by Jen Pretty
He carried me like that to the roof and into a waiting helicopter. The roof was lower than the sides, so we hadn't seen it from the ground as we walked up. It must have arrived just before we did because Reg said there were eyes on this building and we had surveillance photos.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked still trying to get out of his hold.
"To my home, darling. Don't worry, in no time you will be helping me claim my throne," He laughed then like it was some joke.
He threw me down in the helicopter, and I tried to scramble out the open door, but his fist came in fast and then it was lights out Lex.
My head was pounding. Maybe if I just kept my eyes closed.....wait.
I sat up way too fast and my vision went black again for a moment before it cleared and I could see. I was on a bed, but it wasn't mine and the room I was in had bars on the window. I started to hyperventilate. I knew I was using my magic but didn't care. It all came flooding back to me. The ambush, the helicopter. The vampire. I tried to push myself off the bed but had to bite my lip to stop the scream of pain from my mangled hand. I looked around, spotting a bathroom across from the bed I raced there and deposited all the food I had for breakfast this morning…or was that yesterday. I wasn't sure how long I had been unconscious, but it didn't matter. I had to get out of here. I pulled my magic back to me and walked back out of the bathroom and looked around. The bars on the window looked solid, but I went over and gave them a shake with my left hand anyway. They didn't even wiggle. I looked around, but apart from the bed, there was no furniture or anything I could try to use to pry the bars off. Outside all I could see was a forest. I was on the third floor of some building, but it didn't look like a house. Maybe a warehouse. The door to the bedroom was closed, and I assumed locked, but I thought I had better give it a try anyway. I would kick my own ass if the door was unlocked and I had never even tried it. I padded across the room. My run to the bathroom would probably have alerted any vampire that was listening that I was awake but I was so scared I could barely breathe. I knew that vampires had much more sensitive hearing and sense of smell than fae. I reached out just as the knob turned and the door flung open. The red-haired vampire from my nightmares entered with a flourish. He was wearing a long red cape over an expensive black suit. His sinuous face was creased with a wicked grin.
I started backing up then turned and tried to run, but he grabbed me by the arm and spun me back to look at him. My hands came up to guard my face.
“Now, now. You know what happens if you try and strike me. Unless you would like to lose the use of your left hand too, I'd be careful right now,” He said with a smirk. Considering I couldn’t make a fist with my right, I thought better of punching him and just froze where I was.
“That’s better," he said letting go of my arm “now, we can speak like civilized vampires and fairies."
I needed time to think of a way out of this so just kept my mouth closed. Play along with the psycho-vamp.
"As you may or may not know, my name is Master Joshua. I am one of the oldest vampires still alive today if you want to call it that. Over the next several months you and I will learn to work together to defeat the fae and send them back to where they belong so I can properly step into my role as king of the Earth. Now, if you disobey me there will be consequences, and you will think the pain in your hand right now is a picnic," He smirked again, and it was the most clichéd evil smile I'd ever seen.
"Let's begin with the rules." he said before raising one finger, "If I tell you to slow time, you slow time." he raised a second finger. "If I tell you to stop time, you stop it. That simple."
“Let’s try it, shall we?” he smirked.
"Timekeeper, slow time," he said in a commanding voice.
I did nothing. I wasn't going to play along with his games, and I certainly wasn't going to help this monster kill fae.
He lowered his brow at me and scowled. Then his fist came out fast and hit me in the stomach. I fell to the floor and tried to vomit, or breath or something but nothing worked. Tears flooded my eyes and ran down my face as I gagged and coughed and slowly remembered how to breathe again.
"I can see this will take some time. I'll come back tomorrow and see if you are more interested in staying alive then than you seem to be now," with that he turned and left and I heard a lock click into place. One little click, but it was the sound of dread, and I knew I was in for a hell of a time. I climbed back onto the bed and let my mind go blank. I would find a way out of this.
The next day when he danced through the door, I was tired from trying to stay awake all night. I didn't want to have a nightmare when my day was so terrifying already.
"Hello darling, ready to try this again?" he was smiling, but it didn't reach his cold eyes.
“Listen, Josh. I won’t help you kill hunters. They are my friends.” I tried to reason with him. “Just let me go and…”
His eyes had turned black as night, and his face went red with rage "My name is Master Joshua!" he hollered before pulling me off the bed and onto the floor and kicking me in the ribs so hard I thought I heard a snap. Then he turned on his heel and marched out with a huff. His name is apparently a sensitive subject.
Every full breath after that felt like someone stabbing me in the chest with a knife. More tears came unbidden.
I stayed curled up on the floor even after I got my breath back and felt my face dry. I didn't want to move in case that was what would bring him back into the room. If I just lay here, maybe I would wake up in my bed, and this really would have all been a nightmare. A really fucked up nightmare.
But he did come back again and again and again over the following week. I lost count of days because I blacked out twice more and couldn’t tell if a day had passed or just a few hours.
Sometimes a vampire would come in and give me food, but Joshua always stood in the doorway letting me know I had no escape.
I couldn't see out of my right eye, I was pretty sure I had a few broken ribs because it still hurt to breath, my right arm was swollen and bruised to the elbow, and one of my teeth was on the floor.
I just lay on the bed on my side, the only way I could lie without excruciating pain, and stared at my tooth. My life had gone down the toilet, and I was trying to decide if I could hang myself with my sheets when he came back in.
"Good morning, sunshine," he said brightly as he sailed into my room. But I didn't turn to look at him. I just stared at my tooth. The hole it left behind in my mouth tasted like blood still. There was dried blood on my shirt and on the sheets where I lay. Surely it hasn't been that long since the last time he came in and since he knocked my tooth out.
"Now darling, nobody likes someone who sulks. Look at me," He commanded from right beside me. I immediately turned my head to see him and started to push myself away from him, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me across the bed towards him. Then he wrapped his fingers around my throat, and I froze.
"I'm running out of patience," he sneered. "I have been trying to give you time to get used to the idea that you belong to me now and will obey me, but perhaps it's time I stop being so patient," he raised his eyebrows like it was a question then started to apply pressure to my throat. My air was cut off completely. I helplessly dug at his hand with my left hand, my right still too badly broken to be of any use. He didn't relent though. I started to see black dots but just before I passed out he let go, and I gasped large swallows of air. Before my lungs even stopped burning, he squeezed again and again waited till I very nearly passed out. By now, my heart was beating so hard I thought it might explode but all I could think about was getting air. Then I had it, and he took it away again. I flailed and scratched at him so hard to try and get oxygen that I lost control of my magic and stopped time. He immediately released me and took a small slow step back while I coughed and gagged and finally filled my lungs and my heart started to slow. My face was wet with tears, and a sob escaped me. I couldn't stop it, but I bit my lip to keep any more s
ounds contained. I wouldn't give him what he wanted.
I had figured out on day three that he wanted to break me, so I had been fighting with everything I had to keep from showing him an ounce of fear or despair.
He sneered "was that really so hard? Goodness, all these theatrics when giving me what I want is so much easier for all of us. Now, have a nice rest today and think about how much easier your life will be if you simply do as I ask." Then he turned and walked out.
I let the tears of sadness fall then. I didn’t make a sound so he wouldn’t hear but I couldn’t keep it in any longer.
He had only been gone a few minutes when the door opened, and a female vampire came in. She set a tray, and a stack of clothes on the end of the bed then turned and left. I had hardly eaten and was still wearing the same clothes I was wearing when he abducted me. The food smelled good and clean clothes would definitely help, but I found it hard to care about anything. Then it occurred to me that perhaps some of my feeling of depression was coming from being so far from Luke and Armond. I'm not meant to be alone and being surrounded by vampires was slowly killing me on top of the fact I was a prisoner here and being tortured every day by a psychotic master vampire.
I rubbed my face feeling the swelling and the split in my lip. I wondered if the hunters were looking for me. I was sure Armond was and probably Victor. I wondered if Margot had known this was what would happen and that was why she brought Luke to me before we left. If she knew, why didn't she stop this from happening? It wasn't fair. I got up and took the clothes to the bathroom. It was only a half bath, but I managed to clean myself up somewhat in the sink and changed into clean clothes. They were a bit big for me, but at this point so were the clothes I had arrived wearing. The new clothes would probably get bloody soon enough. I didn't look in the mirror. I knew what I would look like and seeing my reflection wouldn't help me. I walked back out to the bedroom and sat beside the tray of food. My mouth hurt too much to eat, but I drank the juice and tried to eat some of the oatmeal or whatever it was. I told myself it was oatmeal anyway. It was no use. I could barely open my jaw. I crawled back on to the bed and made myself as comfortable as I could and let my mind shut off. Eventually, I fell asleep.
The forest was alive. I was in the clearing back in homeland, and all the wildflowers were in bloom. It seemed so much brighter than usual. My eyes were torn from the sun, and I reached up to clear my face and both my hands worked. Wait. That's not right.
"Hello," I called. I heard no reply, so I sat on Evans stump and waited. The birds were singing and flying about. Bees were busy in the flowers. I waited a long time before I heard a rustle in the leaves behind me. I turned around and almost burst into tears.
“Luke. How did you get here?” I sobbed, shocked and overjoyed and filled with sorrow because I knew that I wasn’t awake. It had taken me a few minutes to figure out how I got here but now I knew this was a dream. A beautiful happy dream, but still just a dream.
"Lex," He sighed wrapping me in his arms. "I'm so sorry; I've been trying for two weeks to get through to you."
Two weeks? I must have been unconscious much longer than I had figured. "I'm so scared, Luke, Please tell me you are safe, and Armand is ok, and the hunters are coming to get me."
"I'm safe, and the hunters will find you, but they are struggling. Reg and several others died in that last raid. Armond has taken over as leader of the hunters, but they can't find you. Do you know where you are?" he asked looking down into my eyes with his arms still around me.
“No. He knocked me out on the helicopter.” I swallowed my pain and fear. “I don’t know if I can take much more,” I told him honestly “he wants me to help him kill hunters. He wants me to stop time so he can kill them all.”
"I'm so sorry. I wish I could just come and get you. Victor is flashing into every location we find with any vampires in it, but so far he has only found small groups of low-level vamps. Is there anything you can tell me that might help?"
"There are bars on the windows, and it looks like grey steel walls outside and surrounded by forest. That's all I know. I haven't left the room."
Luke shook his head. Then looked me in the eye and said "I can't stay any longer, but Armond says to tell you just live. You just have to live."
And then he was gone, and my eyes opened to the nightmare that was my reality now. I felt Luke's absence more fully after being so close to him. Dream or no, I felt the connection to him while I was in the dream and now it was gone. I cried again. Cried for Reg, cried for me. I let it all go for a few minutes before pulling myself together. I needed a plan. Armond said to live, so I was going to make sure I stayed alive for him. He would come and find me, or I would find a way to get out of here, either way, this was temporary, and I needed to do whatever I had to do to survive.
More Days passed. Joshua would come in every morning and ask me to stop time. I’d do it because I didn’t want to be hurt anymore. I was going to live and come up with a plan because fuck this vampire guy. I wanted to see his head separated from his body so bad I could see it when I closed my eyes.
After another week of my compliance, Joshua decided I was fit to be seen, so he had the vampire who always brought my food and clothes take me to another bathroom which had a shower. She stayed in the room, which was awkward, and Joshua waited just outside the door. Once I shampooed my hair the 3rd time, I finally felt cleaner. I dressed in the clothes they gave me which ended up being an old style dress. From like ancient times or something. Whatever, it was clean. It had a low neckline which left me feeling exposed, and the miles of material meant I wasn't about to go running off through the forest or kick anyone's ass.
We walked out of the bathroom and Joshua led the way. We walked for several minutes, and I was starting to feel winded. My ribs still hurt a lot, and my hand was healing poorly, so I had to carry it. But the swelling in my face was nearly gone, just some light bruising remained between my eye and my mouth on my cheekbone and down to my jaw below my ear. I had accidentally caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror after my shower. If I ever got out of here, I would need some cheeseburgers. I had never seen my face this thin before.
Joshua pushed open a set of doors, and the noise overwhelmed me. My prison room was always silent unless he was in there. This room was huge, at least the size of a football field and it was packed with vampires.
I stopped at the door, and the sound inside stopped too. You could have heard a pin drop. They had all stopped talking and turned toward us. The doors opened to a stage. Joshua moved to the edge and spoke to the crowd.
"Good evening," he spoke in a normal voice. There was no microphone, but I was sure even vamps in the back could hear him with their excellent hearing.
“Tonight we are gathered here to celebrate a new time in the lives of our people.”
The vamps all cheered and raised their fists in the air. It was terrifying.
"We have turned the tables on the fae. Plucked their secret weapon from beneath their noses and now she is in our hands." He paused so the gathering of monsters could scream and shout and applaud. They were so loud I wanted to cover my ears, but with only one usable hand I couldn't possibly muffle the sound.
“Now, we will go about our business. Keep picking off the fae and as many hunters as possible while we prepare our secret weapon to take on the worst of our enemies.”
He raised his fist in the air "we will rule this earth," he bellowed before turning and grabbing me by the arm and dragging me with him. I tried to hurry, but the dress had so much material that I was struggling to keep up.
"Please. Slow down," I begged, and he turned to me. His eyes were glowing. Then he scooped me up and draped me over his shoulder and carried me back to my room. My ribs hurt with every step he took so I had to bite my lip to keep from screaming.
"You were good today," he said as he set me back on my feet in my room "I'm proud of you. If you keep this up, I won't have to lock you in here, but I want to see complete complia
nce with my wishes before I give you a longer leash." He turned and looked at the female vampire who had just brought me food and more casual clothes before returning his gaze to me. "I want you to stop time. Now."
So I did, I froze time. The female vampire was stuck entirely still.
He gazed at me and said "very good." Then he pulled out his sword and cut her head off. Time snapped back. I had no feelings for the vampire he has just decapitated, but the fact he could kill his loyal vampires was a shock to me. I realized I'd forgotten to breathe and took a deep shuttering breath. I swore a bit, quietly, and returned my gaze to Joshua. He was studying me. "I thought that would please you. Don't you like to kill vampires?" then he turned and walked out of the room. I stood in shock for a moment, and the door opened again, and two other vampires entered and cleaned up the remains of the female vampire.
No, killing didn't please me, but his death couldn't come soon enough, and I hoped I'd be the one to bring it to him.
Chapter twelve
The days went by slowly but relatively pain-free. Another vampire was bringing me food and clothes now. He seemed nervous, but I guess if you got a job because the boss killed the last person who had that job, being nervous was reasonable.
Of course, Joshua came and went. He would just ask me to stop time and then dance out again. Halting time entirely became easy. I didn't have to be upset to stop time anymore, he would ask, and I would oblige. Then one day he came to my room and asked me to follow him. I followed him down several flights of stairs and into what looked like a dungeon. There were doors all along both walls of the hallway. Solid steel doors set in stone. The lights flickered down here making me tense. I didn't want to be in the dark with Joshua. Honestly, I didn't want to be anywhere near him in the daylight either. We stopped at a particular door, and he took out a key and opened the door. What sat inside was a bloody mess of a giant man. I knew then, precisely what Joshua had caged down here. This was a hunter, maybe not one of my hunters, but a hunter none the less and he was apparently nearly dead already.
