Triggered (Blackbird Book 1)
Page 6
Corey’s head hung low. “Anyways...I know it’s nothing close to the amount of time you were with them but…” His hand came up to the back of his neck, rubbing hard enough to leave red lines. “I suck at this.” He turned around, staring down at the sink that was in the island. “Quinn wants me to talk to you about it. Because you are going to have flashbacks. You’re going to have times where you are terrified they are coming back for you. You are going to have, as Quinn says, PTSD. I still...I still have times that I’m not quite sure where I am...When I’m back in that basement, listening to the sounds of...of the torture. Listening to it was worse than getting it...for me anyways.” His eyes moved up to mine and he looked a little lost. “Shit, I’m scaring you aren’t I? I told Quinn I was no good at this.”
“No, no.” I was quick to say but yes...yes he was. Not because of what he went through or anything...he scared me because he was right. Had I not just thought Six was behind me not long ago? I took a deep breath and held out a triangle. “Want one? It’s good.”
He chuckled as he took the triangle, staring at it before looking up at me. “You like it?”
I picked up the last piece and took a bite. “Yep,” I said with a mouth full of food.
He stared at the sandwich before taking a small bite.
“I know what you mean,” I said. “It doesn’t matter if you go through a few hours or a couple days or weeks...it messes a person up either way. I know I’m bound to be screwed up somehow. Sick in the head at times. What do I do though? Ignore it? Run from it?”
“I ran at first,” he said. “Then I ignored it...then I teamed up with the guys and...I fought it, fought them.”
I thought about that for a moment. Instinct would have me running but I knew I wasn’t weak, I knew I was skilled thanks to my dad...I wanted to fight too, but fear still kept me at bay.
“Thanks, for the sandwich.” I smiled. “I actually feel good now. Instead of wanting to puke my guts out.”
“Well I’m glad to be of service, want another?” I didn’t want to push it, but now that I had eaten I felt starved. We moved to the couch after he made me another sandwich and poured me a glass of milk, stating it tasted better with milk.
Corey opened up a laptop that sat on the coffee table and put on a movie. I wasn’t paying attention to what it was. My stomach was finally full and content. I didn’t feel sick for once, and so my eyelids became very heavy.
Chapter 7
I woke up stretched out on the black leather sectional. A heavy knitted blanket keeping me cozy and warm as the sweet scent of honey filled my senses. I could hear voices in the kitchen and held my breath for a moment, listening.
“He wants her back now.” Quinn’s voice was soft, quiet.
“Then we bring her.” Seth’s deep accent rumbled.
“Seriously she just started eating. At least give her a few more days!” Damion argued. “Let her go outside, we should take her to the river and–”
“And what? Wait for them to come?” Quinn seemed impatient. “Tell him Core.”
There was a moment of silence and for a minute I thought they had left the room. “The tracker is noticing a shift...a concentration. I think they are trying to tail us.” Corey’s voice was a whisper.
“How long?” Seth took charge.
“A few days yet...I don’t know. Something has changed though. I think....I think it has to do with him.”
Another thoughtful moment passed before Seth spoke. “We leave once she wakes. We get her to the Ranch.”
“Fuck.” Damion breathed out. “Do you really think she will be able to heal there? She hasn’t even come to terms with what's going on! I can feel it every time–”
“Da–”
“I get where you’re coming from.” Corey cut someone off. “I do Dame. But right now isn’t the time to heal. Right now is the time to get her the fuck away so we can kill this bastard. Sitting here leaves her open, you must see that. Even with the wards, if they are desperate enough they will find something powerful enough to break them.”
“The Ranch is the safest place. Ty wants her there, that’s where we are going. It’s a three day straight drive as long as we don't hit any bumps,” Seth said, his word final.
“Will they know where we are taking her?” Quinn asked.
“They aren’t stupid, Quinn...the moment we step from these wards...we need to be prepared.” Corey’s voice gave me chills.
The guys went about their business packing things up. It wasn’t long after their morning huddle that I decided to “wake up.” Damion had me sitting up at the breakfast bar eating an egg omelette, my stomach seemed to handle it better now that it remembered how to digest food and not reject it.
After I finished off half the omelette my stomach was full and my mind started wandering. They were after me...I knew that Six had been reporting to someone. Every now and then he would get mad at his orders and take it out on me. As far as I knew though Six was in charge. He ordered the others, he carried out most of my punishments, or as he liked to call them, therapy sessions.
A whistle brought me out of my mind and I looked up at Damion. He had a red sucker in his mouth, his fingers holding onto the stick as he leaned back against the fridge. He winked at me. “We have your back,” he said, as if sensing my worry.
I said nothing as I looked back down at my omelette. It was cute and nice of him. But I knew the truth. Only one man in my life has ever had my back, and with him gone it was now my turn to watch myself. My turn to take matters in my own hands. I knew what these demons were capable of and I would be damned if I allowed them to take me again.
I looked back up to Damion, meeting his steady gaze. “I need weapons.” A slow smirk spread across Damion’s face.
“It’s a black bird,” Dad said to me. We stood staring down at the small injured creature. It looked up at us however it didn’t look fearful, even though compared to it, we were giants. The medium sized black beaked creature stared up at us as if to plead that we end its agony. Its wing was hanging down unnaturally.
“It’s hurt,” I whispered, though only seven years old I felt compassion for this creature. My dad went to scoop it up and as if guessing its fate the bird lay limp in his hands. “What will we do? It looks ready to die,” I asked dad.
“It looks ready but it’s not dead yet” my dad answered, he held the bird up to look into its yellow eyes. “If you can still breath, you can still fight.” The bird tilted its head to the side, assessing the two of us in an odd human like way.
“Nyet.” Seth was firm, his accent slightly stronger. “She doesn’t need a gun.”
We were all standing outside. Damion trying to explain to Seth that I should be armed, Corey and Quinn ignoring us as they packed up the SUV…cowards. Seth, I had learned, was a stubborn ass.
I crossed my arms. “She is right here and she would like to defend herself.” My voice was almost back to the way it had been, strong, only a slight rasp lingered.
Seth’s blue eyes turned to me and I felt like I was being chastised by my father. “Nyet, you don’t need a gun, I don’t need a hole in my ass because you can’t shoot.”
“Whatever.” Damion backed down and stepped back, but I wasn’t having any one that.
I stood straight, my chest pushed out, and took a step forward, looking him straight in the eye. “If you do recall, I believe I saved your ass, and theirs. You were the one leaving yourself so open that I was able to pluck that gun right from your holster.”
Seth frowned and stepped closer to me, looking down and trying to be intimidating, however I knew my skills, as weak as I was at the moment, and knew I could take him. I refused to back down. His lips twitched at my lack of fear but he didn’t smile. “Nyet,” he repeated and then stormed off back into the cabin.
I let out a frustrating sigh before turning away. At the back of the SUV Quinn, Corey, and Damion stood smiling at me. “Don’t you have something to do?” I snapped and they laughed.
It was Quinn, who’s shoes came into my line of vision as I glared at the ground in front of me. He held a medium sized knife that was sheathed in what seemed to be a holster.
“It’s a side holster,” he said. “You can wear it under your jacket or shirt. I know it’s not a gun.” He held it out to me, staring at the knife and not at me.
I sighed. “But it’s something.”
The corner of his lips twitched. “Just don’t cut yourself, it’s super sharp and I will never hear the end of it. Plus, Seth would never trust you with a gun.”
It wasn’t long before we were packed up and I was sandwiched in the back between Damion and Quinn. Seth drove and Corey sat in the passenger seat with his laptop, some odd radar or map program on the screen. It was hard to get a good look of it. I peaked out Quinn’s window. “What are the wards?” I asked him.
“Spells,” Damion answered. “Enchantments.”
My palms become sweaty and I tried to rub them on my borrowed pants but I couldn’t get rid of the clammy feeling. I tried to distract myself. “How far do the wards reach?”
“To the end of the drive,” he stated simply, his voice soothing and calm.
“Spells... Like...like magic? Are you guys wizards or something?” I didn’t mean for my voice to come out frantic, or on edge, but I couldn’t help it. One step over these wards and there was a possibility the demons would come for me. I held onto the side knife I had in its holder under a plaid shirt I had borrowed. Corey’s eyes shot up to the rearview mirror, meeting my gaze. Quinn shifted next to me but it was Damion who drew my attention.
He laughed, unwrapping a cherry lollipop he took from his pocket and then popping it into his mouth. “Wizards. I wish. Somehow I didn’t get my acceptance letter.” He sunk down into his seat, throwing his arm around my shoulders.
As his fingers made contact with my bare skin on my arm there literally was a whoosh feeling within me. My breath was sucked out of me and with it went the anxiety, the worry. As I drew in a new breath I felt a calmness settle over me. I was still alert, but oddly enough I felt...safe.
Corey looked over his shoulder at Damion who just shrugged at him.
“See, things like wards and enchantments they use alchemy and chakra. Anyone can perform them as long as you have been trained to control your chakra. Not anyone should use them because there is a fine line between using it correctly and screwing up and unlocking something you had no business touching.”
“It’s like white magic and black magic,” Quinn clarified.
I nodded. The SUV came to the end of the long driveway and just like that Seth turned left and we were heading down the main road. There was no massive explosion, or grand finale, or millions of demons waiting for me like I had imagined. We just turned, and the SUV drove down the road like it belonged there. With Damion’s fingers running circles on my arm I could feel my whole body calm down. My eyes became heavy as I started leaning right into him. Sweet candied cherries filling my senses as I fell into a peaceful sleep.
“Can you hear them?” I cradled the black bird in my arms as we walked through the woods. His wing remained bandaged, my dad’s handiwork. “Do you hear your family?” I asked him.
The little creature tilted his head to the side to look up at me, as he often did, and though I was young I felt a sort of connection between us. I leaned over and rubbed my nose along his feathers and gave him a small kiss. I was proud of my bird, and he seemed to like it. “You will be with them soon, don’t worry. We will get you all fixed up.”
Everyday I walked with him in the woods, cared for him, until Dad said it was time to take his bandages off. I was sad. More than sad, I was devastated. I cried as Dad carried the black bird outside, cupped in his hands.
“Don’t do it Daddy! Please don’t do it!” I tried hanging onto his arms.
Dad stopped walking and turned to kneel in front of me, his blue eyes warm and understanding. “Evangeline,” he said, serious now, “we can’t keep him cooped up in a box. He was hurt and we helped him get better, now it is his time to move on and keep living.”
“But he’s my friend,” I cried. “I don’t want him to leave me.”
“Hold out your hands.” My dad nodded to me. I cupped my hands and he carefully transferred the bird into them. “If he is your friend then you will let him be free with the other birds instead of keeping him for selfish reasons.”
Tears ran down my face as I looked down at him, his yellow eye looking up at me as usual, studying me as if he knew what was going on and wondering what I would do. “Bye…I will miss you.” Slowly I opened my hands to give him movement. He stood perched on my hand for a few moments before stretching his wings out and then taking off.
I hoped I would see him again, as I walked through the woods everyday, but I didn’t. He had left me.
Chapter 8
“Why did you let him go in by himself?” Corey’s voice woke me up. “He’s taking way too long.”
I stretched as much as I could in the back seat of the SUV. “How are you feeling?” Quinn asked.
“I have to pee,” I announced.
Quinn laughed and Corey opened his door. “I will take you, I have to make sure Damion doesn’t buy the whole damn candy aisle again.”
I got out of the SUV, happy to stretch my legs. I gave a smile to Seth who was pumping gas into the vehicle, and then followed Corey into the small, off-the-main-highway, gas station. I breathed in the fresh air as I took my time walking. The sun felt amazing. After being cooped up inside for so long I enjoyed the short walk from the SUV to the store. Corey went right to Damion who stood in the candy aisle with two arms full of treat bags. I went straight to the bathroom.
The place was gross, I would think with it being off the main highway that it would be somewhat clean, but nope. It reeked like someone had just taken a deuce, paper towels were on the ground with little bits of toilet paper. If I didn’t have to go so badly I would have just left. There was a small air refresher plugged into the wall but it did very little to cover the smell.
I moved quickly to use the toilet, not wanting to be there any longer than I had to. It was as I was sitting, toilet paper in one hand, urine flowing, that my heart began to beat erratically. I couldn’t slow it down, I tried to take short breaths to relieve the pain in my chest but my vision began to blur, my body became numb. Small cries escaped my throat.
He had me by the scruff of the shirt as he threw me into the bathroom. The pungent scent was what hit me first. Mold mixed with urine had me gagging. The bathroom was small, a stand up shower, a tiny toilet, and a sink. I’m sure the walls were white at one point too, only now the dried urine everywhere caused the dirt to stick. Did they not know how to aim?
I looked around the bathroom and threw up a little in the back of my throat. “Ever hear of bleach?”
Number Four smiled, his teeth looked as if he had filed them all into fangs, his long blonde hair as dirty as the bathroom toilet. “Why yes little toy, however I prefer to use it for other things than cleaning, perhaps I will show you one day.”
Yep, I just threw up a bit more. I sighed and waited while he just stared at me. Four smiled and said nothing, finally I lost it on the clueless bastard. “I need to pee,” I hinted.
He shrugged. “So.”
I looked around the bathroom. “There are no windows, no way of escaping. Ever hear of privacy?”
His black eyes seemed to get darker, his chin tilting down. “I like to watch.”
My body froze, my heart picking up in pace as I registered the danger in his stance. “Fuck you,” I spat.
He laughed and I could feel my full bladder drop. This room was disgusting, the toil
et was disgusting, and I don’t think he was going to leave any time soon.
I stood there, staring at the floor in front of his feet. I couldn’t do this, but I had to. I had to go so badly it was nearly painful. I tried not to think about it but I could feel my bladder get heavier and heavier. “I won’t go until you leave.”
Bad mistake Ava. Four walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. I backed up as far as I could until I hit the door of the stand up shower. I held my hands up, I knew it wouldn’t stop him but I couldn’t just stand there lifeless. “Six said not to touch me!” I yelled quickly, the words flying from my mouth so fast I could barely speak them.
“Ah, little toy, he said no penetration. He said nothing about no touching.”
Four grabbed hold of my wrist, only he didn’t know who he was messing with. I pulled back my other fist and clocked him one, square in the jaw, his head snapped back as pain radiated through my arm.
“You bitch!” He grabbed my throat and slammed me back against the glass door, hard enough that I was seeing colours dance in my vision and I could hear the glass cracking behind me.
Four brought his fist back and swung it through the air, making contact with my stomach and knocking the wind out of me. All at once the pain caused sweat to break out on my back and I began heaving and vomiting, it was almost as if he had punched my stomach up in an attempt to make me choke on it.
The force of the retching caused me to lose all control over my full bladder. Hot liquid soaking my shorts and streaming down my legs. I tried desperately to make it stop, I squeezed my thighs as tightly as I could but Four brought his hand forward, the other still holding me up by my throat, and grabbed my most sensitive part. The shock caused me to lose all control and my bladder emptied itself immediately, all over his hand that still gripped me hard. He began rubbing his thick length against my hip, grinding himself into me. I was nothing, I could have been some random stripper on a porn site for all he cared. Hell I could have been a sex doll. As soon as he was done he dropped me on the floor, sitting in the puddle of my own urine. My crotch was throbbing, the blood rushing back with painful force after the grip he had had on it. I had never felt so violated, so worthless, so fucking dirty in my life. And as he walked away, the only thing I could say to myself was you fucking slut.