Tia Fielding - The Maze.pdf

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The Maze | Tia Fielding
2
H E RAN . Faster than he’d run ever before in his life. Part of
his mind still couldn’t believe he was made to do this. But
then, as he rounded a corner and took off to what he
thought was west, he heard the cackle of the predator
behind him. It didn’t leave much room for doubt.
He had always known his grandmother, who had been a
young girl when vampires and other supernaturals revealed
themselves to the human world, had been right. Never, ever
trust a supernatural. They toy with you, they use you, they’ll
do anything to convince you, and then, then they take
whatever they want.
Micah ran, the cobblestones cold, wet and slippery
under his bare feet. The coppery taste in his mouth, the
pounding of his heartbeat filling his head, and the way his
lungs seemed to operate at only half capacity told him he
didn’t have much time left. The spectatorsand he knew
there were plentywere either on top of the walls or in the
air above the moonlit maze he was running. Once again he
considered stopping; it might be easier to just let himself be
caught by the predator, to be taken into pieces above the
maze like others who had failed.
But he was still his father’s son. His father who had
figured it was much nicer that Micah was gay, not half-
supernatural like the neighbors’ son. Yeah, the supes didn’t
always ask when they took human women. So the purple-
The Maze | Tia Fielding
3
eyed toddler, with claws for hands and a scaled ridge on top
of his spine that formed into a lizard’s tail…. Yeah, liking
cock wasn’t a big deal at that point. Micah snorted even now,
when he had barely strength to move.
He was tall, over six feet, and very, very skinny now that
his former masterwho had disguised himself as the
boyfriend of Micah’s dreamswas done with him. He had
lost more blood and more muscle tone because of the poor
nutrition, so much that he was surprised his long, black hair
was still intact. He looked malnourished, but he was still
running because there was a way out of this.
Actually, there were three. Hidden in the maze. If you
found one, you were safe. At least for the next half an hour,
because that was the time the supes would barter. Who would
get the human, or sometimes the weaker supernatural being,
who had outwitted the maze made by angels. Yes, literally.
Suddenly he was skidding to a halt in the middle of a
crossroads. The walls were maybe fifteen feet high, and the
streets were ten feet wide. Cobblestone street, black brick
walls. Very ominous.
“Are you giving up, Micah?” the predator’s voice asked,
spreading through the maze like there was a sound system
installed. Micah knew better.
“No,” he panted, and did quick math. He was coming
into the crossroads from… let’s say west; he wasn’t sure, but
say it was west. He felt like continuing east, and his next
choice would’ve been south. So he took off again, north.
What good had his instincts done him? He was sure they
wouldn’t save him now.
The Maze | Tia Fielding
4
And so he ran, and he was sure there was an approving
murmur somewhere above him, but he couldn’t care about
that. Okay, what had he heard about the exits? Always on
the inner walls, never on the outer. Never trust ladders,
never trust doors. His eyes scaled what he thought was the
inner wall on his right, and he kept running, his eyes peeled
for it, even when his instinct told him otherwise.
Suddenly his brain registered that there had been
something on the wall, maybe ten steps in the direction he
had come from. Again he slid and struggled for purchase,
but turned around nonetheless, and went to look for what
had made his brain twitch.
At first there wasn’t anything, but then he noticed the
little black ring of steel, way above his head. Fuck! Was this
an exit? If it was, it was meant for someone seven feet tall!
He knew this might be his only choice, the only possibility he
could find for an exit before his strength ran out completely.
He spotted a crate in the next crossroads and ran to get
it. He couldn’t jump high enough, and if the predator who
was making those lovely scratching sounds and cackling as
it came closer caught him, then so be it. Getting the crate
took too long, he knew, and when he placed it against the
wall under the ring, he could hear the steps and the nails
scraping the wall, already entering the same patch of street
he was on.
Carefully, in case the crate was rotten, he climbed up
and reached his fingers toward the ring. The muscles in his
legs were screaming at him to stop this nonsense. There was
no reason to reach, to put them through this! His knees were
The Maze | Tia Fielding
5
shaking too, and when the wet metal evaded his fingertips,
he growled angrily and jumped.
The sound of the crate falling into pieces under his feet
accompanied the sound of the predator stopping a few feet
away. He waited for the pain that he knew was coming, but
at the same time his falling weight was held by something,
and he didn’t know what it was until his tired body and
mind told him his fingers were clutched around metal.
As the escape route’s steps, which were folded into the
wall like one of those funky beds that opened from the wall,
fell down, so did Micah. He passed out from exhaustion,
never knowing if getting to the exit was enough, or if he
should’ve gotten up the stairs as well.
Ramiel looked at his old friend Amosis, or Amos, as he
was known now, two millennia after the two of them had first
met. The vampire hadn’t aged a day, obviously, but neither
had Ramiel.
“But the rules say, the hunter kills him inside the maze
and that’s it!” Amos insisted.
“Yes, but the game and the rules were made by angels,
as were the maze. It is up to me to decide whether he won or
not. And someone had moved the crate. We do not tolerate
foul play, Amosis.” Ramiel glared at the pale figure in dark
red and black clothing.
“You just want him for yourself, as you’ve always
wanted what is mine!” the vampire snarled, taking a step
toward the angel, who was standing near the windows of the

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