Tainted (Vastow Vampires Book 1)

by J Johnson

Dave clamps his hand over my mouth again before I can finish my sentence and the other man takes the phone back across the room. I assume the vision doesn’t come this time because of the pain I’m in. Thank God. I’m not sure I can handle both.

  “Call me at this number when you get it and we’ll discuss a trade. If I don’t hear from you by midnight, he’ll have another go at her and I won’t stop him this time.”

  Dave removes his hand and leans in close to my ear.

  “I’m kind of hoping he doesn’t deliver. I did so enjoy that.”

  If I had anything in my stomach at the moment, I’d throw up.

  When I wake up, I’m in a fetal position on the concrete floor. I’m shivering and would kill for some water. I try sitting up, but my body screams in protest. My back feels as though it’s being ripped apart with every movement. I make my way over to the bucket, although I’m not sure how I’m still using it since I haven’t eaten or drank anything. As I’m pulling my pants back up, the door opens and in comes the two men.

  “Your boyfriend didn’t deliver. Guess he doesn’t love you as much as he claims he does.”, Dave smiles. “Now I get to have a little fun while he listens.”

  He walks up to me holding a knife, still smiling while the older one pulls his phone out again. Dave takes the chain off my ankle and moves me across the room to yet another chain. This one coming from the rafter’s above. When I try to fight him, he punches me in the face hard enough to make me go limp. Damn, that hurt.

  Before I can fight back again, he has me strung up like a punching bag with my arms chained above my head. My feet are barely touching the floor, making it where my arms catch most of my weight. It hurts already, so I can imagine what it’ll feel like if I’m in this position for long periods of time.

  “That’s better.”, Dave smiles again. “Now let’s see how your boyfriend enjoys hearing you scream.”

  “I didn’t get what I asked for, so here’s a little preview of what’s going to happen to your girl if you don’t deliver soon.”

  The older one holds the phone up in the air towards us and nods at Dave. I open my mouth to yell for Zane, but a knife to the cheek stops me. Instead of yelling for him, I end up screaming. He uses the knife to cut my shirt off, leaving me only in a bra. I try to yell for Zane again, but the knife slices across my stomach, rendering another scream. I can hear yelling coming from the phone, but neither of them is paying any attention to it. They’re both focused on me.

  “A little more so he knows I’m not playing with him.”, the older one says. “This time make it good.”

  The look on Dave’s face frightens me. He’s enjoying this. He enjoys hurting me.

  “Please.”, I cry. “Please stop.”

  He grins and holds the knife to my chest. I try to brace myself for the pain but it’s still just as bad if not worse than the first few times. He slowly runs the knife down between my breasts, leaving a gash that’s steadily dripping blood. I try not to scream and give them what they want, but I can’t stop it. The noise that erupts from my throat is loud and sounds foreign to me. My eyes close on their own as I pass out.

  I come to moments later, the phone still held in the air and Dave still standing in front of me. What wakes me up is the fire in my chest. Dave is rubbing something on the wounds. Something white and it burns like the fiery pits of hell. I scream again, making him laugh. My head falls forward as I try to gain control over my screams, and I see that he’s aroused. My gag reflex takes over and I start dry heaving.

  “Oh, this just keeps getting better.”, he laughs. “Here. Have some water.”

  He shoves a bottle of water in my face and forces me to drink or drown. I drink. Gulp actually while trying not to choke on it.

  “Let’s do that again.”

  “Dave.”, the older one says. “Chill for a second.” He sticks the phone up to his ear. “This is what you’ll hear every day until I get what I want. Eventually she won’t be able to handle it anymore and she’ll die. It’s your move.”

  He holds the phone out towards me and Dave and nods. Dave grins widely as he cuts me open from right below my bra to my naval. I try to force myself to stay quiet again, but the scream comes out, anyway. I can faintly hear Zane yelling through the phone.

  “Zane.”, I groan.

  Dave cuts me again, this time from side to side across my stomach. My head falls forward as I try not to pass out from the pain, which only pisses Dave off. He’s apparently not happy unless I’m screaming. He rubs the white stuff into my fresh cuts and an ear-piercing scream erupts from me.

  “Good girl.”

  “Zane.”, I mumble as loud as I can force myself. “Please.”

  The yelling continues, but I can’t make out what he’s saying. The older man puts the phone back up to his ear.

  “You have until noon tomorrow or I’ll let him get more creative. Every twelve hours you’ll hear her screams until I get what I want. The diamond or ten million dollars, which is what it’s worth. Either of those things will satisfy me.” He hangs up and looks over at me. “I’m sorry you have to be in the middle of this Ashlyn, but you seem to be the only thing he really cares for.”

  “Jordan.”

  “Who the fuck is Jordan?”

  “He’s rich. He’ll give it to you. The money. If he has it, he’ll give it to you.”

  “Well, by all means then. What’s his number?”

  I spout Jordan’s number off hoping like hell I’m right. I know he’s loaded, but I really don’t know how much he has. I’m sure Zane has money too, but I don’t think it’s anything compared to what Jordan has.

  “Is this Jordan?”, he asks after dialing the number. “I have something that might interest you. Listen.”

  “Jordan!”

  “That my friend is Ashlyn. I have her here with me until her boyfriend gives me what I want. She thinks you might have it. Ten million dollars in cash or she’ll suffer in ways you can’t even imagine.”

  Dave takes this opportunity to slice into me again, making sure I scream so Jordan can hear me. My body goes limp as I fight tears and unconsciousness.

  “You both have until noon tomorrow or the pain will be worse.”

  My arms are numb and hurt like hell when I try to move them. My pants are covered in urine and my body is cut, bruised and dirty. I think it’s only been maybe six hours or so since they left, so I have six more before they return. I think. I’m hungry, thirsty, and want the hell out of here. When the door creaks open, I panic. They’re not supposed to be here yet. When Dave steps up out of the shadows, the panic really sets it. He’s alone.

  “I couldn’t wait another six hours to come back.”, he says. “I was lying on the couch and all I could think about was you hanging here waiting on me to come back.”

  “Go to hell.”, I croak. My voice is hoarse, and my mouth is dry.

  “Oh, I will, I’m sure. Just not today.” He pulls something out of his back pocket and steps towards me. A ray of light from the moon bounces off the object and I identify it as a knife. A big one. Bigger than the one from earlier. When he stops right in front of me, he grins. “Fuck this is going to be awesome.”

  He rips my pants off my body, leaving me in my bra and panties. My first thought is he’s fixing to rape me.

  “Please.”, I beg. “Don’t do this.”

  “Most people that do what I do like to gag their victims, so they don’t have to hear them scream or beg. Not me. I want to hear you beg me to stop. I want to hear you scream in pain. It’s exciting to me. Before I use this though, I want to try something else.”

  I’ve never seen a vision come true. I’ve known they come true by hearing stories about what happened, but I’ve never seen it for myself. Until now.

  He hits me with his fist right in the mouth. Pain explodes through my jaw, but I don’t have time to feel it because he hits me again. And again. Repeatedly for the next few minutes, he hits me. In my face. My stomach. My chest. I scream and moan in pain, but
it doesn’t slow him down. If anything, it fires him up more. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that he’s turned on by what he’s doing to me.

  “Damn! That feels good.”, he says then drops his pants. His cock springs free and I fear my worst nightmare is about to come true, but he doesn’t touch me. Instead, he touches himself. I close my eyes as he jacks off to my tortured, beaten body. His seed hits my leg, making me gag. When he’s finally done, he laughs.

  “I haven’t done this in so long, Ashlyn. I just want to thank you for being my first in an awfully long time. It makes you that much more special to me.”

  Tears are streaming down my face as I watch him pull the knife back out.

  Please… Someone help me.

  I’ve never known pain. Not until tonight. All the times I whined because I had a headache. All the times I moaned because I stubbed a toe or the times I was attacked are walks in the park compared to this.

  He moans with every cut, every stab, and every hit. He takes care of his arousal every few minutes, then continues his torment.

  “Fucking hell, Ashlyn.”, he moans again as he cuts into my breast. “You are so fucking hot.” He licks the blood gushing from the fresh wound and moans again. “And you taste so fucking good.”

  He’s done that many times, but it’s better than the alternative. I try again to make him stop. Surely, he’s getting tired. Even psychopaths need rest.

  “Dave.”, I whimper. “Please stop. I need to rest for a minute. I’m going to pass out.”

  I realized rather quickly that he does not want me passed out. Each time I have, he rubs the salt in my wounds to wake me up.

  “I’ll just use the salt, like always. It works.” He steps closer and slices into my cheek, then licks the blood. “I know now why he wants you so badly. It wouldn’t take much for me to take this to the next level. The only thing keeping me from doing it is that you are his Aroha and I don’t want to die. He’ll be pissed that I’ve harmed you, but nothing compared to if I fuck you. That’s a death sentence.”

  What the fuck is an Aroha?

  “Just five minutes. Please.”, I beg.

  He stares at me and for a split second I think he might stop. Suddenly he drops the knife and hits me in the nose. My eyes water instantly and my head falls forward.

  “Oh no you don’t.”, he growls. “I’m not done with you yet, beautiful.”

  He takes a handful of salt and rubs it all over the fresh cuts. I scream again, and he moans.

  “That’s it.”, he says. “Let’s see if I can do both at the same time.” He strokes himself with one hand and hits me in the face with the other. “Fuck. I should have been doing it like this the whole time.”

  He picks the knife up and slices into me. I’m so exhausted I’m not sure I can scream anymore. I think it pisses him off, but before he can slice into me again, the door opens. It’s the other guy. The one that tries to keep Dave from killing me.

  “What the fuck are you doing?”, he asks Dave. “I told you to leave her alone. I told you not to do anything to her. Do you not know who you’re fucking with? He will kill us both if we harm her. Jesus. What have you done?”

  “He hasn’t come yet, so obviously he doesn’t care too much. She’s been here for days and there’s been no sign of him. I’m not worried.”

  “Just stop.”, the older man sighs. “I need to call him, and I can’t have her screaming in the background as soon as he answers.”

  He dials a number on his cell and waits. Dave slaps his hand over my mouth to keep me from yelling out. More tears roll down my face as I realize I won’t be able to yell for help.

  “Do you have it?”, he says into the phone. “Maybe you need a little reminder of what I have here.”

  He nods to my tormentor who removes his hand from my mouth. I open my mouth to yell for Zane, but I scream instead. He cuts into my chest, deeper this time. The pain is excruciating. I faintly hear yelling from the phone, but I can’t speak. I’m losing consciousness.

  “I suggest you get me what I want or I’m going to let Dave continue carving on your woman. You have twelve hours, or I’ll mail you a piece of her in a box.”

  He hangs the phone up and turns to me.

  “Guess we’ll find out how important you really are to him.”

  I’ve lost count on how many times I’ve been cut and beaten. The sun comes up shedding a small stream of light in the room, then goes back down. Repeatedly until I have no idea how long I’ve been here. With each sunrise, I hope today will be the day that someone comes for me. Anyone. Jordan. Zane. The police. I don’t care who it is.

  Each day at noon I assume, then again at midnight (again… assuming here), they come in and find new ways to cause me pain. I’ve been sliced, beaten, stabbed, kicked, bit. At one point they poured gasoline on my foot and set it on fire. To say the pain was agonizing would be a colossal understatement. The longer Zane and Jordan take to get them what they want, the more painful my torture becomes.

  I haven’t slept in days and the only food and water I’m allowed to have is once a day and its garbage. I can’t help but wonder why no one has come yet. Why no one has given them what they want. Is my life not worth ten million dollars to either of them? I know it’s a lot of money, but I wouldn’t hesitate if the roles were reversed. Unless they just don’t have that kind of money.

  If I could, I’d cry, but my tear ducts dried up days ago. What I do know is if I ever get out of here, I’m going to kick both their asses right after I kill these two. Dave and Jeff, that’s the older guy's name, just walked back in for the daily torture session. I’m still chained to the ceiling and I can’t feel my arms anymore. Jeff sighs as he takes a seat in front of me.

  “I really thought he’d come for you, honey. I don’t like hurting people and if I would have known he wouldn’t come, I wouldn’t have taken you. It surprises me, actually.”

  “Does he know where I am?”, I grit through my teeth. “If he can’t find me then he can’t come, now can he?”

  “He could find you if he wanted to. All he has to do is give me the money or the diamond and I’ll give him the location. It’s that simple.”

  “Maybe they don’t have that kind of money. Everyone doesn’t walk around with ten million dollars in their pocket.”

  I want so badly to spit on him, but force myself to keep talking. As long as we’re talking, I’m not getting hurt. Dave stands off to the side, grinning as usual, with his arms crossed over his chest. He’s the one I don’t want near me. He’s the one that deals all the blows.

  “They have it. And even if they didn’t, they could get it between the two of them.”

  “So now what? Are you going to kill me now? Just get it over with already.”

  “No honey, no. I’m not going to kill you. I’m just trying to figure out what to do to get his attention. Something that will make him come running. Something that will make him give me what I want.”

  I don’t like the sound of this. What more could they possibly do to me?

  “Look. Just let me go and I’ll figure out how to get you the money.”

  “Yeah, right. You don’t have a pot to piss in. No. We’ll just have to go about this another way. Dave. Get ready.”

  I don’t know what they have planned, and I don’t want to know. Anything worse than what they’ve already done will kill me, I’m sure of it. My body can’t handle much more pain, and I’m already covered in cuts and bruises. I look and feel like I fell off a cliff. I watch as Dave opens up a bag I haven’t seen before and starts pulling out all kinds of contraptions. My eyes widen in horror with each tool he sets down on the table.

  A pair of pliers. A hammer. A whip. He has a fucking whip. It looks like the ones you see on TV that were used back in the old days. If that’s not bad enough, he pulls out power tools. A jigsaw. A drill. A sander. What the fuck? Is he building some kind of torture device for me? When he lines them all up on the table and grins, I realize what they’re for. H
e’s not building a torture device. Those are the torture devices. I scream as loud as I can and start trying to jerk the chains loose, which only amuses him.

  “Please don’t. I swear. Just call Zane and give me the phone. I’ll get him to get it. I swear. Just let me talk to him. Please.”, I beg Jeff.

  He nods. “Like I said, I don’t want to hurt you so we’ll try it your way first, but if you so much as hint around about where you are, I’ll let Dave loose on you and leave the room. There’s no telling what he’ll do if I’m not here to stop him.”

  “I won’t say a word. Not that I know where I am anyway, but I won’t say anything. I swear.”

  He punches the number in, and I can hear Zane yelling as soon as he picks up.

  “I’ve given you plenty of time and plenty of opportunities to give me what I want, but you still haven’t done as I’ve asked. So, here’s the deal. One time and one time only, I will let you talk to her. Once Zane. If you or she tries any funny business, I’ll let Dave do whatever he wants to her and trust me, he wants to do many, many things to her. Do I make myself clear?”

  Zane must agree because the next thing I know, he’s holding the phone up to my ear. Tears start falling and my eyes close at the sound of his voice.

  “Ashlyn, love. Are you okay?”, he asks.

  “No. Please come get me, Zane. Please.”

  “I’m coming. I promise you I’m coming. Where are you? What do you see?”

  “I can’t. He’ll hurt me if I tell you that. Please just give them what they want. I’ll pay you back somehow. Just give it to them.”

  “I can’t love. I don’t have it. I don’t have the diamond and I damn sure don’t have ten million dollars. I’ve tried negotiating with the son of a bitch, but he won’t go down. I’ve also tried to find the diamond and can’t seem to find who ended up with it.”

  “They’re going to kill me, Zane. Do something. Please.”

  “Okay. Okay. I will find you. Do you know how long it took you to get to where you are? Ten minutes?”

  “No.”, I reply. A spark of hope blooms in my chest as I realize what he’s doing. They’ll catch on though, so I add. “What about Jordan? Can he help?”