by Robin Roseau
"You did this for Lara?"
"Yes, we did it for Lara."
"Thank you."
Scarlett kissed my cheek and sat back down.
A few minutes later, I yawned. Little Chloe had wandered upstairs with Abigail and gone to bed, Abigail returning shortly after. When I yawned three more times, Angel asked, "Sleepy?"
"Yes."
"Would you like a nap?"
I looked at her.
"We'll give you an hour for two locks of hair, taken in as inconspicuous a fashion as we can. No one will notice they're missing. We'll turn the lights off and leave you alone."
"I'd rather sleep in your lap," I told Angel.
"All right," she said.
Ava took the hair. She was very careful to take them from the back of my head, buried in amongst the thickest parts. Angel took a place on the sofa, and the rest of the girls carried me over and set me down with my head in her lap.
"My side, please." So they rolled me over and made sure I was comfortable. The girls stepped away, taking all the phones with them, and someone turned the lights off.
"I love you, Michaela," Angel said. "Please, I hope you are having fun."
"I am, I guess."
"The more you let us do, the prouder we are of you, you know. This is a pride thing. I know. It's far more macho than you're used to, and intellectually we know that, but emotionally, we're wolves. Elisabeth will start offering you amounts you can pay, but may not want to, probably after you wake up. If you take them, Lara will be very hurt."
"How will I know?"
"When the ransom is painful, but not horrible. You'll know when Elisabeth thinks you should accept the offer. Lara won't break, you know, no matter what they do to her."
"I know."
"Sleep now. Do you want me to caress you?"
"Yes. I'm scared."
"I know. We all love you."
And then she began stroking my head softly and somehow I fell asleep.
They woke me gently. Angel called my name and began stroking me again. I woke groggy and tried to stretch, but couldn't. I began to panic, but Angel spoke soothingly. "You're with me, Michaela," she said. "Wake up now."
"Oh," I said. "It wasn't a nightmare."
"No, honey."
"I have to go to the bathroom. Will you free my hands?"
"Stop asking," she said. "Your hands stay bound until your ransom is paid."
"Where are we?"
"Don't ask any more questions like that, either," she said. "I won't answer, but if you ask again..."
"All right."
"Will you cooperate if I snip your legs free and let you walk to the bathroom?"
"Yes."
Angel helped me sit up, freed my legs, and I walked into the bathroom alone. She waited outside, and when I was done, she took care of me. She led me back to the couch and taped my legs again, removing some of the old tape first.
"Punishment time," she said. She called the other girls down.
Scarlett spoke. "Your punishment this time is a tattoo on your ass."
"Of what?" I asked.
Scarlett turned a piece of paper to me. There was a stylized "Lara's" all in black. "This is full size."
"Permanent tattoo? Are tattoos on weres permanent?"
"Yes," said Sophia.
"The alternative," Scarlett said, "Is you make a video asking Lara to pay your ransom." She held up another piece of paper with the statement they wanted me to read. I didn't bother reading it.
"Tattoo."
"Yes!" said Angel, offering a fist pump. In spite of myself, I laughed. "I'll be right back." Angel ran up stairs, was gone for a minute, then returned. She held the phone to my ear.
"Hello, Elisabeth," I said.
"Would you like Lara back, Little Fox?"
"Yes, Elisabeth, I would."
"The ransom is your house in Bayfield, the contents of your bank account after whatever you currently owe the women there, a major favor to each of us, and your throat to each of us."
"In perpetuity."
"Of course."
"In other words, a ransom I could pay."
"Yes."
"I decline your offer, Elisabeth."
I could hear the smile. "All right. I'll pass that along to the alpha. Enjoy your tattoo, by the way. Lara is going to love it."
"Elisabeth, what are you doing to her?"
"Don't ask, Little Fox."
"All right."
The girls picked me up and set me down, face down on the coffee table. "Please hold me still," I said.
"We will," Angel said. "This is going to hurt, but Lara is going to love you did this for her."
Scarlett did the tattoo. It took a long time. She worked carefully. It hurt, but not as much as I thought it might.
"Nice," Sophia said when Scarlett was done.
"It's bleeding," Angel said. I heard a camera click several times. The girls held me down for the photos, even though I tried to squirm away. They didn't punish me for squirming.
Then they taped a bandage over it, replaced the panties, and moved me back to the sofa, but helped me sit crooked to keep my tortured cheek off the couch. Scarlett loaded the pictures she had taken onto a laptop and they showed me.
She had done a good job. "Thank you, Scarlett," I told her.
"You are welcome, Michaela. You're sweating, you need more to drink." I didn't resist as they gave me a full glass of water.
"It's sunrise," Scarlett said. "We're out of favors for Lara." I nodded understanding.
After that, they were very nice to me in between punishments. They asked me what I wanted for breakfast, and I had a half a Belgian waffle and some bacon. And two more glasses of lemonade. They took turns telling embarrassing stories about themselves, and soon had me in stitches.
Then Angel's phone buzzed.
"Punishment time," she said. "Tell her, Abigail."
Abigail climbed off her chair and knelt down in front of me. "We've done everything that was on Lara's list, Michaela. The ransom we're asking is payable. Lara would be proud to pay this much for you, although I admit it's a record for the pack. You know if you beg, she'll pay it."
I nodded.
"You're going to beg eventually."
I nodded.
"We're going to start getting mean," she said. "For a while, we'll give you the choice of making a video. You won't have to beg, but you will read whatever we write for you. If you make the video, we won't do the punishment."
"This is-"
"Tradition," Angel inserted quickly. "And Lara agreed. She'll stop this if you ask. She agreed. Don't get mad, Michaela."
I nodded.
"There is pride for her to pay a large ransom," Abigail said. "Although we're still in the level of deep pain. And of course, we're all poor teenagers; you can imagine how much this would mean to us."
"I don't understand," I said. "Lara is your friend."
"Honey," Angel said. "We have college to pay for."
I looked around between them. "You're doing this for your college funds?"
"No, honey, we're doing it for the tradition. I'm sorry we aren't explaining it very well."
"All right," I said.
"We aren't going to hurt you yet," Angel said. "But you won't like your punishments."
"I understand."
"Stand her up," Abigail said.
They helped me to my feet, then they strapped me into some sort of harness. It went over my shoulders and cinched tightly above my hips and around my legs and ankles. Then they picked me up and carried me into the room closer to the stairs.
There was a steel hook embedded in the ceiling with ropes hanging from it, and at the bottom, another hook. They lifted my feet well above the height of my head and hooked me in then gently lowered me until I was hanging upside down.
"Oh god!" I said. "Aren't you supposed to let Lara pay my ransom first?"
"We're not done," Angel said. "Michaela, we practiced this, taking turns. We all brok
e. You'll break from this."
"Wind her up," Abigail said. And they began turning me around in a circle, clockwise, six times around.
"Please stop," I said.
"Will you make the video we want?"
"No!"
"I'm recording," Angel said.
"Let her go," Abigail said. And, slowly at first, the windings on the rope began to unwind, and I began to spin counter-clockwise, faster and faster, and the world spun past me. I instantly became dizzy, and I clenched my eyes shut.
"Angel!"
They let me spin, and then it was going slower and slower. I came to a stop, and then I began to spin the other way; I had wound past the middle and wound it in the other direction. I spun, faster, then slower, then it began the other way again. And I begged them to stop.
"Make the video," Abigail said.
"No!"
Eventually, I came to a complete stop, swaying back and forth, and I thought I was going to be sick.
"Take her down," Abigail said. They lifted me up, unhooked me, and carried me into the other room. I kept my eyes clenched, but my stomach was heaving.
They set me on the sofa and I opened my eyes. "You gave me breakfast."
"Yes," said Abigail. "What is going to happen is one of three things. You will make the video we want. Lara will ransom you even without the video. Or we are going to hook you up until either you beg to make the video or you are violently sick. Every time we wind you up, we add two rotations. And we don't have to let you hang straight upside down, we can make you spin other ways, too. You will heave. We all did."
I looked down. "What do you want me to say?"
Abigail picked up a piece of paper. It said simply, "Lara, I love you. Please pay my ransom."
"You can read it any way you want, but you will say those exact words, no more, no less, and you will not smile or laugh or in any way suggest you are enjoying yourself or you do not want her to pay yet. You get two takes. If you make us hook you up, you will either get sick, and we'll stop, or you will beg to make the video, but the video we send will include video of you begging for us to stop."
"You're going to send the video you just took?"
"We're sending that regardless," Angel said.
I sighed. "I'll read it."
They didn't react, so I couldn't tell if they were disappointed. "All right," Abigail said. "Read this through like you intend to read it on video."
She held it up and I read it out loud in a dull voice.
"Again," she said. I read it again. "Once more." And I read it a third time.
Scarlett held up her phone and said, "This one is live. Hitting start now." She pressed a button and pointed her phone at me. In a dull voice while looking into the phone, I read the note.
"Send the videos," Angel said. Then she called Elisabeth. "Do you have an offer for us?" she asked.
"Let me talk to her."
Angel held the phone to me.
"Do you want Lara?" Elisabeth asked.
"Yes."
"Your house, fifty thousand dollars, a favor each, and your throat."
"Elisabeth," I said. "This just turned not fun."
"Make the videos they want," she said.
"I did."
She was quiet for a moment. "Too much?"
"It would have been. They gave me a taste."
"Are you ransoming Lara?" she asked.
"I'm sorry, Elisabeth. No."
"All right. I need to talk to Angel."
"Angel, she wants to talk to you."
I heard Elisabeth say, "Take me where she can't hear." Angel ran upstairs. The girls mopped my face, and I asked for a little water to wash the taste out of my mouth. They didn't unstrap the harness around me, which left me nervous.
Angel returned ten minutes later. "Michaela, Lara has declined to ransom you."
"Yes!" I said. Then realized I gave myself away.
The girls laughed. Angel kissed my cheek. They fed me soothing food and poured more lemonade into me.
Then we played a game of charades, and the things they had to act out were hilarious. I, of course, sat on the sofa doing nothing but guessing and laughing.
Then Angel's phone went off. I sighed.
Ava got up, disappeared upstairs for a minute, then came back downstairs. She set an electric hair clippers on the coffee table.
"Not my hair," I said.
"You will make the video we want, or we shave your head," Sophia said. She held up a piece of paper. It said, "Lara, if you do not ransom me, they are going to shave all my hair off."
"You'll get two takes to do the video right. You will read the note then remain silent until Scarlett says she's done. If you ruin both takes, we hook you up to the hook and spin you until you beg to make any video we want."
I sighed. "I'll read it."
Scarlett grabbed her camera. She pointed it first at the clippers sitting on the table. She held that for a five count, then she turned it to me. I read the note Sophia was holding. My voice quavered a little, but held steady. Then Scarlett turned to Angel, and Angel held up the locks of hair they had taken earlier. "As you can see, Lara, we already started."
Scarlett hit stop and said, "Done."
"Good girl," Sophia said. "One take."
Angel waited for Elisabeth to call her this time and held the phone to my ear. "What is the ransom, Elisabeth?"
"Your house. No money. The favors and your throat."
"I'm sorry, Elisabeth. I decline."
She was quiet. "You should pay this, Little Fox."
"I don't think so, Elisabeth, but I appreciate the advice."
"We're hurting her, Little Fox. Make a counter offer. Do not be insulting."
"The entire contents of my bank account after I pay any immediate bills plus the favors. The amount at this time is over a hundred thousand dollars, but the girls clearly aren't done taking my money. I can't promise it will remain that high."
"Especially now that they know how much money you have to give them." Elisabeth laughed. "I am going to decline your offer at this time. Do you understand why?"
"You asked only because you wanted to know what my sticking points are."
"There will be hints in my next call, Little Fox. Do you think you will pick up on them?" she asked.
"I don't know."
"Say goodbye."
"Goodbye, Elisabeth."
Angel took the phone upstairs. She was gone for only a few minutes. "She declined."
I smiled.
We continued the game of charades. They fed me three glasses of lemonade, and I began squirming badly. When Angel's phone went off, I said, "May I go to the bathroom first?"
"If you throw up in there, you will pay horribly," Angel said.
"Just to piddle," I said.
Angel knelt in front of me and cut my legs loose. She pulled more loose tape away and escorted me to the door of the bathroom. I piddled as thoroughly as I could. Angel cleaned me up then held onto me firmly as she walked me back to the other room. They taped my legs extra tightly.
Then they picked me up and carried me to the hook.
"No!" I screamed. I began thrashing, which did me no good. "No! Don't do this! No!"
They hooked me up and then let me go, and I swung around crazily for a while, begging them to stop me.
Abigail sat down in front of me, our eyes at the same level.
"Here are your choices. You may make any video you want. You can tell her not to pay if you want. If Lara pays, we're done. If not, we spin you until you get sick. That's option one. Option two. You will make a video reading what we tell you to read. You will sound desperate. If Lara refuses to pay, we don't spin you. The price of option two is twenty thousand dollars. If Lara pays, you don't owe us the twenty thousand."
"Honey," Angel said. "She'll pay if you beg. You're not going to last much longer, you know."
"What do you want me to say?" I asked.
Abigail held a note in front of me, but it was upside d
own to me.
"Abigail," I said. "I can't read it that way."
"Oh, sorry," she said, and flipped it over. "Lara, please, please pay my ransom. If not, the wedding is off."
I stared at it.
"No video and twenty thousand," I offered. "Option two-bee."
"We just removed option two as a choice," Abigail said. "Option three, we spin you until you beg us to stop, and we're going to video it. If you say anything to discourage Lara from paying, we continue to spin you."
I closed my eyes. "Option three." I felt hands, and they began turning me around and around. They released me.
I lasted twice before I started begging them to stop. By the third one, I was screaming at them to stop, and they stopped.
They took me down and were very gentle. They mopped my face, but I kept my eyes closed, refusing to look at them.
Angel's phone rang. She answered and asked Elisabeth to play the last video, then I listened as she talked to Lara. "One dollar less than the last offer. One medium favor each." I heard as Lara asked if she would be allowed a counter-offer. "Yes, but you have to wait."
All the girls went upstairs, leaving me where I was. I sat and fumed. They came down a few minutes later. "No deal, Michaela," Angel said. Then I talked to Elisabeth.
"Your house, no cash, no favors, your throat."
"No. Hang up, Angel."
"This is torture now," I said, once she had hung up.
"Beg her to pay, Michaela," Angel said.
"No."
"It's going to get worse," she said.
"You are all losing a friend, and I am going to resign as teacher."
Trying to Understand
They didn't respond at first. Then they tried to cajole me back into a good mood, but it wasn't working. Angel picked up the phone and called Elisabeth. "Let me talk to your prisoner." Then she repeated the recent discussion.
"Will you allow me to talk to her?" Lara asked.
"Yes, that's why we called."
I opened my eyes and looked at them. Angel sat next to me, and I tried to move away from her, but she held the phone to my ear. I didn't say anything.
"Little Fox? Little Fox?" Lara said.
"I'm here," I said sullenly.
"Your damned pride," she said. "You weren't supposed to let it get that bad."