Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Trigger Rising

Nera

After giving my description of the bastards to Chaos, I was tired. I went to my room and sat on the bed, wondering if it would do any good. They were average-looking guys. Except they weren't just guys, they were vampires—monsters.

I forced my mind to drift back to when I was being held in that house. Psycho had asked if any of them bit us. I'd told him no. I saw them drink from blood bags and of course they only came out at night. There were times when the main bastard—the one who took me—his eyes would turn black as he was violating me and he'd sniff my neck. In my drug-induced haze, I had no energy to fight him off, but still, I'd brace myself for the bite but it would never come. I could tell he was tempted. I even thought I heard him talking himself out of it.

"Just one little taste, nobody will know. She'll heal." And then he'd finish, slumping on top of me, sniffing me once more before dragging his pants up and leaving me in the room to clean myself up. Just a rag and a sink. Of course, the bastards didn't let us shower.

In fact, when they did tell one of us to get in the shower, we knew it was bad news, because the next day, the girl would disappear, and I knew somebody had paid for her. The bastards had to make sure she was nice and clean before she got picked up.

I shuddered when I remembered the picture they took of me when I was first taken. I'd been on the bed, having just woken up from the drugs they'd give me. I'd been stripped to my panties and bra and they told me to smile before lifting a Polaroid camera at me. I put my middle finger up instead of smiling and was rewarded to a backhand across the face.

"Idiot," the main bastard said to the one who'd hit me. "Now she's gonna have a welt on her face."

I glared at them both and refused to smile.

Then they'd thrown my clothes back at me and put me in the room with the other girls.

I worked hard to remember their names. Brittney and Leann were the ones who escaped with me. I wished I knew if they made it home to their families all right. I pulled up my phone and typed missing persons and their names. Nothing really came up, as their names were common, and sadly, there was quite a few missing girls with those names. I scoured the pictures to see if either of them had made it home. I didn't even know if I spelled their first names right. Nothing stood out.

Then I racked my brain trying to remember the names of the other girls. The ones who'd been showered and then taken away, those I don't remember. But the four who were left when I escaped?

"Think, Nera," I murmured.

I closed my eyes. The girl with the brown hair and big, dark eyes. Anna! That was her name. The girl with the dirty blonde hair and green eyes. Sarah, that was it. The black girl with the long braids. Leticia, that's her. And lastly, the redhead with every inch of her skin covered in freckles. Come on, think. What was her name? Why this one was evading me, I didn't know. We'd spent hours talking, and I knew a little about her, but I do vividly remember the frightened look in her eyes.

I did a search with those names, but again, they were common names and I didn't have last names. We should have been smarter, got each other's contact information, or at least asked where they were from. I grew sad at all the missing persons' fliers there were. Facebook pages dedicated to finding them. But none of the girls I'd been with came up.

Poppy! That was the redhead's name. That name wasn't that common.

I typed poppy+red hair+missing into Google and got a hit.

"Penelope ‘Poppy' O'Shea, missing January third," I read aloud.

Gosh, she was so pretty and vibrant. The girl in that house was pale, dirty, and thin, her red curls dull and greasy. I typed her name into Facebook and found a "missing" page for her, dedicated to finding her. She was only eighteen.

I sighed heavily, gazing at the banner photo with a phone number to call.

What good would that do? Sorry, I knew your Poppy briefly but I left her behind in a house of horrors to get trafficked because I was selfish and she was just too scared to leave.

I grew frustrated and tossed my phone down on my bed. I needed to make myself useful. I decided to check on the patient and see how Charlie was doing.

As I rounded the corner, I saw Psycho and two of the other guys rushing toward the infirmary so I did the same.

I walked in last and had to worm my through all the big dudes to see what was going on.

"Holy shit, my neck hurts," Trigger moaned, sitting up with the help of Charlie, who had tears in her eyes.

"Welcome back, buddy," Psycho said, helping him sit up.

"Your neck will be sore for a while, I imagine," I said discreetly, quickly grabbing the makeshift bedpan and taking it into the bathroom to empty it. Thankfully it wasn't very full of liquid.

"Get this fuckin' thing outta my arm," Trigger said, his voice raspy. "Water." He tried to claw at the IV.

I rushed over and put my hand around his forearm. "I got it." I quickly removed it and set everything on a nearby table.

Charlie handed him a bottle of water and he sucked it down greedily.

"You'll want to sip that so you don't puke," I instructed.

He looked at me, then Psycho, then back to me. "You're still here."

"I'm a nurse." I smiled.

"Oh, I thought you were a witch," he said, lowering the bottle.

"I'm both," I replied. "Mind if I check you out real quick?"

He shook his head.

"You okay with everyone being in here?"

It was sort of awkward, these big guys in vests just standing around silently, watching me.

"It's fine," he replied.

I checked his pulse and had to borrow Shep's cell phone for the flashlight to look in his eyes.

"Everything looks normal," I said, handing him back his phone. "But you could use some more medical equipment in here, like a stethoscope. I need to listen to his lungs."

"I'm sure they're fine," Trigger grunted. "I can breathe just fine."

"Even if they're not, he'll heal," Cutter said.

"Still, for emergencies. Why have this medical room with no equipment except a first-aid kit? What if you need it for a human?"

"Yeah, you're right. We'll go out later and go get some shit. You're coming with."

"Good," I said, excited to go out and get medical stuff. Almost more exciting than clothes shopping.

"I could go for a big juicy steak and some mac 'n cheese right about now," Trigger said, making us all laugh.

"Oh no. It's Jell-O and crackers for you for now. We don't need you choking after all of this." I reached around and felt his neck where it had been broken. I counted seven vertebrae, though C4 and C5 were a little off. Since he was moving all his extremities, I decided to leave it be for now.

"Charlie's been in here day and night, you know," I said with a little smile. Even curled up and slept in the bed with you a couple of times."

He glanced at her and she winked at him, and then looked at me. "Slept? How long have I been out?"

"Over three days," Psycho answered.

Trigger gasped. "No shit? Fuck me."

He sipped his water and looked at his boss. "Did you catch the fuckers? Especially that tall one who did this?" He pointed at his neck.

Psycho shook his head. "No, house was cleared out and bleached by the time we located it. But, we're working on it."

Wizard pulled up his tablet and showed him the main bastard, the one who'd broken his neck. "That him?"

Even though we knew it was, I could tell Wizard was just testing to see if the sketch was accurate. Even though Wizard had made an AI sketch, Chaos opted to do another one, and it was better than the AI one.

"Fuck yes, that's him. Wow, did Chaos draw that?"

"Yep, and I uploaded it, along with a couple other sketches he and Nera provided for us, and put it on the most wanted part of the dark web."

"What if the asshole sees it?" Trigger asked.

I snorted. "Those guys could barely work their phones. I doubt they're on the ‘dark web.'" I made air quotes.

"But they're delivering the girls to someone," Psycho said.

I nodded. "I got the feeling they were just brainless soldiers, waiting for an order. They were no masterminds."

Just then, Cutter came in (I hadn't seen him leave) with a tray with two bowls. Mac 'n cheese in one, grilled chicken in the other.

Everyone looked at me, as if I was his mother or something.

I simply shrugged. "It's your gastrointestinal system. It's been on a break, but you have fun with that."

Everyone laughed. Trigger shrugged and dug in. If he threw up, at least he could clean it himself.

"You didn't get any names while you were there?" Trigger asked before popping some chicken in his mouth.

I shook my head. "They were smart enough not to call each other by name. They just would use man, dude, fucker for each other, anything but a proper name."

"We need to find out who's at the top," Psycho said. "Cut the head off the snake."

"But we need to get to one of these guys to do it," Wizard commented, holding up the tablet with all four sketches made into some kind of collage. I fought back a shudder at looking at their faces again.

"Did you send that to Viper?" Psycho asked, jutting his chin at the tablet.

"I sent it to his tech guy, Face. But yeah," Wizard replied.

Face? I shook my head. I just don't care to know anymore.

"We should let Trigger get some rest and… digest his food," I suggested.

The guys filed out of the room but Charlie stayed.

"Bathroom's right there." I jutted my chin at the restroom with a wink.

He lifted his hand to flip me off, but Charlie smacked it down.

Psycho chuckled and closed the door behind us.

"This is sooo good," I groaned, shoveling the last bite of Jambalaya into my mouth. I wanted to lick the plate clean. "Spicy but not unbearable. So many flavors."

Shep looked at me. "Can't beat the food here in New Orleans. One thing I do not miss about Minnesota."

"What do you miss about it?" I asked, staring into his warm brown eyes.

He shook his head. "Absolutely nothing except my ma."

That surprised me. I thought everyone missed home. "Really? Didn't you grow up there?"

"I did, but I didn't have the best… home life. I left it behind to start fresh down here. Best decision ever."

"How old are you?" I asked, curious.

"Thirty-two," he replied. "A little old to be starting over, I know."

I shook my head. "Not at all."

"Weather here's way better anyway," he said, cutting up the last of his steak.

"Yeah, no snow," I quipped, picking up my wine glass.

"You got that right. I don't miss it being colder outside than in my freezer during the winter."

I shuddered. I'd been born and raised in Florida. I couldn't imagine enduring that kind of cold and then having to clear away snow just to go somewhere. No thanks.

He leaned forward and grabbed my hand. "You know, I think we got this under control. I'm going to offer again for you to go back home. I feel like we're keeping you here, and you've been kept under duress too long."

I shook my head. "I want to stay. I'll go home eventually. Honestly, Shep, I don't think anyone's looking too hard for me."

He furrowed his brow. "What makes you think that?"

I studied him. He looked nice in a fitted black button-down shirt and clean jeans and boots. I had been surprised when he didn't wear his ‘cut' out to dinner. I thought they weren't supposed to take them off or whatever. I'd ask him later.

"Since we're being honest, I logged into my social media and went to my mom's page and my brother's and then a few of my cousins' pages. There were a few posts about me, asking if anyone had seen me. That was weeks ago when I was first nabbed. I know they contacted Amanda and she told them I'd disappeared from Shark Bait, but that's it. Nothing since. And again, they could have tried a locator spell on me."

"Maybe they did?" he offered.

"Then we would have been located. We were in that house for weeks." I shook my head.

"You know, vamps have relationships with witches. Is it possible they put a spell on it so you couldn't be located?" He wiggled his fingers. He always made me laugh when he did that.

I shrugged. "It's possible I guess."

"More wine?" he asked.

I nodded.

He flagged the server down just as his phone rang.