Bodyguards? But for who—Reyes or the man? Reyes hadn’t had bodyguards before, but then again, she hadn’t been escorting strangers in either.
Nita barely noticed when Kovit slunk in after everyone else.
The man turned to Mirella’s cage. He flashed a smile that gleamed like the polish on his black business shoes. “Hello, little one. Remember me?”
He spoke in English with the standard American accent, no hint of regional intonation slipping in.
Mirella stayed huddled under her covers, not moving.
The man tsked, and then said in clipped, heavily English-accented Spanish, “Ah, I forgot. Well, it’s nice to see you again.”
Mirella’s lips pressed into a thin line and her jaw clenched, but she didn’t respond.
His smile didn’t change, but his gaze was flat and cold. “I have to say, I’ve been looking forward to seeing you again. I was too busy with the others earlier to give you the attention you deserve.”
Mirella flinched, and Nita wondered if this man was what had happened to all the previous tenants of the cages.
Reyes raised an eyebrow. “I’ve heard it’s bad form to play with your food, Boulder.”
The man—Boulder—chuckled. “But that’s half the fun.”
“If you say so.” Reyes’ voice was bored. “Which part are you interested in?”
Boulder smiled, his eyes running over Mirella and lingering on her face, the curtain of hair only partially masking her toxic glare. “I’ve heard if you look at the person you want through the eye of a dolphin, they’ll fall in love with you.”
Reyes nodded. “I’ve heard that legend too. Do you have someone you’d like to fall in love with you?”
He snorted. “Of course not. But I have to wonder what kind of power eating an eye like that would give you.” Then he grinned with bleached white teeth. “And eyes are such a delicacy.”
Nita stared, frozen, as a small, light butterfly crawled up her throat and choked her. How could she have not seen this coming? She knew people liked to eat certain unnaturals “fresh.” The same kind of people who ordered pieces of Fabricio.
Mirella turned around, but didn’t respond. She just bared her teeth, but Nita could almost see the magma just beneath the surface of her skin, waiting to erupt.
Nita was surprised by how fast her heart raced. She was scared. Not for herself, but for Mirella. For what this man wanted to do. Nita didn’t even like Mirella—but whatever was about to happen, she wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
Then Boulder turned to Nita’s cage.
Nita’s heart stopped. He wasn’t going to . . . she wasn’t going to—
“What’s that one?”
“Ah.” Reyes smiled, teeth showing. “That is our latest acquisition. It arrived yesterday. It can heal itself. We’ve posted the video online. Have you seen it?”
“Ah, yes, I heard. There’s been quite a bit of chatter.” Boulder raised one hand and rested it on the glass of Nita’s cage. “Tell me, have you removed any parts of its body to test their effects?”
“We’re analyzing the composition of some of its skin now, but we haven’t removed anything else yet.”
Wait. Yet?
“Of course.” He shifted to stare at her. “You think that some of these healing properties will transfer themselves over when her body is consumed?”
Consumed.
“We believe so, yes, based on how other unnatural flesh interacts in humans. However, we have no conclusive proof.”
Consumed.
They were going to sell Nita off to be eaten.
“What about cutting parts off? Can it regrow severed body parts?”
Reyes smiled. “We’re monitoring the progress of an injury it’s healing. We hope to gain relevant data from how it heals, and potentially extrapolate.”
Nita’s heart slammed in her chest, and she opened her mouth to say she most definitely could not regrow severed body parts, but her throat was too tight, and nothing came out.
“Hmm. I’d love to see a demonstration.”
Reyes’ eyes flicked to Kovit, and her voice turned cold. “Go have fun.”
Kovit gave the woman an impassive, bland face. No twitching smile, no crazy eyes. It made him look almost normal—tense, but normal.
The blocky bodyguard pushed the button to unlock the door, and the sniffly one hovered threateningly. Just in case Nita decided to run past Kovit and make a break for it? Not likely. Not with that many people.
Nita’s eyes returned to Kovit. He’d pulled his switchblade out and opened the door. While last time he’d come in, grin wide with anticipation, this time there were circles under his eyes like he hadn’t slept, and he seemed dissatisfied with the whole affair.
He was probably unhappy he couldn’t make her scream. She had no sympathy for him.
Kovit took a step toward Nita, and she backed away.
He stopped, arms falling to his sides. “Are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?”
Nita licked her lips, glancing around the room. “What are my options?”
“Option one: you hold out your arm, and I cut you.” Kovit twirled his switchblade and gave her a half grin. “Option two: you struggle until Reyes’ men hold you down, and then I cut you.”
That wasn’t much of an option. Nita held out her arm.
The switchblade was fast and sure across her skin. A piece of skin came off with his knife and stuck to the blade. Blood welled up and began a slow slither down her arm from the cut. Kovit took a step back. Everyone outside the cell turned their attention to Nita’s cut, waiting.
After a minute, Boulder turned to Reyes. “Why isn’t she healing?”
Reyes looked to Kovit, who shrugged and said, “Ask her.”
Turning her attention to Nita, Reyes smiled. “You’re slowing your healing on purpose, aren’t you?”
Nita didn’t respond.
Reyes’ smile remained firmly in place. “I see. You don’t like the little demonstration. But you see, I need you to be a good girl and heal it up. If you don’t, I’m afraid things will get . . . unpleasant.”
Nita’s gaze flickered to Kovit.
“Oh, no, don’t worry about him. He’s not reacting to you, which means you can’t feel pain, can you? I bet you can turn that ability off. Clever girl.” Reyes folded her hands behind her back and took a pace forward. “I’m sure pain won’t motivate you. But you see, there are a great many other things that will.”
Nita watched, wary of her smile. What did she have planned? If she couldn’t hurt Nita, what would she do? Nita resisted the urge to let her eyes flick to Boulder.
Reyes turned to Kovit.
“Cut her fingers off. We’ll see if they grow back.”
Nita’s body stiffened, and her mouth was moving before her brain had time to connect to the words. “I’m healing. Right now. See, look—healing.”
As she spoke, her mind was already focused on clotting blood, knitting skin back together. The wound dried up and scabbed over. It slowly began to close, and within five minutes, the shallow cut was a thin red line on her arm.
Boulder hissed in pleasure. Reyes’ smile had never left her face. “Good girl.”
Nita tried to swallow her fear, but couldn’t, because it was leaking out her eyes.
“How much?” Boulder asked.
“We’re hoping to auction some pieces later this week. There are a great many buyers interested, and several already have plans to fly out and view it. You’re welcome to participate in the auction.”
He took a step forward and brushed his fingers over the glass wall that separated him from Nita. “Would you be willing to sell me that fresh strip of skin?”
“For yourself?”
“Yes.” He licked his lips, turning his attention to the piece of skin on Kovit’s knife.
Reyes considered. “You know how valuable this one could potentially be. It won’t be cheap.”
“Name your price.”
“I want the name of your contact in the FBI. The one you bribed, who made the human trafficking charges against you disappear.”
Boulder pursed his lips, eyes narrowing. “Very well.”
Reyes nodded to Kovit, and he held out the knife. Boulder strode over and plucked the strip of skin off it.
And ate it.
It was gone in one swallow, Nita’s blood not even touching his white, white teeth. “Immortality awaits.”
A piece of Nita had just been eaten.
She hadn’t really thought about the part of being kidnapped where they made money. Part of it had been a childish belief that she would be rescued before she had to worry about it, or maybe even escape on her own. But the bigger part, she had to admit to herself, had known what all this meant, but hadn’t wanted to acknowledge it.
After all, this was Nita’s job. Except this time, she was the one lying on the dissection table.
Someone, maybe this man, maybe someone else, was going to buy her. Then they were going to drink her blood, cut out pieces of her, and see what happened. Certain unnatural body parts had properties. Kappa body parts were a deadly poison. Zannie body parts could be used for pain relief and as an anesthesia. Unicorn bone caused people to get high.
What would pieces of Nita do?
This man at least seemed to think they’d give him immortality. Nita wasn’t so sure about that, but it seemed plausible. Plausible enough that she was sure an awful lot of other people would be interested to find out as well. And see how extensive her powers were.
Nita felt nauseous. Someone was going to cut her up and eat her. Boulder had already started. Was this some sort of karma?
No, you can’t think like that. They were already dead when they got to your table. You couldn’t have done anything else, her mind insisted.
Yeah, and when there was a live captive, you set him free, another voice agreed.
Why, you’re a regular saint! a third chimed in.
Is it healthy to have this many voices inside your head? Nita wondered.
“Time will tell.” Reyes pursed her lips, examining Mirella and then turning to Boulder. “I’ll have my people remove the eye here and bring it to you. In the meantime . . .”
Boulder nodded, eyes never leaving Mirella. “I’ll have my people bring the money. Same as last time. And I’ll get you the name and contact details.”
“Excellent. We’ll bring it to your office.”
Boulder tore his eyes from Mirella long enough to shake hands with Reyes and leave.
His footsteps echoed on the concrete as he departed. The sound of the door opening hadn’t even registered before Reyes swung over to the sniffly bodyguard. “Lorenzo.”
Lorenzo turned to her and swallowed. “Yes, Señora?”
She glared. “Look at me when I’m speaking to you.”
Reyes switched to Spanish easily, and it sounded just as smooth and native as her English, though it was an accent Nita was unfamiliar with.
Lorenzo swallowed and looked up.
Reyes’ eyes narrowed. “You’ve been sampling the product.”
Nita could see it now. His pupils were dilated, and his breath came too fast. His sweat glittered like tinsel.
He was high on powdered unicorn bone.
Nita was surprised to see someone using unicorn bone here. It was more of a problem in Europe and the States—unicorns were from western Europe, after all. After Nita’s mother had cleared out hundreds of unicorns while they were living in Germany and the US, she’d flooded the market. It had lowered the price of the drug to something affordable, and now it was considered a major epidemic in several states.
Her mother was holding on to a huge stash, waiting for the product to become scarce after the glut of new addicts so she could parcel it out, bit by bit, for crazy-high prices.
“Ah . . .” Lorenzo looked away.
Reyes’ voice dropped low and cold. “If I ever see you using while you’re on the job again, I’ll give you to Kovit. Understood?”
Lorenzo’s eyes went huge, and he nodded, body shaking slightly as his eyes flitted to Kovit, who smiled at him with undisguised hunger. Finally, he lowered his head and whispered, “Yes, Señora.”
“Good.” Reyes turned away and waved her hand at the two bodyguards. “Bring the girl to the workroom.”
Lorenzo pressed the button on the wall, and Mirella’s cage buzzed open. As they stepped in, Mirella screamed and threw her blanket at Lorenzo, and then tackled the short, blocky guard.
He stumbled backwards, howling, but Lorenzo grabbed her arm, tossing the blanket off, and smashed her against the glass wall. He twisted the arm behind her back and pulled until she howled. But still she struggled, kicking backwards at him, tears making her face squeak as it slid along the glass.
Nita met Mirella’s eyes, saw the rage and panic there. Reyes nodded to the guards, and they dragged Mirella out, still struggling.
Tears rolled down Nita’s cheeks as Mirella’s screams echoed through the building. Her throat closed in on itself. She fought between the desire to cry out for all of this to stop, and the urge to stay quiet and invisible so Reyes wouldn’t notice her.
Silence didn’t save Nita from Reyes’ attention. She examined Nita with a cool eye. “Are you upset about your cellmate?”
Nita’s jaw clenched. “Her name is Mirella.”
“So it is.” Reyes smiled slightly, and made to walk away, but paused. “Ah. There is the matter of your troublesome display.”
Nita stiffened.
“Kovit, I gave you an order.”
Wait. Reyes couldn’t mean . . . No. This wasn’t happening. She’d done what Reyes told her to!
Her breath coming in harsh gasps, Nita stumbled back, remembering Fabricio’s screams as her mother sliced off his ear. Nita imagined herself screaming as her fingers came off one by one and Boulder popping them into his mouth like mozzarella sticks. She thought she might simply die of terror from the culmination of everything she’d seen. She’d heard about that happening to people. If ever there was a time in her life, now would be it.
Kovit blinked and looked up at Reyes. “She can’t feel pain.”
“So? What does that have to do with cutting off her fingers?” Reyes raised her eyebrows.
Kovit shifted, clearly uncomfortable. Reyes laughed and turned to Nita.
“I’ll give you a choice. You can either lose three fingers, or you can turn your pain back on and let Kovit have his fun for an hour. It’s up to you.”
Kovit and Nita stared after Reyes as she strode after Boulder and the bodyguards, and then Kovit turned to her. Nita skittered to the back of the cage.
What a choice. Be tortured or lose your fingers.
Nita thought about it for a moment, but the conclusion was an easy one to come to.
“I’m not turning my pain circuits on.” Her voice trembled.
Yes, she would lose her fingers. And she didn’t dare even attempt to grow them back—not that she even thought she could—because Reyes might get ideas. But she had no guarantee Kovit’s torture wouldn’t do more damage than just losing her fingers. Besides, they were planning to cut her up anyway. Reyes had just said so—they were selling pieces of her. If it was going to happen no matter what, why would she also add torture to her list of horrors to endure?
More important, if Kovit thought he could threaten her into turning her pain circuits on, what was to stop him from doing it again? He could threaten to do almost anything to her if he thought she’d turn her pain circuits back on. She didn’t dare give him that kind of blackmail.
Kovit looked at her for a long moment. Nita met his gaze head-on, trying to summon the bravery to go through with her choice.
He sighed and pocketed his knife. “I wouldn’t in your situation either.”
He left her cage and locked the door behind him. Nita stared at him for a moment. “You’re not—”
“No.”
He watched as she collapsed onto the ground, beg
inning to sob in great heaving breaths and rocking. Nita knew she should do or say something, but she’d been so scared. And now that Reyes was gone and Kovit was out of the cage, all she could do was cry in remembered terror.
Then Kovit left, his passage marked by the distant screams of Mirella as she was dragged away.
Thirteen
KOVIT BROUGHT HER meal and a bottle of water at some point, but Nita didn’t touch them, too terrified he’d change his mind and cut off her fingers like Reyes wanted. Her body shook—she couldn’t seem to stop it. Not even when she went and tried to calm the muscles, tried to stimulate hormones for happiness and relaxing. Nothing helped.
Her mind simply couldn’t seem to stop whirring, desperately attempting to process events. What had happened. What was going to happen. It was one thing to be locked in a cage. Nita was familiar with the black market—she knew how the processes went. In a sense, the situation felt familiar, even if the roles were reversed. More unnerving, like looking at a picture that looked slightly off but you couldn’t pinpoint why.
This, Nita realized with a sudden, painful clarity, this was what the black market really was. Her mother had in some ways protected her, kept her away from the messy, living parts of it. Nita had only seen the aftermath, the bodies. And those were easily taken apart and forgotten.
She thought of Fabricio, screaming, body curled in the fetal position because he couldn’t stretch out, fighting as her mother hacked away at him. How many people who ended up on her dissection table had experienced that? How many had her mother tortured for information, trying to find more potential victims? Had her father known and participated? Casually cut off the fingers of those who wouldn’t cooperate?
Nita buried her face in her sweatpants, letting the fabric soak up the moisture even as the air conditioning dried it right off her face. She had spent her whole life aiding and abetting this industry. Cutting up bodies and shipping them off. And she had enjoyed it.
Her fingers twitched, reaching for a scalpel that wasn’t there. If someone had put a body in front of her and asked her to dissect it, she would still have enjoyed it. It was too integral to who she was now. She liked cutting people up.
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