by Kaia Bennett
“Fucking! Come! On!” Vaughn kicked the side of the car with every exclamation, shaking the rust bucket. “I need to eat!”
“Please… Jesse….” I filled my eyes, my heart, my entire being with my plea. “Please let me go.”
He let me go and I swayed, no longer rooted by his hold. “Let’s get you cleaned up and see what else that mouth does besides talk back.” He opened his door and got out, slamming it closed behind him, just before my door opened.
My mouth, stale with the taste of vomit and blood, went dry. Whatever he’d given me to warm the blood in my veins wore off completely. Now only the chill of the future remained, crawling up and down my spine like a stick clanging against the chain links of a fence.
Are we even in Jersey anymore?
How far away had we traveled from my sleepy, suburban Guthridge?
How long had I been gone?
Panic, unadulterated panic, overtook me. My life would be over when I got out of this car. My personal gangplank swayed. White feathery hair brushed my cheek. I turned to see Vaughn reach for me. Fuck him if he thought I’d be his willing victim, walking into the waves to become chum for sharks.
Vaughn wrapped an arm around my waist. I crawled towards the other door, but he flexed his arm and his hold became a vice. He tugged my ass into the curve of his groin, and just like that, hooked me into place. My sneakers scraped and caught on the cracked vinyl and I dug my nails into the passenger seat. I gripped with all my diminished strength, but my weak hold didn’t halt my progress. I snagged my nails on hard plastic and bumped the top of my skull against the archway of the door. Then I was out in the world again.
“Help! They’re gonna kill me! Help! Help! Help!” Every scream I couldn’t get out in the woods erupted from my raw throat. The parking lot sported several crappy, nondescript cars, surrounded by an echoing forest where only crows squawked.
Everything felt off about this. What kind of motel sat nestled off the beaten path, but still managed to find customers?
No one cares if I scream. I’m out in the open and they’re not even trying to keep me quiet.
I checked and it’s clean.
The sinister meaning behind Liam’s words became clear as I clutched the car door. I reached behind me and fumbled until my left thumb jammed into Vaughn’s eye.
“You fucking cunt!” He grabbed me by the hair and tossed me to the ground. His strength made the simple act daunting. One second, the air flapped past with an audible boom. The next, my back connected with the ground. I didn’t have time to break my fall with my hands. My landing snatched the breath from my lungs and my head bounced on the pavement, making my brain rattle.
I clutched the back of my skull, thankful to feel no blood. Vaughn stood by the car hissing and wiping his face, several feet away, an Army-style duffel at his feet.
After a long, breathless moment I rolled to my side.
As soon as I could get to my knees, I planned to make a run for it, but my head snapped backward like a rubber band. Once again, the flat of my back connected with the pavement. My scalp caught fire with pain. Instant tears burned my eyes.
Vaughn’s scuffed Doc Marten stamped my hair to the ground. Out of nowhere, soundless and with unexplainable speed, he’d covered the distance between us, with duffel bags in tow. I stared up his long legs wrapped in tight, dark jeans. I took in the fitted white Sex Pistol’s T-shirt, smudged with dirt and brown, caked blood. He stared down at me the way a kid with a magnifying glass looks at an ant. Then, he smooshed the left side of my face into the dirt by placing the flat of his boot on the right. I glimpsed a streak of blood traveling down his face like a tear before my gaze filled with gravel.
Slowly, so slow I could feel the incremental pressure, he dropped his weight.
I squirmed, frantic and crying.
My cheekbones would crack. The imprint of the bottom of his boot would brand my face.
Spittle escaped my clenched teeth. I scratched and clawed his leg, yelping like a wounded animal.
“Vaughn.”
The pressure eased. The bastard took his time removing his boot from my face, scraping dirt and debris onto my cheek like he’d rake shit off his sole onto a curb. Moving so fast, his form blurred, he tugged me to my feet by my wrists so powerfully the frail bones cracked. I met his glacial gaze and couldn’t help curling my lip.
I indulged, for the fiercest second of my life, the fantasy of standing over him, his face contorted in fear as I wrenched pain and tears from his body. I wanted his agony more than I’d wanted anything since my freedom. Even though I knew my death was imminent, I silently promised us both I would make my vision reality.
The moment fled, but the wind stilled around us. He released me and I swatted at the dirt and grime coating my cheek.
Vaughn lifted his head, flashed a cocky grin. “You got some spirit. You might last till breakfast, bitch.”
He picked up his bag, then turned me around by my shoulder and shoved me. I stumbled and righted myself on shaky legs. Jesse waited on the left side of the door with his own duffel. Liam leaned against the right side, a black backpack at his feet and the room key swinging around his finger like a silver blur. Vaughn marched me to the door, bringing up the rear in case I made a futile attempt to run.
God, please let there be clothes in those bags. Bad enough they packed for this road trip to hell. Please, don’t let there be… tools.
Vaughn’s voice broke through the torture devices I imagined hidden in those duffels.
“Are we keeping her for breakfast, and then dumping her, or what?” Vaughn asked.
“We could leave her for housekeeping. We’ve got enough money for that and a little left over.” Liam chimed in.
“Dunno yet,” Jesse said.
They could be planning brunch instead of my murder. And what kind of fucking housekeeping cleans up kidnapping victims? Maybe they’ll leave me alive when they’ve had their fill?
I swallowed audibly. I felt their gazes on me, but I fastened mine to the door Liam unlocked and shoved open. The door creaked. Stopped. Darkness waited for me.
If this had been a normal group, a normal room, Liam, who entered first, would’ve turned on the light. He didn’t. He disappeared into the shadows with backpack in tow. Jesse followed, his duffel slung over his shoulder.
I wanted to close my eyes, to block out the approaching nightmare, but I kept them open as I passed from the fading light of freedom outside into the cage of darkness and death within.
Just a room. It’s just a room, Evie.
I knew my lie couldn’t ward me against the truth. The threshold between the past and the present awaited, cloaked in the guise of a motel room door. The only thing I could choose was how I crossed over.
Surprise hit me, much like when I felt the back of my head after Vaughn tossed me to the ground. The fall should have cracked my skull open. And with the black out curtains closed, I should’ve been blind until my eyes adjusted. My vision flickered in and out of focus, drinking in shapes and movement as I stared into the room. One second I could make things out: two beds, a nightstand between, a nondescript landscape painting on the wall. The next, my eyesight shifted to blindness again.
Two sides warred within me as I took one step after another. A beast circled a girl, both trapped in the same cage, inside my mind. The beast saw clearly and felt at home in the dark. The girl I used to be closed her eyes, clinging to the departing light.
I wanted to be the beast. I needed to become more than human—or less than—if I hoped to survive. But, even if I made it out of this alive, I’d never again be the girl who felt at home in the light. She closed her eyes. The beast bared its teeth.
I squared my shoulders and I kept my eyes open, able to see even when Vaughn closed and locked the door.
5
Huddled by the door in the dark, I watched them. Waited for them to notice me, praying they didn’t. Vaughn tossed his bag on the bed closest to the window at the end of th
e room and peeled off his T-shirt. The sweat-and-bloodstained garment, not much paler than his alabaster skin, crumpled to the floor. I envied the fabric flopping lifeless and unfeeling at his feet. My legs shook, but they didn’t give. I didn’t fade into unconsciousness or disassociate from my dread. I couldn’t escape now, so I needed to pay attention and fight smart. I needed to watch and learn.
I wrapped my arms around me, breaking into a furious sweat despite the comfortable temperature in the room. I counted each individual beat of my racing heart, determined to get myself under control.
“I’m showering first.” The muscles in Vaughn’s back rippled left, then right when he kicked off his boots. Thinner than Jesse, and only an inch or so taller, he held the number two spot in this feral band. Jesse stood between me and the beta dog, peeling off his flannel shirt, but that didn’t stop Vaughn from trying to stake a claim on me when he turned around.
Vaughn made a big show of unzipping his jeans and whipping his cock out, fixing me with a penetrating stare.
“Come clean my dick, college girl.” I averted my gaze, but in my peripheral vision, the sight of him stroking his hardening flesh made me shudder. “Got those pretty dick-sucking lips. I just wanna bite ‘em off your face—”
“Later.” Jesse clicked on the lamp between the beds.
Later for the shower? Or for the rape?
“She goes first.” Jesse jerked his thumb my way. Vaughn paused in his stroke and gave Jesse a coded look I couldn’t decipher. Jesse stared back, kicking off boots splashed with my vomit. Something eloquent and primal passed between them before Vaughn huffed and rolled his eyes. He pulled a cigarette from behind his ear, a lighter out of his tight pocket, and plopped down on the bed, cock still dangling out of his fly.
“Fine. She reeks anyway.” Vaughn lit up and inhaled deep. “Hose her down and let’s get this party started.”
I blinked, taking stock once again of how gross I felt. I ached to wash the stink off, to douse myself under a flood of soap and water, but not after hearing Vaughn’s words, I’d have spent the rest of my life growing fuzz on my teeth and wearing piss-stained jeans if it meant they’d stay away.
Once I’m clean they’ll make me dirty again. I’ll never be able to wash them off.
Images of death from Jesse’s mind came unbidden. Twisted limbs. Soulless eyes. A person with hopes and dreams transformed into a dead body, complete with the accompanying—weirdly muted—thud as their dehydrated form hit the floor. Premature resting places scattered like seeds from coast to coast.
Doesn’t matter. They’ll kill me after and dump my body. I only stalled them.
I caught Jesse staring at me.
I stalled him.
He weighed and measured me as he unzipped his own jeans. In those eyes I saw, not just bodies falling into a pit. I saw desire, limbs twisted around his. My mouth watered as his taste buds slid down sweat-sheened skin. My skin. Between the folds of my sex. The spike of pleasure we’d shared speared us, separated us from the others in a way I still couldn’t explain.
I saw an opportunity, like the iridescent edge of a sea shell hidden in the sand.
He thinks I’m a witch. And he wants me, even now. He wants me under him more than he wants me dead.
Find out how to keep it that way.
“What do we need from the front desk?” Liam tossed the room keys onto the nightstand between the beds and swept a hand through sandy brown curls. Dressed in a gray hoodie, jeans and work boots, he seemed, not just shorter than the others, but younger. Not one looked a day over twenty-five, but him? In this rare moment of calm deference, he reminded me of a Midwestern college boy.
I could’ve gone to school with this kid. He should be studying for finals, not serving as errand boy for some cult.
They both looked at me. I sensed the answer had to do with how much time I had left.
“Extra soap, shampoo, conditioner. And toothbrushes for the road.”
Liam nodded. “The front desk said everything you need for our stay is already in the bathroom. Checkout is tomorrow afternoon at twelve.”
My stomach rumbled. I didn’t expect to ever be hungry again after this, but my body begged to differ.
“Shit. Get a bottle of water and, I don’t know, a bag of chips or something. She needs food.” Jesse gave me a withering look, like it was my fault he’d forgotten people needed to eat.
Fucking prick. I can’t believe my last meal is gonna be a bag of chips and a bottle of water.
They better be sour cream and onion.
“Take her clothes and dump ‘em in the car. Then you can go pick up some food.”
“And the car? You want me to dump it now or later?” Liam edged behind me and put his hand on the doorknob. I gave him as wide a berth as I could while surrounded.
“Later. We can get a new one in the morning.” Jesse ran a hand over his tight abdominals. “You guys earned a break.”
Liam nodded and Vaughn tossed him his lighter. They all turned to me and waited. The swift, synchronized shift of their predatory attention left me stunned.
“What?” I squeaked. Jesse’s lips moved but I didn’t hear the words.
“Strip.” He demonstrated by shoving his jeans down his legs. The coal-black mass of hair cascaded over his shoulder and dragged the floor as he bent, revealing the broadness of his back and the thick bulge of biceps. The hollow alongside his buttocks flexed. So did his lean and powerful thighs. His calves were thick, rounded flesh leading to large, veined feet. When he came to his full height again, he revealed the body of a fallen angel. The toned muscles and the dark trail pointing to his long, thick cock made my lip quiver and spiked my lashes with tears. Even flaccid, I didn't know how his intimidating girth would ever fit.
I bolted for the bathroom. I caught a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye and suddenly, Jesse stood before me, blocking my path.
Jesse shoved me against the wall. “Don’t be shy, Evie.” My eyes darted to the corner where Liam clutched his groin with a rapt expression. Vaughn sat still as a statue, but ran his tongue over his teeth.
I stared up at Jesse’s intent gaze. His eyes were completely devoid of light, like bottomless pits of evil. A trick of the light made his pupils bloom just beyond the outer edge of where his irises should be.
My fingers trembled, but I refused to look away from his face as I dropped my jacket to the floor.
I’d rather look into his eyes than down at the thickening blunt instrument between his thighs. I couldn’t face what the rising column meant. Not yet.
I peeled my sweater off, dropped it on top of my jacket. When I faltered at the clasp of my bra, Jesse’s eyes narrowed. They warned me pain would follow his order if I didn’t hurry up. My tears fell with my bra, splattering my bare breasts.
“Nice, big titties,” Liam murmured.
“A mouthful for both of us.” Vaughn chuckled and snapped his teeth. Just thinking of his fangs in the tender mounds made me feel faint. Jesse’s eyes dropped to my bare breasts. My traitorous nipples were already hard, the spike of fear and adrenaline prickling every bare inch of my skin to life.
I bent to slip off my sneakers because the motion meant for a second I could conceal my breasts behind my knees. I unlaced one. Slid the shoe off. Then did the other, my back curved as much as possible. When I stood again, Jesse’s hair swept my breasts and belly. He’d moved so close. He tilted his head to stare down the length of my body.
Jesse grabbed either side of my jeans, tearing the button off and ripping the zipper open.
I pushed him away, all instinct now, as my hands connected with his solid chest. He didn’t budge.
He slapped me, the movement so swift that for a second, I didn’t feel anything but my body sprawling against the front door where Liam stood guard. I caressed my stinging cheek, the flesh burning where the back of his hand left a mark. Seething, I turned on him.
“Fuck you.” I hurled the obscenity before I thought. He’d opened h
is mouth to make some nasty retort I’m sure, but the words died on his lips.
I stared straight into his soul, overcome by rage, and desperate to share the ache blooming on my face. I focused so hard on him I could have crawled beneath his skin. Blood pooled in my mouth and I let the liquid fill, too distracted by the task of turning the flaming pain across my cheek into his pain. I wanted his helplessness, his powerlessness. I wanted him to pay, starting with the hurt inflicted on my throbbing cheek. He winced, his left eye twitched. He worked his jaw until the joint cracked audibly. My eyes widened.
No way. I can’t make him feel my pain. Not really.
He raised his hand to scratch his left cheek. His face bore a reddish tint, as if the bronze skin were smacked from the inside. The faint marks of fingers—his fingers—blossomed, then began to fade.
Can I? Can I make him feel the way it feels when he hurts me?
He didn’t look like he would hit me again. In fact, he looked bewildered, but I didn’t want to take any chances.
With shaking hands, I gripped the sides of my jeans and panties, broke our stare, and slid them both down my thighs in one jerk. I stepped out of the garments, kicked them to the side, and scuttled as far into the wall and away from Liam and Jesse as I could.
“Oh, fuck me.” Liam groaned. “I’m gonna tear that juicy ass up.”
Jesse laughed, grabbed my upper arm, and swatted my ass before jiggling the curve. Jesse pried the clenched cheek open so hard my nether lips separated. I yelped and then burst into plaintive tears, sinking to the floor. I tried to tuck my knees into my chest again, but Jesse dragged me to my feet and shoved me into the bathroom while Liam gathered my clothes and rushed out the door.
Jesse pushed me so hard I had to catch myself on the bathroom counter. I stared into the mirror at my bruised cheek and swollen lip while Jesse shoved the shower curtain open with a sharp slink. Relief and awe stared back at me from a vaguely familiar face as the shower hissed to life. I catalogued the fading scarlet staining my mouth and chin. I looked like a toddler who’d made a mess of her red popsicle. But my cheek stole all my attention.
