aura had ever seen, a desk in the corner, and on it, the laptop closed in its center. [i]You’re so close.[/i]

“Alright, now,” Loor grunted as he plopped down at the edge of his bed, loosening his tie as his eyes remained on her. “Take if off, Sada.” 

Aura froze in her tracks, and her knees trembled.

“Are you deaf? [i]Now,[/i]” he instructed again, this time the boom of his voice causing her to flinch. 

As slowly as she could to buy time, Aura approached him. Her hand then went up to one of the straps of her dress and let it fall down her shoulder. Then, the next. [i]Why isn’t he out yet?[/i] She took another step forward and let the dress fall down her body and pool around her feet, her eyes remaining on the floor .

“Ahhh,” Loor sighed. “Beautiful. Pogo hasn’t fed you much yet I see.” Once again, he grabbed Aura’s arm and pulled her closer, his hot breath bouncing off her skin. Aura wanted to scream. 

“You’re going to do exactly what I… you’re going… exactly…”

Perking up, she looked up at the man whose eyes were now rolling to the back of his head. Frozen, Aura watched as the man fell back into the bed, refusing to move until she heard a snore escape him.

“Fuck,” she whispered to herself sharply after taking her first deep breath in minutes. It worked. All she had to do now was grab the laptop, shove it in her dress, and sneak back downstairs like nothing ever happened. 

Aura, still naked, darted to the desk and scanned its contents. The laptop, paperwork skewed about, a stone globe on the corner, and some candies in a round, glass dish. She reached a hand out and let it settle on the laptop, it’s cold exterior sending a chill through her. After working up some courage, Aura lifted it from the desk, but a wire that was attached to it wrapped around the stone globe, causing it to tip off the desk and onto her foot.

It took all her strength not to scream out, and instead, she squeezed her eyes shut and waited in the dark, silent room. No sound from the other side of the room. A look behind her confirmed that Loor was still on his back. After leaning down and putting the globe back on the desk, her focus turned back to the laptop, which she grabbed with both hands tightly and turned around to -

“What the fuck do you think your doing?” Loor grumbled, swaying in front of her.

“I-I-”

Loor grabbed her throat and threw her to the ground, her body hitting the wooden floor with a [b]thump.[/b] As she was scrambling to get up, he wove her fingers through her hair and yanked her up. 

“Put down the computer.”

Reluctantly, Aura set the laptop down on the desk behind her, and her body shook violently. There were many times before where she thought she may die, but they all paled in comparison to now. Her chances of getting out of this without being killed by either the AA or Loor himself were dwindling by the second.

“Please -”

[b]Smack.[/b] His hand connected with her cheek, and she yelped. 

“You’re gonna pay for this.” 

His other hand now moved to her throat, and Loor squeezed ferociously, keeping any blood or breath to pass through. This was it. Aura was going to die in this pig’s room, cremated by the AA and forgotten by the next season. Everything had been for nothing.

As she felt herself grow weaker, her desperation to survive began to kick in, adrenaline making up for the oxygen she was lacking. [i]The globe[/i].

Loor, only paying attention to her face as she turned purple, failed to see her arm reach behind her, and within moments, he was on the floor, his lifeless eyes wide open and blood pouring from the side of his head.

Aura collapsed, gasping for air and making sense of what just happened. If she was going to get away, she’d need to go [i]now[/i].

Once dressed with the laptop secure between her legs, Aura slipped out of the room and closed the door behind her. The hallway was still clear, and she didn’t hesitate to sprint down it until she reached the top of the staircase, where she straightened her dress and positioned her hair around her neck which was undoubtedly bruised and red. 

Being as poised as she could, she descended the staircase and searched frantically for Kieran’s face. It was only a minute before he was spotted, right where she said to wait, unaware of how bad she had just fucked up.

“We need to go [i]now.[/i]”