by Alisha Basso
“You might regret those words one day, Grace.”
He shrugged his shoulders and left without looking back.
TWELVE
The only thing I was regretting was the lack of a bathroom. It’d been several hours and I was still tied to the same chair. I looked around the space and sighed. This was torture.
“Hey, idiots! I have to use the bathroom!” I screamed.
“Wait till you pee that crap out,” Helen’s voice broke through my thoughts. “You thought it was hot going in!” She shook her head and let out a delighted laugh. “It’s been working its way through your body, sizzling away all the work my master has done.”
I glared at her.
“Yeah, should be fun,” she snickered.
She doesn’t do pity very well.
“Oh,” she smiled, “I heard what you said to that gorgeous, golden man. You broke his heart I think.”
I frowned. “What in God’s name are you burbling about?” I shook my head.
“Oh, not His name, My Lady,” she laughed as if she’d just made a great joke. “I know a broken heart when I see one, and you’ve done a smashing job with that guy. It’s a good thing too. My master won’t take kindly to you acting the whore.” She glared at me and then laughed again. “On second thought,” she snorted out, “why don’t you just call him over and offer to fuck that frown off his pretty face?” She glared at me, her face a mask of hate.
I fisted my hands, causing the cuffs around my wrists to cut into my flesh.
“Careful, Helen, or Lu will have another head to crack,” I warned. “Now, what do you mean ‘all the work your master has done’?” Of all the hateful things she’d said, that one was the most telling. As if she knew something I obviously did not.
She opened her mouth a few times. “Well,” she hesitated, “it’s just that he’s been giving you your medication and these monsters go and feed you some sort of antidote.” She looked at her hands and then, shrugging, she frowned. “It will set you back, my lady. You’ve come so far. You could be healed soon but these people are trying to keep you sick. They’re probably going to ransom you for money, maybe even kill you!”
I eyed her for a long time.
God, she’s a horrible liar.
I shook my head. “Good Lord, Helen, they could have killed us a long time ago if that was their goal. Just do me a favor and stop talking.”
She looked murderous. “They’ve been torturing us! What makes you think they won’t eventually kill us?”
“Well, you keep spewing lies all over the place and you will be the one to find out who dies first. Your blood may be the foulest poison, but I can still tear out your throat.” The man who had forced me to drink that horrid fire was glaring at Helen like she was a pile of steaming dung, lit on fire. “We are ready for you, Sweet.” He grabbed my arms and hauled me up and over his shoulder, chair and all. I struggled, and instead of simply setting me down to unlock the cuffs, he gripped the chair, snapping it, it broke around me, tumbling to the floor with a clatter.
Still cuffed, I tried to roll off of his shoulder.
“You realize,” I grunted when he squeezed me, “that I’ve had to pee for over an hour and your shoulder is pressing on my bladder. You better set me down, pretty boy, or you’re going to get moist.” I kneed him as hard as I could, but it did nothing, he continued to move through the huge hangar, never missing a step.
“We’re here.” He flopped me backward onto a small bed. I bounced and tried to right myself when all of a sudden, he was crawling on the bed, straddling me. I sucked in a breath. He took my face in his hands. His incredible eyes watched my lips and I suddenly felt heavy all over. Another wave of inexplicable attraction thundered through me. I opened my mouth and then licked my lips. His breath fanned my cheek as his lips slid slowly toward my ear.
“Forgive me,” he whispered as a sharp pinch stung my thigh.
I jerked back, a tear slid down my cheek.
He fucking played me.
“What did you do?” I cried out. “Why are you doing this?” I rolled over looking at the tiny room. “Another airplane?” I slurred as he unlocked my cuffs.
“The restroom.” He folded his arms and nodded toward a small door. I slid off the bed and stumbled into the bathroom, sliding the lock in place. I grabbed a wash cloth and ran cold water on it just in case Helen was right. Expecting a long stream of acid, I braced myself. It was nowhere as bad as Helen had eluded to. God, she was such a liar.
I washed my hands and then picked up another wash cloth. I wiped my face and arms, my hands, fumbling stupidly. The cool water felt wonderful. Then, closing the lid to the toilet, I sat. In this tiny room I was alone and free to move around. No one was breathing down my neck. I stretched my arms onto the counter and laid my head down.
I was so tired. So very, very tired.
***
“Damn, she’s lost weight.” I felt my body being lifted. Gentle hands held me close to a warm chest.
“I know. She looks hollow. Check out her cheeks.” a woman spoke. Her voice sounded concerned. “God, not even Ann’s makeup case could cure this. She’s so pale.”
“Just make sure she is propped securely, the straps are over there.”
I tried to raise my head, I opened my eyes. Two blobs moved around me.
“Whujagivme?” I slurred. My lips felt fat.
I was on the bed again. My arms strapped down.
“She’s going to thrash. This is fucking crazy.”
“It must be done. Lu is earthbound and Lucian’s spells can hold him for now but, Lucian is not a full Madea, so we have to get rid of this taint immediately, before he realizes what we are doing. We’ll be in Brindleland soon.”
“An IV, though? Why not just set her on fire?” the woman whined. “It’d be more humane.” Her voice whimpered and I could hear her sob as she lifted my hand. “Gracie, I won’t let you go through this alone. I’m going to sit here and hold your hand, okay.”
I was too weak to tell her to go screw herself. They must have given me some sort of a drug. I had no control over my body at all, but I was fully aware of everything around me. This was a fucking nightmare. God, if I could move I’d bitch slap this whining woman, grab Helen and find a way to get back to my husband. I wanted him with me. I craved his touch, his lips. I closed my eyes.
“She looks horrible. Where’s Seth? Can’t he help with this?”
“No, Jamie. He is with the priest. The aircraft must be continually blessed. We can’t risk being detected.”
“Well, what about Lucian?”
“Jamie, focus! Take this.”
I felt something tighten around my arm, it pulled at my skin. Then I felt a sharp pinch and I stiffened.
“Okay, Gavyn. It’s in.”
“Alright, here it comes.”
No! Lethargy paralyzed me and I couldn’t scream! This had to stop, whatever they were going to do, please don’t!
My body shook, I felt the fire burn into my veins. It started slow, and then all at once my insides were engulfed in flames. I arched up, my back bowing and I screamed uncontrollably. My head exploded in agony, my brain eaten away by lava. Nausea hit hard and I threw up, spraying the woman beside me with black fluid, thick as tar. I shook uncontrollably, my body sweating as I convulsed violently. Jerking hard, my back felt like it had snapped as fluid continued to shoot from my mouth. I couldn’t breathe around the violence of the purge.
I was dying.
“Jesus! Gavyn, we’re killing her!”
“Get another bag, now!”
“Fuck that, no way, look at her!”
“Do it now, Jamie, or she will die!”
THIRTEEN
Seth
Her screams were like a stake through my heart. Drowning out the sounds of the priest, whose blaring, frantic prayers should have rendered me to ash by now. I shook my head as he scrambled about, tossing holy water like fucking beads at Mardi Gras.
Fisting my hands I slammed them agai
nst the door. Smelling that putrid blood sent shards of pain into my skull.
Demon blood.
The bastard poisoned her. For weeks as we tried to get close, we watched her change before our eyes. The beautiful, sensitive lass we all knew and loved had become a cruel, sadistic horror.
Weeks, I felt my heart squeeze painfully at the memories of her and Lu flaunting what he convinced her was love. She was insatiable, stripping her clothing off inside of elevators and darkened alcoves as that fucking demon laughed and drove into her. The bastard knew we were watching, never able to get close. Once she was filled with that foul blood, all kindness and compassion fled. It was a danger to approach them, to challenge them. That spawn of a whore had gotten what he had always wanted.
I laughed mirthlessly to myself. At least it all finally fell apart.
Ann was the one who had thought up the plan. I smiled to myself.
She’s a crafty one, that Ann.
She had sent out the rumor that we were headed into Hell itself, tired of waiting, cutting out the middle man, so to speak. She cleverly let it slip that we planned to leave the casino, taking every trace of our existence with us. Then we proceeded to disappear from Grace’s home, Lucian’s home and every place we knew that the Devil would look. With the help of Jamie and Lucian’s spells, we became untraceable. We succeeded in leading Lucifer to believe that we planned to infiltrate his home and set up an ambush while his influence was gone and no guards stood at his gates. He would believe that we would take Grace the moment he stepped into Hell.
It worked better than we had hoped. He left in such a hurry that he placed only a single demon at her side. Taking over the plane had been simpler still. It took a great sum of money but that was no problem. Humans were loyal to coin.
I shook my head remembering her face. Christ, the way she had looked at me. Her eyes so dead, like a doll’s, as she tried to remember my face. I wanted so badly to touch my lips to hers. She knew me. In that small moment, she had recognized me. Drugging her was the last thing I wanted to do.
“She wants me dead.”
A shudder rippled along my flesh and I fisted my hands at the sound of his voice.
“Funny,” I turned slowly, “I happen to agree.”
I glared at him and then turned my back again, dismissing him.
“Your hate beats at me like a wall,” he sneered and I turned back.
Arching a brow I regarded him.
“Lucian,” my gums tingled as the desire to tear out his throat overwhelmed me, “I would kill you now were it not for the obvious, yet baffling love she has for you.”
His eyes filled with moisture and he quickly wiped it away. I curled my lip. Such weakness in a man tended to make my dick shrivel.
“Crying all over everyone has yet to do any good. Tell me, when do you suppose you might grow a cock and stop your sniveling?”
He flinched back and I felt a sudden, sharp stab of pain in my chest.
Lucian glared. “Nice. I guess you feel all warm and fuzzy when you think of the torture you put her through?” He folded his arms, flexing his muscles, as if showing me his size would somehow cow me.
My teeth ran out as my lust for this particular man’s blood seized me in its all too familiar grip. I closed my hands in tight fists by my sides as I tried to speak through the blood lust.
“She has suffered nothing from me,” I met his eyes, “except perhaps too much pleasure.” I smiled and gritted my teeth, aware of his unease as he focused on the weapons he had no hope of matching. “Would you like me to expound?” I offered.
“No. I know how often you and she…” his words broke off and he squeezed his eyes tight.
I watched him struggle with his jealousy, shaking my head at his pitiful self-inflicted suffering. If he stopped to look at what he really had. At how easily he could wipe me from their lives…
But of course, I didn’t want that. If Lucian were to discover his true strength, I fear there would be nothing I could do to keep them apart.
His hands shook as he ran them over his face. The fool. He had no idea what I had suffered the day she had chosen him over me. The morning I rose for the first time in over three hundred years, only to find my newly discovered heart ripped from my chest. This man was my undoing. Hate was too mild a word for what I felt. He should crawl on his hands and knees, thanking the heavens he so adores for the love of that woman.
My coven should have bled him dry.
“Well, you’ve hurt her plenty and you know it,” Lucian choked out as he sat, his hands covering his face.
“We have been through this.” I shook my head and, folding my arms, I leaned against the small closet. “You cannot pull me into your disgusting pit of guilt and shame.” I held out my hands. “A real man learns to fight through such useless feelings. They prove no good. You would do well to do the same.” I ground my teeth at my unintentional offer of advice. The Madea blood coursing through my veins seemed to have a price. My conscience was a thing I had never missed, yet it sprang free when I least required it.
“Nice of you to care, bloodsucker.”
“Oh, you have no idea.” My mouth watered as I watched the pulse beat wildly at his throat. Pulling his scent in through my nose, I took a step.
Screams rang out and the horrid sound of retching stopped me cold. I spun, my gut twisting as the realization hit. She was truly being emptied body and soul.
“We need the priest!” Gavyn screamed, causing the priest and Lucian to spring to the door. Knocking me to the side, they scrambled into the small room, slamming the door shut behind them.
I moved close to the door. My hand shook as I opened it slowly.
“Fuck!” I felt my body grow heavy with fear at the sight before me. She was jerking violently, spewing the demon blood from her mouth as if jet propelled. Her limbs were twisted and bent in odd ways.
Gavyn was covered, his glowing skin was brighter than ever as he fought the effects of the demon blood. Screaming and shouting, the room was utter pandemonium. I moved to stand against the wall as my hand slid into a thick patch of gooey blood. It immediately heated my skin. I stared at the crimson and black sludge as my gums tingled, my heart slowed to a crawl. I brought the blood up to my lips and then stopped.
Breathing heavily, I shuddered and spun, running from the room and slamming the door.
“Where the bloody hell is that whore of a demon?” I shouted to no one. I ran to the only other lavatory and found her. Tied to a bolt in the wall, she was chanting quietly.
I felt my body go rigid. I looked at the blood on my hand and then at the beautiful horror in front of me. She was helpless. I smiled as hunger filled me. My cock filled, stretching the limits of my jeans, I dropped to my knees in front of her. Her neck was smooth and pale, her thighs slightly spread. I smiled, her dress rode up just enough to make things easier. I moved closer as thoughts seeped into my mind. I could fuck her and drain her dry. Who the hell would know or care?
Her chanting stopped. I met her eyes as she watched me.
“I see what you want, vampire,” she smiled. “Take it. I won’t tell.”
She moved as close as her bonds would allow, offering me her pale flesh.
“I do not think you truly understand what I mean to take from you, demon.” I smiled feeling my sharp fangs press into my bottom lip as my cock throbbed with need. “You will not walk away from this.”
She closed her eyes. “Oh, yes,” she exhaled in a whisper.
She opened her eyes, they beckoned to me and I smiled, hungry and hard. She would take all of me until I no longer felt anything at all, and then I would take all of her, leaving her a hollow shell. She was a demon and deserved nothing better.
I reached out to pull her close.
My blood-covered hand shone in the light.
I jerked with awareness.
My mind filled with a sudden release of panic and revulsion at my thoughts, and almost actions. Shame flooded me and I scrambled to my
feet. In a rush, I moved to scrub the tainted blood from my skin.
What I almost did hit me hard in the chest.
I staggered back against the door.
I turned and fumbled with the latch, desperate to leave the small room. I threw the door open to the sound of Helen’s laughter, slamming it closed behind me. I staggered to a small swiveling chair and sat down hard, my head in my hands.
Fuck!
I lifted my head. I could have undone everything. I was only an inch away from raping and murdering a woman, and all I had was a few smears of tainted blood on my hand. I got up and walked toward the bedroom door. Just that small amount was enough to suck me into horrible darkness, yet my sweet Grace had been filled to bursting.
May heaven help her.
I rested my head against the door, a cold sweat soaking my body. She was my world. My heart. I had a soul, thanks to her.
I can’t help.
Entering that room, touching that blood could be all but fatal for me and anyone in my path. I smashed my fist against the flimsy door, denting it, I growled.
Silver liquid dropped a pattern onto my shirt and I flinched, wiping my eyes, I braced my head on the wall once more.
FOURTEEN
My body was a mess. God, how could one woman spew up so much sludge? Cripes, poor Jamie. She looked like she’d been dipped in chocolate. I hovered above them all, a specter, having been ejected once my Madea mind was clear enough to force me from the pain. They’d been working on me for hours. Filling me full of blessed IV fluid and dodging the flying tar.
I had convulsed so much that the priest had entered the room and was running all over it waving his crucifix and splashing everything with holy water.
I was a shadow, disconnected from the macabre scene below. They were all in a panic, I was lucky as hell to have them.
I watched as Jamie wailed, her hand still gripped in mine. Gavyn rushed back and forth changing IV bags as the old bags emptied. Then, at the point when it seemed that everyone might just collapse, my poor body settled, no longer spewing that viscous liquid and no longer jerking around as if possessed.