Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Dance With The Devil

Nera

I slammed right into a hard wall of a chest and was knocked back onto my ass. I looked up in horror to see the main bastard's face sneering down at me.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing? Get back in your cage." He yanked me up by my arm, and seeing the large warehouse door was up, I let out a bloodcurdling scream, hoping there was someone—anyone around who would hear it.

He backhanded me, causing my nose to bleed. "Shut up!"

"Asshole!" I kicked at him but his grip was like a vise and he just squeezed harder. His eyes went black as he zeroed in on my bloody nose. "Why don't you have a little taste huh? See what happens?"

"Shut the fuck up, witch."

I smirked, blood dribbling down over my lips.

Seeing my cage door was off, he looked at the vamp who'd been left to babysit us. "What did you do?"

"That one has a mouth on her, Deon," he defended, narrowing blue eyes at me. "I was going to teach her a lesson." A piece of greasy black hair fell into his face and he raked his fingers through it.

Deon had hold of my arm and told the other vamp, "Fix the damn cage."

He marched me into the warehouse office and plunked me in a chair. "Stay there." He went to walk out, and I was so angry that I just said the first thing that came to my mind.

"What if I don't? You going to rape me again?"

He whipped his head back and narrowed his cruel green eyes at me. "What did you say?"

Now he looked angry—and frightening—but I just couldn't care anymore. I lifted my chin. "You heard me."

"I could do so much worse to you," he whispered, low and threatening.

"Are you even supposed to be touching the merchandise?" I asked, gesturing toward the other cages on the warehouse floor.

"You don't get to ask questions. You aren't running anything here but your mouth." He found a roll of paper towels and threw it at me. "Clean up that blood."

He walked out and I wore a satisfied smug that I'd pissed him off. I hoped using the R word would keep him away from me, but I doubted it. I'd probably emasculated him.

I tore off a paper towel and wiped the blood away. They'd left me alone in this office so I looked out into the warehouse where the bastards were talking in a circle, away from the cages. I wandered to the back of the office, and like I suspected, there was a small bathroom. I locked myself in there and quickly used the toilet while I had a chance, then rummaged around under the sink to see if there was anything I could use as a weapon or any supplies I could smuggle out. It was mostly cleaning supplies, but I did think some bleach to the eyes would definitely incapacitate a vampire longer than the sleeping powder or a brain sting would. It was in a yellow squirt bottle—not exactly easy to smuggle out. And I'd have to hit all four of them with it.

I left the bathroom, grabbed a roll of toilet paper and the paper towels, and set them on the desk, then I rummaged through it. A stashed a few stabby-looking pens and a decorative rock I found into my bra in case I needed to hit one of them with it. Not that it would do much damage, but still. I hated feeling defenseless.

I felt my brain clearing from the drugs and recited the incantation again for good measure. "Angustos substansia."

Then, I had an idea. I quickly removed both my socks and went into the bathroom. I found the bleach and doused the socks to where they weren't soaking, but they were damp and saturated. I shoved one in each pocket of my jeans and replaced the bleach bottle and washed my hands.

I saw Deon headed back my way so I sat on the chair and held the paper towel to my face.

"Get up," he said, and I obeyed. "What's that smell?"

"Your upper lip," I sassed.

He pushed me toward the door and I went back into the warehouse where he ordered me back into my cage. Someone had put the door back on.

"You need to feed us. We haven't eaten since yesterday. And we need water and bathroom too," I said, looking at him in the eye.

He looked at the other vamps. "Go find some damn food and water."

Two of them took off and left the warehouse, where I noticed the sun was setting and it was cloudy outside. I wondered how they'd gone out earlier. I looked at Deon. "Why do you make us sit in these cages like animals? It's not like we can go anywhere."

"You are property, nothing more." He locked the cage after I got in and I watched him disappear back to the office.

"I saw you snooping around the office," Leticia said to me once he was out of earshot. "Did you find anything?"

"Just some bleach but the bottle was too big to smuggle out."

"I can smell it on you," she said. Her cage was only about three feet from mine.

"I have some rags in my pockets for cleaning. I can't sit in filth," I said, pulling one out and scrubbing the bars with it. Though cleaning wasn't my intention when I made these.

A loud noise jerked me awake and I almost banged my head on the top of my cage where I'd been curled up like a cat, getting a fitful sleep full of nightmares.

"No!" Anna wailed.

I watched as one of the bastards dragged her out of her cage kicking and screaming. But she was quickly subdued after a needle was jammed into her neck.

My eyes filled up with tears. I whispered, "Hold on, Anna."

My cage was just bars on all sides, so I was able to see where they took her to.

"Let her go," I screamed. I shook the bars and cried. "Let her go! Take me!"

I was ignored and the last I saw of Anna was her being loaded, half zoned out and drooling, into the back of the black van.

The van drove off into the night and I slammed my hands on the bars and screamed. "Aaahh!"

God, was I pissed. These fuckers were going to pay.

I tried to discern what time it was. The sky was still dark, but I felt like I'd been asleep a while. I squinted at the clock in the office, but it was too far away for me to read. Not that it mattered. The only chance I had at escaping was to wait for the bastards to fall asleep.

I slumped into the cage and put my face in my hands. I couldn't believe they took Anna and we'd probably never see her again. I refused to let despair creep in. I had to have faith Shep and the rest would find us. They just had to. Why had I been so stupid?

But at least Poppy was safe. I forced my thoughts back into survival mode, telling myself that dark, negative thoughts would serve no purpose and certainly not help us get out of here. If we didn't have faith, we'd have nothing.

"Psst. Can I get one of those bleach rags?" one of the newer girls asked.

I looked over and sized her up. Small, blonde, looked much too young. "What's your name?" I asked.

"Janelle," she replied.

"I'm Nera." I reached into my pocket and pulled out the sock and held it up. "It's dry now, but with water it'll be good." They'd removed the mop bucket so we didn't have access to that, and the water bottles they'd given us with our pizza last night were long gone.

"Okay. I'm bored and restless. I need something to do," Janelle said.

"Totally get it. I think we all are. Where are you from?"

"Florida," she replied. She looked like she hadn't been here very long, as she had a glimmer of hope in her eyes and her cheeks weren't sunken in from starvation. I hoped the bastards hadn't touched her yet.

"Me too! Tampa. What about you?"

"Tallahassee," she replied. "I was going to college there. Came to New Orleans for spring break. Those assholes took me right out of an alley where me and my friends were taking a shortcut." She shook her head, her hair hanging limply in a scrunchie on the top of her head. "My parents are probably so worried about me."

"How old are you?" I asked.

"Nineteen." She lifted haunted sea-glass green eyes to me. "What are they doing with us? Where did they take Anna?" Her gaze moved to the warehouse door and back to me. "I'm scared."

I wished I could hug her. I'd seen that fear in the eyes of young women as I worked as a nurse, knowing something bad had happened to them. She was genuinely fearful—and she should be.

"Honestly, Janelle, I don't know where they take the girls. But listen to me"—I looked at the five young women, making sure they were all listening to me—"I got out once. I'll do it again. I have a guy—a few guys—who are looking for me right now. They are very resourceful and powerful. They will find us and get us out of here, but I need you guys to hold on. Whatever they do to you, just check out, okay? Mentally check out. Pretend you're somewhere else. They are keeping us alive and fed for a reason, so just know they're not going to poison us or starve us. I'm praying my friends find me before they ship us off."

"It seems to happen like once a week," Leticia said, dragging her hair over her shoulder and sliding her fingers over the thin black braids. "So we probably have about a week before another one us is snatched. It also means another girl will be arriving soon." She bit her lip and looked down.

"Hang in there, girls." I tried not to tear up. "If we don't have hope, what do we have?"

"How are you so positive?" Sarah asked. "You got out once and look, you ended right back here."

She seemed bitter and angry, and I couldn't blame her. "I did it for Poppy. And I'd do it for any of you. I'm positive my friends will find us. In the meantime, I'm going to"—I glanced around to make sure the bastards were still in the office—"I'm going to try to devise an escape plan. I can't just fucking sit here and wait to be rescued. I have to try."

Little did they know that I was a witch with something up my sleeve.