Blood Red (26 page)

Vivi Anna

rushed to Morgana’s side. Dangling from their hands were long chains with metal cuffs.

“Bind her.”

Red backed up from the bars. She looked around her cell for a weapon, anything she could use to inflict pain. She saw nothing. She was defenseless, save for her own fists.

The guards opened the cell door. They entered cautiously. They knew a wild animal when they saw one. And this girl was as wild as they came. They flanked her on each side.

Red knew she could not escape. But she would be damned if she went down quietly. She looked at each of the men. One of them would have to pay. Pay with pain.

Red leapt up and wrapped herself around the guard on her right. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed. She locked her legs around his midsection and crushed him in her powerful vice. He cried out as she bent her head down and bit into his fleshy cheek.

The other guard hit her in the back with his fists, trying to beat her off his partner. He struck her viciously on her back and sides. She remained on the guard like a leech. He struck her in the side of the head. Her grip loosened.

She was finally dragged off the guard, still kicking and gnashing her teeth, and was pinned onto the ground. She snarled and growled as the guard encased her wrists and ankles in shackles.

The other guard touched his face where he had been bitten. His fingers came away smeared with 50

Blood Red

blood.

“You filthy whore!” He looked down at Red who still struggled inside the shackles. He raised his foot, and kicked her in the stomach.

“Enough!” Morgana stepped into the cell, her hand raised. “How dare you damage my prize?”

The guard looked at her sheepishly. “She attacked me, my lady.”

“It was your own stupidity to allow her to get that close. Go clean yourself up, but I do not want to see you again.”

The guard was about to protest, but he caught the cold look in Morgana’s black eyes. He decided against it, and ran off to get medical attention.

Morgana gazed down at Red, and grinned. “I love it that you fight even still. It will make it so much more enjoyable for me to break you.”

“I will never break.”

“We shall see.” Morgana handed a thick black leather strap to the guard. “And now, the finishing touch.”

The guard reached down and pulled Red up by the chains. She stood, but awkwardly. Her wrists were shackled together and linked to a chain that went to her feet, where her ankles were also shackled. He pushed her forward toward the bed. She fell onto it.

He put a knee into her back to keep her pinned. She was helpless. He reached around her neck and wrapped the leather strap around it. He buckled it on and attached a leather rope to it. He got off Red and pulled her up again.

He handed the rope to Morgana. She pulled on it, 51