Chapter 4
Her new world was tiny and white, the porcelain toilet the only chair and the tub the only place long enough for her to lay down. She huddled at one end of the tub, feeling as if she’d taken a shitload of drugs. She couldn’t focus on anything farther away than her hand, and looking at her hand made her cry.
She was covered in blood. Her blood. Every hour, he came back and bit her, hurt her. She traced the channel of a newly healed scar along the inside of her forearm, where he’d split her arm almost in two in a fit of rage after she kicked him in the crotch.
She hadn’t fought him since. While she could heal, she still felt pain. That level of agony was something she never wanted to go through again. What she couldn’t heal was the exhaustion that came with each bout of healing. She was hungry and fatigued but too scared to sleep.
Light glowed through the hazy window overhead. It was her second morning in the tub. She wondered how many more there would be and doubted she’d last more than another day or two if he kept draining her blood.
Her head sagged against the shower wall, and she wished she could order her body not to heal her, to let her bleed out and die so she didn’t suffer anymore.
The door opened, and she braced herself.
Talon entered, followed by another man. He hauled her to her feet, holding her up by one arm when she wobbled. He took her other in rough hands and nodded in approval at the healed scars.
“Impressive,” the man behind him said. “I didn’t think you had an ounce of sense, Talon.”
Talon responded by raising her arm to his mouth. He gave a cunning smile as she tensed. She whimpered at the sensation of knives going through her arm and almost fainted.
“Taste,” Talon said, handing her arm to the silver-haired man beside him.
The blurry man lifted her other arm and bit into it. She sagged. Talon let her drop. Blood trickled down both arms before her wounds healed themselves.
“Very impressive,” the stranger said, kneeling beside her to look at both of her arms.
“You taste like honey, love.”
She shivered, sensing something truly evil in his monotonous voice and cold hands. She didn’t look at him, afraid of finding the devil himself in front of her.
“Your brother’s …special as well,” the man said. “He’ll make a good warrior, one I can train to kill a couple pain in the asses I can’t get rid of otherwise.”
She looked up, fear and anger flashing through her. The man was in his prime with silver hair and dark eyes, a handsome face, and a body as muscular as Talon’s.
“Stay away from my brother,” she rasped.
“Ah, you do have spunk,” he whispered, eyes glowing. “I’ll stay away from him if you do what I say. Exactly what I say. You understand me?”
Her eyes watered, and she ducked her head. His tone made her want to crawl back into the tub and remain Talon’s slave forever. There were worse fates than being dinner for a sadistic bastard like Talon, and she’d just met the man who was willing to show her what they were.
“Take her to the stash house on Broad,” he said, rising. “I have a meeting out of town. I’ll come get her when I’m back.”
“Yes, master,” Talon said with a smooth bow. “Pop, you promised - “
“Don’t call me that, shithead! And yes, I’ll make you a demi-god, not because you deserve it, but because you did something useful for the first time in your life!”
The devil left, and an angry Talon hauled her up, sinking his teeth into her arm again. He drained her life until she was near blackness before he flung his head back with a contented sigh. He jerked her forward. She careened into the door frame, a flash of pain going through her head.
He dragged her into another room. Someone else grabbed her and flung her over his shoulder. She hung, helpless and exhausted, stuck in the in-between place until the pain of her head hitting something hard jarred her into consciousness.
She was in a car with one of Talon’s men, her crumpled body at an awkward angle jammed in the small area between the backseat and the driver’s seat. The floor smelled of mold. She tested her body, dismayed when her limbs felt too heavy to lift.
Her thoughts went to Jonny, and she closed her eyes as tears formed. She’d do anything for him, even if the devil took her soul! And yet, she couldn’t forget what she’d seen him doing - drinking another woman’s blood as Talon did hers! What happened to her brother? Was this part of some phase or were these … people … really vampires as Kyle believed?
The idea that he’d turn out to be like Talon made her chest clench. She’d never let her kid brother end up like that sadistic bastard.
More tears came as she realized she couldn’t do anything for herself let alone Jonny if they kept her in such a state. She strained against her own body again, panic floating through her at her helplessness.
Before she could ponder too long on her weakness, Talon’s lackey dragged her out of the car. The thick Miami heat had never felt so good! The cool energy her body produced when she healed streamed through her, rousing her as it repaired the latest damage. By the time they entered the building, her arms and legs were responsive again.
The lackey tossed her onto a hard couch in the rear of the house opposite a closed patio door. The backyard was fenced. She pushed herself up when Talon snatched her.
“Keep her drained and weak,” he ordered the lackey.
Pain shot through her as he bit into one arm. The lackey bit into her other arm, and she cried. Blackness crept into her vision. Talon shoved her back onto the couch.
“Put her in the garage,” Talon said.
The lackey picked her up and carted her to the garage, which served as a makeshift barracks filled with cots and sleeping men. He flung her to the ground near the far wall. She landed on a topless bottle of oil and spit the fluid out as it sprayed across her face. She squeezed her eyes closed, unable to move once again.
She felt the poison in Talon’s blood, but whatever poison ran in the devil’s body was inseparable from him. She couldn’t cure whatever it was, and she couldn’t make sense of it. There wasn’t something wrong with him; he was wrong!
Just like this place, filled with people who hurt her.
Just like being with Aaron.
The thought distracted her, and she both yearned to be with him and hated herself for not being able to shake the thought of him. Still, a life of betrayal with Aaron was nothing compared to a life as Talon’s slave! He really wasn’t so bad, when compared to here. Maybe, if she made it out of here, she’d go to lunch Sunday and do whatever felt right, like spend her life with him.
Or tell him to go to hell and never come back to Miami.
She groaned. Was he really worth her attention on what may be the last day of her life?!