Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The Devil You Know

Nera

I struggled not to squirm under the scrutiny of a couple dozen sets of eyes on me. This was the last thing I wanted—attention. But if I wanted out of here, I had to endure this. If I wanted these guys to go after the bastards, then I'd suck it up. Then I could leave and go back to Tampa and pretend none of this ever happened.

Psycho had escorted me on the short walk to the bar from the clubhouse. The compound in general was impressive. They had done a good job of making this place a secure fortress for their club and the people inside. When I got inside the bar they called Rumble, I had to admit, it was nothing like the dirty, rowdy, biker bar I had been envisioning. Sure, it still had all the makings of a bar—jukebox, scattered tables with chairs, a bar with liquor bottles displayed behind it taking up an entire wall, and a large stage with a wooden dance floor in front of it.

I just need to get out of here…

"Start from the beginning, please, and don't leave out any details, no matter how insignificant you might think they are," Wizard said, his tablet in his hand, the bar's lights reflecting on his glasses so much I couldn't see his eyes.

I looked at Psycho and he nodded at me.

I wished I didn't have to stand on this stage in front of this podium like I was about to give a speech. But, I wasn't getting out of this. At least they'd kept the spotlights off me.

"About seven weeks ago, I was at a nightclub in Biloxi, partying with my friend Amanda. We grew up together in Tampa but she is stationed in Biloxi with the Navy. She just got a promotion. I took time off work to fly to Mississippi to be with her."

"Name of the nightclub?" Psycho asked.

"Uh… the Shark Bait. I think. I remember thinking the name was stupid."

"That is stupid." Psycho snorted.

"So, uh, I'd been dancing with this guy all night, we sorta hit it off. He wanted to go out back for a smoke and asked if I'd go with. So I did. Everything seemed normal, but the next thing I remember I woke up in a room of some house chained to a bed.

"The room had a boarded-up window, a closet, and an adjacent bathroom. My chain was long enough to allow me to use it. I couldn't break the chain and they came in every night to hold me down and put a needle in my neck to keep me drugged so I couldn't use my…" I stopped. Did I tell them I was a witch?

"Powers?" Trigger guessed.

I nodded, and heard a few murmurs from the crowd, but no real hostility I could detect. "They did this for three nights. They never said anything. Just brought me food and held me down and jammed a needle in my neck. They were too strong for me to fight."

"Vampires," Psycho and Trigger said in unison.

I nodded. "They were, I realized when they'd only come around at night, despite my window being blocked. They must have been sleeping all day."

"Fuckin' leeches," Menace groused.

"It actually gave me hope I could escape, knowing they couldn't chase me during the day if I did.

"But, weeks went by. They began only drugging me about three times a week, but it was enough to suppress my powers and keep me weak. Just when I'd start to feel stronger, I'd get another dose.

"After about a week, they let me out of the room but kept me on a leash like a dog. The house was average-sized but was full of vampires, and eventually, I was put into a large room with about five other girls. Sometimes they'd add a girl, then they would subtract one. I would never see the ones who left again. The captors never said a word. Not even when they would take us to individual rooms to…" I trailed off, fighting back stupid tears.

"It's okay," Psycho interrupted. "We get the picture."

Grateful, I took a breath and continued. "I never fought any of them once I realized they were vampires. There would be no use without my powers. So I decided to bide my time and plan an escape. I ate what they fed me and didn't fight them when they drugged me. I knew I'd be at my strongest the morning of the third day before my dose. I never did figure out what they planned to do with us. Trafficking, I could guess."

"Did they ever bite you?" Menace asked.

I looked into his dual-colored eyes and shook my head. "Surprisingly, no. Not once. I thought for sure we'd be held as blood slaves. None of the girls were bitten. They were all human so I wondered how they resisted."

"Is it possible they hypnotized you to forget?" Psycho asked.

I hadn't thought about that. It had slipped my mind that they could use mind control on humans and sometimes witches if we were weak. Then, I shook my head. "There were no bite marks on me or any of the others. I always checked when they'd take a girl then bring her back."

"Probably wanted to avoid getting drugged with your blood," Psycho commented. "Go on."

It was getting easier to talk and it felt oddly good to get this all out, even if it was in front of a bunch of strangers. Perhaps maybe that made it easier, knowing I'd never see these people again—these wolves.

"I woke up one morning feeling good. The night before, I'd spent some time in one of the guys' rooms. While he was, uh, distracted, I reached my hand into the pockets of his pants he had pulled down and fished out a key. I hid it underneath me until he was done. He turned around when I told him to let me dress, and I quickly hid the key where nobody would find it." I tried and failed to not cry but a tear slipped out and I swiped it away quickly.

Murmurs and curses of anger echoed through the bar.

That part was not fun to recall but I was sort of proud of myself for that idea. I'd had relations enough times with that particular vampire to know he got very distracted during sex while I just lie there like a limp doll, waiting for him to finish while I mentally collapsed in on myself, pretending I was anywhere else and praying he didn't hurt me. The drugs helped numb it and make the experience hazy, as much as I hated to admit that. He used to try to kiss me and tell me I was pretty. It was disgusting. He was the one who'd lured me out of the club and into the alley so I guessed he thought we had some kind of rapport or connection. If I ever saw him again, I'd push him into the sunlight and then spit on his ashes.

"That morning, after I was sure the bloodsuckers were asleep, I used the key to unlock the door to the room where they held us. There were about seven of us and I told them I needed to lock the door behind me in case one was awake, as I planned to hide until I knew it was safe. Only three girls decided to come. The rest were too scared they'd get caught and they'd hurt them. I left the key with one of them and told them to lock it from the inside, as it was just a single deadbolt. I hoped she and the others eventually got brave enough to escape. As for me and the other three, we shockingly just simply walked out the front door. I hitchhiked to the Biloxi Greyhound station and caused a distraction with another passenger, then snuck on the first bus that was leaving—to New Orleans. From there, I called Amanda's cousin Duke since I knew he lived here, and the rest you know."

"What about the other girls?" Wizard asked.

I shrugged. "We were so panicked we just took off running in different directions. I hope they're okay."

"And the guy who lured you into the alley—was he one of the vamps?" Psycho asked.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"What did he look like?"

I cringed having to recall his face, but I'd never forget it. "Black—light-skinned, dark green eyes, black hair shaved short. I thought he was in the Navy when we were supposedly hitting it off inside the club."

"I'll use AI to come up with a composite sketch. And the others?" Wizard asked.

"Average White guys, didn't look at them too closely, but they were so mundane I'm not sure I could identify them again. I could try though. Maybe I'd know when I saw them."

"You'd be amazed what the human brain can do. Anything can trigger a memory," Wizard commented.

"Thank you," Psycho said. "Church dismissed. Stay for a drink."

He escorted me off the stage and we stood at the bottom of the stairs. "That was really brave, larkspur. I'll take you to Tampa myself. In a car. Do you want to call Amanda and tell her you're all right?"

I nodded. "Yes, please. But why do you keep calling me larkspur?"

He grinned. "Your eyes, they remind me of the flower."

"I've always been questioned on my eye color. My mom has average blue eyes, not sure about my dad, or why mine look more purple but maybe his did." I shrugged.

"Would you like a drink?" Psycho offered.

"Actually, yes. I could use a margarita," I replied, feeling shaky.

He led me to the bar and we sat at the stools. After he ordered a beer for him and a margarita for me from a prospect named Chains who worked the bar, I suppressed a shudder at the memory his name invoked, of the memories of being leashed up in that vampire house of horrors.

We sipped our drinks in relative silence for a few minutes before a female prospect I'd hung out with last night came up to us.

"Hi, Nera. I just wanted to give you a hug. You're so fuckin' brave, girl."

Surprised by the affection, I hug her back. "Thanks, Charlie," I told her when we broke apart.

She raised a finger at the bartender and he came over and took her order, three shots of tequila. I took in her two-toned purple and black hair and the tattoos on her arms and neck. She looked rough but she was seriously nice and very outgoing and talkative, I realized after spending most of the evening with her last night. She was apparently a really good bike mechanic, too. And one hundred percent human.

"You know, I had a run-in with some vamps before I joined the Wolves. In fact, they're the reason I joined." She smiled at me before picking up a shot and downing it. "Assholes had me cornered outside a bar called Zombies in the Quarter. By the way, don't go in there. It's all supes and it's just got a weird vibe."

"She's not wrong," Psycho commented, lifting the beer to his lips.

I watched with too much interest as the bottle pressed against them, and at the way his tattooed arms flexed at the motion, and had to tell myself to stop staring. Psycho was seriously sexy but I didn't need to have these types of thoughts—I was going home soon. Maybe.

"How did you get away from the vampires?" I asked, interested in her story.

We didn't have as much supernatural activity in west Florida as they did here in New Orleans, so I rarely met any other supes besides the few witch friends I had. Amanda didn't know what I was, and if I had it my way, she never would. I was looking forward to calling her after this to let her know I was okay. I hesitated earlier on taking Psycho up on his offer to call her right away because I'd have to come up with a story about how I escaped and then lie to her about filling out a police report. It was no use calling the cops, the vampires would destroy them. I did vaguely glance at street names in Biloxi as I was fleeing and I needed to get those to Wizard.

Charlie shrugged. "I just screamed my head off. Trigger heard me, he was there partying." She jutted her thumb behind her to where Chaos, Menace, and Trigger sat at a table nursing beers. "Punched the vampire's lights out. It was awesome."

I watched Trigger chuckle, even though his back was to us. Wolves had supersonic hearing like vamps did.

I smiled at her story, genuinely amused and proud of Charlie for not being a victim. The longer I spent with these guys, the more I knew I could trust them to bring down the bastards.

There was no way I was going to Tampa until I felt safe because I'd never felt safer than I had behind the walls of this compound. And feeling safe meant not leaving until the filthy assholes were caught and destroyed. No longer would I look the other way and bury my head in the sand and just want to run home. I was never one to let others fight my battles for me. I had to stay and fight.