Vengeance (11 page)

“It’s
about time,” Hyde mutters sourly.

“Lay
off, man,” Reyes growls.  I turn to look at him and see
him tear a strip of cloth from his shirt.  He tosses it toward
me but falls short.  I stretch out my toes to grasp it, grateful
that in this new position my chains allow me a greater range of
motion, at least in my arms and legs.

As I offer Reyes a
smile of gratitude, Hyde speaks up again.  “I’m just
saying what you’re all thinking.  Don’t nobody want
to hear that girl whimpering like it was her they were abusing.”

Marius sucks in a
breath.  “Have you lost your darn mind?  She offered
to take their place, or did your fool brain forget that little
tidbit?”

“He’s
right,” Vondran says.  He clears his throat and refuses to
look at me when he speaks.  “We all heard it. She tried to
save them.”

“Nah.”
 Hyde shakes his head.  His shaggy hair falls over his eyes
in thick strands.  “What I heard was her making a deal to
see her guy.  I bet she’s just upset that they haven’t
brought him in yet.”

My jaw clenches so
hard I can feel my teeth grinding together.  Anger darkens my
vision.  It takes all of my control to keep from blasting back
at him.  Thankfully, I don’t need to.  The other men
in the room all explode at the same time, coming to my defense.

I’m
not really sure when it happened, but somehow these men joined
together in my support.  
No,
not in my support.  In my defense.  They were just as
useless as I was to stop what happened.  At least I had
something to offer.

“Well if that
isn’t the truth then why didn’t they take her too?  She’s
a heck of a lot prettier than those other two, that’s for darn
sure,” Hyde growls, crossing his arms over his chest.  I
can tell by the way he sits against the wall that his back is tender.
 The Roamer’s nails must have pierced rather deep.

“I bet you
would have liked that, huh?” I snap, turning to face him.  “You
like hurting defenseless girls, don’t you Hyde?”

His face blotches
with anger.  “Now, I didn’t say nothing like that.”

“But you sure
implied it,” Vondran says from his corner.  

“Not
acceptable,” a voice rises from the distant corner.  I
squint to see in the darkness and realize this must be where Satal
sits.  I had nearly forgotten the man was even in the same room
as me. He only spoke briefly before and then it was nothing not
worthy to remember him by.

“What did you
say?” I ask, feeling a tremor begin in my fingers and work its
way up to my chest.

“You not
acceptable.”  It is the same statement but this time it
feels all the more profound.

“Well what the
heck is that supposed to mean?” Reyes asks, tossing his hands
up in the air.  “Way to be helpful, Satal.”

I stare into the
dark, noticing the creepy green shine to the man’s eyes.  The
longer I stare at him the more I begin to doubt that he is a man at
all.  His features seem almost smashed, as if they are just not
quite right.  His skin is pale enough to appear to glow in the
dark.  His hair is cropped short yet still manages to look
unruly.  A small beard along his face grows in odd patches.  His
cheeks are gaunt, his eyes sunken.  I wonder how long he has
been trapped in this cage.

My voice wavers when
I speak again.  “How do you know that?”

Satal does not
respond.  Instead he turns to stare at the wall.  I blow
out an unsteady breath and run my hands through my hair.  Although
I have more movement of my arms and legs, my neck is still closely
attached to the wall.  I guess that I have no more than six
inches to play with.

“Care to tell
us what he’s talking about, little lady?” Vondran asks,
turning his full attention on me.

I consider lying, of
telling him that Satal is off his rocker but I know they suspect
something.  I didn’t hold myself together very well when I
heard him the second time.  Even Hyde is peering at me with
something mildly resembling interest.  I sigh and shake my head.
 “That’s what that Roamer said to me when he left.
 That I was not taken because I am not acceptable, whatever that
means.”

Reyes shifts to look
over his shoulder at Satal.  “And how would he know that?
 That info wasn’t exactly shared with the rest of the
group.”

I shrug and rub my
temples.  My headache isn’t bound to get any better any
time soon.  “How does he change forms?  Who knows?”

“What else did
he tell you?”  Marius scoots a bit closer.  I can see
the tremor in his hands and feel sorry for the man.  He tried to
help me when I was choking.  The others did nothing while he and
Callisto at least attempted to save my life.

“Not much.  He
just said that we are special, have value to him.  I assume that
means that we are worth his time and effort to cart across the stars
to be sent to a slave market.”  I know that I sound bitter
but I no longer care.  What does it matter anyway?  It’s
not like we are getting out of here any time soon.

Marius nods slowly
and turns his gaze back toward the door that is no longer visible.
 “Do you think they are hurting them?”

“Of course
they are,” Hyde snorts.  When he realizes we have all
turned to look at him he sighs.  “Not to be rude here, I
know big shocker huh, but those guys aren’t exactly normal
proportion, if ya know what I mean.”

That goes without
saying.  I curl my knees up into my chest and attempt to hug my
knees but can't quite manage it.  Instead I place them on my
legs and close my eyes.  Even though I know these events would
have happened no matter what, I can’t help but take the blame
for this.  “It’s all my fault,” I whisper.

“So now you
admit it?” Hyde growls.

“No.”  I
lower my gaze and fix him with a livid glare.  “I’m
not talking about what happened earlier.  I’m talking
about a week ago.  A month ago.  Half a year ago.”

I raise my hands and
begin fiddling with the hem of my dress, finding this to be a safe
thing to look at instead of the men surrounding me.  “I
should have been able to see into the future, to foresee this very
thing.”

“Why couldn’t
you?” Reyes asks.  I look over at him and see no hint of
condemnation.  Only curiosity.

I shrug.  “I
don’t know.  Every time I would look it was just this
black void.  No color.  No light. No faces.  No sound.
 Just...nothingness.”

“Guess much
hasn’t changed for you then, huh?”

I frown and sit
forward, crossing my legs before me.  “What do you mean,
Vondran?”

The man brushes his
long greasy blond hair back from his face and for the first time I
notice a small scar at the center of his forehead.  It could
have been a pox mark or some other wound, but Kyan has taught me to
recognize the mark.  “You are a seer.”

“Not a very
good one if you ask me,” Hyde remarks.  “Still wound
up stuck in here with us, didn’t he?”

Vondran
sneers at Hyde but chooses to let his comment slide as he looks back
to me.  “I
was
a
seer.  At least that was the gift I was born with.”  He
shrugs and leans back against the wall, careful not to get too close
to the start of the bars.  “I guess I’m not too good
with following rules.”

“So you turned
your back on your own abilities?” I realize that the rise in my
voice probably makes me sound like a ninny but I’m utterly
shocked.  I can’t fathom why anyone would do such a thing.
 Especially when their abilities could benefit so many.

“Sure.
 After a while if you don’t use them you lose them.”
I look to Reyes and note that his jaw has clamped down tightly.
 “Reyes?  You got something to add?”

Vondran turns an
amused glance at the man.  “Yeah, Reyes.  You feel
like blaming my wayward path on why your sister turned whore?”

Reyes lunges forward
and slams his fist into Vondran’s eye.  Hyde whoops and
claps his hands.  “Now that’s what I call a sucker
punch. Didn’t see that one coming, did ya Seer?”

Vondran snorts and
covers his eye as he retreats out of Reyes’ reach.  When
he turns to look at me he lowers his hand.  “What’s
your problem?”

I sit forward,
staring him down.  “I’m trying to figure you out.”

“Oh yeah?”
 He tosses his hair back over his shoulder and presses his eye
against the wall.  I doubt he’s going to find any relief
there.  The room is so hot I feel like I’m sitting in a
steam room.  “Get in line, little lady.”

“How can a guy
come to the aid of two girls who are about to be brutalized and yet
sit there and speak so callously of Reyes sister?”

Vondran draws his
face away from the wall.  “Carmella chose that life.  She
thrived off it.” He flinches as Reyes lunges again but this
time Vondran has moved out of hitting distance.  “Whether
you want to admit it or not, she was there because you pushed her
into it.”

“I
did no such thing.”  Spittle flies from Reyes’ lips.
 His eyes bulge and his fists clench. I have no doubt that if
his manacles were to miraculously vanish, Reyes would have no qualms
over strangling Vondran where he sits.  

Vondran sighs.
 “Whatever. The point is that it was Carmella’s
choice.  These two little ladies were forced.  I can’t
say that I like that all that much.”

“I’m
sure they’d agree with you,” Hyde mutters.

I ignore Hyde’s
comments as I find myself trying to fathom the intricate details of
Vondran’s brain.  What drives him?  What fuels his
thoughts?  I don’t trust him further than I can throw him,
which in these chains wouldn’t be too far, but there is
something within him that I suspect could be something akin to a
conscience.  

“Anyone else
want to share what your abilities are, current or latent?”  I
ask, looking each man in the eye.

Hyde scoffs and
shakes his head.  “I’m not exactly feeling in the
sharing mood.”

I look toward Marius
and he offers me an apologetic smile.  “Afraid I can’t
help ya there.  Don’t remember much from before the
explosion.”

At
least his story of amnesia isn’t changing,
I
muse as I look at Satal.  “You do anything other than
shift shapes?”

No
answer.  No movement.  No recognition that I even spoke to
him.

“What
about you Reyes?”  I swivel my head to look at him, noting
how sore my neck has become from holding up the weight of this
collar.  
Guess
I know why they had me lying down before!

“Not much to
say, really.”  He rubs his hands before him, focused on
them instead of anyone else.  “Never was the popular kid
in the family.”

“Why does that
not surprise me?” Hyde mutters.

“You got a
problem, Hyde?” Reyes puffs out his chest and glares at the man
across the room from him.

“Nah.  Not
me.  Just stating a fact.”  His indifference seems a
bit forced to me but I’m not about to stroke that ego.  The
last thing I want is for Hyde to think he has any sort of an upper
hand.

“Fine. You
guys don’t want to share, no problem.  Just remember that
when the time comes and I’m ready to bust out of this place we
are going to need all of the help we can get.”

“And here I
was thinking you could take on a whole planet by yourself,
sweetheart,” Hyde snickers.

I turn and drill him
with a glare.  “Let me be clear on one thing.  If and
when we get a chance to escape you had better fall in line or get out
of my way, ‘cause I’m not going to hang around and wait
for your sorry butt.”

Hyde crosses his
legs out before him and tucks his hands behind his head, lounging
against the wall.  “Spoken like a true Queen.”

The lights overhead
flicker and I glance up.  “That’s new,” Marius
mutters.

“What is?”
 I ask, turning to look at him.

He stares intently
at the lights glowing on the walls.  They flicker again and his
gaze narrows.  “What’s new, Marius?” I press
when he doesn’t answer me.

His gaze lingers on
the lights for another moment before he turns his head slowly to look
at me.  “I think we are slowing down.”

It doesn’t
take a genius to realize that Marius is right, though I choose the
more obvious route and look overhead at the stars.  Though they
still flicker past at a dizzying rate there is a definite difference.

“I see it,”
I whisper, craning my head back.  The raw flesh at the back of
my neck protests this position but I linger, desperate to discover if
we are nearing our destination or simply stopping off to pick up more
guests.

“Anyone else
hungry?”

I lower my gaze
toward Vondran, surprised by the completely random comment.  He
shrugs when he sees me looking at him.  “What?  It’s
not like I can do anything about putting the brakes on this big ship
so I might as well focus on something more pertinent, like the fact
that my stomach is literally beginning to eat itself.”

From the corner of
my eye I see Marius rub his own stomach.  From the frequent
growling coming from the other side of the room I can easily deduce
that both Hyde and Satal are in the same condition.  Reyes nods
in agreement but I feel nothing but ill at ease, my stomach refusing
to settle.

A
clanking from behind Hyde sends him scuttling away only a split
second before the wall vanishes.  Three giants, each boasting a
chest the width of a human sized doorway step forward.  They
carry tarnished domed platters.  Steam licks up the sides of the
metal, though I can’t tell if it is from the food or the
natural sauna that I’m trapped in.

The Roamers hiss at
each other, their blackened forked tongues flickering past their
lips.  None of us move as they walk to the center of the room
and place the trays on the floor.  I can feel the vibrations of
each of their steps as they turn and leave the room.  

Hyde waits until the
wall appears once more before sinking back onto his haunches. “Well
how about that?  Room service and everything.”