“How do you tell him to let her go?” I figured there was no way I’d cooperate if there was even a chance Kathy would be harmed. I suspected he’d be taking me elsewhere, and I needed to know she’d be okay once we were out of sight.
“This tab right here.” He pointed to a yellow button.
“What does it do?” I asked.
He shook his head slowly. “You wouldn’t understand. But in simple terms, it gives off an electrical impulse that makes him feel full and satisfied, enough so that he will return to his home and sleep.”
“And, if he gets out of hand, how do you stop him?” I was thinking that Teivel seemed insane enough that there had to be a stop button.
Rohan’s smirk was downright evil as he said, “Oh that’s my favorite.” He pointed out a red button. “This one here, watch. I’ll just give him a tiny zap, but you’ll get the picture.” Holding his thumb above the red button, as fast as lightening, he gave it a tap.
Teivel let out a yelp and dropped the knife. His hands went up to the collar and his bulging eyes grew larger and fearful. He sank to his knees in surrender and whined like a whipped beast.
Rohan turned me back around so I could see his face. “See what I mean?” he said, gloating. His eyes were filled with shameless satisfaction. He slipped the remote back into his pocket, took me by the arm - squeezing tightly, and started leading me to the stairs.
“Pick up the knife, Teivel. Be a good boy, and I will let you feed very soon.”
The ugly sniveling creature reached for the knife, stood up, and waited obediently for more orders. Kathy looked absolutely petrified, though it was even harder to see her clearly through my tears, and as we walked past her I said, “It’ll be okay, Kath. I’ll get you out of this mess. He only wants me. You’ll be set free once he gets what he wants.” I gave Rohan a glare and with as much confidence as I could muster up - what with the ugly truth of what was going to happen next, I continued with a sneer, “I trust that he will be satisfied with his prize, and his ugly pet will let you go.” Kathy moaned as though she questioned my sanity. She turned her head back and forth and then she looked down at the floor as we passed her by. Her hair hung down covering her face and her shoulders shook with her silent weeping. I wanted to reach out and touch her, make her know she’d be all right, but Rohan steered me away from her...and away from home…
We crept down the narrow spiral staircase. I was in the lead, Rohan followed with a firm hand on the back of my neck, squeezing a lot tighter than necessary. Down in the lower library he grabbed a colorful blanket from the back of a sofa as we walked by and he threw it over my shoulders before we left the foyer.
Half blinded by my tears, I nearly tripped over a crumpled and lifeless body just past the main entryway. The bare torso was slashed open, though I smelled no blood. Blinking to clear my vision, I could see that it was the guard who had, quite unwillingly, donated his blood and his uniform to Rohan. The only sense of relief I felt was that this particular guard had long blond hair; it was not Royal.
The wind at my face blew chilly, but I was warm and sticky under the blanket and sweater. I heard the crickets and frogs again, much closer now, and wished I was up in my room, hearing them from a distance...with my dear husband...who was still sound asleep. I didn’t mean to keep crying. I wanted to be brave, to save Kathy, but the tears came hot and heavy. I stepped gingerly, still barefoot, trying to avoid the sharp bits of stones and twigs, although the darkness prevented me from seeing beyond my own nose. Rohan hung onto my arm with a tight grip, and once past the archway, we veered off the driveway and stayed in the trees that bordered our property. His clutching, sweaty hand prevented me from tripping over fallen branches and brush several times, but in the process, he nearly pulled my shoulder out of the socket.
By the time we made it to the edge of the woods nearer to the gatehouse, I was completely beside myself. Now, I did smell blood; thick, not quite dried blood. It emanated from inside the gatehouse where I knew Emrys had just recently stationed two new humans. I had to bite down on my lip trying to prevent my fangs from making themselves visible, but it didn’t work. I hated myself for the thirstiness that welled up inside of me as we drew closer to the building. The scent of blood grew stronger with each step. It was pure torture.
“You smell that, don’t you, Scarlett?” Rohan asked, with a malevolent snicker. “It’s too bad. I didn’t think to save you any.”
I groaned loudly when I stubbed my toe, and he said, “You better get control of yourself, Scarlett. You don’t want me to reach into my pocket, now do you?” He put his hand near the open corner of his pants pocket.
I hiccupped and snorted, “No!” I sniffed and tried to control myself. I hiccupped again and then wiped my face on the blanket.
He put his hand on my shoulder, digging his fingers in, and said, “That’s better. Now move!”
As we made our way over the stone bridge, I peered down into the dark swirling waters.
How easy it would be to just jump in to get away from this monster.
But I couldn’t let anything happen to Kathy, and I put that thought away immediately.
We finally reached his car; he opened the door, pushed me in and belted me tightly. He took out the remote and held it up toward the passenger window. The metal box glinted in the moonlight and he waved it back and forth as a warning to me while he hurried to the driver’s side.
Once he was behind the wheel I said, “Wait. Aren’t you going to let Kathy go now? You’ve got me. I can’t get away.”
“Just a bit longer, Scarlett. Have some patience. I’ll keep my word as long as you do. Teivel won’t harm her without my command. He’s afraid of me and what I can do to him.” His flimsy assurance didn’t help much, but it was all that I had.
It seemed like we drove for hours, though I couldn’t be sure. Apparently, my pure emotional exhaustion had taken over, and I kept lapsing into a semi-doze and then jerking awake. At three a.m. I woke in a ball of sweat and threw the blanket off my shoulders. An annoying racket woke me this final time; the uneven road and the gravel grinding beneath the wheels sent small pieces of stone up under the vehicle making thick, scratchy sounds as the car bumped up and down. We were now on a narrow, winding driveway that was lined with trees. The moonlight filtered through the tree trunks casting long shadows that seemed to dance like eerie phantoms as we passed through them.
Eventually, I saw a light in the distance next to a building. As we got closer I could see that it was a small cottage surrounded by a fence with barbed wire at the top - more a prison than a home.
Rohan pressed a button on the visor, and the gate opened just wide enough for our vehicle; we drove through and it closed behind us with a loud clang. He parked in front of the cottage and said, “Don’t open the door yet.” It sounded more like a warning.
Within moments the car was surrounded by three vicious-looking black dogs, their teeth bared, snarling, growling and snapping at us – or, more likely, at me. Rohan opened his door and held up a hand, made a gruff noise in his throat, and the savage beasts stopped barking and sat quiet, but watchful. He came to the passenger side and opened the door. The dogs eyed me hungrily, their ears laid back. I figured the only thing stopping them from chewing me alive was Rohan’s controlling voice and snap of the fingers. Once again, clutching my arm painfully, he marched me into the house. Before closing the door behind us, he snapped his fingers twice and the black demons went running off, blending into the night with the rest of the apparitions.
So, here I was; basically in prison with someone I despised, surrounded by man-eating dogs and a barbed wire fence that I would never be able to climb - even if I got past the dogs. I had no idea how far out into the wilderness we had even traveled, nor did I know which way we had gone. A quick survey showed me an unkempt, damp, dingy living room with a dirty, sagging couch, a shabby chair, television, and coffee table. One crusty old lamp, minus the shade, burned dimly, casting a narrow trace of light into
the dismal room. There were half empty cups and glasses here and there, plates with scraps of food, liquor bottles, old magazines and papers littering the place, and clothes piled in a heap on the chair.
Rohan went to the fireplace and stirred the ashes. A few glowing embers remained. He threw in a handful of balled up papers and then a fresh log from beside the ash-strewn hearth.
“There we go - a nice romantic fire.”
I’m going to puke.
I could barely breathe as I stood there watching him; the foul-smelling room was suffocating and hot. It reeked of old food and smoke, musty walls and garbage. I hated it as much as I hated him. I was still wrapped in my stupid oversized sweater, wearing nothing else but my nightgown - the one Emrys had given to me on our first night together at Ravenswynd. My home. A place I was beginning to think I’d never see again. Trapped in this horrid place, away from my family, I could no longer control my tears as despair and claustrophobia choked me. I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t let him see my fear. I had to use that fear to find a way out of this hellhole.
God, I hate him!
“I need to use the bathroom,” I announced, wiping my tears.
“It’s down the hall on your left. Pull yourself together, Scarlett. You need to relax. See here?” He pulled out the remote from his pocket. I watched in horror as he came near me. “I’ll even let you do the honors. Go ahead. Push the button to free your little friend.”
My hand shook as I reached out toward the silver box. “How will I know it worked?”
He raised an apathetic eyebrow and said, “You won’t.” Pulling his hand back out of my reach, he demanded, “Kiss me first. Show me what I have to look forward to.”
With his free hand he grabbed my waist and pulled me toward him, pressing his groin against me. He held the remote up high above my head, taunting me with it. The light from the fire reflected on the metal, making it appear more yellow than silver. He lowered his head to my face as I looked up at the remote, and his mouth covered mine. I didn’t flinch, and I didn’t pull away either, but I had all I could do to not vomit in his mouth. Not because he smelled or anything, but I hated him for what he was doing to me. And most importantly, he wasn’t Emrys. Rohan craved power more than anything else, and he couldn’t care less who he had to hurt to get that power.
I tasted blood in his kiss, and for a brief moment, I craved a drink myself. I was getting better at controlling my urges and I could go over twelve hours now without thinking about ripping someone’s throat open. It really was a choice: mind over matter, but a serving of blood right now would give me the strength I needed.
Strength to kill him perhaps?
Pulling back - with a raise of my eyebrow, and just a twinge of sarcasm, I said, “Happy?” It was a good act, but I was glad it was over. Killing him would be so much more enjoyable.
He held the silver box directly in front of me and allowed me to push the yellow button without another word. I heard it click and hoped that meant it worked and this was the end of the scary story for Kathy.
Teivel go home. Kathy - why was she at Ravenswynd anyway?
He interrupted my thoughts, saying, “Go to the bathroom, and get yourself ready. This will be a night you won’t soon forget. Not that I’m boasting. I’ve been told by many women...”
“What the flaming hell makes you think I want to hear about other women?” I broke in, disgusted.
He smiled, “Aw, isn’t this cute? Scarlett sounds jealous already, and I haven’t even given her a reason yet.”
He was so crass, so full of himself, and so sleazy; I simply couldn’t keep my mouth shut any longer. “First of all, I’m so damn sick of you calling me Scarlett. And secondly, you said yet. You have absolutely no intention of staying true to me, as if I care, just like you didn’t stay true to Kelsey. Why are you such a…?” I stopped myself, clamping my mouth shut. He wasn’t even worth my time or effort, plus, I didn’t know how he would react if I showed too much of my true feelings.
He took a step back, folded his arms over his chest, and cocked his head to the side. “When I first saw you at the gathering I decided I wanted you for myself, and it was just icing on the cake when I realized who you were. At first I didn’t know you were chosen by Emrys.” He snarled when he said his name. “But that only made the game so much more appealing. I could kill two birds with one stone.” He gave a nasty snort and then said, “To this day when I think of you, I still see you in that red dress. You became Scarlett to me. You’ll always be Scarlett. I will never refer to you as anything else.” He curled his lip. “Kelsey – we were very young; she was just my first.”
He sounded so matter-of-fact, not as though he thought of her in any other way than that: his first. I felt so bad for Kelsey. “It was just so convenient; she was always there.”
“You’re despicable. She really loved you, and you tossed her away like some old rag. You don’t even honor your vows. How could anyone ever trust you?”
He made me sick to my stomach. And now, to top off his sleaziness, he was a cold-blooded murderer. As burning hot as I still felt, an icy shiver washed over me as I thought of the dead guards.
“Vows? What vows might those be? As in marriage vows?” He frowned and shook his head. “Because we were never married. It’s not because I didn’t ask either. She refused me. She turned me off to marriage when she rejected me! Oh, she’ll tell you it was her mum; her old biddy of a mother’s fault. But if she loved me, she would have followed me anywhere, left that old woman behind. Don’t speak to me about vows.”
All of a sudden, I found myself confused with his seeming newfound sincerity.
Could it be that Kelsey never explained the whole story to me?
I assumed they had married and he cheated on her. He was making it sound more like he’d left because she rejected him. When he then sporadically returned to Ravenswynd, perhaps because of her guilt, she became his convenience, which in turn, furthered her guilt even more, and perhaps she’d given herself the “damaged-goods” title. It was all very unclear, and for the first time, I was at a loss for words as my mind tumbled with the possibilities.
“Cat got your tongue?” he asked smugly, eyeing me as I stood there with my mouth hanging open.
“I assumed you were married,” I said slowly, rubbing my aching head. “I didn’t know. But Kelsey made it sound like she truly loved you.”
“I believe she did at one time. But she was afraid to leave Ravenswynd for many reasons. I do blame her mother in part, but the truth is more than just that. I couldn’t stay, not after Ambrose killed my father. I think they all expected me to leave anyway. After I left she realized what she had given up,” he said smugly. “And whenever I did return, we’d start again where we’d left off. But over and over it happened; she just couldn’t bring herself to come away with me. Eventually it got so that whenever I returned, she wasn’t anything more than just a convenience for me.” He shrugged. “I used to hope for more, but I gave up decades ago. There is no more.” He sighed, and then went on with a harsher tone, “I’ve never been given anything without a fight, and that’s the way it is. I’ll accept my lot in life, but in the meantime, I choose to enjoy the hell out of it. I’ll take what I can get, whenever I can, and let the pieces fall where they may.”
If I wasn’t in the predicament I had found myself in this very moment, I could almost have let myself feel sorry for him. With the loss of his father at a young age, being ostracized by his own society, rejected by his lover; his life couldn’t have been an easy one, and yet, here I was – his prisoner. Not exactly a fair trade.
The three seconds of feeling sorry for him ended with a spasm in my throat; a hiccup reminding me of my recently ended crying jag. I had nothing else to say; he didn’t deserve even one more second of my time and even less of my concern. And for all I knew - the bastard could be lying anyway.
I turned on my heel and went down the hallway with his words echoing behind me, “Hurry back, Scarlett. A
nd don’t try anything funny in there.”
While in the bathroom, which smelled just as vile as the rest of the cottage, I peered out the tiny window. Even if I could have squeezed myself through the mouse-like archway of an opening, the dogs would be on me as soon as they heard me running. Then, there was the fence that towered tall - and razor sharp. I quietly pulled open a few drawers, hoping to find something - anything that might possibly help in my escape. For the most part, all I found was dust and a few odds and ends; a filthy comb and brush, a broken toothbrush with half the bristles missing, and an old-fashioned glass bottle of some sort, dark green in color, long empty and most likely rancid-smelling by now. Nevertheless, I put it in the pocket of my sweater for possible future use. When I finished up and washed my hands, if you can call using only water a real wash, I decided air-drying had to be better than touching anything that vaguely resembled a towel. What hung on the towel rack looked like it had been there for years, moth eaten and crusty.
Before opening the door I glanced into the water-splattered mirror and saw that my cheeks seemed flushed, which was quite unusual since I had no makeup on, and my bright blue eyes now seemed to be a dull gray color. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I’d actually caught something. Even my eyeballs were throbbing.
Vampires can get sick?
When I returned, Rohan was sitting on the sofa staring at the fire, his hands folded behind his neck and his feet up on the coffee table. I stood in front of the fireplace, facing him, my sweater in my hands - carefully held upright to avoid dropping my weapon of choice. Gazing at my nightgown he nodded, and said, “Nice. This reminds me of the night you transitioned. I do like what I see. Come here.” He patted the sofa beside him.
The only reason I had taken off the sweater was because I was still so blasted over-heated. I took two steps forward, stopped, and asked, “Can we open a window? I feel like my skin is on fire. I think I may be coming down with something. My face is flushed, my eyes look weird, and I’ve been sweating-hot all night.” I knew I was rambling, but kept on talking, “Maybe you’re not the right one to ask, but is it even possible for a Raven to become sick? I know we can’t catch human diseases, but is there anything else I don’t know about? Raven diseases, viruses?”
The Ravenswynd Series - Boxed Set Page 45