Waiting

by Kiahana

  My feet continued to follow his massive form through the crowded sidewalk, then down into an alley with a white, unmarked van parked in it.

  No! I did not want to get into that van. If I did, I just knew I wouldn't come out of this situation alive. My gaze darted around for anything useful against a vampire, but of course came up empty.

  “Please! Please don't do this.” My voice was barely above a whisper. I was thankful he left me with the ability to speak at all. “Parker has first rights.”

  He just chuckled and opened the van door.

  “Get in.” Though I no longer made eye contact with him, he still held his power over me. “We're going to go for a ride.”

  The back of the van was empty, just metal flooring and a blanket. How thoughtful. I unwillingly stepped into the back, trying to fight my own body the entire time.

  When I turned to face him after taking a seat, two figures appeared behind him. Sam and Gunner. Relief flooded through my veins at the mere thought of getting out of this horrible situation.

  Gunner grabbed Quinn by the throat and pulled him backwards. Sam, however, turned on him and pulled a piece of silver out of Quinn's front pocket with a gloved hand before wrapping it around Gunner's neck, his hold on Quinn relinquishing immediately.

  No!

  What was she doing?

  “Thank you, Sam. Now I have two.”

  The sickening smile they shared before Gunner was thrown in next to me made me want to puke. Sam was in on this? I shot daggers at her with my eyes but she couldn't possible have cared less as she slammed the sliding door before climbing into the passenger seat, Quinn in the driver’s seat.

  I closed my eyes and counted to ten.

  This is not happening, this is not happening.

  I reached up to fiddle with my pearl necklace, my security blanket, but all my fingers found was skin. I’d forgotten my necklace. I never forgot my necklace. Panic rose higher as I fought back tears.

  The sound of Gunner's skin sizzling beneath the silver sickened me. His body was held ridged as he tried with all his might to not move at all in fear the silver would touch a new piece of him. He'd grown paler within seconds and seemed to be going downhill fast.

  “That was easy.”

  They laughed in the front before Sam looked back at me with a sneer and shut the black drapes to cut off her view of us. The windows were tinted so no one could see me mouthing 'help' if I tried.

  Instead, I slowly inched my fingers closer to Gunner's throat, hoping to be able to rid him of the necklace to give us a fighting chance of surviving this. My heart was pounding in my chest, sweat beading down my forehead as I silently thanked God Quinn hadn't restricted my moving abilities.

  My fingers found the chain while I was still looking ahead, acting as if I wasn't moving at all. Not wanting to hurt him, I finally turned my head to face him while lifting the chain. It made an eerie suction noise as I pulled it off. Pulling it in one long movement would make the least amount of noise, which I'm sure they could both hear over the conversation they were having.

  Gunner's eyes were huge, silently thanking me when I got the first loop off. Giving up on hiding any noise at all, I turned my whole body to face him and ripped the strip completely off of his skin, then waited for him to move, do anything that would give me a smidge of hope we might live through this.

  How could Sam do this? Parker trusted her!

  “It's about time.”

  Sam was sitting next to me as I felt a cuff slam over my wrist. She left the other dangling, moving back to her seat upfront as I took a swing at her. Her laughter cut through me like a knife in butter as the hatred inside me grew.

  “Take the other piece and put it over his wrist, then hand me the silver chain.”

  My body didn't feel the need to do what Sam instructed so I whipped up the chain and was about to wrap it around her skin when a booming voice inside my head had me halt, the chain falling limply at my side.

  “Do it!”

  There was no questioning Quinn's voice. My hand quickly slammed the other cuff over Gunner's wrist, which was obviously made of silver since that same grotesque sizzling noise started, and placed the silver chain neatly in Sam's outreached, gloved hand.

  “If you obey orders your time with us won't be as horrible as you can imagine.”

  “So, you're not planning on killing us, or betraying Parker and Francis, or torturing us?” I wasn't an idiot, they captured me for a reason. “You lured them to be captured before didn't you?”

  I hate this woman. There’s no going back now. She’s the devil. Oh how Parker will be devastated.

  Francis! He must've caught on to Sam's betrayal and that's what he was leaving town to find more information on. He said Parker would be devastated if he was right. Bless Francis for not giving over first rights to Brian, or else it would've been the two of us in this van, I'm sure.

  “That wasn't in my plans at all, but then they showed up. Don't blame that one on me honey. I'm the one who freed them. If it weren't for me they'd be a pile of ash and bone by now.”

  “But they wouldn't have even been there if it weren't for you. You can play innocent all you want, tell yourself whatever, but you're just a soulless, manipulating, conniving little bitch! You'll get what's coming to you. They already know you're the traitor.”

  Nothing like spitting in the face of the person who pretty much holds your fate in their hands, but what did I care at this point? My chances of living were slim to none as we started leaving the city at speeds that would put even Francis' heart on edge.

  “I'm counting on them coming for you. You see. They have something that will get me what I want. You're the only one who will pass as collateral damage if all goes to plan.” She shared a wicked intense smirk with Quinn before turning back to face me. “It'll all be over soon. Don't worry.” She shut the black drape again, laughing with her partner in crime as I turned my attention back to Gunner.

  His color was getting better. The chain prints across his neck were healing, but very slowly. Too slow. He needs blood. I lifted his hand to lay across his chest and tried my best to keep the silver cuff from touching his skin before I lifted my other arm over his mouth and silently invited him to bite me.

  He moved so fast, sitting upright against the side of the van, I fell over as he tugged on our connecting arms.

  The black curtain slowly inched away to reveal Sam with a questioning look. She assessed us then threw the curtain back, not finding anything we were doing to be a threat.

  I sat up, eyeing Gunner while mouthing 'do it!', but he shook his head. Was he scared of what Parker would do? This was kind of a life or death situation here and I knew he'd be understanding.

  “Do it!” He still wouldn't budge. “You'd rather watch me die?”

  Kind of a low blow. He paled even more before shaking his head again.

  I didn't get it. He wasn't in on it with them, so why wouldn't he fight for our lives?

  Fine. If he wouldn't, then I would. Leaning forward, I bit into his shoulder and swallowed a good mouthful of his blood, which tasted nothing like Parker's, before I was yanked away, slamming into the other side of the van. My shoulder dislocated from the yank since Gunner barely moved.

  Instantly a whole new world opened up for me. Colors were brighter and my muscles felt stronger, invincible really. A thirst for revenge laid heavily in my mind as I reeled with the new power flowing through my body.

  Sam sat over my legs, straddling me with an evil glare as I continued to lick the remaining drops of blood spilled over my lips. My shoulder popped back into place, the blood tingling through my veins as it started to work its magic.

  “I didn't know you knew about our blood, I'll have to be more careful now.” The wicked gleam in her eye only egged me on.

  I threw up my hand with the silver cuff and hit her across her temple, dragging Gunner along with me. It seems that was all I had in me as my strength quickly depleted. Sam cussed at me as sh
e held me down firmer. Quinn chuckled at how infuriated I made Sam.

  “Watch it, Piper! You just earned an hour of torture by none other than me, the queen of bitches. I would've left you alone, for Parkers sake, but you blew it.”

  The cut across her forehead quickly healed itself.

  She clamped down on my wrists, showing me a fraction of her strength as I whimpered. It was worth it. Messing up her pretty little face was worth whatever she was going to dish out.

  “Can you imagine the effect we'd have on Francis right now, me straddling you in this sexy little position?” She giggled. I was not amused. “Oh, he'd cum just from the sight.” She bent down slowly, pressing her bulging breasts against mine while watching Gunner's gaze. “It's pretty hot, don't you think?”

  Gunner didn't answer but continued glaring at her. Did he never speak?

  “Get off me, skank!” She pressed down harder, pulling my arms above my head.

  “Not until I know the blood has worn off in your system.”

  She remained on top of me for a few more minutes until I heard the tires turn onto gravel, the van slowing substantially. Trees brushed the side of the van until we came to a clearing. Sam and I held a glare at each other the whole way.

  “We're heeeere,” Sam sang in a creepy voice, finally releasing her hold on me when the van door slid open.

  She was outside the van before I had time to pull on her gorgeous locks of hair.

  Gunner stepped out first then helped me with our adjoining hands before protectively tucking me behind him. The sun wasn’t far away from setting now in the crisp, breezy evening air.

  “Follow me.”

  Quinn spoke and I had to obey. Gunner still stood in front of me, blocking me from going in front of him.

  We were at an abandoned restaurant, surrounded by huge maples trees and covered in leaves and what looked to be mold. The smell backed up my guess. We were in the middle of nowhere, literally, since I'd never even heard of this place.

  We crossed through the creaking front door to find the inside was as clean and up to date as if it were a new establishment. The outside must be a cover for anybody who just happened to come across it. The entire inside interior was black with white booths and countertops. Spotlessly clean. It was just as big as the club we'd gone to, but with lower ceilings.

  I was forced to follow Quinn down three flights of stairs into what could only be described as a dungeon. There were cells with silver lined walls and a few of them already occupied with withering bodies. A guard sat behind a desk at the end of the hallway, pressing a button that slid open the door. Quinn waited for it to fully open before stepping inside and leading us down another set of stairs.

  These stairs were rickety and Gunner had to catch me from falling a few times even though he was the one being drained of his power.

  We were thrown into a large cell complete with a bed and toilet, table with two chairs and a small radio on the bedside table. Once inside Quinn threw a key and Gunner caught it, quickly releasing the cuff then doing the same to me.

  Quinn disappeared after shutting the very thick door that led back upstairs. I hoped this place was ventilated, because I sure as hell needed air to breathe even if no one else here did.

  “Are you alright, Gunner?” I placed the cuff and key underneath the mattress, out of view, before coming back to look at his wrist and neck. “I'm so sorry that you're involved in this. Did they say anything to you? Why are they doing this?”

  He winced when I touched his marks, but held still. If he drank my blood then he'd be able to get rid of them.

  “Why don't you want to drink my blood? Just take a sip and it'll heal your marks.”

  Again I lifted my arm to him but he backed away, taking a seat at the table.

  “I can't!” Finally! He speaks. “Sam spoke too low for you to hear, but if I drink from you, she'll kill my family and us.” His voice was tired and full of regret. “You have your purse on you though; did you check your phone? Parker might've had it turned back on.” I eyed him warily while taking a few steps back. “You called him when you were in the bar. I've been watching you for him since he left this afternoon. He didn't trust Francis, but it seems it should've been Sam he didn't trust.”

  That made sense. I dug through my purse and found my phone. No bars. I tried calling 911 but it wouldn't go through.

  “We can try it again later. Are you alright? I'm going to do everything I can to get us out of here, I promise.”

  “Well I'm not old and strong and smart like you guys, but it seems that you could've tried something while we were out in the open, not locked in a silver coated cage that'll slowly deplete your power.” His eyes saddened more, twisting into pain. “Sorry. This isn't your fault. I'm just...confused, pissed, angry. I can't believe Sam would do this!”

  I kicked the bar then hopped on one foot from the pain radiating through me since I was wearing open toed heels.

  “Here.” He helped me sit down then pricked his finger with his fang before shoving it in my mouth. I swallowed before shoving him away. “It'll get rid of the pain.”

  “Maybe, but you need your strength.” I tried not to reveal how gross I felt at having his finger in my mouth. “You said they'll kill your family. Do they have them locked up?”

  “No. But they're all human and they know where they live.” His family was human, was he recently turned? “You don't recognize me but I'm Gunner, Ashley's father.”

  Holy shit! Now that he said it, it was him. Ashley's father hadn't ran out on them, he'd become a vampire. I gasped then stepped toward him again.

  “What happened?” He knew exactly what I was talking about.

  “I'd gotten in bad with one of my debts. Who knew vampires existed, let alone had higher interest rates than anything legal.” He sat back down in the chair while I sat on the bed. “I started drinking vampire blood so they couldn't mess with my mind, and added it to my wife and daughter's drinks whenever I could, just in case. I was in over my head with no way out. Apparently vampires do have laws about killing and they weren't able to do anything to me but threaten. Parker came to me with a solution. He'd kill me and my family would be left alone.”

  He paused, reminiscing on the memory.

  “I didn't believe him until he made that blood oath, which I'm not sure how I knew he wasn't lying, but I did. He brought me in front of who I owed, threw down a wad of cash, told them my debt was paid off, then drank from me until I passed out.” His gaze glossed over. “I'd already made peace with dying, thought it was the end for me, until I woke up with a dying thirst inside a silver cage. Parker turned me, cared for me, taught me how to live, but told me I'd never be able to go home again.”

  “If you went home, they'd be able to tell you were different.” I spoke barely above a whisper, stunned from what I was hearing.

  “Yes. Parker paid my debtors over two hundred grand then killed me to satisfy them, brought me back to life, and has helped me take care of my family ever since.”

  I teared up. Parker was a saint. Always helping out anyone he can even when he doesn't know them. I didn't deserve him, let alone anyone else. Whatever hold I had on him, it was a miracle. I was never letting go.

  “Why could Parker kill you, but not them?”

  “He wasn't associated with them. Our laws don't hold everyone accountable. If I were killed by some random vampire, human or accident, my debtors would be cleaned of me, and free to move on to my next of kin to collect what I'd owed. By Parker paying them more than what I owed, then killing me, by our laws the debt is squared. They can't harm a member of my family. Of course, Sam wasn't a part of any of that, so if she wants, has the free will to go after my family, claiming they were random humans.”

  That was...I'd never learn any of their laws if they were all open ended and twisted like that. The only one I was sure of, was first rights. Though if I was killed in this, they could dispose of me and not even have to admit to anything.

  Ugh
h, vampires.

  “Ok. So, do we have a plan or any ideas about what is going on here?”

  “No. I'm sorry. Parker has had your blood though, he will come for you. They can't hide you from him forever, especially since we're immobile now. He'll be able to track your scent and I'm sure he'll bring back up.”

  Right. Of course he would. And follow my scent? Was everything done that way in the vampire world?

  Before any of my nerves could be calmed the door was slammed open and Sam entered wearing shiny red leather pants and a matching black halter top, squeezing her boobs to the point of what looked like pain, though she didn't seem to care.

  “Enough reminiscing. Piper, come with me. If you fight me or try anything dirty, Ashley will be the first to be killed.”

  Gunner looked at me with pleading eyes. I wasn't going to endanger his family's lives any more than he would.

  Sighing, I stood and exited through the now open door. I watched it slide shut behind me as I nodded to Gunner, reassuring him I'd play nice, then started back up the stairs with a giddy Sam behind me.

  EIGHTEEN

  Sam brought me back up to the main floor and into one of the many back rooms before shutting the door, ordering me to change into what could only be described as an S&M outfit.

  “You've got to be kidding me.” I held up the hanger and dangled the chains and bits of leather that hung from it, looking back at Sam confused. “Why do I need to wear this?”

  “Would you rather I call Quinn in here? I'm sure he'd be more than happy to do more than just watch you change.” Her lips twitched at the disgusted, fearful look on my face. “That's what I thought. Change.”

  Without much other choice, I quickly donned the outfit. Chains connected the two triangles over my breasts. A thicker chain connected the barely there bottoms, kind of like the swimsuit she'd given me, but this was made of black leather and heavy chain links.

  “Why are you doing this?” My bottom lip started to tremble and it took all of my will power to not break down and cry. My strength was running very thin. “Did they do something to you that I'm not aware of, because I know for a fact that I've been nothing but nice to you.” My voice was barely above a whisper. She heard me and chose not to answer.