“Engine 19. Oh yeah, your dad is over on the other side of the building helping another crew. Just do as I say. They’ll kill me if something happens to you,” he said, pulling her along with him. She felt that sensation in her gut, that instinct that kicked in where she had to decide to ignore it or accept it as a warning. She pulled her arms from his grasp and he struck her. She hadn’t expected that as she fell to the ground and covered her mouth in pain.
“Get away from me!” she screamed, kicking at his hands, but he was fast and he was strong. He lifted her up and dragged her like a piece of garbage over toward a van. Pulling the door open, he shoved her inside and then jumped on her legs, straddling her.
Serefina decked him in the nose. Blood splattered everywhere and the man’s expression changed from angry do downright psycho pissed off. Grabbing her shoulders, he shook her so hard her head spun. She tried using he nails to dig into his skin but that enraged him more. He forearmed her in the face and she screamed and used all her might to shove upward. He teetered over and she started to scramble away when he grabbed a fistful of her hair, yanking her back. She saw the syringe a second too late as he stuck her in the shoulder. Serefina shoved it off, hoping he hadn’t been able to drug her or do whatever he was planning to do.
“He chose you. Stop fighting it. You’ll need your strength when the master comes to challenge you.”
“Fuck you!” she yelled at him, but her words seemed to echo in her ears, and her eyes lost focus on his face. Dizziness overtook her vision and the man caressed her cheek as he lay her down in the back of the van. She didn’t pass out. She just couldn’t focus, could barely move her limbs.
He stared at her and smiled as he pulled out some rope or some kind of bungee cord bindings and tied her wrists together above her head and attached it to a hook there. He reached out and pulled the van door closed.
“Sit tight, angel of fire. We’ll be with the master in no time.”
* * * *
“Where the fuck is she?” Ace yelled as they gathered around the truck once the fire was under control. Their part was done, and now it seemed that Serefina was missing. Worst of all, Trent and Buddy were there looking for her.
“I don’t believe this. I can’t believe he got her. He must have taken her during all the chaos,” Tyler said.
“Fuck!” Ice yelled out.
“We need to do something. Someone had to have seen her,” Bull added.
“We have the police canvassing the area, and asking people.
“What did you find out at the apartment? How did you know that this guy would come here?” the chief asked.
“The moron left his computer. He was so sure that the fire he set would destroy it, that he left everything right there. Articles, documentation of the fires he set, the people he killed and the business tycoons who hired him and his brother to do the dirty work,” Trent told them.
“His brother?” Lance asked.
“Yeah, he tried to kill him. The Feds are with him now. They’ve been questioning him since he gained consciousness twenty minutes ago. This condo was part of the list. It was the last hit for a big payoff. There were plans of a vacation, leaving the United States, and everything,” Trent explained.
“Tell them about the sign.”
“Oh yeah, this guy, Denis Perrone has that sign in a tattoo on his arm. Three other victims from five years ago who died in one of the fires he set, each had that sign carved into their chests.”
“The Feds are going to help us find Serefina, right? They’re not holding back anymore? They know she’s been abducted?” Bull asked.
“They know and they put out an all points bulletin on the guy. We’ll find him and we’ll find her,” Buddy said just as his radio went off. He answered it and then repeated what the other person on the line was saying.
“So someone saw her with a firefighter and they got into a black van. The license plate, too? Awesome. Great work. Yes, forward it to my phone now.”
“Someone got the license plate and saw her get into this van with a firefighter.”
“A firefighter?” Ace asked.
“He tricked her. Maybe he acted as though we sent him to bring her to safety. She wouldn’t have just gone with him,” Bull stated.
“What about the surveillance cameras? The ones on the buildings around here? Kent Construction owns that parking lot and the buildings behind the condominiums,” Eddie told them.
“I’ll get on it immediately,” Trent said as he walked away a few feet and made the calls.
Fifteen minutes later and they stared at the computer screen in one of the bomb squad vehicles that showed up to help, and watched the scene unfold.
Ace clenched his teeth as he saw Serefina fighting against her abductor. The strike to her mouth pissed him off and he promised to do even worse to the asshole who took her as soon as they found him. They couldn’t see what was happening inside the van, but as the guy got out and closed the door smiling, and there was no sign of Serefina, he knew she was in deep trouble.
“We got something,” Trent said. “The Feds aren’t sure if this is accurate, but they interrogated the brother and he seems to believe that his brother has lost his mind and is following some sort of voice in his head. After they did the condominium fire, they were supposed to hide out at an old industrial building way out on the outskirts of town past those high grasses and marshlands. There’s only one building I know of, and it was condemned over ten years ago.”
“That has to be it. We need to head there,” Ace stated.
“We need to do this right and not spook him or he’s liable to torch the place with Serefina in it. Remember he’s not stupid. He’s insane and hears voices telling him to set these fires,” Trent told Ace.
“Okay, so what do you suggest we do?” Ice asked.
“Come up with a plan, and get there before the Feds go storming in and get Serefina killed.”
“Then I say we do this military style,” Ice stated and locked gazes with Ace and Bull.
“We do this together, all of us. We’re one team, one unit, and we take care of our own. Ready, Martellis?” Ace asked Eddie, Lance, Tyler, and the chief.
“Hell yeah. Let’s go get our sister,” Eddie said, and they headed into their fire trucks with Trent, Buddy, and most of the other fire departments following behind them. The chief took over the radio, as they headed out of the parking lot.
“This is Chief Martelli, Engine 19. We’ve got ourselves a bit of a serious personal situation. I’m going to give you the low down, and then you can decide whether or not you want to help us take back what’s ours, and bring justice to the brothers and civilians we lost.”
* * * *
“And when he came upon them his wrath was so strong, so all powerful, they shuddered and cried out in pain. Bowed down on their knees, begged for mercy, as the fire, the symbol of his strength encased them, body and soul. But you, you, the angel of fire, Serefina, have been chosen by the master. He has spared you so that you may stand beside him, beside me, his servant as we set the world on fire.”
Serefina was shaking. Not just from fear, but from the drugs that were slowly wearing off. She still had difficulty focusing but she got the gist of the situation and the psychotic rational of this monster.
She realized, as she lay on the ground, a circle, thick in fluid lay around her. And around that circle, between herself and this lunatic, were a series of other objects, all the same shape, and he was dousing them with some sort of liquid. The smell of chemicals, something like turpentine, filled her nostrils. She moaned as she tried to move her arms and legs.
What had he done to her? Had she passed out? For how long? She then saw the bindings on her ankles—leather, chains, yet they weren’t attached to anything. Her wrists ached as she tried to move them. They felt heavy and stung. All the feeling was coming back into her limbs. The drugs must have really been strong. That was when she noticed the blood. A cut on her wrist, top side on both hands. Near
ankles, where the leather and chain bindings lay like his version of jewelry that adorned the injuries he’d inflicted upon her. She became angry.
“What have you done? Why did you do this?” she asked, raising her voice, feeling herself shake from her core to her vocal chords.
He continued to chant some sort of verse or he was conversing with an imaginary person. “Master. Yes, Master.” She heard him chant just as he threw some sort of powder onto the floor. She jerked back as the entire room around them became illuminated in a pattern of fire. She immediately recognized the symbols. There had to be over twenty matching symbols like the one Trent had asked her if she had seen before. She remembered what Trent said about some earlier victims having that sign carved into their flesh. She shuddered at the thought that this madman would do that to her.
As he smiled wide, he pulled off his shirt, revealing the same identical symbol on his chest, and not custom made from a tattoo parlor, but instead a self-inflicted wound he must have done on his own. The skin was raised around the circle and the intricate lines and points to the design. It was horrific looking and she fell back onto her elbows as he jumped forward and straddled her thighs.
She didn’t scream. As much as she wanted to, she didn’t. She wasn’t sure how she knew not to, but her gut tightened, and she figured if she were going to die, she wasn’t going to die without a fight. There had to be a way to stop this man from hurting her or anyone else for that matter.
“You are more beautiful than the master himself had even realized,” he whispered, as spittle from his mouth tapped against her eyes and nose. Her lip was still very sore but that was the least of her worries as this monster caressed his palm up her belly to her blouse. He cupped her breast.
“Don’t. Please don’t hurt me anymore,” she whispered. He squinted his eyes at her, and she could tell he meant business. He was analyzing her response to him. He was processing everything about this moment. The only thing that was missing would be smoke coming from his ears as he stared at her like that.
His palm caressed over her breast, and she felt his arousal against her belly.
“He said you are strong, not weak. Yet you shake in fear from my touch. It’s going to be okay, angel of fire.” He reached up to cup her cheek with the hand that was cupping her breast.
“Sweet, sweet Serefina.”
In that instant a small explosion occurred and the walls around them began to burn in symbols. The heat was terrifying, until he reached down and ripped her blouse open.
She gasped and tried to move him off of her, but he forearmed her over her throat, locking her in place.
In a flash he pulled something from his waist, and it was too late when she saw the object turn into a switchblade.
“Don’t do it. Don’t hurt me.” She could tell he was out of it. There would be no negotiating. She was going to die and so she decided she had nothing to lose by talking to him and playing along with his sick game. If it bought her time, or an opportunity to get that blade away from him and get the hell out of here, then she needed to make the opportunity happen.
“The master doesn’t want you to cut me,” she stated as he brought the blade between her breasts, pinching her skin.
“I talk to him. He wants his symbol upon you before we go.”
“No. That’s not what he wants. He’s telling you that because he fears my powers.”
The sound of something falling. Something big like wood or part of the building had her shaking beneath him, but she stood her ground, and prayed she wouldn’t be buried alive with this creep on top of her. She thought about Ace, Ice, Bull, and of course her family and friends. They would find out what happened, and she would make them proud that she fought until her last breath.
“Your power? You only have what the master allows,” he told her as he lifted slightly up. More things fell around them, and she tried her hardest not to show her fear.
“You think so?” she asked.
“You lie! I serve the master and no one else.” He jumped up off of her, using her chest as leverage to shove upward.
She felt the tightness in her chest, the instant pain, but she used the opportunity to kneel up, and try to stand.
“The time has come. He says to do it now.” He grabbed at her arm and pulled her upward just as more fire illuminated the room. At this rate they would be engulfed in flames and there would be no escaping.
In that instant there was a loud sound and fire started to lessen in one corner of the building. She could see flashing lights, and her heart soared. They were coming. Her men, the firefighters, were coming.
“You’re done. It’s over,” she said, pulling her arm from his hold. He went after her and she threw a right hook hitting him in the face. Her knuckles ached but she continued on, trying to fight him and stay away from the flames surrounding them in the circle.
He held the knife in his hand. He looked so sick, so out of his mind. The makeshift tattoos, the scarring along his abdomen, the wild look in his eyes made her think he wasn’t even human. No human, no person with a heart or a soul would look like this monster.
He lunged for her and she dodged the strike of the knife and countered with another hit. Using her fist and forearm, she slammed him over his back as he struck again.
She screamed in anger when he came back again and again. This time the blade hit her side, cutting her skin, and she kicked at his calves. In the distance she could hear the spray of water, almost smell it beyond the mist of the flames encompassing them. Her only way out would be to try and run through the flames or hope that the men got to her in time to put it out. More sounds of the building crumbling in the distance made her feel the dire need to escape death, but this monster had strength and the determination to succeed in his agenda as he came at her repeatedly.
“Die. The master says you die.” He attempted to stab her in the shoulder. She dodged his move, decided in an instant to run through the fire to escape, and somehow he grabbed her leg, dropping the knife as she fell chest first to the ground. The blade was inches from her fingertips and near the fire. She could feel the heat of the flames against her fingers and her face. It was so close and so hot it could singe her hair, her skin. She struggled to reach the knife, her last opportunity to fight him when she felt the strike to her thighs and the monster trying to climb up her body. The tear in her ribs from the cut he inflicted burned as she stretched, trying to ignore the pain of his weight as he grabbed her hair to turn her just as she gripped the switchblade.
She rolled and he struck her in the eye, blinding her and she thrust the knife forward blindly, unknowing where she would hit him, but taking what she thought would be her last shot.
Screaming out, she pulled back, knife in hand and saw him covering his shoulder, blood seeping between his fingertips. His eyes widened again in pure hatred and shock for her and she lunged the knife into his chest, and then shoved him off of her.
He grabbed the knife pulled it form his chest and headed toward her. It was like he wasn’t human, and even stabbing him twice couldn’t stop him. There was nowhere to run except through the flames that would surely burn her if not kill her.
She stood her ground, prepared to continue to fight despite her swollen eye, bleeding ribs, and aches and pains surrounding her.
“Die!” he yelled out, arms above his head as he tried stabbing her again. With all her might she ducked, taking advantage of her petite size, with fists and arms locked together she swung them like a bat against his stomach and ribs. The knife pierced her upper arm and she screamed, shoving him directly into the fire.
His roars of pain and continued defiance would surely stay with her until the end of time. She looked around her, tears streaming down her face. There was nowhere to go. No way of escaping when suddenly water washed over the entire circle and a sea of turnout coats headed her way. They cleared the fire, making it to her in the nick of time. She knew they were her men, her brothers and others, as they headed toward her. Just a
s she realized she was going to live, to be safe, she heard the roar.
The monster lunged toward her, burnt flesh crackling, blade in hands, the stench of charred flesh filled her nostrils making her step back to retreat in terror. She was shocked as she screamed out if trepidation, instantly shaking with fear, fury, and disbelief. He looked hideous, like a true monster who just couldn’t seem to be killed. He lunged for her, and when he attacked she struck him again, making him fall back. One firefighter punched the monster, knocking him to the ground. Then others emerged and grabbed him, taking him into custody as he yelled, cried about his master and about failing his mission. “No, no, you must die. Please, master, help me, I am your humble servant, your only follower. I will kill you, Serefina. I will never give up. I’ll always hunt you just as the master will for all eternity!” He rambled on and on, babbling wild and outrageous threats and odd phrases, while they dragged him from the scene.
“Serefina. Oh God, Serefina, you’re hurt,” Ice stated, pulling off his mask, and undoing his jacket,
The fire was still roaring but sprays of water descended upon them as the building was being soaked down by what had to be multiple engine companies.
Ice wrapped his turnout coat around her and lifted her up into his arms. She closed her eyes and allowed them to rescue her the rest of the way and didn’t open them until she was outside, and placed onto the gurney.
“Oh God, baby. Thank God you’re alive. What did he do to you?” Bull asked, caressing her cheek below her cuts and bruises.
The paramedics were trying to look her over, and she was lying there in only her bra as they examined the cut to her ribs and temporarily bandaged it. Another was looking at her eyes, while Johnny Landers listened to her chest. He locked gazes with her.
“I’m sorry, Serefina. I should have kept you closer.”
She shook her head, her voice all froggy from inhaling too much smoke.
“Not your fault. He was determined. Don’t give it another thought.”
Hearts on Fire 1: Serefina (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 16