Venom & Vampires: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection

by Casey Lane

  Tryg stared into my upturned face while I visualized it was Rod that was over me and had tied me in my bra and panties to a bed, anything so that I could look back into Tryg’s eyes with sincerity.

  ‘Think like a sheep, look like a sheep, be a sheep,’ I repeated the refrain over and over in my head while my lips smiled hesitantly and I relaxed my body on the bed.

  Tryg sat back. I watched while he looked around the room and ran a hand over his goatee.

  His gaze fell back on my body. There was no response on his face by even a blink when Liz cried out again, and then I heard her jeering, angry voice screaming out something unintelligible.

  I swallowed painfully and said softly, “Tryg, look at me! Honey, I was coming to find you, to be with you!”

  Tryg looked at me then and I saw the flash of furious anger in his eyes before I felt the hard slap across my face.

  My head snapped to the side and my eyes filled with tears. I had never been slapped so hard, and never on the face. My God, it hurt! My face was numb, yet on fire.

  “Don’t you dare try to play me!” he thundered, pointing a finger in my face when I hurriedly turned back to face him.

  “I wasn’t! I’m not! Why would I?” I responded quickly, as I thought ‘act like a sheep, talk like a sheep, be the sheep’. “Tryg, why else would I be here? Liz and I came to party with you guys, to get to know you again!” I let the tears fall. “Why are you acting this way to me? My husband’s dead and your dad won’t care anymore. I thought you’d be happy to see me, not treat me like a prisoner and give my friend to your men like some whore to use! Tryg, help me out here!”

  Tryg stood over me and watched me closely while I spoke, fists clenched and eyes cold. His chest rising and falling rapidly was the only sign of emotion I could detect. This time when he hit my face, it was with a closed fist, but I saw that flicker behind his eyes again and rolled my head with the strike. It still hurt like a motherfucker. I tasted coppery blood from where my teeth cut into my cheek at the force of his blow. I was dizzy with the pain.

  “Do you think I don’t know you came to spy on me?” His voice was matter of fact. He punched my thigh but lightly, almost playfully. It hurt tremendously.

  “Tryg, if that one biker with the red lips and the long black and silver beard told you that, he’s lying. Tryg, that man saw me on the street and came onto me!” I saw Tryg’s fist tighten and I slowly put a hand on his arm. “No, please, listen for just a minute. I swear if I’m lying you can kill me!”

  He said through tight lips, “If you’re lying, you’ll pray I kill you.”

  I nodded rapidly, but smiled bravely. The mask was firmly on now. I was the sheep. Even I would believe my own lies. I could pass a lie detector test.

  “When you stopped at the farm today, that creep licked his lips at me and mouthed that he wanted me and he laughed behind your back. He laughed, Tryg!” Indignant, I rose up on my elbows, as if not knowing I was thrusting my chest forward. I saw Tryg’s eyes fall to my sports bra, as I whispered earnestly, “That’s why I was so cold back at the farm. I couldn’t stand seeing him disrespecting you behind your back! But I did something really stupid when he saw me coming to visit you. After he put his hands on me and said he was going to fuck me harder than you ever could, well…,” I lowered my eyes and let the tears fall again. That wasn’t difficult because my cheek and thigh throbbed painfully with every breath. “I told him that I was going to tell you what he said.” I wiped my face angrily. “I told him that he was going to be in big trouble.” I laughed bitterly. “So much for soul mates, I guess the joke’s on me.” I glared up at Tryg’s stoic face defiantly. “That’s the last thing I remember before you woke me up.” Tryg started to speak, but I help up a hand. “Let me guess. He was the guy who stripped me down and tied me up like a present for you. It was his idea to throw that little welcome party for my friend, Liz, too, right?”

  There was a softening of the taut muscles in Tryg’s neck. His hand reached out, and while I didn’t flinch, Tryg didn’t hit me. Instead, he ran the back of his fingers down my swollen cheek.

  I smiled and nuzzled against his forearm.

  His eyes were hot now, the blue vibrant against his swarthy skin. “I want to believe you so much, Acadia.”

  “You can, Tryg.” I smiled again, but slowly. “You can.”

  “Okay, I will,” His hand trailed lower and hovered. He watched his hand for a moment while I thought of Rod and did not dream of revenge, not yet, because I was a sheep and I loved Tryg, “but first, I think I want to hear ol’ red lips’ side of the story. You understand, Acadia, he was Lars’ road captain. I think he’s a creep, too,” Tryg sniggered at the girly word, “but disloyal? I don’t know.”

  “Either he’s lying or I’m dying.” I opened my eyes wide. “Ask him now, so you’ll know and we can be together. Watch his eyes, Tryg. But I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you how to spot a liar.”

  Tryg’s eyes traveled up the length of my body to my face. “No, Acadia, that I don’t. What about your friend?”

  It had gotten awfully quiet beyond the closed door of this room.

  I shrugged and frowned. “Liz is going to be really pissed at being manhandled, but she’s nobody’s property. Once I explain that, maybe we can think of something together to help her get over it?” I snapped my fingers. “When you see I’m telling the truth, let her have a choice how that red-lipped creep pays for messing with us.”

  He laughed, drew a dingy sheet up over me, and then turned his head to bellow, “Leopard, you fucker, get in here!”

  Tryg looked down at me again, the coldness in his eyes back again. “Leopard said you were taking pictures of the clubhouse.”

  I laughed easily and crossed my hands behind my head. “Well, Leopard is one old dude who’s probably never heard of a selfie. No offense, but why would I want pictures of this old trucking company? I’ve driven by here practically every day my entire life, so I ought to know what the damn place looks like by now.”

  I could see by the confused flash in Tryg’s eyes that he had never heard of a selfie, either, so I added nonchalantly, “Girls are always holding up their cell phones and taking pictures of themselves to text or put on Facebook. Liz drives me crazy doing that.”

  Leopard thumped on the door once, and then opened it at Tryg’s command to enter.

  His eyes immediately went to me on the bed where I smiled from my position behind Tryg, who had fully turned to face the door.

  The big man was swaying slightly on his feet. The reek of body odor, stale tobacco, and alcohol could be smelled from ten feet away. His wife beater was pushed up over his unfastened belt buckle, as if he’d dressed in a hurry.

  I licked my lips lasciviously, as Leopard had done earlier today. I stuck two fingers in my mouth and I sucked hard. Leopard’s eyes bulged a little at my display and he smiled drunkenly. “Ah, yeah, suck me hard. I’ve been waiting for this piece of ass all day. That other one is prettier, but she’s a frigid bitch. Shoulda gotten double the money for that one!”

  Tryg’s punch in the face was lightning fast and Leopard collapsed to his knees. Tryg kicked him in the stomach, but Leopard was already knocked out and didn’t protect his middle. He fell to the floor facedown and twitched convulsively. I hoped he was choking on his own blood and vomit.

  Tryg didn’t look at me as he went over to a pile stacked on a metal table I hadn’t noticed in the corner. I saw my clothes and part of my belt, but I didn’t know if my gun was still attached. Tryg dug around and I forced myself to stay relaxed. He was searching for my phone.

  This guy was a hard nut to crack. Talk about trust issues.

  My mind was racing again, trying to think up a convincing distraction to save our lives when all hell broke loose outside the bedroom. Men were shouting and running. There were multiple gun shots. My hopes soared we’d been rescued, but then I heard the sounds that had the power to freak me out above all else; long, guttural moans and howls of
homicidal rage.

  I tried to stay calm. “Tryg, untie me fast. It’s the crazies!”

  He ran over to the door just as it flew open. Joey burst in, eyes rolling in fear and yelling so quickly it all ran into one sentence, “Come quick, Tryg. We’re being attacked by those sick people from on TV! We gotta get out of here!”

  Tryg shouted, “What the hell are you talking about, you fucking retard!”

  The noise was much louder and closer with the door open. Over raging screams and gunfire, I could hear Tryg’s men shouting in fear and yelling in pain.

  Tryg’s glance bounced from me to the doorway. He ran back to the bed and whipped aside the sheet. It flew across the room. He pulled out a small key and unlocked the padlock on the leather strap around my left ankle. I kicked aside the chain that had connected it to the footboard.

  “Hurry, Tryg!” Joey fidgeted by the door, his eyes darting from my body to the fighting going on somewhere outside the room. “Come on, I’m telling you, leave the bitch or were gonna die!”

  Tryg started to unlock the second padlock, but then he paused.

  “Don’t stop. Unlock it, Tryg.” I attempted to keep my voice soft and not demanding.

  He pulled me up and kissed me hard on the lips while I groaned at the sharp pain. When he moved his head away, Tryg’s grin was maniacal. “We have some unfinished business. If you’re not lying, you’ll live until I get back.”

  “Don’t leave me locked up!” I shouted, but Tryg was already out the door behind Joey. A key turned in the door lock.

  I didn’t waste time, but screamed out, “Liz, if you can hear me, I am alive! I will get to you somehow!”

  There was too much noise and screaming outside the door to distinguish any one voice anymore, but I kept on yelling in case she could hear me. In the background, I now heard the steady, distinct boom of a big gun being fired repeatedly.

  I got off the bed and attempted to drag the bed to the table. I didn’t want to guess why, but the frame was bolted to the floor. I stretched an arm. The table was still two feet away. I knew I should try and be systematic, but wild with fear, I called out to Liz as I tossed the right side of the room for anything I could use to help me reach my stuff.

  Leopard moaned on the floor by the door, but his body was on the wrong side of the room to be of any use to me.

  Something crashed against the door and the flimsy wood shuddered under the lock. Frozen, I shut up. A moaning howl escalating to a furious shriek almost caused me to fall down in terror. You’d think there would be enough blood and guts out there for the crazies with all the drunken bikers that they wouldn’t need to search behind closed doors. Maybe yelling nonstop wasn’t such a good plan.

  I stood on top of the bed. It was then I noticed shuffled footprints stamped in blood by the door, gleaming wetly under the ceiling light. Joey’s boots had traipsed fresh blood into the room.

  “Frigging men!” I mouthed the curse, shaky with fear at the thought of what lurked out in the hallway, only a cheap door standing between us.

  Forcing myself to move, I dropped down and hopped to the floor again on my free leg. Moving as quietly as possible, I pulled the mattress off the bed and heaved it towards the door. It fell over Leopard, but propped against the door only slightly. Carefully, I did the same with the box springs. It landed further from the door, crookedly on top of the mattress. If the door opened, it could possibly work as a wedge between the door and the bed frame. If I was much luckier than I had been up until now.

  I stood still and listened over the rapid beat of my heart and the constant throb in my cheek, but didn’t hear the crazy out there anymore.

  Stooping, I concentrated on examining every inch of the metal footboard, testing the joints for a way to take it apart to slide the chain off. Without any warning noise, the bedroom door crashed open. I fell backwards onto my butt, letting out an involuntary scream. Scrambling back to get away from the door, I didn’t get far, pulled up short by the chain around my ankle.

  The mattress and box springs didn’t do a damn thing, either, except make it easier for the two men to jump into the room on top of Leopard’s body.

  Shotguns at the ready, they still wore the black camouflage, but were minus the sunglasses.

  I didn’t have the sheet handy any longer to pull up around me, so I braved it out. I stood up and put my hands on my hips while I propped up my chained foot up on the bed frame.

  They gawked at me while I demanded, “What the heck are you bozos looking at and what took you so damn long?”

  Chapter Eighteen

  An old chief was teaching his grandson about life…”A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil--he is anger, envy, sorrow, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false-pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego. The other is good--he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This is the same fight going on in you--and every other person, too.”

  The grandson thought about this for a minute and then asked, “Which wolf will win?”

  The old chief simply replied, “The one you feed.” -A Cherokee Parable

  The men weren’t staring any longer; the curly, dark-haired guy stood with his shotgun pointed at the door, the blonde buzz cut guy turned his head politely to the side.

  Buzz cut said sharply, “Ma’am, you need to get dressed.”

  “Gee, I wished I’d thought of that,” I snapped, and rattled the chain. “My clothes are over on that table. Who are you guys?”

  Buzz cut’s cheeks flushed dark red, but he kept his face averted when he went to get my clothes.

  “Umm, sorry, ma’am…” He started to answer me, but I cut him off when I saw his limp.

  “Why are you gimping, are you bitten?”

  Curly hair looked over his shoulder briefly to flash a grin at his flustered comrade, but immediately went back to watching the hallway.

  “No, ma’am, I…uh…,” Buzz cut stuttered as he handed me the pile of my clothes, inadvertently looking again at my body before turning quickly away.

  I snatched the clothes and rolled my eyes impatiently. “Jesus, spit it out and then get me out of here!”

  “Ah, sorry, ma’am. We’re here to help you and your friend. I’m Matt Dehn and that’s Mark Miller.” He bent over to pull on the chain and then saw the padlock at my ankle. Not meeting my eyes, he mumbled, “My leg was blown off by an IED. I wear a prosthetic leg. Mark, need your picks over here.”

  “Oh, thank you God.” I smiled wide in relief at our rescue and didn’t care that it split the cut inside my cheek again. “Where is Liz? Have you seen her?”

  Matt explained in a low voice, “Ma’am, our friends are helping your friend. We found her first.” His voice was neutral, although not unsympathetic. “She’s been beat up, but is still semi-conscious. They are getting her ready to travel because she has a broken rib. We’ll meet them here in a second to leave.”

  Mark’s voice was filled with admiration when he spoke for the first time to reassure me, “Your friend was conscious enough to order us to kill all the bastards before we left the room.”

  Nodding, I covered my eyes with my free hand and choked up. I wanted to demand we run to wherever Liz was, but schooled myself to be patient. These two guys were in charge of the plan.

  “Was she raped?” I whispered, dreading the answer.

  “No!” Matt answered hurriedly, as he moved somewhat awkwardly over the box springs to cover the door while Mark trotted over to me. “I’m sorry for not telling you that right away, ma’am.”

  “My name is Acadia King. I’m sorry, too, Matt, for the gimp comment.” I looked through the pile of my clothes and felt the reassuring bulk of my holstered gun still on the belt of my pants. I pulled my shirt over my head while saying, “I’m a little freaked out here.”

  I jumped when another rage-fille
d scream sounded off outside the room somewhere, followed by another, and yet another howl.

  Matt’s shoulders tensed, too, but he chuckled. “No problem, ma’am. I’m still getting used to the new leg. We know your uncle, Coop Evans, from the VA hospital.”

  Mark dropped to his haunches near my chained ankle and rested the shotgun over his bent knees. He messed with some little tools he’d grabbed off his utility belt, and a few seconds later, freed my leg.

  “Thanks, Mark,” I said gratefully, pulling on my pants as he agilely ran back across the box springs to stand near the door with Matt.

  Mark grinned back over his shoulder. This guy had no problem openly watching me dress. “Hey, I’d do anything for Coop.”

  “Yeah?” I responded automatically, hurriedly pulling on my boots, buckling my belt, and then drawing my gun. I checked it was still loaded, amazed Leopard or another biker hadn’t stolen the weapon. My phone had no signal and I shoved it in my pocket. “You’ll have to tell me what Uncle Coop did to inspire such devotion, if we live long enough. Can we go?”

  I jumped extra hard on top of the box springs on my way to the young soldiers at the door, but Leonard made no sound. I had many questions for these guys, but they could wait until we got out of here.

  The moaning howls were louder near the door. I heard violent pounding noises. What I hadn’t heard for the last few minutes were any agonizing human screams of pain. I shifted nervously from leg to leg.

  I lowered my voice and asked, “Uh, guys, what’s going on out there? Did any of the bikers escape?”

  Matt motioned to my pocket. “We haven’t had a signal for over two hours now.” He indicated left down the hallway with the barrel of his shotgun. “We’ve barricaded the door that leads into this hallway from the main room the best we could. Some of the bikers escaped, I don’t know how many. The bikers still out there are probably dead,” he hesitated and added, “or they’ve turned into those zombies.”

  This time I didn’t jump when the high-pitched frenzied shrieks started up again. “My God, it sounds like there are a lot of them out there.” I frowned and murmured, “I wonder where they all came from because Coates seemed pretty quiet when we got here this afternoon.”