Caged

  At one point, the steel grey stare of the one on the left met my scrutiny. Vibrations curled my lips with a growl I restrained. The guy’s expression gave no indication he’d noticed. Maybe he believed I offered him no threat.

  I intended to put him straight on that matter.

  The spectators thinned, and the noise levels dwindled as, one by one, they left through double doors in the back wall.

  I peered through the stragglers to get a glimpse beyond the circular room that confined those of us left, yet saw nothing to suggest a way out of the building. No windows. No other doors. Only a chandelier that hung above the departing crowd and illuminated the differing shades of hair as they passed beneath.

  Once the doors had closed behind the last of the humans, a quiet hum fell over the space, and my gaze swung upward, toward the half-moon balcony.

  Empty.

  Where had my thoughts drifted to that I’d missed them leaving?

  Um … escape routes, maybe?

  “You can change back, now.”

  At Catherine’s voice, I whipped my head to the right, chuffing my scoff at her smiling face.

  “Change back, Ethan.”

  I sent her a growl—my only way to communicate the curses inside my head.

  Her smile diminished. “If you don’t, I’ll make you.” She glanced over her shoulder at her shadowing friend. “Joseph, go fetch the adrenaline shots.” Back to me, her smile returned. “Or maybe you’d prefer wolfsbane.”

  My shoulders tensed, body coiled tight and ready to spring, until rationality took control and reminded me I’d already accepted enough needless bashes for one day.

  With a snarl of disgust at the vampires, I stalked away and prepared to change back.

  • • •

  “Bet you think you’re clever, don’t you?” Catherine said.

  “I don’t think I’m anything.” I strode over and snatched my jeans off the floor, tugging them over my left leg. “Let us out.” I fed in my right leg and slid the denim over my hips.

  “I’ll let you out when I’m ready, Ethan.”

  My growl escaped as I went to button my jeans.

  “Oh, quit with the dramatics.” She lifted a forearm above her head and leaned into the door. “Would it help if I said you impressed me with your skills?”

  I left the top two studs undone to allow air to the still-seeping wound below my navel. “Sure, because impressing you has been my number one aspiration since I got here.” I pivoted away and padded across to the prone panther.

  “You showed excellent control,” Catherine said. “I’d heard that about you.”

  I looked back to her. “From who, exactly?”

  “You can’t build up a rep and not expect word to spread.”

  I could have argued I’d gone to no effort to build up a reputation, or that I had no idea how word could spread when most of my fights finished with the other party no longer breathing. Instead, I shrugged—wincing beneath the tug to the gashes across my shoulder—and dropped into a squat beside Brook.

  “Funny, though,” she said

  My head tilted.

  “You never struck me as the kind to show mercy.”

  “I don’t.” I shuffled my arms beneath Brook’s torso and hefted her off the floor with a grunt. “But I choose who I do and don’t kill. Not you. I told you I wouldn’t play your games, and I meant it.” My thigh muscles bunched as I straightened my legs, and a jiggle of the panther settled her into the crook of my arms above my stinging injury.

  Catherine’s expression could have set stone when I turned to her. “What exactly do you think you’re doing?”

  “Taking her back down with me.”

  The blonde waves surrounding her face followed the shake of her head. “Not your job.”

  “My supposed kill. My cleanup.” I angled back a little to accommodate carrying Brook’s mass on my walk to the door. “Untidiness isn’t my thing. Now, let us out.”

  Her eyebrow lifted. “You think I’m going to simply allow you to walk out of there?”

  I rolled my eyes. “What are you afraid of, Catherine? You have your weapons. And your backup. I have my damn arms full. I’m good, but even I have limitations.” I adjusted my grip on the feline, stepping closer to the exit.

  Neither Catherine nor Joseph moved. Only two blank expressions stared at me.

  I let out a low growl. “Open the door, already. It stinks in here.”

  Catherine sent a small nod Joseph’s way. “Let them out.”

  From his pocket, he withdrew a bunch of keys, and showed no hesitation before he chose one, inserted it, and a twist of his wrist unlocked the catch holding me and my feline hostage. The keys returned into his pocket, and his hand reached behind his back, revealing a dart gun.

  Where the hell do they keep hiding them? Down the back of their pants?

  Catherine kicked in the door.

  I stepped back as it swung toward me, and forward to enter the passage. In my arms, Brook’s length filled the corridor. Unless they wanted to flatten themselves to the walls, the vampires had little choice but to take the lead.

  More relaxed than Joseph, Catherine turned her back on me and trailed her fingers across the stone as she wandered ahead. Her guardian, or whatever the hell Joseph could be considered, walked backward along the route. One black eye stared through the small glass lens of his weapon, whilst his lid concealed the other, as though he struggled to keep me in his sights with both eyes open at the same time.

  About twenty yards into the passageway, an iridescent glow drew my attention down at the same time as Brook’s body alterations tickled the flesh along my forearms. Even up close, I couldn’t comprehend the ease with which she shifted—couldn’t follow it with my eyes. Within seconds, her rump in my one hand had been replaced by a butt cheek, and her shoulder blade nestled into the palm of my other.

  I paused to adjust, nudging her higher, attempting to find less invasive spots to grip. The motion rolled her, until an arm flopped to dangle below, and the twist of her head tangled her hair around her slackened features.

  Battle scars decorated her flesh, paled to paint a map of injuries past, and I couldn’t help but wonder how long she’d been held captive, in how many fights she’d been made to perform. I also wondered if she’d leave with me, given the chance, because I doubted my conscience would allow me to walk away and leave her behind.

  “She’s truly beautiful, don’t you think?” Joseph asked.

  I lifted my gaze from the panther, found Joseph’s smile aimed my way. “Sure.” ‘Cept she smells like a cat.

  “You want her?”

  At Joseph’s question, Catherine made a slow turn round to us.

  I shook my head. The small movement sent a sting shooting from my left shoulder to the side of my neck—another panther scratch located.

  “You sure?” Joseph smiled, raising his eyes to peer over the scope. “Could make arrangements for you.”

  “Very accommodating.” I met his gaze, yet I doubted any humour warmed mine. “First, I’m offered Kyle to keep me company. Now, you try to give me a cat. Your room service sucks, you know that?”

  “Give him a week, maybe two.” Joseph’s face half-turned to Catherine. “Once the frustration kicks in, he’ll lose his pickiness.”

  The smile that crept across Catherine’s features chilled me—and not simply because of the quick draw of her fangs.

  I suppressed my shudder. “I very much doubt that.”

  Joseph continued to share his smirk, and Catherine ran her tongue across each sharp bicuspid before whirling to walk forward again.

  Once it seemed as though we’d trekked full circle, Catherine swung open a door on the left. From the freshness of the atmosphere within, I recognised it as the stair
case to the underground chamber.

  The same two goons guarded the lower doors. They didn’t appear to have altered their ready stance from earlier, at all. Their eyes flitted from me to the limp form in my arms.

  Stocky vamp’s brow quirked up. “What’s going on?”

  “We got ourselves a new breed of predator, it would seem,” Joseph said.

  “Two never come back down.” His voice held a deep gruffness, like his words had to sift through gravel to reach us.

  “I know.” Catherine moved forward, patted him on the shoulder. “Apparently, Ethan doesn’t like to kill his prey. Imagine that. No more unnecessary corpses. No more finding replacements for decent fighters.” Excitement tinged her tone. Her eyes danced when she turned them on me. “With a few more Ethan’s, we could evolve.”

  I’d refused to play their game. To bow to their demands. To kill at their will. All I’d succeeded in doing was giving them ideas. “You going to open the doors?” I stepped closer to the entrance, biting down on my growl. I’d rather be back in my cage than listening to this bullshit.

  With a high pitched laugh that grated through my jaw, Catherine broke from Mr Shithouse, and leaned into the chamber doors.

  Every scent from earlier drifted out. I took a deep breath, a final intake of clean air, and forced my feet to carry me back inside.

  Eyes peered out from behind bars. Whatever their thoughts at the two of us returning, they didn’t verbalise them, and nothing but the life-sounds of bodies met my ears.

  Joseph strode ahead, whipped out his jailers keys, and ducked around the corner before me. He halted outside the door to Brook’s cage as I headed for my own. “Nuh-uh, in here, for the lovely puss.”

  “Thought you offered her to me.” My gaze fell on Kyle. At my subtle nod to let him know I was okay, a half smile curved his lips.

  “I did.” Joseph slid in the key, unlocking Brook’s door. “And you turned the offer down. Now, bring her in here.”

  My mind raced through the injuries I knew patterned Kyle’s body, the damage to Gabe’s mental condition, the promises I’d made, and I hesitated.

  To keep Brook in my own cage would make any future plans for escape so much simpler—especially if Catherine’s questions about Lauren had provoked the right suspicions into my head. All I had to do was talk to the girl, try and get her to open up to me, and convince her to help us get out. I had no intention of sticking around to see who they made me fight next.

  “Now, Ethan!” Catherine’s voice bore no room for dispute.

  With a growl, I whirled and marched toward Brook’s cell, but not before I sent a glance in the direction my thoughts had travelled.

  My step almost faltered, pulse lurched, and the tightening of my jaw shot pain into my skull.

  The cell beside mine stood empty.

  Lauren had gone.

  24

  I forced myself not to look back at Lauren’s empty cell, made demands of my head not to turn that way. Eye contact with Kyle pled for him not to give the watching vampires an inkling of my concern, though the thudding beat inside my chest might well have already alerted them.

  Joseph offered a smug smile as I passed him into Brook’s cage. I halted near the bars at the front, and lowered her where I’d be able to see her when she woke.

  “Ready?

  A twist of my head brought Joseph’s face back into view. With a nod, I exited the space, and crossed to my own enclosure.

  Catherine didn’t speak. She hadn’t since she ordered me to return Brook to her cage, yet her scrutiny could have pinned even the strongest of fighters.

  Pretending I hadn’t noticed, I stepped into my cell, and rolled my shoulders whilst waiting for Joseph to lock me in.

  With my back to them both, clinking told me when he secured the panther, and the quiet tap of his shoes announced his walk to my door. The keys jangled once more.

  “Just so you know, I’m not done with you, yet, darling,” Catherine said. “We need to … get together.”

  I didn’t turn.

  “There are things we need to discuss.”

  “Thing is,”—I stretched my neck side-to-side—“I never much enjoy our little chats.”

  Her laughter tugged the flesh tight around my eyes. “Always the entertainer. I’ll let you recover, first, before I send someone down for you.”

  If not for Lauren’s absence altering the course of my plans, I’d have smiled at the near certainty that I’d no longer be there. Instead, I shrugged. “’Sup to you.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  Her pump-clad feet made next to no sound beside Joseph’s hard soles on their way to the exit. Once the double doors had whooshed back into place, I spun and marched across to the corner of my cage.

  Kyle’s gaze already aimed my way.

  My thumb prodded toward my neighbouring pen. “Where’d she go?”

  His shoulders hitched up a touch. “No idea.” His chin flicked toward Brook, back to me. “How was the fight?” His eyes seemed to search for so many more answers than the question asked. “Looks like the cat has more moves than I thought, judging by the marks she left on you.”

  “Fight was fine.” My voice arrived flat—an absent reply with my mind only on the young girl. “How long’s she been gone?”

  Another jerk of his shoulders. “Maybe an hour. Maybe a little more. You okay?”

  “I’m peachy.” I met his swollen eyes, frowned at the wedge cut from the bridge of his nose.

  “We need to get out of here.” His voice deepened. “This is some kooky shit they’ve got going on.”

  “I’m going to get us out of here. Just as soon as I figure a few things out.” And as soon as Lauren gets back. I rubbed at my face. “Who came down for the girl? Did they say why they wanted her?”

  “Bathroom break, he said … one of the vamps on guard out there.” He gestured toward the double steel doors. “Been a long time for a bathroom break, though. You think something’s going on with her?”

  Drawing in a deep breath, I nodded. “Very much so.” And it can’t be good.

  • • •

  Time ticked by—or it would have had there been a clock. The cold iron of the bars dug into my back, and my arse lost all sensation once the chill of concrete took effect. I didn’t move, though. What little energy I had needed preserving. Just in case.

  “How bad is Gabe?” Kyle’s voice came out low.

  “I already told you. He’s holding up.”

  “That tells me nothing, and you know it.”

  I peered over my shoulder. Kyle’s intense stare, as it met mine, and the tightness around his eyes, told me everything I needed to know about his fear for his own health. “He’s fixable.” I gave a slight nod, hoping I’d told him the truth, but my frown crept in when he began to self-study—a repeat of his earlier behaviour.

  With his fingers splayed out before him, Kyle seemed to be staring down at them as though looking at parts belonging to somebody else. He flicked them over, giving the same scrutiny to his palms, before curling his flexed fingers into tight fists. Another finger straighten, another clench, and his focus travelled the length of each forearm, the tendons drawing taut with the exercise. A lift of his head brought his narrowed gaze to mine. As though he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t, a sheepish smile curved the corners of his lips.

  His expression did little to ease my concern, or the tripled pace of my pulse. “Everything okay, bud?”

  His smile widened, yet not far enough to warm his hazel irises. “’Course.”

  “You must have expected some side effects.” Brook’s soft voice arrived on a drowsy cadence.

  I twisted round and met her golden orbs. “Hey.”

  “Hey,” she whispered, her gaze remaining on mine. �
�I did not expect to be waking up.”

  “I didn’t like the game they wanted me to play. So I made up a few of my own rules.”

  “I am grateful you did.” She gave me a small nod. “Thank you.”

  “No worries.” With a finger point, I drew her attention to Lauren’s absence. “They took her.”

  “Why?” She rolled up to sit, and leaned against the bars. “After all this time?”

  “How long have you been here, Brook?”

  Her slender shoulders lifted in a dainty shrug. “Maybe four weeks. Maybe more … or less. The only time the girl has left her cage is for the bathroom.”

  “According to Kyle, that’s what they said they wanted her for. But she’s been gone a hell of a long time already.”

  “That isn’t good.”

  Ours gazes locked as panic fluttered through me. “No, it isn’t.”

  • • •

  More time passed, as did more murmured conversation about how our situation could have been better. The longer Lauren didn’t return, the further convinced I grew that she’d never come back. When the steel doors swung open, I didn’t bother to glance up, so resolute in my mind that it wouldn’t be her.

  Only once her subtle scent drifted to me did I check.

  Red blotches coated the skin of her cheeks, matching the bright rims of eyes still moist from evident tears.

  The strong set of her shoulders had gone, along with any ounce of teenage attitude she’d clung onto. Only a broken girl remained as her entire body appeared to shrink in on itself.

  My jaw tightened.

  Each step toward her cage seemed to take immense effort as she swayed from side to side, and her feet slapped down with lack of elegance.

  My body tensed to thrust up and confront Chad beside her, before my brain sent a silent order not to react. I dropped my attention back to the ground.

  Her door squeaked closed once she’d stepped into her cell. After Chad had her secured, and the instant the vampire tugged the doors closed at his rear, I swung my head round to face the young teen.

  She’d moved only a foot from the entrance. Her hands trembled at her sides. A quiet sob erupted from her as she chewed at her lower lip.