by Casey Moss
Hope eyed the jug of cider, which sat near the door as an example of his power over her, with disdain.
Taking a pen and book from a hiding spot under a floor board, she flipped through the pages scanning the notes she’d made to herself in the margins during moments of clarity.
Men shouldn’t be so domineering. Women are allowed to be the aggressor, to be pleasured. Love is not being tied up and flogged until you can no longer sit. Love is not being made to prance around like a horse attached to a tether and with a bit in your mouth. Love is not being poked and prodded with an assortment of toys in various body areas.
Love is none of these things if one is not deriving enjoyment out of the acts.
Toward the end of the book, the pages held instructions to herself.
If you get a chance, escape.
Escape is the only way you’ll save yourself. Retain the person you are. Make it back to Alden a somewhat sane and whole person.
Escape.
Escape.
Footsteps pounded on the steps outside the room. She hurried to hide the book, putting the floorboard back in place as a key clicked in the lock.
“My dear, Hope.” Buzz looked down at the jug, then her. “I see you haven’t been keeping hydrated.” He shook his head. “We’ll remedy that before our guests come.”
We never have company. Knowing better than to say anything out loud, she raised an eyebrow in question.
“Good. I see you’ve finally learned to keep your mouth closed. I hope you can keep that up because the guys have been bugging me about having a poker night here at the house. They’ll be coming over later. I figure I’ll host the party and get them off my back. So, my dear, what I want you to do tonight is act like a piece of art work, a figurine. You’ll lounge in the back room on the couch, naked of course, in a pose of my choosing. You’ll not move or make a sound when my friends view you.”
“Yes, my love.” And while I do that for you I’ll plot my escape.
Chapter Ten
Her arm, which Buzz had directed to drape over her head, had fallen asleep. She wanted to move and stretch like there was no tomorrow, relieve herself of the painful dead weight, but the voices carrying through the house from the kitchen had quieted. The men were on another break.
During the last intermission from the game, no one had come down the hall. Perhaps this is another form of his torture. He means to heighten my apprehension and anticipation by prolonging the inevitable.
Heavy footfalls thumped on the wood floor of the hall.
A staccato beat drummed in her chest. The steps paused outside the door, then resumed into the room. She closed her eyes not caring to see her first visitor. Her nose wrinkled at the fetidness of cigar smoke blown into her face. The cushions moved.
“My, my, my, Buzz was right,” the guy crooned with a hint of a British accent. “You are lovely. I don’t think he’d like it though if he knew your eyes were closed.” He slapped at her face. “And I’d be the one to tell him, too. I am his closest apprentice.”
Slowly, she opened her lids. The man perched on the edge of the couch reeked of beer and bad tobacco, his eyes were bloodshot. Her blood ran cold when he traced a yellowed fingertip and nail along the outside of her breast.
“You are so lovely.” He rested his hand on her thigh. “I feel the power within you and can understand why Buzz wants to tap it. But I also sense you’re not the strongest of your clan.” He stroked his palm down the top of her leg to her knee. “No matter. Your blood is just as good as theirs. It all comes from the same ancestral lines.”
Clan? Blood? Ancestral line? The room had suddenly grown chilly and too small. She did her damnedest to prevent any surprise or dread showing on her face. Not that the drunken slob would have noticed, but she didn’t want to take that chance.
What’s with the storyline of this game? When she saw Alden, she planned to give him an earful.
“Yep,” he continued, his eyes trained on the patch of hair at the juncture of her legs. “Once you’re enlightened and he takes you, no one will be able to stop him. He will be king, and you his queen.” He chuckled. “And to think, the other clans’ councils tried to stop Buzz by sending in Alden and his sidekick.”
At the mention of her boyfriend’s name, her eyes widened and her breath hitched.
“What? You think that Buzz didn’t know who he was? Of course he did. He’s no fool. But your love is. Poor sap, it’s his mission to protect you and your family. He didn’t do a very good job of it now, did he? Nope. He fell hook, line and sinker for Buzz’s fake portal sending him to another reality of this world.”
Portal? Another reality? This is too much. Will Den ever find me?
The man chortled again and played with a tuft of the hair he had been enthralled with. “Alden’s absence left you wide open for the taking.” As if to prove his point, he grabbed her hips and repositioned her, making sure to keep her legs apart with his knee. “Ahhh, you are a fancy piece of work. I should love to have a taste of your sweetness…”
“What do you think you are doing? And what have you said to her?” Buzz’s voice boomed from the doorway.
She looked to the ceiling. A surge of relief that she wouldn’t be assaulted by the vile man warmed her cold skin. The man jumped up and stood at attention. Controlling her rapid breath and slowing it, she positioned herself in the original pose Buzz had placed her in.
What power was this man yammering about in regards to her and her family? And where in God’s name was Buzz going to be king?
She really needed to skedaddle from this hell hole.
“I… I… I only told her how lovely she is and wanted just a bit of a taste,” the man whimpered with a lick of his lips, then cowered before Buzz.
“Out! Back to the kitchen.”
“Yes, my liege,” the man whined and slunk out of the room.
“It’s nice to see you resumed your stance without instruction.” Buzz looked her over. “I have another friend who would like to view you before we carry on with our game. Brant,” he called to a man who walked in and stood next to him. “Because you’re new to our fold, I will let you know that you may sit next to her. You may touch her, but anything else is not allowed. I already have to deal with Clive. Please don’t make me regret letting you in as well.”
“Yes, my liege,” the new guy said in a deep burr to Buzz’s retreating form.
The man staggered toward the couch. He, too, stank of booze and tobacco. She held back a gag reflex when he plopped onto the edge of the couch and the fetor wafted to her nose. Something pinched her leg. She involuntarily jerked in response.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” the man slurred in a whisper. “My comm-de case seems to have given you a bit of a pinch.” He removed it, placed it behind her leg in the joint of the couch, then ran his hand up her appendage from her foot to her crotch.
In a ghost of a touch, he continued to explore her body. She wrapped her mind around the feel of the communication device behind her knee. The small gadget was a Godsend, her route out.
“Come, Brant,” Buzz called from down the hall. “We’ve another round starting. You’re the dealer this time.”
Hope, through slit eyes, observed Brant sway in his seat as if he were trying to fight off the effects of the alcohol he’d consumed. He shook his head and rose to his feet.
Forget the device. Forget the device. Forget the device. She hoped he picked up on her silent command.
He stumbled from the room, leaving behind his little black box and within it her salvation.
The second the voices resumed their banter, she pulled out the comm-de from where it sat and turned it off. With a smile, she pushed her lifesaver in between the cushions.
****
The moment the lock clicked in the attic door later that night, she did a jig, ecstatic over the turn of events. The comm-de, safely hidden in the couch, would be her ticket out of the house once Buzz let her out of the room and left for whatever he did when he w
as gone the next morning. But in the meantime, she had some business to take care of.
Hope skipped over to an old, worn mattress on the floor in the corner, hiked up her skirt and laid down. She reached for her crotch, slipped her fingers in between her moist folds and pushed their way up and in. Stroking herself, she recalled the men’s fondling of that evening, how the dildo’s hairs brushed against her legs, how it slid into her, filling her ass, making her rear end throb. Hope imagined Alden being the man who touched her, who introduced the multiple items to her body, who stuck his cock into her mouth and made love to her orally.
A sultry moan from low in her throat broke free, followed by a gasp. No matter how much she enjoyed picturing Alden while she pleasured herself and no matter how much she needed to vocalize her fervor, she still had to keep quiet lest Buzz caught wind of her self-dalliance habit and punished her for it. Pulling her fingers out, she grasped her crotch and kneaded it. Plucking her clit brought her to a rousing height and over the edge into an intense orgasm. She rode out the waves, and moments after they ebbed, drifted into a satisfied sleep.
The next morning she woke to the faint sound of knocking.
Why isn’t Buzz answering the damn door?
She rose from the mattress and went to the small window. The rapping ceased. Brant walked into view.
Hope banged on the window and yelled, praying he would take note of the noise and look up. He did, but appeared puzzled.
Frantic, she scanned the room for an item with which she could break the window. On an old, battered table sat a paperweight. She ran over, picked it up and lofted the heavy piece at the window. The glass shattered.
Careful not to step on any of the shards or cut herself on the ones left in the panes, she poked her face out the hole and called down to the man.
“Brant! Up here!”
He craned his neck, and when his gaze met hers, waved.
“Brant, I locked myself in the attic somehow. Could you come inside and let me out?”
“Your front door is locked,” he yelled up to her.
Damn. She didn’t know if there was a spare key hidden anywhere either. “You’ll just have to break in then. I need to get out of this room.”
He held up a finger and disappeared from view.
Is it possible I’ll be free soon? Anxiousness and excitement took over. Her heart beat a rapid pace. Her palms became wet pools. She smoothed her hands over her skirt to dry them, then retrieved the book she had been keeping notes in from its hiding spot.
Several minutes passed before she heard Brant on the stairs. He tried the doorknob.
“You’re right,” his muffled voice stated. “The door is locked. You can’t unlock it from that side?”
“No, it’s the kind that needs a key from your side. Check above the door frame. I think we keep one there.”
She held her breath. The familiar click came. Hope let out the air in a whoosh. When the door opened, she threw her arms around his neck.
“Oh, thank you, thank you.” She released the startled man. “I can’t believe that happened. I can be such a ninny at times. Buzz would have been so upset to find out I was locked in the attic.”
“Glad I could help. In fact, it’s a good thing I had left my comm-de here, otherwise I never would have come by. You would have been stuck for quite a while.”
“Quite a while?” She led him down to the main floor.
“Yeah, didn’t he tell you? He and some of the guys have gone on a last minute assignment. He doesn’t expect to be back for a few days.”
Her blood froze in her veins. He had locked her in the attic and took off on a trip without letting her out? The bastard.
“Yes, it is great you came by. As for your device, I have an idea of where it is. Oh, and if you see Buzz, please don’t mention my little mishap. He hates it when I get scatterbrained,” she finished in her best helpless-little-female voice.
“Don’t worry, I won’t. I don’t think he’d be too pleased with me either to know I lost my device and had to stop by. So we’ll just say mum’s the word all around.”
In the back room where they had met the night before, she retrieved his comm-de from the clutches of the couch and handed it to him.
“In fact,” he added as he clipped the unit to his belt. “I won’t even mention I lost this thing when I return to my clan. I’ll just say I didn’t hear my alarm go off and that’s why I’m running late. Then nothing can get back to him.”
“Yep,” she agreed. “I never saw you. You were never here.”
“Thanks.” He waved his hand, and in a split second of bright light, he was gone.
She rushed to her room. Granted, Brant did say Buzz was away for a while so there really was no need to hurry, but the sooner she got out, the further away she could get. Throwing a couple shirts and skirts into a bag, she decided to ransack the house to make it appear broken into. Then she’d get out to the road, hitch a ride…
If that’s even possible in this bizarre place.
Can’t go back to my parents’ house. That’d be the first place he’d look.
Do I need money?
She had no clue and didn’t want to waste time thinking about it.
To top off the fake break in, she went to the door of Buzz’s office and rammed it with her shoulder. It took several attempts, but the wood gave way to her abuse. Hope lurched into the room when it did. She threw an arm out, catching herself on a cabinet and stopping her forward momentum. After steadying herself, she looked up. Both hands flew to her mouth to stifle a scream.
Drawn on each wall, and also above and below her, were large black pentagrams. Chains hung from the ceiling, making the room look like a tack shop or barn. The opposite wall displayed leather straps with pointed studs, metal loops and locks. Next to those, long braided leather whips dangled from hooks. More leather straps with balls and dildos attached in the middle lay on a shelf nearby.
She stepped with caution toward the grand mahogany desk and looked into a small glass case perched there. In it lay a pearl-handled dagger with strange symbols and words engraved upon it. Her heart skipped a beat. Hope tore her gaze away from the weapon. Behind the desk on either side of the window sat a couple curio cabinets filled with jars of liquid and canisters of herbs.
Close by her stood a large, antique wooden music stand. She peered down upon it into an old book with yellowed pages—propped open to a spell and recipe for claiming dominance over another.
Bile surged in a hot acidic stream up her throat. Fighting off rising hysteria, she backed out of the room. To add to the break-in façade, she pulled some books from the cabinet she had grabbed earlier and let them fall to the floor.
She ran to the back room, tossed the cushions off the couch and overturned a couple of tables trying to rid herself of the fright she’d experienced. Catching her breath, she stared at her feet. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed some papers peeking out from under one of the tables. A corner of the top piece read ‘map.’ She picked it up, unfolded it and tried to figure out where she was.
Come on, where’s the nearest road?
Fingering the colored lines did her no good. She couldn’t tell where she was, or where she needed to go.
She feared getting lost. Nevertheless, she had to run. She had to find a safe place and contact Alden to warn him, alert him that whoever Buzz and his gang really were, they were on to him.
Too bad I can’t just wave my hand and transport to somewhere safe, like a neutral spot down town.
On a whim, Hope closed her eyes, pictured a quiet area of downtown and twirled her hand in the air.
PART FIVE
Revelations
Chapter Eleven
Tavis stepped out of what used to be a modern-art dinner theater and stopped under the damaged marquee to answer his vibrating communication device.
“Hey, bud,” Alden’s voice fought through some hisses and pops. “Hold on a sec. Let me g… int… m… ar…” Wind seemed
to rush in to the receiver on Alden’s end and battered the comm-de for several moments. Soon a door slammed in the background and silence ensued. “You still there, Tavis?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” Tavis propped his back against the thick support pole of the marquee. “Where are you that it’s so windy?”
“Down in Green Valley. There’s a doozy of a storm coming in so I wanted to call you before it hits and throws me into communication silence. I just left a meeting with Lorne.”
“Lorne?” The name exploded out of Tavis’s mouth in shock. He pushed off the pole and walked toward some shops a couple blocks from the theater. “I still can’t believe you trust that guy.”
“Why not? He’s an Aliachapel clan member same as me.”
“He and his family are Caesachapel clan immigrants.”
There was a loud expulsion of air. “You know as well as I that he was a babe when he and his parents escaped to Aliachapel. You with the girls?”
“About to be. I’ve left the theater and need to pick up a few things before I go back to the house.”
“You left them alone?” Alden’s incredulous voice boomed over the speaker.
“They’re fine, Alden. I’ve only been out a couple of hours. I told them not to answer the door regardless of who was on the other side or use any kind of communications.”
“Mmm, I don’t know.”
“Listen, they’re smart. They understand—”
“I don’t doubt all that,” Alden interrupted. “And I’m sure they’re on their best behavior, but according to Lorne’s sources, Buzz has learned a few new tricks. Must have found a backdoor in some code to level quicker. He’s more powerful than we originally suspected.”
“Why do I get the sense you’re about to tell me something I’m not going to like?”
“Has Faith or Cassandra been acting strange? Have they met anyone they think is weird?”
A chill ran down Tavis’s spine as he remembered his thoughts on how Buzz might have an accomplice. He shook off his apprehension. “Aside from Buzz? I don’t believe so. Faith is opening up to me. Cassandra is still her sweet self. I feel bad for her protector. He’ll have his hands full with her this time.”
