"You want this?" I whispered to the young vamp, turned slightly so that he could see my back. His head nodded robotically and I stepped closer. "How bad?" He continued to nod as I closed the space between us. I reached up my shirt and dipped my finger in my bloody wounds, holding it out to him. The leech opened his mouth like a baby bird. I crouched down beside him, reaching with my free hand to snatch the broken leg of the barstool off the floor. When he leaned forward, lips curled and fangs bared, I shoved the splintered end of the stick into his chest. He froze, eyes drooping as I stood and kicked the stick the rest of the way in, letting out a guttural shout as my foot hit the wood. It slipped into his body and, when it pierced his heart, a silent scream melted over his face. He looked upward and dropped down on the floor as the bluish grey of decomposition rolled over him. His fingers gnarled and his jaw cracked off its hinge. I picked up another piece of wood from the floor and backed myself into the dark room where I was supposed to be.
"What have you done!?" Alder stormed down the hall as I shoved the leg of the stool up inside my shirt, tucking it in the waistband of my pants. He slammed the door shut and the silent darkness swallowed me once again.
One down, four-hundred more to go. I sighed and leaned against the wall. It took a minute or so before the pain from the whipping came upon me. I dropped to my knees as my skin set itself on fire, searing up and down my torso. My cries filled the empty space and echoed back at me. For the first time since the inception, the true nature of my predicament revealed itself. No one was coming for me. Another round of daylight was upon us and I was no closer to escaping than I was the day prior. My arms trembled as I held myself up from collapse.
The bonds didn't matter anymore. No one could relieve me of this. I had one more chance to get out of here on my own. Ileana hadn't come to me, she sent Alder to deal with the mess. Daylight number two had fallen. I had one more chance to escape without being followed and I hadn't even seen the rest of the house. My arms gave out and I lay face down on the cold stone floor. My back continued to burn but the splintered bit of wood at my side offered me the slightest hope.
Chapter Fourteen
You're on your own. You'll always be alone.
Stop, stop it. You're doing this to yourself.
I have to get out of here.
I'm not bleeding anymore.
This floor is cold.
I've got one more day. Is it day yet? Did I pass out? My god, I can't move. Everything hurts. I'm so thirsty.
Stop it, Shawnee. Get up. Get up now.
Be still.
There it is again, that voice, that whisper.
Be still.
I can't, don't you understand. I'm crying, I think I'm crying. Maybe I can drink my tears. Where's the door? I can't… Wait. There it is. The handle, it's there. It's old. This door is old. Why is it old?
Move it, Shawnee.
I don't hear anything out there. I want to go home. I can't get out. I think it's day time. The leeches are gone.
The cool door against my ear shocked me enough to silence my racing thoughts for the moment. I'm so thirsty. It'd been almost three days, I could tell. I didn't have much time left without fluids let alone with Ileana's threat looming over me. If I lay down, I might not get up again, even if every bit of me wanted to sleep. I think I already have.
I remember being this hungry, this thirsty, and digging through trash bins in the trailer park, sipping old beer from cans left on the floor by my father. Crickets don't taste too bad when you're starving. Neither does peanut butter, five years past the expiry. There was no library for me to hide in, no school cafeteria to hope for. There was just nothingness. Nothingness, the desiccated bonds in my heart, and me.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry I have to lie down. I'll die and they'll never know I loved them. Too bad, I didn't bring a pen.
I'd been here before. Locked in darkness, with banging in my head and burning between my legs and the smell of blood. Wishing for a knife or even a pen, to stab in his neck, to draw blood and make him die. A pen can mean a lot.
Maybe I have one.
I searched the pockets of my scrubs and found only my wallet and the pictures of Vanessa's baby. I'll never get to see her. I ran my fingers over the pictures, remembering what they looked like. A sob met my lips and I tucked the photos back in my pocket. Searching my wallet for a pen or something, what was I even doing? Nothing, nothing helpful. No secret keys, no hairpins or special bomb making equipment. Just stupid money and credit cards. The two most useless things in the world.
Money got you out. Remember? Peter gave you the bag, you did chores for people, saved the money, sewed it into the bag. Your bag. Remember it? Ratty leather satchel, with a cotton inside. A cotton inside you could sew, like E-tsi taught you. Like mother. My mother taught me to sew. Sew the money in the bag. He won't find it. He didn't find it. You bought yourself freedom, you bought yourself adulthood. You can't buy freedom anymore.
Be still.
No, I can't don't you see— Wait. Credit cards. I pulled one out and squeezed the pliable edges. I've done this before. On the old door in the trailer. It wasn't a credit card but my library card.
Maybe it will work on that old door. The handle rattled but never turned.
Just like when he locked you in.
Yes, in my room. With the scary walls that upset Vanessa before she killed him. The worst place in the world. Vanessa, where are you? Please, bend in here. Can't you hear me? Can't you? I can't carve on these walls.
I walked my fingers, one over the other, down the doorframe until I met the strike plate. My hands trembled as I tried to wedge the credit card between the lock and doorjamb. One try, three, four. Finally, it caught something and I bent it back, the way Peter taught me.
Yes, Peter. Our great protector. Peter and his lost boys, except we weren't lost boys, we were forgotten. Peter and his forgotten boys. Except I wasn't a boy.
The lock flicked but I lost my grip on the card. It slipped and I cursed. Focus, Shawnee. Again. This time, this glorious time, I bent the credit card and the latch clicked. Carefully, I held the card in one hand and pulled on the door. To my surprise, it opened and the metallic scent of blood met my nostrils. The lights were out and no one seemed to be present in the chamber. Maybe I'm deaf, maybe I can't hear anymore from delirium.
I tucked the credit card back in my wallet and rushed down the hall, sticking close to the walls. This was too easy, why was it so easy? Every stall was empty. Graham's body was gone and the bar had returned to order. I heard myself breathing heavily and smoothed out my breaths. The last thing I needed was to get caught before I even made it part of the way.
Up the stairs and down the corridor.
Why isn't anyone stopping me? Where's Ileana? Where was Alder, her great servant? Did they really think I would roll over and die in that room? A few paces more and I found myself in the center of the mansion. The large oak doors that led to the sex den wing creaked when I forced them open. Again, no one was there. This is too easy. Something's wrong.
The house seemed split in two, the normal-looking side and the dark side. In the center, white double doors that led to the outside divided the very nature of the house. With one last look down each hall, I bolted for the door. It was dead bolted from the inside but I was able to turn the lock with ease. I raced out the door and into the white-hot heat of day.
The sun burned my skin like a Utah summer, but it wasn't summer and this wasn't Utah. I raced down the circular driveway and to the front gate. They were locked tight and the only way out was up and over.
Climb, go, now!
I obeyed and attempted to climb the wrought iron gates. My hands slipped, my shoes followed. I used the sandstone wall to kick off and gripped the very top of the gate. It wasn't as high as it appeared. With my heart slamming in my chest, I managed to pull myself to the top despite my shaking, weak arms. My insides screamed for sustenance and it took every bit of energy I had in that moment just to wrench myse
lf up. Instead of a graceful dismount, I tumbled over the other side, hitting the ground with a crack. The splintered stool piece I still had hidden in the back of my shirt, clattered to the pavement. I snatched it up as I stood shakily. My legs trembled but I had to leave this place. Alder could follow me in a heartbeat in the daylight. They'll figure out that I'm gone and hunt me down.
I ran down one road and up another, met with nothing but sandy flatland with low-lying brambles. This is Arizona. I'm in the desert! Something lurched in my chest and I kept running, the wood clenched in my fist like the baton of a relay race. A scream rang out behind me followed by barking of several large dogs. Images of rabid pit bulls flashed through my mind and I continued to run. As I careened up a small hill, I realized that the sun wasn't hanging high above but rather, lower in the sky, dangerously low. I had to find shelter, somewhere to hide but what good would that do?
I took a sharp turn and found myself running down a long stretch of highway. How much ground had I covered? How long had I been running? Just keep going. I raced into the desert, terrified of being seen by Alder trying to catch me in one of his fast cars. Oh, that's how we got from Utah after she bit me. A fancy sports car. The memory struck me as I ran.
Sand pooled around my feet, making it more difficult to run. In the distance, I saw a rock formation reaching toward the darkening sky. It was my only hope for a moment of cover. Spiny cacti and sharp brambles slashed at my ankles as the rock formation grew. What was that story about Devil's Tower? It looked like it, a smaller version in a different state. Why did this leech choose the sunniest place to live? Maybe it made her seem less threatening. Maybe Gaia's warriors don't look for leech nests in the desert. Leeches belonged in Transylvania and Prague and sometimes New Jersey.
I slammed into my own version of Devil's Tower and scampered my way onto a low, flat rock as if it would protect me from leeches or an onslaught of field mice. Or lizards.
There's lizards in the desert. And cacti. There's water in them, like camels. I'm so thirsty.
I scampered up the rock and tucked myself between the crevices. Here's a good spot. Write your note here. I lifted the stick I still held and began scratching at the stone. What would I say? Gv-ge-yu-hi, I scratched the Cherokee syllabary on the side of the rock. Then help, help like my room. Help like Vanessa told Mal.
Out of the corner of my eye, a shadow brushed by, disappearing as quickly as it came. I tucked myself deeper into the crevice, clutching the stick like a sword. Something scratched at the rocks below. The sun drooped lower in the sky, reddish-pink stretching out for miles.
Silhouetted a yard from me, a hyena rose from the ground. Snapping at my feet and snarling, foam dripping from its mouth. I screamed and waved the sword at it.
"Get away from me!"
"Dodi," it said as it grew larger still. Its clawed feet gripped the rock in front of me.
"Get away!" I cried out.
"Tla, Dodi. Look at me."
My mother is a hyena. I'm dying. It's taken over her. It's eaten her.
"Shawnee, you will listen." The command sent a sharp sting down my spine as if a cord attached to it had straightened my posture. My mother ripped the stick from my hand and threw it aside. "Come out of there, Dodi. I am here."
"No you're not." I sobbed, now empty-handed. The only weapon I had now gone.
"I am. Come." She reached for me, her strikingly hot claws closed around my wrist, digging in and threatening to slice the veins beneath them. "It's all right now."
Skin-to-skin contact pierced the hallucination enough for me to see my mother appear before me. She jerked me from my hiding spot and pulled me to her. Something round met my lips and the cool ease of water ran down my throat, shocking me to consciousness more than the presence of my mother. I gripped her leather canteen and gulped down several mouthfuls.
My mother sat with me on the rock, her arms tangled around me as she held me in a trembling grip. I lowered the flask and set it in my lap. My breath escaped in heavy pants, the chaos inside my head quelled to a dull roar, and once again, the awareness of my mate bonds returned. Mom stroked my hair and I dropped my head down on her shoulder. Even if this was a dream, a fantasy even, it was one that I was willing to indulge.
"You are safe now, Dodi." Only then did I notice the huskiness in her voice. I felt her hand sliding over my limbs and back, pausing just above the whip marks. Pain had me quivering and a sob choked me. I leaned away from her touch as the echo of the cracking whip assaulted my ears.
"Don't take me home yet," I croaked.
"Why not?" My words seemed to startle the ferocity from her.
"Heal my back first." I sipped the water again. "And wait until I'm less crazy. You were a monster a minute ago."
"Dodi, your mates are waiting," she said, though she obliged my wishes. Her hands warmed and her indigo glow enveloped me in a blanket of comfort. I closed my eyes and sighed, allowing her great effort to heal me. Something popped in my right shoulder and I cringed at the dull ache that followed. In time, the radiance faded and I settled against her again, hugging her arms to my chest. Tears streamed down my cheeks and I stared ahead at the fading sunlight. I didn't want the darkness again. Just the thought of it had sickness swirling the water in my gut. My mother nudged my chin so that I'd look at her. "Where were you?"
"I'm in a room. It's dark. And I'm cold." A shudder wracked my body as she somehow drew my thoughts from me. I glanced away again. A war waged inside me, one that told me she wasn't real and that I was still in a dark room. I couldn't be sure which room it was, Ileana's or my father's.
"Tla, Dodi. You are in the desert with me. There is no more room." She turned my face to hers. "Did the Whitecoats take you?"
"What?" I blinked a few times as the sharp amber of her eyes searched mine. Her pupils, wide with a fear I'd never seen before, caused my insides to lurch.
"The Andrus."
The name shook me further from the psychosis that dehydration and other things brought on. "No. No, it was a leech named Ileana," I said, her fingers dug into my arms. "You were in Arizona?"
"Yes. We must leave this place, Dodi." She stood and lifted me with her. My feet wobbled on the ground but she kept her arms around me, supporting my weight fully. I kept my arms around my mother's neck and she walked with me from the rock.
"Where are we going?"
"There are no inbetweens in the desert." Although her words were few, the message was clear. She walked with me for a while until I was able to hold myself up again. Without the pain on my back, and with water in my body, the fatigue and weakness faded slightly. The grip she held on my hand made me feel like a child in danger of wandering away. Or of the fear I'd be snatched from a playground.
"How did you get here?"
"Wolves run, Dodi," she said.
"How did you know where I was?"
"I am good at guessing, Dodi. Especially when it comes to you." She glanced at me. "You are numb."
"For now." She pulled me close to her again, draping an arm around my shoulders. I sighed then started when I realized the direction we were headed. "The leech is that way." I tugged her to stop, digging my heels into the sand.
"We must go toward the town. It is not far."
"Tla, I don't want to go back there."
"Just one window, one doorway, Dodi. Look for a car, yes?" she said as our feet left the sand and found the pavement of the highway.
"There aren't any. We're getting too close." The panic rose in my chest as I imagined Alder finding both of us and Ileana trapping us in the room together. "Mom, stop, stop." I grabbed her arm in both of my hands and pulled her backward as hard as I could. Sobs erupted from me and the numbness turned to fear.
"Tla, Dodi." She lifted me from the ground and wrapped me around her. The minute she held me this way, like a child, I began to cry.
Her steady breathing met my cheek. I squeezed her tightly, screaming my fears into the shoulder of her tunic. She cooed to me and I heard
the approaching whirr of a semi-truck coming our way. My mother patted my back and just as the truck passed, I felt myself swirling through the inbetween.
Chapter Fifteen
My mother carried me into the cabin and sat me down on the kitchen table. She cupped my face, lifting my chin so that I met her gaze. Sobs continued to wrack my core and, when my feet dangled from the edge of the table, helplessness settled in on me like familiar darkness.
"It is all right now, Dodi. You are home," she said, wiping away my tears. I held onto her arms and tried to get a grip on myself before the pack returned. Mom caressed my face and hair while she watched me. In her eyes, I saw something I didn't expect to see. Tears. For me. A single droplet slid down her cheek and a sad smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "E-tsi is here. You are safe."
"You came for me," the words slipped from my lips in a hush.
"Yes, Dodi." Her smiled deepened. "I will always come for you."
Her words echoed in my mind, settling in a place buried deeper than the ocean. All the years I spent crying for her and wishing she would find me, save me, didn't seem to matter much anymore. The words, her tears, and her presence satisfied something inside for which I had no words. A sudden sense of peace melted over me and I hugged her. She squeezed me and rubbed my back as if she understood the root of my gesture.
"Gv-ge-yu-hi, Dodi."
"I love you, too, Mom."
She kissed my cheek and leaned me back, cupping my face again. She kissed my forehead and sighed. Our tears ceased and she gave my hands a squeeze.
"You are very strong," she said.
"Like you." I smiled, which made her chuckle a bit.
"We are much alike. Except you run faster."
"I do not," I said, laughing softly.
"I named you properly, Runs Like Wolf, yes?" She lifted a brow at me.
"Very properly." I looked over her shoulder as the front door opened at nearly the same time that Vanessa and Mal appeared beside the sofa. My mates looked awful, so much so that if an outsider surveyed the room, it would look like they had spent three days in captivity instead of me. Mal, wild-eyed and thinner, in nothing but a loincloth, leapt over the sofa and nearly broke a chair as he barreled his way to me. Mom stepped aside and he had me in his arms before I could take a breath. I clung to him, his skin searing with the fever of his desperation. "I'm okay," I whispered. Vanessa came up behind him, cat-eyed and gaunt in her green dress, I reached for her and she gripped my hand. Our mate bonds lurched and pulsed tranquil energy through each of us, reveling in our reunion.
Bound (Legacy Series Book 4) Page 13
