Takacy flinched at the threat and Ladd blanched. Gabriel inwardly sighed… he finally had them. He might not be able to keep Lucy from being sentenced right this second, but he could at least mitigate the punishment for her a bit. Why the hell did this judge have such a hard-on for sending such a petty offense to a breeder farm to which the overseer of said farm was already in attendance? That wasn’t a normal proceeding as far as he knew. For that matter, why the hell was something as simple as bearing witness against her own brother being punished like this? He was determined to get the answers and ensure the proper justice for Lucy.
Takacy locked eyes with Gabriel, jaw twitching. Gabriel stared right back, silently daring the judge to say anything other than what he wanted to hear right now.
“Fine,” Takacy finally snapped out. “Ten years as an involuntary slave to be sold off at public auction at the end of the week,” he ground out, banging his gavel down. “Miss Spence, you’re remanded into the custody of the local Consortium to await auction. Bailiff, take her away. Court is adjourned.”
He banged his gavel down again to dismiss everyone and was up and out of there as fast as his chubby legs could carry him. In the back of the courtroom, the overseer in question shot to his own feet and strode out of the courtroom in obvious anger.
The grim-faced bailiff came from the side and took Lucy by her upper arm. She gave an alarmed, questioning look to Gabriel and made a whimpering noise. Gabriel swore under his breath at the Judge’s wording in such a way that he couldn’t take Lucy. He shook his head at her to indicate that she shouldn’t do anything.
“Don’t resist him. Go with him. I am going to get to the bottom of this and figure out if I can appeal. In the meantime, follow their instructions.” Gabriel said.
Lucy swallowed hard and gave him a shaky nod before being led off. She looked devastated and frightened — rightfully so. He hated to see her dragged away like this.
“You have no grounds for appeal, Mr. ‘Messenger.’ Jaeger or no,” Ladd said, now standing behind Gabriel. “This is a Theocracy matter.”
Gabriel turned and gave him a hard stare that could rival beamer shots. “You really don’t want to go down that line of thought with me right now,” he said with so much ice in his voice that it threatened to drop the temperature in the room by a few degrees despite the hot summer day.
Ladd’s eyes went wide and he backed up as Gabriel advanced on him, itching for a reason to arrest the man. “Enjoy your win for now, since I promise you that I’m going to be taking a keen interest in all of your cases from here on out.”
With that, Gabriel gathered up his papers and his briefcase and stormed out of the room before he did something stupid, like fry a lawyer with his sidearm. Besides, he had some emergency calls to make. He just hoped that whoever oversaw Lucy’s processing would go easy on her or else there’d be hell to pay.
***
With a constable holding her by her upper arms, Lucy was marched to the gate of a holding cell where she was unceremoniously flung inside. She managed to keep her composure despite the lecherous grins on the constables’ faces. One of them jerked his chin upwards toward her. “Strip.”
Lucy blinked, unsure if she’d heard him correctly. “I beg your pardon?”
“You heard me,” the constable said, his features hardening. “Strip so that we can thoroughly search you.”
Her heart was pounding. First the conviction and now this! Was this what happened to all women who were found guilty of a crime? It was unthinkable!
“That won’t be necessary, gentlemen,” Lucy heard a man say in a pleasant, but firm tone. Lucy and the constable looked toward the door, where the voice had come from. She saw a man standing there in an immaculate three-piece suit holding up his Consortium credentials. He had a roguish grin that was easily visible underneath of his neatly trimmed black goatee.
“Coleton Muller, Consortium processing. This young lady comes with me.”
The constable that had ordered Lucy to divest herself of her clothing gave Coleton a sly smile. “We have to process her first before we hand her over to you. That is procedure.”
Coleton pocketed his identification and then pulled out a clipboard that was tucked under his arm and consulted it. He pulled the magnifying glasses from the top of his head down to his forehead so that he could make a show of studying the document in detail.
“Hmm, this is Miss Lucy Spence, just now convicted and who had opted for iSlave status, yes?” He pushed the glasses back up and gave them an insincere smile. “Procedures state that processing of iSlaves happens at the Consortium level. Of course, you’d know that if this particular courtroom handled more cases such as this one, but I am sure that fine, upstanding constables like yourselves will refresh your memories on proper proceedings if this happens in the future, yes?”
The constables’ confident grins drooped as Coleton continued his spiel. He tucked the clipboard back under his arm and adopted a solemn posture.
“Gentlemen, I assure you that this matter will be taken care of properly in accordance with Consortium law.” He lifted a hand to shoo them off. “Now, go on. I’m sure you have work to do and everything… like keeping the streets of Atlanta safe from ungodly heathens such as myself. Go on. Chop, chop, on your way now.” He watched them with an expectant look as they cast forlorn glances Lucy’s way and then trudged out of the holding area.
Reluctantly and cautiously, Lucy peeked her head out of the gate. Coleton smiled and beckoned her forward.
“You’re safe now, Miss Spence.” He offered the crook of his arm to her. “If you don’t mind, we’ll get you to the proper holding facility until auction.”
“Umm… thank you,” she said, her voice a little shaky, as she placed her arm inside his. “I dare say thank goodness for your prompt arrival. The trial had just ended.”
“Yes,” Muller agreed as he led her back out into the corridors behind the courtrooms. “Your trial has caused quite the stir. The local Consortium offices are all up in arms and believe me when I tell you that the Jaegers are throwing a fit.”
“How did you get here so fast?”
Coleton let out a long breath. “As much as we hate to admit it, your conviction was a certainty. When Messenger rushed out of his office to be your advocate, I was dispatched to be your handler since there was no way he was going to win.” He gave her an apologetic look. “Messenger is good, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think even he could’ve convinced Takacy to rule in your favor.”
“You know of him?”
“I think that you’d be hard-pressed to find someone in the Consortium who hasn’t heard of him.” Coleton grinned as he opened the door that led to an alley, where he helped her into the back of a steam car before following her. The moment the door was closed, the engine roared to life and they were off. “Judge Takacy has been on the Consortium’s radar for some time now. In fact, some of the ladies that will be going up to auction are a result of his rulings this past week.”
“So, there’s nothing you or Gabriel can do?”
Coleton spread his hands in an apologetic gesture. “Just hang in there. I’ve never seen Messenger so impassioned about a case before. If anyone can find something that we can nail Takacy to the wall with, it’ll be him. And, if I know Messenger, he’s already filed motions to appeal.”
***
Gabriel wanted to ram his head into the wall as he figured that he’d get better results that way. Instead, he snarled as he slammed the phone receiver down into its holder before running his hands through his hair. Another dead end.
“Gah!”
When he started his journey to become a Jaeger in the Theocracy, he knew that he’d be stonewalled by the legal system, but even this was ridiculous.
The moment he’d returned from the courtroom, he started making calls to everyone that he knew who could pull strings. He also filed his motions for an appeal. As it stood now, no one wanted to cross Judge Takacy. Before today, Gabriel had only heard of the man
by reputation, and from what he’d seen, it was a well-deserved one.
Grabbing a couple of legal journals and Theocracy statutes from his bookshelf, he started flipping through them, seemingly at random, until he got to the references that he wanted. While studying the texts with a finger, he wrote notes on his parchments with his free hand.
For hours, he scoured documents and manuals on every legal option he could attempt. His studies were interrupted when the phone rang. Gabriel grabbed it, hoping it was a return call from an inquiry he’d made earlier. He needed answers, though he wasn’t holding his breath for happy news.
“Messenger,” he said, bracing himself.
“Good evening, Messenger, this is Clerk Jericho from Supreme Court of the Theocracy. I wanted to let you know that your, ah, request for an expedited appeal hearing has been denied and thus the original ruling of Judge Takacy will stand.”
“Yah-huh…,” Gabriel said dryly, feeling disappointed though not surprised.
“Furthermore,” Jericho continued, confirming Gabriel’s suspicions, “the Supreme Court will be filing a formal protest into your actions with the Consortium first thing in the morning. They are none too pleased that you infringed upon the legal proceedings of a Theocratic court.”
“Right, thank you,” Gabriel said curtly, placing the receiver down before flinging the phone across the room. The protest would go nowhere. Were he just a mere lawyer then the Consortium might have looked into it. Being a Jaeger, though, they’d give it all the consideration it was due, have a good laugh at it, and then probably congratulate him on shaking things up in the Theocracy.
He looked at his notes, crumpled them up, and tossed them into the wastebasket. Plans A, B, and C were toast. Now to go on to Plan D. Theocracy legal proceedings were done. It was time to escalate things to the Consortium.
***
Lucy fought to keep the tears from welling up in her eyes as she looked at her nude self in the mirror. Now that she’d been forced to undress, reality was setting in and it was more than she could bear. At least the Consortium officials had the decency to not gawk at her like those Theocracy goons had been doing. The Consortium guard looked at her with a touch of concern once she handed over her clothes.
“This might seem empty and hollow, but do try to relax. Everyone goes through this and you’re far from the first. Now, the auction is tomorrow so there’s not much time for anything elaborate. You’re kinda getting in right at the deadline. A day later and you’d be in here for a month until the next auction.”
Frustrated, Lucy couldn’t hide her feelings. “Is there a point to this?” she snapped, the tears now starting to flow. She was tired of all of this and she couldn’t help herself anymore.
“Right, sorry,” the guard said with a nod. “The point is that you are still entitled to a last request before you lose citizenship status and are sold off. Since time is of the essence here, I need to know what would you like it to be so that we can honor it,” he explained.
This caught Lucy off guard; she really didn’t know what to think. Everything was happening so fast that it made her head spin. She was about to be sold as a pleasure slave to serve at a man’s whims and she didn’t even know what to do in that regard. She had never felt so helpless and useless in her entire life.
Her thoughts turned to Gabriel, the only man she’d really ever wanted to sleep with, and he’d turned her down when she was too tipsy to remember anything. Could they have had the chance to reconnect if she hadn’t gotten sentenced to slavery?
Thinking of her ex-fiancé from an age ago made her heart hurt. What had happened between them to make him run off like he did? Was it something that she had or hadn’t done? Her mind drifted and she remembered being shy, coy, and innocent with him. At one point in time, he did try to bed her as his right, but she’d resisted per Eddie’s orders and Gabriel had backed off. He was a real gentleman.
Her eyes fell to the pile of her clothes that had yet to be removed by the guard. “Yes…,” she said slowly. “May I have the garter from my garments, please?” she asked, pointing to her dress. “I want to give it to someone. And, am I allowed to have some… umm… private time with Jaeger Messenger so I can wear it for him?” Again… she mentally added.
The guard gave her a small, knowing smile. “I can arrange that for you.”
CHAPTER 7
“What’s going on?” Gabriel asked as he entered the holding cell area underneath the Atlanta Open Market. It was dim down here with the briefest flicker of electric lanterns every few cells being the only light to see by. “My secretary said that it was urgent.”
“My apologies for such a short notice, Honored Jaeger,” the Consortium guard said, motioning for him to follow down the rows of cells. “Auction is tomorrow and you are Miss Spence’s last request. We have her in a conjugal cell at the end of the block here. This way.”
“Ah,” Gabriel said as he walked with the guard past the open cells that held the inmates who awaited their assignments as involuntary slaves. Gabriel couldn’t imagine having to choose between that status or the brutal realities of prison where they are forced into labor or menial work for the duration of their sentences.
The inmates awaiting auction were already wearing their iron collars, welded into place around their necks and their contract numbers engraved onto them.
The last request was an old tradition reserved for those going into iSlave status. Typically, it was a favored meal, or the request to read a certain book, or even to take in the theater before they went up onto the auction block. It was the last request they could make as a free man or woman before they lost all their rights for the term of their sentence. The fact that Gabriel was Lucy’s last request made him wonder what exactly she wanted.
The guard unhooked the heavy key ring from his belt and opened one of the two doors at the end of the cell block. “Here you are, sir,” he said, opening the door like a butler. “You have until midnight, at which time I must come back and ask you to leave so that she can be cleaned and prepared for auction.”
“Right,” Gabriel said, patting the man on the shoulder. “Thank you,” he said walking in.
The guard closed and locked the door behind him. The conjugal cell was larger than the typical cells he’d just passed and it was totally enclosed in brick with the heavy iron door being the only way in or out. There was a small enclosed shower along the wall that was shared with the other conjugal cell to Gabriel’s right. Off to the left was a large, plush, four poster bed with white silks draped off the frame. It was lit by only the two electric lanterns that flanked the iron door behind him.
Lucy sat at the foot of the bed, naked save for her collar and a garter encircling her left thigh. She wrung her hands nervously.
“Hi,” she said, looking down at her lap. “I guess you’re wondering why you’re here?”
“Yeah, I kinda am,” he admitted even though he now had a good idea what she wanted. Seeing her completely nude before him was something that he’d pictured many times in his head in the past, but. reality blew fantasy away.
***
Lucy’s heart was in her throat as she looked at Gabriel standing there.
She summoned the courage to look him in the eye. “I want to know why you didn’t sleep with me that night when I practically threw myself at you?”
“Easy — you were drunk.” Gabriel said with a disdainful snort. “I might be a skirt chaser on my days off, but I’m not a total lush. I took you up to your room, helped you out of your clothes without taking off your undergarments, and put you to bed. You actually passed out before you could plant another kiss on me.” He smiled. “Not that the first one was bad, mind you.”
Lucy smiled at him. She found him utterly charming. “Well, I’m not drunk now,” she said and let out a rueful laugh. Tears brimmed in her eyes as she waved a callous hand toward the door. “They’ve already drawn up the paperwork for me. I’m going to be auctioned off as a…,” her voice caught in her thro
at, “as a pleasure slave tomorrow.”
“Aristocracy with no real domestic skills, yeah,” Gabriel nodded grimly. “I imagine you’ll go for a really high price, although not high enough to be the same as a bride price.”
“I don’t know how to do it!” Lucy blurted, which caused the awkwardness between them to rise slightly. She blushed and looked down again. “I’m still pure,” she admitted. “I was… well… saving myself, but now….” Lucy stood up, squared her shoulders, and looked at him with tears streaming down her burning face. “I was hoping that you could be the one to take it.”
***
Gabriel could feel conflicting emotions war against one another as he looked at her. The primal, chest beating, warrior-like part of his brain screamed for him to throw her onto the bed, take her in a manly fashion, and reclaim what had once been denied him. The gentleman part urged caution and warned him to take the moral high ground. His common sense reminded him that he’d be an idiot if he went through with this after everything that her family did to him and to others.
But, then there was a calming voice of reason reminding him that she had no part in her family’s crimes. He’d determined that much in the line of her questioning and then again during her Theocracy show trial. He closed his eyes and took a deep, steadying breath to silence the conflicting voices. When he opened his eyes again, she was but a hair’s breath away, looking expectantly up at him. He saw the innocent-looking girl that she once was, and the still-innocent woman who he’d rushed to defend on a whim.
“I shouldn’t, Lucy…,” he croaked out. “We shouldn’t… I’m still acting on your behalf.”
“Please. I want this, Gabriel… Gabe,” Lucy said, pressing her naked breasts up against his uniform-clad chest as she rose onto her tiptoes, tilting her head back for an expectant kiss.
Oh, I’m going to roast in the special hell for this, Gabriel thought as their lips brushed one another. He felt the sensation of tiny electrodes fire from his lips to his groin as he embraced her and drew her close, kissing her deeply. Lucy moaned softly as she melted into his arms. The last bit of his resolve crumbled while his brain threw their proverbial hands in the air in defeat, and the primal portion of his being howled in victory.
Messenger Page 6
