Katie's Hellion (Rhyn Trilogy, Book One) (11 page)

Male,
she noted mentally.

His hands traveled up her legs with the
expertise and gentleness of a doctor, all the while spreading the
soft coolness through her. His touch lingered on bruises, and he
retrieved a small tool when he reached the hem of her dress. He
sliced through it, and she pushed his hand away.

"You’re hurt," he said, surprised.

"I don’t have any other clothes! You can’t be
cutting up the only set I do have."

He looked concerned and stood again,
retrieving something else from his bed. He dropped a leather jumper
similar to his on her lap and then returned to his cutting. The
creature across the hall growled. She didn’t let herself think too
much about what it might be, how she ended up in Hell, or why she’d
just let some otherworldly creature with fuzzy hands cut off her
clothes.

Lankha’s hands remained on her ribs for a
long, long time. He appeared satisfied at last and touched her
breast. She slapped his hand away, and he looked at her, confused
again.

"What
are
these?"

"Just ignore them and finish up."

He obeyed. He finished at long last and
replaced all his things in his satchel. She pulled on the jumper,
not expecting it to fit and surprised to find the leather-like
material as flexible as spandex. It fit snugly, though it was so
thin, she still felt exposed.

"What do you do?" Lankha asked, sitting
back.

"I’m in the food industry. I help them with
marketing, which was my major until I quit school."

"You make vegetables? There’s a marketing
guild?"

"Oh, no," she said, realizing his meaning. "I
don’t do anything…special like you."

He frowned.

"Rather, doing nothing
is
my apparent
talent," she clarified.

"You are not a normal mortal human."

"No. I’m, um, apparently unaffected by
the…talents of other…guild guys, unless they’re, like, really
old."

"Ooooohhhhh. Old like me, oldest in my
guild."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Very nice talent," he said. "Very rare. Not
good for you, though."

"Why not?"

"The Ancients are very rare. I’ve been in
Heeeeeeeeeeeell forever, and if I wasn’t here, I couldn’t heal
you."

"Only the Ancients can offer any protection,"
she murmured with a frown. "Interesting."

"You’ll die soon."

"Shouldn’t I be dead already if I’m in
Hell?"

He shrugged, not nearly as concerned with her
life or death as she was. She set the blue water pills on her
pillow and stretched back. Her ribs were sore but no longer
painful. Amnesia was looking like a good option compared to
Hell.

"Now you pay me," Lankha said.

"Excuse me? Pay you
what
?"

He smiled, revealing fangs among the neat row
of white teeth. She shivered, cold inside.

"Blood," he confirmed.

She stared at him.

"Not much. I don’t have the appetite of the
beast
," he said, lifting his chin to the glowing silver eyes
across the corridor.

He took her hand gently in his feathery, cool
hands and pressed a finger to the inside of her forearm. It fell
numb. She said nothing, the world too surreal for her, and turned
her head away as he dipped his head. She didn’t feel his fangs sink
into her, but she
heard
the sound of punctured flesh. He
sipped quietly. As promised, he did not drink long, and she felt
him press another finger to the wound to seal the seepage.

Her stomach turned. She didn't know how she
could ever eat again.

The beast across the hall roared and threw
itself against its prison. The cell wall buckled and bent. She
scrambled toward the back of the cell, huddling with Lankha in a
corner. She couldn’t see what was there but knew it was on its way
to get her.

"He likes mortal human blood," Lankha
whispered.

"No shit!"

A man in a robe hurried down the hall as the
beast battered itself against the weakening cell. The man paused
and whispered something in a harsh tongue. The cell repaired itself
until it stood straight again. The beast within continued to throw
itself at it, ceasing finally when it saw the prison had been
reinforced.

The robed man strode away, and Katie and
Lankha eased from the corner. She sat on her bunk while Lankha
climbed atop his. She stared at the beast across the hall staring
at her and soon heard Lankha’s snores. He was fed and happy. She
shuddered, looking at the tiny scars of his teeth on her
forearm.

One day, she’d wake up and find herself on
the Metro again.

"Hey, human."

She glanced up. The voice came from a cell
down the hall.

"Lunchmeat."

She moved to the bars at the front of her
cell, aware of the beast across the hall doing the same with a
growl. Pale hands draped through bars two cells down from the
beast.

"Did you just call me lunchmeat?" she
asked.

"Oh yeah. A little mortal meat, some cheese
and crackers. How ya doin’, lunchmeat?"

"Pretty shitty. Is there anyone here who
doesn’t want to eat me or drink my blood?"

The masculine voice gave a surprised laugh,
and he pressed his face to the bars. He
looked
human, aside
from the fanged smile.

"Sexy lunchmeat," he said. "You’d enjoy what
I’d do to you."

"Never really been a fan of being eaten
alive," she returned.

"Spunky. Me likey."

"Thanks, psycho."

"You talk big behind those bars, little
girl."

She stared with surprise at the low growl
from the darkened cell across from her.

"The rabid dog speaks," she noted. "I’m
already in Hell. I’m thinking death might be a bit more to my
liking."

The pale, fanged man laughed again.

"Which one of you will promise me a painless
death?" she baited, at her last wit’s end.

"I’ll make it less painful than usual," the
pale man said.

"I like pain," another voice down the block
growled.

"Less pain than Jared."

"More pain than Jared but less than
Khakhala."

"No deal."

"No death, just pain."

"Mortal blood rocks."

"Can I get some action and then give you a
painless death?"

The immortals in the cell block threw out
their best offers, and she couldn't help the sense of terror
settling into her gut.

"No," she replied. "No action. Just the
pleasure of killing me. You can do whatever you want to my body
afterwards."

"No good to me dead."

"Only good to me dead. Not allowed to
kill."

The voices down the hall were all male,
though she doubted any of them were human.

"No pain," the beast before her said.

"Don’t you want to drink my blood?" she asked
skeptically.

"It won’t hurt, little girl."

His menacing growl chilled her more than any
of the others’.

"I’ll think about it," she replied, and
stepped away from the bars.

"Hey Lunchmeat," the pale man, Jared,
called.

"Yeah?"

"Don’t stick your hands outside the
cage."

"I have no intention of doing so."

"Rhyn might grab one and pull you out. You’d
be cut into pieces by the bars, and then no one would get their
snack."

"Yeah, real shame, shithead."

He laughed.

"What’re you doing here, Lunchmeat? Humans
don’t come here unless they’re dead, and even then, only a couple
make it onto our supermax zoo."

"No idea."

"Why aren’t you crying, little girl?" the
beast, Rhyn, asked in his gravelly, low voice.

"Maybe she’s a spy," a voice farther down the
hall called. "Here to listen to our secrets."

"I’m not a spy."

"Wouldn’t matter if you were," Jared said,
unconcerned. "The beast is right. You’re holding up well. Maybe
when they start the torture, she’ll cry. Then she’ll negotiate on
that no-pain thing."

"How I ache to be there," another voice
moaned.

"You taste as sweet as you look, little
girl?" Rhyn mocked.

"Like soggy gym socks," she snapped.

"I like you, Lunchmeat," Jared continued.
"Will be a shame when they break you. Or when one of us gets loose
and kills you. Not sure what’ll come first, though Rhyn there has
almost broken through his cage twice now."

Supermax, inhuman predator wing of the zoo.
Torture.

It figured. Her heart was beating fast, her
palms sweaty. She returned to her bunk and lay down, cold fear
filling her. She stared at the silver eyes staring at her, slowly
falling into an exhausted, restless slumber.

The sounds of Rhyn slamming his body into his
cell and snarling awoke her sometime later. Lankha was huddled in a
corner, but she rolled to watch. She popped one of the water cubes
into her mouth, head pulsing from a nasty hangover.

Rhyn had bent his cage again. Though she
tried hard not to fear death, she wondered what kind of creature
was capable of breaking through bars made of materials she’d never
before seen and held in place with some sort of magic. She wanted
to see what the beast looked like, what kind of monster he’d be,
yet knew if she saw him in full light, he was on his way to kill
her.

The robed man came again and repaired the
damage. Rhyn fell quiet, and the robed man turned to her. His eyes
were black and empty, his frame small and wiry. He wore a glowing
talisman on a leather chain around his neck.

"Hey Lunchmeat."

"Yeah."

"If you take the amulet, no pain,
guaranteed."

Her eyes dropped to it. The robed man sent
what looked like a lightning bolt down the hall. Jared cursed.

"Come with me," the robed man ordered
her.

The bars of her cell dissipated at his
command, and she stepped into the hall. A narrow, lit walkway
extended all the way down the corridor, the only part of the hall
out of reach of the arms of the prisoners on either side.

He led her toward Jared’s direction. The pale
man was tall and lean, and he hung his hands again through the bars
of his cell. He winked as she passed and licked his lips.

"Nice ass. Wouldn’t mind a bite of that."

She ignored him and crossed her arms. Some of
the cells were black like Rhyn’s, some with bars, and others with
glass. Some appeared empty while others…she stopped looking when
she saw the fanged moth man. The predators were silent, watching
their lunch parade by them.

She trailed the robed man through two doors
and into a hot, dry night. He led her through a fortress too
ancient for her to date, its blackened walls and well-worn stones
massive and thick. There were two moons in this realm, one full and
the other a sliver.

The robed man led her into the fortress and
wound his way through bright intersections, down stairs, and into a
more opulent part of the building. The halls grew wider, and the
stone turned to carpet beneath her sore feet. She was surprised she
could walk at all and knew a few ounces of blood had been a small
price to pay for Lankha’s work, which she’d never have gotten for
all the money in the world at home.

She nearly leapt past her escort when he
entered the banquet hall, the scents of roasted meat and a million
other things making her stomach roar.

Until she saw the spit with the human-like
body roasting above it. She stared, knowing no amount of counseling
would fix her when this was over.

"My lord, Sasha, I have brought the human,"
her robed escort said in a monotone voice.

"Perfect. Absolutely perfect."

The robed man bowed and retreated to the
door. She turned as the man called Sasha lifted one of her curls
from her shoulder. He was a lean man with gleaming silver-blue
eyes, teeth filed into points, and an aura so cold she stepped
away.

"Like a doll," Sasha said, admiring her. "So
full of life. Perfect."

"I told you, Sasha," a familiar voice
said.

Katie looked past him, gasping. Jade stood
near the spit, dark eyes blazing.

"And you were right," Sasha replied. "Now go,
my love, before they notice you're gone."

Jade's glare stayed on her as he hesitated.
Sasha turned to him with a smile, and Jade's gaze softened. He
bowed his head and left her alone with the madman.. Sasha faced
her. Katie took another step back, the stillness of his gaze
unsettling.

"I’ve been waiting for a long time to claim
you. We knew you’d appear eventually."

He motioned to a seat at the table loaded
with food she feared eating. The seat was at his left, and he
waited until she accepted before sitting. There was already food on
her plate --meat from an unnamed source, vegetables, bread.

"I know you’re hungry," he said.

She was starving. She took the roll and bit
into it, surprised to find it tasted perfect. She ate the whole
basketful while he watched. When he motioned to the meat, she
looked toward the spit and then lied.

"I’m vegetarian."

He ate nothing. When her stomach was full,
she allowed herself to look at him. His eyes gleamed. He took her
wrist and raised his pinkie, where she saw the nail had been filed
to a point and reinforced with metal. Before she could draw her
wrist away, he pierced it. The pain surprised her after Lankha’s
gentle ministrations. The creature twisted her wrist and squeezed,
capturing her blood in a small vial. The robed man who had led her
to the hall strode forward and took the vial, then backed away
silently.

"Verifying your identity," Sasha said with a
polite smile.

"What do you want with me?"

"You know what. Your blood is rare. It can
lead us to victory."

"You’re the bad guys."

"We serve a different master."

He said nothing more, as if unwilling to say
more until the identity verification was done. Still hungry, she
ventured to try the vegetables. The broccoli tasted normal, and she
ate all of them. She looked up at Sasha, her heart hammering under
his hungry look.