Ariel awoke in the morning as the sun was just rising, dew still on the grass surrounding the blankets. Sometime in the night Lucien had lifted her hands from the saddle horn and they lay curled up against his chest. She was scared of the passion she had experienced. The feelings were replaying through her mind and she didn't understand how Lucien could have produced such wanton responses from her. She didn't know why she wasn't more concerned or embarrassed by it. Her head was still resting on his warm broad chest. For some reason, that didn't make sense to her.
Sensing she was awake, Lucien whispered through her hair, "Good morning, Ariel. We need to prepare to leave." He kissed the top of her head.
Feeling curiously safe, she looked up at him with only a slight hesitation. "Why aren't you cold? Your chest is, I mean, you're warm. I thought you'd be cold."
He smiled down at her, his teeth flashing white against his tanned skin, no fangs in evidence. "Did you plan your escape when I burst into flames at sunrise, as well." he chuckled. "There's a lot to learn about our kind. Despite the legends we've heard from mortals over the years, I assure you, we aren't dead or even the dead re-born. It's more like a virus. It extends our life immeasurably, enhances our mortal capabilities, immunities and desires. These abilities require a faster metabolism, thus, the warmth. Come. Let's get something to eat. We need leave soon."
Ariel sat up and blushed at her nakedness. She looked over at her torn top. Lucien dug through his pack for a shirt and handed it to her. The soft fabric hung almost to her knees and she rolled up the cuffs. She smelled the woodsy scent from the cloth, the same scent she was breathing in all night as her head rested on Lucien's broad chest.
As she reached for her shorts, Lucien said, "Leave them. You don't need anything else." Startled, Ariel merely nodded, dropped the garment and followed him back to the campsite. Lucien smiled to himself as he felt the bonding between Ariel, himself and the Vampire strengthen.
All the couples started gathering at the clearing as Teri and Paula started breakfast, with Teri instructing Paula on the simpler tasks. All the girls had a flush look of satisfaction on their faces. Ariel, feeling her face warm, wondered if she looked the same. They were all wearing nothing but the shirts given to them by the Vampires, each holding their captor's particular scent.
The mountain men ... vampires? All looked smug and possessively watched their women. There was an underlying excitement among them as they conversed in a group away from everyone else. The Slave-master continued watching over the unhappily bound boyfriends.
The women talked quietly, all confused and disoriented by their experiences with their captors the night before. As they hesitantly shared secrets of their passionate trysts, they didn't feel any of the tension they had during supper the night before and calmly waited.
The boyfriends on the other hand were livid! Not allowed to speak without the promise of being whipped, the young men glared at their traitorous girlfriends and the creatures who were stealing them. They had no idea the women were being 'influenced' by their captors. Mike, who had no memory of what had transpired the night before and had no idea of his captors' true nature, was trying to signal Dave to attack.
Dave was doing his best to be invisible. He knew he didn't want to do anything to draw attention to himself. He wasn't a coward. He just wasn't completely sure he understood what he had seen these big men do to Mike last night. Paula seemed unhurt. He decided to settle back until he figured it out and ignore Mike's foolish plans. They would only serve to get him in trouble.
As the girls started bringing the plates to everyone, Paula walked up and put Dave's on the ground in front of him, ruffled his hair and smiled. He smiled back uncertainly. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and went back to sit with Damon.
After breakfast was done and everything packed Lucien spoke to the group. "We have several days of travel ahead of us. You can be agreeable and it will not be too difficult. You can argue and it can be most unpleasant." He singled out Mike with his stare.
"Where the hell do you think you're taking us?" Mike foolishly countered.
"Mike, we don't have to take you anywhere. We could just leave you right here. Forever. That option will be available to you anytime on the journey." Lucien smiled pleasantly at his not so veiled threat.
"So, what? You think you're going to get us to carry all the stuff you're stealing till we get to your little mountain hideaway? What then? You kill us and rape our girlfriends? Doesn't sound like much of a bargain." Mike continued to bait Lucien, trying to rally his friends' support. Why weren't they helping him?
The other captors were holding their women enjoying the exchange.
"We have no intention of killing you, unless you give us no alternative. As far as raping your girlfriends, well, Mike, they just don't look too upset to me." Lucien smiled toward Ariel and she looked down, blushing.
Mike realized none of the girls looked very uncomfortable standing by their abductors. What was going on? "Ariel?" Mike looked at her suspiciously.
"We need to leave now, Mike. Just do as they say. You have to." Ariel said softly.
"Ariel, what are you talking about?" Mike sounded angry.
"I told you not to talk to her that way, Mike. It's time to be quiet. I'll have you gagged again if I hear another word. Ethan, get the men tied off." Lucien ordered.
The Slave-master saddled each of the captive men with one of the nylon packs he'd prepared the night before. Their wrist ties were unbound from there ankle straps and re-bound in front of them. The hobbles on their ankles were let out to about two and a half feet, but left on to discourage escape. A long lead was attached from the wrist restraints to a metal loop on the back of the saddles, the respective former boyfriends tied behind the horses of the men who had so quickly replaced them.
The women were dismayed to find their hands also retied. They were swung up onto the horses. Their captors mounted and sat behind them. "Hold up your hands, Ariel." Ariel was confused by the request but did as he asked. He took her strapped wrists and lifted them over his head so her arms hung around his neck. The position forced her chest out and made her use her thigh muscles to keep from hanging on her arms. She looked at her friends and saw they were restrained the same way.
This position also forced their pussy lips up against the saddle horn. The men reached around and lifted the women's shirts over it to ensure direct contact between the lips of their sex and the saddle horn which had a thin piece of leather wrapped around it. As the horses started walking, the women were subjected to a constant friction keeping them aroused and wet. The captors reasoned this would keep them pleasantly distracted during the long ride and free the Vampires from the constant draining 'push' they'd been supplying. Their women were precious to them. Anything that would help relieve their fear and discomfort of their new life would be provided.
The captives headed away from civilization to start lives in a settlement high above the flatlands. Nathan, with his hands still fondling a squirming Teri's breasts as she began to thrust toward the saddle horn, was towing Doug.
Nicholas, warning Christal about the gag he had handy, led a miserably stumbling Ed behind.
Damon, with a suspiciously happy looking Paula, and strangely enough, an equally happy Dave ambling behind.
Justin who, due to Shawna's long limbs, had to tie a strap to her wrists and tie it behind his neck to the ring Allen was attached to.
Lucien looked back at Mike. Mike started out digging in his heels, trying to kick a very well-trained horse who kicked back. Finally, he resigned himself to following the despised man.
Lucien would occasionally stroke Ariel's breasts from under the shirt to ease her trepidation about the journey and encourage her to shift forward. After half an hour, the saddle did its work to keep the women pre-occupied until a noon break to water the horses and rest.
The Slave-master followed behind them all with a watchful eye ready to make sure steady progress was made for the trip home.
/> CHAPTER 3
DOUBLE-BACK TRAIL
Lucien and Ariel rode in silence with Mike walking sullenly behind them. Mike was trying to pay close attention to any landmarks that could aid him in his escape, and he had no doubt a time would come to make this possible. He was furious with Ariel's apparent acceptance of the situation. It never occurred to him to wonder why the rest of the women also seemed content with these men.
Mike was starting to get very tired. He decided it was because he'd forfeited supper the night before when he expressed his anger toward Lucien. The whip marks had bruised to a dull throb. This long trek with the heavy pack of his stolen belongings strapped to him didn't help. Nor did the constant awkward struggle walking with an ankle hobble, with his hands tied to the horse like an animal.
Mike was outraged that none of the other men seemed to want to fight back – even Dave, the biggest of their group, or Ed. Okay, so maybe Ed wasn't much of a fighter, but still. How could he just sit back watching that mountain man paw his future wife? What a bunch of wimps! He never would have guessed these guys would just roll over for what was going on.
These guys were big and no doubt had better skills in the woods. That didn't make them as smart as the college students. Certainly they could come up with a working plan of escape. Well, he certainly had no intention of meekly giving in. No, Mike was sure he could find his way back to the SUV once he was free. Then he would send help back for the others and maybe that would show his father what kind of man he was.
Lucien had carefully planned the route of the abduction. All the riders were very familiar with the area and knew their captives hadn't noticed the subtle double-backs and sideways trails they were following. On the first day, they only planned to put about five miles between themselves and the clearing they had left that morning. The riders crossed the same small stream several times, in slightly different places to confuse any trackers. It also made it next to impossible for the captives to have any idea or even a sense of direction as to where they were headed. With the thick forest obscuring the position of the sun or any view of the mountain, they would become lost very quickly.
As Lucien glanced back at Mike, he saw the man observing a fallen tree with a burn from where lightening struck it. He almost laughed knowing the man was carefully trying to remember several hours worth of landmarks, not realizing they were within a few hundred feet of the original campsite. He decided to let him escape that evening. He even looked forward to having the Slave-master whip him while Ariel, still under his 'influence', would sit on his lap and quietly watch. Smiling, he leaned down and kissed her cheek. She looked up at him with a bewildered expression, trying to fight the arousal of the saddle horn.
The group finally stopped around noon at a shallow pond formed where the mountain stream had been dammed by some logs. The Slave-master busied himself untying the men from the horses and removing their back packs. He would take one of the captive men at a time, untie their hands and lead them down to the water to cool off. Then he would replace the binding on their hands toward the front and secure a line from their ankle hobble to a tree. This way they could rest somewhat comfortably. He knew with their hands placed in front of them, they could probably undo the bindings on their feet, but with everyone watching them, they didn't try. None of them wanted to be retied in a more uncomfortable position or possibly find themselves suspended from a tree branch.
The Slave-master took his responsibility seriously. It was his job to make sure none of the captive men were hurt too badly or so mentally broken as to make them unable to perform the services the settlement would require of them. The elder Slave-master who had trained him, the same man who had led him on his journey to the settlement two decades ago, explained how the men had to be conditioned before they reached the valley. Any of the captive men who could not be infused into the population without little resistance would be given to the Indians. The settlement was in desperate need of the younger men's services and any that had to be lost to the Indians counted as the failure and fault of the Slave-master.
The Indians didn't mind unruly, damaged captive men. They never went to the flatlands so they were dependent on the Clan to provide them with captive labor. Usually, as in Mike's case, they received a new captive every ten years in exchange for watching over the settlements while the Clansmen were gone. Infrequently, they would receive the added bonus of a man that was not able to be conditioned before getting to the valley. If it was a "runner", a captive that continually tried to escape, the Indians would keep them bound securely to a heavy rock, making them perform their labor towing the burden. If, after a month, that didn't work, they would cut the tendons behind the man's knees. The man could still work in this slightly bent position, but could not run. Eventually, most of the captives were adopted into the Indian tribe.
Patrick's Clan had a similar arrangement with the Indians and alternated their abduction trips with Lucien's Clan. With abductions ten years apart on opposite sides of the mountain range, the flatlanders never considered the events related.
The Slave-master was starting to like the big guy, Dave. No doubt he was more a giant in stature than in mind. He just seemed confused by what was going on. As he led him to the pond, Dave looked at the Slave-master and said conversationally, "You been doing this long?"
The Slave-master was at a loss as to how to answer that one. "Yeah. How you holding up?"
"Oh, I'm okay," the big blonde said. "We have to do a lot more than this to stay on the team. I think the other guys might be getting tired though." Then he said in confidence, "They're more the desk-jockey types if you catch my drift. They may be real smart, even smarter than me, but that isn't going to matter much now, is it?"
"You're smarter than they are if you've already figured that out." The Slave-master actually smiled.
"Mister, can you tell me what happened last night to Mike? Are these guys really Vampires? I thought that was just stories." Dave looked more confused than concerned.
"No, not just stories. I remember how it freaked me out at first. They're real smart and actually nice when you get to know them, Dave. They aren't going to let anything happen to you. They take only enough to stay strong to protect us. If you try to get along with them, you especially, may find this new way very satisfying. Now, let's get you back to the site and give one of your friends a turn." The Slave-master started leading Dave back to the group.
The Slave-master approached Mike last. "You going to give me trouble? Hope so ... I could use the work-out," he said as he untied the man. Mike didn't say anything as he walked toward the pond, closely observing landmarks again.
The women all went unbound to the pond together. They went in up to their knees and splashed water on their faces, chests and arms. Nathan sat on a rock on the bank watching them. The rest of the Clan were standing about thirty feet away by the horses. Teri kept close to Nathan, quietly cooling off in the water with a sedate expression. Paula sat in the shallow water with her. The rest of the young women started rubbing their arms trying to get circulation back into the limbs that had been hanging over the big men's necks for hours. Ariel overheard Shawna whisper to Christal, "Christal, how are you doing?"
"I'm pretty pissed off all of a sudden. Do you know what's going on?" Christal whispered with her back to Nathan.
"I took some courses last year and I think they're using some kind of hypnosis on us. I've been working on blocking it and for the last hour or so I think it's working," Shawna answered.
"Can you teach me to do it? I hate this. I get near that guy and all I want to do is drool all over him," admitted Christal.
Ariel joined the conversation speaking in a hushed voice. "I know what you mean. Standing here, away from him, Lucien scares the hell out of me. Put me on the horse in front of him and I have to pretend to want to squirm away from him while he's touching me all over. It feels so good to be close to him, but now I want to run screaming. Shawna, do you think this hypnosis or whatever it is only w
orks when they're close to us?
"I think it's stronger when they are. I also think the longer we're around them, the more control they're going to have. Did you notice how they took all our clothes away and only gave us shirts with their scent on them? I think they're trying to program us to respond to them by their scent, not just their proximity. Maybe it takes awhile for that to work, or maybe they're testing to see if it does. I think that's why they're over there instead of on the bank like Nathan. Maybe they want to see how much of a hold they have on us." Shawna pondered.
"It might be a good idea to let them think it's working. If they think we're still under their influence, we might be able to escape," Christal said.
"Shawna, can you help Christal and me try to block them too? Mike looks miserable and I'm all gaga over the Vampire who whipped him. He doesn't even know what they are. He thinks I've just thrown him over," Ariel said sadly.
"Focus on something very familiar and safe. Go through your morning routine, see yourself getting up, taking a shower, brushing your teeth. Imagine every detail like you're really doing it. It has to be mundane and exact so your mind doesn't wander. It's hard to do, because part of you keeps thinking of our situation, then they get hold of you again. You've got to try to make them think they still have control over you. Be calm while you're concentrating. It's even hard for me to do, and I've done it before. I think we need to get away from them real soon, maybe tonight. I'm going to work on planning something. If one of you gets asked to cook, ask for me as a partner," Shawna whispered.
"What about Paula?" Ariel asked. Paula was currently trying to talk with Teri about this great adventure they were on with the handsome cowboys. Teri, looking more than a little confused, would occasionally glance up at Nathan. He would smile down at her, sometimes brushing her shoulder with his hand and she'd turn her attention back to Paula.
Ariel's Desire: A Novel of Vampirism and Submission Page 4
