Wary of smashing my face into the floor again, I lurched upright. My breath hissed through my clenched teeth. It took me several tries, but I balanced on my knees, stretching my toes to help keep me upright. If I did it just right, I could shift all of my weight to my toes, bring my hands all of the way forward, and be able to free myself.
With my rotten luck, I’d try the stunt, dislocate my shoulders, and end up worse off than lying on the floor with my hands bound behind my back. Either way, it’d hurt, and I balked at the thought of adding another injury to my ever-growing list of them.
A little pain was a small price to pay for escaping. If I wasn’t going to let Rob claim me as his property, there was no way in hell I was going to let some random dae with a grudge against the elite have his way with me, either.
The thought of Rob and his smug face infuriated me. I clenched my hands into fists, shifted all of my weight back on my toes, and jerked my arms forward. It took several hard tugs, but I got my hands over my knees. I fell back on my ass, huffing my triumph.
I lifted my hands. I still wore my gloves, and something had been tied around my wrists, which had then been wrapped in silvery duct tape. As if that didn’t make it difficult enough to free myself, gauze covered the tape and was sealed with glue.
“Really?” I wailed. “What the fuck did I do to deserve this?”
Silence answered my outrage, and I cursed myself, Arthur, and the dae who had turned my life upside down.
The abandoned state of the warehouse didn’t offer much hope of someone stumbling across me. Rust stained the steel plates making up the walls. Although there were shipping containers scattered around, a few kicks confirmed they were empty.
The windows within easy reach were too small for me to squeeze through, and until I freed my hands, I couldn’t reach the higher ones.
I regarded the glue-coated gauze wrapped around my wrists with disgust. While the containers had sharp edges, I’d probably contract tetanus trying to scrape the covering away. Like everyone else, I’d been vaccinated as a child, but with my abysmal luck, I’d end up sick anyway. I sighed and hunted for one of the sharper bits jutting out of the side.
Maybe the gauze was lightweight and thin enough the duct tape showed through, but the glue was tough. It took me several tries to break through it. The glue adhered to the duct tape in places, but once I could grab hold of the gauze with my teeth, I went to work peeling it off.
Maybe Rob had a point about me growling like the werewolves, but there wasn’t anyone around to hear me. I snarled my frustration while yanking the gauze off inch by inch. By the time I finished, my teeth ached almost as much as my head, my vision wavered in and out of focus, and I wanted nothing more than to go home to my bed.
I’d even accept a menagerie of dae—including Rob—making nuisances of themselves in my apartment if it meant I could sleep undisturbed. I’d even tolerate Rob in the same room with me.
Defeating the duct tape would have been easy if my captor hadn’t used rope beneath it. Kenneth had taught me the trick to breaking the stuff in case I got in trouble, but it only worked if the tape was wrapped a certain way—and other bindings weren’t used with it.
Sighing, I searched for the seam in the tape. Whether it was coincidence or it had been done to thwart me, I found it in the hardest to reach spot. I cursed myself hoarse before contorting in my effort to find purchase on the silvery material with my teeth.
I expected rope beneath the duct tape, but it was braided yarn knotted between my wrists. Who used bright yellow and pink yarn to tie someone up with? At least it would be easier to defeat than rope or handcuffs. It’d take time to fray the strands, but I could do it.
There weren’t many hiding places in the warehouse, but I crammed myself between the wall and one of the container stacks, searching for one of the sharper slats. It didn’t take long to free myself, and I pulled my hands apart. I ended up with bracelets around my wrists, but I’d worry about removing them later, once I escaped.
With my hands free, climbing onto the containers to access one of the higher, larger windows was possible. Until I got up to one of them, I wouldn’t be able to tell if I could reach the street without killing myself falling.
Some risks were worth taking.
To break out of the warehouse, I had to take off my shoe and beat my way through thick, age-clouded glass. It withstood my first dozen blows, which I blamed on my aching head, blurry vision, and the persistent shaking in my hands. At least I wasn’t too dizzy; falling from the top of the stack wouldn’t end well for me.
I had no idea how I’d reach the street without cracking my head open on the way down, but until the window gave up its will to live, I was stuck. I smashed my sneaker into the glass with all my strength, and a web of cracks appeared. Soft-soled shoes didn’t do a very good job of breaking through anything, but at least it kept shards of glass off my abused hands.
By the time I punched my sneaker through the window, I had cursed myself hoarse. I had no idea how long I had been unconscious, but night was falling over the city, and one by one, lights winked on. Wherever I was, it wasn’t well lit; the absence of street lamps meant I was somewhere within the fringe, likely near the docks where Arthur worked.
Why couldn’t he have dumped me in a warehouse storing useful things like rope? I leaned out the window. The street below was so dark I couldn’t make out the asphalt below. I cleared away the glass from the base of the window so I could lean out farther, stretching my arms until I could pat the wall.
The rough texture of brick caught on my gloves, and breathing a sigh of relief, I retreated into the building, took off my other sneaker, and tied the laces together. I draped them around my neck, grabbed the window sill, and hauled myself up and out.
The trickiest part of climbing out a window was turning around partway through without slipping. Despite my efforts, I had missed some glass, and it cut through my jeans and stabbed my legs. My socks stuck to the bricks, and I regretted not having taken them off before attempting the descent. With at least two stories to fall, if I made one mistake, I’d probably splatter when I landed.
Sniffing around places I wasn’t supposed to be, including outside difficult to reach windows, was my job, but I didn’t enjoy it. Window sills and ledges offered better hand and foot holds, but most buildings counted on the blank spaces between the ground and windows to keep would-be thieves away.
I clenched my teeth and jammed my toes between the bricks. Like so many other buildings in the fringe, the warehouse was old, and its mortar crumbled under my weight. Holding my breath, I tested my footing, and when the brick didn’t wobble, I leaned my chest against the window sill, hissing at sting of shallow cuts on my stomach and breasts.
Until I reached the ground, I’d have to hope the cuts didn’t bleed too much and drip onto the bricks, making my climb even more treacherous. I closed my eyes, drew several deep breaths to steady my nerves, and eased completely out of the window so I clung to the warehouse with my fingers and toes.
Scaling a wall was a systematic process; first I stretched with my toes, found a brick capable of holding all of my weight while I groped for a handhold level with my chest. Once I secured my grip, I found a new brick with my other foot, spidering my way towards the ground.
I kept my eyes closed, shivering at the trickle of blood down my side. The whole descent probably took no longer than ten minutes, although it felt like half of the night to me. I made sure to avoid the glass littering the asphalt below the busted window.
My entire body shook so much it took me several tries to untangle my shoes and I couldn’t tie the laces once I put them back on. I needed to find a place to hole up for the night and rest before I made my way out of the fringe.
In my current condition, meeting a dae in the middle of the night wouldn’t end well for me. Somewhere in the city, a wolf howled, and its call was answered by a chorus of cries.
I shuddered and slipped away from the warehouse,
once again cursing my foul luck.
The fringe bordered most of the Chesapeake Bay, with the exception of the Inner Harbor, which was the domain of the elite. I didn’t recognize the streets surrounding the warehouse, but I wasn’t bothered by that fact. I avoided the shores for many reasons, including the smell. Distant buoys and their nets, marked with bobbing lights, kept most of the refuse away from the elite’s areas.
For a long moment, I stared out over the moonlit water, watching the waves rock the buoys. The darkness hid so much, although my nose betrayed the truth.
Judging from the stench, a lot of bodies floated among the junk polluting the water. The building I had escaped was within a block of the bay, and when I saw the lights reflecting on the water, I retreated into the alley.
If Arthur was a dockworker, I needed to get away from his turf before he discovered I had escaped. I also needed to get as far from the contaminated coast as I could before I caught my death from illness.
The last thing I needed was an infection on top of my burns and self-inflicted cuts. Sighing, I shoved my hands into my pockets, bowed my head, and headed deeper into the city. Before the dae had come, walking through the fringe at night was a dangerous proposition at best for a woman on her own.
Once I figured out where I was, I could find one of Kenneth’s bolt holes. He had them all over the city, and he was systematic in their placement. First, I needed to locate a police station. From there, I’d begin searching in earnest, isolating my efforts to a four to six block radius.
However, finding a police station in the fringe was an issue. They were few and far between. To make matters worse, Kenneth moved his properties every couple of weeks to dodge raids. It was a game he played with the detectives, one that made my job all the more dangerous and difficult.
He’d bait them, wait for them to sniff him out, and leave nothing but dust and taunts in his wake. Sometimes, when he was annoyed with his hounds, he left one of us to play a merry game of chase with the cops.
I growled my frustration, and all my noise did was remind me of Rob, which made me growl even louder. Why did he even care if I mimicked the werewolves?
After everything that had happened, I needed to blow off steam. The thought of smashing my knuckles into Rob’s face appealed the most, although Kenneth would make an equally satisfying target.
The curfew had been established, and everyone in the city was like so many dogs on leashes, coming to heel at their masters’ calling.
Despite having heard wolves howling, I was alone on the streets. Home was within my reach. All I had to do was cross the entire city on foot after curfew.
How hard could it be? I laughed, and it was a bitter sound.
I was so screwed.
Sometimes I hated being right.
Sulfur burned my nose, warning me of trouble long before the scuff of shoes on the pavement behind me confirmed my fears. Arthur had reeked of sulfur, and after going through the hassle of kidnapping me and locking me in a warehouse, I had every reason to believe he wasn’t going to let me get away without a fight.
While Arthur was the most likely to seek me out, there were hundreds of disappointed dae within the fringe who had good reason to hate me.
Without a real weapon, with my legs trembling beneath me and the rest of me aching and sore, I wouldn’t provide much sport for whoever was following me. I had three choices, and they didn’t appeal to me. I could try to run. In my current state, I’d last a couple of blocks before I collapsed, assuming my pursuer wasn’t faster than me. I could turn and prepare for a fight, hoping a display of aggression would trick a dae long enough to drive it away.
As my last option, I could stop and wait.
I rejected the idea immediately; standing around and doing nothing was no better than giving up. A face-to-face confrontation didn’t appeal, which left me with the choice of running. I kept my stride even as I kept walking, squinting in my effort to see farther ahead. Hundreds of dead-end alleys littered the fringe, and without knowing the streets, one wrong turn would leave me cornered.
Still, running was a better option than turning to fight. If I had to fight, I would, but I needed an advantage if I made such a move. I kept my stride steady, but shifted my weight more to my toes so when I committed to running, I could sprint. Whoever was stalking me was trying to be quiet about it, which could prove useful.
If they didn’t want to make a scene, I could use that against them.
Once upon a time, the fringe had been one of the older parts of Baltimore, much like the Inner Harbor. While the cobblestones were long-since gone, taken by the elite to build up their part of the city, the narrow streets lined with crumbling townhouses and stores remained. I waited until I reached an intersection, pivoted, and made a run for it.
My choice of street was promising; while still narrow, it boasted actual sidewalks. I kept to the asphalt, sprinting on my toes. A man cursed behind me, heralding the thud of his footsteps as he pursued me.
At the rate of his approach, I wouldn’t make it a block before he caught up with me. While I had long legs for a woman, and had several inches on most, I still wasn’t fast enough. I blamed my fatigue and injuries; my breath burned in my throat and lungs, my ribs ached, and I kept pulling my stride thanks to the stabbing pain of the cuts stretching across my side.
Running wasn’t working, which left me with fighting, since there was no way in hell I was going to let my pursuer capture me without making him work for it. I sacrificed speed, eyed the uneven brick walls in the dim moonlight, and chose an empty flower box jutting beneath a shuttered window. It looked sturdy enough, although I didn’t care if it broke, so long as it held long enough for me to switch directions.
I jumped, kicked out my feet, and twisted around. My pursuer had gotten closer than I thought. Arthur skidded to a halt, and launching myself from the sill, I hurtled towards him. He choked back a cry.
I slapped my hands to his shoulders, shoving down with all of my strength so I could propel myself over his head. Clearing him, I tucked my head and shoulders so I’d roll and be able to get to my feet.
It almost worked. His fingers closed over my right ankle, and that was all the warning I had before he jerked me towards him.
Humans shouldn’t have had the strength necessary to grab someone and fling them over their head and slam them to the street. I spat a single curse at him before I hit the ground hard and everything went black.
Chapter Thirteen
Arthur’s knee jammed into the small of my back, grinding against my spine. I couldn’t have been out for long; the way he shifted his weight on me and clutched a handful of my hair told me he hadn’t secured a strong enough hold on me for his liking.
Whether seconds or minutes, it didn’t matter. My body refused to obey me, and instead of struggling, I remained limp. I considered opening my eyes, but I decided playing dead served me better.
Maybe if he thought I was unconscious, he’d lower his guard. If he did, I had some hope of freeing myself. I had gotten so close, only to be caught again. I really, really wanted to howl out my anguish, humiliation, and frustration.
Arthur lifted my head by my hair. “Lassie?”
The concern in the dae’s voice helped keep me calm and still. If he had wanted to kill me, he would have burned me to a crisp. While I had hundreds of reasons to worry, so long as I lived, I could regroup and make another move.
Moving would be the difficult part, though. I wiggled my toes in my shoes, and lightning zapped from my neck all the way down my spine. My relief at being able to move was crushed under the agony the movement cost me. I wasn’t paralyzed, which meant the dae probably hadn’t broken my neck slamming me to the ground.
Arthur shifted his hold on me and touched my throat. Sure enough, his hand burned worse than his fire. I thrashed, opened my mouth to scream, and choked. I sucked in a breath as a pained wheeze, and instead of struggling like I needed to, my hands and feet jerked in a convulsion.
&
nbsp; “Shit,” Arthur hissed before tossing me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing. Securing a hold on the back of my legs, he shifted me to his satisfaction, leaving my cheek to rest against his back while my unresponsive arms swayed with his every movement.
I cracked open an eye, but like in the warehouse, my vision blurred too much for me to make out any useful details or landmarks. I wanted to curse, but it took all of my concentration and effort to breathe.
Shaking someone’s hand was painful enough. I had never had someone touch my neck before, and it felt like a burning rope constricted my throat. My lungs burned with the need for air, and I panicked when I couldn’t draw a deep breath.
It wouldn’t matter what Arthur wanted with me if I suffocated. I had never believed, not for a moment, that someone touching my neck could cause such a reaction. The harder it became to fill my lungs, the more I shook. My toes went cold first, and the shivering chill spread up my legs. It took longer for the sensation to strike my fingertips.
Breathing out of my mouth didn’t help; no matter how hard I tried, my lungs refused to fill, and it grew more difficult to suck in air. Lethargy seeped into me and my lips tingled.
In the end, all I could do was struggle to breathe, and I feared my efforts wouldn’t be enough.
At some point, I fainted, although the exact memory of when it happened eluded me. I was conscious on the streets of Baltimore one moment, and the next I was lying on my side on another concrete floor, wrapped in a blanket.
The blanket was a problem. No, the lack of clothing under the blanket was the actual problem. As I realized I was naked, my body reported every single injury I had picked up since the Dawn of Dae and added interest. I still wheezed, but it wasn’t quite so hard to fill my lungs. I shivered, clenching my eyes closed as I tried to breathe my way through the pain.
The burns ached, the cuts added a more vicious, stabbing pain to the mix, and my throat throbbed in time with my heart. To make everything even worse, I itched. I had no idea what Arthur had done with me while I’d been unconscious, but I’d pay him back for it one way or another.
The Dawn of Dae (Dae Portals Book 1) Page 13
