Caged

by Amber Lynn Natusch

  “Simple. You left the door unlocked. Not a very smart move for a single woman living in town.”

  SHIT! I really have to stop doing that.

  “And the pizza guy? What did you do with him?”

  I had noticed the smell of pizza in the apartment and realized that they must have shanghai-ed the poor sap when he came to the door.

  “Ruby, I’m not a mindless killer. I paid the man and told him I was heading up to the party,” he said, looking truly affronted. “Really, six pies? You’re going to lose your girlish figure at that rate,” he said condescendingly.

  After a moment he dropped the facade of concern and started marching me out the door. I assumed his humor had run out for the evening. Funny, so did my luck.

  I threw subtlety out the window and went for obvious attempts at Changing. I panicked and tried to drive myself into a fear-based state that had worked so well in the past. I flailed, screamed and tried to think of every awful thing that had happened to me over the last few months, but nothing worked. The group of them laughed and clutched their stomachs at my juvenile attempts to gain the upper hand. The one nearest to Coop fell at his feet in comedic agony, wiping the tears from his face. I glanced at Cooper and nearly collapsed - his eyes were open.

  He mouthed something to me, but I had no idea how to read lips. He tried to lift his right hand but hadn’t the strength or nervous input to carry out the act. He winced with pain. I made a desperate move and dove for him, past the man on the floor. My landing wasn’t pretty, but it put my face right up against his. With one last breath of strength he whispered the words “Take…ring…off”, directly into my ear.

  I hadn’t a clue why that was important, but without time to analyze his wish, I did what he asked. I slid it off just as two arms went around my waist, yanking me to my feet. My ring flew through the air to land on Cooper’s chest. I felt a sudden surge of power, like a dam had been opened within me, hitting me with all that pent up fear and anxiety at once. It wasn’t overwhelming but empowering. An uncontrollable smile spread slowly across my lips as I broke free of the hold Eric had on me and turned to look at him.

  As the blood drained not only from his face, but also from the faces behind him, I got a glimpse of what they were seeing, what had so quickly turned the tide. In the mirror, over the shoulder of the last of the men, were two glowing red eyes. My Change was going to occur, and they all knew it. Death was coming for them.

  And she was some pissed off.

  43

  There was nothing but a carnage obstacle course to get to Eric, who had maneuvered himself conveniently behind his minions. It was no matter; an RB couldn’t be stopped. It took little effort for me to cut through his not-so-human bodyguards, the rampage taking just under a minute. It was surprisingly unsatisfying and unchallenging. Anticlimactic even.

  The shock and horror appeared to have frozen Eric in a state of half-Change. His stature was that of a human but his eyes, teeth, and hands were in a blended state. Claws protruded from his fingertips, and sharp canines made his mouth shut awkwardly, though it was agape at the time. His eyes glowed an inhuman yellow and they read fear. He was afraid of me.

  I quickly became aware that it wasn’t really me that had him petrified, but more so the crazy person who was at the helm of my body. It was as if I was somewhere in the backseat of a careening sports car and couldn’t reach the brake. The driver was reckless, impulsive and a little crazy. I envied her immensely.

  She waded through intestines and questionable matter slowly and with a catwalk swagger. She smoothed down the tunic that was understandably disheveled and slipped off her hat. After meticulously untying the braid that bound the still-wet curls, she ran a delicate hand through my hair.

  Our hair.

  Eric clung to the wall as if it were his lifeline, plastered against it like a starfish. He still hadn’t closed his mouth. She would do this for him. Upon reaching his body she slowly crouched at his feet and with snakelike grace, uncoiled herself, sliding along the length of his body in a sexual way until virtually nose-to-nose with him. She remained pressed against him until she felt him unwillingly press back against her, at least part of him anyways. She laughed an unfamiliar laugh that was far deeper and huskier than my own.

  Stevie Nicks with a two pack a day smoking habit…

  She then sucked his bottom lip into a kiss that was more rough than sensual and ended with that lip caught between her teeth, being pulled to the point of pain. He winced, then moaned, leaning away from her. I was starting to get pissed off. Was she not present in that dungeon with me? Did she not endure what I did, or did she actually enjoy it? I ran these questions through my mind over and over. Then I realized that she’d stopped toying with him, unless holding him off the ground by the throat was foreplay I’d not seen yet. And I’d seen a lot in Utah.

  He gargled something incoherent and she dropped him to the floor in response, seemingly amused with her own antics. He coughed violently for a moment, and then in a very hoarse voice repeated himself.

  “You don’t want to do this. I can help you.” I’m guessing that the reply she gave him broke at least four to five ribs on his right side. When he regained his breath, he started again. “I can help you escape the PC,” he said as he braced himself for another blow. Instead, she cocked her head to the side as if intrigued with a painting she couldn’t quite figure out.

  “Help me how?” she rasped.

  “You forget that I was one. I know their methods of tracking, how they attack, operate, who they answer to. You’ll never escape them on your own. Nobody ever has,” he said gaining both strength of voice and will as he spoke. “You. Need. Me.”

  Ever the businessman, he was hoping to negotiate his way out of this and to my horror, it appeared that she was listening. No, no, no, no. Cooper, look at Cooper. Look at what he did to my friend, our friend! Eric is slime, the scum of the earth, and he’ll sell us out at the first chance he gets. He doesn’t care about us, he cares about what we can do to his bottom line. SNAP OUT OF IT!

  I screamed those messages repeatedly inside my head to try and break her out of his hold yet again. I thought it was working when she pinned him against the wall with her forearm to his throat, but he was still able to talk, and that seemed to have a hold on her. I needed something else, something more tangible for her to grab onto.

  She released him as he told her his plan of immediate escape. He seemed to have put together that the PC would be coming for us sooner than later. While he walked around her, he caused her gaze to land upon Cooper’s body sprawled lifelessly on the rug.

  I seized my opportunity.

  HE DID THAT! HE KILLED COOPER, THE ONLY PERSON WILLING TO HELP US WHEN NOBODY ELSE WOULD! KILL HIM!

  Message received.

  A guttural noise sprang deep from within her chest as she dove at Eric. He screamed for the briefest of moments until his vocal cords were strewn about the room, along with every other major organ contained within his body. She hovered over the tiny remains and shreds of clothing in front of her, allowing me a chance to take it all in. When I professed my satisfaction, she breathed deeply. A howl burst forth from her mouth signaling the kill.

  It went unanswered.

  Cooper!

  She scurried across the slippery floor to his side and tried to pick his head up. So much blood, we thought in unison. She spotted the ring still perched delicately on his chest and reached for it, hesitating to put it on, knowing that last time the switch knocked us out for a few minutes. Cooper would be dead for sure by then, and we would most likely be as well. She took a breath and stared at the innocuous circle of platinum.

  Thank you, I whispered to her in our mind.

  “No, thank you,” she whispered back before sliding the ring onto my right hand.

  44

  I awoke on my side staring at a wall so red that for a moment I really questioned if I had redecorated before I left. Then reality smacked me. I shot up onto my hands and knee
s and looked around until I found his body. Cooper still lay motionless.

  I shuffled over until I straddled him, hovering over to get an aerial view of the damage. His chest looked like mincemeat and showed no signs of healing. I stood quickly and ran toward the bathroom for towels, antiseptic and gauze, anything that could be helpful, or at least make me feel as though I was.

  I stepped on something resembling a spleen and came crashing to the floor. Maybe it had been a kidney, but I just couldn’t tell with my footprint embedded in it. Once on my feet again, I sprinted down the arterial-sprayed hall and dodged into the bathroom. I threw everything of inconvenience out of my way and collected my mission items, quickly turning and running back down the hall, hurdling any random flesh to avoid further incidents.

  I didn’t have a clear plan when I got back to his body, but I had to do something. I plastered towels across his chest to stop the bleeding, and wrapped an Ace bandage tightly around them to keep them on, just in case he decided to spring from his position and inform me that he was only kidding. I tried to examine him further, but my vision was blurred with tears I hadn’t realized I was shedding. I was hysterical, and hysterically crying. Sobbing would have been a more accurate description. I tried to hear if he was breathing, but the only sounds I heard were the throbbing in my ears and wails escaping my mouth.

  Deja vu filled my mind as I dropped onto the towel-covered body, carrying on as though the world was ending. Perhaps it was.

  I cried so hard that I could no longer breathe through my nose, and was dangerously close to hyperventilating, or passing out. I cried with an abandon unlike anything I’d ever experienced. Nothing else mattered in that moment - not Eric, not Sean, not Utah - only Cooper.

  Again I found myself begging him, incoherently, not to leave me. Over and over again I pleaded, bargaining anything I could think of with God so long as he let me have Cooper back. Then silently, I prayed.

  I neither heard nor saw Sean come in. His voice broke through my prayers. Maybe he would answer them, I thought, or maybe he would send me to be with Cooper. I didn’t seem to care either way.

  He called to me again, and I wondered how long he’d been standing there doing that, unsuccessfully trying to get my attention. Just as I slowly lifted my head to see him, he perched down beside me, gently lifting me up off of Cooper’s body. His eyes were kind, but his posture was still all business.

  “It’s silver. They shot him. He didn’t do anything and they shot him,” I babbled.

  I sounded oddly removed from the situation, as if it suddenly became too much to bear. Sean tried to direct my attention by asking questions, but I just kept repeating myself while I looked back down at Cooper’s body, my eyes glazed and unfocused.

  “Ruby,” he said, shaking me just a little. “What happened?” I stared at him mutely. “Ruby. I need you to pull it together,” he said calmly. ”Tell me what happened.”

  “Eric. He brought others,” I said faintly.

  Sean growled at the mere mention of Eric’s name. It was echoed by others, who until that point, I hadn’t noticed were even there.

  “He was here?” he asked, scanning the apartment.

  “He still is,” I said meekly.

  They all sprang to attention with fighting stances, looking around as if concerned about ambush.

  “Where?” he asked, jumping to his feet.

  “You’re standing on him,” I replied.

  They looked around confused for a moment, then realization set in; the carnage had a name. Several names. Sean leaned in closely to me, whispering in my ear.

  “You did this?”

  I nodded.

  He leaned closer, brushing my ear with his lips.

  “Good,” he replied.

  I looked at him with surprise.

  “Are you going to kill me now?” I mouthed with barely a sound.

  He looked at me with genuine surprise.

  “No,” he said without pause.

  It was my turn to look surprised.

  “Why did you come for me in Utah, then?” I whispered, narrowing the distance between us further.

  A ghost of a smile flashed across his face, then quickly disappeared.

  “I made you a promise once. I keep my promises,” he explained. “No more cages.”

  45

  My heart burned, but in a good way for once. I’d forgotten all about that talk we’d had and how my upbringing had struck a chord with him. He came back to save me. Cooper’s offhanded comments became so clear. No wonder he’d thought I was so thick. I had misread every action Sean ever made, interpreting it all as aggressive and malice-laden.

  Cooper.

  I looked at Sean with the pleading eyes of child, again shedding tears, though at a more subtle pace.

  “Can you help him?” I asked, fearing the answer.

  He pressed his lips together tightly as a foreign rumbling sound rattled his chest.

  “No. I can’t,” was his reply. With that, the tears fell far more rapidly and I threw myself onto the body again, clutching the bloody mess to me like a teddy bear after a scary dream. Maybe that’s what it was.

  “Ruby. I said that I can’t,” Sean continued with his business voice returning. “But I know someone who can.”

  He seemed reluctant to share that information, as though he wasn’t looking forward to what it entailed. There was a collective rustling of movement behind him; the brothers were stirring about cleaning up the mess I’d made. Sean grabbed one of them and started barking orders.

  “Call her. Let her know we’re on our way and that it’s going to be a messy one. She’ll want to put the tarp down.”

  His brother nodded and whipped out a cell phone. He was talking to someone as he left the apartment, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t English and had no idea what was being said.

  “Is he dead?” I asked innocently.

  Sean furrowed his brow and then rubbed his forehead with his thumb and index finger.

  “Sort of. It’s complicated. He doesn’t have much time, though.”

  I sprang to my feet like a springbok.

  “Well, let’s go then. We don’t have much time. He can’t die, Sean,” I rambled as I ran about the room collecting things I thought we needed. When I witnessed Sean’s inaction, I found myself grabbing him by the coat lapels and screaming into his face.

  “HE CAN’T DIE, SEAN!”

  There was a hush of silence from the group of rubberneckers who were supposed to be cleaning. I scanned their faces to see utter shock and disbelief. I took this to mean that Sean was not only their leader, but someone who was never, ever, to be challenged or reprimanded in any way. I took the hint, slowly releasing his collar and smoothing it out, all the while apologizing for my tone.

  “I can’t lose him,” I said, eyes downcast, posture submissive.

  Sean said nothing in response, but scooped Cooper’s body up and started down the stairs with him. I quickly followed, being literally pushed out by a room full of hostility and anger, all of which was apparently aimed at me. I didn’t think his brothers liked me very much. I guess I was their sworn enemy, so it was hard to hold that against them.

  The two of us ran out to the SUV he had driven and placed Coop in the back. When I went to get into the passenger seat, a hand grabbed me abruptly and swung me around.

  “You can’t go with me,” Sean said.

  “What do you mean? He’s not going without me!” I said, fighting against his hold. “This is bullshit, Sean. He’s like this because of me.”

  “Fine, but you have to take your own car,” he conceded, seeing that I wasn’t going to let it go. “You can’t stay there.”

  I couldn’t understand the expression on his face. It smacked of embarrassment and anger, with a hint of something I just couldn’t quite place.

  “I’ll take the TT. Just drive fast,” I told him, before realizing that our two cars weren’t going to hold all the men in my apartment. “What about the guys?” />
  “They know where to go. They’ll be there as soon as they’re finished with your place. You gave them quite a job to do,” he said while turning to walk away. For the briefest second I was sure that a smile of pride flashed across his face.

  We drove through Portsmouth at a blistering pace, which was a challenge given the road layout. New England wasn’t exactly built on a grid system. We ended up about fifteen minutes out of town in a slightly more rural area with large properties and plenty of trees covering them. We wound down the driveway to arrive at an unassuming blue cape with black shutters. A woman was waiting for us on the front step. An amazingly beautiful woman with a body that didn’t quit. I got a good look at most of it as she seemed to subscribe to the less-is-more school of dressing. I wasn’t aware until then that it was socially acceptable to call a bra a top. I learned so much when I least expected to.

  I followed Sean up the walkway, watching Cooper’s head and legs dangle beyond his outline. The light of the moon cast an eerie glow on Cooper’s face, making him look oh-so pale. My breath caught in my throat and I fought back tears with violent tenacity.

  The strange woman greeted Sean (and I mean greeted him), then turned and led the way in without so much as a glance in my general direction. Bitch.

  I bit my tongue to keep from saying something I was sure to regret later.

  The house was sparsely furnished and plain inside. Nothing adorned the walls and there were few amenities overall. I spotted a couch, and without being offered, plopped myself down on it. That won me an unfriendly glance from the supermodel. Ruby, one. Bitch, zero.

  The two of them muttered something nonsensical to each other in the adjacent hallway. It seemed boring until the volume picked up. It wasn’t English, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to pick up on pissed off in any language.

  “She stays!” Sean yelled, then stormed into the room. He was beet red and breathing heavily.

  “Don’t move!” he commanded.