Midnight Kiss

by Sarra Cannon

  “You don’t smell of sex.” Jeryl gave him a patronizing smile. “You smell of desperation.” The crazy guy got that right.

  “Is that so? Then why was Daisy in my bed last night?” I was about to argue when Shaun shot me a look. “If you’re looking for a virgin sacrifice or something, Daisy isn’t going to cut it.”

  Was the creep really helping me?

  “She’s definitely not a virgin,” Reyna added.

  I’d never been happier to have people talk about my sex life.

  “She hasn’t had sex in months.” Jeryl said it as a statement. He was right, but that didn’t mean I was going to agree.

  “Shaun’s telling the truth. I was in his bed last night.”

  “And you jumped out screaming.” Duncan squeezed my shoulder. “I was there, or did you forget?”

  I groaned internally. Oh yeah.

  Jeryl kept his gaze on me. “We can discuss this later. We have to move.”

  “Move?” I looked to Jeryl with my question.

  “We can’t get caught with the evidence here.” He reached for my hand, but I pulled it back.

  “Come now, I assure you we’re going to get to know each other very well.” He licked his lips.

  “No, we’re not.” I looked him straight in the eye. That’s when I noticed he had this same weird colored ring in his eyes that Duncan had. I looked at the other men, they had the same thing. Freaky.

  “We are. And right now you’re going to put your wrists together so I can bind them.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me.”

  “Why would I do that?” I stepped back. That turned out to be a mistake as I walked right into Duncan’s chest.

  “Because you’d rather I didn’t kill your friend.”

  I noticed he said friend in singular. Perceptive. Not that I wanted anything to happen to the guys.

  “Please, just let us go. Is it money you want? I don’t have much, but I’ll give you what I have.”

  Jeryl laughed. “Money? You think we want money from you?” He stepped closer just as Duncan wrapped his arms around me from behind. “We want something more primal from you.” He held his hand over my neck like he was going to choke me “Much more primal.”

  “Don’t touch her!” Shaun yelled.

  Jeryl laughed. “Showing concern for the girl who rebuffed you? Humans are so interesting.”

  “Like you’re not human?” Chad asked.

  “No. We’re not.”

  In a flash, one of the guys holding Reyna leaned her head back and rested his long sharp teeth on her neck. Fangs. The guy had fangs.

  Jeryl laughed at my obvious fear. “Hold your hands out behind your back, or he bites.”

  “What the fuck are you?” Chad struggled against his captors as he tried to get to Reyna.

  Duncan laughed again. “You’re denser than I thought.”

  “Vampires,” I said the word slowly. I knew they couldn’t actually be supernatural, but they wanted to be. I’d read about the condition online. People who want to be vampires so bad that they have sharp teeth implanted and stuff. Insane, but these guys totally fit the bill. Fake or not, those teeth could cut Reyna. I held my hands out behind me. “Let her go.”

  “If we let her go she’ll just call for help.”

  “No she won’t.”

  “You think your friend would leave you for dead?” Duncan asked.

  Jeryl tied my wrists. “It doesn’t matter. We can’t take the risk. We don’t need her, but we won’t kill her if you cooperate.”

  “And what does cooperating involve?” I tried to keep my voice strong, but dealing with crazy people for nearly an hour was taking its toll. I was exhausted, and I just wanted to press rewind and be back at East Madison.

  “Don’t scream or make a scene.”

  “We’re not going down quietly,” Chad growled.

  “Oh yes, you will.” His captors started pulling him forward. Like the rest of us, his hands were tied behind him.

  They led us back through the VIP room. The bead curtains seemed more menacing this time.

  “Get in.”

  I blinked in the darkness. “I can’t see.” That line was starting to get old.

  “Sorry.” The lights suddenly turned on again, and I saw a long, black bag in front of me. “Uh, what am I supposed to do with that?”

  “Get into it.”

  I glanced around. My friends were situated in front of similar bags.

  “You want to put us in body bags?” Shaun said incredulously. “Aren’t you going to kill us first?”

  “Would you like me to?” Duncan asked. His dead pan voice seemed a whole lot more sinister this time around.

  “Duncan. Go find Lloyd,” Jeryl barked.

  “Now? Aren’t you getting ready to leave?” Duncan glared at Jeryl.

  “I said to go. He’s the only one missing.”

  “Fine. But wait for me.”

  “No. We’ll see you there.”

  “You just want her first,” Duncan snarled.

  “And I will have her first, but that’s not the issue.”

  Have me first? That had better not have meant what I thought it did.

  “Why not send someone else?”

  “The sooner you leave, the sooner you meet us.”

  “Don’t harm her.” Duncan gripped my arm so tight it hurt.

  “She’ll be in one piece.”

  One piece? Gee, that was reassuring.

  Duncan released my arm and walked through the beads. Really? He was just going to leave? I knew he was in on this, and he’d been the one to bring me in, but still he seemed like the safest bet of all the men around us.

  Jeryl pointed to Chad and Shaun. “Either get in your bags, or I kill the girl.”

  “You just told Duncan you wouldn’t.” Shaun seemed to have no fear.

  “I said I wouldn’t hurt Daisy. I said nothing of the other.”

  “Oh yes, the one who smells of sex,” Shaun mumbled.

  “Hey!” Reyna yelled.

  I wondered if my friends were drunk. They were handling the situation almost too well. I was doing everything short of passing out.

  I didn’t need Mr. Fangs to experiment on Reyna again so I allowed Jeryl to push me into the bag. I really hoped there were holes to breathe through. “If something happens to any of those three, I will do nothing you ask.”

  “Relax, Daisy. We’ll keep them around for a while.” Jeryl zipped up my bag.

  The bag partially muffled the voices, but I couldn’t have concentrated anyway. I felt like I was suffocating. Were they going to kill me after all?

  “Calm down,” Jeryl hissed as I felt myself being lifted. “The heavier you breathe, the more air you go through.”

  I breathed heavier again. I was dizzy and nauseous and my chest hurt.

  “I’m here, Daisy.” Reyna’s voice gave me some comfort. She was one of the few people who knew just how claustrophobic I was. I refused to even take an elevator. “Think happy thoughts.” Happy thoughts? Considering I was inside a body bag, happy thoughts weren’t easy to come by.

  I heard more talking, and then I was put down again on an uncomfortable surface. A door slammed, music blared, and we started to move. We must have been in the back of a truck or van. I tried to pay attention to the turns at first so we’d be able to figure out where we were, but I quickly lost count. Where were they taking us?

  “Next time you get mad at me just hit me, okay,” Shaun teased.

  His bag must have been next to mine.

  “If we make it through this alive I’m going to kiss you for standing up for me.”

  “Kiss me? Is that it?” He was trying to distract me. To keep me calm. The boy changed personality so often it was giving me whiplash.

  “Don’t push your luck.”

  “You won’t be kissing that human, Daisy.” Jeryl’s voice pulled me from my momentary peace.

  “I’m so sorry, guys.” It really was all
my fault.

  “I’m sorry for being an ass.” Shaun really was being a charmer.

  “Did Shaun just apologize?” Chad asked.

  “Yeah. I guess the thought of dying is making me do strange things.”

  “Shut up back there,” Jeryl yelled.

  We listened. Maybe it was the suddenly more intense tone of Jeryl’s voice or the realization that we’d been driving long enough that we couldn’t have been in New Orleans anymore, but the joking was over.

  We drove and drove until I lost all sense of time. Each bump hurt as we banged around in the back. I was terrified, but knowing I wasn’t in this alone helped. Still, I knew we’d be lucky to get out of this alive, and by the way Jeryl had been talking and looking at me, it wasn’t going to be pleasant. Maybe death would be better than what they had in store for me. I quickly shook off the thoughts, I couldn’t afford to panic.

  Eventually the vehicle stopped, and my whole body tensed. I hated being inside the bag, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to face what would be waiting for me when I was removed from it. If I was removed from it, I reminded myself.

  “We’re only letting Daisy out. I want her to see her new home,” Jeryl said from right near me.

  My new home? I shuddered. I really hoped Reyna or the guys had told someone where we were, or that someone would track my cell phone. That is if my purse had made the trip. Somehow I didn’t think my captors were concerned about my stuff.

  I gulped in air as the bag was unzipped. I blinked, seeing the blur of a face in the darkness. “Where are we?”

  “Home sweet home.” Jeryl took my bound hands and pulled me out. “This is your new castle.”

  I squinted to see what he was talking about, but everything was pitch black.

  We moved forward, and my eyes adjusted enough in the moonlight that I could see men carrying the other bags on their shoulders. I felt awful. I was the one who got us into the mess, and I was the only one walking. Still, I definitely wasn’t safe. Who knew what these crazies had planned?

  “Here we are,” Jeryl said with pride.

  I looked up to see a ramshackle old home. “Oh.”

  “Oh? Is that the only term in your vocabulary? This is your new nest. You should be happy.”

  “Nest? Happy? The only way I’m going to be happy is if you let my friends and me go. Don’t even worry about driving us back. We’ll walk.”

  “Walking works for me too,” Shaun agreed from a distance. He was thanked by having his bag tossed on the wooden porch. The bag fell all the way through the wood.

  He grunted. “Fuck, that hurt.”

  “Shaun!”

  “I’m alive, baby. Thanks for the concern though.”

  I let the baby thing go. Considering he’d just been dropped through a wood porch, he was off the hook.

  “Isn’t anyone going to get him?” I asked.

  “Why?”

  “Why? Because he’s in the dirt and stuck in a bag. Go get him.”

  “From what Duncan said this boy means nothing to you. Isn’t this what he deserves?”

  “If anyone gets to punish Shaun it’s me. I should have kicked him in the balls, but that was for me to do.”

  “Thanks for that.” At least he was still talking.

  “We’re going inside. The rest of your friends will wait out here.”

  “What?” I gasped. “No.”

  “I already told you, you’re the only one we want.”

  I wanted to argue, but why? They were probably safer outside. I only wanted them with me for my own protection. “Please, just let them go.” I knew the request would fall on deaf ears, but I had to try.

  “No.” Jeryl picked me up and slung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

  I kicked him. “Put me down.”

  “No. I run this nest and you belong to it. I can do what I want with you.”

  “No you can’t.” I fought against him.

  “We can make this easy or difficult. One word and your friend dies.”

  Considering they’d dragged us out here in body bags I didn’t doubt the threat, but wasn’t he going to do that to all of them anyway? “What do you want with me?”

  “I’d be happy to explain everything to you upstairs.”

  Again with the upstairs? He walked into the front door, and a few men turned to look at us. “We’ve got a nice Halloween present this year.”

  “What’s that smell?” One of the waiting men asked.

  “It’s her. I can’t wait to see what her blood tastes like.”

  What my blood tastes like? Were they really all convinced they were vampires?

  “Listen, my blood doesn’t taste good. Insects don’t even like it. I never get bitten.”

  “Well, that’s going to change.” One of the guys laughed. “You’ll be bitten plenty.”

  “In lots of places,” another added.

  I started to shiver. This was getting real. Why were they so fixated on me? A tiny voice in my head screamed the name Kalisa. Did the witch’s potion have something real to it? Did she want me dead?

  Jeryl placed me on the worn floor of a bedroom. He untied my hands, but completely blocked the doorway. “Why don’t you get changed? I’ll wait outside.”

  Wait outside? Was he actually going to give me privacy? “Change into what?”

  “Your dress.” He gestured to a lace garment lying on the bed.

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Because I asked you to.”

  I decided not to argue. This was the first time he was leaving me alone. I needed to use the freedom to my advantage.

  “I’ll be outside. I want to see your body for the first time when I rip that dress off you—with my teeth.”

  “Great.”

  He closed the door, and I walked over to the window immediately. I tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. I pushed up against it as hard as I could.

  “What are you doing in there?” Jeryl called.

  “Just getting changed.”

  “You have thirty more seconds. If you’re not changed when I open this door, your friend is going to have a problem.”

  Damn it. I gave up on the window and picked up the dress. It was a faded white lace dress that looked like it was fifty years old. I stepped into it and started to slip my arms into the sleeves. The door burst open. “What are you doing?”

  “Putting on the dress.”

  “But you are still wearing your other clothes. Take them off first.”

  “Why? It will fit.”

  “I want you naked underneath.”

  “You didn’t specify that.”

  “Then let me make myself clear.” He walked over and put his hand over my neck again. By the look in his eyes, I seriously wondered if he was going to let go before he choked me. “I want you completely naked underneath that dress. Not a stitch of clothing. Underwear and bra included. Do you understand me?”

  I tried to open my mouth, but I couldn’t from the pressure of his hand.

  He released me, but I stumbled back. “You may think I’m stupid, but I’m not. You are going to learn to listen.”

  “Or what? You’re going to threaten my friend?”

  “Is that not enough of a threat for you?”

  He called down the hall. “Bring the girl up. It looks like we will have to do a demonstration.”

  Panic seized me. “No! I’ll do as you asked.”

  “Good. I’ll stay in the room this time.”

  “What happened to not watching?”

  “Watching you do as I command might be just as rewarding. And this way I know what’s going to be waiting for me.”

  I cringed at the thought. Not happening. I slid off my skirt underneath the dress, and I let my underwear follow. I had to pull off my shirt, but I was able to slide my bra off while covering myself with the dress. Unfortunately parts of the dress were nearly see-through.

  Jeryl just watched with his arms crossed, so evidently he was ok with me getti
ng around the rules as long as I didn’t technically break them.

  “You may lay down on the bed now.”

  “Lay down?” What the hell?

  “Yes. I need to tie you down while I take care of some things.”

  “Tie me down?”

  “Do you have to repeat everything I say?” He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me over to the four-poster bed. “Lie down on your back, arms above your head.”

  “You don’t have to do this. You scared me enough, I won’t run.”

  His lips turned into a frightening smirk. “I have better hearing than you give me credit for.” He pushed me back on the bed. “Did you really think I’d leave you in a room with a window that opened?”

  Yes, but I kept that reply to myself.

  “The best part of being in our nest is I don’t have to gag you. You can scream all you want, and no one will come for you.”

  “Why do you want me? I’m not worth all this.”

  “You’re the most irresistible human I’ve been around in years. Your blood calls to all of us, which means you are meant for us.”

  “Meant for whom?”

  “Us. The nest.”

  “Wait. You don’t mean… aren’t there like fifteen or twenty of you?”

  “Twenty-three.”

  “And you expect me too…”

  “Have sex with them all? No. Of course not, Daisy. Your body is for me—and Duncan because he brought you in after all, but your blood. Your blood is for the nest.”

  “Fuck.”

  “I look forward to doing just that to you, Daisy, but like I said, I have things to take care of.”

  He grabbed my arms and tied them to the bed posts. “Might as well rest, precious. You’re going to need your energy.”

  “I’m not tired.”

  “Perhaps this will help.” He held up a needle. “It’ll make the bloodletting easier, but you’ll be conscious before I join you in bed. I promise you that. I want to make sure you get to enjoy every minute with me.”

  I gazed at him in horror just as he jabbed me. He left the room, and I fought against the restraints. Slowly things got fuzzy, until I couldn’t fight anymore, and my eyes fluttered shut.

  Chapter Eight

  A loud commotion woke me up. Before I could comprehend what was going on, the pain hit me. Every inch of my body hurt, and stiffness like I’d never experienced made it impossible to lift my head. I gave up trying once I realized it only made the pain worse.