Enslaved in Shadows

by Tigris Eden

  She lived to love him, beyond her past and after her future. Draven and Faith were her world. Telling him she didn’t have room for him was a bold face lie. How in the hell had she managed to screw this shit up?

  “I gotta go baby, but when I get back, we will talk.” He sighed into her hair and his body slowly died of the anger he was holding back. She shook her head into his chest and sniffled a few times. The conversation wasn’t over, but he needed to leave. There was only minutes left before he had to meet up with the rest of the team.

  “Can I go back to your parent’s?” Jes rubbed her hands on her legs wrapped her arms around herself, his warmth was gone. He’d stood and sat her to the side. Not discarded, but there was definitely distance between them now. His patience was wearing thin. She was a stupid cow for not telling this man she loved him with everything her heart had to give. She even had a reserve back up marked special for him. In the deep dark corner of her soul, a soul Draven had opened and shed light on.

  “Of course baby, I’ll get Gabe to take you home. He’s going to hang be back here and give us intel on the warehouse.”

  She watched as Draven scraped the side of his jaw with his fingers, he was thinking about something, but then thought better of it. When he saw her staring he quickly went to the dresser in the corner and grabbed a fresh pair of black BDU's. He dressed quickly and finger combed his hair.

  “What?” Jesminda asked. Hopeful. Hopeful of what? He was mad. A small part of her thought maybe he was trying not to hit her, but she quickly squashed the idea. He was not Marcus.

  “Nothing, just know that I love you, okay?” He said the words again. He was making her get use to them. He knew they had a negative effect on her.

  The words she should say were stuck, beating at the walls of her throat until she began hyperventilating. Why? She just couldn’t say them. Draven quickly walked over and grabbed her by her shoulders to get her attention. He lifted her hands above her head with one hand and rubbed her back with the other. God, she was a hot mess.

  “Gods, baby I won’t say that again. Not until you’re ready to hear them.” He stepped back when she was able to catch her breath. She watched as he walked to the kitchen to get her some water. His strength and his love should be more than enough for her. He wouldn’t put hands on her, not with force or hate. He’d care for her, put her first above all things.

  He sat the cup in front and watched her drink. Satisfied, he took the cup setting it in the sink. Jes watched him walk from the kitchen to the door. Life with him would be similar, the two of them moving in tandem with the other. He was what she wanted but too scared to take. He turned back as the door opened and smiled tightly.

  “This conversation is far from over Jes.” He was halfway out the door yet she still heard his next words.

  “Things will never be finished between us.”

  Chapter 23

  Jesminda walked into Draven’s mother's house. He’d given her the spare key. It was late and the men were headed out to the location Draven said it wasn’t necessary for her to concern herself with. Men and their misguided conceptions about woman and strength. Bells wasn’t with the men either, she’d decided to stay on at the station to get some sleep. She didn’t want to go to Draven’s parents because she felt uncomfortable. She couldn’t argue that logic, people weren’t supposed to assume they were welcome at a house with complete strangers. If it weren’t for Faith being asleep here, she’d have stayed at the station as well. Walking silently down the hall Jesminda passed the couch Faith had slept on. She felt along the wall for a switch and when she found it clicked it on and continued towards the back of the house to the kitchen.

  She was pouring a glass of water into a cup when she felt the cold press of metal against the back other head.

  “My dearest honey,” the voice purred behind her. It didn’t take rocket science to figure out it was Marcus. How was he able to get to her here? Draven had said not even the station had his parent’s address.

  “This is how it’s going to be you little whore,” He spat. The anger poured off him like a tidal wave. She could feel the violence in his words. Her body froze and waited for the blow she knew was coming. He grabbed her painfully by the hair and pulled her head back. Pain shot through her neck, it was minimal, but more was coming.

  “Walk to the front of the house and get in the fucking car, or I’ll blow your brains out right here in the middle of the kitchen. Now start walking.”

  Jes sucked in a breath and did as she was told. She still didn’t understand how, but she needed to know the condition of her daughter, Draven’s parents.

  “Where’s Faith bastard.” She snarled as she headed down the hall to the front door.

  “Funny baby, very funny. I was going to ask you the same question. Since we both don’t know where your little brat of a beast is, I’ll go hunting. I know she’s here somewhere, but don’t worry baby, I’ll find her.” He grabbed the back of her hair tighter and pushed her forward. She tried to catch herself as she went down, the rug beneath her slid and sent her sailing into an end table. Pain spread through her limbs, sucked the breath from her lungs. She tried to catch her breath but Marcus didn’t give her the chance. He caught her in the ribs with his booted foot. Her body took the position it took so many times before. Spots appeared in her field of vision and her eyes watered from the pain.

  “I told you never to leave me! Still you did even after all we’ve been through. I fucking love you Jesminda love you!” Another boot to her rib cage and she’d heard the crack. Her ribs were broken. Marcus began a rapid succession of kicking until her tears dried up and darkness started to claim her. Her first real thought was Faith wasn’t in the house, so maybe she was safely tucked away with Draven’s parents. Then another hit right before darkness swallowed her, she never got the chance to tell Draven she loved him. Now she never would.

  * * * *

  Draven and his team surrounded the warehouse where the other vampires were being held. This was also the location of The Red Sun. What a cheesy name. The Black Hand maybe but The Red Sun? “Can you be anymore un-super villain?” Draven said to no one in particular.

  “It’s like he was the last in line for super villain names,” Royce joked right back.

  The guys around Draven snickered as they crept closer to the warehouse. There were no guards out front that he could see or smell. That didn’t mean a damn thing. The warehouse could have been cloaked hindering them. There was a foul odor in the air; it was sickly sweet, death meet Febreze, Febreze meet death. The combination made his nostrils hurt.

  “Dude, I swear if I don’t get to kill at least ten motherfuckers, I’m going home, word.” This came from Dietrich, the smug bastard.

  “Dumb ass, what if there isn’t anyone to kill? You know this could be easy-peasy.” Gabe bantered back. The guy had tagged along; the entire lay of the land mapped in his head. Gabe the super whiz they called him.

  “And your dick could be bigger than mine.” Dietrich said as he flipped him the bird.

  “Guys.” Draven said.

  They both looked his way and flipped him the bird in unison, but kept quiet. Everything was quiet, too quiet. Royce motioned with his fingers for the teams to move forward, and with fluid motion, the men went to their markers and waited. Royce was his point man, and it was Draven’s job to back him up. His brother Ronin would be able to hear the thoughts of whoever was inside the warehouse, hopefully. They hadn’t been able to read Oliver until Ronin ate the vampire’s brains. But this guy was cocky. Probably didn’t think his location would be ousted.

  Ronin led Gabe, Hawke, and Adam. Royce, Dietrich, and himself were in their own team. Ronin and Royce stopped walking at the same time and they both winced.

  “What?” Draven asked. Royce didn’t look at him but cursed low under his breath. “What!” Draven said again this time his tone more rough.

  “He’s got her man, shit,” Royce scrubbed his face with his hands, “Fuck man, I’m
sorry but the bastard’s got Jesminda and she’s hurting real bad.”

  The entire world threatened to tumble down around him. His life played out before him, after, and during the time he’d met Jesminda. He saw it in rapid succession, and the scene, coming to the same conclusion. He should have never left her that first time. Never saw her as a one-night stand. A part of him knew back then that she was his mate. He’d been too blind to see it. Didn’t want to man up and do the right thing. He should have claimed her then, watched her swell with his cub, greet his daughter into the world the way his people did. Instead, he’d turned leaving her in the dark jungles of Belize. He'd told himself it was because she was human. His one true reason for living was her and Faith. And now she was hurting. Something he said he would never let happen to her again, because he didn’t take the time to do the right thing, which was to care for her since day one.

  “Where,” he growled.

  Royce put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed tight.

  “Draven, I know you’ve seen the movies where the gung ho hero runs in and saves the day, but what the story doesn’t tell you is, that it never works out that way. The hero dies because he was too stupid to plan his attack. You’re not Tom fucking Cruise, man don’t go in their guns a blazing.”

  Dietrich held him as well, shaking his head, telling him it wasn’t a good idea. He looked Draven in the eye and nodded. The beast didn’t care what plans they had for rescue, all his beast cared about was that their mate was in there and she was suffering.

  “Dietrich do your thing, bring Jesminda safely out of there, and then let’s get the rest of the survivors.” Royce stated plainly.

  Draven watched as Dietrich went ghost, literally the brother was there one minute and then the next he was translucent and completely gone. What the fuck was he?

  “He’s a watcher.” Royce said.

  “A what?”

  “A watcher, he can go in undetected and watch the entire scene, but what most people or immortals don’t know is that he can also possess Jesminda’s body, take the brunt of the pain for her, and then walk her out there.”

  “Dravaggio needs to re-write his “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” clause. This is vital information we all could have used.” Gabe said into Draven’s earpiece.

  No shit. Draven thought to himself. It didn’t calm his wolf, not in the slightest, but Draven tugged on the reigns and attempted to bargain. When that didn’t work, he tried sheer brute force. Neither worked, his wolf wanted out now.

  “Shit man, your shifting. Talk him down, Dietrich can do it”

  “My mate, my responsibility.” Draven said around a mouth full of teeth.

  The werewolf took off at a dead run to the warehouse.

  * * * *

  Jes’ head was pounding and her vision was blurry when she finally opened her eyes. She was in some kind of room. It was dark except for the slivers of light the moon bathed the floor in from the windows. It should have been morning. Shouldn’t it? He body ached in places and she knew her ribs were cracked, at least two on her right side. The left side felt just as bad. She found that out the hard way when she’d tried to take a deep breath.

  She didn’t know what time it was or where she was, only that her surroundings smelled like urine and feces mixed with the metallic tang of blood. Oh God was it hers? She tried to get into a sitting position against the wall, but she was losing the battle each lift of her arms cost her. The pain was excruciating. Felt like her body was a light socket, being plugged in for pain. A small whimper escaped her and then the room flooded with light as a door was pulled open. There was a table with instruments, all kinds of cutting tools and blood stained each one. Don’t look. Don’t look!

  “I see you’re awake human.” A cold blast of air hit her face. God, was that his breath? Death and blood swirled in the air around her in frost and she knew if her eyes weren’t so puffy from crying she’d see her breath mist in front of her face.

  “I wondered how long you would be out. Marcus and the boys took wagers, such a human thing to do. No regards for human life. It’s just as well. It’s fitting of your husband to be angry with you. After all,” his voice drawled. “You left him, took his only child, and ran straight into the arms of a werewolf.” He pulled her up into a sitting position. His fingers burned her skin causing her to cry in pain. He squatted in front of her face so he could see her clearly. The light from the hall fell on his back throwing his entire face into the shadow. He could see her but she couldn’t see him. She knew she was in real trouble; this was the man back at the cottage.

  Her throat was on fire, but she managed to whisper. “What do you want from me?”

  His laughter made her shiver, took her mind and her body into the very pits of darkness. He was evil from the ground up, deep to his core. It slid over her skin, tried fighting its way inside what little light she had left.

  “Oh, nothing that will be too hard for you, it’s quite simple.” He hesitated before he continued, the silence felt like a million lifetimes. With a very calm soothing voice, bending forward taking her face in his hands he replied.

  “I want to hear you scream for me.”

  * * * *

  She couldn’t scream anymore, her throat was bleeding. She could taste the blood on her tongue, sharp and tangy. The man from the cottage continued his torture, first with his hands and now with a whip, he sliced into her skin. Her body wasn’t numbing, she thought vaguely as another lash stripped flesh from her back. She’d wanted to pass out after the first minute of his whip, and that minute had seemed like hours. There were spikes at the end. Each of its talons dug into her flesh. When he pulled back it’d hook into her skin, peeled it from her back in strips. Her back was splayed open to the muscle.

  The thought made her gag over and over again in between screams. She grew hoarse at first. The feeling of sand paper scrapping over the soft tissue in her throat stopped her from screaming. She didn’t want to damage her voice. But then he’d gotten really inventive. He’d take a break, walk around her flayed body, and bend to lick the blood from her toes as it dripped down her thighs to a pool on the floor. She told herself that was the worst part of this whole ordeal, but she’d been wrong.

  In his hands, he produced a ball with tiny maggot like things that crawled over each other. He shook it and a loud buzzing noise emitted from the orb, almost like they were screaming. He brought the ball closer, until her swollen eyes could adjust, she could see the worms, biting at each other, and although she couldn’t see blood, they were pissed that he’d shaken them up.

  “Aaah, the ball worms,” he hissed.

  Jesminda’s body went taut with fear, he was going to put them on her. She just knew it. Her voice a ragged whisper she looked him in the eye.

  “Just fucking kill me you son of a bitch!”

  “That would be entirely too easy, death,” he tilted his head to the side to study her, “No; I think I will keep you alive for a couple of weeks, months even. I’ve experimented with this and that where you’re concerned. Should you survive it will be a miracle.”

  She didn’t think she had a voice left but as he opened the ball of worms and threw them in her face. She screamed a horrid ragged sound that severed her voice box. A few had gotten into her mouth chocking her and she chewed thinking she could kill them that way. To her horror when she bit down, the few in her mouth became many. She realized with agony they couldn’t be killed. No, they fucking multiplied and as her body struggled and the worms ate away at her, a sudden calm took hold of her and she felt warmth. Intense warmth as if she was locked in a box in the deepest regions of her mind, the pain blissfully went away. She was going home. Finally, death showed her mercy.

  Chapter 24

  The wolf didn’t care as he bounded into the warehouse of manmade material, it smelled horrible. There was defecation and death all around him and still he ran. Vampires and Regs were caged in cells not fit enough for dogs. In this place, they were equal. Draven’s wolf pa
ssed the cages ignoring their cries for help. What he cared about was his mate. Her fear knocked him back a few steps once he’d penetrated the barrier that had kept the noise out. The others hadn’t been able to hear the noise and neither could he. She could have been screaming for hours. He howled in rage at the thought. Draven didn’t hesitate as he pounded up the metal stairs and ripped the door off its hinges. He knew the others were following somewhere close behind. He ran and ran until he came to a door slightly ajar. The screams had come from the direction to his left. No sound came out now, was his too late? Was she dead? Gods help the man who did it. His wolf crept quietly to the door and looked inside.

  Her body was strung up by some invisible line he couldn’t see. As he took in the scene, his wolf recoiled for a split second before he regrouped and took in his surroundings. Her skin was stripped at her back. There were stitches going from her throat to her navel. Both beast and man raged at the atrocity of her ordeal. He’d failed, failed to keep her from harm’s way. Draven’s wolf understood now why she’d fought him at every turn. Even if Marcus hadn’t helped to commit the crime, he put her here. Her neck was bruised and blood dripped a steady stream off her toes onto the floor. The beast was crazed as well as the man. They would fix it, would save her. Had to. He tried to process the different smells inside the room. There was a strong malevolent presence. Reverberated in the space and attempted to beat at his skin. The hairs on his back rose in aggression. His teeth elongated further, waited for whatever evil still stood in the room with him, now waiting to strike. He looked to his mate, and sent of a prayer to his Gods. She seemed peaceful, as if the pain she’d born hadn’t destroyed what resolve she had left.

  The animal part of him knew she smelled different. The human part of him tried to quell his rising anger at her mistreatment. He could hear his human half yelling. Dietrich is here, patience will get us all things. Calm be the waters till the storm hits.