Survivor (13 page)

 Creepy Jerk Number One grabbed me by the upper arms
and roughly dragged me out the door.  He handled me like a sack of potatoes,
flinging me over his shoulder and knocking the wind out of me as his shoulder
connected with my diaphragm with a painful thunk.  I tried to kick him but my
weak, clumsy legs missed by a mile.  He raised an eyebrow and I smirked at his
surprised expression.  It’s the thought that counts right?

I was hustled up the sidewalk to a big, sprawling
old house painted a very odd shade of grey.  It almost looked purple in the
fading light.  I glanced around from beneath the curtain of my thick hair.  We
were out in the country somewhere.  I couldn’t see any other houses, only
sparse woods.  The road was deserted.  
Great.

The vampire carried me in the house and to a set of
stairs leading down.  We ended up in a basement that was finished, but seemed
to be mostly unused.  The glimpse I’d gotten of the rest of the house was
spotless and rich, decorated tastefully.  The basement was just a basement, bland
and a little damp.  There were a couple of rooms with doors, and I was taken to
one of these.  My captor literally tossed me onto a couch and turned to leave,
locking the door behind him.  I cussed at him and demanded answers but of
course, I got nothing.

I don’t know how long I sat there on that ugly
little orange couch, alternately pissed off and scared out of my mind.  Eventually
the door opened and a group of men-vampires-entered the room.  The two
kidnappers were there.  They had changed out of their fake delivery uniforms
and were now wearing some sort of dark, matching outfits that looked like
martial arts gear.  They stood calmly in a parade rest stance as their leader
strolled over to me.

I was guessing he was their leader by the way he
dressed and the way he carried himself.  He was tall and thin, with a starved,
hawkish look to him that was not at all comforting.  His dark eyes were sharp,
darting here and there as they evaluated everything, like a predator.  He
stopped in front of me and tucked his hands into the pockets of his tan suit,
probably trying to appear non-threatening.  It wasn’t working.

“You must be Melody,” he said with a warm smile.  “Welcome
to my coven.”

I sat up a little straighter.  “Who the hell are you
and what do you want?”

The warm smile never left his face as he slapped me across
the mouth.  Hard.  Pain flared up and I felt a warm trickle from my lip before
I even realized what had happened.  That’s how fast he moved.  “You will
address me with the respect due your coven leader,” he said coldly.

I dabbed at my split lip and glared up at him.  “You’re
not
my
coven leader,” I said slowly.  “I don’t even know who you are.”  I
did my best to sound calm.  I wasn’t going to swear and shout again.  Lesson
learned.

He knelt in front of me, putting us at eye level.  His
thick brown hair had fallen forward and he brushed it out of his feral eyes.  “I
am Cashern,” he said softly.  “And I am your new owner.”  He reached out a
finger and wiped the blood dripping from my mouth.  He licked his finger, then
straightened and stood.  His teeth were out.  Not a good sign.

“My people have seen you in the presence of
vampires- and not just any vampires.  You seem to be of some value to that
little bitch Leah.”

I looked up at him, not getting it, “So what?”

He laughed.  “So now we see just how valuable you
are to your precious coven leader.  Will she trade her territory to get you
back?”

It took me a full minute to process what he had just
said.  Understanding crashed over me and I felt like a fool.  Her presence, her
effect on Peter, and the entire coven- Leah was the master vampire.  I frowned
at my warden.  I may be a little slow, but even I saw the dilemma here.  If I
told him I had only met Leah once, and that I meant nothing to her, then he
could just decide to get rid of me.  I didn’t want to think about how.  But if
I lied and told him I was of some value to her, then he would try to ransom me
off.  It would buy me some time, but I was pretty sure it would also get me
killed when he found out I was lying.  This man did not strike me as the calm,
reasonable type.

I sighed.  “I don’t know what to tell you,” I said
hesitantly.  “I don’t know what my value is to any of the coven.”

He narrowed his eyes at me in thought.  “We’ll see.”
 He headed for the door, pausing to toss a glance back over his shoulder.  “If
I were you, I would hope to God she wants you back.  It’s been some time since
I’ve drained a human....”  Pausing, he crossed the room again.  I flinched when
he grabbed my arm, roughly snatching the charm bracelet from my wrist.  I shut
my eyes and said nothing as the door closed behind him.  He was only trying to
scare me.  
I hope
.  

Soft, unprepossessing, earthy Leah was a master vampire. 
What would she do?  If she didn’t care to rescue me, would Peter come for me?  Would
she let him?  I looked around the little room.  It was designed for holding normal,
human-type people.  There was the ratty orange couch where I sat, a very small
room with a toilet and a sink, and a case of water bottles.  I’d seen dead
bolts on the outside of the door when they carried me in here.  Even if I could
walk over there and pound on it, I would never be able to break those locks.

I curled up on the couch, put my head in my hands,
and cried.  Sure, I’d like to say I was all tough about it, but that would be a
lie.  I rarely ever left my house and now I was who knows how far away from
home, at the mercy of some territory hungry psycho, and surrounded by people
that weren’t human.  I doubt anyone even realized I was missing yet.  Peter
would probably be the first one to realize.  Mom and Chelsea wouldn’t notice
for a day or two.  And even then, they’d just assume I was avoiding them.  This
Cashern guy was probably contacting Leah right now.  What would she say?  My
mind wandered in circles.  There was just nothing I could do but wait.

Finally, Number One returned.  He had a camera
hanging around his neck.  
Big ol’ freaking tourist
.  I sat up and wiped
my hand across my eyes, trying to erase the tear tracks.  He stood looking down
at me for a minute or two, no expression on his face.  “Leah says she doesn’t
know you,” he said evenly.  “Cashern believes she is lying.  He wishes for us
to send her a little postcard to jog her memory.”

I frowned at him and he held up the camera.  “Say
cheese,” he said with an evil smile.  The flash nearly blinded me.  I was still
blinking to clear my vision when he punched me in the face.  Blinding pain
exploded in my head as he connected with my eye.  He was probably holding back,
otherwise, I’m sure the blow would have killed me.  It sure didn’t feel like
holding back.  It felt like someone had just hit me upside the head with a
sledgehammer.

“Son of a bitch!”  I gasped, and moaned.  No one had
ever hit me before, and now I had been struck twice in one day.

He grasped my chin, holding tight when I attempted
to struggle away.  Turning my head to the side, he examined the eye.  “Oh yes,
that will be a pretty shade of purple in a few hours.”

I swatted at him and he flung me back on the couch.  He
stated to leave, but hesitated as he reached the door.  “Oh, I almost forgot.”  He
spun and returned to me.  I tried to get away, but he twisted his fist in the
front of my t-shirt and pulled me up so my feet were barely touching the floor.
 Without a bit of preamble, he sank his teeth into my throat.  It didn’t hurt,
thank God.  Vampires could control the sensations humans felt when they were
bitten.  They could make the pain feel like pleasure.  This vampire didn’t let
the pain slice through, but his bite didn’t carry the warm pleasure of Peter’s
bite.  He made it not hurt.  That was all.

I struggled weakly, but it did no good.  I began to
feel lightheaded, and gave up the fight.  He lifted his head with a sigh and
tossed me back on the couch, not bothering to close my bites.  I lifted a hand
to wipe the small trickle of blood away, but he stopped me, grabbing my wrist
in a flash.  “Hold on just one minute, dove,” he said with that nasty smile.  He
snapped a picture of my wound before releasing my wrist, then turned and left
without another word.  I flung a water bottle at his departing back, but it
bounced harmlessly off the door.  Too slow, as usual.

I slumped back on the couch and dabbed at my neck
with the hem of my shirt. 
Fucking vampires.
 I closed my eyes and
refused to let the tears start again.  Peter would come for me.  I was sure of
it.

T
hings continued like this for three
days.  A vampire would bring me something to eat, take a picture, and inflict a
new bruise or bite somewhere visible.  Repeat several times daily.  Apparently,
they were willing to prod Leah for a while before they called her bluff and
just killed me.

I wondered what my family must be thinking right
now.  Who was I kidding?  They probably wouldn’t notice I was missing for a
month, let alone a few measly days.  On the third day, Cashern paid me another
visit.  He breezed in with his two guards in tow, looking fresh and confident-
and royally pissed off.

“What are you to Leah?”  He stood in front of me,
arms crossed and face calm.  I wasn’t fooled.  He was mad that he hadn’t
figured out the answer to that question by now.

I shrugged.  “I have no idea,” I said truthfully.  He
leaned forward and braced his hands on the back of the couch on either side of
me, trapping me.  His teeth elongated.  I was careful to only look at his
mouth, never his eyes.  Not when he was in vampire mode.

His voice was barely a whisper, just a suggestion
floating through the air, but I heard every word- full of compulsion and
threat.  I risked a glance at his eyes, intending just a quick flick to see the
color to see if he was still there or completely vamped out.  What I saw made
me unable to wrench my gaze away.  One eye was silver, but the other was a
cloudy blood color.  Something evil moved behind his eyes- something that
hadn’t been there a moment before.  “What are you to Leah?”

I swallowed hard, fear making my heart clench.  “I
don’t know.”

He leaned closer.  “Will she bargain for you?”

“I don’t….” he cut me off, whipping my head to the side
and sinking his teeth into my throat faster than thought.  Pleasure raced
through my body.  I fought it, not wanting to let my captor make me feel good.  It
was a useless struggle.  Vampire hormones flooded my system, making it hard to
think clearly, turning every sensation to pleasure.  Even the fact that he was
killing me wasn’t as alarming as it should be.

Slowly, I began to feel him in my mind.  It was a
dark, oily sensation.  He was using his aura, his power, to somehow pull
memories from me with my blood.  I groaned and struggled, but I couldn’t keep
him out.  He merely tightened his grip and plunged deeper into my skin, and my
psyche.

Finally, when I thought I would black out from blood
loss and the pleasure tingling over my skin, he lifted his head.  He stood and
looked down at me with a disappointed expression.  “You really don’t know.  You
aren’t sure if there is something special about you.  You don’t know if she’ll
care that you’re here.”  He canted his head from side to side.  “There is
nothing special about your blood.  Maybe you are a favorite pet?”  He shook his
head, and I risked a glance at his eyes.  They were both silver, and they began
to fade back into his usual shade of brown as I watched.  “Why would a coven
leader care about a little cripple like you?”

I was regaining a tiny bit of my will.  With it came
anger.  I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth to keep from saying something
dumb that would make things worse.  Maybe Leah would save me purely for Peter’s
sake.  She seemed to really like him.  
He
was a favorite, I was sure of
it.  But he had been defying her wishes by not turning a human.  Would she help
someone who was annoying her and causing strife in the coven?

I found out later that day.  Creepy Jerk Number One
was back.  He brought a tall, brown-haired man with him.  I almost cried for
joy when I recognized Peter.  Then I had an instant of terror when I was sure
he had been captured too.

“Leah has sent a liaison.”  Jerk seemed bored.  I
tried not to show emotion.  Liaison?

Peter stepped forward and squatted down to my level.
 His face was calm as he examined my numerous bruises and bites.  “Leah will
not approve of the way this human has been treated, even if she is of no value
to my master,” he said slowly.  He shook his head disapprovingly.  Sighing
heavily, he stood.  “I suggest you release her and allow me to wipe her
memories and return her to her home.”  I had never heard about that particular
talent.  I hoped it was just talk.

The vampire laughed.  “You’re going to have to take
that up with Master Cashern,” he said in that bored tone of voice.  “Not
fucking likely though.  What’s to say it isn’t all a set up?”

Peter shrugged.  “I’m only here to observe and
advise as I see fit.  I can’t make you listen.”  They left the room together
without ever speaking a word to me.  I stared at the door for a long time,
expecting Peter to burst back in and rescue me.  Nothing happened.

It was much later that night when Cashern and his
guards came back.  Jerk Number Two threw me over his shoulder like a caveman,
again.  “What the hell are you doing?”  I tried to sound indignant.  I think I
just sounded scared and desperate.  
Shit, they were going to get rid of me.