by Stacy Lee
His torso is also pale but the only thing closely resembling a human on his body, although it is wider and longer than normal. His arms hang to his animal feet ending in claws instead of hands. From the waist down he resembles a grizzly bear except his legs are too long and a little skinnier than I’d imagine a bears were. The fur though, it is all bear. Just as black as his hair. The way he is sitting against the cab with his knees bent up and spread he is prominently displaying that he is all male. That part of him is human, if you overlooked the pale color and the fact the head came to a distinctly sharp point. My body shutters with what the seven foot creature could do to me. He truly is a nightmare to look at.
We drive for a long time before the truck comes to a stop outside a falling down farmhouse. By the time we stop my body is aching and hunger pains have set in. I try to move quickly and jump from the truck to run like Dare, but only get two steps when a claw lands in the middle of my back knocking me to the ground. Still in Dare’s robe my hands and knees scrap the gravel drive cutting them open. The monster gurgles out a laugh then drags me to my feet, into the house and up a flight of rundown stairs by my arm. I clutch the robe shut with my other hand as he tosses me to the floor in a dimly lit bedroom.
“Don’t go nowhere.” He growls out with that same deformed smile he gave me at the compound in Texas. The door closes behind him and I launch myself at it, beating on it and screaming profanities at him. His half roar, half laugh can be heard moving down the stairs. Giving up that avenue of escape I turn a circle taking in the room. A filthy bare mattress lay in one corner, a dress I recognize laying on top of it. It’s the one from the Texas compound, the one Dare took from a child. I wonder what else they had rummaged from there.
Moving on around the room I see two windows, both boarded from the outside, neither have glass in them completely, one has a top pane, the other the bottom. More than one board was used for each window with gaps between letting in the only light in the dim room. A bucket in one corner with a roll of toilet paper beside it makes my body tremble. No way in hell they thought I was pissing in that! The rest of the room was empty.
Going to the window that had the top piece of glass still attached I try to push on the bottom board to knock it loose. Archer said I would have their strength but I am hungry and weak, it wasn’t budging. I give up for now and decide to put on the dress. It would be better than just the robe. I slip it off and slide the dress over my head before wrapping Dare’s bathrobe back around me. I bury my head in the fabric and breathe in Dare’s scent of man and woods. At least I had this to keep me company.
I eye the mattress with trepidation then decide the filthy floor looked better than the blood and bodily fluid stained mattress. The idea of what those round odd colored stains were made my stomach roil with nausea. At least the floor only looked like twenty years of dirt.
Dare would find me soon, he has to. He has satellites and things like that he could trace us with, didn’t he? I mean they watched Dirk’s attack days after it happened on satellite, why couldn’t they follow a truck, right? I realize, I never once saw the driver. Even when I jumped from the truck and was hauled in the house he stayed behind us and out of my vision. I wonder why?
Would I have recognized him? How had the monster known where to find me? What room I was in when he attacked? That I was alone? Hell, how did he know that we were in Florida to begin with? Someone had to be feeding them information.
Angie said the new locations, the houses and where the compound would be were kept from everyone till they arrived. The only reason she knew it was Florida is because Jack was Dare’s right hand man. Being her mate, he told her where they were moving because he knew she wouldn’t tell anyone else. So who else knew? The only thing that comes to mind is the pilots that flew us there. Was the driver of the truck one of the pilots? Or maybe a different race all together?
With no real answers and only time on my hands I sit with my back to the wall facing the door and wait to see who came in next.
The Stroli, the traitor or Dare.
*
The door being opened pulls me from an uneasy sleep. Hunger pains tearing through me make me believe I can smell blood as I look up in the dark room. It didn’t smell like Dare’s but there is something familiar about the scent. I shake my head to rid myself of the illusion. Night must have fallen outside while I slept, for the room was completely shrouded in darkness. A candle in the man’s hand is the only light visible and where he has it held blocks out his face.
A dull glimmer surrounds his body giving off a brownish hue. I have been noticing the aura type glimmers since I woke from The Change but too much has happened to take note of them. For now I once again dismiss this unusual phenomenon to concentrate on the man himself.
I use the wall to push myself up not wanting to be vulnerable on the floor. I can tell he isn’t a Stroli by the fact his legs and arms looked to be normal human sized and he is wearing clothes. Other than that I could tell nothing about him. He takes two steps in the room and closes the door behind him. Kneeling he sits the candle on the floor then stands.
“If you behave and do as I ask, I will give you light. Do we have a deal?” His voice is normal, no growling I had to try to decipher. Definitely of the humanoid variety. His height suggested Vampire, Witch, Shifter or Patronus. If he was human he was a massive one.
“Depends on what you mean by behaving.” I retort. His light chuckle is not reassuring.
“I have a few questions for you and I have something for you to drink. We found bags of blood in the Texas Compound belonging to all six of the Beyers Brothers. This cup has Archer’s blood in it. We want to see if their blood will sustain you just as Dare’s does.” I wasn’t delusional. I really did smell blood and if it was Archer’s that’s why it was somewhat familiar.
With his confirming this my pain grows hot and heavy, my mouth waters, and my fangs drop on their own accord. I try to force them back up but they don’t listen now that the smell is real and getting stronger as he took steps towards me. I put my hand over my mouth to hide my fangs. I couldn’t give in. What would Archer’s blood do to me or the baby? No, I couldn’t do this. I shake my head not expecting him to see me. That’s when I realize the room is growing lighter. My eyes are adjusting to the dark and I am able to see more clearly than I have ever been able to and it had nothing to do with the small candle giving off a minute amount of light.
“Come on, I know you must be hungry by now. If you weren’t your fangs wouldn’t have dropped.” So he could see me to. The light wasn’t enough for him to have made that out this far away from the candle. That marks off Witch. From what little I have gleamed from Angie and the brother’s Witches could not see in the dark. Giving up the pretense of hiding I drop my hand as he draws to a stop in front of me. The smell of blood overpowering only because I am hungry not because it is appealing like Dare’s is. If that cup had Dare’s blood in it I would have already knocked him down for it.
“I’m fine and I am not answering your questions.” A hand snakes out and backhands me. I grit my teeth and turn back to face him not making a sound. This is a game I knew how to play. His blood touches my tongue from where my fangs nick him. Sour, coppery and gross.
“Son of a bitch.” Maybe I didn’t want to retract them after all. He swears as he shakes his bloodied hand, slinging the warm goo across my chest and face. Another small amount hits my lips and I have no choice but to lick it off, I wasn’t giving him the satisfaction of wiping it away with my hand. There was something almost animalistic about the taste of it. Shifter or Patronus? Besides I don’t think Vampires bleed, do they? I’ll have to ask Dare that when he rescues me.
“Opps.” I say sarcastically and receive another slap, this one higher on my cheekbone more over the eye in hopes of avoiding my fangs. It works, I didn’t cut him but he manages to knock me back against the wall. I stand back up quickly, rigid and ready. Pure rage rolls through me from Dare. I try not to stagger under the
weight of it.
“What are the Beyers Brothers weaknesses? Let’s start with Archer, shall we?” He holds the twelve ounce cup full to the top of blood under my nose, the sweet almost candy like smell holding me captive for only a minute before I shake myself out of it.
“They have none. Well, maybe traitors like you, but that’s a weakness they will find and destroy without mercy.” He inhales sharply telling me I hit the nail on the head.
Patronus.
I study the man’s face in the almost lit room. Except for where the candles glow is ruining my vision the room has come into perfect view, including the man in front of me. He’s chunky by Patronus standards with chubby cheeks, big eyes, slightly too large nose and thin lips his mustache makes look even thinner.
He looks to be in his early thirties but looks are deceiving with these supernatural races. Dare didn’t look over twenty five and he was over five hundred. Archer barely looked thirty and he was over nine hundred. That would put this man between nine hundred and twelve hundred, I think. He was built but had a little too much flab surrounding the muscles like he hadn’t been to the gym in a few hundred years.
“And how would you know what I am, little girl? You haven’t been in our world more than a week.” His voice has lost all pretense of friendliness, a sneer marring his chunky face.
“Any other race wouldn’t know how long I’ve been here. It isn’t public knowledge, Patronus.” A growl rips from his throat just like Dare does when I piss him off or turn him on. I sure hoped it was the former. His hand reaches over and sits the cup on the window sill. I watch his face for signs of action instead of his hands. Uncle always had an eye twitch problem just before he struck out.
This is my first mistake.
Quick as lightning he grabs my arms and throws me onto the mattress, the wall stops my momentum and my back slams against it right before I fall to my hands and knees. Just like that he’s on me.
He flips me around capturing my hands in one of his and holding them above my head. His legs are straddling mine, hovering three inches above my knees, and I instinctively kick upwards nailing him in the balls. He rewards me with a roar of pain and tightening his grip on my wrists painfully.
That is my second mistake.
He flattens his body on mine pinioning my legs down and holding me captive till his breathing evens out. I try to fight but he has me completely pinned to the disgusting mattress. His fangs punch through; his free hand grabs my hair pulling my head to the side to give him access to my neck. He dips his head taking my flesh in a rough bite, tearing at the skin as he shakes his head like a dog with its favorite chew toy. I scream with the pain while he drains my blood quickly, weakening me more.
Pure terror laced with deadly anger spirals through me and for the first time I hate the bond I have with Dare. I hate he had to feel this, know I was being hurt and there was nothing he could do about it till he found me. Then at the same time I loved knowing he is with me even if it is through the pain alone.
A shadow passes in front of the candle to the window as the Patronus retracts his fangs but leaves the wound open to bleed. I turn my head and watch the Stroli grab the cup then kneel beside us. I dismiss the pulsing turquoise aura around the Stroli, fear being more prominent than curiosity.
“No fuck her. Blood works?” He growls out holding up the retrieved cup of blood.
“Fine, but when we know this works, I will fuck her. I’ll hold open her mouth you pour.” The Patronus states confidently to the Stroli who grunts in agreement. I clamp my teeth shut, my fangs piercing my bottom lip as I do. I try to shake my head so he doesn’t get a grip but it’s no use, he’s weakened me to the point of lethargic by draining my blood. His hand clasps my jaw and he begins to pull and squeeze at the same time. I fight to hold in the cry of pain.
The Stroli’s claw grabs my nose cutting into my cheek while he blocks off my air. The Patronus removes his hand and digs something out of his front pocket while letting his hand stroke across my heat in the process, making my body tremble with fear. My lungs begin to burn and I’m left with no choice but to open my mouth for oxygen. As soon as I do something hard is jammed between my teeth preventing me from closing my mouth.
The Stroli begins to pour in the cold liquid provoking me to gag when it slides down my throat. It doesn’t have an unpleasant flavor, it taste like peppermint actually, and I find myself swallowing it to keep from choking to death. Realizing my struggle has stopped the Stroli releases my nose, removing his claws that have embedded themselves in my cheek. I whimper in pain as he does.
Slowly, in a steady stream they pour the full twelve ounce glass of blood down my throat. When the last drop falls into my mouth I am full but nowhere near sated. It wasn’t Dare’s blood, only his would satisfy me. However, if this really is Archer’s it has at least made the pain go away. The rage I have been feeling inside me since I was taken turns to confusion as I’m sure Dare is trying to figure out why the pain has lessened.
The stick or whatever it was, is removed from my mouth. The man stays laying on me, holding me prisoner under his weight and grinding his erection against my pelvis painfully for what feels like forever, before he rises up off me.
“That should be long enough to keep you from throwing it up. In a few hours we will check to make sure you survived. Get some rest, after we test all the brothers blood I have plans for you, sunshine. I have heard Dare likes it rough. He is nothing compared to what I will do to you.” He chuckles as he leaves taking his candle with him.
As soon as the lock snicks into place I scramble off the bed and back to the wall. If it wasn’t for the fact the pains stopped I would make myself puke to get rid of the blood. However, I didn’t know how long it would be before they fed me again and as he said, it was already in my system. It was too late, the damage has been done.
I pull my knees up tight to my chest then drop my head upon them. This was going to be a long night if Dare didn’t hurry his ass up and find me. His confusion turned back into a burning rage while the Patronus ground himself so hard into me it caused pain. I am sure he only felt the area of pain and was thinking the worst right now. However, if he didn’t get here by the time they ran out of brothers to test he wouldn’t be far off with that thought.
I close my eyes and pray for rescue.
*
For a second time the door scraping open wakes me from sleep. I don’t know how long it’s been but the room is still dark and my stomach was protesting its emptiness once more. Either Archer’s blood didn’t last as long as Dare’s or it has to be close to dawn. The Patronus and Stroli saunter into the room. They forwent the candle this time and as my eye site is adjusted by now, I can see them perfectly in the darkness. The cup in the Stroli’s hand has a new smell but again, I’m familiar with the bittersweet smell but can’t place which brother it is.
Archer’s blood had healed the open wounds but the aches in my body from the beating still remained. Nevertheless I push myself up readying for a fight. I didn’t care if it was one of the brothers blood, they would have to force it down my throat.
“Are you going to behave this time?” I grit my teeth and stay still. “I see. They said you were stubborn. I didn’t believe you were this bad though.” He stops in front of me. This time I don’t wait for his attack and throw a punch of my own to his gut. He doubles over and I dart around him racing for the door. The Stroli catches my arm before flinging me backwards onto the mattress. The Patronus takes the opportunity to pounce. I flail my arms and kick my feet but it’s to no avail.
In a matter of seconds I am pinned to the mattress. Instead of backhanding me this time he grabs my breast and squeezes hard, I scream. The stick is shoved in my mouth unexpectedly and blood begins to fall into my throat. This one is sweet as honey as it trickles over my taste buds. Knowing I couldn’t fight this I begin to swallow and the stream speeds up.
“Hmm, you like Bane better than Archer? That’s interesting.” The man laughs tak
ing my surrender for liking the taste of the blood. While I drink I feel him shift and close my eyes to the coming pain. His fangs split the front of my dress in half before he bites down on my right breast drinking from me. I gurgle a scream in the blood making it splatter on the man’s head, he bites harder. Dare’s rage ratchets to heart attack level inside of me. I try to control the pain for his sake but I don’t think it works because he grows angrier and angrier the longer the man tears at my breast.
“Stop. Blood no good you drink all.” The monster bellows in his roar like speech. The Patronus sighs and thankfully pulls away leaving the wound to seep.
“I know why Dare took you on so completely. You are a sweet little morsel. You taste like pure sunshine.” He licks his lips causing me to gag on the last drops of blood. He repeats his same actions of grinding himself all over me for a while before he backs off and they leave. As he closes the door he sings out one last taunt. “Three more to go and you are mine. See you in two hours, sunshine.” The door snicks locked.
I roll then crawl on my hands and knees toward my spot on the wall. I don’t make a sitting position and collapse face first onto the floor in a dead faint. The last thing I feel is Dare’s concern laced rage and pain exploding across my knuckles.
****
